The Villain Carries the Holy Sword – Chapter 183

Chapter 183: When the Nightmare Calls (3)

The artificial sky created within the dungeon was torn apart as if slashed by a sword, revealing the distant starry sky.

And the pouring cosmic chill.

Fwoosh—

A massive white wave spreads out, centered on Cain. No matter how tenacious the hydrangeas are, how can they withstand this overwhelming chill?

They freeze instantly.

However, the chill did not reach the pavilion where the three were situated.

Elena glanced back at the holy sword, ‘Summer,’ embedded behind her. The reason why the chill that shook the hydrangeas beyond the horizon did not reach this place.

[‘Summer’ shrugs.]

If Cain’s magic sword destroys the world, Cain’s holy sword protects people.

With two swords in his possession, the current Cain seemed to stand far beyond the definitions of a warrior or a hero.

“It’s certainly vast.”

Cain, who had frozen the entire boss room with Active, Winter of Night, smiled bitterly. The area his senses reached was almost half the size of Count Ethelred’s territory.

No matter how vast, a 1-star dungeon’s boss room couldn’t be this large, so this too was Procell’s doing.

Crackle—

Pure White Thunderbolt erupted from his entire body once more.

Boom—

Amidst the brilliant lightning, Cain stomped his left foot.

As if frozen, the hydrangeas around him began to shatter into white ice powder.

“Snow……?”

Headmaster Wiseman, who had been exclaiming only impossibilities, muttered as she watched the scene.

Lourens beside her continued her words.

“Snow falling from the earth to the sky.”

The shattered ice petals resembled snow, and the sight of them scattering into the air from Cain’s footfalls was like snowfall.

Amidst the snowstorm, Cain looked east.

“Troublesome.”

As the red-rooted hydrangeas shattered, a strange tremor resonated from the east.

“Groaaaaar—!”

A monster three times larger than Cain rose and charged towards him.

Elena clasped her hands and shouted.

“It’s an ogre!”

An ogre, a rare monster inside the Great Wall.

A threatening being with a physique similar to a human’s, but wielding a wooden club with overwhelming strength.

“How can an ogre be the boss of a 1-star dungeon?”

Headmaster Wiseman still couldn’t comprehend the situation.

From the moment her magic was stolen by the devil, everything felt like a dream, but this moment was even more so.

And now, before her eyes.

The ogre, charging with bloodshot eyes, swung its club at Cain with all its might.

Thud—

“I know.”

The club, carrying enough force to crush a person flat in an instant.

Cain raised his left hand and caught it without the slightest movement.

“I had to know, even if I didn’t want to.”

Rare within the Great Wall, but beyond it, ogres were as common as dirt.

[‘Winter’ laughs, saying it’s just like the Great Wall days, with both her vessel and ogres present.]

Crackle—

Cain’s lightning grew even brighter.

His cloak, which had appeared when he activated Winter of Night, fluttered.

『Samhain’s ‘Winter’… Activation.』

As the inorganic message appeared, a pure white crown slowly began to materialize above Cain’s head.

Like the King of Winter.

Like the ruler of all that is white.

“Raaaagh—!”

The ogre roared even louder, seemingly outraged that its attack had been so easily blocked.

It attempted to crush Cain with its left hand.

Dark Sky.

Original Style.

Kyrie.

Naturally, Cain’s ‘Winter’ wouldn’t just stand by and watch.

If the Kyrie unleashed with Agweska or ‘Summer’ was a candlelight, then the Kyrie’s aura, now formed by ‘Winter’ with the power of the complete Lord East, was a full moon!

The moonlight aura, in the shape of a crescent moon, sliced through the ogre’s left shoulder.

“Kuaghhh!”

The ogre’s scream.

Green blood gushed out.

Cain slightly twisted his left foot inward and turned his waist a little.

“You picked the wrong opponent.”

Procell’s best was Cain’s least.

Cain calmly swung ‘Winter’ towards the trap the devil had smugly set.

Cross Strike.

Kyrie Eleison.

The miracle of the cross, where the vertical moonlight and the horizontal sunlight met.

The moonlight of Kyrie, erupting once more, split the ogre from its crown to its groin, and the sunlight of Eleison severed its neck.

Thud, thud—

The ogre, a monster said to turn the tides of battle with its mere presence, fell to the ground in pieces like butchered meat after a few swings of Cain’s sword.

“Let’s go.”

Cain extended his hand towards the pavilion.

‘Summer,’ which had been firmly embedded, was pulled out and sucked into Cain’s left hand.

In his right hand, the pure white magic sword.

In his left hand, the golden holy sword.

The black-haired hero, wielding two swords, looked out at the crumbling world.

“I wonder if the trap I set beforehand will work.”

At Cain’s words, Lourens’s eyes widened.

“Don’t tell me, leaving Cadet Mauve behind was……”

Cain smiled faintly at him as he approached.

“Similar to you leaving Anje behind?”

“You are a dangerous hero.”

As the head of the Special Intelligence Division, Lourens shook his head, and Cain shrugged.

“When things seem to be going too well, there’s always a pain in the back of my head. That’s why I prepared.”

“If you weren’t a hero, I’d want to scout you for the Special Intelligence Division.”

The two men looked at each other and smirked.

Meanwhile, Headmaster Wiseman, who was between them, asked back with a look of complete incomprehension.

“A trap? How is leaving those two behind a trap?”

“It’s not so much a trap…… yes, to be precise, it’s bait.”

“It’s a trivial bait that can steal away an opportunity from a devil.”

Cain and Lourens grinned.

🔹🔹🔹

The devil desires a contractor.

He receives offerings in exchange for granting their wishes.

Then, could he freely seize offerings beyond the scope of those wishes?

It was Mauve.

Caught in Procell’s nightmare, he found himself alone in a desolate wasteland, swinging his sword.

“Seventeen times……”

Unlike himself, who had become a cadet of Märchen Academy and could swing his sword forty-one times, young Mauve could only manage a mere seventeen.

His ragged clothes and his emaciated face, covered in scabs, spoke volumes about his plight.

Mauve had nothing but his sword.

But talent did not favor him.

To cross this valley of despair, Mauve began to practice tirelessly.

At that moment.

《I can change your despair.》

With just one word, it could all be different.

Procell could transform Mauve’s hopeless talent into a gift.

Procell whispered to young Mauve in a sweeter tone.

《Wish it from me. Ask me to change this situation. Then, I will make your ‘dream’ come true.》

The same words.

The same temptation.

However, to the devil’s whisper, which had never failed to sway anyone, young Mauve calmly replied.

“Water.”

《……?》

“Please, just give me a glass of cool water.”

《Offer yourself, just say the word, and I can grant you the talent of the sword that will last for eternity.》

It would be as easy as flipping a hand, especially if it meant sacrificing those under the influence of the ‘night’ that had enveloped the academy city of Märchen.

Shake, shake.

Young Mauve firmly shook his head.

“No need.”

《Why?》

“I don’t remember clearly, but someone assured me. They said if I kept trying like this, I could catch up to them.”

Procell’s black miasma shot out and grabbed young Mauve’s head.

Searching through Mauve’s limited memories due to his influence, trying to find out how he could say such a thing, Procell lamented.

《To think a single word could be so deeply etched in one’s heart.》

Although Mauve couldn’t remember it now, Cadet Mauve had heard one thing from Cain before entering this dungeon.

—You’re doing well.

The hero had acknowledged his efforts, which everyone else deemed worthless.

—Just keep going. Don’t give up.

What Mauve yearned for was recognition.

Not the recognition given out of pity or kindness, but the quiet acknowledgement from a senior who had already walked the path of the sword he aspired to.

Mauve had already achieved his wish.

Having received a sliver of sunlight to fill his faint despair from Cain, he could brush off Procell’s temptation with just a glass of water.

Thud—

Procell handed a glass of ice-cold water to young Mauve and dissipated.

It was such a meager wish, not even worth using another offering on……

🔹🔹🔹

It was Anje.

A white room.

In a white room with no doors, young Anje was humming to herself. Even Procell, who had witnessed countless human nightmares as a devil, found this level of bleakness in a nightmare astonishing.

“Is anyone there?”

Young Anje’s clear voice echoed. As she turned her head, her face was covered in scars, stitched together like pieces of cloth, the needle marks clearly visible.

《I can change your despair.》

Procell smiled inwardly.

It would be even easier with someone in such a desperate state.

《Do you desire revenge? You just have to say ‘offer’ to me, and you can achieve anything.》

“Oh, really?”

Anje excitedly rose from her spot.

Seeing the different skin tones on her face, legs, and arms, Procell had a thought.

“Then, offer! Offer!”

Anje shouted excitedly.

Not because she could escape her despair, but because she seemed to enjoy the situation itself, having someone to talk to.

Procell lowered his voice and asked back.

《Should I kill those who did this to you? Or should I make you whole again?》

“Why would you do that?”

Anje tilted her head and blinked. Then, she made a large circle with her arms.

“Uncle Lourens, who came before, told me that there’s a shop somewhere in the Imperial City that makes cotton candy this big in front of a fountain.”

《…….》

“Give me those!”

Anje stretched out her hands with the utmost innocence.

Although he shouldn’t be visible, for some reason, Procell, whose location was revealed before Anje, slowly materialized and shook his head.

《Your despair, for mere cotton candy……》

“If you don’t give it to me, I’ll cry.”

As soon as she said those words, Anje began to sob.

Looking down at her, Procell flicked his finger.

Pop—

And a cotton candy larger than the circle Anje had drawn with her arms appeared and settled into her hands.

“Wow! It’s like a cloud!”

Young Anje excitedly began to tear into the cotton candy with both hands, and Procell looked outside this nightmare.

《Cold water and cotton candy, huh. I’ve been utterly defeated.》

“Isn’t it?”

Anje’s dream shattered.

And a rough warrior’s hand, calloused and strong, grabbed Procell by the collar.

“Humans are more devilish than devils.”

It was Cain.

🔹🔹🔹

The four stood surrounding Mauve and Anje, who were lying peacefully. Only Cain was an adult, while the other three retained their youthful appearances, which felt somewhat awkward. However, their formidable presence remained unchanged.

Cain placed his hand on Anje’s head.

[‘Summer’ emits a soft glow.]

The holy sword’s sunlight imbued Cain, and he effortlessly pulled out Procell, who was hiding within Anje.

《Devils are truly pitiful beings. The power they possess alone is enough to shake the world, yet they can do nothing but wait unless someone makes a wish.》

Procell’s form, which had resembled black miasma, gradually became clearer.

Transforming into a middle-aged man with a stylish mustache, Procell looked directly at Cain.

《To think you would use such trivial wishes to seize the opportunity from me, who can only use my power according to the wish made…… It’s a perfect strategy, End.》

“It wasn’t just my idea.”

Cain shrugged and glanced at Lourens.

Lourens, who had also exploited the fact that Anje’s wish was insignificant, shrugged as well.

There were two humans outsmarting a cunning devil.

Procell, now in human form, stroked his mustache and replied.

《I truly despise this method, but if I’m pushed this far, even I, like Ballam, have no choice but to act.》

Rumble—

The water of the lake where the dungeon resided suddenly began to boil.

Splash—

The suit Procell was wearing fell limply to the ground.

《As such, this shall be the predetermined process for both eternity and the end.》

Fwaaaaah—!

The lake water surged like a wave, and in its midst, a black dragon, its head seemingly touching the clouds, appeared.

Cain, holding ‘Summer,’ brushed his hair back with his left hand.

“You should have appeared as something else.”

《…?》

“Dragons are easy.”

《……How arrogant, End.》

Recalling Arthuan, which felt like a distant memory despite being only a few months ago.

[‘Summer’ declares that this time, it will show its power, unlike last time with ‘Winter’.]

Cain smiled.

“This will be fun.”

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