Kim Jonghyun.
Abel spoke of the man known as the ‘Devil of the North’ with a stiff expression. It was sudden, but rumors had started circulating into real news about a Ghost Ship that was starting to approach the southern harbors of Eria
The Coast Guards were attacked, and completely obliterated without a single chance to even retaliate,
The long-range interception magic fired by the Coast Guard Wizards failed to breach the barrier of Deathly Energy around the Ghost Ship, let alone scratch it. As a result, countless ships were sunk one-by-one without discrimination.
When the Ghost Ship had reached the harbor, hundreds of Death Knights poured from the dock and started to slaughter the countless humans in the mainland resulting in a massacre that had never occurred in recent decades.
The dead humans were immediately raised up once more, this time as undead and ghouls though. An entire city had become an undead metropolis at this point.
“Who else can do this besides Kim Jonghyun?”
Lee Sungmin stood as he listened to spit out the name of the culprit.
“……The First Catastrophe.”
Lee Sungmin muttered in a quiet voice. Abel jerked his head when he heard Lee Sungmin’s quiet voice. Abel’s face demanded an explanation of what Lee Sungmin had just said.
Seeing these eyes, Lee Sungmin repeated to Abel what he had heard from Geniella, the Vampire Queen, when he was up North,
What Geniella had spoken of as if it were some kind of dream, became reality. Kim Jonghyun, who came into contact with Volander, one of the Five Black Stars of Predator and Monarch of the Death Knights, was in a contract with Kim Jonghyun to do whatever Kim Jonghyun ordered him to do as long as Kim Jonghyun fulfilled his desire to become human again.
[…. I guess it’s accurate to call it a move out of desperation.]
Heoju muttered.
Lee Sungmin couldn’t refute the words. Volander, who both he and Heoju had met at sea, was not some kind of bloodthirsty murderer, and was only looked upon badly by the public because he was a Death Knight.
In fact, his nature was truly chivalrous as he only cleaned up the Southern Sea from the Pirates and vagabonds while leaving the rest unharmed.
[Even when I was alive, Volander’s aim was different from the other monsters and undead within Predator. It’s probably because he never wanted to become a Death Knight in the first place. He’s only doing something like this, which is completely against his morals, because he wants to become a human that badly.]
“What about your master, Sima Ryunju?”
Abel, who was silent after hearing Lee Sungmin’s story, asked. He didn’t seem to know about the death of Lee Sungmin’s master yet.
“……My master is dead.”
“…what?”
Abel looked at Lee Sungmin in disbelief.
Lee Sungmin did not bother to explain to Abel about the death of his master, and just moved past Abel, ignoring him.
Abel urgently asked Lee Sungmin, who was trying to pass by him.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m heading South.”
“…Are you going to stop Kim Jonghyun?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go together.”
Abel said so without hesitation. At the words, Lee Sungmin looked back at Abel with a skeptical look.
“Do you believe in me?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“……maybe I’m part of the Catastrophes as well that are meant to end this world.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What does it matter that you might be part of the End? Kim Jonghyun is making a fuss right now, so it’s important to stop him first and foremost.”
Abel said so and looked toward Geom-Seong.
It was an apologetic look of regret.
Abel chewed on his lower lip before speaking up.
“It’s a pity I can’t ask for your help.”
“I’m sorry for this as well.”
Geom-Seong replied with a bitter smile. Abel stared at Geom-Seong for a moment before turning back towards the door.
Heoju giggled as he commented on Abel’s nature when Abel turned around unfazed.
[What a hot and temperamental personality. Completely different from his brother Envirus.]
“It’ll take months to get South from here. In the meantime, Kim Jonghyun will do more nonsense. Maybe the entire South will be devastated by the time we arrive.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
Abel frowned at Lee Sungmin’s words. Not knowing the existence of the Pegasus, Lee Sungmin’s words sounded only like an overly relaxed response not knowing the seriousness of the situation.
Coming out of the house, Lee Sungmin summoned the Pegasus.
“Oh my god.”
Abel’s mouth opened wide when he saw the Pegasus. He looked back at Lee Sungmin in disbelief.
“It’s…… a Pegasus. An existence that can go beyond the contractions of time and space. How does a human own such a thing?”
“I borrowed it from the Queen of Fairies.”
“Are you seriously worried about becoming a Catastrophe when you’re being shown such favor by the Queen of Fairies?”
Abel spit it out with a dumbfounded face.
“If you’re part of the series of Catastrophes to bring forth the End by becoming an Apostle of the End, the Queen of Fairies can’t possibly show you such kind favor. If that’s what you are destined to be, then the Queen of the Fairies might just be an Apostle of the End as well.”
“It’s not like there’s zero possibility of that being true.”
Lee Sungmin replied with a bitter smile as he recalled Oslo’s words that she had repeated over and over to him.
‘I am friendly to you, and I respect your choice.’If Lee Sungmin was part of the Catastrophes that brought the End and an Apostle of the End, Oslo, who favored Lee Sungmin, may also be an Apostle of the End.
“Get rid of that damn worry. This is not the time to think about it.”
Abel said as he climbed onto the Pegasus.
“Even if you could someday be a Catastrophe, you wouldn’t be an Apostle of End as you are now. Am I wrong?”
“I guess so.”
“Then there will be no problem with you going to stop Kim Jonghyun. The place where Kim Jonghyun is heading towards Reckborn, a town in the area called Germane. Have you ever been there?”
“Yes, I’ve been to Reckborn before.”
The port town where Lee Sungmin went to before he traveled to Belador via the ship, was the town of Reckborn which was in the area of Germane.
“Reckborn… Reckborn.”Abel, who was muttering the name of the city, frowned.
“It’s a long way from here to Reckborn, the city where Kim Jonghyun is heading towards. Have you ever been to another southern city by any chance?”
“I’ve been to the City of Endless Night and Devon.”
“The situation in those cities isn’t much different than being ruled by one of the Five Black Stars.… Yana is in complete control of the City of Endless Night. Devon is too far South for us to travel to, and the City of Endless Night is bound to be in chaos with Kim Jonghyun’s upstart. Traveling to Reckborn directly might just have to be our only option.”
“Do you mind if we go there?”
“Please.”
Lee Sungmin climbed onto the Pegasus. Suddenly, Lee Sungmin stopped as if he remembered something and then asked Abel what was on his mind.
“You’re not taking Lloyd with us?”
“He’s not helping me anymore. I’d rather leave him here. What about you? Now that Sima Ryunju is dead, aren’t you in control of the Sama Order in full? Why didn’t you bring some of the martial artists with you like that woman Ye-Hwa?”
“I told them it would be too dangerous for me to take over the position in full, and Ye-Hwa is not someone I want to endanger because of my own desires. But if she wants to come, she can come on her own.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I’ve never ridden on a Pegasus before, how long will it take? It’s normally at least two months by normal carriage.”
It was a question that didn’t need to be answered. Lee Sungmin recalled the city of Reckborn, as he transmitted the destination to the Pegasus.
As this happened, the image of the Pegasus started to blur while it seemed space itself was warping and shifting like a bungee cord.
“Woah, that’s so cool!”
Arriving at Reckborn, Abel was the first to exclaim.
“I can’t believe that a Pegasus was able to traverse that kind of distance in a mere second! It’s absolutely impossible to do such a feat with human magic.”
Abel exclaimed in sheer admiration of the Pegasus as he hopped down from it. The late night of Reckborn was bustling.
It was a port town, so it was part of daily life for the environment to always be busy and loud from incoming shipments and sailors, but the atmosphere that was present was not one of business or happiness… but rather one of fear.
People were screaming for a ride on the anchored ships that were bound to leave.
Lee Sungmin caught one of the busy passerbys.
“What’s going on?”
“AH! Sorry, I was startled there for a moment!”
A man who was carrying an armful of luggage on his back let out some curses. Lee Sungmin grabbed the man’s wrist without saying a word. The man’s expression changed at once.
“What are you curious about?”
“Why is it so noisy?”
“That’s… That’s…. You don’t know what happened in Germane?”
That was enough of an answer for Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin released the wrist of the man he was holding onto. Abel, who was next to him, took out his pipe with an irritated look on his face.
“The rumors are spreading fast. Kim Jonghyun’s tragedy in Germane seems to have spread here already. People would rather seek refuge outside of other towns. It’s foolish to remain here when the opponents are an entire fleet of Death Knights.”
Lee Sungmin also knew how powerful the Death Knight Corps led by Volander was. He had never fought against them, but they were undoubtedly stronger than any military might or group that Lee Sungmin knew of, aside from large organizations.
All of the Death Knights in the troupe were warriors who had passed the Peak Realm, and were in the middle of the wall to Transcendence. The one who led them, Volander, was one of the strongest undeads of Predator, a monster of true Transcendence, if not stronger.
His strength would be similar to Kang Seok, the Spear King, or Jehu, the Black Dragon.
But besides that, the real problem was Kim Jonghyun. Kim Jonghyun, who gained the power of the ancient King of Devils, was allowed to exist in this world because he was not awakened as a true Devil.
However, he was still able to temporarily wield the powers of one. In addition, he was an outstanding Dark Wizard, especially after absorbing Arbeth’s knowledge and mana.
Abel spoke.“It is foolish of Kim Jonghyun to remain still.”
The increase in the number of bodies means that Kim Jonghyun’s army would become stronger.
“It takes about a week from here to Germane.”
“If we hurry, we’ll get there sooner than that.”
“No, we shouldn’t rush too much.”
Abel shook his head.
“We have to know our limitations. Do you think the two of us can stop Kim Jonghyun and Death Knight army?”
“It’ll be hard.”
“If it’s one of the Five Black Stars, it’ll be hard to predict their true strength.”
Abel grumbled.
“It’s true that we shouldn’t give Kim Jonghyun much time. It’s pointless to give time to a Necromancer.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“In a week, troops will come to stop Kim Jonghyun.”
Abel said after a long puff of smoke. Lee Sungmin couldn’t quite understand what that meant.
“Kim Jonghyun is the most skilled Dark Wizard in the world right now. He has the Grimoire, and he has become the equivalent of a Devil like the one from Maryeong Pavilion. Even if it’s only half of the amount of firepower or Demonic Energy as a true Devil, he is still incredibly powerful and dangerous.”
“I know.”
It was too noisy to talk in a public setting for the two of them. Abel took Lee Sungmin and left the port.
As they looked for a deserted place, Abel eventually found a deserted alley for them to talk in.
Abel did not care what Lee Sungmin was looking at and summoned his personal broker from Erebrisa.
“You gave me on the Pegasus, so I’ll handle the carriage fee at the very least from here to Germane.”
“Do we really need to use a carriage?”
“You can run for long periods of time because you’re a martial artist, but that’s not the case for me, a Wizard.”
“I honestly don’t understand.”
“What?”
“It’s a waste of time.”
“Well I don’t intend to die a dog’s death.”
As Abel asked for a carriage from his personal broker, he expanded on what he meant.
“It would be a dog’s death to say that the two of us go to stop Kim Jonghyun as we are right now. Of course, we are not some common pieces of rubbish, so if we risk our lives to find out, we can probably come out with a satisfactory result or piece of information. But that’s the most we can do. I have no intent of throwing my life away for a piece of information or some mediocre damage to his undead army.”
“So?”
“This is not the same case as the massacre that happened when Kim Jonghyun was in the North. Kim Jonghyun only used the Death Knight Army to exterminate one ‘city’. Tens of thousands of people have died. In the north… There were a lot of problems. It was the Vampire Queen’s territory, and she also looked down on Kim Jonghyun’s potential at the time.”
“You’re saying it’s different this time?”
“It’s bound to be different. This isn’t the territory of the Vampire Queen, where she would be able to regulate how many deaths he could have. And… I don’t know if this is just some kind of coincidence, but there is a person known as the Holy Saint that is living here in the South.”
“The Holy Saint?”
“You don’t know him. He’s hardly talked about as a public figure.”
In the middle of such a conversation, Abel’s personal broker brought a carriage for the two of them. Abel stared at Lee Sungmin and asked him a question
“Do you know how to drive a carriage?”
“Do I have to drag it myself?”
“How old are you?”
“Do you mean my physical age or mental age?”
“Oh for fucks’ sake.”
Abel grumbled and bounced his fingertips upwards. A small light burst out from the mana in his fingertips and started to enlarge to take the shape of a horse.
Abel cut his finger as he imprinted the horse he had made from his light magic to obey his orders faithfully while he got up into the back of the carriage.
“The Holy Church didn’t use much power in the Massacre in the North. But not this time. With precedent and tens of thousands of people dead, the Saint of the Holy Church must move personally. As long as there are Death Knights present as well, they have no choice but to move. They have a position and stance on these kinds of things, as well.”
“Do you think they can threaten Kim Jonghyun?”
“We’ll buy enough time with their presence alone.”
Abel murmured as he sat opposite Lee Sungmin. Abel shook his head with a sigh as he spoke once more.
“Tell me more. What the hell happened? Is your master, Sima Ryunju, really dead?”
With the question, the carriage wagon driven by the horse made of mana, began to move.