Chapter 710

Thud!

Sylvia kicked the deck of the sinking ship and jumped onto the river. She immediately executed her footwork towards the next warship, not even catching her rough breath.

Swaa!

Sylvia’s body was clad in golden radiance once again. She was using the Radiant Cloud Eight Steps from the Spiral Light Style that Raon had taught her.

“St-stop her!”

“Stop that monster from approaching the ship!”

“Fire!”

A red light glimmered from the South-North Union’s warship, making magic cannonballs and arrows fly toward Sylvia.

Cring!

Instead of blocking the magic cannonballs and arrows, Sylvia increased her speed even further. As she used the Radiant Cloud Eight Steps, her body advanced like a ray of light.

Wham! Wham!

The magic cannonballs fell into the river after Sylvia passed, causing a high wave to rise.

Thud!

Sylvia used the surging water as a stepping stone to climb onto the second warship.

“Kill her!”

“Block the path and push onto her!”

The pirates on the deck stabbed with their blades and spears as if they’d been waiting for her arrival. Dozens of auras advanced toward her, covering her entire vision.

Slash!

Sylvia executed the Apex Slash of Spiral Light Style. The ocean-colored radiance summoned by her brushed past the chests of the pirates.

“Aack!”

“Wh-what...?”

“Monster...”

Pirates perished with their weapons in their hands, unable to even fathom what had killed them.

“You damned bitch!”

The boss, who seemed to be the warship’s captain, rushed toward her with a roar. The astral energy he fired while bending his knees rushed toward Sylvia fiercely.

Whaam!

However, she didn’t defend. She dodged the astral spear by turning her upper body to the right and incorporated the Spiral Light Style’s radiance into her blade, which was tilted downward.

Whaaam!

The blue light surging from the tip of the blade destroyed the boss’s spear and cut through his chest.

Shunk!

The boss stepped back, covering the lacerated wound on his chest.

“Uuh...”

His face turned pale, showing the intense pain he was feeling.

“Where is Beorn?” Sylvia lifted her sword to point at the boss, warm blood flowing down the blade.

“Beorn? If you want to know his location...” The boss raised his chin, his face distorting into a twisted smile. “Ask again in hell!”

He threw his broken spear without faltering from the pain. The spear engulfed in green astral energy flew toward Sylvia at a tremendous speed.

“Then... Die.”

Sylvia thrust her sword, executing the Spiral Light Style. The ocean-colored astral sphere blazing from her blade shattered the spear and formed an intense halo of light.

Whaaam!

His upper body exploded from the tremendous wave of aura, and the remaining pirates fell into the river as well, coughing up blood.

“Haa...”

Sylvia exhaled roughly while lowering her sword. Her hands were shaking violently because she had never slaughtered so many people even before she’d lost her strength.

However, she couldn’t stop yet. She had to find Beorn no matter what, even if she had to kill all of the pirates in the area.

Crack.

Sylvia shifted her gaze while grinding her teeth. Bloody battles were happening all around the Rable River.

Zieghart held superior strength, but the river provided the South-North Union with a terrain advantage, balancing the battlefield.

‘I need to move.’

Finding Beorn was still an important goal, but she wanted to reduce Zieghart’s casualties, and she needed to destroy more warships for the sake of that goal.

Whaaam!

Sylvia heavily stomped the ground. The deck and the keel were destroyed, and the warship started to sink into the river.

She kicked the bow to leap upward and dashed towards the next objective.

Whaam!

Once she landed upon the third warship, she saw the shredded and shattered flesh of the corpses of the Zieghart swordsmen. There was a squad leader among them, and the deck was still clean, implying that they hadn’t even been able to put up a proper resistance.

“Another firefly has flown to its doom.”

A middle-aged man wearing a snow-white priest outfit slowly opened his eyes.

“Are you the Yellow Snake Boss?”

Since the Yellow Snake Boss was the only weirdo who wore a priest outfit despite being a pirate, she immediately recognized him. However, he was more famous because of his strength, having reached the Grandmaster’s realm, than for his peculiar outfit.

“That appearance... You are just like a witch.”

The Yellow Snake Boss clicked his tongue while looking at Sylvia’s appearance, with her eyes shining in a bloody hue, her disheveled blonde hair fluttering in the wind.

“Come at me, red-eyed witch.”

He beckoned with his finger, gesturing for her to attack.

Thud!

Sylvia activated the Spiral Light Style to the maximum output and rushed toward the Yellow Snake Boss from the right.

“You are fast, but it’s too obvious.”

The Yellow Snake Boss slowly extended his hand. He clenched his fist, and the wave created as a result was enough to push Sylvia back.

Whir!

Sylvia used the rebound from her backstep to charge at the Yellow Snake Boss once again. She unleashed a blue astral sphere, concentrating the astral energy at the tip of her blade.

“Hmph.”

The Yellow Snake Boss snorted and thrust his boulder-sized fist. A white astral sphere was blazing from his hand.

Whaaam!

The astral spheres clashed against each other, and the shockwave erupting from it launched Sylvia violently, making her back hit the handrail.

“Kuh...”

She groaned from the pain in her back and wrist but still regained her posture right away.

“Your willpower isn’t half bad, but an astral sphere that doesn’t incorporate will is nothing but a concentrated astral energy.” The Yellow Snake Boss shook his head, dismissing her as inexperienced. “You can’t win against me.”

“It’s fine even if I can’t win. I just need to kill you.”

Her murderous will glowed from her red eyes. She turned into a golden ray of light, sweeping across the deck.

Claaang!

Her blue blade rushed at him at a tremendous speed, but the Yellow Snake Boss fended off her attack without much difficulty and furrowed his brow.

“I already said that you can’t do it.”

“So what?!”

Sylvia’s movements further accelerated. It was so fast that even the Yellow Snake Boss couldn’t catch up with his eyes.

Psh!

Blood started to splatter from her shoulders, knees, and wrists. It implied that her body was being forced to move beyond its limit.

Whaam!

The Yellow Snake Boss was pushed back, unable to withstand the strength of Sylvia’s sword.

Claaang!

Sylvia thrust her blade until the end, ignoring the destruction of her own body in order to seize the opportunity that entered her grasp.

“Hmm...”

Even the Yellow Snake Boss was unable to continuously block Sylvia’s ferocious attacks. He groaned quietly in pain, his shoulder, waist, and thigh cut by her sword.

“To swing your sword while killing yourself in the process, what even happened to you?”

“Have you ever heard of gut-wrenching agony?” Sylvia’s lips twitched, as her hand holding her sword trembled.

“Gut-wrenching agony?”

“It’s the pain felt by the parents when they lose their children. It’s an unbearable agony that feels like your insides are being torn apart. I’ve experienced it twice already because of you, the Five Demons! I’d rather die right here if I can’t avenge his death!”

She cut through the Yellow Snake Boss’s chest while screaming.

“......”

The Yellow Snake Boss narrowed his eyes while looking at the blood gushing from his chest.

“Are you Raon Zieghart’s mother?” He nodded as if he finally understood her rage. “We attacked him after the duel to the death. I didn’t like it either. To be honest, I wanted to stay out of this war as well. But I had no other choice, as I’m still making my living as a lowly thief.”

The Yellow Snake Boss bent his knees, clenching his fists.

“I’ll send you off with a painless death.”

He thrust his fist, which was folded around his waist. The white line extending from him gave the illusion that his fist was stretching out, causing a huge astral sphere to burst out in front of her.

Slash!

Sylvia executed the Spiral Light Style’s special technique, the Hundred Spirit Slash, unleashing all of her aura from her artificial energy center in the process.

Whaaam!

The astral spheres clashed against each other for the second time. However, Sylvia was the one who got pushed back from it once again.

“Kuh!”

Sylvia bit her lip to the point of bleeding while thrusting her blade. She had superiority in the sheer amount of aura, but she couldn’t fend off the Yellow Snake Boss’s punch.

‘Is it because of that damn will?’

She could guess that an astral sphere that didn’t incorporate any will was unable to win against a real astral sphere, just like he’d explained before.

‘Alright, I’ll add my will to it if that’s what you want!’

Sylvia roared and advanced toward the Yellow Snake Boss’s astral sphere. She closed her eyes, burning with a single aspiration.

‘All I desire is my enemy’s death. That’s the only thing I want.’

She incorporated her murderous will to finish her enemy off into the concentrated astral energy as it gradually expanded. The intense bloodlust blazing from the tip of Sylvia’s blade was deep enough to push back the river and make the wind run away from it.

The terrifying amount of murderous will turned into a blue sphere, devouring the Yellow Snake Boss’s astral sphere.

Whaaam!

The two lines of distorted astral spheres exploded, launching Sylvia back and slamming her onto the deck.

“Guh...”

She stood, coughing up blood.

“Excellent.”

The Yellow Snake Boss nodded, expressing his surprise. His gaze remained calm and composed even though a hole the size of a head was made in his abdomen.

“I heard Raon Zieghart is the biggest genius in the continent, and I understand the reason why.” He collapsed, saying that the son of a lion was bound to be a lion.

“Haa...”

Sylvia straightened her knees with trembling hands. She was lucky enough to win, but the serious internal injury that she got as a result was making her dizzy. She wanted to rest, but she didn’t have time for that.

Whoosh!

She forced herself to stand up and advance toward the next warship.

‘I can never allow myself to stop. Not until I find Beorn.’

Raon closed his eyes, gathering the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s heat around his right hand and Glacier’s coldness around his left hand.

‘They’re going to keep clashing at this rate.’

The two energies continued to bare their fangs at each other, whether buried underground, sealed within the sword, or even when he split the mental world itself to keep them apart.

Flame and frost were two completely opposite attributes. They were bound to continue their fight endlessly if he didn’t do something about them.

‘But it’s not like I can widen my mental world right now.’

His mental world had already been widened more than it should have been for someone at his realm, thanks to the Ring of Fire. The only way to improve it was to increase the number of rings of fire to nine.

‘In the end, the question is how to control the heat and coldness...’

The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier weren’t going to get stronger just by being put together. It was necessary to establish a working form.

‘Form... Yes, it has always been all about the image.’

Glenn, Rector, Rimmer, and even Wrath. Those powerful people had always emphasized the importance of making an image in his mind.

‘When it comes to an image of flame and frost...’

Raon smiled faintly while looking up at the white sky.

‘I have the perfect things for the job.’

When he thought about how to enhance the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier, the sun and moon naturally came to mind.

Moreover, it was the golden sun and the silver moon that rose when he activated the Divine and Demonic Harmony.

The image of the mysterious sun and moon that normally couldn’t cross each other was going to be extremely helpful for the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier’s growth.

Raon slowly closed his eyes. He unleashed all of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier’s energy, imagining the sun and moon forming the Divine and Demonic Harmony. He sculpted the sun out of flames to show its ferocity amid its heaviness, and then he condensed the frost into a moon to reflect its silence amid its madness.

Whir!

As he imagined his own sun and moon, the flame and frost engulfing the mental world slowly floated into the air, building their own castles in the sky.

The sun, resting in the West, gleamed with dazzling flames, and the moon, surging from the East, was engulfed in a frightening frost that looked like it could freeze a person just by touching it.

Swaaa!

The sun and moon rose at the same time, spreading their majestic aura and drenching the mental world with it.

However, the change didn’t stop with that. The swords engraved on the white land radiated vividly, sprouting even thicker.

Raon gasped while watching the swords surge into the air.

‘Did the swordsmanship also improve?’

The sword techniques, freed from the pressure of the powerful auras, ascended him into a new realm while showing their own unique colors. Raon had thought that swordsmanship and aura were inseparable, but he realized that it wasn’t always the case.

‘I learned a new lesson once again.’

Raon raised his gaze while slowly catching his breath. The eight rings of fire floated at the center of the sky, and the sun and moon were circulating in between them. The mysterious and noble sight filled him with awe.

As Raon nodded with a satisfied smile on his face, black fissures started to appear all over the mental world.

‘Is it time to leave?’

He could guess that the mental world was telling him to leave since the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and Glacier managed to reach another realm.

Whir!

He lifted his eyelids while feeling like he was slowly falling like a feather, and the mental world disappeared, the low and transparent ceiling entering his vision.

‘Am I underwater?’

He could feel the flow of water around him. However, there were no issues with breathing.

‘This situation must be implying...’

Raon licked his lips while guessing his situation, and messages appeared in front of his eyes.

[You’ve achieved a great feat.]

[All stats have increased by 30.]

[The trait Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation has increased in rank.]

[The trait Glacier has increased in rank.]

[The trait Fire Affinity has increased in rank.]

[The trait Water Affinity has increased in rank.]

The messages were announcing his rewards from the battle against the Axe King Roman and the enlightenment he’d had in the mental world.

His body felt as light as a feather thanks to the increase of 30 stat points at once. He could move freely, as if he was on the land instead of underwater, where he should’ve felt a lot of resistance.

However, a bigger change occurred inside his body.

The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s heat and Glacier’s coldness wavering in his energy center filled him with a sense of omnipotence, as if he could accomplish anything.

Haah?

Raon was smiling in satisfaction while reading the messages, and a startled cry could be heard from above him.

Wh-what the hell is this?! Why are those messages appearing now?!

The fluffy blue cotton candy gripped his hair while looking at the messages.

Thirty in all stats?! This is way too much!

He shoved his face forward to grab Raon by his collar, shouting that it couldn’t be happening.

‘It’s not too much at all.’ Raon curled his lips into a smile while looking at Wrath. ‘It’s a reward that I deserve.’

Hieeh! Wh-when did you even wake up?!

‘Just now.’ Raon smiled while looking at Wrath’s widened eyes. ‘What about you? When did you wake up?’

When you were about to die, you bastard!

Wrath furrowed his brow, saying that a blade was going to stab his heart.

‘Heart?’

Raon lowered his gaze and looked at the left side of his chest. There was a small hole in the Black Dragon Coat and his uniform, implying that Wrath was telling the truth.

‘Did you save me?’

O-of course!

Wrath immediately nodded.

The causality was distorted again because of you. You shall buy ten mint chocolate ice creams for him!

He stretched out his plump fingers, saying that he couldn’t let it slide.

‘Hmm? You aren’t coughing even though you went against causality.’

Huh? Err... Cough! Cough!

Wrath started to let out some dry coughs.

I-it hurts...

‘Even the great demon king who never lies had to give in for ice cream.’ Raon giggled while watching Wrath roll his eyes.

H-how did you figure it out?!

‘While you were sleeping...’

Raon was about to explain the circumstances with a smile...

Whaap.

The door that seemed to be made of seaweed opened up, and a Blue Lugh entered the room with a cute appearance that was similar to a baby pufferfish.

“Raon!” The young Blue Lugh dashed at Raon, blinking his round eyes.

“Flumen.” Raon smiled, caressing Flumen’s head as he jumped into his arms. “You saved me, right? Thank you.”

“Because we’re friends!” Flumen shook his head, saying that it was the natural thing to do.

N-no way. Did you actually give Fluffy orders in advance?

‘Yes. I asked him to do me a favor by saving me and Zieghart’s swordsmen in a crisis. Also, his name is Flumen, not Fluffy.’ Raon shook his finger while looking at Flumen. ‘His skills have improved a lot.’

He’d visited the Gazel River before the duel to the death and met with Flumen. He was still weak in power, but he could create unbelievably mysterious phenomena by researching sorcery to the extreme.

That was why Raon had requested that Flumen rescue people in a crisis while avoiding fighting any enemies.

Ugh...

Wrath lowered his head, his face turned red in embarrassment.

‘But I’m still thankful to you.’

Raon smiled faintly and weakly patted Wrath’s head.

What?

‘Because Flumen didn’t do it alone.’

Considering the fact that he wasn’t injured at all, it was clear that Wrath had helped.

Actually, Raon was just glad to see the cotton candy again, regardless of all that.

‘How is your condition?’

The King of Essence has revived to the point where he won’t even get a stomachache from eating ten boxes of mint chocolate!

‘Hmm...’

Raon wasn’t sure how good that was, but he was relieved to see that Wrath was looking bright.

“Flumen, how is the situation now?”

Raon stood up while gesturing his hand at Flumen. He could somewhat guess the situation from the fact that he was underwater, but he needed more detailed information.

“Yes. I already looked into everything. People thought you were dead, and...” Flumen nodded his head and explained everything that had happened so far.

“I see.” His guess was confirmed. Zieghart declared war, believing that Raon was dead, and the battle seemed to be ongoing.

“...Humans are fighting each other as we speak. My friends living in the river can’t even get close to them because they are too scared.” His shoulders trembled as he expressed his sorrow.

“Don’t worry.” Raon shook his head, holding Flumen’s shoulder. “The war is going to be over soon.”

He picked up the Heavenly Drive from the ground and equipped it around his waist as he spoke. He figured he would need to leave right away to get there in time.

“Ah!” Flumen grabbed his wrist when he was about to leave the room. “I saved one more person!”

“You saved someone? Who?”

“It was a woman wearing a mask who saved you.”

Raon immediately realized who it was upon hearing that she was wearing a mask.

Th-the madwoman?

‘Yes, it must be Merlin.’

Raon nodded heavily and looked at Flumen.

“Is she here as well?”

“No?”

Flumen shook his head while lowering his eyes.

“I hid her in that river and moved on because I had to follow you, Raon...” He swallowed nervously and continued. “But when I returned, I couldn’t approach the spot anymore because there were too many skeleton monsters around the river. I think she’ll get found out if I don’t quickly cast sorcery...”

Flumen’s hand trembled as he explained that even the sorcery that enabled her to breathe underwater was going to end soon.

“Skeleton monsters?” Raon gasped.

‘Could it be...? Did the Specter revive?’

Merlin had mentioned that she had stopped the Specter’s revival. Since it was impossible for a new Specter to appear, the fact that the undead were camping the spot implied that the same Specter had revived.

“Was there a man wearing a skull mask among the ones who were chasing after me?”

“Yes! The skull! That human is the one surrounding that river.” Flumen nodded, saying that the man wearing a skull mask was searching the river.

Raon’s guess was confirmed. Eden must’ve found out that Merlin was providing him with information, and Specter must’ve struck back.

“Haa...” Raon sighed quietly. “In this case...”

You’ll need to make a decision.

Wrath furrowed his brow, realizing the situation.

To either head to the battlefield or to rescue the madwoman.

Raon clenched his fist, looking at Wrath and Flumen one after the other.

“I...”

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried