C556
Before the start of the second battle, the Black Knights Rosa sent to inform Cyron of the situation couldn't meet him.
As fast as they traveled, reaching the depths of the Black Sea in two days was impossible, and, above all, Cyron's expedition team had already entered the territory of the Five Kings of the Black Sea.
This meant total isolation from the outside world.
The territory of the Five Kings of the Black Sea was not land belonging to humans but a vast subspace prepared for them.
There, the sun didn't set, and there were no shadows or traces on the black ground.
There was only infinite darkness, with no distinction between day and night.
The only things there were monsters that occasionally emerged from the darkness and attacked the group, or more precisely, "remnants of Chaos."
Cyron, Luna, former and current Black Knights, and a legendary talking monster walked through that deep and black land.
[Hah~ These clinking and tasteless bastards. Knights! The food is ready; I did my best to cook, but as the ingredients are what they are, the taste isn't that great today... Ugh, sorry. Please don't hit me!]Ozdock turned the plate of monstrous food (made with Ozdock's skill) around and squatted with an exaggerated gesture.
Of course, it's true that Ozdock had been beaten by Tuben and knights since he was captured.
However, since then, he behaved well and was rarely beaten, and thanks to Cyron recognizing Ozdock's usefulness, he was proudly acknowledged as a member of the expedition team.
Although not perfect, Ozdock's memories of the Black Sea undoubtedly helped the expedition.
Without him, it would have taken them much longer to find the territory of the Five Kings of the Black Sea.
So, Ozdock was now making a joke.
Unfortunately, no one reacted to his desperate attempt to lighten the mood.
[Ha, ha. Enjoy the meal!]
Ozdock stood up and scratched his head shyly.
Luna and the knights sat down and silently chewed and swallowed their portions.
They sounded like a wild beast gnawing on bones.
Ugh...
I'm suffocating.
How long has this atmosphere been going on?
Damn it.
Ozdock sighed to himself as he watched them eat.
He didn't eat the food he made.
First of all, meals meant nothing to him unless they were made of gold.
However, Ozdock had another important reason not to eat monsters.
The remnants of Chaos.
It was because after entering the territory of the Five Kings of the Black Sea, there was something in the energy called "Chaos."
Ozdock was slowly regaining his old memories.
'Chaos, it never lets go once it clings to life in any form. Until the target becomes a completely mad monster...'
Temar Runcandel.
He also remembered hearing rumors that even he, the Patriarch of Runcandel a thousand years ago, had been consumed by Chaos and turned into a monster.
Chaos was a force that should be avoided not only by humans but by all living beings in general.
'Everyone must have already accumulated quite a bit of Chaos. I hope it doesn't drive them crazy and kill me. Seeing that they can eat and fight without any hindrance, they seem fine for now...!'
All Ozdock could do was hope that such a thing wouldn't happen while keeping an eye on the situation.
While he thought, Luna and the knights were busy pushing back the Chaos that accumulated in them.
In this land, survival required a constant struggle against Chaos, even without battles.
[By the way! I'm a bit worried. Since the day before yesterday, there hasn't been any monster attack, so there might be a problem with the food. This is quite troublesome; I can't even go out to look for it.]
"Ozdock."
[Heuk!]
The reason Ozdock was so surprised was that Cyron called him.
After entering the territory of the Five Kings, all members of the expedition team became less talkative as they struggled against the Chaos energy, but Cyron was especially severe.
It was rare for even a simple order to come out of his mouth.
Cyron almost didn't feel like a living person.
[I... showed such a pathetic image. Sorry, old man.]
"You're doing very well."
Ozdock could only widen his eyes at Cyron's unexpected praise.
He didn't know what to say, so he bowed his head as if bowing to an elder.
In his life of about two thousand years, he wondered if anything bigger than this had happened.
Praise?
Uh, from the old man, to this Ozdock!
Cyron really thought that Ozdock was doing well.
In this terrifying land, he constantly joked, casually cooked with monster corpses, and occasionally hummed to himself.
In other words, it was impossible for "Humans" to maintain universal emotions of an intelligent being.
Ozdock's actions were helping the knights push back the Chaos.
He was helping to keep their emotions as humans.
'When we get back, I should reward the younger one more generously.'
Cyron's gaze reached into the darkness beyond.
The fact that Ozdock was worried about the food, saying that he saw no monsters, and how his daughter and the knights had been focused for the past few days without uttering the slightest word.
There was a reason why he looked in that direction.
Five Kings of the Black Sea.
Finally, the time had come to face one of them.
"Luna."
"Yes, Father-nim."
"The battle will start soon. If you can't endure, hide behind me."
Luna was well aware that Cyron, her father, was the most affected by this terrible Chaos.
Not only her, but all the Knights were aware of it.
Unlike the others, Cyron had already been fighting against Chaos before entering this place, and it was something Luna and the Knights couldn't even imagine.
For the first time...
Luna felt pity for her father.
No, perhaps she had felt pity for him for a long time.
It wasn't until she came to this land that she began to understand her father and herself by looking at him.
"I will do my best to prevent that from happening."
In response to Luna's answer, Cyron smiled weakly.
The knights left their plates.
Then, as they approached Cyron, they patted Ozdock on the head or shoulder.
Then, as if they had been waiting.
The darkness in the expedition team's field of vision became even denser, and Ozdock could do nothing but collapse.
His legs gave way, weakened by the overwhelming force.
'Oh, a Black Sea King....!'
Five Kings of the Black Sea.
One of them revealed great Chaos to the expedition team.
Ozdock was overwhelmed by the energy and couldn't even breathe, but all the Knights stood tall and faced it head-on.
Barisada slowly emerged from its sheath.
The Chaos, which had come like a tidal wave, stopped due to the light that began to spread from Barisada.
Cyron was the only one in the expedition who had fought directly against the Kings of the Black Sea.
Cyron knew that the countless eyes staring at him and the expedition from beyond the darkness symbolized...
"Kial."
Kial.
The name of the King of the Black Sea, whom the expedition encountered for the first time.
Soon, thousands or tens of thousands of eyes focused on a single person.
[Cyron Runcandel... you managed to come this far with that heavy fate...]
A dark and eerie voice echoed throughout the subspace.
The demonic creatures from the depths of the Black Sea they had faced until now and the remnants of Chaos they had killed in the subspace were nothing but dust compared to Kail.
Even the monsters that occasionally posed a challenge for Luna and the former Black Knights were no match.
Cyron didn't respond and approached Kial slowly.
Every time he took a step, the Chaos energy that had been pressing on the expedition was pushed toward Kial.
[Judging by the atmosphere, it seems you didn't come here in response to the proposal we made back then.]
The proposal...
Kial and the other Kings of the Black Sea wanted Cyron to join them.
[Do you want to have the same fate as your ancestors?]
"Whether then or now, my only task is to end you. I won't become a fragment of a broken object."
Origin Orb.
The Five Kings of the Black Sea are all fragments of the broken Origin Orb.
And the Kings of the Black Sea couldn't approach each other except under special circumstances.
It was due to the persistent will of the Gods that remained inside the broken Origin Orb.
So, the Kings of the Black Sea only wanted one thing: a means to gather them without restrictions.
An existence that could sever the persistent will of the Gods imprinted like a stigma.
That person was none other than Cyron.
[You know better than anyone that your wish can't come true, idiot...]
Suddenly, Kial narrowed his eyes and stopped speaking.
He seemed very annoyed by something.
Not only Kial, but Cyron also showed momentary surprise.
They both had the same feeling.
What they both recognized at the same time was that another King of the Black Sea had awakened.
Not in this subspace, but in the human world.
Soon, Cyron's face contorted, and Kial narrowed his eyes and let out a sinister laugh.
[Finally... I found you. So, you were out there, my brother, Gliek!]
Gliek.
Kial.
Nirgand.
Seu.
Morganiel.
Among the Five Kings of the Black Sea, Cyron had not met Gliek in person, and the other Kings didn't know Gliek's whereabouts either.
It was the White Stone of Hairan.
It was the fifth fragment of the broken Origin Orb.
Cyron swung his sword against Kial, and Kial roared triumphantly even as his body was slashed.
----------------------------
As Jin and his group entered the castle, the first thing they saw was the indescribably gigantic and solid ice layer covering Dante's seal and the entire interior.
It was a scene in which this formidable ice was violently breaking under some dark force.
Talaris had kept the inner castle safe shortly after the second war began, but she couldn't even prevent the chaos seal from breaking.
"Talaris-nim!"
"Hidden Palace Master!"
Blood flowed from the corners of Talaris's mouth as she fell towards the group.
The black power released from the seal spread in all directions without signs of stopping even after being crushed by the power of myriad ice.
The inner castle that Ron and the Knights of Hairan had carefully guarded vanished without a trace in an instant.
At that moment...
Jin couldn't help but remember what Talaris had told him.
-Somehow... Maybe it's a relief that Zipple's main force is on the way, and Runcandel is nearby. If the Chaos of the White Stone awakens, they have no choice but to fight against it, whether they like it or not. If it's not them and us, no one can stop it anyway.
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KO-FI
'Ko-Fi' for Adv4nc3 Ch4pt3r ( Up to '120' more ch4pt3rs) Publication of up to 6 w33kly ch4pters, thanks.
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