Ch.109The Edge of the World, the Outer Continent (3)

Hundreds of stars hung in the broken sky.

Najin silently gazed at the stars that had split the sky, shattering it and dividing their own territories. The sky resembled a broken glass window. The landscape where the blue daytime sky mixed with the pitch-black night sky was both bizarre and mysterious.

And the stars decorating such a sky.

Had he seen this scenery without knowing anything, he might have found it spectacular, but now Najin couldn’t purely appreciate this mysterious sky. Those stars felt like someone’s eyes.

Tens, hundreds of eyes.

Hundreds of gazes focused on him.

It was completely different from the stares of adventurers or passersby in the city. The gaze of these enormous beings made him feel something with just their stares. A sensation of being pressed down. A feeling of being pierced through. A creeping chill ran up his spine.

Chomp.

Najin bit the tip of his tongue slightly.

The sharp pain and taste of blood lingered in his mouth. Only then could Najin escape the confusion and steady his breathing. He could still feel the gazes, but they were bearable now.

“For now, it’s just stares. We’re near the border.”

Merlin spoke calmly.

“The deeper you go, ‘more things’ become possible. Displaying text before your eyes, whispering in your ears, imposing trials. That sort of thing.”

Near Camlann, they’ll just come down to the ground and walk around. Muttering this, Merlin glanced at Najin. His eyes were calmer than usual.

“You haven’t forgotten what I told you before, right?”

‘You’ve told me so many things, I’m not sure which one you mean.’

“Trust yourself.”

Merlin pressed his fingertip against Najin’s heart. The Merlin visible to Najin was just an illusion, and his finger couldn’t actually touch Najin’s heart, but Najin felt a slight warmth nonetheless.

“There are mountains of precautions and things you should know… but in the end, the most important thing is that. Establish your own principles firmly and do what you believe is right.”

Merlin shrugged.

“Don’t let those constellations sway you. Well, it’s not that dangerous yet.”

Najin nodded slowly.

Under the gaze of the stars, Najin stepped deeper into the Outer Continent. A completely new stage. A place where common sense no longer applied. In other words, a world where everything was unfamiliar.

“Hey, you.”

Merlin’s voice echoed in Najin’s ear.

When he turned his head slightly, Merlin was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

“Why are you smiling?”

Najin touched the corner of his mouth and then chuckled. Why was he smiling? The reason was simple.

‘It’s the same.’

To Merlin’s question of what was the same, Najin answered.

It was the same as when he first left the underground city.

New scenery. Unfamiliar things. A place where things he had never seen before unfolded endlessly. Najin didn’t dislike this sensation of his world expanding.

Thud.

Najin took a forceful step forward. As if to leave a mark that he had set foot on the Outer Continent.

2.

The outside of the world, the Outer Continent.

Stars look down from the sky, somewhat crazy things wander around, and the extraordinary happens as if ordinary—yet even in such a place, people live on.

A nation built adjacent to the border.

Demon hunters who hunt demons.

Armies and knights who stand against monsters and demon tribes trying to cross the border into human lands.

People and forces of all kinds. After all, it was a place where human footsteps reached and where people lived, so finding a place where people gathered wasn’t difficult. After walking for a while, Najin arrived at a tavern.

Part tavern, part supply depot, part inn, part guild.

In reality, though it was just called a tavern, Najin understood it was a “base” that handled all kinds of business. The supplies piled high in the tavern were being transported to various parts of the Outer Continent by coachmen.

‘Not horses, but magical beasts.’

Since ordinary horses couldn’t function well here, they were using either modified breeds or magical beasts to pull the carriages. Glancing at these sights, Najin walked into the tavern.

Creeeeak, as he pushed open the tavern door.

The gazes of those gathered inside the tavern turned to Najin. Eyes checking who had entered. Najin looked back at them. Various types of humans were gathered in the tavern.

Knights in armor.

Mercenaries in light attire.

Hunters laying out and maintaining all sorts of tools.

Their gazes crossed with Najin’s. Their eyes, which had been trying to identify who he was, soon changed to curiosity. Of course, to them, Najin was a new face.

“What’s this? A newbie?”

“It’s been a while.”

“Could be a new recruit.”

“To the eastern front? Well, he’s in for a rough time.”

“Could be from a knightly order too.”

“No way. He’s not wearing armor. Knights live for the pleasure of engraving emblems on their armor. Armor, or at least greaves or pauldrons—you need to wear something to be called a knight.”

They chattered among themselves, ignoring Najin. Letting their voices fade into the background, Najin walked deeper into the tavern. Then he handed a few gold coins to the tavern keeper and said:

“I want to hunt wyverns. Can you tell me where to go?”

The tavern keeper looked at Najin silently. Then, taking only two of the five gold coins Najin had offered, he answered briefly:

“First time in the Outer Continent?”

“Yes.”

“Hunting wild wyverns is easy, but finding wild wyverns is difficult in itself. If you’re determined to catch a wyvern, there is a battlefield I could recommend…”

The tavern keeper looked Najin up and down.

“But I don’t really recommend it.”

“May I ask why?”

“It’s too rough a place to recommend to someone who’s clearly a rookie. If I send you there and you come back as a corpse, not only will I feel bad, but I’ll get an earful from those guys.”

He smiled bitterly and pointed behind Najin. There were men walking toward them, holding drinks. They set their glasses down next to Najin with a thud and joined the conversation.

“Innkeeper, you were going to recommend the Hodgkin front, right? That’s where wyvern units often appear.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s not a good idea. He’ll definitely die if he goes there.”

“Hey, rookie. I don’t know what you did in the inland, but going straight to a battlefield isn’t good. You don’t even know the ecology of the monsters here. It’s not an easy place.”

It was far from territorial behavior.

Listening to their conversation, they seemed genuinely trying to give advice. Najin listened quietly to their words, then took out a necklace he had kept inside his clothes and handed it to the tavern keeper.

A White Rank insignia.

Recognizing the insignia, the tavern keeper narrowed his eyes.

This insignia meant that the person before him was a Sword Seeker-level powerhouse and had experience with various missions. As if something had dawned on him, the tavern keeper frowned and asked Najin:

“Your name is?”

“Najin.”

When Najin answered, the tavern keeper’s eyes widened, and one of the men who had joined the conversation slowly tilted his head. Najin, Najin… the man muttered, then let out a short exclamation.

“Najin… the youngest Sword Seeker?”

“Isn’t Lord Charon the youngest Sword Seeker?”

“You’re behind on outside news. That record was broken a few weeks ago. I told you to read the newspapers.”

“Broken? By how much?”

“Eighteen years old.”

“What?”

“Eighteen years old, I said.”

As the man who had asked fell silent.

Not just the men who had joined the conversation, but the gazes of everyone drinking in the tavern turned to Najin. Though residents of the Outer Continent were generally uninterested in the affairs of the inner world, news about the youngest Sword Seeker was an exception.

It was a major event that had shaken the Empire, and news that would naturally interest them as warriors.

“Can you tell me about this place called the Hodgkin front?”

Seeing Najin ask this, the tavern keeper laughed incredulously and pulled out several documents.

3.

“So, you want to volunteer for our unit?”

The wyvern hunting unit at the Hodgkin front.

The unit commander, Gillette Reginpert, lit a cigarette and looked at the boy before him. Though it was said that from Sword Seeker rank onwards one maintained a youthful body, even accounting for that, the boy looked young.

‘The youngest Sword Seeker, Najin.’

The tavern keeper’s letter of introduction stated that the person before him was that boy who had recently set the Empire ablaze. I see. He didn’t just look young—he was young.

“This is an honor. The Empire’s youngest Sword Seeker volunteering for our unit. What’s your reason?”

“I want to experience hunting wyverns.”

“That’s a straightforward reason. So how many battles do you want to join?”

Najin nodded.

Gillette burst into laughter.

“You’re an odd one. Coming all the way to the Outer Continent to hunt wyverns and then immediately volunteering for the army.”

“I’d like to learn methods to bring down flying monsters, but the inland wasn’t very helpful.”

“Indeed, there’s nothing quite as intense as wyverns.”

I like your straightforward purpose, he muttered, then gestured for Najin to follow him.

“Well, if you’re not going to work with our unit for years, I’m reluctant to train you in techniques. After all the training, you’ll just leave in about ten days, right?”

As they walked, Gillette continued:

“This is a battlefield. Not a place for teaching and looking after youngsters. I’ll show you, but don’t expect any special help.”

He flicked away his finished cigarette and glanced at Najin.

“If you get in the way, I’ll kick you out immediately, understood?”

He would only allow Najin to stand on the battlefield with them.

A reminder that Najin was an outsider. Just then, a bell rang across the battlefield. A signal that a wyvern unit had appeared. Gillette clicked his tongue.

“Perfect timing. Let’s go.”

* * *

Demon Lord, the ruler of demons.

Naturally, under a ruler exists an army. The wyvern unit was one such force. And… where armies appear, there can only be a battlefield.

Clang, Claaang!

“Push forward!”

Crunch, Crack.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Push, push!”

“Left flank, they’re appearing on the left flank!”

The sound of weapons clashing. Shouts echoing loudly. The place where Najin arrived following Gillette was truly worthy of being called a battlefield. Soldiers maintaining the front line and knights weaving between them.

“Wyverns, it’s the wyvern unit!”

And there was Najin’s target as well.

Beings casting shadows on the ground. Wyverns flying high in the sky, and demons riding on their backs. The army known as the wyvern unit.

Najin glanced to his side.

The wyvern hunting unit that had arrived at the battlefield with Najin, led by Gillette. A guerrilla force assembled specifically to deal with the wyvern unit.

“Let’s go.”

With that brief command, Gillette gestured.

Following his signal, some planted large ballistas in the ground, while others pulled chains with a “chaarruk” sound. At the end of the chains were stakes.

Najin watched them silently.

The reason Najin had come here was ultimately to find a way to hunt “flying targets,” and those who made wyvern hunting their profession were good examples to learn from. Soon, they began to move one by one.

Twooong!

Najin didn’t focus on those who started intercepting with ballistas. His gaze was fixed on those with chains. Without means to attack at range, how did they hunt those flying far away?

Unless one was a Sword Master, there was no way to cut down a target dozens of meters away, nor to bring down flying monsters. A swordsman who hadn’t reached transcendence could only cut what their sword and sword energy could reach.

The unreachable distance.

The gap between sky and earth.

How to overcome that.

Charrrruk!

A soldier standing beside Gillette provided the answer. He grabbed the chain, started spinning it, and began running across the battlefield. Then, with a boom, he leaped off the ground and hurled the chain high into the sky.

The stake, flying at high speed, pierced through the wyvern’s hide, and the soldier jumped up using the chain’s recoil. Twisting his body, he wrapped the chain around himself and soared into the air. Najin took in the sight of the soldier rising skyward.

It wasn’t just one soldier.

Each spinning their chains, the soldiers began sprinting across the battlefield. The unit’s mages, rather than directly targeting the flying wyverns, created platforms for the soldiers to step on and leap from. Soldiers with large ballistas embedded chain-linked arrows into the cliff.

Like setting up a net.

Soldiers began running along this net. Some ran across the battlefield, while others ran along chains firmly fixed to the cliff. The only thing distinguishing them from other soldiers on the chaotic battlefield was that they held chain stakes in their hands.

“Hey, rookie.”

Najin looked to his side.

There stood Gillette, grinning. The commander of the wyvern hunting unit. He tossed a chain stake to Najin.

“Unless you can draw out sword energy for dozens of meters, a chain stake is essential for wyvern hunting. I’ll lend you one.”

Gillette shrugged.

“Well, you’d need at least a month of practice spinning the chain to use it properly, so it won’t be easy…”

As Gillette was muttering this and about to spin his own chain, Najin brushed past him with a thud. Not even listening to the end, Gillette thought with a bitter smile.

‘He’s charging ahead with enthusiasm, but…’

How could it be that easy?

There’s a reason the wyvern hunting unit was specially formed. Handling chain stakes is not an easy task, and hitting a flying wyvern with a stake is even more difficult.

Only some soldiers who have mastered chain handling over many years and become proficient with chain stakes can join this unit.

Youngest Sword Seeker, turned the Empire upside down—rumors may abound, but what’s required on the battlefield isn’t talent but practiced skill and immediate judgment. With just enthusiasm like that, he’ll fall flat. As Gillette was about to click his tongue at this thought:

Charruk, spin.

Najin began spinning the chain stake. At that moment, Gillette’s eyes narrowed. Even stopping the spinning of his own chain, Gillette stared at Najin.

The position of the chain, the grip, the spinning speed and the angle of the stake…

The more he observed each element, the narrower Gillette’s eyes became. He felt something was off. Hadn’t this boy just set foot on this battlefield today and just received the chain stake?

Yet, what was this movement?

Every action was precise. Skilled. Not a rookie. The boy overlapped with the image of a veteran soldier who seemed to have spent at least several years in the wyvern hunting unit. Was it his imagination? But even that thought soon disappeared.

Thud, and twooong.

Najin leaped off the ground and hurled the chain stake. The stake, cutting through the air, deeply embedded itself in the wyvern’s belly, and Najin jumped up using the chain’s recoil. Twisting his body in mid-air, Najin wound up the chain and accelerated his body.

Every movement was perfect.

Even to Gillette, the commander, it was flawless.

“Huh.”

Gillette Reginpert let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Is this kid crazy?”