Chapter 48: 48

"Callius! Do you want us to die together! You idiot!"

"That's not bad either. Me and my Knights have no way to deal with that Ames of yours."

The current Callius had no way to resist the Exploding Spear and its cheatlike ability.

Of course, that meant that there was no way for any of the Knights there to face Lutheon.

So Callius chose to fall together with him.

‘The number of the Orcs and the earth dragons has also been reduced by about half. Since they lost so much of the supplies, the blow the Orc army has suffered this time isn't small.'

It was their victory.

"You never cared about anything but yourself, you selfish bastard, so how come you suddenly love the North so much!"

While falling into the abyss below –

Lutheon, screaming, made his spear blaze crimson once again.

Callius also swung the Predator Sword in response.

Kwaaang!!

Callius, although he managed to block the Exploding Spear, was knocked away by the recoil from the explosion.

Whirlik! As he bumped against the cliffside walls, Callius pushed himself off it with a somersault and charged towards Lutheon once more.

"Ahhhhh!"

Within that seemingly endlessly abyss –

As Callius' sword emanated silver energy in the darkness, the swaying edge of the quick sword seemed to undergo a subtle metamorphosis.

"Slashing into the air, now?"

Lutheon, who was about to throw his spear with a laugh, frowned for an instant.

He'd thought his opponent was merely a moth leaping into the flames, but then something strange appeared behind Callius' back.

‘What is that, in the air?'

It was a skill of the Silver Flower Wave Sword art that he'd seen before, the White Haze.

It had been painted in the air.

The White Haze was a technique to hide sword energy under the ground and then reverse it into a swift attack.

Seeing it painted in the air, Lutheon couldn't help but be nervous.

No matter how confident he might have been in his spear, the Silver Flower Wave Sword art could not be underestimated. The Empire feared it, because it was her swordsmanship.

Kuuuuuuu!!

A wave of brutal sword energies rushed from behind Callius.

Kwaaang!

Lutheon clenched his teeth tightly and swung the Exploding Spear Ames to break the flying sword fragments one by one.

Although the sword energies surged madly at a speed that couldn't be followed with the naked eye, unlike when they were fired from hidden places beneath the ground, the White Haze painted in the air was much easier to block.

Kwang!

The deflagration dispersed, revealing Lutheon and Callius, still falling.

The moment they met again –

All of a sudden, the area around Lutheon was covered with silver petals.

‘Oh shit.'

He'd been too absorbed blocking the White Haze to deflect Callius' sword.

Having taken off Vivi's Bracelet, Callius now radiated a tremendous amount of energy.

‘That bastard's Silver Flower Wave Sword takes away the opponent's power and makes it his own.'

And pours it out in an instant like a rising wave.

Such was the swordsmanship of a Saint.

Silver Flower Wave Sword, Raging Flower Wave.

A path of flowers, made up of petals of brutal sword energy, reached out as if to tear Lutheon apart.

"Callius! Don't think you're the only one who gained something!"

Lutheon's spun his spear violently in mid-air and caught it in his hand.

Soon, the Exploding Spear shone with an intense crimson brilliance that it had never shown before.

A dazzling radiance of divine power.

When it condensed to a single point –

"In God's name!"

Lutheon's spear pierced into the Raging Flower Wave.

At a single point, from which an explosion split the waves apart.

Kwaaang!

With that grand explosion –

The two forms disappeared in the darkness.

Seok.

Like heavy smoke settling to the ground and piling up into clumps of ash, memories that are not mine slowly sink into my brain.

‘Callius. Is there really a God?'

A boy who brings out a question that had been nestled in a corner of his heart.

‘If there is a God, why did he build a spear or a sword? They end up causing war and death…'

Despite knowing it to be blasphemy, he can't help but blurt out such words. A boy who never puts down his doubts and questions about the existence of God.

Lutheon, the youngest member of the Ruydren family, a great noble family of the South; one who is not devout in his faith, but enjoys learning.

A child with both wisdom and martial talent, grows into a young man over the years.

And when that youth appears again as a man, unlike before –

There is a spear in his hand.

‘Why. Why are you with her…'

Lutheon asks with a pale face.

And the woman in your arms who turns her head. Cloudy memories fade like ink dripping into water.

When you open your eyes –

All you see is darkness.

Huuuung –!

Welcome to hell.

“Ugh… did I faint there for a while?”

Callius, who regained his consciousness mid-air while falling into the abyss, took Loas in his hand and reversed it.

"Ugh!"

And he stabbed in into the cliffside next to him.

Kuguguguguguk! The shattering sound of the rock walls and the pain from his torn arm muscles almost made him faint again.

But that was only for a while.

Thump.

Hanging from that single sword, the out-of-breath Callius breathed again, white steam rising into the air.

"Haah, I'm alive."

He couldn't see even one inch ahead, but the horrific pain coming from his back and shoulders told him that he'd lived.

His whole body creaked and ached from several bruises and minor burns.

If not for the Cloak of Twilight, he would've been seriously injured.

The cloak, being an artefact, had taken the brunt of the explosions. As evidence, the cloak was only slightly charred, but not torn anywhere.

It was worth every penny he'd spent to buy it.

By the way –

"Did I just dream?"

Perhaps it was the past of the original Callius.

In that memory, Lutheon had been a boy and then a young man.

At the end of it all –

The last day before he'd left as a Pilgrim.

Lutheon no longer had any trace of his old curiosity. Instead his eyes had lost all their fire, as if he had nothing left in the world.

‘Lutheon…'

He had quite a tumultous fate.

Despite being a scion of the fourth noble family of Carpe, he turned traitor, escaping to the Empire and serving Lactus. I now knew why he turned apostate.

The reason for his betrayal …

"Was it because of that woman?"

That was then –

Startle.

Dismissing my train of thought, I looked around.

When my eyes, that had gotten used to the darkness, saw the surroundings for the first time, I realized that it was a place full of greenery. I gathered my divine power into a small flame.

And what I saw –

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"It's all the way down."

The Sinking Forest ended just below the point where I had stopped myself by sinking my sword into the cliffside.

It was the floor of the abyss.

It was filled with lush greenery, as if it had not been touched by human hands for a long time.

"I thought that coming down here would still be a long while later…"

I knew I wouldn't die easily no matter where I fell, but even so, it was a place I didn't want to come to.

The bottom of the forest was a place with a cruel ecosystem, worse than even a land swarming with Orcs.

This place had been left alone for a long time.

In its independent ecosystem, there were creatures that had long disappeared from everywhere else, same as the deep sea.

Like the legendary Dragons, or mythical monsters.

Trolls, Cyclops, Goblins, and more.

This is where they built their own territories, and lived.

A land abandoned by the Gods.

The Forsaken Valley, Altara.

Since I fell to a place infested with such bastards, I had to be careful with every single footstep.

Otherwise…

Rrrrumble.

"They've smelled it already."

That's why they're coming.

‘Loup-garou.'

A hybrid of wolves and Goblins, living in packs.

A short, bizarre, hairless, bipedal wolf-shaped monster.

They came smelling it.

Stronger and more powerful than goblins.

With a keen sense of smell and hearing. Living in packs, they were the intelligent hunters and scavengers of the Forsaken Valley.

One or two of them appeared in the darkness with their eerie red eyes flashing.

‘The number is about sixteen.'

Will I be able to deal with them as they are now? The bones all over my body are throbbing.

It's not a shallow wound.

I got caught up in an explosion several times, and forcibly used the White Haze and the Raging Flower Wave without being able to even take a proper posture in the air.

Thanks to that, my body is in terrible condition.

But I can move better than I thought.

Callius looked at his sword.

Predator Sword – Loas.

"The same as when fighting Master Bernard. And also while dealing with Lutheon."

Was it an illusion that he received less damage than expected?

Predation.

Callius, who fell into a momentary contemplation about the meaning of the word, erased his thoughts and raised his sword.

Hududuk.

That was then –

Where did the sound of footsteps come from? The loups-garous' gazes turned to another place.

The bushes shook, and a man's form began to appear.

A man holding a spear in one hand.

"Callius, you're alive."

“… And so are you.”

They looked at each other as if they felt disappointed and clicked their tongues.

Each thought that the other might have died from the fall, but it seemed that was not the case.

Really, he wouldn't die easily[1].

Lutheon.

This guy was still alive.

It was dark, so it was hard to see, but it didn't seem like he was in good condition.

That was good news, but the situation was not good.

"Callius, did you tame these bastards in this little while?"

He seemed to be talking about the loups-garous around them.

Callius didn't like the him chirping, but he wasn't yet sure what his intentions were.

"Lutheon. I see you survived, but don't try and pretend that it's been easy."

The loups-garous alternated their gazes at Lutheon and Callius, had revealed a gap.

The loups-garous were stuck in the middle between the two of them.

The original encirclement lost its meaning when Lutheon appeared at their flank.

Lutheon's surroundings lit up brightly.

He was emitting divine power from his whole body.

Divine power coloured red, deep as the twilight.

Kyaaaah!

As it brightened up the surroundings, the loups-garous screamed in suffering as if seeing they were seeing light for the first time in their lives.

However, Callius saw through the other's condition.

"You're not alright, either."

One hand was bent grotesquely, and blood dripped from his forehead.

He'd also been wounded in their fierce battle while they fell. His broken arm probably meant that he'd landed badly unlike Callius.

Nevertheless, his fighting spirit made Callius' skin tingle it was being pricked with needles, so he couldn't help but praise him inside.

Lutheon was still full of a will to fight.

"Callius. I'm asking just in case, but you don't know how to get out of this place, do you?"

"Do you think I'd teach you even if I know?"

"I'm glad. If you'd known, I would've regretted it."

"You mean you couldn't kill me?"

"Right."

Psk.

His smile brought back the memories of their old days as monks.

However, it was then –

Incensed at the dazzling light of divine power, one of the loups-garous attacked Lutheon.

"Shut up, you wolf bastard."

Puck, kwaang!

A small explosion easily and instantly dispatched the single loup-garou.

But as the first of them rushed, the other loups-garous also charged behind it with screams.

Lutheon clicked his tongue and blasted them with the Exploding Spear again and again.

"You'd better stop that."

When four or five loups-garous were brutally blasted to death, the rest faltered in fear.

"Did Jervain's maniac get scared? Far as I know, although you're not good at swordsmanship, you're never been afraid of anyone."

"I just don't want to go through any trouble. Don't be so noisy."

"What do you mean?"

As if he didn't know what Callius was talking about, Lutheon frowned.

"If you make such a loud noise, he will come."

The starving bastard of the Forsaken Valley would appear.

The glutton of Altara who was always hungry and always craving food.

Kugugung. Kung!! A huge form appeared in the distance, shaking the earth.

The remnant of the fallen Giants.

[Sub Quest]

[The Bastard Son of the Giants, begins]

"Troll."

The Forsaken King. It was a Troll.

Editor's Notes:

[1] 명줄 (lit. life line), used here as ‘his life line is long'.

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