Chapter 74

Episode 74 . At the End of the Nightmare (1)

On the 500th year of Rowelius, the Dark Age had begun . The appearance of the beings called demons brought despair to the world . The standoff between demons and mankind continued; the civilization of mankind crumbled as a result . The story lost without trace to time and only passed down through word of mouth from generation to generation . Some scoffed at the story as a classic myth, but some believed . For those few, it was the history that definitely occurred .

*Footsteps*

Within the royal castle that had collapsed into ruins, there was a man walking through the charred remains . He was wearing a Crow Mask . As he was walking, the debris that blocked his path was getting swept aside, clearing the way forward . He arrived at the center of the royal castle and placed his hand on the ground . All of a sudden, a rune appeared and pushed him straight into the air . It immediately lost its strength and dropped him back onto the ground .

Suddenly, the door to the underground path appeared . The hidden way that Frilleza royalty weren’t even aware of . It took him a very long time to get to this point, gathering all of the stories and evidence that was only passed down through word of mouth from generation to generation . The breakthrough clue was the commonality of a place in the stories where the ocean radiated a golden hue and was named Isthakar .

Disaster .

The great demon referred to in times past as Disaster was fast asleep within this land . The ancient people were not able to destroy the great demon and only managed to place it in slumber within the depths of the sea . They also placed a seal on-top of it . As for the foundation of that seal, the ancient people raised a structure to protect it . At a later date one of these ancients, who had originally put the great demon under this seal, established a royal castle and named the lands surrounding it the ‘Frilleza Empire’ . But now, this place could no longer serve its original purpose and laid waste . Currently, the royal castle was completely destroyed and the entire people of the nation were scattered all over the place focussing on other matters .

There was no one left that could interfere . Without hesitation, the man wearing a Crow Mask walked down the stairs in the pitch-black darkness . He stopped at the place where pulsating magic was drawn and drew something from the inside of his clothes . It was a staff with many black jewels embedded .

It was naturally an artifact . It was a treasure obtained through attacking and clearing a 3rd class Shadow World . Very few knew the purpose of it . One of those exceptions being himself .

Millions of souls were captured in that staff, and he believed it to be the catalyst to wake up the demon . The Crow Masked man stood in the center of a rune and stuck the staff right in the middle of it . Red mana started flowing out like blood . It was about evening time when the attacks from the Outsiders were starting to abate . The sky was radiating bright light as if it were mixed with gold .

When the Western Empire’s most elite, Avalon Army, arrived through the newly reconnected space travel gate, the vanquishing of the remaining Outsiders was easily accomplished . The situation was quickly concluded as soon as the Outsiders realized that there was no longer a possibility of hope and surrendered right away .

The stadium, which was used as a temporary headquarters, was filled with guards and refugees . The guards seemed exhausted but appeared proud of the fact that their defense was successful against the intruders .

“Hey, try some of this . ”

“This as well . It’s cooked to perfection . ”

“Oh . No, thanks . I’ve had enough . ”

“It’s okay . It’s all good . ”

The guards handed their portion of rations to their foreign allies .

The foreign allies, who put on awkward smiles after politely attempting to decline their favors, finally caved in and started to gracefully accept the hospitality . The favors eventuating into the sight of ever growing mountains of food . The allies? They were students of Hebrion .

The party of Desir .

Even they were showing signs of fatigue from the long, drawn out battles . They small scars and wounds covered their bodies, and the exhaustion they emanated made it all the more evident . But just like the other foreign allies, they seemed very happy stuffing their faces with the food on offer .

“I have heard that you were quite famous in Hebrion . ”

“You guys were great!”

The Desir’s party was getting quite the welcoming from the soldiers of the Frilleza Empire . It was obvious as the officials, who initially didn’t welcome them as they were from Hebrion, now treated them as VIPs and with respect .

There was nobody who didn’t know their names .

They especially had quite the following amongst the soldiers who had witnessed the assault on the Teleportation Authority offices .

Desir’s party received so many gifts that it literally formed a mound on the stadium seats .

“My mom will go crazy if she heard what happened today . ”

Romantica looked ecstatic . And rightfully so, as she had fended off the threat to her hometown with her own hands .

“Ah, here you are . ”

A deep and calm voice came over . As Zod approached, Desir’s party sprang to their feet ending their momentary rest .

“No, no . Stay comfortable . Priscilla . ”

“I’ll take care of this . Guys, could you gather up here?”

A lady came over to where Desir’s party was and focused on the condition of Pram and Adjest, who had attained a number of small wounds . When she closed her eyes, the light started to gather at the wounds .

“Ohhhhhh . ”

A roar spilled out from the soldiers who witnessed it as they gathered around the party . Healing . The reason that Priscilla was referred to as the Saint was because of this exact ability . Many sorcerers were able to expedite the natural healing process, but her magic was on a different level entirely .

It was magic that actually healed the wound as if it never existed . This was the ability that only she possessed in this world . The bleeding immediately stopped and new flesh rapidly regenerated .

Even if they were in a critical condition, the moment her hand touched the wound, everything would return to normal .

Soon after, Pram and Adjest’s wounds completely disappeared without any trace .

“They were light wounds, so it didn’t take too long . ”

“Thank you so much . ”

Adjest showed her gratitude . On the other side, Desir and Zod were having a conversation .

“You did great . The King was very grateful . Perhaps this will improve the relationship that the other nations have with Hebrion . ”

Perhaps this was a fortunate thing after all .

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to find me . ”

“Are the kings still in the bunker?”

“They will stay there until everything is completely resolved . Because… ”

“It’s because of the Crow Mask hasn’t surfaced yet . ”

“That is correct . ”

Zod nodded .

“We are still unsure what the Outsiders’ intentions are based on their actions so far . I don’t think they will fall back since they are already in too deep . ”

“So, you are predicting that he will be on the move soon . ”

“… Since the Outsiders are completely wiped out, there is nothing that he can do . The Avalon Army is guarding the bunker, and since I cast protection magic at that location, we should be able to respond quickly . ”

“I hope that is enough… ”

“We can’t guarantee anything . ”

Desir couldn’t shake off his unexplainable anxiety, even though everything was going well .

The Crow Mask .

Although it was for a very short moment, Desir was able to witness the magic that Crow Mask cast . His magic was very sophisticated and complicated . He was a sorcerer with great power .

‘But he can’t possibly defeat Zod with just that ability . ’

Also, all of the Outsiders who were led by him were utterly wiped out . He no longer had any army to mobilize at this point .

*Boom . *

It was a very suffocating and ominous explosion .

Their uneasy gazes that had begun to tremble all gathered on the location of the blast .

Desir shifted his gaze to Zod .

“Did you hear that?”

“…Certainly . ”

The explosion came from the shore .

“Can this be… ”

Desir got up from his place of temporary rest . His heart had started to pound . Something was about to happen .

“Look, look over there!”

There was uneasiness around the stadium . People started looking up at the sky . Within the space of a moment or two, the sun had started to transform into a shade of black from its originally golden hue .

“… !”

A premonition suddenly struck Desir and he quickly left the stadium . The entire world was turning gray . He started running towards the shore where the explosion came from . Streetlights and the surrounding scenery became a blur in his eyes as he rushed past . He was running out of breath, but he couldn’t afford to think about that . And he thought .

‘The Crow Mask is finally on the move . ’

It must be him . It had to be him .

But what is he trying to do?

Is he deploying a Sixth-Circle magic?

That might actually be a better situation, Desir thought .

This place was being protected by the Seventh-Circle sorcerer Zod, and if anything, there was Desir’s ability to invert spells as well . They were prepared to respond . Nothing could possibly penetrate their defense . But what if it wasn’t magic? What if it wasn’t magic and a totally different type of threat?

“Please . ”

*Roar . *

Desir finally arrived at the shore . The sun was about to set . The waving ocean was supposed to radiate golden rays of light .

Except it wasn’t .

What was supposed to be a golden ocean was turning black as if squid ink was mixed into it . The black sun . This place was gradually losing its colour and turning black and white .

The scenery .

The Sun .

The view .

He knew .

A horrible memory suddenly resurfaced .

“… this can’t be . ”

Reflexes were faster than consciousness . His pupils widened . His mind was in constant denial and kept telling himself it was only a dream .

*ROAR . *

Mountains were crumbling down . Cliffs tore apart and collapsed from the intensity of the waves crashing into them as eerie screams emanated from the Earth . Something monstrous was slowing emerging from the ocean .

Reality currently felt like a bad dream . But, the figure in front of his eyes, so vivid as if it just crawled out of a nightmare, was indeed real .

“WHAT… WHAT IS THAT?”

“NO, NO WAY . THE SHEER SIZE… ”

Romantica and Pram screamed as they just arrived on the scene and came to terms with what they were witness to . Adjest aimlessly gazed at the figure without any words . Zod just touched his staff with unease and other mixed emotions on his face .

“Is… that a demon?”

It had to be about 10 meters tall . Runes of slaughter were carved into its teeth and it had a mane of hell fire around its neck .

It was one of the great demons that had destroyed much of ancient mankind long ago .

“Dadenewf, the Demon of Destruction…”

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