Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Tendar's Princess
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Tendar's princess.
Valea Tendar.
This was the woman who followed in her mother Princess Valiana's footsteps, advocating for equality among Tendar's races.
She had led countless races to become equal citizens alongside the Tendar.
She was Tendar's most beloved princess.
But right now, her face was etched with grave seriousness.
"Princess Valea, you must evacuate at once!"
"Evacuate? ...Where would I go, abandoning Tendar?"
She ignored her butler's pleas to flee.
Instead, she had dispatched even her own guards to aid elsewhere as much as possible.
All to save as many civilians as she could.
Valea gazed up at the sky.
The world was truly cruel.
The Night God was approaching even faster than before.
They had made their preparations in the meantime.
But she had no confidence that any of it could avert annihilation.
She bit her lip hard.
Somewhere.
Just one place, somewhere.
If only a way to save Tendar would appear.
It was at that moment.
Atop the moon shining in the night sky.
A black silhouette began to emerge, belatedly visible.
As she puzzled over the figure.
Silver hair gleaming in the moonlight soon came into view.
"...Lord Havel?"
The instant she uttered his name.
Havel, who had been flying through the sky, landed lightly before her.
The sound was so faint.
No one but her, who had been staring at the heavens, noticed his arrival.
"Wha?! Y-You!"
As her guard-cum-butler startled belatedly behind her.
Havel set down Elashia, who had guided him along the way.
"You've grown even stronger."
Valea noticed the change in Havel.
Once he'd concealed his Calamity aura deliberately, no one had recognized him.
Valea was clearly exceptional.
"Valea, you're aware the Night God is coming even faster, right?"
"Yes. It's the work of the Night God Cult. We rushed an investigation, but we still haven't found the Pope."
"I've handled that side."
Valea's eyes widened round.
Then she let out a belated sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Lord Havel. At least no more Calamities will rampage among the citizens."
She knew it too.
The Night God's accelerated pace was partly due to Havel standing before her.
Yet she thanked him anyway.
"Valea."
Havel called her name.
"No matter what, do you want to save Tendar?"
Havel's ears were sharper than most.
He had clearly heard her issuing orders to the royal knights.
"Yes."
She met his gaze squarely, answering without a hint of hesitation.
"The simplest way is right in front of you."
If Tendar's Calamity mass fell below the Night God's.
Naturally, the Night God would stop heading here.
So this was Havel's final question to her.
Would she sacrifice the few to save the many?
"No."
But Valea's resolve showed no sign of wavering.
"The people of Tendar are Tendar. I can't sacrifice Tendar to save it."
She had no intention of sacrificing her citizens.
Valea's eyes gleamed transparently.
Those eyes proved her sincerity.
Baldoran's bloodline wasn't wasted after all.
Baldoran Tendar, patriarch of the youngest Tendar clan.
He had loved and wished to protect his tribe.
That will had endured through generations to this day.
"Then let me ask something else."
The power of the Star Sword dwelled within Valea's body.
"What if, instead of sacrificing citizens, you as an individual sacrificed yourself to save Tendar?"
Valea's pupils slowly widened.
"Is there a way?"
"I can't promise certainty, but about fifty percent."
A fifty percent chance of success.
If it failed, Valea's life would be wasted, and Tendar would perish.
"What nonsense is that?! Sacrificing the princess?!"
The butler, who had been listening silently, erupted in fury.
He couldn't tolerate the sudden demand to sacrifice Valea.
But Havel ignored the butler's outburst.
He simply watched her, awaiting only Valea's choice.
And in that moment.
Havel saw it.
Her eyes shining brighter than when they first met.
Those eyes blazed like the Milky Way.
"If I can do it, gladly."
Havel said no more.
Those eyes held nothing but pure sincerity.
"Come."
Havel extended his hand to Valea.
The gesture was less like offering a hand to one facing death.
And more like a noble inviting someone to a grand ball.
Valea placed her hand atop his in kind.
The butler rushed from behind to stop her.
But it was already too late.
Valea's view shifted in an instant.
She realized she was flying through the sky.
Whooooosh!
The rushing wind whipped her hair wildly.
The air was cold, yet more refreshing than ever.
She had lived her life as a princess in Tendar's city center, devoted to her people.
"Wow."
So the sky she soared through for the first time felt utterly beautiful.
High above the clouds.
Below lay the city center of Tendar she had protected all this time.
There was commotion here and there.
But from up here, it all looked so serene.
Her eyes reached the heavens.
The moon hanging there loomed so close it seemed within reach.
But soon her face hardened.
Beyond that moon.
She could clearly sense the Night God's presence.
Up here, it was unmistakable.
It was imminent.
This world would soon welcome the Night God.
And merge with it.
Nothing would remain.
"Lord Havel, what must I do?"
So she asked him, defying death itself.
Whatever she could do, she would.
Her resolve burned fiercely.
Havel looked up at the sky alongside Valea.
"Valea, the Night God exists in a place apart from this world."
The Night God dwelled separated from Tendar's world.
Havel had realized this through those who wielded its power.
The Night God's power undoubtedly affects Tendar.
But they couldn't cross to the Night God from here.
Like how the Tower allows descent but not ascent beyond limits.
This space housing Tendar and the Night God was divided.
Even Havel couldn't shatter that rule.
Doing so would collapse the entire floor.
Yet Havel knew one way to cross over.
"And your body harbors the power of the Star Sword, forged by the Night God."
It was a famous tale in the royal family.
After the Star Sword fully lost its power.
It had been absorbed by the royal house.
"You can open the path to the Night God."
Valea looked down at herself.
Was such a thing truly possible?
Of course, she had never even considered it.
"What must I do?"
Valea asked honestly.
"That's why I came."
Havel began infusing Calamity into their clasped hands.
The Calamity flowed straight into Valea's body.
"Ngh."
She seemed unaccustomed to the sensation.
But her feelings didn't matter.
Valea's body resembled the Star Sword.
It began devouring the Calamity Havel offered.
Havel stared at Valea as she consumed his Calamity.
She was a Calamity spawn created by the Tower.
Yet she was a living being.
Fear of the unknown dwelled within her.
Not just anyone could bear the resolve to save the world.
No one was born for such a thing.
Even Havel had once harbored such fears.
During the Unification Wars, he had crossed countless brushes with death.
He had faced many terrors.
"I've handled the Star Sword countless times."
So Havel decided to ease her burden.
Long ago, someone had done the same for him.
"Don't worry. You can do this."
Regrettably, Havel lacked eloquence.
But he possessed a power to inspire trust like no other.
Comfort settled into Valea's eyes.
Her ancestors had trusted Havel endlessly.
So she too trusted the Night's Emissary this time.
He was their lifelong benefactor.
Valea's hair began to glow with starlight.
Havel's Calamity filled her body to the brim.
And the moment starlight pierced even her skin.
Peeeng!
Starlight shot skyward.
The endless beam touched the edge of the firmament.
Then, like a water droplet hitting a pond.
A massive ripple spread across the heavens.
Beyond the rippling sky.
Another world reflected.
There existed only pitch-black darkness.
Both Havel and Valea knew that power.
The Night God.
A massive aggregate of energy, devoid of will and thus without solution.
"Now I see. The Night God has devoured countless realms like Tendar..."
Valea murmured dazedly at the sight.
The 7th Hierarchy had never been cleared before.
Yet it undoubtedly existed.
Since the days Havel climbed the Demonic Palace.
At first, the Night God was small.
It devoured a tiny tribe.
And grew larger than that tribe.
Soon, it consumed a city.
And outgrew the city.
It devoured kingdoms.
And surpassed kingdoms.
Now.
The Night God had swollen enough to swallow nations.
Now I understand.
The Night God had been consuming places like Tendar since those days.
The 7th Hierarchy endlessly perished. And repeated ceaselessly.
After devouring the next civilization.
The 7th Hierarchy would reset from the beginning, advancing to the next.
A repulsive cycle.
As if this world was fated to always fall to ruin.
"That ends today."
Valea looked up at Havel.
"...Yes!"
With her resolute cry, Havel kicked off.
And soared into the sky with Valea.
Plop!
With the sensation of passing through a watery veil, Havel invaded the Night God's domain.
79th Floor
Realm of the Night God
This was the first time any climber had reached the 79th floor of the Tower.