Chapter 349

EPISODE 349 – THE ONE WHO MOVED TOWARDS THE HORIZON (2)

What was the horizon?

What was the inner essence of the sword?

What exactly was the Sword of the Sky?

Many swordsmen walked their own roads.

To the average swordsman, the horizon was like a fantasy.

They did not recognize its existence.

For them, walking on the road was not easy.

But as they fumbled on their way, they could sense the existence of the horizon, though vaguely.

It was like the shining stars in the sky.

So it was unreachable for them.

But there were a few.

There were those who found their way to the stars.

Those who went beyond vaguely feeling the existence of that distant horizon, and saw with their own eyes that a horizon existed.

Again, only a few of these people, who were like a handful of sand among the countless sand that covered a sandy beach, would move towards the horizon.

Those who were more than geniuses and deserved to be called as monsters.

Most of them realized that there were already stars in the night sky when they held their swords.

They saw the horizon and made their way towards it.

The Sword God was the same.

So was First Sword.

Maximilian did too.

And the Sword God realized then.

That they could not reach the horizon because they were advancing without any obstructions.

They thought that their road had been cut off just because the road in front of them was blurred.

So they stopped walking.

Because they were monsters.

Because they were gifted with amazing talents.

Because they had never faced even a small wall.

The Sword God laughed for no reason.

Reaching the horizon was simply impossible with talent alone.

A mind of steel that does not lose to one’s own weakness.

An indomitable will that will never be broken.

These were not his favorite quotes.

But it was necessary.

Those who did not know suffering and ordeals would never reach the horizon.

“Maximilian…”

The Sword God saw him.

A person born with the greatest talent in Pleiades, yet staggered and fumbled in front of the Sword of the Sky.

He was someone who dazzlingly shined.

“EUAAAAAAAAAH!”

Maximilian roared. He cried out.

His halo, the ring of an angel that symbolized his power as a Virtue angel, spun violently and radiated an immense glow.

His six wings of light spread out widely, letting out a tremendous power.

His body was strengthened further.

The light of Divine Sword Balisarda grew stronger.

“Defend it.”

Defend this place.

Carry out the order given by the voice from a higher place.

Maintain order and return history to its proper place.

Maximilian’s eyes glowed. The five Blades of Judgment soared up again and headed towards Lucas. Pure white swords that had defeated Death Knights in one strike then fell down like rain.

Lucas swung his sword in the meantime.

He always walked on the same road in his life that had been repeated several times.

He was able to finally reach the horizon by moving forward and walking.

Lucas knew.

What he should do.

Where he should slash.

The rain of swords was dazzling yet merciless.

The heavy rain that hit the ground was enough to change the terrain of the surrounding area.

But the Sword God knew.

Scarlet could feel it too.

“Lucas.”

A single streak of an aura blade slashed the heavy rain.

He did not need to destroy everything.

Lucas could tell.

What would touch him.

What would not reach him.

How to destroy the heavy rain.

He swung his sword several more times in a row.

He destroyed the heavy rain of swords.

The Blades of Judgment blended in the heavy rain and tried to target Lucas, but it was useless.

His sword pushed them away.

It was not just a slash.

The moment the swords touched Lucas’ sword, the Blades of Judgment were instantly defeated. The swords fell to the ground as if it was natural.

“EUAAAAH!”

Maximilian kicked the ground.

The ground trembled with that single action of his.

Having a particularly strong body even among the Virtue angels that transcended humans, Maximilian increased his speed with his superhuman strength, combining the two again to create an unstoppable destructive power.

His sword was equipped with a dizzying speed and a powerful strength that could even break mountains.

It rained down from the heavens to the earth.

But it could not cut Lucas.

Maximilian’s sword shook.

He could not exactly tell if it slipped or was pushed.

What was clear was that Maximilian’s sword was being pushed aside by Lucas’ sword which could not even compare to the strength of Maximilian’s sword.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Roars broke out.

But it was different from before.

It was not the sound of clashing swords.

Every time Maximilian’s sword shook, or whenever it struck the air or ground, roars were heard.

Maximilian could not understand.

Lucas’ swordsmanship was average.

It was neither equipped with great power nor was it as fast as light. It also did not have an aura blade that could cut through anything.

But Maximilian’s sword shook.

The moment he faced that sword, his own swordsmanship was twisted uncontrollably.

And Scarlet shuddered at the entire scene.

The Sword God exclaimed.

“The sword’s inner essence.”

Lucas’ sword had the inner essence.

That one fact was what caused the present situation.

“No.”

It can’t be.

No way.

Maximilian said. Anxiety gripped his mind.

I have to maintain order.

I have to defend the proper fate that the voice from a higher place had said.

But the inner essence is in front of me.

The inner essence of the sword, the Sword of the Sky…

“Voice from a higher place!”

Maximilian became nervous.

He unleashed an attack with all his strength.

It did not have a name, but it was the strongest attack that Maximilian could do.

A dazzling light covered the place.

The massive shockwave forced the place into silence.

But Scarlet smiled.

Because when Maximilian’s oppressive light covered the area, she saw it.

“The Holy King’s Cross Sword.”

The Holy King’s sword that moved forward.

It did not crush the oppressive light.

It did not suppress it.

It simply unfolded naturally and dispelled the false light.

As it crushed Maximilian’s power, it cut off the unique power that had captivated his mind.

Craaaack-!

Maximilian’s wings of light shattered.

His angelic halo turned into fragments and was scattered by the wind.

Lucas’ sword did not slash Maximilian’s body.

The sword of the Holy King only destroyed the false light.

“Maximilian!”

The Sword God caught the body of the falling Maximilian.

Although Maximilian had lost consciousness, there was no more madness and blindness in his face as he slept.

Lucas heavily breathed.

Just like what Jude always did, he felt like he wanted to go to Scarlet and Kajsa now, but he could not do that.

Lucas raised his head as he held his sword.

The Ancient Bone Dragon was collapsing.

Hundreds of various monsters and demons covered the Ancient Bone Dragon like a swarm of locusts and finally knocked down the giant.

The undead legion still remained.

The spirits were also in the hundreds.

But it was true that their numbers had drastically decreased compared to when it started.

Lucas himself was also very tired.

He took a deep breath.

The monsters who defeated the Ancient Bone Dragon were looking at his direction.

At some point, they began to charge like violent waves.

As their number exceeded ten thousand, it seemed like they were about to devour both the skies and the ground.

“Jude.”

And Cordelia.

Lucas raised his sword.

He unfolded the Sword of the Sky to the shadows covering his head.

***

“UOOOOOOOO!”

Inside the imperial palace.

Cordelia spread her six wings and swiftly rotated her angelic halo.

At the same time she spread out her hands wide and radiated an immense light, huge explosions occurred.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

There were many enemies inside the imperial palace.

It was natural since it was the most important place where the ritual was being held.

Cordelia eagerly threw bombs at the swarming monsters that covered the floor, walls, and the ceilings.

“You’re a fool if you don’t use everything!”

After all, it was the final boss fight.

There would be no tomorrow if they could not overcome today, so there was no need to hold back on anything.

“This is a C-4 made by Jude! This is a dynamite made by Jude! This is a napalm made by Jude!”

All kinds of bombs devastated the imperial palace.

Most of the monsters could not even approach Jude and the others at all.

Bang! Boom! Kaboom!

Cordelia did not use the stairs.

She destroyed the floor to make a way to the basement, and wrapped the pillars with detonating cords as if she was not afraid of being buried alive.

As she cheerfully shouted, a chain of explosions occurred.

Boom! Boom!

The imperial palace collapsed.

The monsters were now in a situation where they had to be worried about being crushed to death by the falling debris.

It was not just low level monsters.

Fairly strong demons and demonic humans broke through the explosions of Cordelia and rushed towards the group.

But what awaited them was more violence than an explosion.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was not the sound of explosions.

It was the punching sounds from a fist.

Each time Landius’ fist moved, the bodies of the demonic humans exploded.

Both Landius and Jude had opened the eighth door, but their basics were different.

Jude was tall and reached 193 cm, but Landius was 40 cm taller than Jude.

He was double the size – no, he was three times bigger.

Landius’ biceps that were thicker than the waist of any woman explained it all.

“Sometimes… he’s scary.”

When Lena muttered with an awkward smile, Jude agreed.

In fact, in Jude’s mind, it was not just ‘sometimes.’

“You have my respect.”

I can’t believe you’re dating my master when he’s like that.

Lena giggled at Jude’s words.

Archbishop Manuela planned to exhaust the group by sending lots of monsters and demonic humans, but it was a failure.

There was a series of huge explosions, but most of it was caused by bombs, so Cordelia barely used her mana. As for Landius, all that formidable violence was just his normal punches.

[My successor, I like that you’re still human. Please continue to stay like this.]

At Valencia’s sudden confession, Jude nodded his head once and recalled the map of the imperial palace in his mind.

It was now time for them to reach the bottom.

“It’s the cavity!”

Jude shouted, and everyone who had memorized the map in advance then nodded and prepared for the fall.

The cavity located on the lowest floor of the imperial palace reached tens of meters in height, and there was a connecting bridge in the middle of that huge space.

And the room at the end of that bridge.

It was the room where Archbishop Manuela must be holding the ritual!

“Cordelia! Down!”

Lena shouted and flapped her wings, while Kamael transformed into a flock of crows to prevent them from falling before he looked below them.

“Hisssssss!”

A huge snake hissed and soared up.

It was like the White Snake the two encountered in Frost Anvil, and the monster rushed with its mouth wide open at a seriously terrifying speed.

But Cordelia did not panic.

She looked straight into the eyes of the flying snake.

She instantly paralyzed it by activating the , and as it fell down to the ground in accordance with gravity, she swung the detonating cord.

Swoooosh-!

The detonating cord and her telekinesis squeezed the body of the giant snake at once.

It exploded as if it was something natural.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The broken and mutilated snake fell without even a single scream.

Fwooooosh-!

Kamael blew away the raining blood and flesh with his cold aura blade as he landed on the ground. Landius and Jude also landed on the bridge at the same time.

“Superhero landing.”

Cordelia was the last to land as she landed like Iron Man. She hid her wings of light and angelic halo before taking a deep breath.

She had kept her mana consumption to a minimum, but was still out of breath because the number of enemies she defeated was enormous.

‘It feels good though.’

Because she could blow up bombs as much as she wanted.

She felt satisfied and refreshed at that.

Cordelia widely smiled and drank a mana potion before looking straight ahead.

There was a huge door at the end of the bridge.

They could feel a powerful and terrifying energy from beyond that.

It was not only that.

There were beings who guarded Archbishop Manuela.

The leaders of the demon follower groups.

Mighty demons with titles.

Her heart was pounding again.

She felt tense, excited, scared, anxious, expectant, and so on.

Today was a critical moment.

After today…

If we can overcome today…

Cordelia raised her head.

She glanced at Jude’s face as she held his hand tightly and smiled afterwards. Her heart began pounding again, but the reason was different from before.

“Now’s a good time, right?”

At Lena’s words, Landius chuckled and hugged her waist while Kamael sighed and gripped his sword.

[We’ve been together up to this point. If today’s event becomes a legend later, my name will be included, right? Like in the biographies of heroes?]

“You will. I’ll definitely talk about you. Thanks to you, Melissa, we have made it this far.”

[Tsk, you’re just all talk.]

Melissa snorted, but her voice was full of joy.

Because she had been getting compliments as well as replies for the first time in a long time.

So Cordelia smiled. She held Moonlight and looked ahead.

[My successor, you’ll talk about me too, right?]

“Of course.”

[I’ll believe in you, my successor. Just like what we have done so far, let’s continue working together in the future.]

Not only yesterday and today, but also tomorrow.

Valencia brightly smiled and became one with Jude.

Through Sword Spirit Union, she shared her strength and experience to Jude.

“It looks like a Hell Gate.”

They had seen it twice in the wild lands.

“You’re not going to blow up the imperial capital, right?”

“We’ll see?”

Cordelia laughed at Jude teasing her and skillfully tied up her hair with one hand.

The fights against the calamities continued throughout the continent.

A huge fight was also taking place outside the imperial palace.

And here.

In the deepest part of the imperial palace.

At the center of the continent.

Landius let out a long breath. He looked forward and gripped the Solar Blade instead of clenching his fists.

Lena spread her wings and made her angelic halo rotate while Kamael boosted his fighting spirit.

And at some point.

“Let’s go.”

To the final battlefield.

Landius stepped forward with the heroes of Paragon.

Jude and Cordelia followed and moved forward.

They opened the Hell Gate-like door.