Chapter 1100
Episode 257: The Demon Army’s Assault (4)
Crack! Kududududud…!
Andrei’s flagship was splitting in two, plummeting toward the ground.
All crew members except Andrei and his officer-level mages died instantly—without even a single scream of agony.
All from just one sword strike.
Those who weren’t even touched by the blade, nor caught in the wind pressure it created, perished simply because they stood in its path.
Not a drop of blood splattered from those who died.
Like a pile of dry sand crumbling in a biting wind, their bodies disintegrated into particles.
As if they had never been there at all, as if they had never stood for even a moment, the fallen demon soldiers vanished without a trace within seconds.
That’s what happens when you can’t even withstand a moment of Siron Runcandel’s stance.
“This is insane…! What kind of dimension is this?!”
Fight or flee.
Once you step inside Siron’s range, it’s no longer a choice.
Only those qualified to fight Siron can even consider making a choice.
Shuaaaah!
A second sword strike slammed into Andrei’s flagship.
Cutting diagonally from the opposite side, the ship was already beginning to break down into particles.
For Andrei and his officers, it felt like their armor had suddenly been stripped away.
The second blow came bare-skinned, aimed precisely at Andrei’s waist.
“Ugh!”
The officers who threw themselves forward to protect Andrei met death first.
Though the sword’s energy was a single strike, their bodies were torn into countless pieces before dissolving into particles.
Still, they were among the few who had briefly withstood Siron’s stance.
Thanks to them, Andrei was able to block Siron’s strike, albeit with reduced power.
“Kahaat…!”
Pain like bones snapping.
Just blocking the sword, yet every drop of blood inside him seemed to freeze and boil in turn.
Andrei’s peaceful senses, unused to facing such a formidable foe for a long time, were shattered in an instant.
“This sharpens the mind, Siron Runcandel… Your greetings are excessive.”
“Confusing in many ways, Andrei. That someone like you could rise to the rank of Changsung and revel in dominion… and dare to block my sword… it’s quite the shock.”
Siron’s voice came as he leapt through the barrage.
Andrei unleashed wind magic to keep him at bay, but it was no use.
His plan to avoid close combat had failed.
He couldn’t immediately think of how to adjust his strategy.
It was the inevitable result of giving Siron space.
“Hah, Siron Runcandel. You’re mad. Risking so much just to punish me?”
Precision fire rained down on Siron from all directions.
Some shots were blocked by shields, others deflected by his sword, but Siron kept his focus solely on Andrei.
The sharp winds Andrei summoned occasionally grazed Siron’s shoulder or thigh.
Siron smiled wryly at the meaningless scratches.
“I didn’t come just to punish you. I came to cut down all of you.”
There was no other way.
By Andrei’s logic, Siron could never keep such a promise.
Across all dimensions, there’s usually at least one Changsung in every world, and the Demon Army has always subdued them without much trouble.
“You say that even after watching Changsung fall like ants to your barrage? We’re just special soldiers, Siron Runcandel.”
Though he answered, Andrei doubted himself.
Just like the first time he met Keliak from the 33rd dimension, his guts shriveled and his mind was overwhelmed.
“If it’s this Siron… could it be possible? No, it can’t be. Absolutely not!”
He even entertained such a thought for a moment before regaining his composure and glaring at Siron.
The White Fleet pressed Siron, while also preventing other Changsung from closing in on Andrei.
Yet, the White Fleet was steadily crumbling under the advance of the Changsung and the Golden Fleet’s bombardment.
Still, as losses were replenished, the White Fleet’s front line remained intact.
In fact, it was slowly expanding.
From five hundred to five hundred fifty, then back to five hundred, then five hundred seventy.
Thanks to this, Andrei managed to maintain a fairly balanced exchange with Siron.
Swords, staves, auras, and magic left massive afterimages in the sky where the flagship had vanished.
Strange.
The fact that he was holding his own against someone clearly superior unsettled Andrei.
“Is it because I ascended to Changsung and gained the power to twist fate? No, that’s not it. Siron… he’s measuring something. Could it be… is he really gauging whether he can cut us all down?”
He still sees us as mere prey!
His arrogance was beyond measure.
“You know the world isn’t one, and that’s why you’re no longer the strongest! Yet you still claim to be the sky alone? How dare you!”
Only Siron among the Changsung in this world hadn’t met Keliak; otherwise, no one could behave like this.
Andrei felt as if Keliak and the entire Demon Army had been insulted.
That someone who’s just a special soldier still considers himself the sky.
Siron, as if finishing his assessment, slowly withdrew his relentless sword strikes and seemed to become more aware of the fleets surrounding both him and Andrei.
And once again, Andrei suddenly realized the White Fleet was clustered too densely nearby.
Even without Siron, there were four Changsung here—one of them being the warrior Ban.
Those four had closed the distance at once, yet the fleet maintained its encirclement intact.
That was strange.
“Why didn’t they scatter more? They could have. If they had, they could have stopped our front line from expanding. Why not?”
Doubt and questions piled up.
Unable to read his opponent’s thoughts, Andrei locked eyes with Siron.
Those eyes, wide open like a beast ready to bite the neck of its prey.
“This is the Black Sea, Andrei Ziphl.”
Grrrrr…!
Suddenly, a dark, heavy crack echoed like the roar of the kings of the Black Sea.
Andrei instinctively ducked.
The sound rose from somewhere deep underground, beneath the Black Sea—no, the abyss.
“And I am the only human to have conquered this land.”
“Ah!”
Craaaack…!
The ground beneath Siron and Andrei split open as if in a lie.
The vast earth gaped like a predator’s maw, lined with rows of sharp teeth like a beast’s mouth.
“The Black Sea is now mine.”
The gaping maw of the Black Sea surged upward like a colossal whale breaching the sky.
Andrei frantically turned his head, scanning all around at the unimaginable sight—something he had never seen or even imagined despite conquering countless dimensions.
It wasn’t just one.
The maw, opened at Siron’s will, stretched endlessly beneath every fleet protecting Andrei, like a bottomless chasm.
Crack, crack, krudududud!
“Kraaaah!”
Andrei let out a scream-like shout, unleashing magic in all directions.
His vision was swallowed by the blackness of the Black Sea’s maw.
A heavy, unfamiliar spiritual pressure weighed down on his entire body.
“Did the nearby fleets get swallowed too? What the hell… why is Siron Runcandel causing this chaos?!”
Contrary to Andrei’s thoughts, Siron wasn’t wielding chaos.
As he said himself, he had defeated all the kings of the Black Sea and now ruled this place.
The power Siron gained was not chaos—it was the Black Sea.
Naturally, the Black Sea caused no harm to Siron or the other allied Changsung.
The allied Changsung had been informed of Siron’s new power.
That’s why they deliberately herded their enemies into the Black Sea’s maw.
The White Fleet was sinking into the abyss of the Black Sea.
Unlike the Pluto Cannon, which could wipe out an entire fleet at once, this method felt even more terrifying to the Demon Army.
Because death might not come instantly.
The Demon Army hadn’t yet fully analyzed the Black Sea.
“Grahk, Siron…!”
Andrei’s furious shout echoed hollowly inside the Black Sea’s maw.
His body was already ravaged by the spiritual damage of the abyss; without the Changsung’s energy, he would have been fatally wounded.
Andrei couldn’t assess the Demon Army’s losses, nor predict the direction of Siron’s next strike.
His defense and counterattack relied solely on the insight of a Changsung.
Still, if given enough time, he might find an answer—that’s the dignity of the Changsung realm.
But Ban, Luna, Jin, and Murakan—the other four Changsung—had begun to rampage through the enemy lines.
Their first target was, of course, Andrei.
“Andrei Ziphl, you will die twice by my hand.”
A crimson sword.
From the darkness of the Black Sea, a streak of crimson sword energy passed by Andrei’s neck.
He couldn’t even perceive the blade before death claimed him.
Stronger Changsung pressed in from all sides.
Crack, krududud…
The devourers of the Black Sea showed no sign of stopping, swallowing Andrei and over a hundred ships whole.
Inside the dimensional gate, Rondo Ziphl and his officers could only grit their teeth in frustration as they watched the battle unfold.
“Hah! Siron Runkandel, master of the Black Sea? There’s never been anything like that in any dimension. This is insane.”
Rondo Ziphl simply replied to the officer’s words, “…Powers that command the Black Sea are nothing but trivial tricks compared to his sword.”