Episode 1003
Chapter 246: The Battle for the Mitra Great Desert (13)
“Lady Elona…”
Jin clenched his teeth, recalling the corrupted figure she had become within the Sacred Vessel.
Since meeting Kelliak and donning the Sacred Vessel, she had killed countless people. Even if she were to regain her old self, those deeds could never be undone.
“…I refuse the contract.”
Shuri let out a sharp, threatening chuckle at Marsalun before stepping into the Red Jade. Marsalun shrugged, seemingly surprised.
[I don’t understand… but since I cannot force you, Marsalun will respect your decision. If your mind ever changes, seek me out again. Until then, I shall return to torment the Red-Eyed Tribe.]
Marsalun took flight beyond the barrage. Jin stood still for a moment, waiting for Elona to approach.
The deafening roar gradually subsided.
Elona advanced without hiding her vast, overwhelming aura. The Red-Eyed Tribe, for now, chose to observe the situation.
The battlefield slowly fell into a tense silence.
Then, beyond the red storm and the waves of psychic energy, Elona’s silhouette began to emerge. Jin could even hear her footsteps.
Step, step, step.
No longer the silver hair of Ziphl, but golden locks blazing like the sun shone clearly in the darkness of the battlefield. The Sacred Vessel hovering above her head emitted a faint metallic friction sound.
“It’s been a long time, Lady Elona.”
Jin met her gaze.
Her eyes no longer held that endlessly clear, pure light. Instead, they shimmered like opal, filled with complex, crystalline facets.
“Jin Runkandel.”
She stopped about ten paces away.
A heavy silence stretched between them. Jin recalled the Elona he once knew, while Elona felt an unfamiliar surge of emotion upon seeing him—but it was not enough to shake her deeply.
“What brings you to the Great Desert?”
“I came to destroy the passage connecting Lafrarosa and Inse.”
“You’re still so straightforward.”
“There’s no need to hide it.”
“Then I’ll be honest too. Seeing you changed by that Sacred Vessel stirs complicated feelings in me.”
Elona said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
“Looking back, you were always a complicated figure to me. I truly came to understand you when I sought the tombs of our family’s first head, Temar Runkandel. Some records describe you as a monster… a mass murderer. Others suggest you seemed to regret your past.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“When you broke the long-standing seal of the Hidden Palace and emerged into the world, my friend was in a state much like you are now—corrupted not by his own will, but by others’ mistakes and schemes. I mean Veradin Ziphl. And I heard you cared for that wayward soul deeply.”
At those words, Elona recalled Veradin’s voice from Hell—the voice shouting, “Don’t forget.”
She still hadn’t dared to ask the Tower of Stories about him.
“Even a thousand years ago, and until then, we were clearly enemies. But when I fought Jito, the Elona I saw didn’t match any record or information. You simply looked like someone who needed light.”
“…Light?”
“Like a beacon to follow. A landmark to help you stay as far away as possible from unwanted, terrible things. That’s probably why you cared for and loved Veradin.”
Elona let out a bitter laugh.
“If that’s true, then I was a foolish being back then. Unwanted terrible things? If I truly didn’t want them, I could have refused to do them. I shouldn’t have relied on abstract things like light or beacons.”
“That’s true. But people aren’t perfect. Everyone has times when life is overwhelming.”
“Then you think I could have chosen death myself.”
“Sometimes that’s impossible. Even the Red Jade Tomb inside you is cursed, making that impossible.”
Jin pulled out the Red Jade to show her.
“I have no such curse.”
“Not just magic or power, but fate itself can be a curse. Is that Sacred Vessel the problem? You’ve become far more narrow-minded than I remember.”
“Perhaps. The Sacred Vessel is far from rational or reasonable. It’s designed to obey only the commands of the first being it recognizes.”
“And yet you continue to wear that dreadful vessel?”
“I see no reason to remove it.”
“A human would naturally…”
“I am not human, Jin Runkandel. You seem to classify me as human because of my appearance. So applying human standards to me is pointless. You and I—we have fundamentally different consciousness.”
“Eh? You’re not human?”
“Not human…?”
Belize and Linfa, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
Hearing their voices, Elona recalled her purpose for coming to the Great Desert.
“I think we’ve wasted enough time on pointless talk. Are you the Underworld Tribe who escaped the passage?”
“Wait, wait! Before we fight, answer our question. Elona Ziphl, if you’re not human, then what are you?”
“Yeah… what are you?”
“A god? That can’t be. You said you had free will and emotions before wearing that vessel. And even now, you don’t seem completely devoid of them.”
Elona hesitated, searching for an answer.
But she couldn’t find one. She couldn’t be classified as any species. No longer a tree, so she couldn’t be called one. Never human, so she couldn’t be called that either.
‘If I had to choose, I’d say I’m a bioweapon…’
She kept the thought to herself and raised her magic.
Within three seconds, the entire battlefield trembled as magic surged. Dozens of massive, cube-shaped constructs made of pure magic, towering like mountains, appeared.
The sheer pressure forced the group to raise their shields. Even the distant Red-Eyed Tribe’s aerial fortress and fleet formed protective barriers with psychic energy.
‘I already felt this in Hell, but she’s definitely stronger than before…’
Even before wearing the Sacred Vessel, Elona was a Celestial Star.
But now, she clearly possessed power beyond that, like Siron who had overcome the Demon Star. Despite the lingering effects of the seal and the errors caused by imperfect synchronization with the Sacred Vessel.
“What? Can’t answer?”
“If you want an answer, just think of me as a bioweapon.”
“Ha! Fine, even if you’re a bioweapon, I cherish my greatsword like a brother… and so does Linfa here.”
“What?”
“Not just bioweapons, but even mere weapons can be family to someone. So for you, a bioweapon, it’s even more true, right?”
“What nonsense…”
“Our friend Veradin Ziphl told us before we came here: you’re precious family, so don’t treat you too harshly. Now I think we should tell Veradin to tell your family to take it easy on you. Oh, and that Beti we mentioned? She was originally a bioweapon too, right, Linfa?”
“Yeah… that’s right.”
“Then what else matters? Elona Ziphl, someday you’ll be rescued by Jin and us. Until then, live as you please. You’ll have to pay for your sins eventually, but even then, Veradin won’t let you go.”
“There’s… something… I like… about Veradin. Once brothers are brothers… family is family… friends are friends.”
Swoosh!
From the cubes behind Elona, spears of magic rained down. Jin, Belize, and Linfa swung their swords in all directions, deflecting the falling spears.
“After I kill you all, I wonder if Veradin Ziphl will still think of me that way.”
At that moment, Jin sensed a flicker in Elona’s eyes.
‘If anything in our conversation just now stirred her, it means the brainwashing on Lady Elona isn’t perfect.’
The spears from the cubes were powerful but weaker than expected. Elona had no intention of fighting Jin’s group seriously.
Her goal was to destroy the Lafrarosa passage, and to do that, ignoring Jin’s group as much as possible was the best strategy.
Elona surged forward, riding her magic past them. The cubes remained behind, continuing to attack, so the group couldn’t keep pace.
The Red-Eyed Tribe quickly read the situation and focused their fire on Jin and the Twin Kings, allowing Elona to widen the gap.
But Jin had no intention of letting her go.
“There are things in this world that cannot be broken by force, Lady Elona. Lafrarosa is one of them. And so is the true self you’ve forgotten.”
His low voice, filled with the power of a Celestial Star, cut through the barrage and reached Elona’s ears. She glanced back briefly.
Her reason and inner self both churned. Reason was confused that Jin hadn’t come to guard the Lafrarosa passage, while her heart was torn between wanting to hear those words again and wanting to deny them.
But Elona turned away once more, refusing to approach Jin’s group. She silently began pouring magic into the Lafrarosa passage.
Jin and his companions slipped away from the cubes she left behind and began moving toward the outskirts of the Great Desert’s center.
They needed to show the enemy that there was no point in trying to hold La Frarosa at all. If they resisted, the enemy would just send even more troops.
“…Let’s fall back, brothers. Until we can get the liberation device inside, we have no choice but to leave the aftermath to Ban and the others.”