Episode 35
Kwaaah!
Akaruk’s swordsmanship was truly transcendent.
Every time he swung his sword, tremendous force surged forth and attacked Dayoden.
Dayoden felt his blood boil.
He had fought countless demonic beasts and Awakeners until now, but Akaruk was the first opponent to make him feel this level of tension.
Though he was now undead, a single strike was enough to see what a great knight he had been in life.
It cleaved through space and earth simultaneously.
Dayoden did not dodge, swinging Creion to meet it head-on.
Kwaaang!
Sword collided against sword, and with a sound like a bomb exploding, shockwaves swept in all directions.
“Keuk!”
The shockwave struck Jeon.
It was only thanks to the sand barrier he had raised that he was protected; had his reaction been even a moment slower, he would have been sent rolling about in an unsightly mess.
Dayoden and Akaruk were moving so fast that even Jeon’s eyes failed to keep up.
Kwang! Kwaang! Kwang!
Jeon watched their clash traversing the open ground of the ancient castle without blinking once.
Jeon instinctively realized that this was an opportunity that would not come again.
Dayoden, the strongest human Jeon knew.
The Death Knight born as an undead after casting aside his human flesh.
Just watching the two fight, Jeon felt his horizons broaden immensely.
There are times when simply observing is a study in itself, bringing enlightenment.
Now was precisely such a moment.
Watching their battle, Jeon trembled with awe.
He felt that compared to Dayoden and Akaruk, he was still far behind.
The slight complacency he had felt after obtaining Exion and Sand Soldier sank heavily.
“Excellent!”
Madness spread in streams from Dayoden’s eyes as he faced Akaruk.
Between his lips curled skyward, pure white fangs were visible.
It was the smile Dayoden showed when he was truly enjoying himself.
That crazy monster seemed to find fighting Akaruk so pleasurable he could barely contain himself.
“Whew! He’s really and truly gone mad.”
Jeon shook his head but could not tear his eyes away.
Dayoden’s strike missed Akaruk and crashed into a massive spire.
Kwarrar!
The spire collapsed under the impact.
At this rate, the rubble would crash down upon Dayoden and Jeon.
Jeon swung his hand, and countless Sand Missiles flew toward the spire’s debris.
Puh-buh-buh-beong!
With explosions, the debris struck by the Sand Missiles shattered. But what happened next was even more astonishing.
The pulverized remains of the spire returned to their original form, as if time had been reversed. Not only that, but they returned to their original positions.
The spire became perfect once more, just as it had been.
Jeon’s mouth fell agape.
“How is that possible!”
It was impossible by physical force.
No, it was equally impossible with magic.
It was as if time had been turned backwards.
For a moment, Jeon felt as if he’d been struck in the back of the head with a hammer.
“Did they reverse time? No, what if time is stopped?”
If so, then the undead’s fatal wounds healing in an instant was also understandable.
It was clear that time had stopped throughout the ochre-colored region, including the ancient castle.
“Who on earth?”
There were countless Awakeners in Neo Seoul, but none dared to involve themselves with time.
Even that mighty Dayoden could not manipulate time.
It was a realm not permitted to humans.
‘Then what’s left but a god?’
Jeon was well aware of how absurd his thought was. But for now, no existence other than a “god” remained.
He hadn’t believed in gods before. But having watched Dayoden kill a god with his own eyes, he had no choice but to believe.
“Huu!”
Jeon let out a sigh.
The more he thought, the larger the scale grew.
It was an imagination burdensome for a mere D-Rank Awakener.
Jeon shook his head, clearing his thoughts, then watched Dayoden and Akaruk’s fight.
Kwang!
With an explosion, Akaruk’s shoulder was severed.
It was Dayoden’s slash that had cut off the shoulder. But Akaruk neither faltered nor retreated.
He was already a dead being.
Losing an arm caused him no pain whatsoever. Rather, the severed arm flew back on its own and reattached in an instant.
Dayoden was not surprised by the sight.
“Heh heh!”
Because he had already seen the undead knights revive.
Naturally, Akaruk’s regenerative power as the pinnacle of undead knights was clearly far greater.
Puo-eong!
Akaruk’s side was blown away. But once again, his flesh regenerated along with his armor.
The flame burning in Akaruk’s eyes grew even deeper.
“One who cannot... kill me has no... qualification to move forward.”
Hwahak!
Suddenly, gray flames soared from Akaruk’s sword.
His gray aura was being emitted in the form of flames.
Kwang! Kwaang!
Creion and the gray aura clashed, and explosions burst forth.
Each time, the ancient castle shook as if it would collapse at any moment. But it quickly restored itself to its original state as if nothing had happened.
Seugak!
A long laceration appeared on Dayoden’s side.
Akaruk’s sword had created the wound.
Despite the fatal injury, Dayoden did not wince. Rather, he delighted in the pain he felt after so long.
“Heh heh!”
At some point, he had stopped feeling pain.
It was not that he could not feel true pain, but that there no longer existed anyone capable of inflicting pain upon him.
Whether A-Rank or S-Rank demonic beasts, none could match him.
Having transcended human limits and even slain a god, there was no existence that could wound him.
Akaruk was the first to wound him in decades.
Speaking purely of swordsmanship, Akaruk was in no way inferior to Dayoden.
Moreover, he possessed regenerative power that instantly healed any wound.
Akaruk knew how to aptly wield these two weapons.
Dayoden sincerely admired the Death Knight.
Regeneration and the like did not concern him in the slightest.
What he admired was Akaruk’s swordsmanship.
Just by watching his swordsmanship, one could tell how exalted a knight he had been in life.
Each stroke held no superfluity and overflowed with dignity.
Tyrannical, yet not cruel.
Just by seeing that, one could sufficiently guess what Akaruk’s temperament had been like when he was alive.
Akaruk unleashed the swordsmanship he had mastered in life and attacked Dayoden.
Kwang! Kwaang!
Explosive sounds burst forth repeatedly.
The air in the area grew hot from the clash between the two.
They vomited forth everything they had learned toward each other.
Their appearance was like master swordsmen who had reached the pinnacle conversing through their blades.
Jeon beheld the sight without taking a single deep breath.
It was then.
Suddenly, pitch-black energy gathered in Creion.
It was an energy that exuded an ominousness in no way inferior to Akaruk’s gray energy.
“Keuk!”
The moment the pitch-black energy was unleashed, Jeon felt pain in his heart.
He was not even facing it directly; his heart cried out in agony simply from witnessing it.
“Insane!”
Jeon hurriedly retreated to escape the sphere of influence. But unlike him, the undead surrounding the area stood blankly, receiving the influence of the pitch-black energy.
Pususu!
The flesh of the undead exposed head-on suddenly crumbled to dust.
Even as rotted flesh and blackened bones turned to powder, the undead stood dazedly.
Uuuuu!
A bizarre sound erupted from among the undead.
It was a bizarre noise that seemed like wailing, yet also like rapture.
Jeon instinctively grasped that it was closer to rapture.
The energy Dayoden was unleashing in earnest was returning the undead to nothingness.
Yet the undead were rejoicing instead.
—At last!
—Now, rest…….
Their voices seemed to reach Jeon’s ears.
Dayoden’s voice echoed throughout the ancient castle.
“I shall grant you rest, Death Knight!”
Shwak!
Creion spewed forth pitch-black energy in streams as it crashed into Akaruk.
Seogeok!
Akaruk’s body was split in two.
Divided into upper and lower halves, Akaruk tumbled across the ground.
Akaruk had boasted formidable regenerative power mere moments ago. But this time, his regeneration did not work.
The severed cross-section gradually turned to dust and crumbled.
The fierce flame-light that had been flowing through the gaps of his helmet also slowly vanished.
Kung!
Dayoden planted Creion into the ground and looked at Akaruk.
Then Akaruk’s voice flowed out.
“Death! Your authority is death.”
Unlike before, it was a clear voice.
The curse that had made him undead had been neutralized by Dayoden’s authority. He was met with death in return, yet not a trace of regret lingered in Akaruk’s voice.
Rather, relief was clearly evident.
Akaruk removed the helmet he had been wearing. A face that appeared to be in its early fifties was revealed.
Though half the flesh of his face had rotted away, distinct facial features still remained.
He was a man who would have been called quite handsome in life.
Akaruk spoke.
“The authority of death. That authority, permitted only to Krasias in Kurayan, has been passed down to you.”
“If you mean Krasias, could it be that one?”
“The Dragon of Destruction that made the world this way. We called him Krasias.”
“Krasias! So that was the bastard’s name.”
Dayoden ground his teeth with a crunch.
It had been a full hundred years since the world was ruined, and for the first time, he learned the bastard’s name.
A hundred years ago, Dayoden had been in New York.
New York, the capital of the world and the epitome of civilization.
At the time, Dayoden had been traveling in New York with his wife, daughter, and one and only friend.
Having lived in a rural village even in Montana, they enjoyed their time thoroughly relishing New York’s splendor. But the happiness granted to them did not last long.
Something enormous tore through the sky of New York and revealed itself.
From head to tail, it was over three kilometers long and possessed a full ten wings. It bore the form of a dragon only seen in legends or movies.
But everyone who witnessed it knew it was not a dragon.
Something with the form of a dragon.
A god in the form of a beast.
Everyone who laid eyes on him thought so. And most of those who saw the dragon directly could not endure the divinity he unconsciously emanated and perished on the spot.
With a single flap of his wings, half of New York was destroyed, and a population exceeding five million died.
It was truly the advent of a catastrophe.
Then Dayoden’s wife and daughter died.
Right beside him, no less.
Unable to lift a hand, Dayoden lost his wife and daughter and swore revenge.
That was a hundred years ago. But Dayoden had never forgotten the memory of that moment for a single instant.
Dayoden asked Akaruk.
“Where is Krasias?”
“Do you not know? He has returned to nothingness.”
“He died? After ruining the world like this?”
“The price for attempting to terraform another world was immense. Even the Dragon of Destruction, which had devoured all miracles and supernatural powers since the beginning, could not bear it.”
“Ik!”
Veins bulged in Dayoden’s eyes.
Akaruk looked at Dayoden with pitiful eyes.
“I know your heart.”
“Shut up! What would an undead wretch know, shooting your mouth off like that?”
“It was Krasias who made me an undead like this. Because I alone opposed his decision…….”