Chapter 181
Riiiip.
The cocoon made of silver threads tore apart, and a person burst out from within.
Skin slick and hair drenched as if having just emerged from water, he was none other than the Thread Believer whose limbs had been torn off by Callius.
One of Kracion's elders, Politan.
Politan of the Silkworm Cocoon.
"Damn it. To think the bastard who killed an enhanced troll in one blow was Callius."
Politan spat curses the moment he tore out of the cocoon.
Ashes sprinkled over a finished meal.
Even having anticipated variables, the bastard's strength exceeded imagination.
How could a delinquent who merely became a Pilgrim six years ago and was below a dullard in swordsmanship become that strong!
Politan cursed the absurdity of the world and let out a deep breath.
"Haa... There's not a single easy thing."
Brushing back his wet hair and wiping off the mucus, Politan threw on prepared clothes and wrapped the prepared threads around his body.
This was a bunker deep underground built in preparation for contingencies.
Climbing the stairs one by one, he retrieved the barriers made of thread.
And reached the surface.
The Sinking Forest.
"The plan failed, but there's no need to act like it's the end of the world."
A failure is a failure.
However, since he kept his life, he could make a comeback as long as he reserved his strength.
"I should take my subordinates and leave the North first. Still, leaving one troll behind just in case was a godsend."
With that, even Kracion would cover up his failure.
"If I hound Lamatu for letting Callius live, something will work out."
At that time, Callius had not reached Master. It was no secret that he barely survived fighting the Orc Warlord to a bloody standstill.
"But where did these bastards go..."
The troops that should have been standing by in the forest were nowhere to be seen.
The troll had vanished as well.
After wandering for a while, Politan's footsteps suddenly stopped.
"...Nothing but unexpected things. I thought the variable was just that one bastard."
Grrrrr.
A wolf with two blue horns.
No, a dragon so massive and possessing such a fierce aura that it should be called a dragon.
The Thunder Wolf Dragon appeared with heavy strides before Politan.
It seemed the reason the awaiting personnel had disappeared was this bastard's doing.
"A wolf that wields lightning. How peculiar. No, is it a dragon rather than a wolf?"
A dense sensation of dragon energy.
Politan had seen countless dragon subspecies, but he had never seen one with such intense draconic power.
Strong enough to be considered a true dragon.
Why such a creature would appear here and target his subordinates and himself, he didn't know.
'One wrong move and I'm dead.'
He could at least recognize the situation wasn't exactly leisurely.
By this point, Politan was starting to hate the North enough to make him shudder.
"I know a better method than those whip bastards for taming beasts..."
Swish.
Politan's threads scattered down his legs and spread across the ground.
"Would you like to learn it too!"
Tat!
Red threads moved like snakes, targeting Vivi's body.
However, at that moment.
Booom-!!
Suddenly, blue lightning struck from the sky, burning all of Politan's threads to ash.
"Ah...?"
Grrrrr.
Vivi the Thunder Wolf Dragon, baring its teeth and spewing lightning, was the very image of a Thunder Dragon.
Then, Vivi's form transformed into lightning and vanished, appearing at point-blank range before Politan.
"Crazy!"
Whoosh-!
Along with a fierce wind.
Crashshshshshshsh!!
Lightning rained down across the area as Vivi's Lightning Sword felled the giant trees of the forest.
Creak, CRASH-!
Dozens of massive trees were severed and exploded in a single strike, and Politan gritted his teeth.
Rolling across the ground to barely dodge, Politan's mind was filled only with thoughts of escape.
"A-Archbishop..."
"You're alive."
"P-please save..."
Thud.
Politan struck down the believer's neck without hesitation. Then, bringing his hand to the body, he prayed to the god.
"I report to the god..."
It was to turn him into threads.
But at that moment.
Whiiiiish! Thud!
"...A spear?"
From somewhere, a spear appeared and stopped Politan from making threads.
A spear falling apart.
But the power imbued within it was not to be ignored.
"I bear no grudge against you."
Swish.
The figure that emerged from the forest was someone who would make even Politan, who had seen everything, open his eyes wide.
"You..."
A beautiful woman walking forward, shaking her pink hair.
The Spear Saint chosen by Lactus.
It was Eily.
"Why are you here!"
"There are circumstances. You might not believe me, but I was taken prisoner."
"Prisoner?"
A Saint taken prisoner?
The Saint of a great empire that occupied half the continent was taken prisoner?
"That's too much for a joke."
Where in the world is there a prisoner with free hands and feet?
One carrying a weapon, no less.
"This spear isn't mine. Well, it is and it isn't. My holy spear was taken away."
Now that she mentioned it, it was missing.
Her holy spear, Raphael, was nowhere to be seen.
"I'll make use of this one."
She brought her hand to the Thread Believer Politan had just killed and, without so much as a murmur, turned the corpse into a spear.
"Does being a Saint mean you don't need to recite prayers or anything?"
"This person was asking to be killed, so it was unnecessary."
"...."
The Saint's aura, holding her spear, slowly began to dominate the surroundings.
The spear's grade was low.
Barely a Myeong grade.
But since the one holding it was a Saint, Politan could not take it lightly.
"Why are you doing this. Even for Carpe, the enemy of the Empire, the North is an adversary that should be properly conquered! Rather than attacking me, you should be rewarding me!"
"That is true."
"Everything I've done can be considered for the Empire. And yet the Empire's Saint is trying to kill me! Let's not do this and join hands. If it's me and the Saint, we can easily crush the North! Not only that. We could even overthrow Carpe!!"
They could strike at the side of Carpe, which was building its strength.
For the Empire, which had suffered horribly at Carpe's hands a few years ago, wouldn't this be a chance to repay that disgrace!
"Join hands with me and let's take down that dragon first. Then prepare thoroughly and destroy Carpe. Naturally, you know well which is more profitable! I will personally destroy Carpe for you!"
But the Saint Eily did not answer.
She only walked toward him slowly, holding her spear.
"Saint!!"
"The Empire is not a nation weak enough for you to worry about. And you say something quite impossible to overlook."
Smirking, Eily looked at him as if he were ridiculous.
"Overthrowing Carpe is something the Empire can also do. Offering that as a condition is foolish in itself."
Conquering Carpe.
That was.
"Something that can be done without you. Besides, didn't I tell you?"
That she was currently a prisoner.
"The reason I became a prisoner was to reduce meaningless sacrifice. He knew that and followed my will. So I, too, have an obligation as a Saint to grant his request."
"...."
"And the Empire."
Whiiiish.
As the Saint's holy power bloomed, her hair rose strand by strand.
"Has no need for the help of a lowly god worshipped by the likes of you."
"You damn harlot, how dare you insult my god!"
At that moment.
The Saint's spear thrust forward.
Booooom!!
"Damiiiiit!!"
A massive wound left on his upper body, he was pierced through.
Crackcrackcrackcrackle!!
Politan's breath was cut off, severed by Vivi's Lightning Sword and swordsmanship.
Only after scorching every thread writhing like earthworms with lightning and crushing them with the spear did the two let out breaths of relief.
"Your master is truly a frightening person."
The Saint's eyes, looking at Vivi, turned toward Callius, who would be at Jaibarsch.
How did he know she was hiding here and send her?
Truly, the more she knew, the more terrifying a man he was.
"I wonder if he knows... that Callius has become so capable."
Then, chuckling, Eily looked up at the sky and shook her head.
Vivi growled as if displeased with her and snorted.
* * *
Craaaash-!
A tremendous explosion that shook his entire body.
Callius, pushing through the acrid smoke, targeted the rampaging Tel.
The Storm Sword-Kalis in his hand unleashed storm sword energy.
The swirling sword energy targeted Tel, but at some point, it scattered helplessly with a whoosh.
Callius's eyes narrowed.
He took a step back.
He gripped his sword with both hands, placing it beside his head in a guarding stance.
Then, remnants rose up, and ash filled the area.
The sword energy shattered from several clashes turned to swirling ash and gathered toward his sword.
Callius's sword, swung as if dancing, brandished a storm of ash.
Callius-style - Ash Fluidization.
A fearsome swordsmanship that shredded everything to pieces and turned it to dust.
A technique unique to Callius, created by blending spectral power, draconic power, and divine power.
It charged toward the rampaging fairy.
Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!
"Is it useless. How about this."
[You deliberately detonated those strange fireballs to blow away all my sword energy. That's a divine feat I couldn't have even imagined. You said she was rampaging, but what's with that battle sense?]
Bernard clicked his tongue as if it was absurd, grumbling away.
His figure standing with arms crossed like he was watching a fire across the river was quite displeasing.
"Don't just watch and actually come up with something. Are you just going to watch me die?"
Then Bernard looked at Callius with an exasperated expression.
[Leaving alone the bastards causing havoc in my house is already generous enough. This is your fight in the first place, why are you coming to me!]
"Isn't that too cold? When teaching Flowing Water, you even shed tears as if you had no more regrets."
Bernard fumed with rage.
[I did that because I thought that was the end! If I had known beforehand, I wouldn't have done such an embarrassing thing!]
"Is that my fault?"
[Then whose is it? If you were nearby, you should have come quickly to help before this old man died and seen him off comfortably on his final journey!]
"Say something that makes sense. Are you blaming others for dying from fighting however you pleased?"
[Ah whatever! Figure it out yourself!]
Tch.
Callius clicked his tongue.
"Just watch your disciple die then."
[You said you weren't my disciple sometimes! Only calling me master when you need something, you brat.]
Grumbling for a while, Bernard's eyes soon gleamed as he spoke.
[I originally couldn't do this, but having become this body, I understand. This too must be an opportunity given to me by the gods.]
"Enough with the nonsense. Tell me the weakness quickly or I'll die."
Boom-!
Crackcrunch!
Fireballs rained from the sky and the ground split beneath his feet, sending massive tree roots lashing out like whips.
Dodging the swung roots and stepping on them, he slashed with his sword, and then flames surged as burning tentacles charged toward Callius.
Swoosh!
Already wielding the Predation Sword, he used Hundred Severing to cut away everything before his eyes.
Immediately after, he wrapped Kalis's storm around his sword and struck with a single blow.
Boom-!
[Pierce the heart. That will do it.]
"Won't it die?"
[It will. You asked me to tell you the weakness, didn't you?]
Boom-!
Rumble!
Dodging the pouring mound of earth, Callius spoke with a somewhat exhausted expression.
"This isn't the time for jokes."
[Ahem. The cause of the rampage is in the heart. There's nothing else. However...]
Is that enough? Bernard's words made Callius grin.
"That's plenty."
Bernard, having become a sword, was a sword for training.
Having deployed a Sanctuary, his very soul was strengthened, and now his grade had been elevated to teach.
Therefore, he could also clearly see through Tel's condition.
'The thread is in her heart.'
It meant Midas's thread had reached Tel's heart and was causing the rampage.
Then piercing the heart would suffice.
Normally, an impossible feat.
No matter how much of a fairy she was, she couldn't survive having her heart pierced by a sword.
However.
If it was Callius, it was possible.
He had already once.
Had a sword embedded in his heart.
Confidence arose.
Then there was no need to delay further.
"Tel!!"
Seeing Tel shedding tears, Callius shouted her name and leapt, stepping on the rocks floating in the air.
"Don't be startled."
Instant Step.
Whoosh.
Callius's form vanished in an instant.
By the time she noticed, his sword had already reached right before her.
Thoom-!
However, his sword never touched Tel's body.
'A barrier?'
A barrier made of wind and magnetic fields surrounded her in a circular shape. Callius immediately raised Kalis and struck down.
"Extinction of Ash."
In an instant, ash gathered to his sword and shot forth as a single strike.
-!!
A strike so powerful that not even sound could escape struck Tel's barrier.
A small crack appeared in Tel's barrier.
At that moment. The sword embedded in Callius's heart revealed its form.
Long ago.
The Mad Dragon that had half-destroyed Carpe.
Baramut.
Having thrown away Kalis, Callius drew the Mad Dragon Sword embedded in his heart.
"Ugh!"
Exhaustion came instantly.
But he didn't delay.
Without a fraction of hesitation, Callius plunged Baramut into Tel's heart.
"Cal...lis."
Looking at Tel, who stared with tears streaming, Callius answered.
"I am Callius."
At that moment. A shockwave erupted as if a star had exploded, and Callius was bounced around inside the Sanctuary.
A short while later.
In the now-quiet Sanctuary, an intense draconic power slowly rose up.
An enormous draconic power, enough to fill the Sanctuary and then some.
[Wow... I thought our disciple had changed a lot, but there's something that hasn't changed. I didn't know you'd release the Mad Dragon just to save one woman! The one to ruin the North wasn't outside but inside.]
"Shut up. It hurts like hell."
The Mad Dragon's power had indeed neutralized Midas's thread.
The will of the thread embedded in the heart.
It was obvious it would be obliterated by the Mad Dragon.
Furthermore, the Mad Dragon wasn't a sword that killed by being driven into the heart.
The correct way to use the Mad Dragon was precisely.
"The heart."
However, Tel probably didn't have an artifact to resist mental attacks like himself.
Her mind and body weakened by the rampage, she had even mistaken herself for Calis.
Then it would be all too easy for the Mad Dragon to seize ownership of her body.
"Baramut."
Hehe.
The Mad Dragon smiling wickedly on Tel's face.
Baramut raised his hand and unleashed draconic power.
He formed dragon claws made of draconic power on each and every finger.
And immediately.
Its form vanished.
Claaang-!
With a heaven-shaking roar, the Mad Dragon's claws blocked Callius's Predation Sword and tore his chest apart.