Ch.100Grancia Island

Whoosh—!

A ship sailed across the sea. No, to call it a ship of this era would be an understatement given its enormous size.

Its massive form created the illusion of a small floating island, intimidating smaller sea monsters from even attempting to attack, while even the larger sea monsters wouldn’t challenge it unless they were confident in their strength.

Of course, some sea monsters did attack.

From the Kraken, which could rightfully be called the ruler of the sea, to the Sea Serpents that hunted in coordinated packs with their massive bodies.

And even deep-sea monsters that had emerged from the depths due to tectonic shifts.

Monsters confident in their own strength or their companions’ combined power challenged the Storm Wing, but…

None could inflict any meaningful damage on the gray Storm Wing before being repelled by magic cannons and elemental ballistae.

The most impressive feature of the Storm Wing wasn’t its offensive power but its defensive capabilities.

The Titanite—a gray material created by combining pure white titanium with pitch-black adamantium—surpassed adamantium in strength while eliminating titanium’s weight disadvantage and improving mana conductivity.

As a result, the Storm Wing boasted incredible efficiency, capable of sailing for over a month with just a single high-grade mana stone.

And now, this Storm Wing had reached a distance where Grancia Island was visible to the naked eye.

“So that’s… Grancia.”

The people of Palais Kingdom, originally an island nation, showed no particular emotion, but the former imperial citizens who had been flung away when the Grancia continent shattered shed tears.

Although their homeland had been ejected along with them, something welled up inside them as they gazed at what appeared to be a coastal city.

“Captain Abes. What are your orders?”

“Hmm. Wait. This is an enormous warship. They’ll surely contact us from their side. Let’s take a rest for now.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Storm Wing proudly displayed itself in the southeastern part of Grancia Island, just as the Sky Island had done.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, when Palais Kingdom appeared in the southeastern region, following a different route than the Sky Island…

Others had appeared in the northeastern region.

“Hah… Damn it. Just when I wanted to enjoy the sweet life of being a king, this shit happens. Both my life and yours are truly fucked up. Back then, I couldn’t even kill one Minotaur and ran away, but now I’m supposed to kill a monster that split a continent? Holy shit.”

“Cut down on the swearing, Cowboy. Most participants have joined in this time, so those of us in supporting roles like you and me have it relatively easy. Take comfort in that.”

“Ha! When our enemy is the bastard who split a continent, don’t think the rear is safe, Witch. My gun doesn’t have that much range, and your curses become less effective against stronger enemies. Our job is to run away as much as possible.”

“…”

A man dressed as a cowboy, a woman in witch’s attire with black hair, and a man carrying a greatsword on his back.

The Cowboy and Witch, who had overthrown the former Lacor royal family and established a kingdom called Paradise, had no intention of leaving their kingdom.

When someone capable of splitting a continent exists and will be released in a year, after which they’ll sink islands one by one—what was the point of going anywhere? They might as well just do whatever they wanted in their Paradise until they died.

In a situation where going meant a 99.9% chance of death, and staying meant a 100% chance, they had simply announced these facts to their citizens to make the most of their remaining year.

They told everyone that the world would end in a year, so live doing what you want. We’ll do the same.

Not even a day after this announcement, another participant had subdued them by force and dragged them here, resulting in their current situation.

“So, since you dragged us here, I assume you have some plan? You even used that damn Unique Trait called ‘Leash of the Loser.'”

The Cowboy pointed at his neck as he spoke.

As his hand touched it, a dog collar appeared around his neck, and the Witch had one as well.

Being dragged around like dogs on leashes, the Cowboy and Witch questioned the person leading them, and the previously silent man with the greatsword, Cain, finally spoke.

“…There isn’t one.”

“What?”

Such a calm statement. It was so brazen that the Cowboy thought he had misheard.

“There isn’t one?”

“That’s right. I have no plan.”

“You son of… Huff… Then why did you use force to drag us all the way here?”

“Because it pissed me off seeing weaklings living comfortably.”

“You fucking bastaaaaaarrrggghhhh!”

Cain’s Unique Trait, Leash of the Loser.

This trait had one tremendous advantage: although it could only be used on a maximum of two people, those wearing the collar must obey absolutely, and they would automatically suffer extreme pain if they harbored killing intent.

“If you were stronger than me, you wouldn’t be experiencing this. Losers who lost in a 2-to-1 fight should just obey my commands like the defeated should.”

“Fuckkkkk…”

The Cowboy raised his middle finger and cursed despite the pain.

The Witch remained silent, watching her companion as she followed Cain.

“I see a city over there. We’ll cause trouble there to make our way to this kingdom’s capital.”

The Witch sighed and nodded as he declared his intention to wreak havoc in a human city to kill the monster that split the world.

As a slave, she had no way to resist.

* * * * *

A week had already passed since the shocking events of the Sky Island Salion’s attack and the peace treaty with the barbarian chief “Ice is Strong.”

During that time, the massive warship Storm Wing had appeared in the southeastern coast, and in the northeast, the king and queen of Paradise Kingdom, along with the greatsword-wielding man who had enslaved them, had arrived.

Pel Baion, the Pope of the Uldur Order and Holy King of the Holy Kingdom, summoned all of them.

The barbarian chief “Ice is Strong,” Captain Abes of Palais Kingdom’s massive warship Storm Wing, the greatsword-wielding man Cain who had demanded to meet the king in the northeast along with his two slaves, and Lee Juyeon, the Saintess of Agni Holy Kingdom, whom they considered a heretic who didn’t believe in Uldur.

These individuals were able to gather in one place under the auspices of Cardinal Baxter.

It was nothing short of a miracle that these people with such strong and incompatible personalities could gather in one place, but they had a single reason for doing so:

To kill the being sealed in the center of Grancia Island—the one who had split the continent.

“Well then, thank you all for coming. I am Cardinal Baxter. I’ve received full authority for this meeting from His Holiness the Pope, which is why I was able to invite even a heretic like you. Let’s start by distributing the materials.”

“Thank you. Well, as you all probably know by now, I’m Lee Juyeon, the Saintess who serves the Sun God Agni.”

“Introductions are unnecessary. We all have one goal, and once we accomplish it, we’ll be enemies again anyway.”

The one who stopped the introductions was Cain, the greatsword owner who had enslaved the Cowboy and the Witch.

After briefly reviewing the materials prepared by the Uldur Holy Kingdom, he looked around at the meeting participants and began the discussion.

“We urgently need to defeat this monster. We have less than a year left, and the path of those Sky Island trash will pass through where the monster is sealed.”

“But the location of the monster was impossible to detect unless you physically touched it, thanks to Uldur’s measures. It’s surprising we never knew about it until now. I suppose Uldur placed a perception barrier as a warning not to touch it.”

“Enough of that. Even with a perception barrier, the document says that if that massive mass continues on its direct path without changing course, it will collide. The seal on the monster breaks if it’s attacked. That means…”

“The Sky Island’s collision could be recognized as an attack. That’s what you’re saying.”

The one who continued Cain’s thought was Bug, the great chieftain of the north whose entire body was made of ice.

“Exactly. If that continent-splitting being awakens right now, do we have any way to defeat it?”

Everyone fell silent at that.

Their opponent was a participant who had reportedly split a continent single-handedly.

A participant so powerful that the Host and the gods themselves had acknowledged them as the winner—how could they possibly have a way to defeat such a being?

“We need to make the most of this time we have, less than a year. That Sky Island might be useful, so shouldn’t we capture it and use it? After dealing with those useless trash who are just waging conquest wars.”

“I agree. Despite its mass, the fact that it hasn’t appeared until now suggests they excavated an artifact from the mythical era. I’m not sure if the defensive magic is also from that era, but if not, we can certainly break through and take control.”

Abes nodded in agreement with Cain’s words, and the others nodded as well.

“Then it’s decided. Let’s capture that Sky Island. The Holy Kingdom’s magician killers and the Hero are already out there buying time, so if we join quickly, we should be able to bring it down soon.”

“Hero?”

Everyone except Lee Juyeon looked curious at the mention of a Hero, but Cardinal Baxter just smiled broadly.