Chapter 184: When the Nightmare Calls (4)
“Captain.”
Countless flags fluttered atop the Great Wall.
A soldier asked Cain, who was gazing at the horizon beyond, holding a pure white magic sword.
“Aren’t we fighting a lot of enemies?”
“That’s right.”
The creatures that rushed from the distant east were so diverse that it was difficult to even give them a name.
Ogres, trolls, goblins, and other monsters mentioned in the world inside the wall were familiar faces.
Cain and the warriors of the Great Wall naturally fought with these strange, never-before-seen monsters, risking their lives.
“Which ones were the hardest to deal with?”
Cain stroked his chin.
He had never really ranked them, as he fought without much thought each time. But when he roughly ranked them at this opportunity, he got a general idea.
“The small ones.”
“Excuse me?”
“The corrupted fairies or the spirits that change the environment at will are a bit tricky. There are too few places to stab with a sword.”
“…….”
The soldier who asked Cain nodded with a wry smile. It was a very Cain-like answer.
“Then what are the easy ones?”
He had a rough idea, but he asked anyway.
“The big ones.”
Cain gave an answer that was no different from what he expected.
“There are plenty of places to stab with a sword.”
“But even if you think about the corrupted dragon, isn’t it too strong with all kinds of magic and strong physical attacks? Even those slender eastern dragons are tricky because they pour out so much lightning.”
“That’s not wrong, but.”
Thump━.
Cain grinned, tapping the magic sword, ‘Winter’, hanging on his back.
“Still, big is better.”
His smile was so clear that the soldier stared at Cain for a moment without saying a word.
It was the first time.
That Cain smiled like that.
The only one who collected the bodies of the soldiers who died yesterday today, and remembered the faces of the soldiers buried today until tomorrow.
The absolute ruler of the Great Wall.
Lord East Cain.
The soldier, who still had no nickname, prayed for Cain, who could only smile when he thought of killing monsters.
If there is a god who will answer this prayer.
If there is a great being who will look after the sinners of this Great Wall.
Please let Cain smile an ordinary smile someday.
[‘Winter’ smiles.]
A message that no one at the time could hear flowed, and the day on the Great Wall continued.
“That’s a relief.”
Cain drew his pure white magic sword.
A corrupted dragon of immense proportions, the kind of monstrous sight that would block out the entire night was approaching.
“It’s a big one.”
“It’s fortunate that the one the Captain likes came out today.”
The warrior gripped its two axes in its hand with force, before leaping down into the battlefield along with Cain.
🔹🔹🔹
《It was my mistake to turn into this form.》
The ground shook with Procell’s footsteps, and the water in the lake evaporated into white steam and gradually dried up.
The green poison he emits engulfs the surroundings and erases living things.
But.
Dark Sky.
Original Style.
Kyrie.
Shwooooosh━!
The aura of the crescent moon erupting from the ground.
Kwooong━.
Vertically cut the huge wings of Procell, who had transformed into a black dragon.
The dragon’s blue blood poured out like a waterfall, and its jet-black wings fell to the ground.
“I told you.”
Whooong━.
The wind blows.
In his right hand is ‘Winter’, which can only be maintained in this ‘night’.
In his left hand is the holy sword, ‘Summer’.
The wind blowing from Cain, holding both swords perfectly, pushes away Procell’s poison.
“It’s easy. Whether it’s Ballam or you, it’s fortunate that you’re big.”
He had already lost both wings.
He had also lost one of his stubby arms, and in an instant, one of his legs was cut off, forcing him to stand precariously.
On the other hand, Cain didn’t ask a single question first.
Procell, who had transformed into a black dragon, sighed at this absurd situation and opened his mouth.
《I never dreamed that I would be like this with just a few of your sword cuts, let alone a proper fight.》
Procell had accepted defeat.
Unless he got a wish worthy of sacrificing the people he had captured in Märchen, he was just a fallen ‘devil’ of the past.
Their era was long gone, and in this era when the era of ‘witches’ was also coming to an end, where would the devil of the past set foot?
Especially in the face of the predetermined ‘End’.
《What in the world are you?》
But he didn’t even think about this kind of defeat.
He had imagined a fierce battle in which their blood, murderous intent, and resentment would intersect.
But what he experienced was an overwhelming slaughter.
It wasn’t even a fight.
Under Procell’s ‘night’, Cain, who looked like he was in the Great Wall era, was an absolute being who weighed down the world with his mere existence.
“Cain.”
He answered nonchalantly.
“There’s nothing more, nothing less.”
And he glanced down at ‘Summer’ in his left hand.
[‘Summer’ proudly raises his head, demanding to be praised.]
[‘Winter’ claps reluctantly.]
[‘Summer’ triumphantly declares that while being strong is good, the top priority is protecting his master.]
[‘Winter’ glares at ‘Summer’ for criticizing her methods.]
‘Winter’s lightning is strong but painful.
There is no limit, and the more you dedicate your future, the more power it gives you.
On the other hand, ‘Summer’s sunshine is gentle.
It thoroughly pours out its power only as much as the master of the holy sword can withstand, and specializes in recovery and defense.
‘It’s so good to hold both of them at the same time.’
Now that he had lost Agweska, he wouldn’t be able to raise ‘Winter’s power like this after this ‘night’ ended.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but smile as he used the power of the pure white magic sword he had held for a while to fully utilize the power of ‘Winter’.
The powerful wave of ‘Winter’s power flows through his body, protected by ‘Summer’s sunshine.
That means he can use even stronger power more comfortably.
‘Strong, very.’
Cain grinned, clenching the greatsword and shortsword in both hands.
He thought that he would be stronger than himself in the previous world line to live in this world line.
Cain was quite proud because he seemed to have tasted a bit of it now.
[‘Winter’ is certain that Cain will become even stronger.]
[‘Summer’ assures that this is just a passing moment.]
And even the two sacred treasures support Cain.
The battle against the night dragon Arthuan, which he had only won because he was so weak that he had to hone his future over and over again.
And this battle against the black dragon Procell, where he gets a taste of the future of the path he has steadily walked.
Feeling the change in himself after passing 25%, Cain looked up at Procell, who was just blinking.
“Why aren’t you doing more?”
《I don’t fight meaningless battles.》
His body shrinks at once.
The suit that had fallen to the floor was sucked into his black mist, and the gentleman with a mustache, whom he had seen last, appeared with a wry smile.
He was a mess.
It was a miracle that he was standing, as the wounds he had sustained when he was a dragon remained intact.
Procell glanced at Cain and the others who had retreated behind him, avoiding his poison.
《My ‘night’ is setting.》
And far away.
Although it was already daytime, a new sun began to rise.
A sign that Wiseman’s signature magic, ‘night’, would disappear along with Procell.
At the same time, messages began to appear in front of Cain.
[Wiseman’s ‘night’ is coming to an end.]
[『Annihilator of Destruction Ⅳ』, Clear!]
[World Line Fixation: ▲ 25.9%]
[‘Summer’s seal is released.]
[Number of deaths in Academy City Märchen: 0]
[Additional rewards will be given.]
[World Line Fixation: ▲ 26.4%]
[The ‘Labyrinth of Lamentations and Sighing’, ‘Lemonade’ has successfully been cleared from start to finish.]
[World Line Fixation: ▲ 26.8%]
Cain blinked.
It was amazing how much the World Line Fixation soared when he killed Elf Queen Glumiêm, who had been united with the World Tree.
Then suddenly a question arose.
‘Wait a minute, isn’t there still that one thing unaccounted for?’
There was definitely one before the fourth quest. And it was the one with two pluses.
『Examining survival…… Start.』
『The curse of the Demon King…… Dispelled.』
『Physical wounds…… Recovered.』
『Processing quest clear.』
As if reading Cain’s mind, several messages from the inorganic 『Four Seasons』 popped up.
[『Annihilator of Destruction Ⅲ++』, Clear!]
[World Line Fixation: ▲ 27.3%]
[‘Airian’s Peace’ will be bestowed at a later point in time.]
[‘Employment’ has been paid in full.]
《Oh.》
Procell, who was half dead, looked at Cain’s eyes twinkling with message windows and smiled.
《As I am about to die as a devil, I can see a little bit of God’s writing.》
Whizz━.
Cain turned his head in surprise.
This was the first time anyone else had read the message window that was only visible to him.
Procell smiled bitterly and bowed his head.
《No need to be surprised. Since devils are those who walk between world lines, this much is possible before they die.》
“……You’re a little different from Ballam.”
Then Procell raised his left arm, with only two fingers remaining, and stroked his mustache. He opened his mouth, looking back at the summer sun, which was endlessly emitting hot sunlight.
《As I mentioned previously, he is the very representation of fire, while on the other hand I myself have always been more on the side of a ‘scammer’. Both our natures remain entirely dissimilar.》
“Were you two really that close, then?”
Cain felt a strange sense of remorse when Procell said that he was different.
Swoosh━.
At Cain’s question, Procell’s wrinkled eyes slowly moved to look back at Cain.
《……A little.》
Even if everything he had said so far was a lie, this one word must be true.
Cain lived on the battlefield.
He smelled the strong scent of war in Procell’s words. It smelled like reminiscing about an old comrade.
《But in this era, where time has passed so much, it is a meaningless sound.》
“Then why did you try to revive?”
Cain’s bright purple eyes stared at Procell as if piercing him.
He was curious about the true intentions of the tenacious devil who had remained as a ‘heart’ and waited for an opportunity for a long time.
Procell tried to touch his mustache again, but his arm fell off. It was proof that death was imminent.
He shrugged.
《I was curious.》
“About what?”
《Whether this world, which I, no, we devils created even as we became devils, is truly right.》
“…….”
《How pitiful and beautiful are those who create the flames of ruin in the shackles of eternity and end. I wanted to see all of that.》
Before he knew it, even his suit was gone.
Leaving only those words, Procell scattered into black mist and disappeared along with the ‘night’.
Cain looked away, looking at the dust-like end.
[『Circulating Seasons XLIX』, Clear!]
[Would you like to change World Line Fixation to world reformation…….]
“No.”
Cain answered immediately, and.
[You have defeated the devil, Procell.]
[World Line Fixation: ▲ 27.7%]
[Luck increases.]
Night recedes like the tide.
Cain’s temporarily enlarged body shrinks back into that of a seventeen-year-old boy still in his prime.
[‘Winter’ licks her lips.]
The pure white magic sword, born of nightmares and fantasies, scatters like a dream.
Cain looked down at it and grinned.
‘I don’t regret it, it will happen again soon.’
[‘Winter’ is a little surprised to know Cain’s intentions.]
“Hero.”
As Cain finished all his tasks and was recognized, Lourens, who had returned to his original form, called out to him.
“Thank you for saving Märchen.”
And a bowed waist.
This was not difficult for Lourens, who could do anything for the Empire.
“All with just empty words alone?”
Lourens only slightly raised his head.
He blinked as he watched Cain open his mouth with a slightly playful expression.
With the intuition that it would be difficult from now on, the day of Märchen was beginning.
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