Claymore mine – an antipersonnel mine designed to produce a direction-guided, fan-shaped pattern of fragments upon explosion.

EPISODE 256 – NIGHT AT ARGON PORT (4)

The battle at the port proceeded very quickly.

Because the difference in fighting power between the two sides was too great.

No one could stop Landius on the battlefield where Matteo and the two adult Black Dragons had dropped out of.

Or rather, even if the three were still present in the battlefield, it wouldn’t have changed much.

“The Power of the Sun!”

When Landius raised his clenched fist, the Power of the Sun was focused on its end.

The golden aura gave off a strong light and heat, making it seem like he was really holding a small sun in his hand.

“Haa!”

Landius jumped high and moved the sun to his palm that had been focused on his fist earlier, and then spread his hand wide. And in that manner, he threw the now-huge sun into the middle of the demons.

“Kiaaaaaaaaaa!”

The screams of the demons did not last long. As the sun exploded, immense light and heat were released, and the demons within a radius of about 10 meters were literally annihilated.

It was a truly incredible power.

But instead of being satisfied with that, Landius kicked off to the air again in order to prevent the movement of the demons.

“Help me!”

Landius jumped in between the demons and moved his hands and feet, killing five demons in an instant.

The one who was struck on the head lost its head, and the one who was struck on the chest lost its chest. In the face of such destructive power that was beyond common sense, all things were equal.

Therefore, Kajsa and Scarlet couldn’t understand Landius words quickly because they saw the demons being defeated with only the shock waves in between the moments Landius flew again.

No, they had heard it clearly, but it was almost like their bodies were unable to react immediately.

‘Help me?’

Help who?

Kajsa blinked again, but Scarlet came to her senses.

Because she understood what Landius meant by asking for help.

“We have to stop them! We must fight too!”

“Huh?”

“Civilian casualties!”

She no longer explained it further. Scarlet gripped her whip sword and rushed right away, and Kajsa blinked a few more times before coming to her senses like Scarlet did.

Landius was strong.

Even if the demons were ten times more than now, that invincible Iron Man would eventually defeat them all, but it would clearly take him a long time to do that.

But the civilians at the port were different.

They were weak and needed protection.

“These trash!”

The demons scattered everywhere instead of fighting Landius.

Because Sicilia changed her command.

‘Buy time.’

It was foolish to focus their forces on Landius.

If she had done that, it would have shortened the time rather than extending it.

So Sicilia dispersed her troops in all directions.

The place they were fighting now was not an open field or an uninhabited ruin.

It was a port city with a large number of residents, so she took advantage of that.

“Uoooooo!”

Landius flew again and used his hands and feet to crush the demons. He couldn’t blow them up with his energy or sweep them away like he did before.

‘Because it will harm the civilians.’

The situation was different from the central square where it was open on all sides. So if he used a powerful destructive technique, the buildings would instantly collapse, and the people inside it would be unable to escape death.

“Haaaa!”

Scarlet swung her whip sword and cut the throats of the demons who were about to jump inside a private residence. Kajsa beat up the Vorgs from the Black Hand Mercenaries and took the weapons they were holding before she began to run wild.

“Lena!”

When Landius shouted again, Lena who was defeating the wyverns in the sky then nodded her head.

“Cordelia! Go to the ground! Leave this place to me!”

“Yes! Lena-nim!”

Cordelia immediately answered and turned her body in the air as she scattered dozens of magic missiles. She swept away any nearby wyverns as if a claymore mine had exploded before she flew to the ground.

Lena glared at the wyverns instead of following Cordelia. As expected, the wyverns in the back began to retreat rather than scattering around like the demons or attacking civilians.

‘The wyverns must be rescued.’

Sicilia had decided that.

With the forces she had now, she couldn’t steal Carlos’ legacy, Ultimate Three – Dragon Sword Ascalon.

Or rather, they would only be annihilated if they tried to steal it.

So she had to save what she could save, and give up on what she could give up.

Sicilia chose the wyverns and Matteo whom she could save, and gave up on the demons and Vorgs of the Black Hand Mercenaries.

“Kyaaaa!”

“It’s a demon!”

“Help!”

“Heeeelp!”

Screams began to erupt everywhere.

It was the screams of people who woke up to the sounds of fighting, opened their windows, or were attacked by the demons.

“Stay away!”

Cordelia landed on the ground and simultaneously summoned five black spears that pierced the heads of five monsters afterwards.

“Are you okay?”

“Haaaa… haa… I-I’m okay…”

The man who seemed to be a store owner replied with a teary face. He did not seem to be injured, so Cordelia quickly turned back and summoned more magic spears. Her senses were telling her something like always.

‘We need more people.’

They needed a few more people to completely stop the enemies.

The Black Hand Mercenaries and the demons numbered over two hundred. Even if Landius and Cordelia were skilled, it was difficult to stop them if they were scattered like now.

“Pink Bomb!”

Just then, Scarlet shouted loudly as she ran on the roof, and Cordelia turned to the direction she was pointing. She then shouted with a big smile.

“Carmen!”

A veteran Saint (holy fighter) of the Guardians of the Holy Cross.

She wasn’t alone. Members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross including Manuel, were running from roof to roof.

“Nice!”

The demons could be stopped.

If it proceeded like this, they would be able to protect everyone.

Cordelia spread her wings and flew up before flying towards the demons again.

And at the same time, Jude cut the chest of the second dragon and extracted the Dragon Heart, thereby killing the dragon.

One heart was absorbed by Ascalon, but the other had to be taken and given to Cordelia.

“Woah, woah, calm down.”

But contrary to Jude’s words, a biting cold rose from Ascalon’s white blade like a flame. As a dragon who hated dragons, Ascalon wanted the dragon’s soul and body.

“You can’t.”

Because I have to give it to Cordelia.

Jude suppressed Ascalon again before turning his gaze away from the Dragon Heart, a gem that was slightly larger than a fist. Because the sound of a horn was heard amidst the noise of the battles everywhere.

‘Are they finally here?’

The royal knights and guards in charge of the port’s protection.

The wyverns who had covered the skies then dispersed in all directions and fled. Instead of chasing after them, Lena headed to the ground to clear the demons and Vorgs while treating the wounded civilians.

‘Has the situation settled down?’

The members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross and the guards were now present, so Jude thought that there was no need for him to step forward.

Therefore, Jude turned to the small presence he felt behind him.

“Ah! Is this a dragon! Eh, Lord Jude?!”

It was Bentham who had shouted in surprise.

He was dressed in his pajamas as if he had just run out of his bed, but behind him were dwarves in similar outfits, though each of them were holding weapons such as hammers and axes.

They had probably ran out after hearing the commotion.

“Lord Jude, what in the world is this…”

“You can rest assured now since the situation has been resolved. We’ll give you a detailed explanation once it’s completely over.”

Jude who had opened the sixth door of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors was not an ordinary human being.

He was a bit closer to a transcendental state, so his words had a supernatural persuasiveness to it.

“I-I understand.”

When Bentham agreed, the other dwarves nodded their heads too instead of saying anything else.

Or rather, their interests seemed to have changed when they saw the dragon’s corpse in the first place.

If it weren’t for Jude, they would have rushed in and began dismantling the corpse.

So Jude wanted to warn them, but he stopped. Because Landius who had cleared up the place soon ran towards them.

“The dragons?”

“I’ve finished them.”

At Jude’s answer, Landius nodded and turned around again. Without a moment’s rest, he flew towards another direction again. It seemed like there was still a lot of work left for him to do.

‘It’s always amazing to see it.’

Iron Man Landius.

The sight of him beating the Black Dragon’s body and throwing it away had remained in Jude’s mind.

It was an unbelievable sight when one used their common sense, but it was not strange for Landius, as if it was as natural as water flowing from high to low places.

Therefore, Jude felt a sense of incongruity in other areas.

‘Why is he so strong?’

Landius was clearly a strong person.

He was the main protagonist of the first episode of Legend of Heroes.

Ancestral Regression and Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors were added to this, so it was natural for Landius to become stronger than the Landius in the first episode since he had trained for ten years.

But isn’t he too powerful?

Landius’ power was so great to the point that he felt that something was strange.

‘How did he die in the game?’

Landius was obviously not invincible.

Even Malekith, the enemy they were going to face this time, was stronger than Landius.

But it was also like saying that no one could kill Landius unless they were on the same level as Malekith.

‘It’s impossible for Duke.’

He couldn’t imagine Duke killing Landius. There seemed to be some other reason for Landius’ death.

‘Maybe it has already changed due to the butterfly effect.’

Landius’ survival and even his increase in strength.

‘Because a lot of things have changed.’

Like the Ascalon he was holding in his hand right now.

In the game, Ascalon was kept in the ruins that Gamorr Khan had found.

‘Of course, that’s how it was mentioned in the game, but I never ever found it in those ruins… Perhaps it was a fake that was kept there.’

It was common to display a fake in order to hide the real treasure.

‘Anyway, we did it.’

Jude let down his shoulders and restrained the power of Ascalon that was still emitting a biting chill.

After returning it back to its normal sword form and wearing it on his waist, he felt that Valencia was smiling in satisfaction in the depths of his mind.

She seemed to be pleased that he returned to one sword and gave up on wielding two swords.

‘But what if I learn dual wielding?’

Will she get mad at me from suddenly having three swords instead of two?

Jude was a little curious, but shook his head afterwards. Because Valencia was already complaining and staring at him coldly because of Ascalon, so it would be far worse if he added another one.

Just imagining it was already terrible.

‘Anyway… the results are good.’

Not only did they acquire Carlos’ token, but they also got Ascalon, a weapon that could be considered as Malekith’s natural enemy.

The heroes of Paragon that were led by Landius had also joined in, so the forces that could face Malekith had instantly increased.

‘We can’t waste any more time.’

Waiting for Malekith to be resurrected before they attack was the worst idea.

‘We should attack Malekith.’

Before Malekith was resurrected properly, they had to create a situation in which there was no other result but victory.

‘Sicilia.’

The present attack had convinced Jude.

It was Sicilia who was now leading Malekith’s subordinates.

Then what would she do from now on?

What would she do next after losing Gamorr Khan and Madhur, and failing to get Ascalon?

‘There’s only one answer.’

The thing she would do next and the consequences of that.

And Jude would come up with countermeasures in anticipation for that.

With a dark smile, Jude turned to the south.

He looked over the horizon.

***

Sicilia raised her head.

As soon as she broke her mental connection with the wyverns, she leant back on her chair and roughly breathed.

“Haa… haa…”

Her entire body was drenched in sweat, but she didn’t even have the time to wipe it off. Sicilia stabilized her breathing before she got up from her seat and left the room.

Gamorr Khan had disappeared.

Madhur was killed, and Ascalon was taken by the enemy.

Moreover, these were not the only losses.

Sebastian whom she had charmed was already free from her spell.

The Kraken which had been released in the sea to cause chaos was sealed again too.

‘Jude Bayer and Cordelia Chase.’

Two people that the demon followers had warned her about.

In fact, Sicilia was not aware that everything she had planned had gone wrong because of Jude and Cordelia.

The capture of Gamorr Khan, the death of Madhur, the sealing of the Kraken, and the stealing of Ascalon.

And even Jabberwock in the Forest of Eternity.

Nearly everything that Malekith had prepared to cause chaos to the south before his resurrection had been ruined by Jude and Cordelia.

‘Matteo Luculia.’

Sicilia erased his name from her mind.

He was a man whose life or death had yet to be confirmed, but she had a feeling that even if he was alive or dead, she would be unable to use his power again.

‘We’ve already been revealed. In that case, I have no choice but to hit them harder.’

Sicilia stopped in her tracks for a moment as she adjusted her breathing again. She then straightened her clothes before looking at the large steel doors in front of her.

The being who was beyond that door.

One of the Three Knights of Malekith, and a powerful being who was the actual leader of the Dragonflights.

“Orga, I’m coming in.”

The steel doors opened to the sides with a dull sound as if responding to Sicilia’s voice.

Sicilia swallowed hard at the sight beyond the door that was completely black as if it was the entrance to the abyss. She caught her breath once more and clenched her fists in determination before taking a step forward.

She entered the residence of Dragon General Orga, Malekith’s successor.

***

“Disciple, how many doors have you opened?”

“Six doors.”

“F*ck.”