Chapter 329

EPISODE 329 – VARIABLE (1)

‘Around one to two months.’

That was his estimate when he added the information of their location.

The time they spent with Solari was definitely only two days at most, but why had this happened?

“Dungeon book.”

Cordelia said and Jude nodded.

It had the same logic.

The flow of time was different inside and outside the dungeon book.

Even if they spent five or six hours inside, it was normal for only an hour to have passed when they returned outside.

This time, it was the opposite.

And there was one more thing.

“You’ve been there for 2 days?”

They were running towards the frontlines but did not stop exchanging information.

Cordelia who was being carried on the back of Jude was surprised and asked him, so Jude replied quickly.

“Solari’s phantasm… no, Solari herself said that it takes time to hand over the halo to you. Do you know exactly how much time you needed to adjust to the halo?”

“Ah.”

Right after she inherited the halo, the ring of angels.

She was unconscious and it seemed like two days had passed at that time.

“Did those two days become forty days outside?”

“Probably.”

And in fact, it was unavoidable. Even if they had known in advance, they would have no choice but to choose the way to spend 40 days inside.

“Did you receive the halo well?”

“Huh? Uh… maybe?”

“She said that you will not suddenly become an archangel. But you will definitely be different from before now that you have divinity. Your power would have greatly increased. Because your limits itself have changed.”

Cordelia was no longer an ordinary angel.

Although she did not yet have the full power to match her rank, she was already like a goddess in terms of qualifications.

“And I’m a man who fell in love with a goddess.”

“What the heck are you saying!”

Jude grinned as Cordelia slapped him on his shoulder.

He deliberately joked because Cordelia seemed nervous about the fact that she had inherited divinity, and he was glad that it worked.

‘Because it’s true.’

Jude lightly shrugged his shoulders, but Cordelia slapped him in his back a few more times.

“Anyway, we both got power ups, right?”

Cordelia herself obtained the halo of Solari and gained the divinity of the sun.

She had not yet felt any changes, but it was a matter that time would solve.

As Jude had said, there was a stark difference between those who had divinity and those who did not have it.

“It somehow feels cheesy to say that… I’ve powered up and became a goddess, but it’s the truth.”

Jude also got stronger.

His battle against the other Jude who reached the sword horizon had given him a lot of things.

A true Sword Saint.

A person who saw the horizon and the sword’s inner essence.

And although he felt that he had gone overboard, the second form of Sword Origin was now unlocked.

It was called Sword Spirit Union.

But if he had to name it, it would be Jude-class.

[My successor, what’s with that name? I prefer Sword Spirit Union as my name doesn’t appear in Jude-class.]

She was troubled with that.

But Jude immediately replied as if he saw nothing wrong with it.

“But it’s a given rule in Legend of Heroes to name a soul or spirit union as XX-class.”

“Union? You united? With Valencia-nim?”

Jude was startled when Cordelia asked in surprise.

“Eh? No, it’s not in that way. I mean, it was Sword Origin’s second form.”

Becoming one with the sword spirit.

Achieving a more complete ‘become one with the sword.’

“You united with Valencia-nim…”

Cordelia muttered to herself, but her voice somehow sounded cold.

Jude got the chills at that moment and hurriedly made an excuse.

“No! It’s not something improper! That’s right, it’s just a pure union. Like the body, mind, and soul becoming one… that kind of union, okay?”

[My successor, are you trying to get yourself scolded? That’s the same.]

She was right.

The body, mind, and soul becoming one?

And he’s doing that with another woman?

“N-NO! What I mean is! V-Valencia! Valencia, please say something too!”

[Haa… It is as my successor had said. You can say that it’s like we’re just uniting our strength. Our union is a bit… no, it’s completely different from the union of lovers.]

Why do I have to explain this?

Valencia deeply sighed and made her voice be heard outside Jude, and Cordelia pouted as she pinched Jude’s ear.

“Eh?”

“I don’t know. I’ll just pinch you.”

She understood it in her mind, but she was still angry and annoyed.

But it was then.

Valencia said, frowning as she saw something she could not understand.

[My successor, why are you smiling? Don’t tell me you’ve gone crazy?]

‘No, it’s just… isn’t Cordelia cute when she’s jealous?’

Isn’t she seriously adorable?

At Jude’s response, Valencia’s expression turned cold as she shut her mouth.

However, Melissa who was unaware of the circumstances then raised her voice to rectify the situation.

[Moving on, are you saying that you’ve become a lot stronger?]

“Yes, that’s right. I’ve become a lot stronger.”

He had the physical abilities that could overwhelm Grand Sword Masters and an unrivaled Qi energy like that of the sun. With the addition of sword skills that made him worthy of the title of Sword Saint, he was truly close to perfection.

“Then are you stronger than Outboxer009 now?”

A character that Jude had raised in Legend of Heroes 2.

The strongest single player who dominated the first place in the server rankings for 23 months.

Jude immediately nodded at Cordelia’s question.

“I’m stronger.”

His present self was stronger.

And he was going to get stronger in the future.

There were still the eighth door and ninth door in the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, and the Twelve Thunderbolt Steps could also advance to Nine Celestial Steps, the ultimate footwork skill of fantasies.

‘However…’

Several thoughts suddenly came to his mind.

No, it was something that came to his mind naturally.

The memories of the ‘other selves’ who were not the present Jude and Cordelia.

‘It must have happened.’

Those were not fictitious memories that were created.

All of it actually happened.

Then, what in the world happened?

Was it parallel worlds?

Was it regression?

Was it something other than those two?

He could not know for sure right now. Even Solari whom he was expecting to give a clear answer to this problem did not give it.

Or to be more exact, it seemed like she was reluctant to give an answer.

‘Solari knew the answer.’

But she hesitated to answer.

She thought that it was not the time yet.

Why?

Why did she not want us to realize the truth of the memories and why we have them?

‘A matter of time.’

It’s not okay now, but okay later.

Or rather, it will be revealed later.

But not now. It’s something that cannot be revealed now.

Jude stopped his thoughts for a moment. And he concentrated on something else, an important fact that he had overlooked because of the memories that came to his mind in succession.

‘The other Jude was incredibly strong.’

He was a swordsman who reached the sword horizon.

Gallus said that he was ‘the strongest swordsman in his memories,’ so he was clearly the strongest swordsman among the other Judes in his memories.

But he failed.

Jude did not know exactly why the other Jude failed, but he could tell that the other Jude met a bad ending.

And so did the other Judes.

It was not worse than the other Jude he faced, but everyone walked on a painful and difficult path yet met a sad ending in the end.

What was the reason?

What had happened?

Who was that enemy that even such a strong Jude could not defeat?

Legend of Heroes 3 was about fighting the demons of Hell.

He did not experience the final expansion pack, so he could not directly fight the overlord, but the final boss being the overlord, who was rumored to be Asmodeus, the overlord of lust, was the general consensus of the Legend of Heroes players.

‘The future that could not prevent the Great Summons.’

Jude swallowed hard.

It felt like the countless defeats the other Judes experienced were choking him again.

‘It will be different this time.’

Because Jude and Cordelia were together from the beginning.

Because they had prevented all the tragedies that should have happened to the kingdom.

They would prevent the Great Summons.

They would protect everyone.

This time, they would achieve a happy ending like in fairy tales, where he and Cordelia would live happily ever after.

“Jude.”

Cordelia’s whisper brought Jude back to reality.

They were nearing their destination.

At the battle that was going on.

***

“Urgent news! Fortress Karatum has been captured!”

“Small-scale battles are taking place everywhere!”

“Urgent news! The forces that captured Fortress Karatum are moving towards this direction!”

Upon hearing the reports of the communication wizards that came in a row, the supreme commander of the Sälen Kingdom’s army, the Golden Sword Saint, Ian McCline, clenched his teeth.

Immediately after the war declaration.

The empire, or to be exact, the Chancellor and his subordinates chose to go on the offensive rather than holding out and defending.

It was common sense to think of it as reckless, but the Chancellor was not alone.

He had brought a huge force from the east.

The Guardians of the Holy Cross were holding out, but it was only a matter of time before they were pushed out of the border.

It had been 50 days since the start of the war.

The Sälen Kingdom Army, headed by the Knights of the Golden Lion, led a huge army and formed a defensive line against the rebels in the empire who began their southward journey.

Leading the enemy’s main forces was Marshal Bartolein and Grand Sword Master Lucius Grande.

They were familiar opponents to the Golden Sword Saint who had already defended the Cilates Plains for nearly a decade.

‘Were you hiding this much power all the time?’

The Chancellor’s army led by Marshal Bartolein had a very simple strategy.

Narrow the battlefront without widening it.

Use all their power through break through the borders of the Sälen Kingdom.

Because of that, the Golden Sword Saint also gathered his forces and waged an all-out war.

They chose to have a huge pitched battle against the Chancellor’s forces in the Cilates Plains.

And now.

While they were confronting each other on the front, a series of urgent news came in.

A large army that they had not seen until now did not stop at capturing Fortress Karatum as it had now began advancing towards them.

This was by no means a normal military operation.

Even if it was an elite army, it was unreasonable to move troops to a long distance right after capturing a fortress.

But the opponent was doing it.

Because the composition of the army itself from the beginning was different from an ordinary army.

‘Demon followers.’

Demonic humans and demons.

But they had realized it too late.

He urgently dispatched some of the troops to the rear, but it was too late.

“Commander! The Chancellor’s army is moving!”

The Golden Sword Saint could also see it.

The rebels all began marching in unison as though they had waited for the urgent news.

A huge battle could not be avoided.

‘Block the front.’

The demonic human army closing the distance at every moment with an abnormal speed was bothering him, but it was impossible to withdraw his troops from here.

“Blow the trumpet signaling that we’re entering battle!”

As the Golden Sword Saint drew his sword and commanded, the Sälen Kingdom Army moved their flags one after another along with the loud sound of drumming.

The knights boosted the soldiers’ morale, and all the kingdom’s forces that filled the Cilates Plains shouted loudly to greet the imperial army.

A collision of two huge armies.

Marshal Bartolein who was leading the Chancellor’s army smiled.

It would be nice if the demonic human army hit the rear of the kingdom’s army and lead to victory.

Even if that was impossible, Plan B remained.

The demonic human army would penetrate the kingdom’s army without joining their army. Thus, it would trample the rear of the kingdom’s army.

Of course, no matter how high the unit’s combat power was, an army of demonic humans that was less than 10,000 could not do much. If they really penetrated the rear, the kingdom’s army would do anything to stop them.

But doing so would shake the frontlines.

Even if today’s battle would lead to a draw, the Golden Sword Saint would no longer be able to protect the Cilates Plains.

‘Either way is fine.’

Marshal Bartolein’s smile deepened. He eagerly waited as he imagined on what would happen soon.

But half an hour later.

The news that came was quite different from what Marshal Bartolein had expected.

***

Leading the army of demonic humans and demons was Karavan, a top-ranking demonic human of the Devil’s Eye.

Having captured Fortress Karatum at once, she used her special skill of necromancy to turn the kingdom’s army into zombies and skeletons.

Her army was the kind that the more they fought, the more their troops increased.

“March forward.”

Sitting on a skeletal horse, she happily chanted as if she was playing at being a soldier.

The high-ranking demonic humans of the Devil’s Eye and Devil’s Hand followed her orders, leading the lower-ranking demonic humans and demons as they headed towards the Cilates Plains that was in the midst of a huge battle.

Their marching speed was unusual.

But it was not a problem. There was not a single pure human being in her army.

“Go, go and sweep away our enemies.”

Karavan who was intoxicated with victory ordered with a happy expression. Her heart pounded at the thought of defeating the kingdom’s army and setting up a Hell Gate on the Cilates Plains.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.”

She said as she hugged her shoulders. She burst into joy at the thought of winning once again.

But right after that.

The moment when her ecstasy reached its peak.

Being a top-ranking demonic human, she straightened her back in surprise. She hurriedly looked back at the creepy sensation she felt.

The same was true of the other high-ranking demonic humans.

Even the low-ranking demonic humans and demons could not help but stop and look away.

At their back.

Some was standing in the place where there was nothing until recently.

She looked at them and smiled.

“How do you do, everyone?”

Yellow Storm.

In Legend of Heroes 2, she was the strongest warfare player who was called a human disaster.

She was unsurpassed in Legend of Heroes 2 just like Outboxer009.

In terms of magic power and strength alone, she was unequaled.

However, through her meeting with Solari, the Yellow Storm from Legend of Heroes 2 could now do things that she was not able to do back then.

“So I will show you.”

To those who wondered why she was called a human disaster.

She spread her angel wings.

The divinity of the sun lit up her angelic halo, unlocking its power.

Thus, a thousand golden magic spheres were created.

Karavan stood agape.

The other demonic humans could not help but panic.

And at that moment.

As many as a thousand spheres began to fly downwards.

A golden storm engulfed the battlefield.