Chapter 823
Episode 207: Elona’s Decision
After leaving the Black Bow, Elona Ziphl wandered the vast, endless sea for a long time.
She wasn’t in any hurry to return to those who had awakened her. Even though she was supposed to be someone who fought for her clan, even though she had been sealed away for a thousand years.
Elona didn’t feel particularly happy about that. Like staring quietly into a dark, bottomless well, it was hard to read her own heart.
“A cold wind… it’s chilly.”
No human who had reached Changseong would feel cold from a mere sea breeze. She was sensing the loneliness in her heart as if it were cold.
Just as Ameris had guessed, she was born with an unusually strong power, and the reason was the lingering will of the Sun God.
Of course, Elona didn’t know what this power within her truly was. Neither did Ziphl back then.
Transparent footprints appeared on the sea’s surface where Elona walked. But when she looked back at them, they didn’t seem transparent at all—they looked stained red, like blood.
The countless people she had killed a thousand years ago—their blood must have soaked into her entire being.
She had never heard any pleas for mercy or requests to ease their pain. Most who met Elona back then didn’t even realize they were dying.
Those who had the strength to survive an encounter with Elona had no reason to beg for mercy. Like Temar and the Ten Knights, they either fought back or cursed her as they retreated.
On the battlefield, Elona had never once been the first to retreat.
“Back then, maybe I wanted to disappear while fighting. Like Temar, maybe I wanted someone strong enough to kill me to help me… Why did I think that? Was I resentful of the clan? Did I no longer want to kill people?”
She didn’t know.
The more she thought, the more her head throbbed, but she couldn’t stop. When her pain deepened, her magic would flare up unexpectedly, churning the sea wildly.
When her frost magic spread, the entire sea froze over. When her fire magic surged, it melted again. Her wind magic whipped up a massive storm in an instant, lightning flashing through it.
Though it wasn’t true magic but just power born from her mood, any fleet nearby would have been shattered into wreckage.
“Maybe I should just sink into the deep sea and never come back. Not return to the clan. That might be better. But the clan…”
Ziphl—the clan she was meant to protect.
The faint faces of its members she remembered showed only two expressions: fear or contempt.
She couldn’t understand the fear. She had no intention of harming the clan’s people.
But she understood the contempt. They thought she was strong but failed to properly shoulder her duty as Ziphl.
“I’m still the same as I was back then. I think I should fight for the clan, but I’m still confused.”
She wished someone would end this confusion for her.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, Elona spotted a group of lights approaching far off in the dark night sky.
The first fleet of Ziphl.
“Kozek…”
Then the clan head must be aboard. Elona looked up at the fleet and gathered her scattered magic. The fleet descended and took position before her.
“Clan Head Ziphl, Veradin Ziphl, greets the clan’s long-standing hero.”
Veradin knelt on the frozen sea and spoke. Behind him, the clan’s leaders and mages all saluted.
Elona was shocked.
She had never before received such respectful treatment from the clan. On days when she was recognized for her achievements, she’d get the usual formal congratulations, but the atmosphere was always different.
Those congratulations often felt more like reproach. Why had she let the Ten Knights escape when she could have killed them? Why hadn’t she destroyed the entire city of Runcandel? Why, with all her power, did she always do so little?
On those days, Elona felt suffocated and her chest tightened. Meeting the clan’s watchful eyes was more painful than anything.
“I apologize for coming so late to serve you. We were lacking and have neglected Lady Elona until now.”
“…Could you raise your head a little?”
Elona met Veradin’s gaze. She detected no hatred, contempt, or falsehood in his words.
“Was it you who called me?”
“No, it was the Tower of Stories that broke your seal. Embarrassingly, we didn’t even know of your existence until the Tower intervened.”
“The Tower… called me?”
The Tower of Stories—the place Elona had spent the most time with, alongside the battlefield, a thousand years ago.
As she recalled the tower, hazy memories and emotions quickly came alive.
When she communed with the tower and summoned magic, Elona had always felt more at peace than at any other time. The Tower of Stories was her only sanctuary, her friend.
“Nearly a thousand years have passed, yet the Tower still remains. That’s why the energy that called me felt so familiar.”
“If I may say so, the Tower seems to have been waiting for you all this time. As I said, we didn’t even know you existed, but the Tower broke your seal as soon as conditions were met. It risked my life to do so.”
At those words, Elona felt the loneliness inside her melt away like snow. It was as if a forgotten friend was embracing her.
“You, the clan head, risked your life just for me?”
“The Tower judged that you are more important to the clan than I am. That is absolute. So please, don’t worry about it.”
“But you said you knew nothing about me until recently. I’m not someone so valuable.”
“When the Tower broke your seal through me, I glimpsed your life. I would have made the same judgment as the Tower.”
“May I visit the Tower of Stories?”
“In the clan, you may do whatever you wish. There is no place on clan land you cannot go, no item you cannot possess, no person you cannot command. Not even I, the clan head, can deny you.”
Elona found it hard to respond and simply stared at Veradin and his followers for a while.
“Then, what do you and the clan want from me?”
“Protect the clan.”
“That’s the only thing I can do, the only thing I know how to do.”
“If you wish to help the clan out of duty, you already fulfilled that responsibility a thousand years ago. It was your incompetent and arrogant ancestors who refused to acknowledge it. If you want to help out of compassion or affection, the Ziphl you knew no longer exists. If you want to help simply because I, the clan head, ask it of you, you may refuse without resentment.”
The more Elona spoke with Veradin, the calmer her heart became, like a still lake.
Soon she realized why: every word he spoke was a warmth she had never experienced before—a deep comfort.
And the more Veradin read her heart, the more anger he felt toward those arrogant, foolish ancestors.
“They were not worthy of being called ancestors—filthy scum. Even on the day the Demon Stone was completed, their history will never see the light of day again.”
When the Tower merged with him to break Elona’s seal, Veradin had seen not only her life but also the incompetence of the Ziphl clan back then, who failed to fulfill their wishes despite perfect conditions.
“Your words bring me great comfort, Veradin.”
“It is simply heartbreaking that a hero who protected the clan was so lonely.”
“Thanks to you, I now know what I want to do.”
“Please tell me. I will help you in any way I can.”
“I want… to live a better life than before. I want to avoid unnecessary killing, and when I look back on my day before sleep, I don’t want to feel lonely.”
“Do you mean you want to retire and live a life of giving?”
“No, that’s not it. Since the Tower risked the clan head’s life to call me, it must still love the clan. I feel the same. I want to work for the clan while achieving what I just said.”
“Then I understand you want to go to battle filled with glory, not loneliness or confusion, and avoid meaningless killing.”
“That sounds right. Fighting and killing enemies is all I know how to do.”
“I can’t promise there will be no unpleasant battles. But if one day you go to the battlefield and feel pain, you may leave the clan whenever you wish.”
“I don’t want to leave. No matter what happens, I won’t leave unless the Tower abandons the clan. But since you said there’s no one I can’t command in the clan, if a day like a thousand years ago comes again, I want to change the clan as I see fit.”
“You don’t need my permission for that, Elona.”
“But you are the clan head. Until that day comes, I will be your loyal follower. And somehow, I don’t think that day will come. I’ve never felt so at peace in my life.”
“You flatter me. But hearing you say that does warm my heart.”
“Then please stand. It’s embarrassing and makes me feel sorry to keep looking up at you, clan head.”
Veradin slowly rose. Elona smiled brightly—a smile she had never once shown a thousand years ago.
“Now, let me take you to the Tower of Stories.”
The Kozek began its flight toward the Tower of Stories. Elona gazed down at the city beneath the window, taking in the sights that had changed over the past thousand years. Unlike back then, a genuine desire to protect these cities welled up within her.
“Lord Gaju.”
“Yes, Lady Elona?”
“A thousand years have passed, and I’m sure there’s a mountain of things I need to learn anew. But there’s one question I’m most curious about.”
“What is it?”
“Among the enemies of Ziphl today, is there anyone stronger than me?”
Veradin immediately thought of Siron, Ban, Jin, and Murakan.
“…Lady Elona. What about the era of Temar Runkandel, the first Gaju of Runkandel? How was it then?”
Elona paused, considering, before answering.
“I don’t think there was anyone back then.”
“In that case, it’s probably not much different now.”