Chapter 1066: He Has Arrived
Northern did not know what to expect as the ship headed for the harbor of the Luinngard. He could already see certain knights standing at the harbor, but it did not seem like they were there for him.
Northern narrowed his eyes, taking a much closer view regardless of the distance. Then he saw, the knights that are on the harbor are there to tend to the knights that have fallen, they were amassing dead bodies.
At once Northern’s expression got dark, such that Eli, Thalen and Raven were wary of him.
Thalen looked at the harbor and looked back at Northern.
"Is there something you are seeing?"
Northern was silent for a moment. He was honestly scared, his mother was in the city too.
He spoke with a measured tone.
"It seems our Tyrant friend has begun to leave his marks."
Northern looked up. The sky had gotten somewhat redder, as though it was very angry, it was like the aftermath of a devastating explosion that happened in the sky alone, red clouds were spreading and rolling through the sky.
And from time to time, there were rumbling. The massive ship had drawn attention from afar, and as it drifted ashore, knights were already gathering to the front with their spears and shields, their silver armor glimmered ominously beneath the angry red clouds.
Northern stared down at the men in silver armor, from among them, a particular one, donning lustrous black armor slowly walked out. He had a different vibe from the rest of them, a much darker vibe and behind him, a tattered black cape fluttered gently in the wind.
As he stopped in front of the ship, looking up at its bow, Northern slowly landed on the ground.
The dark knight had a toughened, roughened and wooden face. He looked like someone who had lived through every battle by an annoying stubbornness to survive.
He met Northern’s gaze with a threatening light in his dark and deep eyes and spoke with a voice that was supposed to command terror.
"Identify yourself."
However, the one he stood before was Northern.
Before Northern spoke, there was a flutter sound and a black wing slowly landed on the ground.
The man looked at her, his eyes strong with something that looked like malice.
"Lady Raven, you are back."
Raven stared at the man in the eyes.
"Yes I am Knight Commander Sheer."
She paused and glanced at Northern.
"...and with friends."
He raised a corner of his lips and smiled a little.
"Friends, I see..."
Lynus and Jeci eventually landed behind Northern and Raven, Thalen and Eli also followed.
The commander looked at Lynus and Jeci in particular, his eyes were deeply and shaky.
"Lord Commander."
"Lord Commander"
Lynus and Jeci greeted at the same time.
Even though the man’s stoic expression looked like it was about to break, he looked away the next minute and returned to Raven and Northern.
"First a strange man comes here, rising from the depths of the sea with all the abominations that dwell there, wreaking havoc on the harbor of the empire, then you Lady Raven after your sudden disappearance, suddenly are back... with friends. Want to tell me, how really connected all of this is? What exactly is going on here?"
Raven wanted to speak but lingered, meanwhile Northern laughed a little bit.
"I like you... sir, you have uhm, a very intuitive and interrogating mind. The way you reasonably command attention also is very good. I think you are the most reasonable Knight I’ve met, so far."
The man looked at Northern with slight disgust.
"Who... are you talking to... boy?"
Northern frowned slightly, confused.
"Who else would I be talking to... sir?"
The Knight’s gaze darkened.
"Boy..."
His voice sounded with a sinister tone that seemed to lick the atmosphere with a promise of devastation. Everyone felt the pressure and respected it.
Northern though had an unaffected, ragebaiting smirk on his face.
He folded his hand and looked at the man.
"Listen, sir. It is an emergency, it is not my intention to sound or be offensive hence it is not my responsibility if you are offended. You are welcome to try to show me my place anyhow anyway, old man all I did was compliment you, hell."
His gaze straightened.
"The fate of the world is at stake and I do not have the time to play chase with some rook."
Northern stared at all of them with slight disgust.
"Jeci, make sure my mother is alright, get her to the ship for safety."
He lowered slightly and took off into the sky.
Raven hurriedly addressed the man.
"I apologize on his behalf, Knight Commander, it really is just a sensitive time."
The Knight looked at her with his unapologetically stoic expression as her one wing lashed out in a spray of black feather and she also took off. More lightly than Northern did.
Thalen and Eli looked at each other. Thalen turned to Eli.
"Do you... know how to fly?"
Eli kept a calm and small smile.
"You don’t? Oh, right, you are not a Paragon."
Thalen had never hated not being a Paragon until this very day. This day, he hated it so much!
Eli exhaled and slowly a mix of golden and dark fog began to spread around, following it was a macabre yet astonishing transformation.
It ascended from the mist with the grace of a king and the weight of a storm.
Paragon Eli’s wings stretched wide, each feather rimmed in silver-white that caught the sunlight like polished steel. The body was sleek and powerful, patterned in dark slate and streaked with pale bands—every line speaking of speed and precision.
Golden talons, sharp enough to shear through armor, flexed in anticipation as he landed again on the groind. From his crown trailed two long, golden plumes, twisting in the wind like ribbons of living flame. Its eyes, sharp and unwavering, held the cold judgment of the high skies as if seeing all, forgiving nothing.
It spread one wing down and looked Thalen with a mocking smirk.
The poor Ascendant glared angrily, mumbling as he climbed up the Dark Bird.
"I should probably consider becoming a Paragon."
Not that it wasn’t possible for an elf like him, he was just busy doing other things.
Paragon Eli spared the ground one more cold look and flapped his wide and powerful wings, lifting himself away from the ground like the force of the storm himself.
"Let’s go."
His voice sounded like the rumbling of thunder and with it, they soared into the distant sky, where Northern and Raven and flown towards.
***
Northern traveled through the air with blistering speed, it was not his fastest but it was fast enough that everything below him is blurring at a terrible speed.
He was saving as much essence and stamina he could, so he was not going to run at full speed. Besides, this much and Raven behind was still struggling to catch him.
Upon getting to Luinngard Empire’s harbor, he had immediately, spread a wide radius of spatial awareness, and was able to pretty much discover everything in the Dark Continent in that moment, except for a single spot.
That single spot was where he was currently heading. Because he was sure, it had to be there.
There were also several threats around. Northern had confirmed at five Leviathans walking around, because of the great distance, he could not accurately tell their danger level but he was sure about what he felt, the quality of the essence.
Asides from that, several rifts were still left open and monsters were rampaging against each other, shredding their flashes with savage intensity. It seemed that even Luinngard Empire had a few waves coming for them in a couple of hours.
He didn’t warn them but he was sure they’ll be fine. After all, they’ve been holding their own well without him.
All he had to focus on was the descending Origin.
Northern’s eyes suddenly twitched as he was flying forward then he came to a sudden and disturbing halt, staring forward with a pale look on his face.
"Holy... crap."
Few seconds following his halt, Raven also joined him, her brows frowned darkly.
"Looks like it begun already."
Northern sighed and began to stretch, he stood in the air as though he was standing on ground and did a few back stretches.
Ahead of them, was a thing crimson light that connected to the red sky from the ground.
The point where the thin pillar of light connected, the clouds around were circling ominously, and turning even redder by the second.
Anyone would look at it and thing that a pool of blood was swirling in the sky.
The thin pillar of light was almost as thin as a thread, but it glowed radiantly.
Beneath it a lone man was kneeling on the red desert ground.
Northern frowned.
"Koll."
Just then Eli and Thalen were also arriving.
Northern breathed angrily and shot down with a fearsome speed, before Raven’s, Thalen’s and Eli’s voice could stop him.
However, just as he closed in on Koll, the entire atmosphere shuddered. Immediately, a ferocious shockwave exploded through the air, sending Northern reeling away.
Koll, slowly raised his head, grinning like a demented patient.
"He has arrived."
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!