Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Dawn Dante Kindled
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Havel stared at it intently.
In truth, it was too faint to truly call it dawn.
It had merely pushed back the darkness a little, after all.
But the fact that it had bloomed at all was what mattered.
The light of dawn had the power to guide people.
As proof, now that the darkness had lifted...
Pelleban and Dante's auras had changed.
They were strong enough to press back the Gehenna members.
'He's gotten stronger.'
Havel could feel Dante's growth.
His stamina, his aura, his martial prowess—all of it.
"Um, Lord Havel."
At that moment, Dorison, who had been at his side, spoke up.
He knew Havel had protected them amid the darkness.
He had no idea it had frozen the Gehenna members solid.
Still, he knew full well they would have been done for without him.
So he was curious.
"What in the world is your true identity, Lord Havel?"
Dorison had thought Havel was just an ordinary mercenary.
But now he knew better.
Havel was stronger than even Dante.
In fact, Havel was the one teaching Dante.
"Are you perhaps a hidden knight of the Banpellyon family or something like that?"
Not that Havel looked particularly old.
But his martial power couldn't be explained any other way.
"A hidden knight, huh."
Havel swallowed a hollow chuckle.
In a way, he was a knight of the Banpellyon family.
It wasn't entirely wrong.
"Let's just say that's close enough."
Dorison's eyes sparkled.
Havel smirked.
Dorison had seen the dawn and lost himself in awe.
It was the same expression worn by those who first pledged themselves to the Banpellyon family.
The other two weren't much different.
'As long as any dawn can draw in recruits for the Dawn Knights with its own power, that's enough.'
In the meantime, Dante and Pelleban were pulling ahead.
"Now go catch up to Dante."
"Ah, yes!"
Dorison bolted after them belatedly, and the other two hurried to follow.
At that instant.
Thud!
The three running men suddenly tumbled to the ground.
Like puppets with their strings cut.
Crash!
At the same time, the frozen Gehenna members shattered into pieces.
Havel's brow twitched at the sight.
And then the tower itself began to twist before his eyes.
As if it had suddenly dropped into another world.
A sensation of being crushed by some colossal presence seeped in.
'What the hell?'
Havel frowned at the floating text.
A repulsive sensation began to creep over his body.
As if someone were scanning him.
At the same time, the Calamity dwelling within him surged all at once.
As if startled by an overwhelming presence.
Crackle!
Unwilling to just sit there, Thunder Qi erupted from Havel's body.
The lightning spread instantly across the surroundings, spewing fierce light.
An aura capable of shaking the very space emanated from him.
Just before the scrutinizing gaze and Havel's aura clashed...
Crash! The twisted surroundings shattered in an instant.
At the same time, the tower's form began to restore itself.
Havel whipped his head upward.
"Huh?"
What the hell was that just now?
Deep doubt settled in Havel's eyes.
A chilling sensation he'd never felt even in the Demonic Palace.
A sensation he'd thought he'd never feel again.
The primal fear of death that human flesh instinctively senses.
A sensation Havel had long transcended.
"Does that mean there's more to this world I don't know about?"
There was no answer.
But Havel recalled the messages the Demonic Palace had shown him so far.
The Demonic Palace that kept making him stronger.
And this time, it had protected him.
Was the Demonic Palace hoping he'd fight that thing?
"Damn it."
Havel roughly ruffled his hair.
The unknown stirred an odd irritation.
"Is this telling me it's not time to rest yet?"
He'd planned to raise the Banpellyon family and then take it easy.
But it seemed this world held more secrets than he knew.
Fine then.
This body was immortal anyway.
There was no rest in death for him.
"I'll rampage until even immortality fades."
Havel's eyes blazed fiercely.
The old Sword Saint still gripped his blade.
And perhaps he'd never set it down for the rest of his life.
While Havel gathered the fainted group amid the sudden chaos...
Dante and Pelleban broke through the Gehenna members.
With the darkness gone, their prized regeneration vanished too.
Thanks to that, they could slaughter the Gehenna thugs.
In the midst of it, Pelleban's gaze turned to Dante.
'Did I underestimate him?'
Dante was stronger than he'd thought.
His realm was still below Pelleban's.
But whatever training he'd undergone, his stamina and aura seemed bottomless.
Like drawing from a vast lake.
'What the hell is his body made of?'
Pelleban had to admit Dante surpassed him in stamina and aura reserves, at least.
The rest, maybe not—but those two, yes.
Chill!
At that moment, Pelleban's gaze snapped forward.
Some ominous sensation had brushed past.
"Pelleban."
"Yeah, I see it too."
Dante, sword buried in a Gehenna member, halted his steps.
Pelleban stopped as well.
Beneath the dawn light.
Two figures stepped out before them.
"You got done in by just two?"
One was a bald man covered in facial scars.
A bizarre horn protruded from the center of his head.
"It was that clueless bastard over there. He made the darkness vanish. That's why."
The other looked blind, eyes closed.
His long hair hung down.
With a single sword held nonchalantly, he embodied the classic warrior archetype.
"Vilan and Jeraz."
Pelleban recognized them.
Vilan, who massacred an entire village.
Jeraz, who slew a hundred renowned swordsmen.
Top-tier wanted criminals with dozens of platinum bounties on their necks.
"Oh, this punk knows my name."
"I thought people were forgetting us since we stick to Gehenna, but apparently not."
"Heh heh, yeah, a face like mine doesn't fade easy."
"Who could forget a scarred bald head?"
"You rotten bastard, what's wrong with being bald?!"
Meanwhile, Dante and Pelleban exchanged glances.
Dante's dawn was fading.
These were infamous top criminals.
Empowered by the tower's Calamity seed, no less.
Not opponents to take lightly.
"Quick and clean. Sound good?"
Pelleban asked.
Dante answered by raising his sword.
Instantly, Pelleban whipped up a gale.
Quick and clean, literally.
"Wind, eh? Refreshing!"
"Barbaric."
Vilan swung his greatsword at the incoming gust.
Jeraz dodged back.
In that gap, Dante surged toward Jeraz in a flash.
Dawn light gleamed on his blade, which he swung immediately.
Clang!
Sparks flew as sword cries rang out.
Jeraz had drawn his blade in an instant to parry.
"A glowing sword. Fun."
Jeraz smirked, gripping a sword without a crossguard.
"But aren't you a bit too close?"
Dante instinctively pulled his neck back.
Jeraz's sword was suddenly at point-blank range.
Cold sweat trickled down Dante's back.
Fast.
Too fast for the eyes to follow.
"You dodged that?"
Jeraz showed surprise too.
He was a master of the flash draw.
Most fell to the first strike.
Yet Dante had evaded it.
'Almost got me.'
Dante had dodged thanks to the aura he constantly wrapped around his body.
It permeated every nerve deeply.
And the reason he trained this way? Purely Havel's doing.
Death comes in an instant.
Especially in a hellish place like this tower, where it happened constantly.
So Havel taught Dante techniques where conditioned reflexes reacted faster than conscious thought.
Whoosh!
Jeraz's sword moved again.
Another eye-defying flash draw.
But Dante dodged once more.
Jeraz's brow furrowed.
Whoosh, swish swish!
The sound of blade cutting air rang out several more times.
But the flurry only grazed Dante's clothes.
"Like a damn rat!"
Enraged, Jeraz swung again.
Clang!
His blade clashed with Dante's.
No matter how fast the flash draw, it could be blocked if you reacted.
Jeraz ground his teeth.
"You dare!"
As his sword tried to shove Dante away...
Dante unleashed a move Jeraz never saw coming.
'Vallisador.'
The moment Jeraz withdrew his blade...
Dante's sword slipped past it.
By the time Jeraz realized...
It was already buried in him.
"Gahk!"
He barely yanked his neck back, but Dante's sword pierced his chest.
Ink-black blood sprayed.
No darkness meant no regeneration.
I'm dead.
With that thought, Jeraz screamed.
"Vilan! Help me out here!"
The moment he called for aid...
His senses picked up something rolling toward him.
"Heard you're top wanted criminals—thought that meant you were actually strong?"
The voice belonged to Pelleban.
He traced the wound on his cheek with a finger, then spat.
Vilan lay before him, throat torn to shreds.
Jeraz's face drained of color.
These two were stronger than imagined.
Meanwhile, the sword in his chest began to glow.
"W-Wait..."
Jeraz cried out desperately, but the light blazed fierce enough for a blind man to feel.
"Dawn Sky."
Dante intoned the technique with a kiai and slashed down.
The ensuing burst of light tore Jeraz apart.
A man who lived his life in darkness met his end in the light.
After Jeraz and Vilan fell, Pelleban and Dante caught their breath.
Both had pulled their aura too aggressively for the quick fight.
"Damn, what a hassle."
Gehenna popping up like this was unheard of.
Pelleban looked utterly drained too.
In the meantime, darkness began gathering again.
Dante's dawn was dying out.
"I don't see Havel."
Dante glanced back as he spoke.
Indeed, beyond the encroaching dark, Havel was nowhere in sight.
"He's probably coming with those three trailing behind."
Havel might be fast, but not those three.
"And you're worrying about Havel now? Worry about us first."
"You're right. Better worry about you two."
That instant.
Another voice cut between their words.
Pelleban whipped his head around, eyes wide.
Bam!
He tumbled across the ground in a flash.
"Guhk!?"
A couple teeth missing, blood poured from the gash in his mouth.
A direct hit to the face.
His vision spun.
He had to shake it off fast.
Clang!
Sword cries echoed meanwhile.
Pelleban lifted his head through blurred vision.
Dante faced off against a hulking man.
Red bandages wrapped around his hands.
Fangs protruding grotesquely from his grin.
Black uniform splattered with blood-like stains.
"Mad... Mad Dog."
Pelleban recognized him and recoiled in horror.
Gehenna's leader, the worst criminal of all.
Mad Dog Barkina stood there.