C705 Dante looked back, his face twisted in contemplation.
The army of Dyfus, which had escaped through the dimensional portal, had quickly thrown the surface into chaos.
Despite the urgent defensive preparations already underway due to Joshua's invasion, it was an uphill battle to immediately stop the sudden appearance of the Chaos Dragon and the Black Fleet.
“Damn it, does this mean Joshua was just a decoy…?”
A decoy for Dyfus’s army.
While they were trying to capture that decoy, thousands of people, as well as the knights who tried to protect them, were injured or killed.
They had just managed to subdue Joshua, but an even greater force was invading Imperial territory.
Moreover, even from such a great distance, Dante could clearly sense the power that Dyfus, who commanded the new army of chaos, possessed.
His power was incomparable to someone like Joshua, who made the heavens and earth tremble.
["Heh, heh, heh... Hahaha...!"]Joshua let out a hollow laugh.
To Dante, it seemed like a laugh born out of self-loathing from a sense of failure.
Thwack!
Rashid's sword pierced Joshua's neck.
Even as his head was severed from his body, Joshua continued laughing, with black tears falling from his eyes.
It was a trap.
‘I should have prepared for an additional attack…’
It was an inevitable outcome because Dante prioritized the lives of the people.
He massacred the invading enemy, pursued them, and deployed the rest to rescue the people.
Realistically, it was the best course of action.
Currently, Dante was the only one capable of facing Dyfus's army alone within the empire, waging battles on both land and air simultaneously.
He felt as if his brain was about to explode.
Even if he decapitated Joshua before leaving, it didn’t seem like he would die. There was a high possibility he would recover while Dante was away and cause more damage, join forces with the enemy, or flee.
‘However, for now, I have to leave him and go there.’
At the moment he made the decision.
Dante could confirm that a familiar energy was spreading from the direction where Dyfus’s army had appeared.
Jin…!
Lightning Bolt energy and Shadow Energy.
It was Jin’s energy.
Additionally, Dante also saw flames and a green magic he had never seen before.
It was Beradin’s power.
Just as Jin and Beradin were about to meet Dante, they saw a dimensional portal opening in the sky and immediately assessed the situation.
["Kuhahaha, kahahaha, ah!"]
Joshua continued laughing until Dante crushed his head underfoot.
The shattered head reassembled in the air, forming into a grotesque shape.
“What amuses you so much, trash? The true Runcandel, whom you wouldn’t even dare to look at, has arrived here. If you find it amusing, I can understand.”
As Dante faced Joshua once again, Beradin extended a large protective barrier.
It was an enormous shield that could cover an entire section of the city, but in the midst of the chaos emanating from Dyfus’s colossal dark wings, along with the rampage of the army of chaos, it was impossible to protect all the people.
Inevitably, the deaths of innocents accumulated.
The sounds of explosions, screams, and the roars of the Chaos Dragons filled the chaos-soaked sky.
“I will pursue Dyfus; you take care of this place!”
When Jin shouted, Beradin nodded.
“Don’t expect too much. I can’t save everyone. I’ll do what I can to balance things in my own way.”
When Jin wielded his sword to carve a path through the army of chaos, a path immediately opened.
The Chaos Dragons were shredded like pieces of paper by the sword that carried the force of a Lightning Bolt.
Jin stepped on the fallen corpses of the Chaos Dragons and the fragments of the Black Ships as if they were stairs as he ascended to the sky.
No matter where he appeared from, the closer he got to Dyfus, the more the Chaos Dragons surrounded him like vengeful spirits.
“Fourth Flagbearer!”
Unconsciously, a voice full of malice escaped.
It wasn’t because it was difficult to pursue Dyfus without wings, but rather because the things he was witnessing were so distant and agonizing to behold.
He felt as if the grievances of the dying Imperial citizens were piercing his back like horns.
Dyfus was one of the individuals who saved the most civilians from the chaos unleashed by Gliek's death worldwide.
Moreover, he was a pure knight who, as the Fourth Flagbearer of Runcandel, resisted the evil god until the end. He sacrificed himself to save the resistance, including the Seventh Flagbearer, and he had never once sought power outside of the family’s symbol, the “Sword.”
However, now Dyfus, who used to be like that, was committing a slaughter that could never be undone.
In this situation, it was better…
Jin had to kill him.
To prevent him from killing people and destroying the world according to the whims of horror.
He felt his strength constantly draining with each step he took, trampling on the corpses of the Chaos Dragons.
Jin maintained his composure and pursued him.
He steeled his resolve not to hesitate and to strike without holding back.
But it seemed to him that he wouldn’t be able to catch him in this place.
It seemed that he had already completed all the preparations to escape.
Ching!
Jin’s consecutive thrusts at lightning speed pierced Dyfus’s wings.
Even though they struck him directly, they didn’t seem to have much impact.
Dyfus continued forward without looking back, as if he no longer had any intention of fighting.
“Do you think I don’t know why you keep running away? Fourth Flagbearer, you must be planning to tie me down here so your army can easily attack elsewhere.”
Jin spoke as he ascended to a rooftop.
In the empty space behind him, traces of ice mana formed in the spot where the corpses of the Chaos Dragons had been trampled, spreading like comets.
["You know well."]
Dyfus briefly halted his flight and turned to look back.
Dyfus's voice that Jin heard now was different from the one he knew. It was a voice that dug a dark pit in his mind, much like that of the evil god or the kings of the Black Sea.
His face also had a horn protruding from the center of his forehead, just like Rosa’s, and his pupils shone black like obsidian.
The Great Sword Volgar seemed to confirm that it was Dyfus.
["If you know, why do you keep pursuing me?"]
“I’ve already suffered significant losses. Tying you down at the front lines is the least damaging option for the surface. If I hadn’t pursued you, you would have continued attacking directly.”
Just as Dante was the only one capable of handling Joshua and his army alone, Jin is now the only one who can tie down Dyfus.
["That's right. Considering the possibility that you were in the Empire, mother sent me with that in mind. You have completely played into mother’s will. Look behind you."]
“It seems there’s no need to look. The Imperial capital must be completely destroyed and in ruins…”
The army of chaos was retreating. Through the black dimensional portals opening in the sky like hives, the Black Ships carrying hostages were escaping.
Jin kept his eyes on Dyfus.
“However, I am not someone who just stands by. Have you completely forgotten, Fourth Flagbearer?”
["That’s why mother values and loves you even now. Show me how you plan to strike me from now on. After all, I’ll be leaving soon."]
A dimensional portal was forming behind Dyfus.
Instant Teleportation.
Since Jin discovered that the evil god possessed the ability of teleportation, he was convinced that there must be a significant price to pay for such an ability.
If there were no price to pay, the war would have ended with the defeat of the temporary alliance.
Jin still doesn’t know exactly what that price is.
He can only speculate that it might involve the use of humans or despair as a means.
However, one thing was clear.
Regardless of what Rosa used as a means of teleportation, whether it was the “main body” or an “alternate body,” from the moment it received an attack, it could no longer be freely used.
Jin considered Dyfus a manifestation of the evil god.
Elder Brother Dyfus received a portion of the evil god's power.
He did not reach this level simply strengthened by chaos, like Joshua or other knights.
Of course, Dyfus was originally a formidable Sword Warrior.
Moreover, since he is fundamentally different from someone like Joshua, even going through the same process could make him immensely stronger on a different level.
But the confusion now emanating from Dyfus was comparable to Rosa's, whom Jin encountered for the first time.
Therefore, if Dyfus suffered injuries that were not easy to heal, he would be no different from Rosa receiving a blow.
Jin switched his sword for Bradamante.
["Bradamante? Why bother using a Shadow Blade now? Wouldn’t it have been better to wield the Reign of the King of Legends? Ah, is it because there are too many humans on the surface and they would be swept away and killed?"]
Dyfus smiled contentedly and extended his palm toward the surface. As the chaos condensed in his palm, the air distorted.
["It has been entertaining, Twelfth Flagbearer. Before I leave, I’ll give you a gift. If you ever seek revenge, come find me. I’ll be waiting with joy..."]
Just as Dyfus finished speaking and was about to unleash chaos toward the surface, Jin launched his assault.
Naturally, Dyfus expected Jin to rush toward the surface instead.
Once the chaos left his hands, at least tens of thousands of humans on the surface would instantly disappear.
So he intended to mock Jin. How could he care about insignificant humans anymore?
Or was Jin merely swinging his sword aimlessly, driven by anger and senselessness?
However, when Jin approached dangerously close, Dyfus had no choice but to hastily retract the chaos he intended to send to the surface.
‘He didn’t choose Bradamante to use Shadow Energy…!’
It was because he instinctively realized it.
The faint flame that first enveloped Bradamante signaled danger.
Eternal Flames.
Jin had been saving that secret technique for this moment.
He hoped that the eternal flames possessed the power to deal a crucial blow to the Evil God and Dyfus.
When Dyfus hurriedly shifted the chaos onto the Great Sword Volgar and tried to block Bradamante, the flame-imbued blade had already pierced his left wing in a diagonal trajectory, penetrating his chest.
'Recovery…!'
The torn part affected by the eternal flames could not regenerate.
The persistent flame hindered recovery.
Dyfus, even if his body was torn apart, originally planned to unleash chaos on the surface once again.
However, he was ultimately overwhelmed by Jin’s continuous assault and had no choice but to retreat into the dimensional portal.
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