Episode 561
Chapter 147: King of the Black Sea, Gliek (5)

Using the power of the Demon Stone, Jin was forcing Ron back into battle.

The situation was so urgent and perilous that Stam honestly hadn’t even considered such a possibility.

To calmly conclude that someone who had been an enemy just moments ago—especially the leader of Ziphl—would be used in this way was no easy feat.

Jin’s hand, gripping his sword, trembled visibly.

It wasn’t fear or a reflexive reaction causing the shake. It was the weight of facing a grim reality that left him no choice but to make this dreadful decision.

What exactly was the Demon Stone?

Before Gliek awakened, the Hailan and Bamel alliance had risked their lives to protect the Sword Emperor’s Castle using that very stone, with Ron and Jin at the heart of it all.

And now, Jin was saying he would use that same object to revive Ron and send him back into the fight.

It was a decision Jin hated more than anyone else. Stam couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of turmoil had led him to choose it.

‘The 12th Knight has made a grave mistake.’

Stam felt ashamed. At the same time, he finally understood why Siron had been so fixated on Jin all this time.

Swish!

Stam and the Black Knights deflected the swords and spears raining down on Jin.

“I will make sure you answer for that insult later, 12th Knight,” Jin said, sprinting madly through the hail of weapons with Ron on his back.

‘This can’t end like this, Sir Ron!’

Ron’s faint murmurs from his back rang louder and heavier than any clamor on the battlefield.

My grandson is in there.

That faint beacon of hope pounded against Jin’s heart.

It was certain that some part of Dante’s consciousness remained. The hesitation in his sword just before they were attacked could only be explained by that.

But if only a fragment of Dante’s awareness remained…

What would happen after Gliek was killed? Would the remaining part of Dante’s consciousness vanish completely as well?

Could Dante return?

There was no time to ponder these questions. Tess’s flames had vanished, Ron was incapacitated, and the Black Sea corruption was spreading.

Gliek’s attacks pressed down on the group with increasing ferocity.

The only relief was that Gliek’s focus remained fixed on Jin and the rear.

Since Talaris and the Bamel alliance were powerless, they had barely been targeted by Gliek’s assault.

A faint heat began to rise—Kellyak’s flames were breaking through the chaos, closing in on Gliek.

He was desperately pushing back the chaos, moving toward Jin. From outside, the internal situation was invisible, and with Tess’s azure flames gone, the tension was maddening.

Gliek’s twisted limbs were slowly returning to their proper places.

The sharper his sword and spear became, the more strained Stam and the Black Knights’ defenses grew.

Thud!

An explosion of chaotic energy erupted behind Jin. Though he hastily moved with his footwork, it was impossible to completely shield Ron from the impact.

The Rasheed sword Ron still clutched rattled and rolled on the ground.

Going after the sword now would be suicide.

Just as Jin was about to dash toward Kellyak’s heat…

“Is it to the point where you’re even dropping your sword now, you foolish man?”

Suddenly, a chilling cold swept over Jin and Ron, snapping them to full alert.

Talaris Endorma, the Mistress of the Bow, had finally recovered and rejoined the battlefield. Her eyes glistened with moisture as she looked at the battered Ron.

[So there are humans chosen by the Frozen Blade after all.]

Gliek looked down at Talaris.

Having drawn some of the power that once sealed Elona Ziphl, she radiated an aura unlike anything before.

But she couldn’t sustain that power for long. She had already unleashed her secret technique and suffered internal injuries, and if Elona Ziphl were to awaken now, none of them could possibly survive.

The attacks paused briefly. Gliek was beginning to clearly recognize Talaris.

Stam and the Black Knights caught their breath, and Talaris picked up Rasheed, approaching Jin and Ron.

She shared the same thought as Jin.

“Your beloved grandson is still fighting alone against that monster. Ron, it’s not your time to stop yet…”

Talaris judged that Dante had not been completely extinguished.

If the seal suppressing Gliek had been fully broken, neither she nor anyone near the inner fortress would have survived.

-[Persistent, aren’t you?]

Gliek’s words weren’t just for Ron. They were also directed at the fragment of Dante’s consciousness still preventing his full resurrection.

Zzzzzing…

The Frozen Blade emitted a resonant hum, spreading a chill in all directions.

The ground froze, noticeably slowing the Black Sea corruption, but Gliek realized something.

Jin was not a Solderet, but a contractor under the Shadow’s protection.

That didn’t mean his murderous intent lessened. In fact, Gliek would now fight more cautiously and deliberately.

If his opponent wasn’t a Solderet but a contractor, there was no need to fear or rush.

Gliek had feared Jin even while thinking Solderet’s power was lost, his reason incomplete.

He split his lips into a sharp grin and, as if toying with them, hurled swords and spears toward Jin’s comrades.

His assault was blocked by a massive ice wall Talaris had erected before it could reach the Bamel alliance, and Gliek laughed, striking the wall repeatedly as if amused.

[Hahaha…!]

Each time Gliek laughed, the chaotic energy filling the battlefield surged violently.

Talaris knew exactly where his confidence came from.

A power that defied fate.

The Mistress of the Bow’s records stated that no one but a being who had reached the realm of the Star of Creation could ever slay the King of Chaos.

No matter how deep or vast their power, only the sword and magic of the Star of Creation could deal a fundamental blow to the Kings of the Black Sea.

That was why the heads of Hailan had never been able to cut the White Stone.

Because Hailan had never once produced a Star of Creation Knight.

If, at some point in history, information about the White Stone hadn’t been lost like a current swept away, Hailan would have handed the White Stone to those who reached the Star of Creation in Runcandel and Ziphl.

But there was no use in hypotheticals. Gliek’s awakening on this land was already a fixed event.

It was fate.

“Jin.”

“Yes, Lady Talaris.”

“What we must do is hold him off until your father arrives.”

Otherwise, I can only hope my records are wrong.

Talaris swallowed her words and placed Rasheed into Ron’s limp right hand.

Even stripped of all sensation, Ron refused to let go of the sword’s hilt.

Talaris didn’t place much significance on the fact that some of Dante’s consciousness remained.

He couldn’t possibly possess power that defied fate; his extinction was inevitable.

They were buying time—until Siron arrived.

The strongest humans, except Siron, were gathered here, along with the elite forces of Runcandel and Ziphl. Yet all they could do was this—it was heartbreaking.

Though the Frozen Blade’s energy was slowing the Black Sea corruption, it hadn’t stopped. The darker the ground turned, the larger Gliek’s form grew.

From his empty eye sockets, an ominous violet glow pulsed. Just meeting that gaze brought a ringing in the ears and a piercing headache.

Kyaaaak!

As Gliek neared completion, the Demon Stone expressed its terror more violently.

At last, Kellyak Ziphl broke through the wall of chaos and entered the inner area. The rear opened, revealing Kozek’s vanguard rapidly descending.

Boom, grrrk…!

Kozek landed, scratching the blackened earth. Kellyak, standing at the front with a magic circle, glared around with bloodshot eyes.

He was searching for Jin. The moment he realized Jin was alive, he couldn’t hold back the breath he’d been holding.

‘He’s alive!’

A fireball, like the sun itself, rose behind Kellyak.

[So you are the master of that grotesque imitation.]

“Kellyak!”

Talaris shouted.

Like Talaris, Kellyak intended to use the Demon Stone’s power to revive Ron and send him back into battle if Ron had already fallen or become incapacitated.

But Kellyak’s fireball showed almost none of the Demon Stone’s characteristic black energy.

That was the problem. The Demon Stone still wasn’t fully empowering Kellyak. Its power was trapped within his staff, hidden like a seed.

The Demon Stone’s power sealed inside the staff hadn’t been released.

Jin, Talaris, and the Black Knights could only sense that something was wrong.

The most flustered was Kellyak himself. He knew the Demon Stone was weakened but hadn’t expected it to this extent.

‘At this rate… it’s impossible!’

The Demon Stone was incomplete. The divine power trapped inside was not yet fully under Kellyak’s control.

A disaster.

Kellyak and Talaris thought the same thing simultaneously.

‘If Ron can’t fight again, even if Runcandel arrives, who knows how long we can hold out against that thing.’

“Are you saying that not even the will of a god over thirty can defy the King of the Black Sea?”

But at that moment—

Suddenly, Ron stepped down from Jin’s back and strode purposefully toward Keliak. His muttering ceased entirely.

He was dead.

Ron was walking, though his life had already slipped away. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as everyone stood frozen, watching Ron approach Keliak. Rasheed was still clenched tightly in Ron’s hand.

Strangely, the closer Ron got to Keliak, the more the terrified screams provoked by the Demon Stone began to fade.

“The Demon Stone… it’s reacting not to me, but to the dead Ron…!”

Ron plunged his sword into the ground and knelt before Hroti’s dark aura, as if in prayer.

Then the Demon Stone fell silent, and Keliak could feel it—

The gods, once paralyzed by fear, were now lending him their strength.