Chapter 735
Episode 184: Beyond Fate (7)
Clatter—!
Fragments of chains fell to the ground.
Alpen, now revealed, blinked in stunned surprise.
His face was far younger than Jin had expected.
Jin instinctively sensed that the aura controlling Alpen—the power of Rosa—had finally been broken.
“An honor to meet you, ancestor. I am Jin Runcandel, the twelfth Rider of Siron Runcandel, the 59th head of the Runcandel family.”
Jin knelt on one knee, showing proper respect.
Alpen glanced briefly between the ongoing battle behind Jin and Jin himself, then nodded with a satisfied expression.
[There is still one who shines brightly in this generation. But first, the situation is urgent—let us slaughter the traitors!]
“Understood.”
Alpen’s longsword, which had been dulled by chaos moments ago, now blazed with a pure white light.
True to his title as the Knight of Light, his aura radiated a brilliance far stronger and clearer than that of ordinary warriors.
[Traitors, you are unworthy of wearing the Black Knight’s helm…]
Alpen charged into the center of the battlefield, swinging his longsword.
The Black Knight Captain, who had been locked in combat with Bianca, faltered under the strike.
Seizing the opening, Jin drove his sword down onto the captain’s head.
The helmet shattered, revealing a monstrous face stained black with chaos.
Sengado, and the other Black Knights here—
Once loyal servants of the family, honored with eternal rest in the ancestral shrine, now twisted into these corrupted abominations.
The contrast between Alpen’s face and the Black Knight Captain’s was stark.
As the captain leapt to escape, Jin and Bianca’s blades bound his movements once more.
Then Alpen’s thrust pierced through the captain’s face.
Thud—!
With a heavy, shattering sound like a cannon blast, the Black Knight Captain’s head vanished.
[Lay down your burdens that do not belong to you.]
With the captain’s death, the remaining Black Knights lost their center of gravity.
They had never gained the upper hand before Jin’s arrival, and now with Alpen joining the fray, they had no way to fight back.
Escape was impossible. This barren space held no path for retreat.
Though tainted by chaos, they were still Black Knights, and so they held their ground for a time.
But that was all they could do. Even the greatest warriors in human history would be no match for them.
Crack!
The prolonged battle ended when Heddo crushed the last Black Knight’s torso.
“Now, I’d like an explanation, Twelfth Rider. Why did the Knight of Chaos suddenly become an ally?”
“Do you think I’ve been conspiring with the Evil God?”
“Not exactly, but it’s an easy misunderstanding.”
“I… didn’t misunderstand… More allies… is good. The Evil God… is too strong.”
“As you can see, my ancestor has just been freed from the Evil God’s control, Octavia Ziphl. As Bianca said, gaining more allies is a good thing. There will be others like you, ancestor. Isn’t that right, ancestor?”
[Since I died young in battle, being called ancestor feels awkward. Just call me Sir Alpen, Twelfth Rider.]
“Understood.”
“Alpen Runcandel? From the Holy Kingdom’s Guardian War?”
Octavia said, surprised.
[Yes. You, Octavia, must be a descendant of Hanel Ziphl, who fought alongside me in the Guardian War. Though Hanel was a peculiar head of the Ziphl family, he was a man of dignity. That’s why, when he surrendered the demons, I did not doubt him as you do now.]
“Sir Alpen, I wasn’t doubting you, just…”
[While bound by the Evil God’s control, I glimpsed the situation through his inner world. Twelfth Rider, only you can defeat him and end this crisis. I, Alpen Runcandel, will now follow you and dedicate myself to reclaiming our family.]
Alpen cut off Octavia’s words.
Jin felt his heart burn once more.
There was still hope left in the Runcandel family. He was not alone in clinging to it.
“Thank you, Sir Alpen.”
They needed to contact their allies above and begin moving again.
But Alpen brought up something the alliance hadn’t expected.
[This cursed fortress is designed so that once you descend, you cannot climb back up, Twelfth Rider.]
“You mean it’s impossible to go back up?”
[Exactly. Each floor of the fortress is a strictly separated pocket dimension. More precisely, it’s not just a pocket dimension—it’s the inner world of the Evil God.]
Inner world.
Not long ago, Jin had fought Rosa in his own inner realm.
And now, the Evil God’s fortress was the very manifestation of Rosa’s inner world in reality.
That explained why the weaker forces above had suddenly been exposed to mental attacks. The weaker you are, the harder it is to navigate this inner world.
[Therefore, it’s impossible to send signals to our allies remaining above.]
If it were a normal pocket dimension, Jin could simply cut through it with his spirit sword.
But the Evil God’s inner world was different.
“Then we have no choice but to wait for our allies to come down here.”
[That’s unlikely to happen either. The Ziphl family’s mages and… that slow demon must be the princess of the Caligo family. Regardless, it was lucky to have mages, a princess, and knights join us. The structure of the inner world is constantly shifting.]
More than anything, the inner world was like a labyrinth.
Even if you retraced your steps, you wouldn’t end up in the same place.
As Alpen said, Heddo, Octavia, and Bianca had been able to join only because the structure hadn’t changed until recently.
“…If Sir Alpen’s words are true, this is a serious problem.”
Heddo said.
“If we don’t hear from our allies within ten minutes, we’ll move to the next floor.”
Jin made the decision.
There was no reason to wait longer. If no one else joined, their paths had already diverged.
While waiting, Alpen shared information about the Evil God’s forces.
[Twelfth Rider, as far as I know, thirteen heads of families have been resurrected in the ancestral shrine.]
That included Alpen and Lionel.
The group felt a strange sensation that the number of resurrected heads matched the number of pureblood second-generation members.
[Each floor is guarded by these heads, acting as gatekeepers. But how many, like me, have resisted the Evil God’s will, I cannot say. I don’t know the exact strength of forces beyond the heads, but the Black Knights we just killed were only a small fraction.]
So the battle would pit the heroes of the temporary alliance, the resurrected heads, the fleet, and the Knights of Chaos against each other.
[The mental attacks and interference with aura and magic generation will worsen the deeper we go. For those here, it’s manageable, but for lesser fighters, it will be deadly.]
“We brought the entire fleet expecting an aerial battle with the ship Ram… perhaps that was a mistake.”
Jin wondered if they should have minimized their forces from the start.
Alpen shook his head.
[During the Guardian War, I had the same doubts. Unlike the era’s champions, the elite below them died like flies. But without them, we would have lost. The Evil God will use everything it has, and before that, it wants to weaken the temporary alliance’s forces here as much as possible.]
Ten minutes passed.
No allies had descended further underground.
They tried several times to confirm whether returning upstairs was truly impossible, but to no avail.
Ultimately, the destination where Jin and the temporary alliance must meet was the abyss of this inner world where the Evil God resided.
Hoping to reunite safely with their allies there, they had no choice but to press onward.
They began moving again.
After some time, they encountered an absurdly deep and vast cliff, just like the one they had seen above.
“Let’s descend.”
Jin, Alpen, Heddo, Bianca, and Octavia all began their descent simultaneously.
Meanwhile, the allied forces remaining above were aboard the fleet, descending the cliff where Jin had gone down.
But what awaited them on the ground was not Jin’s group, but three resurrected former heads from the ancestral shrine and countless troops of chaos.
At their center stood the Lion King, Lionel.
[Attack.]
Lionel’s dry voice unleashed a tidal wave of chaos soldiers.
In the sky were chaos dragons and black ships; on the ground, giant beasts resembling colossi, mysterious monsters, and knights.
‘There’s no sign of Jin or those who went ahead. For some reason, their paths have diverged… Is the fortress’s structure inconsistent?’
Veradin quickly assessed the situation without panic.
“Begin combat. Fire Dragon Kadun, Knights Dante and Veil, take the enemy commanders. Orgal and Zephyrin, focus on protecting the fleet.”
Veradin immediately issued orders and prepared to fight back.
The problem was that the main cannons of the fleet, including Kozek’s, had significantly weakened.
The Evil God’s aura was suppressing the generation of aura and magic.
Moreover, as they descended deeper into the inner world, the mental attacks intensified.
Mid- and lower-tier forces aboard the fleet screamed and collapsed.
A ship is not piloted by one alone.
The more mages lost consciousness, the slower the fleet’s operations became.
“Ronil, take command. I’m going down as well.”
“Yes, Sovereign.”
“Kadun and Tuyan, recall all dragons except Finia back to the ship. Inform them that the Demon Stone is being activated.”
From the engine room, Kozek’s ominous resonance echoed through the ship.
As the Demon Stone began to open, Veradin’s body rapidly aged during the descent.
Before long, he stood as an old man with white hair, like Keliak Ziphl, extending the governor’s staff, ‘Hroti,’ forward.
[You’re not the only ones who can wield monstrous, absurd power.]
From Hroti, the annihilating flame orb, twisted and transformed by Keliak, began to unfold.