Just as I sensed something was off—
“…Huh?”
Han So-young let out a sigh-like groan, her eyes snapping open wide.
Without thinking, I turned around—and in that instant, it felt as if a heavy blow struck the back of my head.
Crackling flames roared everywhere beneath the deepening sunset.
Thick gray smoke billowed upward into the twilight sky.
And piercing screams and agonized wails echoed so loudly they nearly shattered my eardrums.
What was this?
What on earth had happened?
The mysterious land, once shrouded in mist when we first arrived, was nowhere to be seen. Not a trace of fog remained—only countless corpses littered the vast plains. Rivers of blood flowed in rivulets, filling the air with a sickening metallic stench.
And that wasn’t all.
The sounds of rolling bodies, crashing impacts, shouting, and explosions erupted chaotically from every direction.
The protective barrier had fallen, revealing a living hell outside. And the carnage was still unfolding.
A gut-wrenching realization hit me: we were too late. Far too late.
The battlefield had already been consumed by a terrifying madness.
Everyone was killing indiscriminately.
Reason had been thrown aside, replaced by a frenzy of biting, clawing, and tearing each other apart.
It was pure pandemonium—an apocalyptic nightmare come to life.
I moved forward in a daze, when suddenly something snagged at my foot.
A user’s corpse.
A man whose abdomen had been horrifically torn open, his face twisted in agony—clearly he had suffered immensely before death.
“……”
In that moment, I was more grateful than ever for my Third Eye ability. My chaotic thoughts and the burning pressure in my chest instantly calmed.
I still didn’t fully understand the situation, but I had a strong suspicion. Only one group could have done this.
Activating my Third Eye, I focused all my senses. I knew it was taxing, but it was the only way to quickly grasp what was happening.
Moments later, fragments of past scenes began to flicker into view.
But the first image made my heart plummet.
—Aaaaargh!
Ansol was screaming at the top of his lungs. More precisely, he was being pierced through by a dark, spear-shaped energy, collapsing helplessly. Around him, users stared blankly at the sky, while familiar faces floated in the air.
Not unfamiliar, but never seen before—fairies.
Lilith, Asmodeus, Astaroth.
Demon lords.
And even Thanatos—all targeting Ansol alone.
My teeth clenched as I pieced it together. While I was forcibly summoned away, the enemies had launched an ambush. But to think they would strike Ansol first with an aerial assault…
“Block him! Stop him!”
The scene shifted abruptly to a new battle. Demons surrounded us from three sides, pressing in, while our forces fought desperately to defend the altar.
“Reinforcements have arrived through the warp gate! We need to retreat—!”
“What are you saying? What about my brother?”
“Are you suggesting we just die here?”
“Then tell them to come here! How could he know when my brother would show up—!”
Among them were several mercenaries. Someone shouted urgently to fall back, but An Hyun snapped angrily, refusing.
Suddenly, my vision was flooded with static and a sharp pain stabbed my eyes. I instinctively covered my face and let out a low groan. The Third Eye’s duration had ended.
Though drained, I had learned two things: Ansol had been targeted and shot, and reinforcements from another city had arrived through the warp gate.
It seemed my brother had responded quickly, but the questions only deepened. If reinforcements had come, their numbers must have been close to ten thousand. How had things gotten this bad?
Lowering my hand, I stared ahead again.
The battlefield was still a chaotic mess. Fighting raged wildly everywhere, and it looked like the northern continent’s forces had completely collapsed into disarray. It would have been a small mercy if they had at least regrouped somewhere, but this was beyond a mere brawl—it was utter chaos.
The worst-case scenario.
With only one body, there was nothing I could do.
“Cough, cough! But…”
Just then, I heard someone coughing a short distance away.
“Suddenly, the fairy army… cough! summoned thousands of spirits… cough!”
Han So-young had found a survivor and was listening intently. Judging by the battlefield and the pile of corpses, she must have been trying to find a living user to get a sense of the situation.
“They struck the left flank without warning… The demons barely held them back… but eventually… everything fell apart… grrkk!”
She poured a potion into the survivor’s mouth, encouraging them, but the user couldn’t speak any further. Their wounds were too severe—they were dying. Finally, they gasped sharply and slumped over.
Han So-young bit her lip, then turned to me and shook her head.
Then—
Crack crack crack!
A sudden, ear-splitting roar echoed, and a brilliant yellow lightning flashed in the distance.
“Brother.”
I snapped to full alert. That lightning had to be from him. Which meant he was still alive.
The battle was escalating rapidly.
There was no time to stand still.
I had to do something.
“This way!”
I shouted to the four women, then turned and sprinted toward the direction the lightning had struck.
Crack crack crack, crack crack crack!
Lightning continued to strike repeatedly as I ran, each bolt fueling my urgency.
My brother was not one to waste mana recklessly. If he was unleashing this much power, it was a clear sign he was in grave danger.
Just as I thought that—
A distant scene of fierce fighting flickered into view.
Looking closer, I saw the southern continent’s users surrounded on all sides by demons, fighting desperately to hold their ground.
But their resistance was nearly over. Suddenly, one side collapsed, and the demons began pushing forward.
Then—
“Brother?”
Through the dizzying breach in the encirclement, I caught sight of someone.
A demon slipped through the broken line, baring its teeth and reaching its arm skyward.
Beneath it, my brother sat slumped, his face strained with exhaustion.
In that moment, the demon’s hand slashed downward with enough force to split the earth.
At that split second—
“—!”
I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Kuahahahahaha!”
A furious roar thundered across the battlefield.
This was no ordinary shout. It was one of the powers granted to the Lord of Blades, infused with mana: “Lord, command!”
“Krkkiiiik?”
The demon that had swung its hand froze, startled by the overwhelming shout. As it instinctively turned, a fierce wind suddenly blew.
Snick!
In a flash, the demon’s neck was cleanly severed, and its body collapsed lifelessly. Even as it hit the ground, its expression was one of confusion—unable to comprehend its sudden death.
At the same time, Kim Yoo-hyun’s face twisted in shock and despair. He had thought he was doomed, but the demon that had targeted him lay decapitated, its head crushed under heavy boots.
Then, as I glanced up, Kim Yoo-hyun’s expression transformed completely.
From exhaustion to surprise, from surprise to joy.
Before him stood a figure clad in jet-black armor, a crimson cape billowing behind.
No need to ask who it was.
Though there had been some distance, Kim Soo-hyun had used the Obello Boots’ “Rapid Acceleration” ability to close the gap in a single stride.
“S-Soo-hyun…!”
Kim Yoo-hyun couldn’t contain his overwhelming relief and reached out, but Soo-hyun was already swinging his sword fiercely at the surrounding enemies. There was no time for emotional reunions—eliminating the foes came first.
Bang!
With a powerful strike of his blade’s flat edge, the air rippled violently. A long, crimson sword aura shot out, curving into a crescent shape and sweeping mercilessly through the enemies ahead.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
The sword aura flew like a boomerang, cutting through the encirclement without hesitation. Wherever the red line touched, dark blood exploded in a gruesome spray, and belated screams pierced the air.
Before the enemies could even react, dozens of fiery swords rained down, bombarding them relentlessly. The staggered foes were swept away like a tidal wave.
For the enemies, it was like being struck by a hammer out of nowhere.
But this was only the beginning.
Without hesitation, Kim Su-hyun spun the twin swords in both hands and leapt forward. As the blade of the Void Sword sliced through the air with a sharp tearing sound, red afterimages traced its path. Before the four users from the Southern Continent could even react, blood suddenly spurted from their necks. At the same time, Victoria’s Glory, aimed in the opposite direction, emitted a pale, ghostly light.
Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-chang!
With a clanging roar, the swordlight swept dazzlingly forward. In an instant, a dozen or so enemies were brutally slashed from head to toe, their agonized screams echoing as they collapsed like broken sticks.
All of this happened in barely ten seconds.
It was unbelievable to anyone watching. Every time Kim Su-hyun moved, holes ripped open in the once-impenetrable encirclement.
Yet, even amid the desperate struggle, his allies realized what was happening. The tide of battle had turned in the blink of an eye. There was only one user capable of unleashing such overwhelming power.
By now, the enemies sensed something was wrong—but it was far too late. With every slash, a relentless surge of magical energy burst forth, ensnaring several foes at once. Kim Su-hyun was already completely unleashed, rampaging without restraint.
Then, with a mighty swing, he raised the sword in his left hand toward the sky. A demon with a blade lodged in its abdomen writhed violently as it was flung into the air. In that moment, Kim Su-hyun reversed his grip on the hilt and brought the Void Sword crashing down with all his might.
Thud!
A sickening sound echoed as the demon’s blackened belly was gruesomely crushed and torn apart.
But the real problem wasn’t the demon.
Because—
Boom!
With a sudden explosion, the ground beneath where the sword struck heaved violently, as if shrugging its shoulders. The already chaotic encirclement wavered dramatically.
Rumble rumble, rumble rumble!
Before long, the earth trembled and shook like a minor earthquake.
Kraaaang!
Then, as if a massive anti-tank mine had detonated, a stretch of earth nearly five meters long flipped and surged upward.
It was as if a storm and a tidal wave had collided in a furious tempest.
“Aaaargh!”
“Kyaaaaah!”
All the enemies caught within the blast were hurled skyward, sucked into the terrifying vortex. One by one, their bodies were pulverized and ground to dust, sending spirals of blood and flesh spraying through the air.
When the storm finally subsided, all that remained were mangled chunks of meat and a torrential downpour of hot, crimson rain.
And so—
Huff… huff…
Kim Su-hyun returned to the battlefield, which was crumbling by the second.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
I’m not sure how tomorrow’s (Monday, July 13) update will go.
It’s raining, and my father wants to take the family on a long drive. He mentioned Sokcho… which is pretty far. I get terrible motion sickness, and I live in Seoul, so it’s not exactly close. -_-;
Since we went once before, I’m going to try to subtly hint that maybe I don’t have to go this time. But if I get scolded like last time, I might not have a choice… ^_ㅠ
He’s almost sixty now, so maybe he’s feeling a bit lonely. Lately, every weekend he’s been suggesting we go somewhere, and yesterday he even wanted to go see a movie… Yikes.
If any readers know a good way to dodge this kind of thing, I’d be really grateful.
Anyway, if I can’t post tomorrow, I’ll leave a comment to let you know.