The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 123

Chapter 123: I Am Winter (1)

「There are five formulas of Dark Sky that have been created so far.

First, Kyrie.

Second, Gloria.

And be careful with the remaining three formulas.

They are the strongest formulas that can change the tide of battle by their mere existence and reverse fate by their mere appearance.

The true ‘Dark Sky’, which countless outsiders cannot touch, starts from the third formula.

In other words, this means that the price is not easy.

What is it, you ask?

Experience it for yourself.

For the teachings of the snowy field lead to bloodshed.

━From the teachings of Johnny-Walker」

🔹🔹🔹

《Gwaaaaaaaaaaaah━!》

The branches of the World Tree, split in half, clump together and merge. And the revealed face screamed.

Hwaaaaaaaaaaaah━!

The wind is hot.

The elf forest, which had been rooted in one place for hundreds of years, slowly scatters.

I thought it would be destroyed by human greed, but in the end, it is the greed of one tree that devours the forest.

《I, can’t, forgive, you!》

The World Tree shouts.

No, it was Glumiêm’s scream.

As befitting the Elf Queen, the incarnation of the World Tree, she had lost all her lives to Cain and merged with the World Tree.

Originally huge, the World Tree became even more gigantic.

It was an act to recover from the wounds inflicted by Abel’s ‘Blood of Ross’, Cain’s ‘Gloria’, and Edmund’s ‘Claíomh Solais’.

“…….”

Unlike the battlefield that seemed ready to explode at any moment, only a cold wind blew between the three men.

Abel stared blankly at Edmund, whom he had never seen before in his memory, and then turned to Cain.

“……Hmm.”

Cain, too, was uncharacteristically flustered and couldn’t say anything.

‘Edmund is here?’

He thought he was an enemy.

Even if he wasn’t an enemy, he didn’t think he would be an ally.

But he appeared at the most crucial moment in the most perfect way.

━I’m sorry.

And he apologizes.

For being late.

Cain couldn’t easily open his mouth, worried that the tingling sensation in a corner of his chest would show in his words.

“Cain, Abel.”

In the end, it was Edmund who opened his mouth first.

No matter how clueless and sword-wielding fool he was, he couldn’t help but notice this awkward atmosphere.

“I am Edmund Ethelred, your father.”

“……I know.”

Of course, the line was not appropriate.

Kukakakakakaka━!

The World Tree, which had been split in half and rejoined, starts to move as it jumps.

Its direction is south.

The direction where the elves and the expeditionary forces were engaged in a fierce battle.

‘Hmm?’

Cain narrowed his eyes.

As the awkwardness faded away with time and he became accustomed to the legendary name Edmund, what he saw were his wounds.

Neck, heart, thigh, waist, forehead.

His clothes were already torn to shreds, and there were wounds all over his vital points.

Drip━ Drip━.

And drops of blood flowed down Edmund’s legs.

They were terrible injuries.

It was a miracle that he was standing there so nonchalantly.

Cain pointed to the pool of blood on the floor and asked,

“What happened?”

Only then was Abel able to check Edmund’s condition.

The existence of the other, who shared his brown eyes and Cain’s black hair, was too unfamiliar, new, and good.

So he was late in discovering his true face.

Edmund spoke in his characteristically calm tone.

“I was going to come earlier, but a crazy sword stopped me.”

Cain immediately realized.

It was the sacred treasure, ‘Summer’, that had also put a brake on his power.

Edmund, as if it were nothing, grabbed his silver short sword and turned toward the World Tree.

“So I broke it and came.”

“You…… broke the holy sword?”

Cain asked back in absurdity, and Edmund, uncharacteristically, widened his eyes and asked back,

“How do you know about the holy sword?”

“I heard you entered the forest with the Saint. Then you must be together.”

“I didn’t kill the guy who was watching from afar just in case, and it’s a good thing I didn’t. Because he’s with you.”

It turned out that the Royal Intelligence Service knew about Edmund’s whereabouts because he had let them.

Koo-ung━ Koong━.

Every time the World Tree moved, the ground shook like an earthquake. In that strange rhythm, Cain opened his mouth.

“He’s not exactly my person. He’s the person of someone I know.”

“A friend?”

“……Well, yeah.”

Cain turned his head away as if embarrassed.

Edmund smiled faintly and nodded.

“Well done. It’s good to have friends when you’re young.”

Cain, in an attempt to overcome his embarrassment, blurted out,

“I’ve heard a lot of stories.”

Edmund pointed to himself and tilted his head. Cain pointed his sword south and said,

“Garick, Digrid, Hybolt, Heatherward.”

“Ah━.”

Edmund smiled again.

It was an old man’s smile toward a distant past that could no longer be returned to.

“Yes, good friends.”

“……Yes.”

Cain was about to tell him how they talked about Edmund.

But the smile Edmund was making was like a child wiping a dusty window with his sleeve, reminiscing about the past.

So he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Cain deliberately changed the subject.

“Did you really break the holy sword?”

“To be precise, I only broke the tip of the sword, and after that, it suddenly froze and went into the seal it was originally in.”

[‘Winter’ is grinning triumphantly.]

Cain lifted the corners of his lips.

〈Sacred Treasures of the Four Seasons〉 It was the first time he had known such a relationship, and he was glad that ‘Winter’, which had always been with him since the previous world line, was favorable.

Perhaps because ‘Winter’ was both his life and his friend.

Cry!

A vibration different from the one that shook every time the World Tree walked rang out.

━Cain, can you hear me?

It was Oleciren’s voice.

A cry that echoed throughout the Northern Elf Forest.

But it wasn’t just loud; it seemed like she was using witch’s power again.

Edmund and Abel looked at Cain curiously, and Cain, feeling like it was going to happen again, replied,

“I hear you.”

━Thank goodness, really…… thank goodness you’re alive.

A sobbing voice.

The sound of worry turning into relief.

And Oleciren’s voice.

Cain grinned.

“Did you think I would die that easily?”

━Dying is one thing, but you would have sacrificed yourself again.

Abel gripped his sword nervously.

He had done his best, but in the end, Cain was wearing that damned white cloak.

It may invoke the power of miracles, but miracles are never free.

Abel knew how Oleciren felt when she said those words.

Cain smiled bitterly.

“It’s nothing.”

━It’s a big deal to me.

“But it can’t be helped.”

Swoosh━.

Cain stepped forward with his left foot.

He raised the jet-black Agweska vertically from his chest.

“…….”

Edmund watched Cain’s posture with a strange look in his eyes. It was as if he was looking at something familiar.

Cain calmly pointed the tip of his sword at the World Tree that was moving forward.

“I have to take care of it.”

━No.

Oleciren’s firm words.

Cain involuntarily turned his head south.

Hwaaaaaaaah━!

The rain streaks bend.

The eerie life force of the World Tree flares up. An overwhelming heat that spreads in an instant shakes the whole world.

The leaves of the trees withered brown in an instant, and the once humid ground became parched.

But that’s not all.

Concentric circles of clouds began to form around the south, like an angel’s ring.

A ring of clouds created by an unmanageable, enormous force.

━Now.

The World Tree, which had been moving as if to annihilate Airian, stops.

《N, No way!》

Redness rises.

It’s not sunrise.

It was lava.

《I’ll hold him off.》

Oleciren’s voice changes.

A red giant rising from the south.

It was Ballam.

No, it was a giant made of lava like Ballam, but its appearance resembled Oleciren.

At that moment, a new message appeared in front of Cain.

[『The success reward of The Circulating Season LI, ‘Growth of eternity’, has been given.]

[The 51st demon, Ballam, who was a ‘servant of eternity’, is absorbed by the possibility of ‘Oleciren’.]

[The intense desire of the unawakened witch, ‘Oleciren,’ creates a miracle.]

[18.6% of the world smiles.]

Koo-ung━.

The giant moves.

It’s only about one or two heads smaller than the World Tree, but it’s a tree and a person.

Whooong━!

Suddenly, the giant’s fist shoots out.

Kwaggagagagagagaga━!

Explosion.

There was no other word to describe the rough and intense blast that swept in.

The blast struck the World Tree’s face precisely.

《Kuaaaaaaaaaaaak!》

Glumiêm screams.

Wheeik━.

At the same time, the roots of the World Tree shoot up.

They slashed at the lava giant.

But.

Whooong━!

What returns is only the second fist.

The roots clearly cut, but how can one cut water with a sword?

Naturally, it was also absurd to cut lava with tree roots. The roots of the World Tree, which had penetrated halfway, melted and were absorbed.

Edmund lowered his sword and stared blankly at the sight.

A giant of lava fighting a giant tree was a sight out of myth.

He pondered for a moment about what to say and then opened his mouth.

“Your friend is quite big.”

“……You can say that again.”

“But the weather is a shame.”

Pitter-patter━.

The rain that had scattered when the lava giant rose began to fall again.

The problem was that black smoke rose every time the rain touched the giant, and the giant was strangely getting smaller.

Moreover, the World Tree became healthier as the soil and forest regained their life.

Kwang━! Bang━!

In front of the spectacle of the giant and the World Tree clashing, Edmund raised the sword he had lowered.

“I think your friend will lose.”

The opponent and the situation were too bad.

If they just killed the World Tree itself, Edmund alone could have finished it.

But the opponent is this ‘forest’.

They had to overcome this green ‘world’ that undulated to the distant horizon.

“I have a way.”

At that moment, Everwyn, who had stepped back and remained silent, stepped forward.

Edmund’s eyes widened as he immediately recognized her.

“This is no time for greetings.”

“Just put some flowers on my grave later, Ed.”

The two of them, having sorted out their emotions in two sentences, turned to Cain. Abel was with them.

“You have the power to kill this entire ‘green world’, don’t you?”

Where Everwyn’s eyes are looking.

The direction is Cain, but the destination is the white end of the world connected to Cain.

“I do.”

Cain nodded first.

His pure white cloak fluttered, and his white crown sparkled. It was as if they had been waiting for Cain’s words.

Everwyn looked at Edmund.

“You only know how to kill people; you don’t have the skills to deal with something this big.”

“If you stab it with a sword until it dies, it dies.”

A very Edmund-like statement.

“With that body?”

Everwyn pointed to his body covered in wounds.

Perhaps even the initial ‘Claíomh Solais’ was a tremendous strain.

“I can push myself to protect my sons.”

Edmund continued firmly.

“Even a lousy father has that much determination.”

“……You’ve grown into quite a fine man, haven’t you?”

Young Everwyn’s eyes curved.

The fact that Edmund, whom she had been most worried about, had become a fine adult warmed a corner of her heart.

Everwyn looked at Cain.

“I just saw it. Every time you use that tremendous power, something of yours flows somewhere.”

“…….”

Cain immediately understood how Everwyn had seen it.

It was related to the Ross bloodline and the elves’ central spiritualization, but the key was ‘fate’.

As Everwyn, who was made by weaving together the ‘fate’ scattered throughout the world, she could see Cain’s ‘future’ flowing away.

It was both a miracle of coincidences.

It was a mythical event in this age where myths are made.

“Use me.”

Everwyn said, beating her chest.

“If anyone can see that flow, it’s me, so I can be your sacrifice.”

Born and died as a blood sacrifice.

Reborn as a sacrifice to the elves, she became a sacrifice to a human’s greed.

And now.

“Protect this world where my daughter will live, Cain Ethelred.”

Everwyn made up her mind.

For herself.

For her daughter.

For the world.

To be a sacrifice.

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