Chapter 731
Episode 184: Beyond Destiny (3)
Jin Runkandel descended.
All allied forces on the battlefield fixed their gaze on the name glowing in crimson letters. Even the Chaos Dragons and the Black Ancestors seemed to pause momentarily.
In this warzone, the name ‘Jin Runkandel’ carried immense weight—for both allies and enemies alike.
To the army of chaos, the fiend’s creations, Rosa was like a mother.
But that mother’s attention and affection were reserved solely for one person: Jin Runkandel.
The fiend’s creations were painfully aware that they could never compare to Jin.
They could read Rosa’s innermost thoughts.
They knew exactly where her will and heart were directed, what single thing she desired above all else, and what lay at the end of her unconditional love and hatred.
The fiend’s creations harbored a twisted inferiority complex toward Jin.
As Rosa’s essence grew more complete, these creatures read her inner self with increasing clarity, and now, their overwhelming hostility toward Jin was about to explode.
“Jiiin… Ruun… Kaan, Del!”
One Chaos Dragon let out a guttural, venomous cry as it charged at Jin. Its followers dove down alongside it, aiming to overwhelm him.
“He even speaks human language,” Jin said dryly. In an instant, his figure vanished behind the swarm of Chaos Dragons.
Swish—!
Bradamante traced a half-circle slash. Before the afterimage faded, the Chaos Dragons that had attacked Jin were pierced or shattered midair, scattering like broken shards.
In a split second, over twenty Chaos Dragons lay dead.
Jin was unaffected by the gravitational field.
Not because, like the fiend’s creations, he was born from Rosa.
His cloak-like veil of spiritual energy counteracted the field’s pull.
“Not fitting,” Jin muttered, still descending as he scattered frost magic in midair, carving a path.
Beneath his feet, ice crystals shimmered like a river of stars.
Spirit Sword, First Form: Soul Slash.
A lone man swung his blade at the massive gravitational field. No matter how sharp his sword, given the scale of the field, it would only cause a minor crack at best.
Yet Jin’s sword, falling straight down, showed no sign of stopping. Matching the speed of the gravitational pull, the field was cleaved in two.
“Cover Jin!”
“Protect the twelve riders!”
No cover was needed. The breath of Chaos Dragons and the main cannons of the Black Ancestors swarmed Jin like a hive, but they couldn’t penetrate the vast veil of spiritual energy.
Jin seemed utterly indifferent to them, focused solely on slicing through the field.
When Jin finally landed, everyone watching him and the field could only think of one word:
“Split in two.”
A massive scar ran straight through the center of the gravitational field, leaving even the superhumans momentarily speechless.
Until moments ago, that field had confounded countless fleets and dragons, the finest elites of every faction, and the heroes of the mortal realm.
And now, it was torn in half by a single stroke.
Of course, the field hadn’t vanished yet. Though the gravitational force had weakened somewhat due to the tear, the crack was still too narrow for fleets and dragons to pass through.
So, Jin’s comrades and allies had a role to play.
“Sir Hedo, Veil!”
At Jin’s booming call that echoed across the battlefield, the two immediately landed beside him.
“Open the rift on both sides. I’ll hold the skies for a moment.”
Others might not have understood Jin’s words.
He was telling them to pry open the tear in the field like a door.
But Hedo and Veil immediately took their positions on either side of the rift, gripping it with both hands.
Only those with their immense strength could even attempt such a feat.
“Ugh…!”
“Kraaaah!”
Crackle—! Zzzzt…!
As Hedo and Veil pulled with all their might, the rift in the field began to widen.
Jin switched swords. As the Thunder Sword Sigmund slid from its sheath, a cold blue light shimmered on its blade.
At the same time, hundreds of bolts of lightning rained down over the battlefield.
But these strikes targeted the allied fleets and dragons—not the army of chaos.
Because this sword was meant for protection, not destruction.
Brother Guardian, the King of Lightning Swords, Jeolgi.
Still, even Jin couldn’t protect such a vast army perfectly. The lightning spread too widely to be fully controlled.
“If I could perfectly synchronize with the divine warrior, maybe it would be possible… but for now, this will suffice.”
The Brother Guardian’s lightning shield was merely a device to better distinguish friend from foe. The real protection still fell to Orgal.
Kaaaah…!
A blazing bird-shaped deity revealed its blue, sacred form and roared.
Tes, Jin’s newly summoned phoenix, fixed its fierce gaze on the enemies. Chaos Dragons lunged to bite its body, but Tes wouldn’t allow their jaws to touch him.
The dragons burned helplessly like moths caught in flames.
Only the strongest among them could even catch fire near Tes.
Weaker ones couldn’t even attempt an attack; their wing membranes melted before they could get close, sending them crashing down.
The allies finally had some breathing room. The fleet’s power, once diverted to escape the field, refocused on the main cannons, and the superhumans readied their assault again.
The fiery emblem in the sky had appeared only minutes ago.
Yet in that short time, Jin had completely turned the tide.
One man’s strength was pushing back the unease that had been growing within the allied forces.
The relentless waves of Chaos Dragons and Black Ancestors had drastically thinned.
The fleet now advanced slowly, using the field’s gravity like a breeze.
“Kruaar!”
“Ughghghk!”
The results of Hedo and Veil’s strength accelerated.
The straight rift Jin had first created now stretched into an oval.
The field was no longer flat. Around the oval tear, it bulged grotesquely, filled with spiritual energy in every distorted crevice.
“Thank you for your hard work, Sir Hedo. Please step back now.”
Jin switched swords again.
With two diagonal swings of Bradamante aimed at the center of the rift, the spiritual energy embedded in the field exploded like ruptured veins.
Kchaaang—!
One side of the field shattered like glass.
The allied forces inside the fleet couldn’t help but cheer.
Though they were only ‘temporary’ allies,
today, everyone truly relied on Jin and believed in him.
“We do all the hard work, and you get all the glory!”
“If you’re so jealous, Veil, why don’t you make a contract with Solderette? Then give me back that sword.”
“Just try touching my Shakan, and see what happens.”
Though three sides of the field remained intact, Veradin had already gathered the fleet from that direction toward the center the moment Jin landed.
“Advance!”
The fleet began pushing beyond the field. No more Chaos Dragons or Black Ancestors appeared beneath the hull of the ship Ram.
The fiend’s fortress grew more terrifying as they approached. The lower altitude meant even the allies in the fleet couldn’t see the sky behind the fortress clearly.
The war had only just passed its starting point.
Chaos Dragons and Black Ancestors played a limited role in the fiend’s army. They were enough to slaughter masses of seventh-rank or lower soldiers, but against forces with people like Jin and other superhumans, their limits were clear.
Without the fiend’s brutal gravitational field, the battle wouldn’t even be possible.
The real threat lay with the chaos-tainted sword ghosts.
The ancient heroes of the spirit temple who commanded them, countless unknown variables within the fortress, and the fiend itself.
The unstable factor called Ram still lingered.
Though Lin seemed to have stopped Ram as promised, it could reactivate at any moment.
‘Rosa can’t be unaware of Lin’s betrayal. Before Ram returns to normal, we must infiltrate as many forces into the fortress as possible. Lin’s sacrifice can’t be in vain.’
Just as Jin reached that thought,
the battlefield began to tremble. A deep rumble shook the ground, as if some colossal beast was awakening far beneath the earth.
The gates of the fiend’s fortress were opening.
The massive doors, like the depths of the ocean, held an unfathomable darkness.
“All fleets, load main cannons to maximum power. Fire immediately.”
Veradin ordered the barrage without hesitation, so the allies wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the darkness visible through the open gates.
Jin thought Veradin’s decision was perfectly timed.
The darkness of the gates alone carried a terrifying magic.
There was no reason to wait for the enemy to appear.
Kraaaak…!
Hundreds of cannonballs fired into the empty darkness. If this were a human fortress, the entire structure would have vanished without a trace.
But the bombardment was like stones dropped into a well.
Despite the continuous fire, no distant explosions echoed from inside the fortress. The shots were swallowed in vain.
“Cease fire!”
There was no point in wasting magic on futile attacks.
Veradin immediately halted the barrage, but the damage was done.
The entire fleet’s maximum firepower had been no more effective than stones sinking into a well.
As in any war, morale was crucial.
Standing on the battlefield alone, the fiend’s power pressed down on everyone’s spirit even more.
Veradin couldn’t help but hesitate in giving the order, and a few seconds of silence stretched between them.
Then Jin took a steady breath, let out a fierce shout, and unleashed a barrage of sword energy.
But instead of aiming at the open gate, he fired the attacks randomly at the fortress walls.
Fortunately, unlike the bombardment that had simply vanished through the open gate, the walls showed signs of physical damage.
Cracks spread across the stonework as thunderous booms and metallic rending sounds echoed through the air.
“There’s no fortress in this world that can’t be broken. Today, that castle will vanish without a trace. So, allies, stay calm and keep striking the walls—prepare for battle. The enemy will soon burst out from inside.”
Jin said this, gripping his sword tightly, feeling the dark energy within the gate writhe as if ready to explode at any moment.
“And they too… will all die by our hands today.”