Chapter 176

The colleagues of the Holy Knight Order always called Russel a 'monster.'

They didn't call him a monster out of contempt.

Russel was truly strong like a monster. And with his monster-like stamina, he could climb mountains for two whole days without eating or sleeping.

Russel had always taken pride in his physical abilities.

Though he constantly received criticism from Leandros for managing his stamina.

"I didn't know it would turn out like this."

Russel forcibly drove the sword he had been gripping into the sand and sat down in place.

The sandy beach, which had originally been bright-colored, was now completely soaked and turned a blackish-brown color.

That's how full the surroundings were with demonic beast corpses.

To exaggerate a bit, it seemed like one could walk from one end of the shore to the other stepping on demonic beasts instead of sand.

Russel, completely drained, observed the gruesome scene he had created.

He thought he should listen carefully to his senior's advice from now on.

At first, with blood rushing to his head, he had wildly swung his sword and even engaged in close combat.

But as time passed, he found himself just looking at the sea, wondering when Senior Leandros would return.

If his senior had been here, he would surely have looked at him with a cold, contemptuous face.

Thinking this, his legs suddenly felt weak.

Russel was patting his stiff shoulders when he suddenly looked at the waves washing up on the shore.

Had the water originally come in this little?

He didn't know if it was high tide or low tide now, but the white sandy beach was noticeably more exposed.

Wait a moment.

"What the."

It wasn't a mistake.

The water was gradually receding more and more. After the pale white sandy beach ended, pitch-black rocks began to appear here and there.

His spine chilled and he instinctively felt an ominous premonition. Russel drew his sword and hurriedly prepared to head for higher ground.

His senior had gone to the sea. Could this be the aftermath of a battle between his senior and a demonic beast?

Surely he wouldn't get swept away by the waves.

Russel naturally worried about Leandros as he left the shore, then casually turned around.

Perhaps he wanted to check how much the water was receding,

Or maybe he wanted to see if Leandros, who had gone out to the foggy sea, was coming back.

But the scene Russel witnessed was neither of those things.

Something was approaching through the fog.

He couldn't tell at all what form that something took, or what kind of existence it was.

Yet just looking at it gave Russel chills.

The simple fact that there was an 'unknown existence' in the fog held his feet in place.

Why?

Why couldn't he move?

Russel couldn't understand himself. But the instincts sleeping in his depths whispered.

You can't run away. It's too late now.

Don't move. You mustn't catch its attention.

Hold your breath and act like you're not here...

It was approaching.

Wind carrying an ominous aura, the sound of splashing, breaking waves.

It was slowly approaching.

Seabirds that couldn't cry circled in the air above the beach.

Russel gripped his sword, but he understood this was a useless action.

It was slowly approaching here.

The water was rising.

The sea was splitting, and the faint trembling of the earth began to grow stronger.

It was slowly approaching here, parting the fog.

Beyond the fog draped like a curtain, a stench close to a foul odor strongly wafted.

For a moment, Russel's nose was paralyzed, but he could neither frown nor cover his nose.

All he could do was wait.

The outline of it began to faintly appear before Russel's eyes as he stood motionless.

What was that?

Russel couldn't give any answer.

Humans had never yet invented words that could properly describe the existence before his eyes.

Weak and base language could never dare constitute even one ten-thousandth of such a filthy existence.

Russel lost language, lost logic, and soon lost reason as well.

The mind of the small human who witnessed the indescribable existence slowly began to collapse.

The factors that had defined him were destroyed one by one. Name, experience, memory, all of those things.

He was no longer Russel.

He was nothing but a meaningless lump of flesh that had stopped the only intellectual activity called thinking.

At the moment when even his existence was about to be erased.

A glacier reaching to the edge of the sky rose with will from the sea ahead and blocked the thing that had been advancing.

The person standing atop the ice island that towered majestically in the churning sea was.

"Ah, aah."

From Russel's throat, having forgotten speech, nothing came out but beast-like sounds.

A single tear flowed from his blue eyes with dilated pupils.

He with the sword of dim radiance must surely be an angel who had descended to earth bearing the wrath of a god.

* * *

The air grew cold.

The existence that had risen from the seabed along with the ice island made possible what could never happen in the hot climate of the south.

The man kicked off from the ice and leaped up.

It was a light movement as if stepping on invisible stairs.

Several tentacles that had surged from the deep sea aiming for him tangled chaotically and covered the sky.

Though it was an unpleasant movement, the man didn't even twitch an eyebrow and swung the sword in his hand.

The artifact the deity had delivered in the apostle's dream, taking the form of a sword, severed the thick, slimy tentacles.

Bodily fluids spurted from all directions, but the man didn't stop there and brought down the sword with all his body weight toward the ancient one awakened from dreams.

However, only a small scratch appeared on the skin of the ancient one hidden by the thick pile of tentacles.

The dreamer swung its massive webbed hand even while in dreams.

The glacier blocking the way shattered completely, creating violent waves.

In the ancient one's dreams, the existence was a complete ruler.

The ancient one, which had been sleeping in the strange city sunk beneath the sea, waiting for everything to return to its place, could not distinguish between reality and dreams.

This place too was a dream for the ancient one, and reality only for those who were awake.

Reality could not reach dreams.

The more powerful and ancient the dream, the more painfully reality would crumble powerlessly.

Leandros shouted in the midst of the rain of pouring seawater.

"Arcturus!"

Then the only way was to confront dreams with dreams.

The deity protecting him responded to the apostle's cry.

The dark clouds cleared and the distant vault of heaven hidden beyond was revealed.

In the sky where even the sun had hidden, stars that had been invisible began to shine one by one.

Among the stars looking down at the earth, the sword that received the particularly bright starlight sang thinly.

Leandros grasped the sword with both hands and held it straight before his face.

"I am the one who brings news of your end."

At the quiet praise, the sword's song gradually began to grow louder.

In the wind that pushed away the ominous air, there was the scent of dry land and melted snow.

"Let the rebellious take this to heart. Remember the things of old."

The ice climbing on the existence wandering in dreams cracked and broke with a crunching sound.

The tentacles began to thrash, sweeping in all directions and striking down on the sea.

An untimely north wind blew fiercely, roaring like an angry beast.

"Under his wrath I will establish my will."

This was praise by covenant.

The sword crying unbearably sharp.

Black hair stuck to his cheek.

The frozen sea blocking the ancient one's path.

The song of the star calling his name from that distant beyond.

The only existence that could shatter dreams held for hundreds, thousands of years, and the morning star racing along its orbit.

The burning stars wandering above Leandros's head began to sing in their own language.

Blessings to weak life, to countless fates that would exist only for an instant.

Deeper sleep to ancient dreams.

Applause to the endlessly repeating play.

Comfort to those who despair.

"-Praise the merciless name with death!"

For a single moment.

The whole world was dyed white.

A beam of light that pierced through all impurity split the sea area, freezing everything it grazed.

* * *

"Wh-what on earth is this."

Amelia muttered as if she couldn't believe the scene before her eyes.

She had been searching to rescue people who might still remain in the village when she discovered children in a collapsing house and barely completed their rescue.

While distributing her cloak and the food she had to the children whose nutritional state was seriously poor, Amelia suddenly felt the air growing cold.

It wasn't just the sudden temperature change.

The splashing sound of waves that had been clearly audible until just now was growing more and more distant.

This was a sign of a tidal wave.

The children and Amelia, who had turned pale, began running to move to even slightly higher ground.

If a tidal wave came, even what little remained here would surely be swept away completely.

When Amelia, who had been running for her life carrying and loading the children on horses, finally looked back from a place where she could catch her breath.

A white sea spread out in the distance.

It wasn't the foam of waves. Nor was it a mistake of seeing the reflection of fish's silver scales.

The sea was quietly frozen as if it had been preserved in place.

After being mesmerized by the wondrous sight for a moment, Amelia thought of the only person she knew who could freeze the sea.

Was this time he had bought for them?

Even if he had done this to prevent a tidal wave, the scale was too enormous.

Was he alright... no, she shouldn't think such thoughts. She should just trust and run.

Amelia shouted to the children who, like herself, had lost words and were blankly staring at the white sea.

"W-we need to go farther now! You c-can't just stand there d-dazed like that!"

"Sister! Over there!"

The child clinging to the horse's back suddenly let out a piercing scream.

In the distance, a demonic beast species that looked like a frog was paying attention to them.

The demonic beast held a rusty trident in its hand. There were mottled stains remaining, but Amelia tried not to think about what those stains were.

It was definitely a water-related demonic beast.

Had it crawled up from the sea? That was currently the most likely possibility.

"R-run away."

"What about you, sis? Aren't you coming with us?"

"Sister, I'm scared, come with us..."

"If I c-come with you too, it will d-definitely chase us. If th-that happens, it'll be dangerous."

The demonic beast's eyeballs looking at Amelia and the children were rolling around.

On guard. Reaching that conclusion, Amelia didn't hesitate to strike the horse's rump hard.

-Neigh!

"Sister! Sister!"

"Sis!"

Along with the children's screams, the startled horse immediately began to run.

Since it was a smart horse, it would stop after running for a while. Of course, by then it would be after escaping the recognition range of the demonic beast before her eyes.

The worrying point was that there might be other demonic beasts roaming ahead...

Then she had no choice but to shake it off as quickly as possible and chase after them.

Suddenly the demonic beast gripped its trident, crouched like a frog, then leaped.

Because it had closed quite a distance in an instant, Amelia instinctively ran without even having time to think of a way to attack.

From behind, she heard the thud, thud sound of heavy weight hitting the ground. Moreover, each time she heard the sound, it was getting closer.

A weapon, a weapon, even a wooden stick!

Suddenly she heard a thud sound close to the back of her head.

Amelia almost reflexively threw her body and rolled. After tumbling on the rough ground, she barely stopped in front of debris from a collapsed house and a pile of small stones.

When she raised her head, the trident was stuck exactly where she had been.

If her timing to jump had been even slightly late, it wouldn't be the ground that got pierced but herself.

Her hair stood on end, but there was no time for useless sentiment.

The demonic beast was approaching, pulling out the trident with a squelching sound.

This was serious. Your Grace, what should she do now?

Amelia sat down and moved backward, but she felt a hard stone wall against her back.

This was the end. It would end here.

After betraying the Duchess and ruining an entire family, she was finally meeting such an end.

Was this what they called karma? Amelia had never even told His Grace she was sorry, that she was the very person who had made him that way.

She had wanted to convey at least an apology. Even if His Grace might get angry and turn away from her, she shouldn't have been afraid.

Sir Leandros and Sir Russel were far away, and His Grace was even farther away.

Completely alone, Amelia sniffled as she steeled her heart in preparation for death.

At that moment, she felt the touch of something other than stone at her fingertips.

Grasping it without thinking, it turned out to be a small, crude knife.

And it was a small knife that fishermen used when preparing fish.

Amelia stared blankly at the knife.

Since this was a fishing village, everyone probably had such things.

Knife. Small knife. Sword. Dagger. Dagger.

She heard a hallucination of someone whispering in her ear.

-Amelia, since you have a small build, you can't wield a large sword like a knight, right? So it's right to hold something small.

-But my lady, this dagger is too small.

-Because it's small, it's not visible, and because it's not visible, it's easy to penetrate the opponent's weak points. Trust me, Amelia. You have talent for this.

Suddenly Amelia's mind snapped back.

It was a dagger!

Amelia's body remembered how to handle a dagger.

Standing up with the fisherman's knife that spun around in her hand, Amelia was no longer crying.