Chapter 835
Episode 209: The Seventh Tomb of Temar – The Painting of Keitam (8)
The first thing Jin and his group saw was the mountain range twisting and warping like dough.
The ridges radiating from the Storm Fortress’s center were buckling and collapsing.
The shadows of the mountains moved exactly as the impostor willed.
This wasn’t about overwhelming destructive power or some incredible technique.
The “Spirit Energy Release” the impostor wielded was, quite literally, a divine authority.
By controlling the shadows at will, it inflicted lethal effects on its targets.
“Ugh… ugh…!”
“L-Lord Frey…!”
“Ahhh!”
The knights of the Storm Fortress writhed and screamed in agony.
Frey resisted the impostor’s power, but most of the other knights were consumed by their own shadows, wracked with unbearable pain.
Crack, crackle—!
The shadows rose like wildfire, devouring the knights.
In an instant, rivers of blood and spirit energy flowed through the fortress, and Frey stared at them with trembling eyes.
“How… how can I help? What must I do to save the knights…!”
Frey’s head was spinning, her insides twisting with the sensation.
Even she could only resist temporarily; if the impostor continued to wield this power, she and the knights would meet the same grim fate.
“Stop… you bastard…!”
Frey plunged her hand, wrapped in spirit energy up to her ankle, into the ground to find her throwing spear.
But the moment she gripped the spear, her pinky finger, stained black with spirit energy, bent backward until it touched the back of her hand.
Despite the searing pain of her finger being dislocated, she ignored it and hurled the spear.
The spear struck with even greater ferocity than before, but it failed to reach the impostor.
It stopped about five steps ahead, disappearing into a swirling vortex of spirit energy.
“As expected, it reacts immediately. Looks like about five hundred are dead already. How do you like that, impostors? Do you realize how laughable you look to me?”
Spirit Energy Release—Black Chain.
Murakan’s unleashed spirit energy tore through the impostor’s veil, shooting out black chains.
But the impostor dissipated like smoke, then reappeared in midair, transforming back into its true form and spreading its wings toward the Storm Fortress.
The distance between them widened too quickly.
Though the group pursued immediately, the impostor’s breath swept over the fortress first.
“Frey!”
Murakan shouted without thinking.
“I’m fine!”
Fortunately, Frey sliced the impostor’s breath in two with her barbed spear, unleashing her sword technique.
Runekandel Sword Technique
Hamalene’s Wrath – Frey Runekandel
Suddenly, as if a blizzard had been unleashed, a bone-chilling cold settled over the battlefield.
The impostor’s torso froze instantly, and Frey leapt forward, swinging her barbed spear toward its heart.
With the sound of ice shattering, a massive wound appeared on the impostor’s chest.
Jin and the Ten Knights seized the opportunity, striking again at the impostor’s back.
Thrust!
Their swords and spears pierced simultaneously through its back and chest.
All three felt the blade tips catch on something—the impostor’s heart.
At that moment, Jin activated his Eternal Flame.
The perfect moment to pierce the heart had come sooner than expected.
Jin’s Eternal Flame, Frey’s sword technique, and Dranax and Violo’s ultimate moves—all struck the impostor’s heart at once.
“Graaah…!”
For the first time, the impostor’s stance faltered completely as it let out a guttural scream.
The group didn’t hesitate, stabbing the heart once more, while Murakan drove the Black Chain into the gaping wound.
Murakan focused his spirit energy on the Black Chain, intending to rip out the heart.
The chain gripped the heart tightly but snapped before it could pull it free.
Jin and the Ten Knights were pushed back by the impostor’s spirit energy, crashing to the ground.
Spirit energy swirled into the impostor’s torn chest.
Gasping for breath, Frey looked up at the tightly shut chest.
“You said none among you could kill me, impostor contractor. Looks like you tried a decisive strike, but it’s a shame. That’s not enough to pierce Murakan’s heart.”
“Save your nonsense for the fire stuck to your chest.”
“Ah, this fire… it’s unsettling. Seems it won’t go out until you die, huh? Then even if I wanted to spare you, I can’t.”
Jin said nothing, switching to his sword, Bradamante, and igniting his Flame of Vengeance.
The Lord of the Underworld’s Sword would likely restrict the Ten Knights’ movements.
If he unleashed it alone, maybe it would be fine, but if it dragged on, the Ten Knights would inevitably suffer damage.
‘If this were outside, buying time with the Lord of the Underworld’s Sword and planning for the future would be better. But here, only Mittel exists. There’s no place to retreat to for our ancestors.’
Just as the Ten Knights had sincerely accepted Jin and Murakan as comrades, Jin and Murakan no longer saw them as mere paintings.
As Keitam said, within the painting, the painting was reality—and outside, these were truly Jin’s ancestors.
‘That sword… is Sarah’s…!?’
‘It’s Sarah’s Flame of Vengeance!’
The Ten Knights flinched at the sight of the flame but didn’t ask about it.
Meanwhile, the impostor was amplifying its spirit energy.
Perhaps due to the nature of this painting’s pocket dimension, Tess was not summoned.
‘It’s a shame Tess isn’t here. His fire might have dealt more damage to the impostor’s heart than me or the kid.’
So far, no attack had landed a clearly effective blow.
Yet Jin, Murakan, and the Ten Knights pressed on relentlessly, their resolve unbroken.
The knights who survived the impostor’s first Spirit Energy Release wore determined expressions as they prepared their blades.
Even if the impostor could kill them with a single breath, their souls would remain, steadfastly guarding their ground.
The Flame of Vengeance blazed fiercely, melting the impostor Murakan’s scales.
At times, its heart and other organs were exposed.
Other organs were destroyed and restored repeatedly, but the heart remained unscathed, no matter how many times it was stabbed.
The impostor seemed accustomed to the pain now, no longer screaming.
The Ten Knights’ breathing grew heavy.
Their strikes hadn’t weakened, but time was clearly on the impostor’s side.
Its spirit energy exploded more violently with each passing moment.
‘I can cut it…’
Jin whispered a spell, steadying his mind as he had when facing overwhelming foes before.
He believed he could cut the impostor’s heart—nothing in this world was beyond his reach.
Unlike before, this was closer to truth than falsehood.
‘Besides, this is an impostor—a falsehood already seen through.’
Spirit energy gathered in Bradamante.
As the darkness filling the blade deepened, the impostor suddenly spun around, glaring at Jin.
For a moment, it was fooled into thinking, ‘Temar has returned.’
The impostor saw Temar’s image in Jin.
“I’m growing more displeased by the minute…”
The Ten Knights felt the same.
They sensed Temar in Jin.
In every desperate moment, when hope was lost, those deep, resolute eyes had appeared, staring down the enemy.
“You said the future is already decided, impostor.”
Jin cut through the spirit energy radiating from the mountain ridges and the impostor’s breath, closing the distance.
Murakan and the Ten Knights blocked the impostor’s attempt to take flight.
For the first time, the impostor fought desperately.
It darkened the surroundings with spirit energy to block Jin’s vision and unleashed a furious burst of power to separate Murakan and the Ten Knights.
Frey and Violo were knocked back, but Murakan and Dranax held on, driving their aura-empowered sword and teeth into the impostor’s wings.
The impostor accepted its wings being torn and charged headlong at Jin, swinging its forelegs.
Jin narrowly dodged the strike.
Though the wind pressure tore at his cheek and shoulder, he slipped inside and swung Bradamante.
Spirit Sword Style 1: Soul Slash.
The blackened blade pierced the impostor’s foreleg and sliced through its chest.
The impostor gasped as if strangled, opening its mouth wide.
Jin swung the sword again, aiming once more for the heart.
He felt something catch and then slip free—a sharp, unmistakable sensation.
Though he hadn’t managed a clean cut, the soul slash clearly dealt a different kind of blow to the creature’s heart.
Its eyes rolled back as it let out a guttural burst of energy, but instead of reforming, the energy scattered into particles and vanished.
Meanwhile, Jin, Murakan, and the Ten Knights noticed something the fake had dropped as it hastily tried to put distance between them.
Clatter…
A piece of its heart, about the size of a walnut, lay on the ground.
Jin crushed it underfoot, and the powerless fragment crumbled to dust.
The fake, disbelief written all over its face, pawed at its chest as if searching for its missing heart.
Jin glared at the imposter, tightening his grip on the sword.
“The future you spoke of was wrong.”
Without hesitation, Jin unleashed his spirit blade once more, settling into a battle stance.
The Ten Knights took their places beside him, with Murakan standing watch over them all.