Chapter 34: The Black Knight
TL: Potato-tan
Proofreader: Asianpotato
“Huh? Where is this?”
It was a field of flowers. The colorful petals bloomed wildly atop a hill. Russell and Julia stood on a hill in the middle of the flower field.
Looking up, they saw clouds scattered across the sky. It was an overcast sky, as if rain was about to fall. The clouds obscured the sun, casting an even light, or rather, a shadow, upon the land.
Looking around, they saw nothing but beautiful flowers. The fragrance was also too sweet. Julia inhaled the fragrance deeply. She felt full. She wondered if this was how drugs felt, as she had heard.
“Hehe. . .”
Julia’s eyes gradually lost focus as she tried to free Russell’s hand and reached for the flowers below with her other hand.
“Why are there so many flowers. . .?”
“Julia!”
It was then that Russell’s thunderous roar resounded. Julia’s mind snapped back to reality, startled by its abruptness. She was horrified by the thought she had just had. ‘Why was I trying to touch these flowers? Why was I trying to dig the ground?’
‘Why did I want to be with these flowers?’
“Ack!”
Julia straightened her bent back. Something, something was wrong. This fragrance was holding her back. It was an attempt to drag her underground.
“What, what is this place? We were just in the maze in the underground.”
“We can’t stay here long. Hold my hand tight. Never let go.”
Russell strode forward. His absurdly long legs forced Julia to take almost running steps to keep up with his pace.
“W, What do you mean? That we can’t stay here long?”
Russell didn’t answer and continued walking. The flowers’ fragrance still lingered around them, and it became stronger as Russell approached something.
“Ugh. . .”
Julia covered her body and nose with magic, trying not to smell the scent, but she had already inhaled too much of it.
A flower field filled her mind. She felt an urge to dig into the ground beneath her feet and go inside, even for a moment.
Russell looked back at Julia, who was staggering, and started running. Julia barely managed to keep up; her wrist was tightly gripped in his hand.
Soon, Russell’s eyes saw a path. The path was the only thing that resembled a tree among the flowers.
The fragrance was now visible to the naked eye. The colorful fumes extended their seductive fingers and caressed her body.
Russell raised his fist. A fist with a blazingly transparent aura struck the tree, and magic wrapped around it. Then, the tree resonated with a sound that defied belief.
Clang━!
Julia’s mouth fell open. There was a crack on the surface where Russell’s fist had hit. The tree’s bark cracked like a spider’s web and shattered like glass.
Clang━!
Darkness enveloped them, and Julia screamed and closed her eyes. But she didn’t let go of Russell’s hand.
When the darkness that she could feel even through her eyelids disappeared, she opened her eyes.
“This is.”
It was a desert. Above, the scorching sun burned in the middle of the celestial sphere, and beyond that, there was not a single cloud, making the blue sky feel unreal.
The feet and legs, buried in the sand, felt alien. It also emanated a powerful radiance. The heat rising from the sand was stronger than the sunlight above, making it difficult for Julia to breathe.
“This way.”
Russell walked forward, his upper body still bare and his eyes burning with hellfire.
“Wait a minute. . .!”
Julia also tried to take a hasty step, but the sand, which sank every time she lifted her foot, made it difficult for her to walk properly.
“R, Russell! Explain! What happened to the flower field just now, and why is this a desert?
“There’s no time. We have to go quickly. Otherwise, the path. . . Excuse me for a moment.”
“W, What the heck!”
Russell picked Julia up in his arms and ran through the desert. He ran without paying attention to the sand that tried to trip his feet and legs. It was hard work to run with a person in his arms, but Russell ran through the desert with the same speed.
However, the person in his arms had to endure a rather unpleasant ride, biting her lips tightly. She might bite her tongue if she was not careful. Julia persuaded herself with the thought that it was inevitable and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, her body, which had been shaking violently, became much more comfortable.
“Over there!”
Russell, who was standing on a sand dune, looked at a point with his eyes burning (not a metaphor, but literally). Julia also turned her head. She exclaimed in shock.
“T, That’s quicksand!”
Quicksand. As the name suggests, it was a terrain where sand flowed like water. From the outside, the extremely fine sand particles resembled a wave of orange water in motion.
The sand of death covered countless travelers with its sandy blanket and put them to eternal sleep. However, Russell headed straight for the quicksand, sliding down. Russell headed straight toward the swirling sea of orange, without any intention of avoiding it. Julia said it in a panicked voice.
“What? What are you doing? We’ll die if you fall in there!”
“This is the only way to go!”
Before she could protest what that meant, Russell jumped into the quicksand with Julia in his arms.
The quicksand swallowed them up in an instant. Julia covered her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears with her hands this time. Sand covered her, preventing her from even screaming.
“Huh?”
Just a moment ago, the sensation of hot sand grains pouring between her hair and neck was no longer present. What she felt right now was an overwhelming cold.
“Whew. It’s quite diverse. Whoever created this, man or woman, should have their face smashed in before I start.”
Julia was still in Russell’s arms. She was about to ask what the hell he meant by face smash. She turned her head to see what the source of the noise was.
The place they were standing was halfway up the ridge of a mountain range in the Great Snow Mountains. Right above their heads was the peak of the snow-capped mountain, hidden by clouds, and below that, an army of snowmen marching in increasingly large numbers.
Soldiers wearing ice helmets and armor and carrying spears and frost shields ran with a roar that shook the world.
“Hold on tight, Julia.”
Russell turned around and jumped down. Julia screamed and clung to his neck.
The piled snow shot up with a loud roar as Russell hit the ground. The accumulation, whether recent or accumulated over decades or centuries, held no significance.
Russell raised and lowered his leg again, confirming the solid rock foundation beneath it.
Bang!
Following a crash that was incomparable to the one before, the bedrock gave way to Russell’s strength and rose up.
Russell kicked a large, flat rock that had floated into the air, turned it over, and then climbed on top of it.
The snowboard-like rock, which had zero friction on the snow, headed straight down the mountain range with Russell and Julia on it.
A sharp wind cut their cheeks, along with the breathtaking speed.
“. . . . . . .”
Julia was just holding on, too stunned to speak. No words could express her feelings right now.
The army of snowmen, which had missed Russell and Julia, chased after them with roars of anger. They were so fast that they seemed to be almost catching up to them. Russell spoke, feeling the eerie and cold gaze on the back of his neck.
“Prepare for a fall.”
‘Huh?’ Julia wasn’t sure if she had muttered that.
As they slid down the rock, a violent wind blew past them, and the army of snowmen devoured Russell’s words, or the question he might or might not have asked.
Julia’s nose and cheeks turned red from the cold wind. But Russell, who was not wearing anything on his upper body, showed no reaction.
Soon, at the end of the mountain range, a cliff appeared. And so did the vast landscape beyond it. Julia opened her eyes wide.
Snow-capped mountains rise under a sky filled with gray clouds. They were majestic, as if the earth’s giants were thrusting white spears toward the sky.
But as always, the sky looked at their spears with an indifferent expression, adding only a handful of snow to their tips. No matter how high they raised their spears, they knew they couldn’t reach it.
However, the earth continued to thrust, even knowing that their spears would not reach the sky. The continuity of time granted to all prevented this.
The rock snowboard carrying Russell and Julia soared over the cliff and into the void.
A brief moment of buoyancy. The sensation of floating in a secret space in a palace overwhelmed her. However, there was no ground to stand on.
The avalanche, which had not been able to catch them in the end, fell over the cliff with a desperate scream. They did, too.
A new space threw them out.
Waaaahhhh━!
Swooshhhh. . . .
Julia felt countless drops of water touching her cheeks. It was raining. Julia, who had been staring blankly at the sky, glanced down at the roar.
There was a war.
Soldiers with armor, spears, and swords rushed at each other. Swords split helmets, and spears pierced chain mail. Blood stained their bare teeth, obscuring their expressions.
Why are they fighting? Is everyone here a mortal enemy who has stabbed their parents, siblings, and lovers?
There was no such extraordinary coincidence.
They were here simply because they were men, because they wore armor, because they held spears, unaware of the reason even themselves. They were taking each other’s lives and enduring each other’s deaths.
The drops of blood shed by their bodies mixed with the rain falling from the sky and seeped into the earth. Julia watched the war, losing her sense of reality.
They were in the middle of the war. They were not in any way biased. That’s why the soldiers from both sides stabbed them with their spears, not thinking of them as allies.
Thwack!
Two spears flew up. Russell had deflected the spears aimed at Julia. He didn’t stop, but swung his greatsword and split the soldiers before grabbing Julia’s shoulder.
“Snap out of it, Julia. This is an illusion. It’s not real.”
“. . .Not real? The flower field, the desert, the Great Snow Mountains, these raindrops, and the deadly attacks just now?”
“Yes. But if you believe it’s true, it becomes real.”
As if to prove his words, Russell didn’t avoid the blades and shields that were attacking him.
Surprisingly, the blades and shields passed through Russell’s body as if it were a ghost. No, the soldiers’ attacks had become transparent, like ghosts. Come to think of it, he wasn’t getting wet in the rain either.
The bewildered soldiers soon attacked Julia instead of Russell. Julia couldn’t possibly think of the sword that was stabbing straight at her body as an illusion, so she reflexively drew her longsword and struck the blade.
Her longsword conveyed a solid feeling as she shouted.
“But you kicked away those spears just now!”
“I was able to interfere because you thought they were real. Just now, the avalanche was the same. Even if it had swept me away, I would have been fine, but it would have buried and killed you.”
“That’s ridiculous. . .”
“Yeah. It’s a really ridiculous space. Follow me! The path is this way!”
Russell took Julia’s hand again and ran. He ran, hurting the soldiers who were trying to take each other’s lives, sometimes swinging his greatsword and cutting them in half, until he reached a tent.
And then he cut the body of the man who seemed to be the commander in chief, from the crown of his head to his groin. Then, a crack appeared again.
“Are you used to it now?”
“. . .No.”
And so Russell and Julia ran, crossing numerous terrains around the world. It was a sheer cliff and vast prairie. Or it was a vast ocean and a jungle full of vines and bugs.
But Russell always found the way, and Julia followed him without a word.
He had always been the one who took the lead in the underground maze, but in the current astronomical situation, even Julia couldn’t help but look at him with admiration. ‘Who the hell are you?’
She had long since lost track of time. Julia thought she would be convinced even if someone told her that a month had passed.
The actual duration would be brief. Probably not even two hours.
However, the experiences during that short time were so absurd and overwhelming (quicksand, avalanches, war, storms, etc.) that it felt like she had stayed for a much longer time. They then fell into space.
A scream was heard. People are filled with terror. Julia stood on a hard floor, having managed to get off Russell’s arms, which had once again held her. The street was familiar. The buildings were also standing on both sides of the street.
“. . .Hippolias.”
The sun was setting in the west. The sky was filled with a fiery sunset. The straight sunlight tore the clouds into long strips, stretching them to the horizon.
Russell and Julia stood under that burning sky in the empire’s capital.
Countless people rushed past them, screaming. They were dressed not in modern clothes, but in clothing from hundreds of years ago. Julia looked at where the people were running away from.
━Roar━
There was a dragon there. A dragon with brilliant golden scales. A large head with horns. The body was slender, with a long, sharp curve leading down from it. The torso was supported by sturdy legs. And a thin, swaying tail.
The dragon roared, proclaiming itself as the most beautiful species in the world, but also as the main character responsible for the terrible destruction.
“Is that Ismenios?”
Julia came to her senses at Russell’s words. She had become engrossed in the dragon’s beauty without realizing it. Then she twisted her face as she looked at the collapsing buildings and the people dying there.
A child was crying, sitting on a pile of rubble. Right in front of the child, a thin, dirt-stained arm was sticking out from under the rocks. The child had just been tossed out, and the mother was unable to flee.
Such scenes were scattered everywhere. There were people trapped in collapsing buildings, and others reached out with their hands, their legs trapped in rafters and unable to get out. “Help me!” However, no one could help them.
Julia was about to run out, but Russell grabbed her arm and prevented her from doing so.
“Why!”
“As I told you before, This is an illusion. It’s just a recreation of a scene that happened in the past. You can’t save them.”
“. . . . . . .”
“They’re already dead. Leave them alone.”
Julia looked up at him with tears streaming down her face. Russell still had fearsome eyes. They were like a burning magic eyes.
Still looking around, she could see people who were dead or dying. Everyone was screaming to be saved. But Julia realized the terrible truth. Nobody, not Russell or Julia, stood on the high road, asking for their help.
It was a clear indication that they were strangers in this space after all. No matter how much she thought that this place, Hippolias, the capital of the empire that Ismenios was destroying, was not an illusion, she would not be able to save the people.
He had noticed in an instant what she had realized too late.
“I hate that I have to watch this helplessly.”
Russell glanced down at her, then slowly looked around again.
“You can’t change the past, which has already passed. Time is not a book. You can’t flip ahead again and rewrite it. We are walking in the present, and the future continues to approach, pass us by, and become the past. Try to change the present. That’s the only thing we can and should do.”
Russell made good use of his experience taking care of his younger siblings at home. Like saving Zeona outside the city the day before, he seemed to have a lot of experience taking care of children this time.
She heard Russell’s words, squeezed her fist tightly, and wiped away her tears. Then she smiled at him. Her round eyes twinkled brightly.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Okay. So how do we get out of here?”
“This is a dead end. There is no further path.”
“Huh? Then what do we do?”
Russell didn’t answer, but he turned his gaze away from her and looked at the dragon on the other side. Under the sunset glow, the dragon was burning like gold, causing destruction.
Somewhere on the road, soldiers armed with armor and weapons were seen running toward the dragon. Despite knowing they would perish, some individuals continued to run. People who put something else above the desire for survival, which was instinct’s highest priority, were marching toward death.
Julia asked in a trembling voice.
“Surely you don’t mean that we have to defeat that dragon here?”
“Haha. No.”
She turned her head. Russell remained silent as he answered. Julia had never seen him laugh out loud before.
On the road stood a black knight of great stature who had not been there until a moment ago.
The black armor appeared impervious to denting, even when darkness gathered and pounded it into a mold. A plain gray cloak spread wide behind it and fluttered.
The surface of the armor was not smooth like Julia’s. The armor, strange yet beautiful, featured jagged protrusions that seemed to solidify the power bursting from within.
The helmet appeared to have the shape of a devil’s face. The huge horns protruding from the temples, as well as the ferocious face guard, were also present.
In one hand, he held a greatsword with a dark blade of the same color as the armor. The shape of the great sword was strange.
There was no separation between the blade, crossguard, and handle. It seemed to claim that it had been born that way from the beginning.
Furthermore, it had no reflection, as if the void’s darkness were absorbing light in the form of a sword.
Russell said.
“Who is it?”
The black knight’s head turned from Julia to Russell. His gaze met Russell’s burning red eyes.
“Long ago, she said. Create a path for those who see the unseen and can see the unseen. At that time, I didn’t know what it meant, and I made it without thinking. . . But now I think I know.”
While Russell frowned, not getting the answer he wanted, Julia stared blankly at the black knight. She unconsciously uttered a name.
“Your Highness Ludwig?”
Ludwig laughed. Despite a black helmet and face guard concealing his face, she could still discern his laughter.
“Yes. My proud descendant.”
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