Ch.131131. Rage

About twenty paces apart.

The leap had ended. Landing on the ground with fragments of vivid flames trailing behind like a tail, it looked as if a meteor had fallen from the sky. —KWAAANG! Immediately after, a deafening explosion tore through the air from a distance. The battle between Charlotte and Alvar had begun.

“…You.”

Elandir sensed the signs as well. As the guardian of Alfheim, he was connected to the World Tree’s senses. A clash between beings that even Elandir couldn’t ignore. Even if he hadn’t noticed Rex specifically, he couldn’t help but realize the situation had become complicated.

He saw the fierce flames rising from Rex’s body. A brilliant light. Elandir frowned as he spoke.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Rex moved forward silently. As time passed, the radiance engulfing his entire body gradually grew larger. Behind his slowly moving feet, flames fluttered like feathers. Elandir’s face hardened.

“Stop. If you come any closer…”

“I just remembered something I didn’t get to say.”

Rex stopped in his tracks. Just ten steps away. A distance he could close in an instant if he wanted to. Elandir knew this too. He gripped his longsword, remaining on high alert. But Rex wasn’t looking at Elandir. With calm eyes fixed on Ellin, he spoke.

“Lady Ellin. I find that I cannot give you up after all.”

“…Rex?”

“You called me your friend. I feel the same way. You said you were happy during the days we spent together, but I too was happy in our daily life together.”

Ellin stared at Rex with wide eyes. Rex drew his zweihander with a bitter smile.

“I don’t want that happiness to end so soon.”

“Don’t insult Ellin’s resolve! What you’re trying to do now would turn Ellin’s noble sacrifice into nothing! Human, considering that you are Ellin’s friend, I will end this with minimal punishment if you stop now. But… if you continue to mock Alfheim any further…! I will have no choice but to take your life with my own hands.”

“Lady Ellin. Do you remember the promise you made to me?”

Despite Elandir’s warning, Rex took another step forward.

“Later. We were supposed to go see the ocean together. You’re the one who suggested it, so how disappointed would everyone be if you’re the only one who backs out?”

“…No. Rex, you know too. I… I have to perform the ritual for the elves—”

“You’re being selfish, Lady Ellin. Why should I care about your circumstances? If you made a promise, you should keep it.”

“Rex! Please, listen to me. You can’t do this. You’re… a good person, right? Like my brother said, if you turn back now, you can still be forgiven.”

“No.”

Rex replied with a sullen face. Ellin flinched at his words, looking anxiously between Elandir and Rex. The only reason Elandir hadn’t immediately struck Rex down was because Rex was Ellin’s friend. But even that mercy was reaching its limit.

“…Final warning. Turn back. If you refuse, I will cut you down.”

The Elandir that Ellin knew was not one to speak empty words. If this continued, Rex would truly die by Elandir’s hand. That was an outcome she absolutely could not accept. How could she persuade Rex? Hadn’t they already said their goodbyes moments ago? Rex had seemed to accept their parting, so why had the situation come to this?

“Ellin. What you said was wrong.”

Rex no longer used honorifics when addressing Ellin.

“I’m not a good person. You see, I’m selfish just like you. But until now, I’ve never asked you for anything. So.”

Rex smiled.

“Just this once, indulge my childish whim.”

His final words were drowned out by the violent air pressure. KUWOONG…! A storm raged around Elandir. His green eyes glowed with an intensity deeper than usual. Elandir shouted, exhaling breath heated with passion.

“Do you think Alfheim will turn a blind eye to your evil deeds! The warnings are over. You will not leave Alfheim alive. Your flesh will become nutrients for the forest. Regret your pitiful choice!”

“Brother, please!”

Ellin desperately reached out toward Elandir, but her hand stopped mid-motion. Thud. The focus disappeared from Ellin’s eyes, and her staggering body collapsed into Elandir’s arms. Having quickly struck Ellin’s neck with the back of his hand, Elandir gritted his teeth and muttered.

“…Stop him.”

Rex had crossed the line. Out of compassion for his sister, Elandir had overlooked the disrespect until now, but that had been a mistake. This human who didn’t know his place not only failed to appreciate Elandir’s mercy, but now sought to disrupt Alfheim’s sacred ritual. He had crossed the line of tolerance.

“Kill him, make him pay for his sins.”

He wanted nothing more than to personally behead the man. Elandir barely suppressed the sudden impulse. There wasn’t much time. The preparations for the ritual were complete and about to begin. Only his father, Elturas, could attune the World Tree. Even now, Elturas was bearing a great burden while waiting for Ellin. They needed to reach the World Tree quickly.

“Can I leave this to you?”

“Yes.”

The elves following Elandir answered in unison. All of them were warriors raised in Alfheim. Their individual combat prowess was comparable to the knights of the Imperial Palace. If the other Apostles had intervened, Elandir would have had no choice but to join the fight as well. But for some reason, those two were fighting each other. In the end, they only faced Rex, a mere Hwigwang-level fighter, and he could never defeat ten warriors of similar caliber.

As Elandir slowly turned his back, the elves glared at Rex with murderous intent. The battle began silently. This was not a fair duel. It was merely judgment to eliminate an intruder. Like Elandir, the elves also felt anger toward Rex. A disturber of the forest’s peace. A human trying to interfere with the ritual everyone had been waiting for. Blades drawn simultaneously shot forth from various angles.

When the elves who had launched themselves from the ground approached his face—

Rex muttered with a grim smile.

“…You’ll regret this.”

A lightning bolt pierced through space. No one present saw Rex’s movement. Cheonroedanhon. Even sound couldn’t keep up with his sword strike. The mental image of Cheonroedanhon was to cut down everyone faster than lightning. Four years ago, Rex couldn’t become lightning. He couldn’t transcend the limits of swordsmanship.

Now, he had become lightning itself. Attacks coming from all directions were deflected. The sound echoed belatedly. —KWARRUNG! The sound of cloth being cut, swords breaking, someone falling. The elves stepped back with expressions of shock. No, they thought they should retreat, but their bodies couldn’t respond to that thought.

“Huk!”

Before they could even realize they’d been cut, searing pain erupted. The elves couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. They were comrades who had worked together for a long time. Except for Elandir, they were considered the best in Alfheim in terms of skill. But none of them could react to Rex’s counterattack.

One by one.

They collapsed. And never moved again. The emotion the elves felt then was neither bewilderment nor anger, but pure terror. Just as one fears an incomprehensible phenomenon, the elves feared Rex’s martial prowess. Is this really a Hwigwang like me? Rex’s Hwigwang was incomparably more brilliant than the elves’, and the sacred flame covering his blade was dense.

“No!”

Not all of them fell. Though many elves were cut by Cheonroedanhon, only two had collapsed. Even those injuries weren’t fatal. Their ankles were deeply cut, preventing immediate movement, but with treatment, they could certainly recover. However, the elves couldn’t think deeply about that.

Rex was coming.

“…Block him!”

For a moment, fear gave way to a sense of duty. They had to protect the forest. They had to prevent the ritual from being disrupted. That sense of duty drove the remaining elves’ bodies.

They gave it their all. Yet they couldn’t reach him. Eight. Five. And then three. With each exchange of offense and defense, the number of elves steadily decreased.

‘I can see it.’

Blades pouring down simultaneously from all directions. The fear etched on the elves’ faces. Droplets of blood seeping from wounds. All of these appeared in slow motion to Rex’s eyes. The sacred flame swelled violently. In that moment, Rex’s zweihander became a blazing fire. Yeomhonbancheon. The spreading flames devoured the attacks. The elves’ weapons stuck to the blade of the zweihander. In addition to the power contained in the flames, there was also the energy of his true self. The sacred flame, grown several times larger, swept through the elves’ Hwigwang.

JJEONG! Cracks formed in the blue-green Hwigwang. Tiny fissures. They couldn’t withstand it. The cracks spread like spider webs before completely shattering and dispersing. The elves took the full impact. They spat black blood and flew backward from the shock that churned their internal organs.

“I won’t kill you.”

Rex looked down at the fallen elves with a somber face and said.

“Because you’re Ellin’s family, I won’t kill you.”

They were all destined to die anyway if Ellin’s ritual was stopped. The elves found his words detestable but couldn’t refute them. They lacked the courage to argue when faced with such a terrifying gaze. Their physical strength had also waned to the point where they couldn’t even move a finger.

Rex passed by the squirming elves and entered deeper into the forest. The closer he got, the larger the World Tree appeared. The World Tree, which had already looked immensely huge from the entrance of Alfheim, now occupied most of his field of vision.

“…”

Rex’s legs stopped. He cracked his neck left and right to loosen up. The elves he had just faced were all Seongakja who had reached the Hwigwang stage. He had won easily. And his stamina hadn’t been depleted as much as he’d expected. Rather, he felt more fulfilled than ever.

Obviously, being at the same level doesn’t mean having the same skill. Experience accumulated. Number of blessings. Talent. Various factors intertwine, so a Seongakja’s true ability cannot be defined by level alone.

Even considering that.

‘Too easy.’

He knew the reason. It was because Rex overwhelmingly surpassed those elves in every aspect. He hadn’t used any of his blessings yet. There was no need to.

Talent.

Since becoming a Seongakja, everyone he met called Rex a genius. Kaordix too. He was convinced that given enough time, Rex might even surpass Kaiserion, and he staked his reputation on it.

Four years ago, Rex lacked experience compared to his talent. Shimryeontu supplemented that experience. The phantoms he encountered in the illusions were heroes who had been active in the Great War hundreds of years ago. Warriors famous enough for Kaordix to remember, each possessing superhuman strength. Rex fought them every night and was defeated.

Most of the phantoms were Apostles. He could easily defeat Hwigwang-level opponents, but he still couldn’t win against an Apostle even once. Despite losing, there was something to gain. The power of beings called Apostles, how they handled divine power.

For a Seongakja who has entered the Hwigwang stage to advance to a higher realm, mastery of ‘mental imagery’ is necessary. Mental imagery is an ability that cannot be defined in a single way. He had come to understand it somewhat.

The power to manifest what one desires. To overturn the rules of the world according to one’s will and create one’s own ideal. Divine Release. That is the ultimate destination of all Seongakja.

He hadn’t reached it yet.

But he had honed his sense of perceiving ‘mental imagery’ sharply.

A tingling hostility spread toward him. A primal killing intent that stabbed at his back, determined to kill him no matter what. Rex turned his head, lowering his zweihander.

“Did you kill all the others?”

“No.”

“…Why?”

“Because they’re Ellin’s family.”

As if it was an unexpected answer, Elandir’s face showed confusion. But only briefly. Elandir intoned in a cold voice.

“…At least I’ll give you a painless death.”

Ellin was nowhere to be seen. In that short time, he had sent Ellin to the World Tree and returned here. Rex’s gaze turned cold. Until now, Elandir had been the impatient one, but now their positions were reversed.

Could he win?

It was a question he didn’t need to consider. The answer was simple. The possibility was close to zero. Talent aside, he was overwhelmingly outmatched in blessings and experience. Elandir was a High Elf and had lived for an incomparably longer time than Rex. Having been active even during the Great War hundreds of years ago, his experience was beyond comparison.

The number of blessings too. No, for an Apostle, the concept of blessings itself becomes meaningless. The power and abilities wielded by an Apostle are no different from blessings. Naturally, the odds were terrible. But even so.

He couldn’t back down now.

Elandir’s form vanished from his spot. JJEOJUK! When a clear footprint was etched into the ground, Elandir was already thrusting his sword from behind. Rex widened his eyes and invoked Cheongang-gyeol. The divine power sleeping in the pattern spread throughout his entire body without reserve. There was no sound of blades clashing. That’s because they had entered an extreme realm where even sound couldn’t follow. Cutting, blocking, deflecting, dozens of afterimages appeared in the air and scattered. Countless trajectories filled the empty space again.

He couldn’t keep up. Rex, roughly pushed back, gripped his zweihander tighter while gasping for breath. Something wet trickled down his cheek. Blood. He’d been cut. It was the first injury he’d sustained today. A minor one. He could ignore it.

The Warrior’s Gaze. A scorching light flashed in Rex’s eyes like the sun. His extremely sharpened senses detected Elandir. Yet he couldn’t find an opportunity to counterattack. Instead of blocking vital areas, shallow and small wounds accumulated.

“How long will you keep running! You worm!”

Elandir shouted as he raised his foot. KWANG! Rex’s body floated in the air after being kicked in the abdomen. The sound was grand, but the damage wasn’t severe. He had deflected the impact by a hair’s breadth. He had also deliberately taken the hit to create distance. Rex landed lightly on the ground and sneered.

“Worm? That’s not something I want to hear from someone desperately trying to survive by sacrificing his little sister.”

“…You, son of a bitch!”

“Isn’t that right? If it were me, rather than selling out my family to extend my life, I would have accepted death willingly. Haven’t you elves already lived quite long? I don’t understand what kind of wealth and glory you’re hoping to enjoy by living longer… It doesn’t make sense.”

“…”

He had provoked him hoping that making him lose his composure would make him easier to deal with, but surprisingly, Elandir’s expression remained impassive. No, not impassive. When people become angry beyond a certain point, they often become calm instead. That was Elandir’s current state. Elandir stared at Rex with cold eyes. The blue-green Hwigwang that had been violently fluttering became serene. Like the sky before a storm hits. The contracting Hwigwang eventually seeped into Elandir.

Something was coming.

Instinctively, his senses warned him that the Elandir he was about to face would be different from the one before. Rex swallowed dryly and pointed his zweihander.

“Blooming (開花).”

Elandir’s lips parted.

“Ten Thousand Flowers Offering to Heaven (萬花奉天).”

Flowers bloomed profusely, covering the world.