Chapter 137
Swish.
In the dark bushes.
There was a figure hiding there, yellow pupils gleaming.
Scales sprouted on his skin, and with pupils slit vertically like a reptile's, he was the former chieftain of the Dragonman tribe.
It was Pilo, who had severed his own tail.
"Aldu, no matter how much I think about it."
"I know."
"Isn't it too much?"
"It can't be helped. We aren't as light as Serena."
That was right.
Leteti's Wings were wings of iron.
Engraved on the artifact, which was no different from an ancient relic, was a spell that governed the wind.
However, it had its limits.
Since the tribe originally lived on cliffs, it was an artifact created based on gliding on strong winds.
It wasn't an artifact that could fly so freely, and it had its own weight limit. Strictly up to Serena.
It didn't apply to Aldu or Pilo, who both weighed over a hundred kilograms.
"Even if I were Callias, I would have carried Serena. It's right to fly away holding a fragrant woman rather than a smelly man. It's romantic! Heheha!"
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue but couldn't deny it.
They were quite a fitting pair.
At least, outwardly.
Besides, Callias's choice was somewhat rational too.
"There he goes."
They could see him flying through the sky.
"Let's rest too. She'll give up on the princess in a few days anyway. We have to take this guy along, so it's better to rest now."
-Grrr.
The Thunder Wolf Dragon holding a sword in its mouth.
Pilo felt a sense of unease and flopped down on the spot.
Clink.
Aldu took something out of his embrace.
He thought it was water in an iron container, but when he popped the lid open, a rich smell of alcohol wafted out.
"What's this?"
"Alcohol. Callias told me to drink this and pass the time."
"Oh...."
"It's called Aurora's Tears or something. They say they distilled brewed liquor again, anyway, they said it's incredibly strong and delicious, so it's worth looking forward to, hehe."
Soon, Aldu's eyes lit up as he drank the strong liquor straight from the bottle.
The intense taste, feeling like his tongue and throat were burning, and the deep aroma were top-notch.
"Keuuuu! Yes! This is alcohol!"
It was as strong as the fiery liquor boasted in the land of the dwarves.
As expected of Northern liquor.
They say it's a liquor drunk to overcome the cold; in an instant, his whole body heated up, and the intoxication numbed his senses.
"Kya, I received a good gift."
Aldu had wandered here and there as a pilgrim, but it was not easy to find liquor as strong as this.
Most strong liquors were either tasteless or garbage like eating rotten potatoes, but the Northern strong liquor was different.
Aurora's Tears.
He would definitely visit the North next time.
"Give me a sip too."
"Sure."
Receiving it, he took a sip.
"Keck!"
Pilo coughed from his burning throat and hacked repeatedly.
Laughing heartily, Aldu drank a bit more of Aurora's Tears and lay down with a flushed face.
"The world is spinning! Kkahahaha!"
"Ugh, my tongue feels like it's burning."
While spending time crying or laughing heartily.
Rumble.
A faint vibrating sound was heard.
"Hmm?"
Pilo's tail twitched.
When he raised his head.
"Aldu! Aldu! Get up!"
"Umm, why... It was just getting good."
"Over there!"
Rubbing his eyes, Aldu rose and looked at the sky.
"Is it morning already?"
The sky, which had been full of stars and the moon, had somehow brightened.
He thought it was morning, but it wasn't.
It was a temporary light.
"Damn!"
Aldu realized that was the light emitted by Serena's arrows.
Having traveled together for so long, there was no way he couldn't know.
"The princess has started moving."
"They seemed to be flying well, why?"
"I don't know that well. But this isn't the time to be sitting around."
Aldu's hand reached for his hammer.
Pilo's hand reached for his spear.
Bibi clenched the sword tightly in its mouth.
"Let's go!"
Three shadows leaped from the forest near the border, but no imperial troops noticed it.
* * *
Craaack!!
The tall peak that had stood its ground for hundreds of years collapsed vainly.
It wasn't a powerful dragon's roar, nor was it the resentment of the corrupted.
The divine feat achieved by a few small arrows brought down the towering peak of the mountain range.
Kwaaang!!
'I made it too flashy.'
He didn't expect Serena to exert such powerful force.
Thanks to that, Luteon was momentarily suppressed, but it rather drew even more attention.
Callias glanced back and clicked his tongue softly.
It was because the troops deployed near the border were rushing in all at once.
There were already guys shooting arrows on horseback, and quite a few trying to throw spears.
He had tried to pass by quietly, but things got twisted because of Luteon. However, conversely, it was also a situation easy to take advantage of.
"Serena, keep him in check. We break through like this."
"Yes!"
There was no loyalty to fight for him.
If he fought Luteon, the troops behind would swarm in, and he would be pushed on the defensive.
Of course, finishing the unfinished fight with Luteon was also important, but the timing wasn't very good.
A waste of time and energy.
And dying a dog's death was out of the question.
"Like this. I would appreciate it if you keep flying while maintaining this!"
Pew!
Serena fired countless arrows like a bomber.
Luteon couldn't find any leeway amidst the collapsing peaks.
The forest was burning and the peaks were collapsing. Even in the midst of it, Luteon's martial prowess as he dodged arrows and tried to climb using falling rocks as footholds was impressive, but that was as far as it went.
"You bastards...!"
Against Serena's archery skills, which shot arrows anticipating his movements, even Luteon, the best in the world, had trouble maintaining his balance.
No matter how much of a genius he was.
Humans cannot fly in the sky.
"Calliaaas!!"
Only Luteon's furious scream echoed through the mountain range. Struck in the shoulder by Serena's arrow, Luteon fell.
But he didn't just fall.
Spitting it out as he screamed, the bastard threw his last remaining spear.
'Explosive Spear Ames.'
He threw it.
"Serena."
"No problem."
Serena's bow radiated light once again. The instantly splitting arrows intercepted Luteon's spear.
But at that moment.
"Ames!"
Along with Luteon's shout.
Kwaaaaang!!
The spear exploded.
The intense blast current surged in all directions.
It was probably his scheme to drop Callias with the aftermath of this explosion.
It was a calculated strike.
"I expected that much."
Callias had fought Luteon before. When the bastard threw his last spear, he had already anticipated it.
The Explosive Spear that had given him so much trouble.
Callias was not foolish enough to forget that.
"Gyeongcheon of the Three Miracles."
Callias's murmuring eyes were dyed purple, and the demonic power that bloomed like a heat haze around him dominated the space.
Callias folded the Wings of Leteti.
Callias's mouth, which inscribed holy characters in the air in an instant, curled up.
Along with the surging pitch-black explosion, Sulivian's divine art was completed in an instant.
"Cheongyo."
Chwarrrr!
At the same time, hundreds of transparent chains made of atmospheric energy appeared beside him, wrapping around him and Serena.
Kuaaaaa!
Along with the shockwave shaking the atmosphere, Callias and Serena's bodies were flung far away.
As their bodies drew a parabola.
Chwarruk!
The wings spread out once again.
"Damn bastard."
Falling Luteon spat out a curse.
He could never bring down the flying Callias.
"Let's finish the unfinished match next time."
Huuung!
Callias flapped his iron wings and rode the updraft. He scoffed at Luteon and left the mountain range just like that.
* * *
Rumble.
Having survived the collapsing landslide relatively unscathed, Luteon irritably pulled out the spear lying on the ground.
"......."
Standing silently for a long time, reviewing the battle, Luteon let out an empty laugh.
He had expected it.
He had heard the story of the bastard returning to the battlefield with a winged artifact in the North. So he expected him to cross here, and he was right.
But to think.
"He'd be traveling with an elf."
The eyesight of a superhuman, who had drawn close to Master, transcended the bounds of ordinary humans.
Thus, Luteon saw it clearly.
The unlucky face of Callias, holding a beautiful elf in his arms and sneering at him.
Crack.
Murderous intent filled Luteon's face as he gripped his spear hard enough to break it.
"You still haven't stopped womanizing. Why do you keep..."
Getting stronger and stronger.
Luteon felt a sense of unfairness.
He was originally a guy without talent.
Since such a guy grew stronger, he thought he must have cut off and discarded something.
Because he himself had done so.
But the guy remained the same.
He still held a woman in his arms, and his arrogant eyes, which seemed to look down on everything except himself, were still the same.
Yet.
Why was he getting stronger?
"What the hell is that divine art?"
The bizarre energy the guy emitted was also no different from what he was seeing for the first time in his life.
'It couldn't be demonic power.'
Did he gain a bizarre power because he was said to harbor the Mad Dragon?
He couldn't know.
But what was certain was that the guy had acquired not only swordsmanship but also divine arts.
And a powerful divine art that possessed the means to defend against his spear!
However, Luteon's anger rather sublimated into sneering.
"It seems you've hit your limit after all. That's why you're learning miscellaneous tricks."
The limit of swordsmanship.
Callias, a dull talent, couldn't have easily broken it.
So he turned his eyes elsewhere.
It's the narrow-minded way of thinking of ordinary people.
Even if a guy who couldn't even handle a sword properly gained great power and wielded divine arts.
That too would soon hit a limit.
But he was different.
He was solely looking at his spear, honing it with the momentum to break through the wall.
Breaking through the wall was just a matter of time.
"The next time we meet."
He won't be able to escape as easily as today.
At that time, definitely.
"I will avenge the woman you violated."
* * *
What came into view after leaving the mountain range was.
"Wow."
The Red Desert of Sahara.
The Tower of the Holy Land standing tall in its center.
It was the Holy Land of Sahara.
Callias and Serena, forgetting the previous battle, leisurely admired the vast landscape while floating in the sky.
How many people could see Sahara from such a high sky?
Callias and Serena felt their chests swell with grandeur as they witnessed the painting created by nature without speaking for a while.
The Red Desert of Sahara was vast.
And grand.
And just as much, the tower was large and tall.
But what was truly amazing was something else.
"The power..."
"As expected, a holy land is a holy land."
The depleted energy was filling up.
Serena was amazed by the mysterious sensation, and Callias also admired it.
'Is it several times more pure than the holy land of Fatalite?'
Even though the Red Desert of Sahara was no different from a graveyard where dragons and demons died.
How could such clear divine power be permeated in the atmosphere of this place?
They admired it again and again.
The divine power consumed in the previous battle had already been filled and then some.
Just by feeling the divine power of the holy land, Serena seemed to have realized something, and the aura surrounding her began to change slightly.
Callias flew slowly over the skies of Sahara so as not to disturb her. At the same time, he scanned the outskirts of the red desert with his eyes.
Here, there would be traces of Saint Stella.
And the one who turned himself into a sword would still be residing in the holy land.
So if he found all of them.
Callias would step over the wall.
Shedding his lowly human body and transcending, to stand against dragons and demons.
A true transcendent.
Splitting the sea and cleaving the mountain with a single sword.
A sword that bisects heaven and earth.
Sword Master.
He was destined to transcend humanity.