4. Krona
-Pon>Because the civilians were too shaken to move, the group went a little farther from the battlefield and pitched their tents in a clearing.
They would eat, rest for a day, and move out the next day.
“As expected… the second young master of Roman……”
“With that much… strength… then why has he only been in the spire……?”
While the Dragonas around him still looked at Sian in disbelief and whispered among themselves, Sian was staring blankly up at the sky.
Fiddling with the strange ring he had taken as spoils after beating down those six earlier, a ring engraved with the word “Narangel,” Sian thought. ‘Ah… I guess I really do need a sword……?’ As expected, an ordinary sword could not possibly contain all of his power. He had been expending a considerable amount of strength just to protect the blade.
He had drawn the sword from its scabbard only once, yet it had shattered in an instant like this.
The golden sword from before had been fairly sturdy, but it had too many useless features, and even that level was not enough.
Having thought that far, Sian rose from his seat.
To be honest, he did not know whether he would need a sword in the future or not, but there was no harm in preparing one in advance.
And since the materials happened to be over there, now was his chance.
With that thought, Sian launched himself away while everyone else was preparing the meal.
The place Sian ran to was the deep, deep pit that had once been the Kontiang region.
The Kontiang region, which had been entirely sucked into the black sphere by the great miracle, had left behind only a deep scar spanning several kilometers.
Without delay, Sian leapt inside and ran toward the center of the hollowed-out place.
At the center of the destruction site where Sian arrived, there was a mark even deeper than the surrounding area.
It was the second trace of destruction left behind when the small, compressed black sphere had fallen.
After entering below, Sian soon found a dark red sphere that was still heated, not yet cooled, melting its surroundings in a crimson glow.
Nearly an hour had passed since the miracle had been executed, yet its heat still had not faded, and it continued melting through the ground. ‘…
This is it.’ A black sphere that had compressed an entire city into itself.
Originally, it would have weighed tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of tons, but the materials unable to withstand the flow of destruction had all vaporized during the compression process, flying into the air mixed with dust, leaving only the essence behind.
Many things had been mixed together, but not anymore.
Due to the immense flow of Exar, the substances remaining inside the sphere had been compressed and compressed again, broken down and reassembled by pressure, extreme heat, and a massive amount of Exar, transforming into an entirely new object.
A substance harder and heavier than anything else.
Even in this state, it easily weighed several thousand tons, but that did not matter much to Sian. Once it was in his hand, the laws of gravity would have little effect anyway.
There was no time. It would be easier to finish working on it before it cooled. If it solidified like this, even he would have to struggle quite a bit.
Soon, Sian lifted the sphere, which was about the size of a head, and carefully focused strength into both hands, beginning to shape it.
As he pressed, pulled, and drew out the sphere with his hands, at some point it had transformed into a rod barely over 1.5 meters long.
From there, Sian shaped it a little more with his hands, carved grooves into the grip so it would be easy to hold, and finally concentrated all his power into his fingers.
Then, with those fingers, he grasped the part that would become the blade and began sharpening an edge on both sides.
At last, a strange pitch-black sword was completed, with no decoration whatsoever and not even a guard to prevent an opponent’s blade from sliding down and cutting his hand.
In a way, it resembled the wooden swords often used for training.
The difference was that it was perfectly balanced, and its lines were so flawless they seemed to have been drawn by a god.
But Sian gazed at that sword as if it were utterly lovable.
A weapon that had concentrated its entire capacity solely on the sword’s original functions: sharpness, hardness, and destructive power.
Unlike the golden sword, it had not a single miscellaneous function(?).
That was why it was even more excellent.
With this sword, it should be able to withstand all of his power.
Sian wondered how he should carry it around, then remembered the small necklace hanging around his neck.
Soon, a blue light flashed, and the sword was sucked straight inside.
For an instant, a faint blue light flickered from the necklace.
It meant that the space of Nitsmatan was almost full. Considering that it was a substance close to ten thousand tons even after being vaporized and compressed, that was only natural.
But it did not matter. He would not have much reason to store many other things in his personal storage anyway.
He had decided to make a sword on a whim, but now that it was finished, he liked it very much.
Sian pondered for a while over what to name this sword, then decided.
-Pon> It meant the forepaw of Krona, the legendary giant Harijan said to have bitten into a mountain range.
If it was this one, it would surely display power worthy of that name.
He hoped he would have no occasion to use it… but for some reason, he had a feeling that would not be the case.
Recently, he had been feeling a strange sensation guiding him. A voice whispered by his unconscious… something like that.
Once the sword was complete, Sian had the leisure to look around.
Then, after gazing for a moment with a sorrowful expression at the trace of destruction that had once been Kontiang and was now a pit, he hurriedly began running back toward where his companions were. ‘It was not my intention… but I have avenged you… Please rest in peace.’ ☆ ☆ ☆ “…
They were all annihilated?”
Second Prince Rakun asked back, dumbfounded.
General Nazgal was one of the generals he trusted.
Not merely for his martial power, but for that beastlike instinct that knew precisely when to strike—an instinct that had led several local wars in the Usharan Kingdom to victory.
And yet something like this had happened……
“What happened?”
“As soon as General Nazgal entered, an implosion miracle activated with Kontiang Castle at its center.”
“Damn… they had something like that hidden there…… Could he have been caught up in it? There is Narangel’s Gate, isn’t there?”
Second Prince Rakun asked back with an expression of incomprehension.
“We cannot be certain… but judging from the circumstances, that possibility is extremely high.”
“Huh… well, this is……”
Second Prince Rakun looked as though he had a headache.
If this was how things stood, the plan would have to be revised from the ground up.
If he made use of the remaining Kel
-Lupen and Kanuan, taking control of the Kon Kingdom would not be difficult.
However, because he had lost seventy Kel
-Lupen all at once, he could no longer aim beyond that.
Contrary to his original plan of using this opportunity to pressure even Taran, he would likely have to focus solely on maintaining the border.
No, from now on, even devouring Kon would take a considerable amount of time.
According to his plan, after occupying Kontiang, the fifty or more remaining Kel
-Lupen and General Nazgal’s forces should have pressured the capital, but all of that had fallen apart.
As Second Prince Rakun clutched his head, an aide entered from outside with an excited expression and shouted.
“Your Highness! Urgent news!”
“Hm? What is it? Has General Nazgal been found?”
He asked back with delight, but the answer that came was far beyond his expectations.
“The Tian Kingdom has declared war on the Taran Kingdom and entered all-out war! Their objective is… Taran’s Lagrang region!”
“What?!”
Rakun was momentarily shocked by the unexpected news, but soon grasped the situation and his expression turned vicious.
“…
Narasha, that raccoon of a man……”
Only now seeming to understand everything, Rakun ground his teeth toward Narasha. ☆ ☆ ☆ After returning through La
-Shar
-Roa, Sian sensed that the atmosphere in the capital was different from usual.
“Did something happen?”
Sian asked Selin, who had gone to the royal palace after receiving an urgent summons.
“…
Something did happen. It’s war.”
“Wasn’t that already happening? Even I know that… I just came back from there, you know.”
At Sian’s indifferent expression, Selin let out a small laugh and continued.
“It’s a little different. This time, our country is the one invading Taran.”
“Hm?”
Sian wondered if he had just misheard something.
But it was true.
Under King Narasha’s command, Tian had crossed the border and was launching a fierce offensive against the Taran Kingdom. ☆ ☆ ☆ ‘Narasha… that man is truly incredible…….’ That was what Kallagul thought.
From the very beginning, King Narasha had not sent him to support the Kon Kingdom out of some flimsy thing like alliance affection.
It had all been a deception to make everyone focus their attention on the war between the Usharan Kingdom and the Kon Kingdom.
By sending Kallagul himself to the Kon Kingdom, he made it seem as though he had diverted his strength outward, making them believe the Tian Kingdom’s forces had been split.
And then, as if preparing for any possible provocation from the Taran Kingdom, they had steadily redeployed their troops toward the Taran Kingdom.
All of this had been a ploy to make Taran let down its guard. To make them think Tian was concerned about the Kon Kingdom and frightened of being swept up in this intense situation……
From the start, King Narasha’s objective had been the Taran Kingdom.
To be precise, his objective was the Lagrang region, the most fertile and vital land of the Taran Kingdom.
King Narasha had judged that once the Kon Kingdom and the Usharan Kingdom entered war, they would have no spare capacity to pay attention to them.
Normally, if they attacked Taran, they would have to be wary of those two kingdoms, alliance or no alliance, but once the two kingdoms were already in all-out war, they would not have the room for that.
Taking advantage of that gap, he turned everyone’s eyes toward the war between the two countries, then prepared a surprise attack under the pretext of defense.
The moment all preparations were complete, King Narasha launched a surprise attack on the Taran Kingdom with two Gran
-Vanders at the forefront: Count Roman and Sword Duke Kirain.
No, to be precise, those two were not the core force. A powerful force of unknown identity was helping King Narasha.
And… with their power, the Tian Kingdom had lightly smashed through Taran’s border region and was charging toward the Lagrang region with unstoppable momentum.