Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Facing the Night Priest
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Leaving the dazed Gardan tribesmen behind, Havel set off.
At that moment, Elasia swooped in and perched on his shoulder.
"Lord Havel, I really thought you were done for this time. I was terrified."
When Havel had been swallowed by the night earlier, Elasia had been on pins and needles.
That was the instant the Gardan tribesmen, waiting for the outcome, turned on her.
For her, that would have been the end.
One or two she might handle, but not this many.
With a group like that charging at her, even she wouldn't have a chance.
But Havel emerged from the sphere of night completely unscathed.
The Gardan tribesmen could no longer lay a hand on him.
He had proven himself the Lion of the Night with his own power.
"Well, I guess there's no way Lord Havel could actually lose."
To Elasia, Havel was invincible.
The very idea of him losing was unimaginable.
"Even I can't solve everything."
Just then, Havel corrected her.
"Elasia, just like there's things you can't do, like finding paths, there are things I can't do either."
"What's this? You're sounding weak for once."
"The world doesn't revolve around one person alone."
That was why Havel was climbing the tower.
For his old family, the Banpellyons.
"But most things..."
In front of the temple at the heart of the Gardan tribe's camp, Havel raised both arms.
The temple, shrouded entirely in pitch-black night, looked suspicious to anyone.
Anyone else wouldn't even dare touch the door.
But it was no concern for Havel.
Boom!
The stone door he pushed flew open in a shatter.
"Can be solved with brute force."
Havel strode boldly into the open doorway.
"That's so very you, Lord Havel."
Elasia made a wry face but didn't deny it.
As Havel passed through the temple, something snagged his sharp senses.
He tilted his head up at an angle.
Black spears rained down from the ceiling all at once.
Clang!
Havel swung his hand blade, and the spears shattered in unison.
Elasia realized the spears were coming only after the fact, in the blink of an eye.
Thud!
Then the floor beneath them suddenly gave way.
It seemed like some kind of trap.
But Havel walked through the air as if it were solid ground, utterly unfazed.
Traps triggered one after another.
Yet Havel paid them no mind.
"I think I get what you mean by 'most things solved with brute force' now."
Elasia looked a little queasy.
Seeing it again and again, she could only reaffirm that he was a monster.
"We're here."
Havel came to an abrupt halt.
Before his eyes lay the temple's core.
A space like black night.
At its center stood a lone pillar of pure white.
Stone stairs spiraled around the pillar.
At the top sat a single crow tribesman with eyes closed.
The crow tribesman's body was adorned with countless ornaments dangling from it.
Feathers sprouting from him were longer than wings, dragging on the floor.
For a human, it would be like impossibly long hair.
The high priest of the Gardan tribe.
Akria.
He slowly opened his eyes, which had been peacefully shut.
Then, staring at Havel, Akria spoke.
"You crossed paths with Titan and somehow survived. Fled all the way here, have you?"
From his reaction, he didn't know what had become of his chieftain.
Well, there had been a commotion outside, but no one came to report.
All the Gardan tribesmen had been left dumbfounded.
So he assumed Havel had fled into the temple.
"Chieftain Titan honors the God of Night meticulously. You're lucky. He must think no disturbances are allowed inside the temple."
He seemed to have thoroughly misunderstood.
From the look on his face, he hadn't even considered Titan's defeat.
Havel slowly dug in his ear.
"So, you coming down? Or should I come up?"
"Is the one calling himself the Lion of the Night so frivolous? Born that way, I suppose."
"What're you on about? First time anyone's called me frivolous."
Elasia quietly kept silent.
"You're the one who summoned the God of Night or whatever to the Gardan chieftain and scattered the seeds of night."
The seeds of night had spread to the entire tribe by now.
Because of them, the crow tribesmen were infected with calamity, driven berserk.
As a result, they roamed the village senselessly.
This had been a long-prepared plan.
Just looking at the barriers around the Gardan tribe hinted at how long.
"Ha, haha..."
At that moment, the priest's mouth split wide in a grin.
Elasia felt a chill at the eerie laugh.
"So, you who claim to be the Lion of the Night."
He slowly rose from atop the pillar.
His frail body made his wings sag to the floor.
Yet it blended with the space, creating an uncanny vibe.
"What can you fleeting visitors to our world possibly do?"
The priest, his pitch-black eyes gleaming, knew Havel's true nature.
All humans here would eventually leave this world.
'One of the climbers must have been interrogated.'
There were others besides Elasia who had entered the 73rd floor.
But Havel hadn't seen a single climber since arriving on the 73rd floor.
That meant they'd either gone up to the next floor like Baria.
Or been killed by the crow tribesmen.
'Just look at the Tendarr tribe—they had Elasia locked up.'
The other tribes wouldn't be much different.
And among them, Akria was particularly sharp-minded.
Most would kill little folk on sight.
But he captured them, interrogated, and studied their origins.
"Or will you kill me?"
That let him stand tall before Havel.
"I'm the only one in this world who knows the antidote to the seeds of night."
His eyes curved with a cackling laugh.
He even knew this was a world independent of Havel's own.
This was why intelligent calamity spawn were such a pain.
They could think freely.
Who knew what they'd do with some lucky break somewhere.
Havel stared at him wordlessly.
Ting!
Just then, a key fragment dropped before Havel.
It was none other than a piece of the key to the next floor.
The problem was, it belonged to the minority Allante tribe.
These guys had stolen the key fragment from the Allante.
"Visitor, I have the last key fragment you seek."
Akria showed the key fragment floating in his hand.
"Lay down the Star Sword and swear to leave peacefully, and I'll hand over our tribe's key as a special favor."
It was a deal of sorts.
Knowing only he held the antidote, he figured Havel couldn't touch him.
That knowledge made the priest smug.
But Havel's reaction was oddly indifferent.
Then he walked over, picked up the key, and tucked it into his belt.
"Seems you're misunderstanding something."
Havel's goal was indeed to ascend the floors.
Just as the priest thought.
But Havel had a different reason from ordinary climbers.
The 7th Hierarchy reflected lower-floor history upward.
Knowing that, Havel had deliberately aided the Tendarr tribe.
If they came to revere him after receiving his grace.
It might yield some advantage on the upper floors.
"That antidote? You're not the only one who knows it."
Havel grabbed his nape and cracked it.
Akria narrowed his eyes at him.
"Tch."
Akria frowned, judging Havel's words true.
"So you figured out how to use the Star Sword."
And he seemed to accept it in some other way.
"Shame, the deal's off. Guess we'll settle it with force."
At that instant, pitch-black night poured from Akria's body.
A calamity as formidable as the Titan he'd met earlier.
"I am a visitor, yes."
As he said, he was indeed a visitor.
"But you don't seem to grasp what that means."
Elasia fled from Havel's shoulder in a flash.
"Visitors die if they get hit too."
And Havel's form blurred.
Kaboom!
A massive explosion echoed.
From atop the pillar, where Akria had stood moments ago.
But in the smoke after the blast, Akria stood unharmed.
In his hand was a single spear.
Coated in black, it shimmered like the Milky Way up close.
Undoubtedly imbued with the God of Night's power.
Havel realized one thing upon seeing it.
'This guy's absorbed the calamities of other calamity spawn with that spear.'
Just like the Star Sword absorbed his own calamity.
The spear infused with the God of Night's power did the same.
Not just Akria's own calamity.
But those of other calamity spawn as well.
The Star Spear held a tremendous amount of calamity.
Havel's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You're the one who instigated the war."
He grasped where all that calamity in the Star Spear came from.
The crow tribesmen had turned weapons on each other endlessly.
When tribesmen died, calamity leaked out.
They were calamity spawn at their core, after all.
Akria had steadily absorbed the calamity from the dead crow tribesmen.
War left corpses of crow tribesmen everywhere.
The perfect spot for the Star Spear to feast on calamity.
"Instigated? I'd rather you not put it that way."
Akria smirked, gripping the Star Spear.
"They were just squabbling over territory among themselves. I never dirtied my own hands."
The priest was vicious.
He'd used even his own kind without hesitation.
He'd figured out the antidote to the seeds of night using that.
Those afflicted by the seeds were overloaded with calamity, rampaging.
So he thought extracting the calamity with the Star Spear would do it.
'No wonder he demanded the Star Sword.'
As Akria figured, the Star Sword had the same function.
So he assumed it could absorb calamity too.
'In truth, my body itself is already like the Star Sword.'
No need to tell him that.
At that moment, the Star Spear, brimming with calamity, gleamed with Milky Way light.
"The God of Night's blessing is with me."
And the Milky Way lights split apart.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The entire temple shook as if about to collapse.
The calamity gathered in the Star Spear rippled, swelling his presence enormously.
Krummmble!
Suddenly, the temple roof caved in, revealing the sky.
Myriad stars blazed in that sky.
"Behold."
Akria raised the spear toward the heavens.
Soon, from the rent sky emerged a Night Giant of overwhelming size.
In its arm, it clutched a spear made of stars.
"This is the death you chose."
With feathers sprouting all at once, Akria swung the spear down.
The star-infused spear from the sky rained toward Havel.
To any witness, it felt like facing divine wrath.
However.
Even that god meant nothing before Havel.
Craaack!
The plunging divine spear was blocked by something and tore apart.
The shock from the spear rippled straight to the Night Giant, bloating its body.
Kabooooom!
The Night Giant of black clouds shattered to pieces.
Fierce winds scattered the roof debris.
Beneath the scene that unfolded in an instant.
Akria gaped, eyes bulging wide.
That attack wasn't some light probe.
It was the full power of the god he'd summoned to kill Havel.
The God of Night was a mass of granting energy.
Only the priest could draw that power fully.
He'd even used the Star Spear, unmentioned in legends, striking with everything.
But somehow.
The man before him had casually swung a sword and blocked it.
"Sorry, but I already got a good warmup earlier."
Havel looked up at the crumbling Night Giant and raised his fist.
Then he huffed breath onto it.
"So no more playtime."
His fist shot forward.
Kwaaang!
The night veil guarding Akria was pierced straight through by Havel's hand.
It looked just like glass shattering.
Akria's eyes flew wide.
But Havel didn't stop there.
His arm plunged in and snatched Akria's collar in a flash.
Bam!
The yanked Akria smashed face-first into the night veil.
"Agh, urk!"
Akria screamed, lifting his crumpled face, eyes raised.
Havel grinned chillingly from beyond the veil.
Akria's face drained white.
"T-Titan!"
He screamed for Titan, but no answer came.
Of course—Titan was reduced to ash.
"Same question as before. You coming out? Or should I drag you?"
Havel posed the question again.
Akria realized.
This man before him hadn't fled from Titan.
Titan would've come running at his call, even into the temple, but no word.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
"I-I'll come out myself!"
He knew the night veil was useless now.
But as he shouted, Havel's hand was already moving.
Squelch, cruuunch!
"Aaaagh!"
He was crushing Akria's body veil and all, dragging him toward the small hole.
"I-I answered!"
"Oh, right. The guy's interpreting your words is way off, so all I hear is cawing."
Havel yanked the cawing Akria by the ear.
"Honestly, it doesn't matter what you say anyway."
Akria's shrill scream echoed deafeningly through the temple.