Chapter 218
Episode 70: Bitter Fate (Part 4)
“Garmund, brother. If it’s that guy, there might still be a chance for him to escape somehow. So, maybe we should—”
Garmund shook his head.
“No. If we do that, the chances of one of us dying or getting hurt are way too high. His aura is overwhelming—even I can barely handle it. If I don’t counter his ‘Volcano,’ it’ll probably wreak havoc all the way across the sea.”
“Hah, I never thought that bastard would actually use a self-destruct technique.”
“Go quickly, brother. You know I’m fine. Like I said earlier, just make sure to tell the story properly later.”
Jin clenched his teeth.
“…Understood.”
“Don’t talk about owing me anything, brother. Now run. And whatever you do, don’t go where you can’t see my back.”
With a sigh, Jin nodded, and Shuri took off at full speed.
Just as Garmund said, if he didn’t neutralize Joshua’s Volcano, Jin had no chance of survival.
A self-destruct technique.
A sword forged for the absolute last resort. Volcano had enough power to wipe out an entire small island in one blast.
Even if a 7th or 8th rank pureblood—just recently appointed as a Rune Kandel rider—used it, that would be the scale. Joshua’s Volcano was on a whole other level.
“Graaah…!”
Joshua’s body glowed red as he let out a guttural scream.
His blood vessels burst, filling his entire body with aura. Molten metal dripped from the expanded blade of his silver sword, Sran.
The heat radiating from Joshua’s body was melting the blade itself.
“That sly fox… Dare to call himself a descendant of Temar.”
Garmund couldn’t approach the motionless Joshua. The aura surrounding him was so powerful that even Garmund couldn’t break through it recklessly.
Crack, grind…!
As Garmund stepped forward, the ground beneath him cracked and stones flew up. Lightning energy swirled, drawn toward his sword.
Joshua’s aura was spreading, consuming the surroundings, while Garmund’s lightning condensed on his blade. In sheer size, their energies were nearly equal.
But Joshua had chosen death to summon that power, whereas Garmund was simply preparing to unleash a lifetime’s worth of swordsmanship.
“Die…!”
That was Joshua’s final cry. His voice, hoarse and scraping like metal on metal, suggested his vocal cords were nearly destroyed by the raging aura.
A deep roar!
The aura spread in a circle around Joshua’s sword, then rapidly condensed into a single point at the melting tip.
The prelude to the decisive technique, Volcano.
Thud…!
Like striking an empty kettle, a hollow resonance echoed briefly. The aura infused in Sran’s blade exploded, producing a faint noise.
Then, the sound quickly escalated into a deafening roar. Boom! Bang! The blade erupted in a full-scale explosion, spewing aura in all directions.
Blinding light!
The area became so bright it was almost painful to look at.
But in the center, there was no longer anything resembling Joshua. His physical form had completely transformed into pure aura, unleashing the Volcano.
Joshua was dead.
The way the aura exploded and poured out was identical to a volcanic eruption.
That’s why this decisive technique was named ‘Volcano.’
The aura shot skyward, then crashed back down to the ground. But even before it touched down, the shockwave from the explosion in midair was already tearing the island apart.
The shockwave distorted space itself. Tremendous gravitational and repulsive forces shook the island relentlessly, and the nearby sea churned violently in response.
As the island shattered like glass, the only solid ground left was where Garmund stood firm—and the sandbank behind him. Shuri was desperately sprinting across that sandbank.
“Raaah!”
Garmund’s roar twisted the shockwave of the Volcano. His body shimmered with blue lightning energy, but unlike Joshua, he hadn’t abandoned his physical form.
The lightning in his roar looked like a massive net. That enormous web spread out in countless threads, catching the explosion and holding it back. Then Garmund’s sword traced a path.
His blade cut through the heart of the Volcano, causing the island’s foundation to tremble.
Unlike the Volcano that was tearing the entire island apart, Garmund’s sword drew a calm, precise line. Like a brushstroke, it smoothly sliced through the land consumed by the Volcano.
Though the sword’s mark on the ground was just a single line—
The explosions on either side began to subside. The blasts weakened noticeably, and the murky haze started to clear.
But Garmund knew this wasn’t the end.
Once suppressed, the Volcano would return with an even stronger explosion in a few seconds. He was buying time—just enough for Jin to escape farther.
Garmund had sacrificed his own chance to flee.
Fortunately, when he looked back, Jin was no longer in sight.
“That should be enough. Come on…”
Garmund’s eyes flickered with lightning as he shifted his stance.
The Volcano continued erupting for over ten minutes.
The 32nd island of the Cheongsae Archipelago had completely vanished, reduced to a jagged rock barely five steps across.
In the end, Garmund blocked every blast heading toward Jin.
Thanks to that, Jin stood unharmed on that tiny rock.
For about five minutes, he waited there for the explosions to cease. Now, without any aura or lightning energy left, sunlight bathed the Cheongsae Archipelago.
It was time to find Garmund.
“Brother Garmund!”
Jin searched the sea, littered with debris from the battle, shouting anxiously. “Garmund! Brother Garmund!” His eyes were filled with worry.
“My ears… they’re going to fall off, brother.”
“Brother!”
As soon as he spotted Garmund, Jin gritted his teeth.
Garmund was leaning against another rock, missing both arms. The legendary sword Boras lay broken beside him.
Jin carefully lifted Garmund onto Shuri.
“Don’t look so down, brother. You know you’re fine, so why keep acting like this?”
Garmund pointed to his own shoulders with a hearty laugh.
No blood flowed from the severed stumps. Instead, a black energy seeped out—spiritual energy.
“But… it must have hurt.”
“A little pain is nothing if it’s for you, brother.”
The special spiritual sword technique, Black Light Summoning, takes the form of a summoning.
But in reality, it’s more like a reconstruction. It temporarily opens a door to Laprarosa, and one of the figures inside is shaped from spiritual energy.
Before leaving Laprarosa, Jin had this conversation with Tantal:
“So, if it’s okay, I want you to check something out for me.”
“Is there no way for brothers to leave on their own? You know, Tantal came out to the Great Desert to get me.”
“That only works when a successor is near the Great Desert. Other than that, there’s only one way out, but it’s not very useful.”
“Why?”
“Toshin will tell you.”
What Toshin passed on to Jin was the special spiritual sword technique, Black Light Summoning.
With Jin’s current spiritual energy, he can only use it once every year or two.
What’s summoned by Black Light isn’t the Mingwang clan member themselves, but their soul. The soul, combined with spiritual energy, temporarily manifests the deceased in the living world.
The soul-shaped Mingwang appears exactly as they did in life, with the same power.
But when the soul returns to Laprarosa, it forgets everything experienced in the living world.
In other words, Garmund will never remember today’s events. That’s why he kept telling Jin to “make sure to tell the story well.”
“Hah, the sword Temar left behind is impressive. That fox bastard took both my arms.”
It was only possible because the battle took place in a confined space—the island—and because Garmund had to protect Jin.
Joshua’s Volcano was terrifyingly powerful, but if Garmund hadn’t confronted it, he wouldn’t have lost his arms.
“I’m sorry, brother.”
“Why do you keep saying that? You know I’ll forget everything once I go back. Are you teasing me?”
“No, it’s just… think about it. Even if they’re not really cut off, seeing your family lose their arms right before your eyes must be a shock.”
“Hmm… I suppose that’s true. Yeah, I can understand that.”
Garmund chuckled and lifted his foot.
Then, with that foot, he gently patted Jin’s head. Jin’s real body in Laprarosa was fine, but for now, without arms, there was nothing to be done.
“How’s everyone doing?”
“Of course. Before you came, they had nothing to do. Now, they all gather often, talking about you.”
Garmund laughed heartily as he put his foot down.
“By the way, Joshua, was it? You finally killed the enemy who cursed you?”
“Yeah, but I can’t shake this uneasy feeling. He was never the type to choose suicide.”
“What? So you’re saying the one I killed was some kind of spirit like me? Or a fake?”
“No, that’s not it. It was definitely Joshua.”
“Yeah, that can’t be. I saw his death with my own eyes. Maybe you just haven’t fully grasped it because you didn’t strike him yourself.”
Jin nodded.
“…Yeah, like you said, it still doesn’t quite feel real, brother. I always thought killing him would come after we returned to the family.”
“Well, I’m glad I could help. And I’m pleased that I was the one summoned by the first Blacklight call. Ah, looks like it’s time for me to go back now.”
As the spiritual energy drained from his arms, Garmund’s form began to fade little by little. Soon, his soul would return to Laprarosa.
“Please tell everyone I miss them. And let them know that thanks to you, I’ve been doing well since leaving Laprarosa. Also…”
Garmund didn’t say, “You won’t remember anyway.” Instead, he quietly smiled as he listened to Jin speak.
“Alright, I’ll be sure to pass it on. Next time, let’s meet not here, but in Laprarosa.”
Before long, Garmund’s fading body became completely transparent. The spiritual energy that left his form lingered near Jin for a moment before vanishing into the distance.
After Garmund disappeared, Jin searched for Kuzan and Beris for a while, but it seemed unlikely they were still alive.
“Let’s head back now, Shuri.”
[Meow!]
Over the next few days on the way back, Jin stopped in various cities and scoured the news bulletins, but nowhere was there any report of Joshua’s death or disappearance.
The first time Jin heard anything related to Joshua was shortly after returning to Tikan.