Chapter 295
Episode 91: Power, and the Worship of Power (6)
The heat from dozens of blazing fires threatened to melt Ventica away entirely. Above, the sky had turned a deep crimson, so thoroughly stained that it was nearly impossible to discern its original color.
The red dragon carrying Veradin was flying toward Kozek, evading Barton.
Dipus raised his greatsword.
The cannons on Kozek, freshly prepared, glowed with a golden light.
A low, ominous hum of condensed magic cut through the cacophony of the battlefield.
“Kraaaah!” A deafening blast erupted from the aimed cannon.
At the same moment, Dipus roared. As his greatsword Volgar radiated a brilliant light and unleashed a wave of sword energy, it collided with the cannon’s blast, sending shards flying. The fragments cast mushroom-shaped shadows on the ground.
Alongside Kozek, the mages unleashed a full-scale assault on the ground. The White Night Phoenixes screamed as they tried to hold back Barton.
The sky was dizzying—a chaotic clash of fire, magic, cannon fire, and Barton’s sword energy standing out sharply.
Yet, time and again, Barton’s sword energy narrowly missed Veradin by mere inches.
Dipus struggled to contain his anger at the traitor’s deception, but for Jin, the situation was not entirely unfavorable.
“Crack, thud!”
Dipus frowned as he swatted away shards flying near Jin and Tess. The aftershocks hadn’t even settled, yet Kozek was already preparing its next cannon blast.
“I don’t understand how those Ziphl bastards even made something like this,” Dipus muttered. “But Jin, there’s something I want to ask.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“There’s no way the traitor would kill Ziphl’s next clan leader. It would’ve made more sense to ask Lord Barton to secure our forces and have me take down Veradin. According to you, this was our last chance.”
Dipus knew that during Jin’s days as a reserve rider, he had spent nights drinking with Dante and Veradin in the Cosmos arena.
After Jin’s identity was revealed, Dipus had investigated his past. Some nobles from Bellado who had watched the finals even knew about those drinking sessions.
Of course, Dipus didn’t think that alone proved any special connection between Jin and Veradin.
Still, entrusting Veradin to the traitor Barton was a puzzling move.
“You sound like you doubt me. Why did the four riders follow my orders?”
“I lost my composure for a moment. If we’d been any slower, the guardian knights would’ve been at risk of death.”
“The four riders—what was our mission?”
“What?”
“Killing Veradin was not part of the mission. Of course, if we could take his head, that’d be ideal, but the priority was securing Ventica and eliminating the traitor.”
Dipus didn’t turn to face Jin, instead staring down the cannon.
“Entrusting Veradin to Lord Barton was based on the judgment that he’d likely feign attacking Veradin and get injured in the process. That would make it easier for us to take Barton down later. Does that clear things up?”
Dipus nodded slowly. Though a strange unease rose within him, the explanation was plausible.
Once again, Kozek unleashed its golden magic cannon.
The battlefield was filled with cannon fire, flames, sword energy, and flying shards.
The infiltration guardian knights, unable to withstand the heat any longer, were retreating toward Dipus’s position, and Barton was on the verge of falling.
“We’ve secured the young master!”
As the red dragon carrying Veradin reached Kozek, the mages shouted.
“Bang!”
The moment Veradin boarded Kozek, he unleashed a spatial explosion aimed at Barton. Tess’s domain didn’t cover the entire sky.
“Ugh!”
Barton began to fall.
He, who had defied the obvious truth that humans cannot fly, was struck in the chest by the spatial explosion. Even as he fell, he managed to slash through two red dragons and over ten mages in a heroic display.
The shattered bodies of the enemies rained down, mixed with debris.
Had they not known he was a traitor, even Jin and Dipus might not have noticed that Barton had deliberately let Veradin slip away.
With Veradin’s safety secured, Ziphl had no more obstacles.
Though Tess’s interference limited the spatial explosion somewhat, it was only a matter of time.
“Attack Jin Runkandel and Tess! Without them, Runkandel can do nothing!”
Ziphl’s Phoenixes began their descent, still targeting the fallen Barton rather than Tess.
In the sky, warships, magic, and red dragons rained down.
On the ground, the Phoenixes spewed flames.
The chaotic scene of battle was reaching its peak.
And Jin completed the spell he had been preparing.
“Four riders, the tide of battle is about to turn.”
Dipus instinctively turned to look at Jin, his eyes widening. What he saw was Jin’s eerie form, his entire body soaked in spiritual energy and dyed black.
“The youngest?”
“We’ll secure Ventica first. Once Kozek retreats, pursue Lord Barton, then withdraw at the right moment.”
Retreat? What on earth is he talking about?
Dipus almost asked, but despite Barton’s desperate feigned resistance, the enemy’s massive flying warship remained unbroken.
Yet Jin spoke of retreat as if it were the most natural thing.
“Wait, why is the sky suddenly—!?”
The sky darkened.
The once wildly glowing battlefield, lit by cannon fire and magic, was now soaked in blackness—the same color as Jin’s spirit-imbued body.
—When mages release magic power, they connect their own magic to the natural magic present in the world. What did I say I sought through that?
—Magic recovery and enhancement.
—Right. Using nature’s power to replenish lost magic and boost the strength of the next spell. Spirit release is the same, but with some differences.
—What differences?
—Spirit release doesn’t connect your power to nature. It connects nature to you.
A conversation from when Murakan first taught Jin about the concept of spiritual energy.
The reason the sky turned pitch black was simple.
Because Jin, having released his spirit energy, had ‘connected’ with it.
Not even a single moonbeam or star shone in the night sky—it was darker than any night.
Dipus wasn’t the only one caught off guard. The mages briefly halted their attacks, staring at the suddenly blackened sky.
Their faces showed confusion.
But everyone instinctively felt it—something dangerous was about to happen.
Dark Sky.
The reason the “Flame Jade” series of magic bore such a name was no coincidence.
The legacy of Riol Ziphl was magic based on the power of Solderet.
It didn’t take long for everyone on the battlefield to realize that the black force covering the sky was spiritual energy—and that only one human on this battlefield could wield it.
Runkandel and Ziphl.
The commanders of the two factions quickly made their decisions.
“Raise the shields and snipe Jin Runkandel!”
“All of Runkandel’s knights, gather and protect the 12 riders!”
Jin calmly looked up at Kozek.
He wanted to confirm the figure of his friend standing at the ship’s prow, white hair billowing.
Through the darkness of the battlefield, their eyes met.
Veradin chuckled—kick, kick-kick, kick—with eyes even redder than before.
It wasn’t a smile born of nostalgia.
Seeing that twisted smile, Jin began chanting the final form of the Annihilation Dark Sky Flame Jade Demon King spell.
“I hope you don’t get hurt badly.”
Like a massive beast opening its jaws, a rift tore open in the center of the sky.
From that rift, a fireball emerged.
The fireball was larger than Kozek itself—so immense it could have been mistaken for the sun.
Jin’s body rose into the air, drawn toward the fireball.
Runes left behind by Riol Ziphl wrapped around his entire body.
Then the runes streamed off him, leaving sparkling traces across the battlefield.
A mage nearby instinctively reached out toward the flying runes.
At that moment, a commanding mage who recalled the records of the Annihilation Dark Sky Flame Jade spell couldn’t help but scream.
“Dodge the runes! They’re markers…!”
The runes, shimmering like petals, were markers.
The massive orb in the sky was a sentence of punishment.
“Flare, shiiik—!”
Before the commanding mage could finish, a shower of flames poured from the fireball.
It was impossible to count how many fiery tendrils there were.
Following the floating runes, the flames struck down.
Wherever the sparkling runes touched, people burned, screams echoed, and ashes scattered.
“Sniper Jin Runkandel!”
The command to snipe Jin was impossible to carry out. The mages could only barely raise their shields against the ultimate magic they had never seen before.
But the shields were meaningless. The fiery tendrils’ power neared a ten-star level, and the spiritual energy blanketing the sky crushed the shields.
The spiritual energy hadn’t just changed the sky’s color.
Just as the fireball spewed flames, shadows spread within the veil of spiritual energy, tearing apart the shields.
“Insane… Is this really magic? And the youngest did this…?”
Dipus swallowed hard as he looked up at Jin floating in the air.
Even the mages couldn’t comprehend this magic, so there was no way Dipus could.
To him, what Jin wielded seemed less like magic and more like divine power.
Kelliak Ziphl.
For a moment, the enemy commander came to mind. Even when he had faced that terrifying magic firsthand over ten years ago, the feeling had been exactly the same as now.
Seeing the youngest feel that same sensation sent chills all over his body.
The fire was growing fiercer by the second.
Outside Kozek, more than half of the mages had already met their deaths. Even the red dragons were dwindling at a terrifying pace.
The tide of battle had turned in an instant.
But the mages who had studied the records on ‘Riol Ziphl’ knew the truth.
This was only the beginning. The fireball wasn’t just raining down flames—it was on the verge of exploding itself, and if that happened, Kozek might be shattered to pieces.
“Young master, we have to retreat! The unexpected variables are too great!”
At the command mage’s urgent voice, Veradin shook his head. In his hollow eyes, unreadable emotions flickered darkly.
“Young master…!”
Entranced, Veradin stepped forward, staring at the true flames engulfing the battlefield.
Flames were rising in his own grasp as well—fiery, fierce, and merciless, far beyond a simple red glow.
The Annihilation Azure Flame Orb, Magic Lord Type 1—another spell left behind by Riol Ziphl.
Veradin’s staff was aimed directly at Jin.