episode_0016

At the center of Heavenly Dragon Hall.

In a luxurious single room reminiscent of a palace’s grand hall—those who called themselves were gathered.

Every one of them, dressed in archaic Eastern attire reminiscent of immortals, bore faces stained with the unmistakable grime of hidden luxury.

It was a kingdom in the sky, protected by a divinely blessed fortress, just as its name suggested.

—Or so it should have been.

“Elder-nim! Elder-nim!”

A man, similarly dressed in Eastern attire, rushed in, panting.

“Hmph!! What kind of undignified behavior is this in the sacred Heavenly Dragon Citadel!”

At his appearance, an Elder-nim, who seemed particularly high-ranking among the Celestial Beings, scolded him. He stroked his long, grizzled beard, as if showing it off like a Taoist master.

“Th-th-that is! It’s—!”

However, unconcerned by the Elder-nim’s scolding, the man gasped for breath, stammering comically. Seeing this, the Elder-nim’s chest swelled even more with anger, and he raised his voice.

“Hmph! Not only did you enter the Heavenly Dragon Citadel without permission, but now you can’t even give a proper answer! Hmph! Hmph!! Hmmmph!!”

As the Elder-nim’s veins popped out on his forehead and he pointed, the Eastern-style warrior guarding him finally placed a hand on his sword hilt.

A soft clang.

The sharp tip of the sword hilt gleamed faintly. Only then did the man continue in a trembling voice.

“Th-th-they… they…”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence properly.

“They, h-here…”

—

Yet, that was enough.

Everyone here was so arrogant they didn’t know their place. In this place where only those arrogant enough to call themselves ‘Celestial Beings’ existed, there was a being whom even those who claimed the name of the heavens dared not but fear and attach an honorific to.

“Why has the 《Black Serpent》…”

The name of a serpent that even the dragons of the sky must revere.

—Hiccup.

As if his prior furious, vein-popping outburst had been a lie, the Elder-nim instantly shut his mouth. No, he tried to shut it.

“Hic.”

Perhaps age couldn’t be hidden; involuntary hiccups escaped him with trembling fear. Hiccup, hiccup, his body wouldn’t obey even when he tried to stop them.

Fortunately, the hiccups stopped sooner than expected.

The moment they saw the man calmly walking into the Heavenly Dragon Citadel—.

“Ah, ah, ahhh…”

What could one say upon seeing that figure?

The elder couldn’t say a word. No, he didn’t even know what he should say.

Even the , who, not content with calling themselves ‘Celestial Beings’, claimed the title of ‘heaven beyond heaven’ among even those Celestial Beings…

“Oh, it is truly inexcusable that you have troubled yourself with such a difficult journey!”

Even as the elder trembled with terror, desperately trying to speak, the man did not reply. He merely crossed the space in silence, a cheap, earthly cigarette, one he wouldn’t even smoke if given, clenched between his lips.

“For the great 《Black Serpent》 to set foot in this shabby and insignificant backwater…”

Before the elder, who was desperately bowing his head and fawning, the man said nothing.

He merely silently crossed the center of the Heavenly Dragon Citadel, where the Celestial Beings were gathered.

Accompanying the man was a black-bladed female swordswoman, and a naive blonde girl in a Gothic dress trotted behind him.

Watching them, none of those who considered themselves ‘humans of the sky’ dared to open their mouths. They couldn’t.

Because there, truly, was the real sky that they dared not look up at.

“Why are you bowing your heads?”

At that, the man finally spoke. At his words, the Celestial Beings’ Elder-nim blinked and asked again.

“Y-yes, yes?!”

“I asked why you are bowing your heads.”

A cold, emotionless voice. At that voice, the Celestial Beings’ Elder-nim thought with a mind more perplexed than ever. No, why are they bowing their heads? There’s only one reason, isn’t there? Because they have to.

“Th-that’s because before the great 《Black Serpent》, whom we never cease to worship—.”

Because no one in this world could survive without bowing their heads before them.

So he spoke. He tried to speak.

But he couldn’t.

Splat!

Before the Heavenly Elder could even finish his answer, his entire face exploded. A sound of indescribable terror, gasping for breath, filled the air as flesh and bone scattered in all directions.

!

At the same time, no one there could speak further.

“Ah, ah, ahhhh!”

Except for the screams that couldn’t form words.

“Wh-why is this happening!”

Unable to bear the atrocity unfolding there, one Celestial Being finally cried out as if begging for his life.

“Isn’t this different from the promise!”

Promise.

Hearing those words, the remaining Celestial Beings also desperately turned their heads towards him, as if grasping at a final straw.

“Huh? What promise?”

At the same time, there was a blonde girl who burst into laughter upon hearing those words. Likewise, the shadow cast beneath her feet grinned, splitting its mouth like a crescent moon, laughing along with her.

“Kya ha ha, you old men are so funny!”

As if she simply couldn’t stop laughing.

“Isn’t this different from the promise!”

“We swore loyalty under the name of the 《Black Serpent》! D-didn’t you accept our loyalty like that!”

“Regrettably.”

The one who answered his words was, as usual, the black-bladed female swordswoman who maintained her composure by his side.

“There is no promise to fulfill with you.”

Without a hint of agitation or wavering, as if simply conveying the unvarnished truth.

“There is only the Captain-nim’s will.”

Nothing more, nothing less.

And this was precisely the man’s desire.

“Wh-why is this happening?”

“What-what wrong did we, w-we commit!”

“Please, enlighten us!”

At the Celestial Beings’ voices, clamoring to ask again as if begging, the man with the cigarette in his mouth finally spoke.

A voice so low and heavy it sent shivers down one’s spine. The monster among monsters who led the infamous 《Black Serpent》.

“I heard there was a delicacy here that you pride yourselves on.”

“Are you referring to the Heavenly Taste Children?! W-we will bring them immediately to entertain you! We will bring them right away!”

“……”

“How would you like them cooked! Would you like them served on the spot?! Would you like them alive?! S-should we prepare them?! As for the cooking method, please tell us your preference—.”

Children with the taste of heaven. The Celestial Beings’ delicacy, reared in exchange for a luxurious life in the Celestial Realm, having gathered lost children from the labyrinth city.

“No, there’s no need for that.”

The man shook his head, an expression of nausea on his face. After shaking his head, he spoke to the blonde girl by his side.

“You can eat them all, Alice.”

“Wow, really?! Yeah, yeah, got it! Captain-nim!”

The blonde girl smiled widely like a child upon hearing those words. The mouth of the shadow beneath her feet, already split like a crescent moon, tore even longer and more grotesquely, as if even that wasn’t enough.

“Alrighty then—.”

Before long, not only the shadow beneath the girl’s feet, but all the shadows on the grand hall floor, reflecting the moon and stars, simultaneously—

Shadows grinned and opened their mouths everywhere.

At that sight, unable to lift a finger, unable even to think of escaping, an icy silence descended, cold enough to freeze everything.

The Eastern-style warriors, who were supposed to protect the Celestial Beings there, were no exception.

“We’ll eat well!!”

The silence did not last long.

At the end of the silence, a hell unfolded, making the name of heaven feel meaningless.

*

Thump!

The continent’s longest elevator, the sole passage leading to the divinely blessed fortress, famously known as the ‘Sky’s Lifeline’, began to move.

It moved not by the Celestial Realm’s control, but by the hands of the 《Knights Order》 who had seized it, manipulating it with control magic.

“We are the Knights Order, here with official investigation permits from the ‘Continental Adventurers’ Guild’! Those who resist will be subdued by force!”

Thus, having ascended the Sky’s Lifeline, they entered the uppermost floor of the Eight Dragon Fortress, the Celestial Realm of the Eight Dragons, known as the Heavenly Dragon Hall.

Sword Saint Zeruel stepped forward without hesitation towards it, shouting.

Preparing for a bloody battle against the Celestial Beings’ proud escort organization, known as the , he drew the sword from his waist.

“—Huh?”

However, let alone a battle, there was no sign of those who were supposed to guard the entrance.

“There’s no one, is there?”

Alina the Sword Princess blinked, placing a hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist. Sword Saint Zeruel also couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“It could be an ambush. Do not lower your guard.”

At that moment, the Martial Monk accompanying them replied cautiously, quietly closing his eyes and sensing the presence in the area.

“—Well, even if those of the Celestial Realm are strong, they wouldn’t hide this meticulously.”

A wizard wearing a pointed hat replied. In the detection field magic he had spread over the area, nothing could be felt.

He too was a wizard belonging to a platinum-grade adventurer party. It would be impossible to deceive a detection field cast by a wizard of that caliber.

Or there was truly nothing there.

“Let’s advance.”

“Be careful, Zeruel.”

Even so, what needed to be done didn’t change. Drawing his sword, Sword Saint Zeruel, the leader of the Knights Order, advanced cautiously.

Crossing the fortress known as the Heavenly Dragon, where a chillingly cold silence had descended.

What greeted the Knights Order in the suspiciously profound silence was neither the kingdom of the sky nor dragons.

“—Ah.”

It was a serpent, blacker and darker than anything.