Chapter 708

“Sword Demon Rector. Why are you here?”

Glenn’s sinister voice sounded like it was crawling up from a bottomless pit. The wrath welling up in his soul became a powerful wave of energy, engulfing the surroundings.

“Were you involved in this matter?”

Glenn raised Heavenly Tremor, ready to strike him down on the spot if he had any involvement in the attack on Raon.

“Glenn Zieghart.” Rector stared at the red dagger in Glenn’s grasp, instead of answering his question. “Why do you have the Blade of Requiem?”

Instead of withdrawing, he unleashed a pressure intense enough to dry blood.

Rumble!

Glenn and Rector’s majestic pressures clashed against each other, creating a fissure in the air that looked like the sky was cut apart with a blade.

“M-my lord! Please stop!” Rimmer stepped forward while gritting his teeth. He entered the space where the two Transcenders were clashing against each other and raised his trembling hand. “The Sword Demon isn’t an enemy!”

“Th-that’s right! He actually saved us!”

“There’s no reason to fight him!”

Burren and Martha followed Rimmer and shook their heads.

“He saved you?” Glenn narrowed his eyes without lowering Heavenly Tremor, which was still directed at Rector.

“Yes. The South-North Union’s vice leader took a detour in the waterway to chase after us, and we managed to escape safely thanks to the Sword Demon, who fended him off.” Burren swallowed nervously and explained how Rector had stopped Hellgrum.

“Hmm...” Glenn weakly bit his lip and lowered Heavenly Tremor.

“I believe I’m entitled to know what happened here.” Rector clenched his fist while looking at the Blade of Requiem that Glenn was holding onto tenderly.

“W-we were attacked by Eden and the South-North Union.” Burren’s shoulders trembled, as he shifted his gaze towards Rector. “When we were about to transport Raon to that pirate ship, the Evil Goat Demon and a man named Beorn from the South-North Union appeared by using an artifact and...” He briefly explained to Rector what had happened so far. “...We started to look for Raon right after the astral sphere exploded, but we haven’t managed to find him yet.”

“Ah...” Rector’s frightening face suddenly froze. His seasoned eyes wavered intensely, like a sailboat on a turbulent ocean.

“H-he must be just swept away! He must still be alive! There’s no way he would die at a place like this!”

“Mhm.”

Martha slammed down her fist, saying that Raon wasn’t dead yet. Runaan nodded, showing that she also believed in Raon.

Rector shifted his gaze while clenching his back teeth. His complexion gradually darkened as his eyes quickly skimmed over the river.

“......”

Glenn furrowed his brow while watching Rector’s scowling face, which almost looked like he was trying to hold back tears.

‘What’s the meaning of his gaze?’

While he was thinking that Rector’s reaction and expression were strange, Rector suddenly disappeared like smoke.

Cring!

Rector reappeared right in front of his eyes and swung his sword at him. It was a deadly strike, intended to cut his head off in a single strike.

Whaam!

Glenn raised Heavenly Tremor to block Rector’s attack. The blade rushing toward him was frighteningly powerful, implying how serious he was.

“Glenn Zieghart.” Rector amplified the power dwelling in his sword while grinding his teeth. A colorless flame blazed from his blade. “What are you even doing? Why were you unable to protect your grandson?”

His body convulsed, overwhelmed by emotions. “You should’ve cast him away completely if you were going to, and made sure to protect him if you were going to accept him! What are you even thinking, wavering indecisively like that?!”

Rector even unleashed his will to push Glenn back, showing that he was seriously furious.

“My lord!”

“What are you doing right now?!”

Sheryl and Roenn rushed forward with widened eyes, but Glenn shook his hand to stop them.

Glenn clenched the Blade of Requiem in his left hand while observing the intense wrath that Rector was showing.

‘What’s his relationship with Raon?’

Sadness and anger weren’t the only feelings that he could sense from Rector’s sword. Resentment was also included in it. He almost felt like he was watching himself on the other side of a mirror.

“Who are you?” He wasn’t asking for name and affiliation. He was asking what kind of relationship he had with Raon.

“The Holy Sword Alliance and the Black Tower didn’t get involved in this incident.” Rector violently fended off his sword. He glared fiercely while striking Glenn toward the river. “They were equally matched with the Six Kings, who had to stay in their bases because of Ogram’s defeat! The fact that you couldn’t protect Raon in this situation is the very definition of incompetence!”

He bit his lip while looking at the Blade of Requiem with its’ shattered scabbard. “If Raon is really dead, I’m going to kill the South-North Union, the Shadow, and even you.”

Those were Rector’s last words before he left, heading downstream.

“M-master!” Mustan and the Holy Sword Alliance’s swordsmen were watching the scene blankly, and they hurriedly moved the warship to follow Rector.

“My lord.”

“Are you okay?”

Sheryl and Roenn walked up to Glenn. They were simply worried about him, as they hadn’t been able to hear the conversation because of the aura barrier.

“It wasn’t a big deal.” Glenn calmly shook his head. Crossing blades with Rector had allowed him to clear his mind.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have deactivated my aura perception...” Rimmer walked up to Glenn and fell to his knees. His clenched fists were trembling in regret.

Glenn held Rimmer’s shoulder without saying anything. He had nothing to tell him, as Rimmer must’ve been the most shocked by the situation.

“The Heavenly Blade Division, the Light Wind Division, and the Warring Steel Division will stay here and continue the search.”

“Understood.”

“We will definitely find him,”

Sheryl and Trevin heavily nodded.

“Hey, old man.” Chamber walked up to Glenn and shook her finger. “What’s the relationship between Raon and the Sword Demon? It almost looked like he was his real grandfather or something.”

She tilted her head, wondering about the situation. She must’ve heard the conversation through the aura barrier.

“I don’t know. That’s why...” Glenn sighed quietly while shifting his gaze towards the direction Rector had departed. “I’ll need to investigate him.”

* * *

Wham!

As the blade passed through, the space twisted and shifted, like magnets with opposing poles repelling each other.

The White Blood Religion’s fanatics who got caught in between the space were split in half, spraying blood that was almost gray in color.

“Tsk.” Aries briefly clicked her tongue as her hand holding the sword trembled.

‘He ran away.’

She managed to slay all of the White Blood fanatics and assassins, but the first apostle managed to escape while wounded. She wanted to catch him, but something else took priority.

“Illiune, I’ll leave the rest to you.” Aries ran toward the annex building without waiting for External Commander Illiune’s answer.

Since she was exhausted from using the Sword Field Creation, she couldn’t move that quickly. It was extremely frustrating to her.

Whaaam!

She kept moving while ignoring the strain on her body, and a huge explosion occurred from the annex building’s garden. The land shook as if it was going to collapse, and gray smoke erupted into the sky.

“Is that...?”

Aries swung her sword with wide eyes. The wind emerging from the blade pushed away the smoke, revealing the garden.

The land was carved in the shape of a sword, and the dead bodies of White Blood fanatics, assassins, and Eden’s demons were lying underneath, mangled beyond recognition.

At the edge of the carved land, which was in front of the annex building, Karoon was wielding his sword as if he were protecting Sylvia.

“Karoon.” Aries blinked upon seeing Karoon’s furrowed brow. “Why are you here? Did you come to save Sylvia?” She gasped, unable to believe that she was asking such a question.

“Y-yes, Karoon came to save—”

“I didn’t.” Karoon firmly shook his head while looking at Aries. “I simply couldn’t overlook the filth sullying this land.” He shook his hand, saying that he was simply eliminating the ones who dared to attack Zieghart, regardless of Sylvia.

“Are you sure you weren’t worried about your sister?” Aries playfully curled her lips into a smile.

“I already said it wasn’t the case.” Karoon wrinkled his nose, fixing his grip on his sword.

“Well, regardless of the reason...” Aries smiled faintly while watching Karoon and Sylvia. “It’s nice to see the family together like this.” She nodded in satisfaction at how her siblings were getting along.

“Hmph!” Karoon snorted and turned around.

“Where are you going?”

“There’s other trash left to take care of.”

He left towards North Grave Mountain, saying that all of the enemies who intruded into Zieghart needed to be slain.

“He loves Zieghart so much. I don’t understand him.” Aries shook her head and walked up to Sylvia. “Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes.” Sylvia nodded while letting out a small sigh. “I didn’t expect them to really attack us. I thought they wouldn’t.”

Aries shook off her hands, expressing her surprise. “Your son is really incredible, to even manage to predict this.”

“He’s been wiser than me ever since his childhood.” Sylvia smiled, pleased to hear Raon being praised.

“Yeah, he must’ve gone to the duel to the death because he is confident in his victory. Don’t worry about him...”

“I’m not worried about him.” She calmly shook her head. “He will return safely once again.”

Sylvia smiled faintly, saying that she would need to prepare Raon’s favorite food for dinner.

“Can I join?”

“Of course!”

They went into the annex building, facing each other’s smiles.

The moment Raon was stabbed by Beorn’s blade…

Screw this!

Wrath unleashed the energy of wrath, scratching his head, which looked like cotton candy.

You’ll have to pay me back with twenty boxes of mint chocolate later! It’s not just twenty ice creams, it will be twenty boxes! That’s a hundred total!

Wrath used the energy of wrath to block the white blade trying to pierce Raon’s heart while shouting about mint chocolate.

‘Damn it! Is this really the only way?!’

He couldn’t use the Demon King’s Advent because Raon was unconscious. If he entered Raon’s body, he was going to lose control and end up killing Shitty Ears and the Light Wind Division above the surface.

Distorting the causality would drastically harm his soul once again, so indirectly defending him was all he could do for the time being.

He barely managed to recover, but he is going to faint again... Huh?

Wrath was unleashing his wrath as much as possible but suddenly narrowed his eyes. Blue-colored water drops appeared between Raon and the blade that was trying to pierce his chest.

That water drop...

It wasn’t caused by his wrath. The water drop had such a smooth flow that it looked like the great nature’s mana had gathered on its own.

Considering his realm, the one who stabbed Raon should’ve been unable to even sense that the water drop was blocking the blade.

‘It’s a relief, even though it’s an unknown.’

He managed to protect Raon from the blade without using that much wrath thanks to the water drop. However, the red-haired human unleashed an astral sphere in order to make sure he finished Raon off.

Whaaam!

The astral sphere emerging from the tip of his blade caused a huge explosion, engulfing Raon’s entire body.

Uraaah!

Wrath summoned his frost while letting out a shout of concentration. He was about to fend off the explosion by creating a wall of frost incorporating his wrath, but the pure energy of water moved once again.

Whaap!

The energy of water was added to the wall of frost, allowing him to block the explosion with a small amount of wrath, just like before.

However, Raon fell deep into the river because of how powerful the astral sphere was, and the Blade of Requiem, which had been tucked at the front of his outfit, fell into the riverbed while bearing the mark of a huge impact.

Who could’ve done this...?

Wrath lowered his gaze towards the direction where the Blade of Requiem was falling. It was the direction where the energy of water had risen to help him.

Whaap.

A pair of eyes sparked blue from the dark river, and small hands appeared to tightly grasp Raon as he fell. His fingers were webbed, just like the webbed feet of a duck.

Y-you!

Wrath’s eyes widened upon recognizing the strange man who’d saved Raon. It was the fish kid that Raon had saved and even named him afterward.

It’s been a while! So your name was... Fl-Fluffy?

Wrath called him by a random name because he couldn’t really remember it, and Fluffy raised his finger, drawing a blue circle with it.

Whir!

The concentric circles created by the movement of his hand overlapped with each other, creating a door leading to a different location. He seemed to be trying to get Raon away from that place.

W-wait a moment!

Wrath tried to stop him because Shitty Ears were about to descend from the surface, but the fish kid went into the round dimensional door without even looking back, probably because he thought Raon was in a dangerous situation.

Don’t do it! Where are you going this tiiime... Gurgle!

He opened his eyes after the painful sensation of drinking water through his nose subsided, and a bright place with a wide-open view came into sight.

Where is this place?

He could see the houses with the water flowing gently next to them as if a village was made underwater. The picturesque buildings looked like they were made of colored pebbles.

When did they even build those houses?

It was a whole different place from when he’d visited with Raon before.

Wrath shifted his gaze while being intrigued by it, and the fish kid put Raon down on the ground.

He hasn’t changed at all.

The kid from the Blue Lugh tribe that Raon had named Fluffy(?) was small and cute, just like before.

“Raon...” Fluffy put his hand on Raon’s bleeding chest with a sorrowful look in his eyes.

His hand started to shine, and Raon’s wounds slowly began to heal.

No, he has changed in a different aspect than appearance.

Fluffy possessed a huge amount of the energy of water, to the point where he had the entire river under his control. He felt no different from a sorcerer of the highest tier.

The energy of water in question was what had allowed him to save up on his wrath when he was defending against the astral sphere explosion caused by the red-haired human.

What a lucky... Huh?

Wrath licked his lips while looking at Raon but suddenly widened his eyes.

What’s wrong with him now?

He could finally afford to check him out and realized that Raon had become much more powerful than before he fell asleep. He couldn’t believe that such a huge change had occurred when he couldn’t have been sleeping for that long.

The more ridiculous part is...

What surprised him even more was the fact that Raon was still getting stronger. Raon was growing even in his unconscious state. It wasn’t just from the effects of Sloth or Gluttony. His power was surging uncontrollably.

You bastard...

Wrath furrowed his brow deeply, holding Raon by his collar.

What did you even eat without the King of Essence to become so strong?! Wake up right now and give it to him!

* * *

Raon stroked his lips while watching the eight rings of fire rotating in the sky.

‘It’s my mental world.’

He couldn’t tell the exact reason, but he’d naturally entered the mental world after the duel to the death against Roman. He was a bit confused since it was the first time he had entered the mental world like that among the many occasions where he'd lost consciousness.

‘I don’t know why I ended up here, but... It’s not a bad thing.’

Returning to the mental world allowed him to realize what he’d gained from the battle and how much stronger he’d gotten.

‘Most importantly, I managed to learn about Genesis.’

The Sword Field Creation Roman had named Genesis wasn’t an ordinary technique. It was the projection of the swordsmanship he’d been accumulating so far, implying that Genesis would grow dramatically stronger the more he improved his swordsmanship.

It was an incomplete martial art that could grow endlessly. It wasn’t an exaggeration to describe it as a mysterious technique that could unleash his mental world into reality.

He could guess that he could use an even more powerful Genesis not that he’d gotten stronger through the showdown against Roman.

‘Actually, Genesis isn’t the only thing that became stronger.’ Raon smiled while watching the sprouting sword, soaring even higher than before. ‘My swordsmanship itself has improved overall.’

Starting from the basic techniques, the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s martial arts, and the Azure Sky Sword. All of the swordsmanship that he’d learned had increased in realm.

The duel to the death had served as a great opportunity for his growth.

Raon was about to try out his improved techniques with a satisfied smile on his face when...

Wham!

Crimson flames started to blaze from the right sky, and blue frost surged from the left on the land. The flame and frost separated the mental world in half and growled at each other as if they were trying to devour the other party.

Whir.

The green wind stuck between the flame and frost trembled in fear, unable to do anything.

Raon curled his lips into a smile while watching the flame and frost continue their rampage, as if they were complaining that the mental world was too narrow.

‘I can finally understand why I ended up here.’

It was time to raise the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier’s realms to a higher level.

Footnotes:

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