1. Great Warrior>-From the Great Sword Duke, On the Secret of Victory☆ ☆ ☆Rrrrrrrrrumble!
“What’s that sound?”
“It sounds like it’s coming from the territory……”
“Huh… the mountain range burst open.”
“Did the lord know this would happen…? But it doesn’t seem like something we had to evacuate over……”
It was not clearly visible to ordinary people, but to the Kulan Knights, who had now reached a considerable level, and to the eyes of a few others, what was happening at the cliff beyond the territory could be seen distinctly.
And as he looked toward the cliff, Pareon let out a deep sigh.‘So it has begun…….’Since things were proceeding exactly as expected, he did not even feel resentment. All that came out was a hollow laugh. Perhaps it was because the shock to his emotions was too great, but not even the anger or regret that should have arisen under normal circumstances welled up within him.
There was only one thought in his mind.‘Let it end with Kulan alone… please…….’The largest city in the Rogadis region was not Kulan. From the beginning, Kulan lacked in every way—geographical location, capacity, and everything else—to serve as the center of the developed Rogadis province. That was why a considerable portion of Kulan’s core facilities were already in the process of being relocated around the Rotpel territory, the closest to the capital. In any case, the entire Rogadis province was under Pareon, so it did not matter much.
But that was one thing, and it was absolutely not all right for an entire territory filled with memories to be blown away. He only hoped that this situation would end with Kulan alone……
Pareon began to understand, keenly, what sort of feelings His Majesty King Narasha had been living with until now.☆ ☆ ☆Sian dodged and deflected the things flying toward him, reflecting on his own complacent attitude. Since Miss Steel’s safety had been urgent, he had thought to ask first before starting anything, and that itself had been a grave mistake. Whatever the case, this bastard was a suspect who might have attacked Miss Steel, who had fallen silent. He should have tenderized him first, then started.
And he realized once again that his instincts were even more trustworthy than he had thought.
A man who deserved a beating had to be beaten. There were people in this world whose fists came before words, and Sian, too, welcomed such men at any time.
Like this bastard in front of him.
Grit.
Grinding his teeth and steeling his heart, Sian decided he would now tenderize the bastard, and he fiercely swung his fist at the one who had leapt out of the hole that was now closing.
The being before his eyes had a bizarre appearance.
Something was wrapped all around his body, and because of the wavering distortion, Sian could not even make out his form properly. He was huge, nearly three meters tall. Sian himself had a fairly large frame, but he was no match for the strange man before him.
But the important thing was not his appearance.‘Damn it… what the hell is that thing in his hand?’Sian swung his fist, then clicked his tongue in irritation as he dodged the strangely shaped blade flying toward him.
In truth, he could not even tell whether that thing was a sword or not. Its shape was far too peculiar.
It was over two meters long, but the hilt took up more than a third of its length, giving it a bizarre form.
The hilt and the blade were in a dreadful contrast. No, it would be more accurate to say they possessed an aura opposite to their original purposes.
Normally, killing intent should dwell in the edge of the blade, while the hilt should be assimilated with the user’s energy.
But that strangely shaped sword was the complete opposite. The hilt contained a savage aura that seemed ready to tear the opponent apart at once, while the blade was hazy, so much so that it could not even be seen properly. No, from the start, it was hard to tell whether that thing was real or an illusion.
At a glance, it resembled the strange beam sword Mr. Ragaofe had shown him before. The difference was that while the blade of the beam sword had shone brilliantly, this sword looked, at a glance, as though it had only a hilt.
The strange man presumed to be Nekra was gripping that sword in his right hand and swinging it furiously as he pursued Sian.
Slice!‘Insane…….’It did not boast a massive weight like Krona-pon, nor was it equipped with an immense destructive function like the Spear of the War God or the Hand of Gran-la.
In reality, the translucent blade was being swung in a smooth arc without making any sound at all.
But Sian would rather choose to be beaten all day long by those things above than be struck once by that blade.
Of course, the path the blade traced was utterly quiet, and there was no change whatsoever in the place the path passed through.
That was, if ordinary people were watching.
Sian, who could feel every change occurring where the blade had been swung, felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
Space was chopped apart, and time warped. Moreover, when he had been struck once by surprise earlier, it had felt as if a corner of his soul had been sliced clean away. It had recovered now, but it was not an experience he particularly wished to continue.
Fortunately, the red scale he had obtained had canceled it out. Otherwise, even he would have suffered quite a bit.
But…‘I can do this. I’m stronger.’If a superhuman on a similar level to himself had come at him wielding such a sword, even Sian would never have come away unharmed. That sword over there was by no means inferior to the armor he was wearing. No, if one considered attack power alone, it was even stronger. Since it was a sword, perhaps that was only natural.
But the bastard was weaker than he was. It had been a surprise sword strike, but it was one he could endure, and in overall movement and aura, Sian held the advantage in every way.
Thus Sian recovered from the shock of the sudden ambush and began to drive the strange man back.
Attacks that had to be avoided, he avoided. Attacks he could take, he took. And openings, he simply hammered.
It was simple, but if it could be done, it was the most basic of basics that led a battle to victory. And it was also the combat method Sian was most confident in.
However, Sian realized that the battle was not flowing according to his thoughts.
Shhk.‘He got faster again…….’Whenever Sian was about to catch up, the man would suddenly speed up and evade his attack; and an attack that should clearly have been avoidable would ignore all space-time and cling to him, slamming into his armor.
It was clearly not the opponent’s basic martial strength. It was absolutely not that someone stronger than Sian was using a higher-level method that he could not recognize. If that were the case, Sian should already have been lying on the ground. The opponent was using some bizarre method.
Because of that, Sian could be certain of the identity he had only been guessing at.‘This is sorcery… That man is definitely the Great Warrior, Nekra.’In truth, when he had heard Karagul’s words, he had not understood them. He could not grasp in what manner one handled space or in what manner one ruled time. It would have been good if he had seen Karagul use it even once, but perhaps because Karagul had a human body, he had not been able to use it at all.
But now that he was seeing it before his eyes, Sian understood what it meant to command time, space, and life.‘Isn’t this complete fraud……?’Sian was dumbfounded. The opponent before him was by no means at a level where he should be exchanging blows with Sian like this. No matter how powerful a sword he held, Sian had something like that as well, and the key factor that determined a weapon’s power was ultimately the level of its user. Of course, that man called the Great Warrior before his eyes was strong, but comparing him to Sian was unreasonable.
The man who, under normal circumstances, should have been beaten up and lying on the ground by now was being elevated by that strange supernatural power to the point where he could wrestle with Sian like this, and Sian was left speechless.
Of course, sorcery—Sorma—probably also depended most on the user’s level, but that man was drawing out abilities bordering on fraud one after another without any restrictions at all.‘At that level, there should definitely be some restriction… damn… again?’Sian cursed inwardly when the attack he extended stopped in front of Nekra.
To be precise, it was not that his attack had stopped.
Zuuuuuuung!
The space between Sian’s fist and Nekra’s face was stretching out endlessly. That blow had enough power to smash even the peak of a mountain, but that immense force was completely sucked into the crumpled and extended space, and in the end, not even a scratch was left on Nekra’s face.
No matter how extremely he had mastered this thing called Sorma, this was too much. He was twisting the surrounding laws as he pleased and playing freely with space-time. Even just the Sorma he had used for defense just now—one use of Spama, which handled space among them—should have required energy equivalent to Exars dozens of times greater than the implosion Sian had seen before, yet he was freely drawing on it for every attack and every defense.
As Sian was left dumbfounded, Nekra seized that opening and swung his right hand fiercely, and the tip of the sword in his hand rushed toward Sian at a speed dozens of times faster than the space around it would allow. It was not some shoddy acceleration magic. He was fast-forwarding time itself. That was probably one kind of Tamara that Karagul had spoken of.‘Ah… it’s getting faster again, this thing.’At this speed, it was already too late to dodge. On top of that, whatever trick the man had pulled, the coefficients around Sian were changing violently and slowing his movements.
“Haaap!”
Boom!
Sian put strength into his fist and swung it at the incoming sword, and the bizarre sword, unable to withstand that force, was knocked backward.
And Nekra, unable to completely disperse the force contained within it, retreated in a daze. Just by looking at this scene, one could tell that Sian was overwhelmingly superior in martial strength itself.
As they exchanged blows, Sian suddenly realized there was no need for this. All he needed was to know Miss Steel’s whereabouts, was it not? There was no need to fight Nekra before his eyes. The fact that his sister-in-law’s supernatural ability had guided him here meant that the answer lay with that man.
Moreover, after fighting this much, that strange man should be beginning to feel it as well. He was holding up fairly well, but if things continued like this, he would eventually be defeated. Even if the Sorma he was using had no restrictions, the gap in their innate martial strength was so severe that Sian would win in the end. If restrictions were added on top of that, that time would be shortened even further.
Therefore, Sian attempted conversation. He did not know whether words would get through, though.
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Sian spoke. His heart was already impatient, and the strange man before him had annoyed him; moreover, he had been sucker-punched first, so he was not exactly in a pleasant mood. But first of all, he was far too curious about Miss Steel’s whereabouts.
“Wait! Let me ask just one thing. If you answer properly, you’ll probably be able to walk back on your own two feet.”<…….>Nekra did not attack while Sian spoke, and simply stared at him. From Nekra’s perspective as well, being able to catch his breath was not a bad thing.
“So… do you happen to know a woman carrying a sword like this fragment? If you guide me well, I might feel better, and this could end with only one or two of your arms broken.”<…….>After getting Ragaofe’s permission, Sian held up the fragment of Krona-pon he had brought and asked using gestures, and at those words, Nekra nodded.
At that gesture, which clearly meant that he knew, Sian’s expression brightened.
“Haha! I’m suddenly starting to like you a little! Where should I go……”
Ignoring Sian as he spoke with a smile, the strange man swung his sword straight toward the space beside him. Then space split open along its trajectory, and something dropped out from within.
It fell lightly with a thud, but the result produced when that object touched the ground was not light at all.
Kwaaaaaang!
With a tremendous roar, the area below the cliff, already smashed to pieces, collapsed entirely.
“…….”
And when Sian saw what the fallen object was, his expression hardened terrifyingly.
Without paying any attention to Sian’s stiffened expression, the strange man trudged toward Krona-pon, which lay fallen with cracks across it. Then he stomped down on the cracked part.
Crack.
Perhaps because it was already cracked and could not withstand the strange man’s strength, Krona-pon split cleanly in two, and the strange man looked at Sian and grinned broadly. As if to say, Was that answer enough?
Seeing that sight, Sian suddenly felt as though something in his head had snapped. At the same time, something surged up violently from within his heart, from within his mind. It was a sensation he did not even know how to describe, because he had never felt such a change in emotion until now.
Sian surrendered himself to that feeling, unleashing every ounce of strength he had been suppressing for fear his sister-in-law would be caught up in it, and struck Nekra before him.
☆ ☆ ☆
"Run quickly! Hurry!"
Rianna had discarded her sword and armor in the suddenly changed situation, and was running with the child beside her on her back.
'Good heavens... What on earth is happening.......'
Until just now, although the mountainside had collapsed, it hadn't seemed like the distant residents of the territory needed to evacuate, so she had thought the lord's evacuation order strange.
But she had been wrong. The evacuation was far, far too late.
The skies above the Kon
-Tian mountain range visible in the distance were tearing apart everywhere. The expression "the air was tearing" was a bit odd, but there was no other way to describe it.
The tearing of the air itself wasn't the problem. The problem was that tremendous energy was pouring out of it and sweeping away everything in all directions.
Boom!
"Uwaaaack!"
The powerful energy erupting through the torn gaps in the sky struck part of the Kon
-Tian mountain range, and the mountains simply flew away. The territory residents who witnessed the scene wet themselves and fled northward, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the mountain range.
That wasn't the end of it. The air above the mountain range split ceaselessly, spewing tremendous energy, and wherever that energy touched, it completely obliterated the surrounding mountains.
It was a spectacle as if an angry god were reaching down from the heavens and wildly striking to erase the mountain range. If this had been a territory that exploited its people, rumors would surely have spread that divine wrath had descended.
'Why, all of a sudden.......'
She was bewildered by the sudden change, but that wasn't important right now. She had to run as far, as far away as possible. This wasn't enough to feel safe. In fact, the Kon
-Tian mountain range behind their territory was being turned entirely to dust. If that destruction shifted direction even slightly, it would be a massacre.
Rianna led the people around her, running northward even faster. Maintaining order was easier than before. Those who had been reluctant to abandon their luggage were now throwing it all away and running north.
But because this was nothing to be happy about, Rianna carried Veronica, who was frozen in terror, and ran with the child seated in her arms.
☆ ☆ ☆
Sian couldn't come to his senses through his rage.
'You bastard... You're saying Steel might not come back to life!'
At first, he had felt a bit relieved when he heard that Steel had created the Soul Transfer Prison. Death was not a pleasant experience, but if one could come back to life, it wasn't the worst.
But his heart grew urgent at Ragaope's following words.
'However, Stantal the First will have difficulty reviving. This requires descendants to revive... In the case of Stantal the First, he has never married and has no descendants.'
'What? What about Stantal the Fourth?'
'He is probably an adopted child. Someone Stantal the First took in during the Grang
-Bander era.......'
If only he had been a little faster... If only he had escaped from the red scales a little sooner, Steel could have lived.
Self-blame, regret, and despair all transformed into rage and poured out onto the bastard before him.
Crack!
Sian clenched his left fist and struck Nekra with all his might.
Then the same thing as before happened. The space between Sian's fist and Nekra's body began to expand tremendously. The Great Sorcery, Spama, had activated.
However, Sian's blow, delivered with his eyes rolled back and paying no heed to his surroundings, brought about a completely different result from before.
Crack.
The fist let out a bizarre noise as it pushed forward, crushing the expanded space itself. Crushing both sorcery and space alike, the fist reached before Nekra's body in an instant.
Witnessing that attack, Nekra hurriedly unleashed the next stage of Spama.
Then a hole appeared between Sian and Nekra—or more precisely, right in front of Nekra. Beyond the hole, the majestic Kon
-Tian mountain range was visible in the distance.
Sian's blow struck the hole created before Nekra, and its destructive force had to be endured entirely by the unlucky mountain range visible beyond the hole.
But Nekra was not unharmed either. Despite unleashing two types of Spama to dissipate the attack, Sian's blow crushed through them and struck Nekra directly.
Nekra was sent flying backward.
He couldn't just stand there in a daze from being hit. Countless other attacks were already raining down. If he stayed like this and was pummeled by all of them, his whole body would be twisted.
Nekra activated Spama even more intensely.
Ka-boooooom!
After weakening the countless attacks pouring down on him, he sent the dozens of blows that still reached him all to the mountain range beyond space. But this wasn't enough.
While blocking the attacks, Nekra cast Tamara. On Sian, and on himself.
In an instant, the coefficients around Sian changed and his speed slowed, while Nekra's speed became much faster. Due to this sudden change, an opening appeared in Sian's defense, and Nekra's sword, wrapped densely in tremendous energy and sorcery, exploded toward that gap.
If struck by this blow laden with Somarin to its extreme, not through destructive force but through sorcery alone, the root of life would fly away and the soul would be twisted.
It was said that Kallagul were vulnerable to Somarin in attacks, so many Kallagul neglected it and failed to achieve its extreme limit, but this was entirely different from the truth.
Rather, if one trained Somarin to its limit, it produced a heinous destructive power incomparable to Spama or Tamara. Even a graze would tear the opponent's soul asunder and scatter their vitality into the air. And that shaken soul and vitality would transfer entirely to the user, augmenting their power. From the very beginning, it was not Spama or Tamara that solidly maintained Nekra's position as an absolute powerhouse, but Somarin.
Wham!
But Nekra frowned. Sian had regained his posture at some point and struck his sword,
Nekra furrowed his brow at the current situation. Karnain in his hand was not demonstrating the power he had expected. It was all because of the strange armor that human was wearing.
The cursed demonic sword Karnain, which had been with him for thousands of years, would shear away all space, time, and life that it merely grazed.
The bizarre blade, generated based on a hilt made of special materials, had no physical destructive power whatsoever. The reason it appeared translucent was that it constantly changed its coefficients, dwelling in another dimension and time while straddling a single step into this dimension.
But from the start, Karnain's blade shattered the very root of a physical object's existence, so physical destructive power was unnecessary.
Since they had been together, Karnain had never once failed to meet his expectations, yet the armor that bastard wore was nullifying his attacks entirely.
But Nekra knew this was nothing but an excuse. That bastard's armor was indeed tremendous, but his own blade was by no means inferior.
The fundamental reason he had been driven to this situation in the first place was because the gap in their abilities was too great.
Tamara: the opponent became much slower, while he became incomparably faster.
Spama: the opponent had to travel a great distance, while he cut straight through.
Somarin: the opponent became half-crippled, while he was supplied with immortal vitality.
This was the power of Sorma, the Great Sorcery. Not only upon himself, but twisting the surrounding environment and placing it under his dominion—an absolute authority. It was similar to a miracle, but its activation speed was far faster and more efficient, making it incomparable at least in battle.
Moreover, the secret techniques gained when each branch's sorcery reached its ultimate limit eliminated all the unique restrictions of miracles.
The secret technique of the Tamara branch,
The secret technique of the Spama branch,
The secret technique of the Somarin branch,
While each branch had different techniques, mechanisms, and restrictions, the ultimate secret techniques shared a common point:
Winding up one's own time, storing it, and releasing it when needed.
Accumulating the space permitted to oneself, then kneading space.
Borrowing the power of lives one had killed and plundered, offering them as sacrifices for sorcery.
Through this method, as long as he had reserves of accumulated time, space, and life, he could consume them to ignore all the numerous restrictions placed on Great Sorcery and unfold it immediately.
Moreover, over thousands of years, as he grew stronger and stronger, he had accumulated but rarely used, so the amount stored within him now was truly enormous. Recently, for four years by this place's time, he had stayed in a dimensional gap that had opened for some unknown reason, winding up even more space-time, so that capacity had increased further. Dimensional gaps were difficult to find, but once found, one could wind up incomparably more space-time than in this world. As for life—how many lives had he killed... It was already piled up like a mountain.
And yet he was being pushed back. The time, space, and life he had accumulated were disappearing at a truly tremendous speed. Nekra found this experience almost refreshing. After that human, and even after that human died, he had thought he would never see someone like this again, but this was practically a monster.
But Nekra wore a vicious smile. The stronger his opponent, the better it was for him.
Everything had been perfect so far. It had flowed exactly as he intended. Leaving a trail for the human before him to draw him here, the success of his surprise attack, the opponent losing his reason and rushing in filled with rage.
But finishing was what mattered in all things. And he did not make such amateurish mistakes.
Thinking to finish this matter, Nekra wore a pleasant smile and faced Sian, who was charging at him.
☆ ☆ ☆
Squelch!
Only after ripping out Nekra's heart did Sian see his regeneration stop and realize his thought had been correct.
Spama and Tamara had been useless for a while; perhaps thanks to the power of Somarin that this bastard had mastered, no matter how much he killed him, he kept coming back to life.
Then he remembered what he had heard from a Kallagul long ago. That all Kal
-lagul made their heart and weapon their root.
Hearing those words, he immediately subdued the resisting bastard and ripped out his heart. As for the weapon, he had kicked it far away long ago, the moment he prevented the bastard from using Spama. The sword dropped from the bastard's hand had instantly lost its blade and was left as nothing but a stick, lying alone in the distance.
The heart gripped in his hand was beating grotesquely even after being ripped out. Moreover, it felt like tremendous power remained, as if vitality still lingered.
But it seemed the heart was not the only thing with vitality to spare.
Sian looked at the bastard still squirming with his heart ripped out and approached to finish him.
He had never beaten an opponent this thoroughly before. And usually, at this point, the rage inside him would have subsided; that had been the case most of the time until now. Perhaps it was his personality, but his anger was often volatile.
But this time was different. His rage still had not cooled. To the extent that the thought kept rising in his mind—was it okay to let this bastard die so easily?
But it was already over. The bastard who had lost his weapon and heart would die even without him finishing the job. He felt it strongly.
Sian approached the bastard and made a puzzled expression at his face.
"Why are you smiling?"
Sian, feeling displeased, asked the bastard again. Then, surprisingly, the bastard who had been silent until now opened his mouth in the kingdom's language.
"......?"
When Sian made a puzzled face at the unexpected line, something suddenly began to flow intensely from the heart he was holding into him.
Sian scanned the scenes flowing before his eyes and muttered.
Though flustered by the sudden situation, he trusted his instincts.
Carried on the strange flow of Exar released from the heart was an unbelievable degree of goodwill.
Because of that, Sian did not refuse the sorcery flowing in from the heart and was now reviewing the memories of one called Nekra.
Nekra.
A powerful Kal
—A warrior counted among the geniuses even among the Kal-Gul tribe.
In the vast Great Forest teeming with savage Harijans, there were only a few beings one needed to be wary of, and only one among them that had to be avoided at all costs: the mighty Kal-Gul.
Born a warrior of the Kal-Gul tribe, Nekra possessed immense pride in his people, but there was one fact he could not accept.
The ruler of the Krona Great Forest.
A being who had seized the very pinnacle, even in a Great Forest overflowing with the powerful.
But Nekra could not acknowledge that fact. No matter how strong it was, was it not, in the end, merely a six-horn? It was not an existence that could never be surpassed.
Of course, a six-horned Harijan was by no means something to be looked down on. But among his tribe, there were more than enough strong warriors capable of hunting a six-horned Harijan.
They were wary of other six-horned Harijans, but that was only to avoid pointless conflict. If they set their minds to it, they could sweep them all away. Even the rank of high warrior he currently held had been earned by beating down a six-horned Harijan.
Nekra disliked the current situation, where the other high warriors avoided Krona.
And so the genius warrior of the mighty Kal-Gul decided to seek it out. He would see it with his own eyes, and if it turned out to be nothing special, he would take its head himself. In truth, he was in a state brimming with confidence in the immense power granted to him by the three sorceries he had mastered—three kinds of Sorma, each said to be difficult enough to properly cultivate even one of, and at an astonishing speed at that.
And when Nekra met Krona, he understood at once.
Not all six-horns were the same six-horns, and not all transcendents were the same transcendents.
Krona, who was on the verge of becoming a seven-horn, was indeed a six-horn, but it was by no means a being he could even dare look up at. Even to Nekra, a transcendent himself, it seemed transcendental—a godlike existence.
Seeing Nekra cowed before its eyes, Krona conveyed its will as if amused. Astonishingly, the will of a Harijan he had thought to be nothing more than a beast flowed directly into their link.
Astonishingly, the monster was communicating with him clearly.
Who among those living in the Great Forest did not desire great power? Nekra unconsciously formed that thought, and it flowed directly into Krona.
Krona conveyed a bizarre laugh as it spoke. At least, to Nekra, it certainly sounded that way.
Judging by the situation, refusing was impossible anyway. The moment he refused, he would be torn apart and killed. At the same time, a question arose in his mind. Why would such a mighty existence need a watchman?
But before he could even finish that thought, Krona swallowed him whole.
When he came to his senses, Krona had vanished, and only he remained.
Once Nekra regained his awareness, he realized that three things about him had changed.
The first was his heart. His heart was no longer the heart of a Kal-Gul. It had been replaced by one of Krona’s six hearts. Nekra could hardly keep his senses before the tremendous power pouring from that heart.
The second was his weapon. The weapon he had used had vanished somewhere. In its place was a short staff made by pulling out and compressing one of Krona’s eighteen fangs. The moment he gripped it, he knew. This was the weapon that would remain with him for the rest of his life. The power of this blade, which he named Karnain, was terror itself.
And… lastly, the third. The moment he learned of this third change, Nekra realized what he had done. He should never have come anywhere near Krona.
And he understood why Krona had granted him such tremendous power.
While Dragona entered molting in order to become a seven-horn, Krona too would enter childbirth. This was Krona’s instinct to leave descendants behind.
The moment Krona finished giving birth, it would begin preparations to become a seven-horn, and once that happened, it would have no leisure to pay attention elsewhere while keeping Dragona, who would also become a seven-horn at the same time, in check.
A watchman made to guard Krona’s offspring in preparation for that time. That was Nekra himself.
He could no longer even die. Krona’s heart would endlessly supply him with life.
He would grow stronger without end. Karnain would aid him.
And… with that strengthened power, for his entire life, unable even to die, he would have to protect Krona’s offspring.
All of this was told to him by the third change that had occurred within him—the connection of souls with Krona that rang endlessly inside his head.
Nekra fell into despair. He had obtained immense power, but in exchange, he had become a slave.
In exchange for power, he had sacrificed everything else.
Sian thought as he combed through all those memories. From the look of it, the immortal authority Nekra had shown earlier did not seem to be the authority of the Kal-Gul tribe or the authority of Somarin.
Immortality obtained through Krona’s heart.
As Sian read through the memories, he learned who the owner of the shell he was wearing had been.
At the same time, he also learned the secret behind the tremendous power of that strange blade from earlier, Karnain. Though it was not like Sian, who had obtained an entire shell, and was merely one of eighteen fangs, unlike Sian’s shell, whose power had greatly faded over thousands of years, the fang contained the power it had possessed in its prime, which was why it had displayed such might.
Sian was surprised that there had been more than one such monstrous creature, but soon realized he need not concern himself, since there was no reason for them to become involved with him. If beings like that had intended to overturn the continent, it would have been smashed apart already with a single snort. The very fact that he had not even known such existences existed until now meant they paid no attention to this place.
Just as Ra-Bander did not regard Gran-Bander as human, they too probably had no interest in beings beneath them. They must be busy keeping each other in check. If anything, it was surprising that they cared about their offspring.
After making various conjectures, Sian focused on the next memories flowing in.
Thousands of years passed.
He had grown incomparably stronger than when he first met Krona. And the more he did, the more despair he felt.
Hundreds of years ago, when he first reached the wall, he had been overjoyed. But he quickly realized it meant little.
Even after reaching the wall, despite training for hundreds of years with his talent, he had failed to break through. Instinctively, he understood. This was both his limit and the limit of his race.
The one fortunate thing was that the role of Krona’s watchman was not as difficult as he had expected. With him at the center, the power of the Kal-Gul had grown greatly, so even six-horned Harijans could not approach easily. Thus, Nekra was able to watch Krona’s offspring grow without incident.
Then, in the midst of that, an accident occurred.
Nekra was dumbfounded. He too had heard news of humans. And of the place called the Empire, where they gathered together and lived.
He had paid them no attention because they were so laughable, yet now they dared invade.
But when the lid was opened, the result was completely unexpected. They were no longer the insect-like creatures of the past.
There were quite a number among them who corresponded to high warriors, and in particular, the discipline they had achieved, called “miracles,” was extraordinarily powerful.
But more than anything, there was the Emperor of the Empire who led them. The arrogant bastard who called himself the Son of God.
That bastard was the real thing. Absurdly, a mere creature who had lived only 300 years was fighting evenly against Nekra, who had inherited even Krona’s power.
Even more absurd was the fact that a superhuman had gotten involved in a human war.
Humans, the moment they became transcendents, paid no attention whatsoever to their own kind, so it was exceedingly strange that he would block Nekra’s path like this. But Nekra decided to think about that later. What mattered was that the man had blocked his way.
Once his feet were tied down by this Con-Rad, the one-sided massacre came to a halt, and the war he had thought would be quickly swept away entered a protracted stage. During the war, Nekra, who had been waiting in the rear to prevent Con-Rad from barging into the battlefield, sensed an enormous yet familiar concentration of energy from the north.
By the time Nekra sensed that energy and grew alarmed, it was already too late.
A colossal purple flash erupted from the middle of the Great Forest, thousands of kilometers away.
The sight of that flash was Nekra’s final memory.
And when he opened his eyes, he saw his own body regenerating in a half-shattered state, and before him glared an existence so enormous as to defy description—one he had not seen even once since it had made him its watchman and left thousands of years ago.
Only then did Nekra understand the true identity of the colossal flash that had erupted from the middle of the Great Forest.
While the Kal-Gul and the Empire had been fighting, Krona’s offspring must have been caught up in the battle and injured, and in its rage, Krona had done something.
At the same time, Nekra was bewildered by the emptiness inside his head.
He could not feel a single one of the connections with his countless kin that had moved like one body with him.
Before Nekra’s confused thoughts could settle, Krona’s furious command was transmitted to him.
Unable to defy the command resounding in his head, Nekra was forced to head south without even having time to grasp the situation. As he walked, he was able to understand what had happened.
A sight of ruins followed by more ruins. The Empire’s once-brilliant territory had all been smashed to pieces. But it was not only the Empire that had been destroyed.
With a hollow expression, Nekra spat out the words that surged up from within his chest.
At the devastation Krona had wrought, he could not even weep.
With a single flash spat out in rage, Krona had erased the entirety of the Empire’s territory. And with it, the citizens of the Empire and Nekra’s own kin who had lived upon that land.
A small number of tribes outside the range might have survived, but at the very least, it was certain that his own tribe had perished. Not a single one of the voices that had communicated endlessly inside his head could be heard.
Now, on this vast continent, the only surviving warrior of the Kal-Gul was himself. All of them had been linked in mind—his family and comrades. Such a race had been annihilated in a single instant. All because of one breath from Krona, who had found it bothersome to distinguish between them before killing.
Nekra felt as if he would go mad from the rage and emptiness surging in his chest, and at the same time, he gave a hollow laugh at the absurdity of his cursed fate, unable to defy the orders of Krona, the very target of that rage.
Grinding his teeth, Nekra began heading south, toward Liona’s territory.
Sian thought it would be nice if he had something to snack on. Though in a memory, trying to find such a thing was a luxury.
In the world, there was a rumor that the Empire, pushed to the brink, had all died in a final grand miracle chosen in order to take the Kal-Gul down with them.
That was not it. While they were fighting, Krona had become enraged that its offspring was unluckily caught up in it and injured, and with a single breath, it had blown everything away. A vast territory spanning thousands of kilometers in width and length… and the hundreds of millions, tens of millions of people who had lived upon it, all in one blow.
Then the next memories would be those spanning from 400 years ago, when the Empire fell, to the present.
He continued to wander. Whether it was a stroke of luck amid misfortune, or because he had entered the domain of one called Raiona that Keurona had spoken of, the orders were no longer renewed.
The standard for what could pose a threat to the hatchling was clearly the Transcendents. Those beneath them were all merely ants from the very beginning.
That was why he hadn't killed them all. Since he couldn't resist the order for too long, whenever the situation became one where he absolutely could not resist the order, he would kill just one and enter hibernation in a rift of space-time. After entering hibernation and gathering his strength, when he again absolutely couldn't resist the order, he would come out and enter hibernation again... Whether because humans lacked talent or for some other reason, superhumans were extremely rare, so if he killed two each time he came out, they would quickly disappear entirely. He had to save them as much as possible and buy time.
Finding them wasn't difficult. If he applied Soreuma, finding a powerful soul was incredibly easy.
While resisting the order, there was only one thought that filled his mind.
What good was strength? In the end, he could never defeat Keurona.
The most painful part was that he could not kill himself, either. Until Keurona released him, he couldn't die even if he wanted to. It seemed the superhumans were gathering to try something, but they looked a bit lacking to kill him.
Therefore, Nekeura was buying time while waiting for human superhumans to accumulate to a suitable number. If he waited hundreds or thousands of years, they too would pile up suitably, and then he intended to leap right in among them.
Having spent 400 years in that manner, while sleeping, Nekeura suddenly felt an intense shock that shook him. To what degree... a shock powerful enough to stimulate him while he hibernated in a space-time rift.
Even though he had some leeway to resist the order a bit longer, feeling that he must not miss this sensation, Nekeura kicked out of the space-time rift he had been sleeping in and emerged.
The moment he emerged, Nekeura used Soreuma to sweep the entire continent and was greatly disappointed. The powerful energy that had stimulated him had vanished. Thinking that perhaps it hadn't vanished but that he simply couldn't find it, he tried searching once more, but in the end, he could not find that being. Instead, he felt something astonishing.
He could feel the soul of his kin. The soul of his kin, which he had never felt despite sweeping the continent every time he emerged from hibernation, could now be felt.
Nekeura ran there, full of joy, only to end up disappointed. It was but a lower warrior who had transferred his soul by borrowing a human body. Kal
-gul's soul, even if it were Kal
-gul's soul, if it were not contained within Kal
-gul's flesh, it was naught but a trifle.
Disappointed, Nekeura thought that since he had come out anyway, he should kill one Transcendent and enter hibernation, so he sought out one Transcendent who had been staying at a location he had already searched. There was still some time left to endure the order, but he needed to vent the anger born from disappointment.
As it happened, one human female he had marked with Soreuma was training in the desert. This Transcendent had remained within Dragona's territory until now, so he had not bothered to go to her. Because if he fought needlessly and provoked those below, it would become quite a hassle. And whether because humans lacked the ability to learn or not, even if it wasn't that female, there were always ones wandering around alone.
The human female he sought out was fairly strong, but to him, she was an existence that couldn't threaten him even as much as grime beneath a claw. After batting away the sword swung at him, sending it flying, Nekeura simply subdued her and was about to kill her when a different thought suddenly came to mind.
Nekeura trembled as he swept through the memories.
Seeing the memory of one called Sian within this female's head.
He had finally found it. An existence so powerful it could put a period to his cursed life spanning thousands of years.
Right now, this existence had entered a red shell, so there was no telling when it would come out, but he was certain. He would not lose to a mere red shell devoid of reason. And someday, it would kick out of that shell and appear as an even more powerful existence.
The level of that one he had seen last had been evenly matched with him, but once it kicked out of the shell, that one would become an existence that even he could not oppose, an existence powerful enough to kill him.
Nekeura, filled with excitement, began to ponder how he could make that one kill him.
First, he had to make it come find him immediately.
And the moment it saw him, he had to make it charge at him to kill him.
The first wasn't difficult. The secret art he had researched to the extreme, Tamara, even allowed a short glimpse of the future. Tamara taught him. Even if he did nothing, that one would definitely come find him. Fate would lead that one to him. It was an exceedingly vague feeling, but at his level, a feeling was no simple feeling. It was a hint given to him by the world itself.
This being the case, the second was the problem. Looking at that one's personality, it didn't seem likely to kill him easily. Seeing that that one cherished its family, tearing that one's family to pieces and killing them would simply solve it, but he soon realized that wasn't even necessary. If that one learned that he had killed the human female before its eyes, that one too would charge at him to kill him.
Having thus solved all problems, Nekeura found a suitably split rift in space-time and entered hibernation. Waiting for the one called Sian, who would someday come find him......
He had no intention of dying meekly. For that would be a disgrace to that one as well. He would show that one everything he had built up until now, and then die.
The space-time rift in which he hid was excellent for accumulating power. He didn't know how it had been pierced, but here, it was far easier to coil space-time, so the accumulated space-time energy grew at a faster rate than expected.
And how much time had passed? The rift in which he hid split open. Seeing the light seeping through that rift, Nekeura's face was filled with rapture.
Sian, having read all the memories, quickly walked over to pick up Kareunain, which had fallen to the ground.
And picking up Kareunain, which had fallen in the corner, he infused it with power. Perhaps it wasn't an item only Nekeura could use, for the moment Sian infused it with power, a blade of far greater might than when Nekeura had used it sprouted forth.
But Sian had not infused it with power to admire the newly obtained sword.
Reading Nekeura's memories, Sian had come to know everything.
Following Nekeura's memories, Sian thrust Kareunain into the empty air and turned the handle in a full circle like a key.
Fzzzzzish!
Sian watched as space split in a circle around Kareunain's blade, emitting blue light.
And once that rift opened wide enough for a person to enter, Sian, as if unable to wait any longer, forcibly spread it open and went inside, then came out carrying a person.
"Ha... please don't make people worry like this, next time......"
With eyes mixing sorrow and relief, Sian looked at Steel, who was nestled in his arms in a faint.
In Nekeura's memories, the Soreuma that Nekeura had cast,
-jeuran>—this technique, which could only be cast if one knew how to use all three types of Soreuma—froze and sealed away the target's time, space, and life altogether. And unless the user unlocked it with the key, one could absolutely never exit that space.
Originally created by Nekeura to seal away an opponent too overwhelming to face, but because it took too long to activate and couldn't be used on someone stronger than himself, it became an unfortunate sorcery used only to seal away criminals.
Steel, who had become the target of that sorcery, was freed by the key, Kareunain.
Through Nekeura's memories, Sian had witnessed everything regarding how he had not killed Steel. He had simply sealed her away to make Sian misunderstand. If there was no contact for several years, Sian would definitely misunderstand. And in the end, by breaking the Keurona
-pon, he had finished it cleanly.
"Huu......"
As Sian, having checked Steel's condition and realized there was nothing seriously wrong, let out a sigh of relief, another will flowed in.
Sian was dumbfounded that even Nekeura pitied him.'I should have snapped her neck a few more times while keeping her alive.......'At the same time, having witnessed before his eyes all the desperate efforts of the one called Nekeura, who had chosen death as the means to escape his cursed fate, Sian felt a strange emotion.
"Did you want to die that badly."
The heart in his hand did not answer Sian's mutter, and only conveyed the will Nekeura had stored within it to Sian.
I'll go as late as possible, though.......'Hearing Nekeura's final will, which left behind words one could not tell if they were a greeting or a curse, Sian shook his head. Though it was clearly the memory of a dead man, seeing Nekeura leave with such incredible lightness felt strange.
In the place Nekeura left behind, only Sian, Steel, a single sword, and a heart remained.
Had it been as usual, he would have put the sword and heart into Niceumatan and carried Steel on his back, but now another method had come to mind.
Sian, as it remained in his memories, took Kareunain in his hand and pushed it straight into his left palm with a squelch.
An action someone might mistake for self-harm. But no such thing occurred.
Kareunain, which had entered with the momentum to pierce straight through Sian's palm, tore through space before his palm and was pushed in with a slurp, and soon even the lengthy handle was completely sucked in. While he was at it, he pushed the heart in there as well.'Sheesh... others get incredibly strong just holding onto a heart like this... why am I...'The thought of whether eating the heart would make him stronger crossed his mind, but soon he shook his head. His wall wasn't so easily overcome with just one heart. And hadn't Mister Kallagul said so as well. Greater sorcery, Soreuma, could not be used by humans. It was better to save it for later.
Carrying Steel on his back, Sian smiled as he looked at the sleeping Steel. Having cleanly finished by putting the Keurona
-pon into Niceumatan hanging around Steel's neck, Sian looked around and let out a groan.'Hmm... nothing seems wrong... fortunately, the estate is intact too.'Sian scratched his head as he looked at the scenery visible behind him, then flew off toward his sister-in-law, who would be heading far to the north.