Chapter 1052

“See you again?”

At the sound of his low voice, Jin Taekyung was suddenly right in front of her. The Grand Sorceress felt the blood in her body turn cold.

How?

Calling him fast didn’t begin to explain it. His speed was beyond anything she’d expected.

And as though he’d known exactly where she would be, the silver spearhead came slashing down toward her body.

Whoosh!

The air split. No—it shattered.

Space warped around the Force coiling along the spearhead. Faced with that terrifying sight, the Grand Sorceress felt a fear greater than any she had known and cried out in her mind.

Mighty power of protection!

Vwoom.

In the slowed world, the energy gathered around her heart began to boil.

Layer upon layer of translucent shields rose around her, blocking the spearhead.

Boom! Crash!

The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.

But all the Grand Sorceress’s attention was fixed on the sight before her.

The spearhead smashed through most of the dozens of layered shields before finally stopping—just barely.

I blocked it.

A shiver ran up her spine. Only then did she release the breath she’d been holding.

Before relief could settle in, she saw Jin Taekyung smiling faintly, though the attack he’d staked everything on had failed. Suddenly, she realized what she’d forgotten.

Some very important—and very dangerous—people.

But on a battlefield, realizations always came a moment too late.

Whoosh!

A vast streak of light hurtled across the space between them.

Beyond the dazzling glare filling her vision, she made out two figures. The Grand Sorceress screamed without a sound.

The Bow Saint…!

Boom!

An enormous blast rang out, and the swelling light swallowed the entire hill.

At the last moment, it all happened almost at once.

I’d backed away, anticipating the shock of the tremendous collision.

Far away, the Force arrow had left the bowstring and come hurtling toward us. At last, it struck the shield.

And then—

Fwoom!

The distant flash of light swelled, blocking everyone’s view and swallowing the Grand Sorceress’s figure, which had been hidden behind the crumbling shield.

Rumble…!

The earth shook. Light burst forth in an instant, tearing through the darkness and devouring everything.

A wave of power beyond words.

Hngh…!

I sucked in a breath and curled up as tightly as I could. A gale whipped past me like a blade, slashing through the air.

The moment lasted only an instant, but it felt like an eternity. When it passed, I could finally hear again.

A familiar voice reached my muffled ears.

“Are you all right?”

I let out the breath I’d been holding and raised my head.

Beyond the fading light, I saw a white robe torn to shreds, blood scattered everywhere, and limbs severed from a body.

They were slender and white—the limbs clearly belonged to a woman.

“It’s over. All of it.”

“…Ah.”

The Grand Mage was dead.

The moment that sank in, all the strength drained from my body.

My mental strength had been at its limit for a long time. Exhaustion washed over me, and my vision blurred.

Grab.

A strong hand caught me as I swayed.

Jeok Cheongang hauled me upright, and a laugh escaped me.

“Sorry, Old Master.”

“For what?”

“Seven and a half minutes. That ran out ages ago.”

Jeok Cheongang laughed with me.

“Still a hundred years too soon. Can’t you tell, seeing that damned bastard run all the way over here?”

He was covered in blood, whatever he said. With a perfectly straight face, he pointed to an old fiend who had survived like a cockroach.

Of course, there was another reason the Blood-Sword Demon Lord had survived the blast.

“You went a long way while I was gone. Recklessly far, too.”

So Gyo—or rather, the Bow Saint—looked at me with her usual calm gaze and spoke.

She must have crossed half the land without a moment’s rest, yet her aura was still as sharp as a blade.

I knew better than anyone why the Bow Saint, despite the crushing fatigue she must have felt, was keeping up this front. I also knew why she had gone out of her way to protect the Blood-Sword Demon Lord.

“But the rest will have to wait. There’s still a problem to deal with.”

She was right. The Grand Mage was dead, but the bloody battle below the hill continued.

And that wasn’t the only problem she meant.

“So this is how it’s come to pass.”

Cold killing intent edged her words. At her feet, the Blood-Sword Demon Lord lay breathing hard. He struggled to speak.

“Fine. Anything… I’ll tell you anything.”

Anything, huh?

I turned the word over in my mind as I staggered toward him and raised White Flame.

Shing.

I aimed the spearhead at him instead of answering.

Faced with its icy gleam, the Blood-Sword Demon Lord’s voice grew louder. He was still trying to sound calm.

“There was a traitor among you!”

The fiend who had radiated such terrifying power was nowhere to be seen.

The Blood-Sword Demon Lord sprawled before me now was little more than a beggar, ruined at the end of a lifetime steeped in brutality.

Abandoned by his master. Betrayed by his allies. Now begging for his life by selling information to the very enemy he’d tried to kill.

“Are you afraid?”

“…What?”

“Can things like you feel fear?”

I looked down at his wide, bloodshot eyes and spoke softly.

“There’s no deal.”

The Blood-Sword Demon Lord was already a discarded dog.

Perhaps his fate had been sealed long ago: to be discarded once he’d outlived his usefulness.

I didn’t know the exact reason, but this was the outcome the Lord of Heaven had intended. No master would lavish care on a hunting dog he planned to cast aside without mercy.

So I had no reason to listen to the dog. Least of all when he wanted to talk about the traitors whose identities had begun to come to light today.

“Black Night King Sima Gong. The Roaring Fury Swordsman Song Il. And the Taeeul Merciless Sword, Hwangbo Eom.”

“…!”

The Blood-Sword Demon Lord said nothing, but his eyes shook violently.

That was enough to turn a near-certainty into certainty.

“You already… knew?”

He barely managed to force the words out.

I nodded at his dazed face.

“To a certain extent.”

“B-But then why?”

“If you’re asking why… I don’t know.”

I raised the spearhead, exhaustion bearing down on me.

And I thought about why I’d made it this far, despite suspecting there were traitors among us. Why I’d fought for my life in this impossible situation and refused to give up.

Maybe it was because…

“I wanted to believe a little longer.”

“…!”

“You can’t win without believing in them. That’s why I came all this way like a fucking idiot.”

Yeah.

That was what made victory possible.

The difference between Dark Heaven and us.

Between the Lord of Heaven and me.

I’d already seen what came of that slender thread of faith and hope. More precisely, of the faith that began with one person.

Sama Pyo.

Quiet and gloomy, but he’d never once betrayed my trust.

A comrade who had never been the first to step back, no matter how desperate things got. We’d fought back to back and laughed together, covered in each other’s blood.

No. A friend.

If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to place even this little faith in them.

Not long ago, Jeok Cheongang had asked what I would do if Sama Pyo and Taishan turned out to have betrayed us.

I hadn’t answered.

Even as I walked down the Great Snow Mountain with Sama Pyo, I’d asked myself the same question. But I couldn’t bring myself to answer it.

I wouldn’t be able to kill them.

All I could do was believe. More desperately than anyone.

And I wasn’t the only one who’d put faith in the traitors.

A Junior Brother in his two Senior Brothers.¹ A son in his father.

In the end, their faith was rewarded.

It moved the traitors’ hearts and finally turned the tide of battle.

I’d seen it myself.

The Taeeul Merciless Sword and the Roaring Fury Swordsman throwing themselves toward the Hell Fire. Sima Gong facing the Blood-Sword Demon Lord in Jeok Cheongang’s place.

Of course, they wouldn’t be forgiven for their crimes.

At least, I had no right to forgive them. Neither did Jeok Cheongang or the Bow Saint.

But I would remember that, when it mattered most, the traitors had upheld at least the smallest measure of honor.

Unlike the discarded hunting dog, who would soon be forgotten by its master.

“That’s why we’re different. You and us.”

My voice was quiet, but clear. The Blood-Sword Demon Lord stared at me, the tiny blood vessels in his eyes burst.

“Jin Taekyung!”

His cry came out as though he were coughing up blood.

Thuk.

The spearhead sank into his chest as smoothly as a blade through tofu, swallowing the rest of his words.

No—the last faint trace of life left in him.

Ding.

A clear chime rang in my ears.

At the same time, an energy as refreshing as mountain-stream water swept through me, once again filling my body with new strength.

Unlike the man who had died with a silver-white spearhead through his chest.

And just as the woman who had died moments before, too horribly to leave her body in one piece, had wanted.

I mustn’t fall here? I have to get stronger than I am now?

Feeling the crushing mental exhaustion weighing on my body, I turned to look toward the last trace of the Grand Mage, left behind where the Force arrow had swept through.

Don’t worry. I’ll make sure of it.

I didn’t know what the Lord of Heaven wanted.

But one thing was clear.

I had to keep going. To keep moving forward, I had to grow stronger.

Strong enough to far exceed the Lord of Heaven’s expectations. Strong enough to make him regret this choice someday.

Whatever gets in my way, I’ll just smash it to pieces.

That was how I’d lived until now, and how I’d live from here on.

With that thought, I turned my unsteady body around.

Or I tried to.

Then I saw a slender arm and leg lying in a pool of blood, each severed from her body. Their cut ends were sharp and clean.

No.

“…!”

Not until I spotted the traces of Teleport.