In the middle of quelling the barbarians running amok, an urgent message was delivered to Sungchul via a messenger.
“Imperial Commander in Chief. There’s a problem at the royal palace.”
“At the palace? Aren’t the elite troops guarding it like an iron fortress?”
The audience chamber was guarded by the most rigorously selected elite warriors of the kingdom to protect the king. Sungchul failed to see why he was needed at the palace for defense.
The ones who needed his aid the most was not the king, who was stuck in his safe corner, but the ordinary people who were exposed to the danger directly.
But the next words from the messenger shook Sungchul’s resolve.
“It’s not the barbarians. It’s the Order of Extinction. There seems to be a conflict between them and His Majesty.”
“The Order of Extinction?”
He had left matters involving the Order of Extinction to the king when he departed from the audience chamber.
The fact that there was a conflict between the king and the Order of Extinction meant the king was handling things better than expected.
That stubborn man is causing discord with the Order of Extinction.
If that was the case, then there was hope yet for this kingdom.
This meant that despite Daincraft being an irredeemable character, the gratuitous loss of life could be greatly mitigated.
Sungchul looked back at Arkaard, who was covered in the blood of barbarians, and said, “I will go to the palace. It will be tough, but I will leave the rest to you.”
“Go! I’ll deal with this and follow right behind!”
As always, Arkaard said something ominous and then led the dwarf soldiers forward in a charge.
A barbarian with a handful of bread and sausages appeared in the alley.
It was the first enemy he would have to face without Sungchul’s aid.
Arkaard gripped his axe tightly and shouted, “Don’t be afraid! It’s only one!”
Despite feeling uneasy, Sungchul rushed forward without hesitation.
Clashing sounds and shouts echoed from behind.
“That man, I swear. He always says the most ominous things imaginable,” Bertelgia commented.
“I know. It’s so strange that he always seems like he’s the most likely to die first but somehow makes it out.”
Sungchul swiftly ascended the steep stairs like the wind, rushing toward the palace.
Before the palace were a few bodies of barbarians, and the guards cleaning up the scene saluted vigorously in unison upon seeing Sungchul.
What a strange sight it was. Until now, he had been such a despised enemy of the dwarven people and stayed at the top of the Dwarven Book of Grudges for so long that he had to disguise himself and use Deceiver’s Veil to come to this place. But now, not only was he no longer guarded against, but he was being saluted and welcomed.
This didn’t feel bad. In fact, quite the opposite.
Sungchul sensed some unknown power settle within his body as he headed toward the audience chamber. Upon re-entering, he found, just as the messenger had indicated, that something serious was taking place.
A few of the king’s soldiers lay fallen, and a small number of the Order of Extinction’s members were bleeding out and dying.
Beneath the sealed stand of Fal Garaz, the dwarf king and his men and the Order of Extinction were facing off against each other.
What could have happened?
The question was somewhat answered by the words of Sarasa, glaring at the king.
“How can Your Majesty dismiss us so readily, after all the effort we have made to protect Your Majesty’s territory and its people?”
It was a rare moment when Sarasa was visibly angry.
Despite her already-dead body, Sungchul could feel something akin to a living being’s vitality radiating from her.
Daincraft the dwarven king replied, “Now that our sacred relic Fal Garaz is returned to us, we are no longer in need of your services. Our dwarf kingdom will protect our territory and people without any help or interference from the outside, just as my father did and my father’s father before him.”
Daincraft was being stubborn. But this time, it was a good kind. Thinking so, Sungchul headed into the audience chamber. The moment Sungchul appeared, the atmosphere shifted.
Both factions backed off once they saw the strongest living mortal approach.
Meanwhile, Sungchul’s focus was solely on the Order of Extinction.
“Sarasa Xero. And Deckard Xero.” Today, Sungchul intended to settle matters with the Order of Extinction in some form or another.
Sarasa Xero, known as the Saintess of the Mask, would have no choice but to answer what it was they were after. That or force it out of Deckard.
Though Sungchul couldn’t say that he had no personal feelings toward them, it did not diminish the fact that he’d witnessed it all. Of how tens of thousands of innocent people of Aege Harbor were sacrificed to the calamity, perpetrated by the Order of Extinction.
He wasn’t going to allow the same thing to take place here.
Sungchul was steadfast in his goals, which led his feet toward the core members of the Order of Extinction.
“Explain everything you know.”
Krumbui’s blade was brandished forth.
A collective look of dismay surfaced on the faces of the Deckard family.
Sarasa, in particular, was profoundly shaken. Confronted with Sungchul’s terrifying visage and the aura emanating from his entire being for the first time, she could do nothing but tremble, finding herself unable to even think of opposing him.
Meanwhile, Deckard remained calm due to his plentiful field experience.
“Protect Sarasa.”
The members of the Order of Extinction moved to stand between Sungchul and Sarasa.
However, their resistance was meaningless.
As soon as they blocked the way, fierce currents burst forth from Sungchul’s fingertips, mercilessly scorching the Order members as it danced among them.
The faces of the dwarves who witnessed the scene lit up with surprise, the most shocked among them being Daincraft.
Wait, since when did he possess such powerful magic?
The Sungchul he remembered was a straightforward and aggressive warrior, simple yet embodying the most dwarf-like spirit despite being human.
The Order of Extinction, who were on even footings against even the king’s elite guards, were wiped out in an instant. The only ones from the order who survived were the two leaders, Sarasa and Deckard, and two servants.
And the two servants that survived were noncombatants. They were merely maids. The only ones who could potentially fight were now just the father and daughter.
Sungchul, with Krumbui’s blade resting on his shoulder, gazed at the two of them as he spoke with a calm tone.
“If you speak honestly and abandon the Order of Extinction, I will let you go this one time.” This was the greatest mercy Sungchul could offer.
Sarasa and Deckard looked at each other. In the blink of an eye, a myriad of emotions passed between father and daughter.
Then, Sarasa stepped forward. “Why are you cornering us to this extent?” Sarasa asked with a sharp accusatory voice. The eye on the unmasked half of her face was trembling.
“Really? That’s all you have to say?” Sungchul turned his head to the side. “I know what the order has done to Aege.”
That single statement had enough destructive power to shatter all of Sarasa’s cards in hand.
Indeed, Sarasa felt as if all the excuses she had prepared in a moment’s time had turned to dust and vanished into thin air.
The only thing she could fall back on now was to bring up the past between them.
“You!” her voice, filled with a whirlwind of desperation, anger, and other indescribable emotions, echoed in the audience chamber.
“Because of you, we lost everything. If you hadn’t come to Airfruit, it wouldn’t have been destroyed, and our family could have lived peacefully in our home and land!”
“Is that so? That might be true.” Sungchul seemed to easily accept her statement.
Bertelgia shivered in his pocket, signaling him to be cautious. But Sungchul wasn’t finished. He turned his body to face Sarasa once more before speaking calmly. “But even so, it would have been crushed and destroyed under the feet of the Colossus more than a year ago.”
Sarasa was at a loss for words for a second time.
Sungchul, indicating he would hear no further arguments, raised one hand solemnly and added, “My turn to speak.”
The Krumbui, previously resting on his shoulder, slid down.
“Hey, over there. Pretty Lich lady. This friend of mine has been quite edgy lately. It would be wise not to try any funny business.” Krumbui gleefully opened its mouth.
Now, Sarasa and Deckard were completely trapped. Their fate lay in Sungchul’s hands. And he had no intention of releasing them until he heard the answers he wanted.
“Sarasa,” Deckard murmured to Sarasa in a low voice.
They exchanged glances.
There was first surprise in Sarasa’s large eyes, quickly replaced by sadness spreading like paint in water.
“I’ll give you five seconds.” Sungchul’s words resonated solemnly, like a judgement.
Deckard stepped forward. “What do you wish to know from us? Number Thirty-Four.” Incredibly, he looked calm and relaxed.
With an indifferent gaze, Sungchul fixed his gaze on Deckard and opened his mouth. “The true purpose of the Order of Extinction.”
Upon hearing those words, the corners of Deckard’s mouth slowly rose, and soon he was clutching his stomach, laughing heartily.
Sungchul wouldn’t just let it be. He swung Krumbui.
A fearsome sword wind arose, violently shaking Deckard’s hair and the hem of his robe, and his laughter vanished.
“This is your last warning. If you’re planning to stall for time, next, I’ll ask your daughter.” He looked at Deckard, who continued to smile without any fear of Sungchul’s warning, then let out a chuckle before he replied, “Would you believe it if I said it’s to save the world?”
It was an unexpected answer.
“If there’s sufficient evidence and reasonable logic, there’s no reason not to believe,” Sungchul responded, but curtly added, “But for a cause that’s supposedly filled with hope, it seems like too many Followers of the Calamity have gathered. I don’t see those fools changing their distorted beliefs just by listening to a few sermons.”
“Followers of the Calamity. What they seek is the truth, nothing more. The head of our order has bestowed upon us the truth, like a ray of light.”
“For example?” Sungchul felt a sense of fatigue as he asked.
Deckard turned around with a grin and said, “Sarasa. Show him.”
Sungchul’s gaze shifted from Deckard to Sarasa.
“Don’t try anything funny. This guy’s really tensed up right now!” Krumbui warned Deckard and his daughter with a mocking tone.
Sarasa Xero’s hand gently rose, its destination the a mask that covered half of her face.
Inside, Sungchul couldn’t help but feel this was strange.
The mask? What is she planning?
Beneath the mask was likely the disfigured and hideous appearance she most wanted to hide from others. The only reason for this behavior that Sungchul could think of was that she was going to try and get him to feel pity for her.
However, such tactics would not work on Sungchul, and he quietly observed Sarasa’s actions.
As expected, Sarasa’s hand removed the mask.
“Ugh….” Bertelgia, with an exceptionally keen sense of smell for bizarre scenes, shivered.
Then, the mask fell from her face.
It was the moment when the true face of the Saintess, long veiled in mystery, was revealed to the world.
And upon the revealing, Sungchul doubted his own eyes. For under the mask was not the grotesque appearance of an undead but the unblemished whole of her face.
Sarasa’s face had reverted back to its original form.
This cannot be.
It was no illusion. Mortal illusions do not work on Sungchul. But the sight before his eyes was more incredulous than any illusion.
Sarasa, already dead, could maybe slow or halt her decay through magic, but dead tissue could not come back to life. For the blessings of Resurrection for the dead was a paradox in itself. A paradox implied impossibility.
Yet now, that impossibility had become reality.
“Do you understand now? Why our family willingly follows the teachings of the Order of Extinction?” Deckard asked with a smile. “The knowledge of the Order of Extinction even infringes upon the divine realm of creation itself.”
Sungchul’s expression hardened.
Creation was firmly the privilege reserved by the gods. Everything else was merely a transformation based on the foundation of creation. Making objects, conceiving and giving birth to new life, even complex chemical reactions resulting from chance—all of these were variations occurring within the bounds of things already in existence.
Yet now, Deckard claimed that true creation was possible.
If someone, such as Eckhart, had made such claims out of context, it would have been dismissed outright.
In fact, Sungchul had firmly dismissed the possibility that the class ‘Creationist’ could truly create, because he had thought of the term ‘creation’ as being nothing more than an exaggerated adjective.
But with undeniable proof of the impossible right before him, the weight of Deckard’s use of the word ‘creation’ was completely different.
“Who is the head of your order?”
Sungchul’s eyes gleamed. Because from this context, he instantly understood that someone as insignificant as Schnellmerker couldn’t possibly be the head of the Order of Extinction.
Schnellmerker was a clever strategist for sure, but he was not of the caliber of a man who would have been able to directly interfere with the hidden secrets of the world.
It was imperative for Sungchul to reveal the identity of this mysterious leader, and he took a step toward Deckard.
“Sarasa!” Deckard shouted loudly.
And at the same time, Sarasa also glared at Daincraft and sharply cried out.
“Daincraft! Face the consequences of your ingratitude!”
Magical circles appeared all around Sarasa as she began casting a spell.
These people.
Without hesitation, Sungchul threw himself toward Sarasa to protect Daincraft.
In the moment of leaping, he discerned the pattern of the magical circle created by Sarasa, and a realization hit him.
Is it a defensive spell?
In the next moment, an immense cold emanated from her body, soon enveloping not only herself but everything around her in a mass of ice.
Sungchul’s guess was right. What she had cast was a variation of the defensive magic, Ice Wall. Calling out the name of Daincraft was just a ruse to lure Sungchul in.
However, Sungchul directly saw through Sarasa’s tactics and shifted his focus to Deckard, who was taking advantage of the moment to hold the scroll with a black metallic hue.
Sungchul felt perplexed.
What is he planning to do with that?
Sarasa and her companions had desperately tried to put that blasphemous scroll in the hands of the dwarf king.
As Horneko had said, the scroll would unleash its true power only in the hands of a specific individual.
Now, Deckard was attempting to tear it apart with both hands.
Deckard shouted in a hoarse voice, “Sarasa! I will wait for you in paradise.”
The scroll was torn apart. Then, the profane energy contained within burst forth, enveloping Deckard’s entire body.
“Arghhh!” Deckard screamed as his handsome face contorted in pain.
From within the ice, Sarasa watched her father’s demise with an expressionless face.
Sungchul immediately changed his course toward Sarasa, who had trapped herself within a block of ice.
Krumbui struck the barrier and the ice shattered, sending fragments flying in all directions, but it was not enough.
A sword is meant to cut, not to break, and furthermore, Krumbui was not an object capable of fully withstanding Sungchul’s god-like power.
I’ve been had.
They were no easy family to deal with.
In the meantime, the unholy aura that had enveloped Decker’s body was erasing his form.
Feeling a chilling sensation in his chest, Sungchul stepped back as unbearable malicious energies enveloped the area around Sarasa.
“Ah…!” a guard yelled.
“What is that?” Bertelgia trembled.
From the unholy energy that had enveloped Deckard’s body emerged a form of some kind.
It was shaped like a gigantic beetle.
Transcendent Sense activated.
[Immortal Yanke Raiman]
[Master of the Arsenal, the creator trapped in his own prison]
The ground began to tremble.
Again?
1 more chapter is out.
Thank you!
Finally, the mystery scroll.