“Ghk! What is this!”
“Fall back for now! Reform the formation!”
The warriors of the Murim Alliance hurriedly retreated and pulled their ranks together again.
Bolts of lightning had suddenly come crashing down, but fortunately, no one had been harmed by them.
Those bolts had avoided humans and struck only atop the mass-produced jiangshi.
But no one thought of that as good fortune.
Crrrrack!
Puhwaak—
—As if the jiangshi that had collapsed after being struck by lightning were molting, their twitching bodies began to split open.
And one by one, aberrant beings that had pierced through those bodies began to rise.
There were entities with forms similar to humans, beasts as their base shape, and even monsters far more grotesque than that.
Their sizes varied as well, from ordinary ones to massive specimens so huge it was impossible to understand how they had emerged from jiangshi bodies no larger than humans.
Clop—
—clop—
Unhak of the Taecheng Sword, a survivor of Kunlun who had withdrawn at the sudden turn of events, swallowed hard and stared at the being approaching before him with the sound of hooves.
A four-legged beast standing well over three meters tall, its colorless, ashen fur streaming in the air.
Sharp black horns that jutted from its head like spearheads gleamed with a keen light, and from the hooves that trampled the earth, flames like the fires of hell surged upward.
‘…Don’t tell me that’s a qilin?’
A legendary being counted among the greatest divine beasts alongside dragons.
But in its ominous appearance, there was not the slightest trace of the auspiciousness spoken of in stories.
[Fuuuuh—]
A mist like the abyss itself flowed from the qilin’s mouth and settled along the ground, melting the earth beneath it.
Taecheng Sword flinched as his gaze met the blood-red glare bursting from its eyes, thick with killing intent, and he unwittingly took another step back.
He could clearly understand.
Someone like him could not even hope to hold it back properly, let alone stand against it.
‘To face a monster like that…’
Would one not need to be at least at the Hwagyeong… no, perhaps even the Hyeongyeong level?
Of course, how could he rashly judge a battle in a realm he had not even reached himself? Still, the presence emanating from the qilin was that overwhelming.
And his guess was not particularly wrong.
No matter how much it had fallen into depravity as a jiangshi and damaged its standing as a divine beast, that qilin had once been one of the leaders of Geumodo.
‘Those Demon Cult bastards… just what have they done?’
He gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword.
Surely not every monster could be at the level of Hyeongyeong, and their strength would vary greatly, but that was not much comfort.
Judging from the enormous forms rising here and there, even a rough estimate put their numbers well into the triple digits.
‘…I thought if we all joined forces, we could overcome this. Could it be that everything was already too late?’
While the forces of the murim had clashed and fought among themselves under the pretext of survival,
the Demon Cult, which had remained silent and hidden from the surface for long years, had already steadily completed its preparations to take the world.
Even if they belatedly united their strength, it was nowhere near enough to oppose them.
“Hoo, hoo—.”
“This is insane. What are those monsters? How are we supposed to…”
“Ghk, there has to be… isn’t there some way…?”
As beings they had only ever encountered in legends appeared as enemies and poured out killing intent, the spirits of those who had held on until the end with a small hope rapidly broke.
Even if they gritted their teeth and tried to come to their senses, they could not see any chance of victory.
And the Hyeongyeong masters who were in the midst of exchanging fierce blows thought the same.
Every one of them wore a grimace, their expressions showing dismay.
“What is the matter? The mood seems to have sunk all of a sudden.”
As if mocking them, the Heavenly Demon slowly looked around and sneered.
“Pfhaha— So you’ve finally grasped your place? You struggled rather admirably, but what a pity. From the very beginning, you had no chance whatsoever of winning this fight.”
Flutter—
—flutter—
Above him, an enormous bird leisurely circled through the air.
A black phoenix, each of its wings several meters long, with ominous energy rising in streams from its entire body.
The power it held also could never be ignored.
The balance that had been barely maintained collapsed completely.
With this gap in strength, the battle itself could no longer be established.
‘It’s over.’
The Divine Monk, who had been doing his utmost with one arm, and General Jeongcheon, who had been coordinating with him against the Heavenly Demon.
The Sword Saint, who had been fighting to end his ill-fated bond with the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor, and the Tyrant Heaven Blade Emperor, who had been gradually pushing back the Blood Demon Jiangshi and gaining the upper hand.
Even the Asura Blood Venerable, who had been diligently cutting down Hwagyeong-level jiangshi in order to join the fight against the Heavenly Demon as quickly as possible.
The same thought arose in all their minds.
The operation had failed.
The final battle for the fate of this world would end in the Murim Alliance’s defeat.
Everything would proceed according to the Heavenly Demon’s will, and the murim, having lost most of its fighting strength in this crushing defeat, would never rise again.
Those who realized that fact could not bring themselves to say anything.
“Kahahah! What bullshit!”
Except for one man.
One madman who had stood at the very forefront of battle all along.
Kwaaaang—!
He did not continue with any more words.
He merely charged straight at the Heavenly Demon and drove his fist in.
“Meaningless resistance.”
The Heavenly Demon twisted his sword to block the attack and continued speaking leisurely.
Until now, only with the help of two others had they barely been able to fight him evenly. There was no way Harley alone could be a match for the Heavenly Demon now.
“Ah, I don’t care about that! It’s not over until it’s really over, so let’s go at it properly one more time!”
But Harley did not care in the slightest about such odds.
He simply did what he was supposed to do, what he wanted to do!
“Get a grip, you idiots! You’ll never get another chance like this again, and just because the situation got a little worse, because it looks hopeless, you’re going to sit down and give up? You’re just going to waste this wonderful stage like that?”
His fierce roar rang out thunderously in every direction.
Even as he shouted, his offensive against the Heavenly Demon did not slow in the slightest.
“Sometimes, knowing when to give up and retreat is also a virtue.”
“Kahahah! If you give up like that, is meat going to fall from the sky or something? I’d rather just ram into it!”
If the result was the same anyway, then the one who decided the process was himself.
Whether he simply accepted the end humbly, or struggled with all his might until he shattered, broke, and was smashed apart.
And Harley was the kind of man who always chose the latter when faced with such a choice.
“You see, I’ve got a pretty nasty disposition. I absolutely can’t stand seeing things go well for someone else!”
Even if my end has been decided, you will never achieve your will in comfort either.
If you mean to raise a toast, do it with a body covered in wounds.
While stepping barefoot upon the jagged shards of my remains.
I will make sure of it—
A declaration of pure selfishness.
As those words echoed across the battlefield, those soaked in despair unwittingly put on dazed expressions.
“Ha, ahaha…”
“Impressive. In many ways.”
“…Still, I think I understand what he means.”
Of course, not everyone sympathized with the words he had blurted out as they came to him.
But they could clearly understand what he had wanted to say, and what his will was.
“Right. We can’t just give up like this.”
“Even if I die, I’ll kill at least one more before I go.”
“…My child is only three years old. I have to go back.”
The air saturated with defeat began to change slowly.
Its driving force was different for each person.
The resentment of being unable to end things like this, hatred and fury toward the Demon Cult, the obsession to somehow find a way out and return alive.
“Krahahah! Now you’re starting to look familiar! Let’s play a little more, friend!”
“…A reckless brat is making himself troublesome.”
Harley’s sudden, almost awakened ferocity as he struggled against the Heavenly Demon also had a great influence.
And in the first place, jiangshi were puppet-like beings that moved according to the will of their practitioner.
If they cut off the head, there was no need to deal with all of them.
Perhaps, maybe, if only.
If they could somehow endure and survive until those heroes dealt with the Heavenly Demon…
Would there not be even the slightest possibility?
The warriors and spellcasters standing on the battlefield looked around at one another.
After the fierce battle that had continued since the opening clash, the formations that had been divided by affiliation and disposition had long since become tangled together.
Thanks to the techniques of the Jegal Clan, even after the ranks they belonged to collapsed, they had been able to quickly join nearby formations and continue fighting. But naturally, the efficiency dropped considerably when those from hostile factions had to work together.
‘But right now…’
‘…Tch, it can’t be helped.’
Right now, everyone’s life hung by a thread.
And before their eyes stood the absolute enemy of life and death, one that threatened their own lives, blocked the future of the families they had left behind, and sought to steal the future of the world.
It felt unpleasant to coordinate with someone who had belonged to an enemy faction, but those Demon Cultists were far more detestable—detestable enough that even that could be overlooked.
“Hey, you with the black spear. I’ll stand in front. Support me from behind.”
“It’s called the Hyeonwol Spear. Just make an opening, and I’ll pierce their heads in one strike.”
Everyone’s will came together as one.
They completely cast aside the wariness they had secretly held toward one another even while fighting together and stood back-to-back.
After all, if one of them fell, the one fighting beside him would be next.
A harmony achieved properly only when they had reached the extremity of absolute peril.
Like a flame blazing brilliantly one last time before it went out, a fierce momentum surged from the entire Murim Alliance.
Those affected by it included the Hyeongyeong masters, who understood the current state of the battle better than anyone.
“Pahat! I like that fellow. It would be nice if I could have a spar with him later.”
A man wearing metal gauntlets with sharp blades protruding from the tips of all ten fingers—the Asura Blood Venerable—smacked his lips as he spoke, then charged at an enormous yokai that looked easily three times taller than him.
At the same time, the others also began their respective battles anew.
Of course, changing their mindset did not mean they could overturn the already overwhelmingly widened gap in strength.
They had merely delayed the end that would originally have come soon.
If time continued to pass like this, even their current firm will to fight would inevitably waver again… but.
Before the destined catastrophe arrived,
another change came first.
———!
From the far side of the battlefield, a soundless streak of light flew in at high speed.
Toward the black phoenix that had been flying above the Heavenly Demon’s head and interfering with the joint attacks directed at him.
Kwaaaaang—!
[Kieeeeek!]
That sniper shot, like a beam of light, blew away an entire pitch-black wing of the creature, which had been focused on the ground below and failed to respond properly.
The black phoenix staggered in midair, then crashed down to the ground.
At that sudden turn of events, the heads of those who had been closely watching the battlefield turned toward the direction from which the attack had come.
Among them was Jegal Howon, the family head who had participated as the representative of the Jegal Clan…
‘Wait, this aura is?’
It was an aura he had already experienced once before.
Haerisu, the mysterious master from another world who had first brought Ha Seung-hun, now staying as a guest, to the Jegal Clan.
After being out of contact for some time, he had finally revealed himself in the midst of this crisis.
‘Phew, he’s a little late, but I’m grateful enough that he showed up now.’
With that gladness, he quickly looked for him…
But what entered his eyes was not Haerisu, but a sight he had never expected.
“…Huh. What on earth is that?”
Something was flying toward them from beyond the sky, visible to his spell-enhanced eyesight.
It was a dragon about two jang long, formed by a vast amount of energy gathered into one mass.
And on its body, it carried a number of people.
“…Don’t tell me they truly succeeded?”
As Jegal Howon quietly examined their faces, the corners of his eyes trembled faintly.
There were two familiar faces there.
Ha Seung-hun, the guest who had lost contact after sending word that he would separately search for a way to rescue those taken as sacrifices.
And even his beloved daughter, Jegal Hyemi, whom he had been forced to part from after she was kidnapped by the Demon Cult for being a Dragon Child.
“Huh, huhuhuh… Good heavens, I never thought they’d actually pull it off. But I can’t even guess what that is. Was it summoned by sorcery?”
Even as he stood there in astonishment, the unidentified flying object in the shape of a dragon was rapidly flying toward the Murim Alliance.
There were no few flying monsters and Demonic Cultists who tried to stop its advance, but the ultra-long-range sniping that came from somewhere thoroughly shattered every obstruction.
“…How?”
The Heavenly Demon’s expression stiffened as he confirmed it.
“What are you doing? Stop it!”
It was an urgent order that did not suit his consistently composed attitude.
Then he tried to launch himself in that direction as well, but Harley, who clung tenaciously to him, would never allow it.
“Kahahaha! We were just getting fired up, so where do you think you’re going?”
“You insolent wretch!”
Faced with that reckless spirit, which did not care even when parts of his body were torn away, even the Heavenly Demon could not simply ignore him.
Moreover, the Divine Monk and Great General Jeongcheon, having grasped the situation, were also stepping forward even more aggressively.
“Nothing will change! I’ll slaughter every last one of you and reclaim the offerings!”
At last, when the dragon-shaped aircraft settled down in the middle of the Murim Alliance’s formation, the Heavenly Demon twisted his face and thundered.[Kraaaaa—!][Kuuwoong—!]
As if responding to him, the monster jiangshi let out savage howls while billowing black energy.
The demonic energy filling the battlefield surged violently and sharpened its edge.
Even now, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s forces held an overwhelming advantage.
Even if the children of the dragons had been seized, in a state where they were already completely surrounded, it was nothing more than meaningless resistance.
Unless a massive variable capable of overturning the entire board occurred.
And the heavens were… no.
The stage director’s choice had already been made.
Crackle—!
Just as the surging demonic energy was raising the Demonic Cult’s momentum to its peak.
The sound of something breaking rang out through the entire space.
At first, no one could tell where it had come from.
It was too difficult to pinpoint a direction for the sound, if it had come from any object at all.
Crack—!
But as the sound repeated several times, starting with those of keen intuition, people’s gazes began turning one by one toward the sky.
The sky filled with dark clouds.
That was the source of the successive rupturing sounds.
Crack-crackle—!
Spiderweb-like fissures slowly spread through the gaps in the pitch-black clouds, and faint light began to seep out little by little from between them.
A single ray of dawn, splitting the darkness cast over the world and shining down upon the humans of the earth.
And finally.
Kwaaaaang——!
With a thunderous roar that shook the entire space, the cracks in the sky shattered into pieces, and the clustered dark clouds scattered in all directions from the impact.[Krooooooo——!][Gruoooooo——!]
Along with roars containing an immense pressure.
Whoooong.
—A fierce storm swept through, as if scouring away the wicked demonic energy that filled the earth.
“Ah…”
“What is that…?”
The gigantic beings that had appeared by splitting the dark clouds in the sky swam gently through the air and looked down below.
Unlike the tainted monster jiangshi swarming across the earth, an auspicious energy spread outward in all directions with them at its center.
The Azure Dragon of the east, the Red Dragon of the south, the White Dragon of the west, the Black Dragon of the north.
And at their center.[Kraaaaaaa——!]
Even a Yellow Dragon, somewhat strangely shaped compared to the other dragons.
The moment they appeared, the unstable energy of the Demon Realm was forcibly stabilized and firmly fixed in place.
Though temporary, it was an astonishing feat that no one had been able to accomplish until now.
And in that gap, the monsters that had swiftly crossed through space began to appear one by one around the Five Dragons.‘Seeing it like this, it really is a magnificent sight.’After going through all sorts of twists and turns, Hugo, who had finally arrived at the heart of the Murim Alliance, looked up at the countless monsters floating in the sky and let out an exclamation of admiration.
The purpose of this stage was to bring together all the forces of the Ganghwan Realm as one.
Naturally, that included Geumo Island and the monsters as well.