C679 Alliance Vamel, Garden of Swords, Zipple, and Kinzelo
Jin never expected to enter Temar's sixth tomb with all of them.
It all began with the possibility of encountering the old Runcandel alive and the escape of the Sword, leading to the current situation.
This tomb opening was exceeding all expectations from beginning to end.
Whoa...!
The Shadow Energy that continued to escape from the sword was creating a massive whirlpool.
Despite being covered by the black water of the sea, something resembling a building or some kind of artifact was emerging every second on the seabed.
A ruined fortress, a broken spire, and mysterious devices that looked like defensive equipment.
The subspace holding the sword was not normal and seemed to have been destroyed multiple times already.
However, an unknown sense of crisis made Jin feel a chill on his neck.Is it because of the guardian?
Except when he met Lueth Damiro Yul, the living "unremembered" figure of Runcandel, Jin had always been in danger whenever he opened a tomb.
Even this time, his whole body was sending danger signals.
The source of the signal did not come from the pursuit team sent from the Garden of Swords but from the ocean.
'I've recovered the Shadow Energy used to open the tomb, so there shouldn't be any problem before the battle.'
He decided to exclude the assumption that the Guardian would be able to distinguish between friend and foe.
They would probably attack indiscriminately, and it would be best to use that to his advantage to prioritize eliminating his enemies.
'The problem lies with the Zipple and Kinzelo factions. How much protection should we offer them...?'
Thinking up to that point, Jin raised his head.
'They are not children. I don't need to worry about them.'
If they thought it was an important matter, they would have sent the appropriate people for it.
If it were a temporary alliance, Jin would have asked for support in advance, but this is more of a personal matter for Jin.
In other words, they were people meddling in personal affairs, so there was no need to go out of his way to protect them, even if they didn't harm him.
'Anyway, I can feel the energy of Bianca Kaligo and Ranke Halovice from Kinzelo's side, so even if Zephyrin doesn't have power, they will protect her on their own. Since Kadun is undergoing treatment by Zipple, Octavia or Ronil must have come, but they are not at a level where they can't take care of themselves.'
The Garden of Swords, Zipple, Kinzelo's battleship, and the dragons were approaching.
Jin shot a light-speed impulse toward the Chaos Dragon and the black ship.
When the light-speed thrust, filled with murderous intent, emerged, the Chaos Dragon and the black ship rushing toward him left behind traces of chaos as they perished.
Amid the scene of a myth where the sea seemed to create a different world, the glorious aura emitted by the troops of each faction, and a single sword thrust at the center of it all.
Among all that, the guardian finally revealed itself from the depths of the ocean.
No, the guardians.
“My lord, there are giant creatures in the depths of the ocean...!”
Jin looked down.
Red eyes like distant will-o'-the-wisps stared at the invaders.
Gigantic bodies like castles, shields, and spears befitting their stature. The giants, who had taken on human form, seemed sculpted from hard rocks that Jin couldn't easily cut.
Except for Jin and Hedo, the rest of the group was stiff with overwhelming pressure.
They weren't just one or two.
At a glance, there were more than a hundred giants preparing to massacre the invaders.
Moreover, the number was increasing in real time. It wasn't like the buildings or underground places where they emerged; they were forming in the air shortly after their silhouettes became visible.
“Are those...... graveyard giants?”
said Quikantel with a sigh.
Graveyard giants. It's an ancient weapon that almost endangered the younger division when Jin was a cadet in the past.
Back then, it was the work of Bouvard Gaston, who threatened the younger division, and Murakan destroyed it immediately.
At that time, Murakan had barely regained his strength. Even if it had been one of those things, it would have been impossible to subdue it.
'Is there a difference because it wasn't Bouvard's work, but the original?'
But it didn't seem that was the reason for Quikantel's mood.
“Quikantel-nim, do you know about those things?” Valkas asked.
“I know them well, we dragons killed all the remaining graveyard giants two thousand years ago. It was a war in which Murakan and I participated. But, the graveyard giants now are of a different kind from the ones we destroyed.”
“Well, God of Sculpture? I've never heard that name before.”
“It's natural you don't know. Like Kullam, whom we met in Colon, he's one of the gods who have disappeared from history. Well, he's been in the tombs of dead gods.”
A conversation with Murakan about the graveyard giant in the past.
As the dragons know, the graveyard giant is a weapon created by 'Well,' the god of sculpture.
They were created to protect the tombs of forgotten gods and themselves, who had degenerated into ordinary humans.
Quikantel's expression twisted.
“A while ago, Arya said this tomb doesn't seem like a Solderet subspace, right?”
“Yeah, Solderet's name doesn't appear on the record window.”
“Apparently, this is a tomb of a dead god, not of Temar. It must be different from the tomb the dragons dealt with.”
“Then, originally it was the tomb of a dead god, but it might have been used as Temar's tomb for a while during the process of relocating his tomb.”
“Perhaps... Ugh!”
Suddenly, Quikantel shook her head in agony. Just like Murakan responds to his manipulated and forgotten memories.
“The ten great knights who were supposed to protect this place... it was a figure related to the dead god who was originally the owner of this tomb...!”
It was impossible to evoke more memories.
Quikantel regained her composure and breathed heavily.
“We can meet him and ask. What are the stories about this tomb?”
“The fact that Miss Quikantel's memories are starting to return is proof that there is an old Runcandel alive inside, Jin.”
Jin nodded at Valeria's words.
“This is a great harvest, Tower Guardian. I have a request.”
“You have no limits to being shameless. It keeps getting worse; are you asking me a favor in this situation?”
“I'll handle all the graveyard giants myself. So not only take care of Sandra, but also my comrades.”
“No, I'll leave as soon as I find my sword.”
Jin shook his head in apology.
“If possible, do it. But I can read the Shadow Energy, and that sword is now firmly stuck so no one can pull it out.”
Jin pointed to the sword and said.
It wasn't a lie.
Jin was convinced that, even if he used all his Shadow Energy again, he could never pull out the sword stuck in the seabed.
Moreover, the sword didn't have the shape of the long sword that Hedo used to know.
“My sword... what kind of strange shape is that!”
“Maybe that is the true nature of your sword.”
Valeria shrugged and answered instead of Jin.
It would be appropriate to describe the sword as if it had horns.
Hedo, who had increased his sense of sight, gritted his teeth while looking at the small blades rising on both sides of the sword.
“Twelfth Flagbearer!”
Finally, Hedo erupted and shouted.
In the past, he had experienced situations where things worsened to that point from one moment to another, but this was the first time since he met Sandra.
There had never been a situation that Hedo couldn't control, even if Sandra did something crazy.
It was impossible for Hedo to give up the sword and escape.
Even if he grabbed it minimally, the size of the Shadow Energy space formed in the sea was 4km.
He couldn't run away because he was in the middle of the sea and, above all, the layers of Shadow Energy barriers were a problem.
The barriers wouldn't disappear unless they swallowed all the intruders.
Some of the members of the Garden of Swords and Zipple were already being absorbed by the barrier, leaving behind screams of despair.
There was no need to imagine what happened to those who were absorbed by the barrier.
Flesh, swords, and debris like staffs were pouring out from the opposite side they had been caught.
This place was already a hell.
“I sincerely apologize. Since the situation has turned out like this, I can only suggest the best direction. After this job is done, I will definitely apologize and compensate.”
Although he wanted to apologize more sincerely, Jin had to interrupt because the graveyard giants started moving.
“Quikantel-nim, Sir Valkas, Tower Guardian. Please take care of our comrades. Let's handle this as soon as possible.”
“Hey, Hedo! He's trying to go alone to those monsters, so you should jump in to help too!”
“Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh!”
While Hedo struggled to maintain his sanity and made strange noises, Valeria grabbed Jin by the shoulder.
“I'm going down too, Jin Runcandel.”
“What!? Why you?”
Of course, it was Sandra's reaction, not Jin's.
The other comrades were also bewildered.
It was hard to understand why Valeria would participate in a fight where even Valkas couldn't join.
But Jin accepted her words without a second thought.
"Thanks for helping."
Perhaps in a past life, but the current Valeria was not the type of person to rush towards death out of concern for Jin.
Therefore, her decision to step forward meant she had confidence in herself.
Valeria naturally extended her hand to Jin.
Without any particular meaning, it meant they would go down to the fight together, but like Sandra, she couldn't help but feel dizzy and nauseous.
"This person. This... What are you doing! Stop, stop! Ah, my head, I'm dizzy!"
"Milady!"
In the end, Sandra fainted as if she couldn't bear to watch the scene (Hedo took care of her), and Jin took Valeria's hand.
It was the hand of the master that Jin hadn't held in a long time.
Would he be able to share in this life the heavy burdens that lay on those thin and fragile hands, or perhaps he was already sharing them?
Suddenly, Jin had that thought.
"Let's go."
As Jin and Valeria jumped from Quikantel's back, the graveyard giants fired red beams as if they had been waiting.
Jin's Lightning Bolt energy mixed with Valeria's blue magic, illuminating the dark seabed.
Jin felt the same sense of crisis that chilled his neck when the subspace first opened, but it quickly faded away.
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