章節 400: CHAPTER 559
[Read more chapters here :- https://ko-fi.com/punisher87 ]
Ron's back heaved with rapid breaths. Shaking legs, a more haggard body than before, and the thick gray patterns of the sword of overlord showed how dire his condition had become.
"Sir Ron!"
Ron didn't look back and swung Rashid again to spread the sword wind. Gray blades slowed down the falling swords and spears of Glyek.
Ron wasn't the only one standing in Glyek's way to protect Jin.
Ruyan, Acquita Hairan, Errol Lyman, Bell Artemiro, and Franz.
The Five Sword saints of Hairan also stood beside Ron, aiming their swords at Glyek.
They also exploded all the remaining energy when the storm of chaos raged and helped Ron to reach Jin.
The sword saints standing next to Ron were motionless. After clearing the path for Ron, they faced death while standing up.
That was the true end of the Sword saints.
'The Sword saints…!'
Phsssss....
Jin didn't know how they were able to fight until this happened. The bodies of the Sword Saints turned into ashes and scattered.
It felt like his heart was sliced by a blade. The prolonged battle seemed like a farewell, but the Sword Saints had dedicated everything to Hairan and those who fought for it until the very end.
As the Sword Saints vanished into the wind, Ron alone became the figure guarding the forefront.
Everyone was looking at Ron's back. Because of that, no one knew what expression he made.
Tears, sweat, and blood flowed through the deep wrinkles around his eyes, and sobs escaped like wind from his empty mouth as he tried to suppress his sadness.
The sword emperor castle was destroyed without a trace, and his grandson, more precious than anything and irreplaceable, had been devoured by that monster.
Finished.
Almost everything that Ron Hairan had guarded and loved all his life was gone far out of reach. To a place where he will never see or touch again.
And as always.
Despair didn't give humans time to mourn. Glyek was waving his hundreds of arms in all directions as if he didn't care about Ron's grief. Most of them headed towards Jin.
Kaaa, ah...!
Ron's hoarse voice, roaring in agony, resembled Dante's voice, who was born with weakness and roughened by despair.
Revenge was out of reach. He was exhausted, and the newly emerged enemy was too colossal.
Ron couldn't ignore Glyek and put on a final fight against Zipfel and the traitors.
Yet, the only reason he stood here again and fought without giving up was one.
If it ended like this, he wouldn't be able to see his grandson's face even in death. Still, there were still things to protect, and his grandson's friend who fought for him.
He had to send him off alive and had to be given a chance to live as an adult. Even if he couldn't repay the favor, he couldn't just let him die in this desolate land.
Rashid's gray radiance deepened.
Ron alone had deflected more than 70% of Glyek's blades falling on Jin. The rest were blocked by Stam, the Black Knights, and Jin himself.
'He still has that kind of power, even now...!'
Kelliark Zipfel, watching Ron leap around like a wild beast from a distance, fell into shock once again.
It should end but it didn't, he should die but he didn't, he should stop but he didn't.
Ron fighting against Glyek was obviously an advantage for Kelliark now, but the members of the Zipfel clan continued to be demoralized by the Knights of Hairan. Both Kelliark and Octavia felt unknown anxiety from Ron and the Sword saints.
Even after using the Demon God's orb, he could not easily move to the ground. He was still far superior in terms of pure strength, but it was meaningless.
Although Ron was a little closer to Glyek, Kelliark knew that even if it were him in that position, he wouldn't have reached the ground faster than Ron did.
Also, if he were Ron, Kelliark would have somehow continued to fight Zipfel instead of running into Glyek to save Jin. Even if that meant taking a shortcut to mutual destruction.
The trust and loyalty were everything between Hairan and Jin, unlike Zipfel, which had the goal of completing the Demon God's orb.
Even if he had made the choice to save Jin, it would have been to negotiate with Zipfel later, not for trust.
'Anyway, thanks to his naivety, I'll be able to relax for now. Please hold on, until we and Runcandel can properly join.'
Kelliark glared at the ground, forming the Annihilating Dark Sky Flame Orb, Demon empress second version. His pure flame, not mixed with the power of the Demon God's orb, was clearing away the chaos.
Rosa, Runcandel, and even Octavia and the Spectre Corps were on their way to save Jin from the ground behind them. Rosa did not order an attack even when she saw the defenseless backs of Octavia and the Spectres in the distance.
It was time to join forces.
'Even if Sir Ron is blocking it, it's only a matter of time before all my companions die if we stay like this.'
Since the attacks were continuously focused on Jin from the beginning, he had to leave for the safety of his companions.
But changing locations was a gamble. There was no guarantee that Glyek would completely neglect that side if Jin left this position.
'It's better than staying still.'
Instead, Jin tried to test it once before moving. He deliberately decided to further strengthen Bradamante's shadow force and observe Glyek's reaction.
[Sol... deret...…!]
Glyek reacted as soon as Jin's shadow force amplified, and he attacked more ferociously.
"Murakan!"
"Yes!"
"I'll divert that monster's attention. You, and Tess, protect everyone. Until Madame Talaris recovers!"
"Damn it, I got it!"
As Jin started to run with all his might, Ron and the Black Knights followed suit.
Fortunately, Glyek immediately shifted his attention. All of the swords and spears of chaos were being moved to Jin's direction.
"Good work, Jin. I lost my emotion and did not think of your companions."
Jin felt a hot sensation choking his throat at Ron's words.
"Sir Ron, please don't say such things. More importantly, your body..."
"I won't die until I save you. I will endure it tenaciously until that monster gets sick of it and gives up."
Clang! Boom!
The seven swords of the knights clashed nonstop with Glyek's weapons. Just like in the beginning of the 2nd battle, Ron's sword energy was assisting everyone, and it seemed like they could hold on until reinforcements arrived.
However, that feeling was short-lived.
[Do you dare... to mock me, Solderet!]
Since Glyek woke up in an incomplete state, he seemed to recognize Jin as the Solderet itself, not as a contractor.
"Ugh!"
At the same time, Ron, who had received swords, bent forward and vomited black blood.
Jin, Stam, and the Black Knights quickly covered his opening, but the balance was disrupted.
Glyek's means of attack were not limited to hundreds of swords and spears. As soon as Ron lost his balance for an instant, a tremendous force of attraction was suddenly generated from Glyek.
Naturally, Glyek was trying to pull Jin toward him with the power of chaos.
Stam exploded his energy and created a counterforce, but he couldn't stop Jin from being dragged into the air.
Following Glyek's gaze, Jin rose into the air. Tess, who confirmed it belatedly, let out a breath.
If the power of heavy pressure contained in the blue flames had not suppressed Glyek's pull, Jin would have been dragged right into Glyek's eyes. Fortunately, he stopped midway, and Jin met eyes with Glyek.
Glyek's trembling eyes were like an endless abyss. While it seemed like he could be sucked in just by looking at them, Jin focused his mind and gripped the sword.
Dante.
The monster that swallowed his friend. Fear of overwhelming power that dominated even the strongest of the century was overshadowed by a deeper, darker hatred.
[Now, I see.]
Grin.
Glyek's mouth split like a crescent moon.
[Solderet, you bastard, it seems you also lost …your power.]
"You damn monster, what did you do to Dante?"
[Great, it was… a human being… Somehow it seems, you are the contractor of Solderet.]
"What... ?"
[If I couldn't imitate your voice, it would have been more troublesome...….]
As if he had been hit in the head by something, his backbone tightened and a sharp tinnitus rang out.
Jin knew it intuitively without having to listen to detailed explanations. Dante was fighting with Glyek in the seal of chaos and was deceived by his voice in a certain situation.
"... So, what happened to Dante? Is he still within that seal?"
Jin asked in a barely calm voice.
[You keep…. asking useless…. questions, Solderet. It's strange, you should know the best.]
"I do not know."
[Disappeared.]
Jin's eyes widened.
[He has disappeared.]
"What a load of crap."
[Yes..., now it's your turn.]
"Tess!"
Just as Glyek was about to move, Jin shouted Tess' name and replied with his intention. It means to lift the heavy pressure.
'I need to create an opening for Sir Ron to attack.'
Having Ron jump in to rescue him was only another loss in the battle.
'Even if I go deeper, Tess can pull me out at least once. I've only been defending the whole time, so I have to make an attack at least once.'
As the pressure subsided like a snapped rope, Jin's body soared back toward Glyek. Hundreds of huge blades formed a black forest.
It felt like it would cut off limbs even if he brushed against it. Jin twisted his body around and reached Glyek's eyes, and thrust his sword into it.
Thunk...…!
However, Jin noticed that even though he stabbed Glyek's eyes directly, he didn't get hit.
"Kaak!"
Rather, it was Jin who was hit. As soon as he stabbed his eye, one of Glyek's swords slashed across Jin's chest.
The shadow force armor didn't break, but all the bones of his body were shaking as if they were going to break.
Glyek tried to attack Jin again as he fell, but Ron already dug into his arms and swung his sword, as Jin wished.
And the moment he fell on the floor and Jin vomited blood.
He couldn't help but look back at the moment when Glyek's sword struck him.
'I felt the sword before it touched my body, so it definitely has the power to break the shadow force armor.'
Just before slashing Jin, someone or something seemed to pull back Glyek's sword, stopping the attack.
'No way.'
Thump, thump, thump!
Jin's heart pounded like crazy. It was because he thought it might be Dante who made Glyek hesitate at that moment.
章節 401: CHAPTER 560
[Read more chapters here :- https://ko-fi.com/punisher87 ]
Glyek.
It was clear that the king of the Black Sea, who existed in the form of a white stone, had awakened using Dante as a vessel.
As Glyek said, it's very likely that Dante's body had already disappeared, but there was a chance that his consciousness might still linger, even if only partially.
Of course, Jin could have been mistaken.
The desperate hope for his friend's survival might be clouding his rationality.
However, Jin could not comprehend the fact that Glyek hesitated for a moment when the huge sword of chaos attacked him.
'Is it because he just woke up and his condition isn't perfect?'
Jin was aware that Glyek was not in perfect condition. Although this was the first time seeing him, the distorted body was filled with defects.
Above all, Glyek mistook Jin for 'Solderet'.
'He speaks as if he knows Solderet well and hates him extremely, yet is confused enough to mistake me as Solderet, there must be a problem with his senses.'
That fact sent chill down Jin's spine. Despite not waking up in full condition, Glyek overwhelmed everyone on the battlefield.
Koong... !
Rashid, dyed in gray, lifted towards Glyek's upper body. Ron delivered a blow with all his might, and was able to break several of his swords and spears for the first time since Glyeck had awakened.
The broken weapon fell like an avalanche and hit the ground. Ron leaped once more through the shattered weapons, riding the gust of the sword wind, and slammed Rashid into Glyek's face.
Hundreds of arms blocked his way again, and this time a repulsive force occurred instead of attraction and pushed him away.
Nevertheless, Ron was able to leave a long and deep scar on Glyek's face.
It wasn't without cost. Ron was also pierced all over by thorns protruding from Glyek's face out of nowhere.
Jin and the Black Knights jumped at the same time to protect Ron, who was in a defenseless state for a while.
A total of fourteen thorns stabbed his body, and dark red blood poured out of his body, but fortunately, there were no very deep wounds.
However, the fact that Glyek's reflexive attack injured Ron was a problem in itself.
The speed of the thorn that was felt by Jin and the Black Knights was certainly not at a level that a knight like Ron could not avoid or parry.
Ron was physically reaching his limit.
He wasn't normal from the start of the second battle, so it wasn't strange if Ron collapsed at any time.
"Sir Ron, are you all right!"
At first glance, Jin saw Ron's pupils becoming cloudy. He smelled the peculiar smell of ash that is characteristic of those nearing death.
"I'm…fine."
Jin and the Black Knights guarded his sides and back.
Talaris was still seated, and support from Runcandel and Zipfel was still coming from afar.
Although Glyek's senses were not intact, he poured almost all of his attacks on Jin's side.
But Glyek was not completely neglecting the rear. He continued to explode chaos towards the outside to prevent Runcandel and Zipfel from approaching.
More than 90% of the chaos energy was spent on blocking reinforcements.
Therefore, what Jin and the others were enduring were mostly pure physical attacks from Glyek.
Ron stood up by planting his sword on the ground. In the process, he suddenly realized that the ground was turning strangely black. Jin and the black Knights also saw the same phenomenon.
"The land, this...."
It was not darkened by the heat of battle or by the cannon fire.
'It's similar to…. the Black Sea.'
The land is named Black Sea.
Stam, who participated in Chiron's expedition for a long time after becoming the Black Knight, had personally experienced this phenomenon firsthand in the past—the phenomenon of the land turning into 'Black Sea.'
Jin also encountered the same thing when he heard about Ozdock from Picon Minche.
-[As the Black Sea rapidly expanded, Ozdock was covered in the toxic land of the Black Sea. It must be assumed that he was buried alive while trying to hibernate.]
The land where Sword Emperor Castle once stood was turning into Black Sea due to Glyek's energy. A land where people cannot live....
Crunch!
Ron clenched his fist and grabbed a handful of land. Instead of black soil, his grasp was filled with solid crystals of chaos.
"To what extent are you going to trample on my land..."
Crystals of chaos disintegrated into particles in Ron's grasp and scattered. Jin couldn't say anything to him.
Maybe all the tragedies that happened in the Sword Emperor Castle were caused by his own regression, so a terrible guilt clung to his heart like rotten oil.
Even before he regressed, Zipfel created the Demon God's orb, and the imperial family always looked for an opportunity to push Hairan out, and the white stone was always there.
The Sword Emperor Castle War was bound to happen regardless of Jin's regression. Rather, it may be that Jin was now moving towards a better result.
However, no one could tell Jin that this wasn't his fault. Jin himself couldn't think otherwise, and the sadness experienced by the giant in front of him was bitter beyond measure.
He just had to fight with all his might. As always, that was the best Jin could do.
The heavy pressure that was pressing on Glyek was fading.
Tess' energy was exhausted. Glyek paused for a moment by the shock of the slash on his face, but then returned to swinging hundreds of swords and spears.
And Ron stumbled.
Ron stepped on unstable terrain with his faltering two legs, so Jin and the black knights were almost in a position to protect Ron.
After the Black Sea began to form, the energy of Glyek quickly blackened the ground.
Jin was also growing tired. Stam and the Black Knights were better than him as their battle wasn't that long, but they had to deal with the chaos throughout and rapidly lost their stamina to fill Ron's vacancy.
What was even more painful was the fact that Glyek's distorted appearance became more and more stable as the Black Sea transformation progressed.
Glyek's attacks became more ferocious as time passed, and his energy expanded. Runcandel and Zipfel's breakthrough was delayed further.
Crack, clang!
In the end, Ron was struck down by a single scythe-like blade that Jin and the black knights had missed. He managed to strike back, but he fell to the ground lifelessly.
He had already surpassed his limits several times. From the moment he woke up after a long period of unconsciousness until now, Ron had been creating miracles all along.
But now he has reached the end...
"Sir Ron!"
"12th flagbearer!"
Jin and Stam shouted at the same time. Jin reflexively threw himself to save Ron, which Stam thought was a wrong decision.
Stam was right. If he loses his focus while defending Ron, he's only giving Glyek a chance.
Jin thought that Glyek would naturally target him if he recklessly approached. If that happens, with Stam and the Black Knights, they could still save Ron even if he was injured.
But Glyek was regaining his sanity as land became the Black Sea. He decided that he'd better kill Ron first when he had the chance.
Besides, Glyek's spear was faster than Jin. A huge black spear was falling towards Ron like lightning.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it!'
Jin raised his energy and fired a light-speed thrust. Blood flowed from his mouth, nose and ears.
Jin failed to hit the spear by a narrow margin and missed. In that fleeting moment, Jin frantically resented himself for not being able to intercept the huge spear.
Ron no longer had the strength to ward off the spear. The moment the spear's blade was about to strike Ron, it was imprinted like a slow screen in Jin's field of vision.
And the next moment, Jin saw it again.
He saw Glyek getting hesitate. The spear stopped right before it hit Ron.
[This….]
It was only a brief moment, about one second, but it was enough time for Jin to throw himself again and push Ron away.
"Kaaak!"
Instead of Ron, Jin let out a scream as he took the spear. Due to the recoil, it felt like his bones and organs were about to burst, but Jin felt a sense of relief that was almost grateful for the pain.
Stam and the Black Knights parried off the ensuing attack. And now, they too were feeling that something was off about Glyek. However, they had not thought about Dante.
Ron, on the other hand, was clearly aware, even as his consciousness faded and his eyes darkened.
Dante..… Dante, my grandson...….
How are you there, how?
His eyes were clouded.
Earlier, when Jin asked if he was okay. Ron answered vaguely, not just because he was exhausted.
At the moment when fourteen thorns protruding from Glyek's face stabbed his body, he also thought that Dante's consciousness might remain somewhere in that monster, just as Jin thought.
Ron was convinced now.
"I sense it, Jin. Dante, my grandson, is inside him."
[You're persistent.]
Ron's vision went out. He lost his eyesight.
"Yes grandson, it's your grandfather."
The fire of the flesh faded, and all that remained for Ron was the unwavering will of his blind love towards his grandson.
It kept him speaking in a hoarse voice with little sensation in his whole body.
"Sir Ron, Dante is in there. So you must hold on to your consciousness!"
"Dante. I'll save you...…."
Crack, thud!
While Ron was muttering, Glyek was swinging his sword again. Jin and the Black Knights responded, but if they missed one more attack, Ron would be torn apart without a trace.
Unlike Jin, the Black Knights saw no point in protecting Ron anymore. It was because it seemed impossible to revive him unless the tears of Numerus were used.
But Jin stubbornly protected Ron.
"12th flagbearer, you have to give up. More than this is impossible."
"No, we must save him. Sir Stam."
"Are you saying you really don't know that it's a situation where acting emotionally won't help!"
That statement was incorrect.
Rather, Jin was now making judgments with almost no emotion involved.
The reason he wanted to save Ron was no different.
Kelliark Zipfel.
It was because Jin was aware that the culprit who pushed Hairan into such a desperate fate was about to arrive.
'He... he will definitely save Sir Ron.'
With the power of the Demon God's orb.
Jin doesn't know if he should describe it as 'saving', but one thing was certain. By using the power of the Demon God's orb, Ron could fight again. Although it's far out of bounds.
Stam read Jin's thoughts and recognized his true intentions belatedly, and felt a chill in his back.
If it were about facing sorrow, Jin might have given up on Ron.
It would be better for him to rest now rather than relying on that damn object called the Demon God's orb to force him to fight again.
However, what Ron desired was not rest.
What he wanted was to fight until he found any trace of Dante left in this desolate battlefield.
Even if it meant using extreme and brutal means, there was no need to conceal it.
Ron knew that his grandson's presence lingered somewhere within that monster.
"Kelliark Zipfel will take action to save Sir Ron, and Sir Ron will fight. Above all else, Sir Ron is absolutely necessary for this fight. Because the patriarch is not here. Leader of the Black Knights, do you think I'm really ruining things because of emotions!"
Jin lashed out, barely suppressing his miserable feelings.
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