Chapter 558
Episode 147: The Black Sea King, Gliek (2)
The moment Gliek awoke, the war outside abruptly came to an end. Keliak and Ron had no choice but to halt the chaotic forces sweeping across the battlefield.
Runcandel, who had been observing the situation from afar, could no longer remain idle.
Gliek’s power spread instantly, reaching even the place where Runcandel was hiding. Escape was not an option.
Because Jin was inside.
Though Ziphl and Hiran had been waiting for the perfect moment to strike, Rosa’s plan never included the possibility of Jin’s death.
Above all else—
Those on the battlefield sensed it instinctively the moment Gliek stirred.
If they failed to end the awakened Black Sea King here and now, the next step would inevitably be the apocalypse—or a catastrophe of equal magnitude.
Rosa and Keliak also finally understood why Kinzel had stayed out of this crucial fight until now.
“So Kinzel knew that was the Black Sea King.”
“…Now it makes sense why Ron and Hiran suffered such severe internal injuries. The power left in Ron’s wounds reacted to Kinzel’s command and the aura of the Black Sea King!”
Rosa and Keliak clenched their teeth, each realizing the truth.
Both were right. Kinzel had recognized the true nature of the White Stone and called it a bomb. Ron’s injuries had deepened because Kinzel’s power and Gliek’s energy resonated within him.
Crackle!
Amid the chaos on the ground, deep blue flames surged upward. The sight of the fire made Rosa and Keliak breathe a silent sigh of relief.
That flame was proof that Jin was still alive.
Rosa had to save Jin. Now that Jin had publicly declared himself as Joshua’s successor and a strong candidate for the next family head, losing him would mean losing vital intelligence on Hister and Temar once again.
Keliak also needed to save Jin. If Jin simply died, they might be able to reclaim the power of Solderet somehow. But if Jin were consumed by the Black Sea King, the situation would be entirely different.
The “Demon Stone” would never be completed.
A whirlwind of chaos roared.
The Demon Stone hanging in the sky trembled, its distorted face quivering violently. A low, fearful voice—“Kie, Kiiiii…”—echoed faintly through the chaos before fading away.
The Demon Stone’s true fear was not Ron, but Gliek himself. The countless gods sealed within him—the fragments of the primal stone they had created and shattered because they could not bear its power.
Ziiiiiing!
Rosa’s sword, “Frenzy,” gleamed pure white, emitting a sharp, resonant tone. The aura spreading like mist shielded the knights of Runcandel standing behind her.
Unlike Thalaris, Rosa was free to fight without restrictions. Thanks to the enlightenment she gained after Jin’s declaration as family head, she could now wield a blade rivaling Ron’s.
Her blazing sword cut through the surging chaos, and the knights of Runcandel followed her lead, stepping forward into the storm, forming a protective phalanx.
Above, Keliak and Ziphl’s fleet pierced through the chaos, slowly descending toward the ground.
Their mission to rescue Jin was something no one on the battlefield had anticipated.
If Tess hadn’t been summoned, Jin would have lost several comrades.
The blue flames formed a barrier, replacing the shattered parts of Oui Baek.
The power Tess wielded now far surpassed the day she annihilated the Dark Magic Council with a single roar—but her opponent was Gliek.
Anything beyond defense was impossible. Even maintaining the barrier was uncertain, given the unstable catalyst of chaos.
“Huff, huff…”
Catching her breath, Thalaris lifted her head to look ahead. Maintaining Oui Baek was reaching its limit, and she sheathed her sword, trusting Jin, Tess, and the Black Knights to hold the line.
At the same time, the ice formations shattered, and Stam and the Black Knights stepped forward to take her place.
The black energy touching the blade is as heavy as a mountain. But the Second Princess isn’t the type to exhaust her strength so easily. Why does she look so worn out?
Thalaris spat blood and looked back at the Black Knights.
“We need time to recover our strength. Stam, hold on until then. Breaking through the retreat path now is impossible, so don’t even think about taking Jin away.”
“Understood, Second Princess.”
Thalaris sat cross-legged. Around her, a dozen white dimensional gates opened, releasing an energy far surpassing what she had used so far, enveloping her.
So she still has reserves.
But the situation remained grim. Stam and the Black Knights felt it too—the chaos was targeting Jin.
Why was it targeting me?
Jin had no time to ponder. He had already experienced through Yona how chaos above a certain level showed hostility toward him.
He stepped beside Stam.
“Twelve riders.”
“We’ll hold the line together. We have to endure until the outside breaks through the retreat path, or Stam’s mission will be compromised.”
Bradamante, dyed in azure and spiritual energy, began cutting through the chaos alongside the Black Knights’ blades.
Murakan and Misha squeezed out their remaining strength to raise black spears and barriers, while the few comrades with any energy left struck down the chaos that slipped through.
No one spoke. The clash of swords and chaos filled Tess’s flames with thunderous noise and vibration.
Gradually, the storm of chaos began to wane. But the knights knew it wasn’t because the Black Sea King’s power had weakened—it was because he was fully awakening and gathering his strength.
The immense power that had engulfed the battlefield in chaos was only the prelude.
The real battle was about to begin.
[Ah, ahhh…]
Everyone on the battlefield heard that voice clearly. An indescribably chilling sensation pierced the hearts of knights and mages alike.
Then the whirlwind of chaos stopped. The wildly swirling chaotic energy froze in place like a painting.
Only then did people come face to face with the true form of the Black Sea King, Gliek.
A dark, colossal phantom.
His crushed feet didn’t touch the ground but were firmly fixed in midair. Hundreds of arms sprouted from his torso, each wielding spears and swords aimed in every direction.
Each arm was thick and long enough to rival the shattered spires of the Sword Emperor’s fortress, and the weapons blotted out the sky.
Even the Demon Stone’s face seemed small in comparison, and the fleet hovering before him looked like mere flies.
It was impossible to believe such a massive abyssal entity had emerged from that tiny stone.
Yet his black eyes, like a thousand-foot abyss, trembled unsteadily.
Looking closely without being overwhelmed by his presence, one could see a twisted imperfection in every part of Gliek.
For some reason, he had not fully awakened. Inse was land where Gliek should never have existed, and he had been sealed away for far too long.
But that fact offered no comfort to those gathered on the battlefield. Most hadn’t even realized Gliek had emerged in an incomplete state.
Is that… the Black Sea King?
The Five Kings of the Black Sea.
Jin first heard of them when Myron Ziphl met his end.
“I was once the lover of the witch Helluram, sharing a cup with the kings of the Tigris Mountains in the western Black Sea…”
The spell Myron chanted while attempting to possess the Beast King Orgal during the Colon incident.
Since that day, Jin had heard nothing more about the Black Sea King. Even when Thalaris explained chaos, she never mentioned the Black Sea King.
But the moment Jin saw Gliek’s form, he instinctively understood.
This terrible being was the reason his father was so obsessed with the Black Sea.
“I expected it to be part of Helluram’s chaos and records, but Gliek!”
Like Keliak, Misha had assumed the White Stone contained Helluram’s chaos and records, not the Black Sea King.
Unlike the pale-faced Misha, Murakan seemed to hear the name Gliek for the first time. But whether they knew the name or not didn’t matter.
Their immediate concern was survival.
[Awakened… from a long slumber… my brothers… are so far away.]
Ka-waaah!
Before Gliek finished speaking, a thunderous explosion echoed from the sky. Ziphl’s fleet, except for Kozek, malfunctioned and fired their cannons.
The cannons on the flying ships were powered by the mages’ magic.
But Keliak had given no firing orders, and Ziphl’s elite mages aboard the ships were too terrified to lose control.
The chaotic energy filling the space disrupted the magical devices and artifacts.
The dragon riders wearing the shackling artifacts Murakan called “fetters” fainted or fell, and the mages struggled to control the ships, caught in constant backlashes.
Even the fired cannonballs vanished into the chaotic void before reaching Gliek.
Keliak tried to control them using the Demon Stone, but it was no easy task. The Demon Stone, now thoroughly frightened, no longer granted him power as readily as before.
[The scent of my enemy… so bitter… so overwhelming…]
Slowly, Gliek lowered his head.
His eyes then fixed on the spot where Jin stood. The moment their gazes met, Jin instinctively knew what was coming next.
He knew that countless swords and spears would come crashing down on him. Before that thought even fully formed, Jin raised his sword. Stam, the Black Knights, and his comrades took their stances as well.
Sharper and heavier than the chaotic strikes they had struggled to fend off before, the blades now rained down.
The sheer speed at which those massive swords and spears fell was almost impossible to react to—even witnessing it firsthand, it was hard to accept.
In the blink of an eye, five consecutive attacks came crashing down. Jin barely understood how he managed to dodge and block them all. If Rosa and the Black Knights hadn’t unleashed their sword energies, or if Kelliak hadn’t supported with magic, it would have been over.
But they were still too far away. Their cover had limits, and Gliek’s blades pressed Jin harder and harder.
At the very moment Jin nearly missed one of the incoming strikes—
He saw one of Gliek’s swords, mere inches from his face, suddenly turn ashen gray.
It was Ron Hyland, rushing in to parry Gliek’s blade.