Episode 118
Chapter 37: The Power to Erase the World, the Power to Sustain the World (2)

With every step he took, Jin felt as if he were walking through hell. The sensation of raw flesh burning was a pain beyond words—especially for someone like Laosa, untrained and unaccustomed to such torment.

But even so, physical agony was preferable to the torment of the heart. Laosa clung to the thought that, though she had done nothing to help her suffering kin until now, at least as a shrine maiden she was finally fulfilling her duty, even if only a little.

“As Lord Jin said, even if this body turns to ash, I will reach my people.”

Jin could have fled at any time, but he chose to save them. And Laosa, moved by Jin’s sacrifice, responded with a transcendent will.

Their desperate resolve stirred Syris’s heart.

“Jin! Hold on just a little longer! Shrine Maiden Laosa is coming to you! I’ll handle the shards falling behind you—just keep moving forward!”

Jin barely nodded in response.

Bradamante’s aura, which had been fading, flared up again with fierce brilliance. Trusting Syris’s promise to cover his rear, Jin summoned every last ounce of strength.

Jin, Syris, and Laosa.

Amid the storm of magic and shards of aura raining down like a tempest, they pressed forward, step by agonizing step.

Meanwhile, the White Night mages looked down on the three of them with contempt. After all, they were mere novices, and the White Empress was too occupied fending off the cannon fire to intervene. There was no way they could succeed.

“Increase the cannon’s power! Today, this land will be wiped from the world without a trace!”

Screeeech!

The cannon, which had destroyed countless nations over the past century, unleashed its radiant blast once more.

If not for the freezing cold of the eternal ice, every living thing here—except for Talaris—would have already melted away without a trace.

“While the kids are trying to do something, the adults shouldn’t get in their way, right?”

Though she spoke casually, Talaris was nearing her limit. Suppressing the White Night without killing a single one was impossible, even for her.

‘My daughter, and Jin. There’s no time left. Finish this quickly…!’

Thirty steps.

Twenty steps.

And when only ten remained.

“Ah…”

Laosa suddenly felt the unbearable pain that had engulfed her entire body vanish all at once.

Her feet were charred black, the white bones exposed beneath.

Her hands, which had stirred the scorching winds, were no different. When she opened her eyes, all was darkness. Her pitiful state was no longer that of a living person.

Naturally, she could no longer move her feet. The sensations that had coursed through her body were rapidly fading toward death.

‘If only I had returned to my people sooner. No, if only I hadn’t run away in the first place.’

A wave of regret washed over her.

To her kin still suffering in Colon, and to Jin, who had given her the courage to stand again.

“Shrine Maiden!”

Syris called out urgently to the motionless Laosa.

But Laosa’s back no longer moved forward, and Syris was too busy fending off the relentless shards to even confirm whether she was alive.

“Jin! Shrine Maiden Laosa…!”

She couldn’t bring herself to say the words “she’s dead.”

She knew how desperately Jin was holding the front line.

Amid the continuous thunderous explosions, Jin pressed on, still unaware of Laosa’s death.

‘Five steps left.’

Jin was no longer himself.

He couldn’t say exactly when it started, but he no longer felt pain. Whether the heavy shards struck his blade, or the shattered fragments sliced into his thigh or chest—

Even as his bones broke and blood poured from his flesh, Jin only felt a hazy numbness. No real pain.

His eyes, stained with his own blood, were red and blurred.

His breath came out in ominous wheezes.

“Jin… Jin… Jiiin…!”

Syris rushed to his side, calling his name, but it sounded distant and faint. Jin didn’t even turn his head to look.

In the few seconds she approached, his fading vision went completely dark. Even when a long shard pierced his chest, not a sound escaped his lips.

‘Is this the end?’

Without the Tears of Numerus, said to revive even the dead, Jin had no hope of escaping death.

‘Should I have killed Myron Ziphl and run away? Or when Midor Elner came chasing? Should I have abandoned the natives and fled then? Or even when the White Night’s Kojek appeared in the sky?’

Or maybe, I shouldn’t have come here at all.

As he pondered where it had all gone wrong, Jin let out a bitter laugh inside.

Even if he could go back before coming to Colon, he doubted he’d make a different choice.

No matter how many chances he was given, even if every outcome was death, he wouldn’t turn his back on the Colon people.

Of course, he’d gather more allies and plan more carefully to avoid failure like this.

But now, it was a meaningless hypothetical.

‘I was such a fool. I should have just looked the other way and passed by.’

Why couldn’t he?

Risking his life to save strangers he’d just met had nothing to do with his other goals in this life.

Becoming the strongest knight, surpassing his father.

Rising to the top of Runcandel and controlling the world.

Compensating for the miserable life of his past existence.

None of those ambitions aligned with this.

And yet, why?

Why couldn’t he just walk away?

‘If the Colon people meet a miserable end today, it’s because of my return. I’ve only hastened the deaths of those poor souls.’

He felt that the stronger one wasn’t him, but Ziphl. That the world naturally followed the will and standards of the strong.

This time, he was simply the weaker one.

‘Thank you. I regret not saying sorry to so many.’

A sudden surge of emotion overwhelmed him.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

“No!”

Perhaps because Bradamante stopped moving, the shards filling the air had multiplied since Jin fell.

“You were fending off all this alone? So foolish as to die so pointlessly!”

Syris’s eyes reddened as she rushed to Jin’s fallen form. As her mother had teased, they weren’t lovers, but it felt too soon to lose him like this.

“Say something! Survive and settle this with me!”

That was the last voice Jin ever heard.

He was already gone.

Syris knew this, but impulsively stayed by his side, guarding his lifeless body.

Clang!

Crack! Crack!

“Daughter! Stop and come this way, damn it!”

Once again, Kojek’s massive cannon barrel glowed golden.

The intervals between shots grew shorter, and the power only increased.

The power to erase the world.

The nickname Kojek’s admirers gave it. And indeed, Kojek wielded a destructive force worthy of that name.

“I told you, White Empress! You will never achieve your goal!”

“If my daughter is harmed, not a single one of you will survive!”

“You may be stronger than us, but the White Empress is not stronger than Ziphl. Isn’t that why you hide your power despite wielding such might?”

Before Talaris could respond, something else appeared in the sky—an entity that made the White Night mages smile with grim satisfaction.

“Kadun…!?”

“Our last reinforcements have arrived. White Empress, now not only your daughter but you yourself cannot be guaranteed safety.”

The Fire Dragon Kadun.

Guardian dragon of Keliak Ziphl, king of the fire dragons. As Kadun roared, the freezing cold of the eternal ice began to fade, mingling with the cannon fire.

[It’s been a while, Talaris Endorma. Human chosen by the eternal ice.]

Talaris clenched her teeth, refusing to answer.

And in those desperate moments—

For some reason, the dead Jin was watching everything clearly.

‘What is this? I should be dead. Hah, damn it. I can even see my own corpse.’

His body felt weightless. The translucent form floating in the sky looked like a mirage.

Jin could see the entire battlefield at a glance, but no one could see him. Not Murakan, who had transformed into his true form in grief and rage; not Syris, who had just collapsed after guarding Jin’s body.

Not the natives still conscious, nor Talaris, who had just fully unleashed the eternal ice to face Kadun.

Everyone fought desperately.

Watching those who had fought alongside him die was perhaps a punishment—a divine sentence for his recklessness and weakness.

It was cruel.

To be forced to witness the deaths of comrades, unable to intervene, his chest tightened unbearably.

[Aren’t you impressed? Boy chosen by Solderet’s sole will.]

Startled, Jin turned his gaze to see a figure standing above the battlefield—an androgynous presence, neither clearly male nor female.

[You are.]

[I have been waiting for you for quite some time.]

[Waiting for me? What do you mean?]

[My name is Klam. I sealed myself within a mirror with Solderet’s help.]

Hearing that name, anger surged within him. Just as he was about to demand why Klam had appeared only now, Klam spoke first.

[You’re probably wondering why I showed up so late.]

[You state the obvious.]

[First, answer my question. How does it feel to witness this scene? To see the people who fought for you, the ones you tried to protect, dying right before your eyes.]

Jin felt the urge to draw his sword and strike him down on the spot, but instead, he let out a low sigh.

[I’m sick to death of the fact that I wasn’t strong enough, that I was so foolish.]

Clam smiled faintly.

[Don’t forget that feeling.]

Snap.

Clam snapped his fingers, and when Jin opened his eyes again, the scenery had shifted abruptly, like turning a page.

His body, which had been floating weightlessly in the sky, now felt heavy with flesh and bone, standing firmly on the ground.

Right in front of him stood Clam—now in the form of Laosa, the very figure he had just faced.

[I already answered Laosa’s call a moment ago. The instant Laosa saw you and gained enlightenment. The death you just experienced, and the horrific scene you witnessed afterward…]

Clam gently placed his hand on Jin’s forehead.

[It was a small lesson. A glimpse of what would have happened if you hadn’t pulled me out. Contracted for a thousand years, you must grow stronger. Stronger than you are now—so strong that even the gods themselves would be powerless against you.]

Still dazed, Jin looked around. The biting cold of the Manbing and the bombardment had ceased. The sky, just beginning to brighten with dawn, revealed the massive ship Kojek, half-destroyed and billowing black smoke.

Below it, the mages of Baekya lay collapsed, trembling violently.