Ch.287# Icarus’s Wings (7)

Najin experienced the life of Daedalus.

As Daedalus, he traveled with Icarus, achieved great feats, and witnessed the founding and fall of Helios.

“……”

At the end of that journey, Najin returned to himself and looked ahead.

There sat Icarus, bound to a throne.

Icarus’s wings had melted in the sun. His body was chained, unable to leave this place. The once freest adventurer had lost his wings and his freedom. All that remained was the king of the fallen nation of Helios.

All his citizens were dead.

His country had perished.

Nothing remained to protect or be responsible for.

Yet Icarus remained bound to the throne. Even after hundreds of years, Icarus still hadn’t found freedom.

“Ah.”

Watching him, Najin opened his mouth.

Or perhaps, it was Daedalus who spoke.

Stepping into the audience chamber, Daedalus gazed at his old friend. He witnessed the fate his friend had met. Najin naturally understood what thoughts and feelings would cross his mind now. After all, he had experienced his life.

Daedalus would have smiled bitterly.

Would have sighed.

Would have regretted and considered what-ifs, before realizing their futility and finally speaking.

“Icarus.”

In the end, this was all Daedalus could do.

“When’s our next journey?”

The unfinished last words.

The question he always asked Icarus.

Najin smiled bitterly as he spoke those words.

“……”

And then, Icarus, bound to the throne, slowly raised his head. With hollow eyes of the dead, Icarus looked at the human standing before him. His gaze was directed at Najin, but he wasn’t seeing Najin.

He saw the image of Daedalus overlaid on Najin.

Icarus’s pupils contracted. Normally, human words cannot reach those who have become the dead. Communication is impossible, and drawing any human-like response from them is nearly impossible.

It should be impossible, but.

The Star of Mourning shone.

Icarus, who had forgotten himself over too many years, couldn’t remember himself even under the light of the Mourning Star, but at least it could stimulate his soul.

“I’m tired of waiting. I’m getting restless.”

Najin smiled bitterly. Like Daedalus.

“Let’s leave soon. We’ve been in one place too long.”

Repeating words Icarus had once said, Daedalus closed his eyes. When he opened them again, it was Najin standing there. Najin grasped at the empty air.

The sword of stars, Excalibur, was drawn.

The audience chamber, neglected for hundreds of years, filled with starlight. Pointing the sword while drawing in the overflowing starlight, Najin spoke.

“Icarus.”

Icarus reacted to the starlight created by Excalibur. His eyes widened, and his chained body began to vibrate. The vibration traveled through the chains to the audience chamber, and from there began to spread throughout the entire castle.

Crack.

As fissures raced through the castle, Najin curled up the corner of his mouth.

“You said you wanted to reach King Arthur.”

He amplified Excalibur’s starlight.

“Then, try it.”

Here is the star you so desperately wanted to reach.

See if you can touch it.

With that provocative stance, Najin took a step toward Icarus. Immediately, an inhuman cry erupted from the mouth of the dead Icarus. With a sound like a whale’s cry, the castle began to collapse.

Tianyu Star, Icarus.

A constellation of 10 stars. The Fallen Star. The first and last king of the fallen nation Helios. The sole survivor of Helios. The navigator who migrated hundreds of thousands of whales to the sky. The once freest adventurer.

And, Daedalus’s dear friend.

‘A funeral for the star that has forgotten itself.’

Reciting the eulogy, Najin charged toward him.

2.

Even having forgotten himself, Icarus was still a constellation of 10 stars.

The number of stars doesn’t guarantee strength, but the wall between nine and ten is enormous. Breaking through that wall was proof enough of Icarus’s power.

-Even broken.

Merlin had said.

-He’s still terrifyingly powerful. Today’s constellations fear the “hundreds of thousands of whales” Icarus commands… but having seen the past, you know, don’t you?

Najin nodded with a bitter smile.

Of course, he knew.

Icarus possessed enough power to lift hundreds of thousands of whales into the sky, and was the originator of flight-based magic used in the modern era. But that alone couldn’t explain Icarus.

-Over time, the magic “Icarus’s Wings” was broken down, disassembled, and studied. And in that process, the wizards of the magic tower had to reclassify magic.

Icarus’s magic, including Icarus’s Wings.

In his time, it was magic left in the realm of mystery, but as eras changed, Icarus’s magic was studied. One fact was revealed as a result.

-The core of Icarus’s magic is force field manipulation.

Magic that surrounds objects with mana to interfere with them.

Most of Icarus’s magic has been reinterpreted in modern times as School of Force magic, and Icarus’s talent was analyzed and reduced to a single word.

Telekinesis.

The act of affecting surrounding objects based on one’s mental imagery. The ultimate goal of School of Force mages, and what the Purple Tower they gather in still pursues to this day. Someone who reached that level more than 900 years ago gestured.

Boom!

At that moment, the castle shook. The castle designed by Daedalus for Icarus, with walls that could withstand even constellation attacks, disassembled like puzzle pieces and shot into the sky.

-Remember that black mage you faced before? That 6th circle black mage Zarkan or whatever, who contracted with a demon.

He remembered. Najin recalled the demon contractor he and Juel Lazian had hunted down before departing for the Outer Continent.

-That black mage could only control force fields a few meters in size, but…

Merlin pointed at their surroundings.

-Icarus will be different.

There was no need to ask how different. Looking around provided the answer.

The castle ceiling had disassembled and risen into the sky. It wasn’t just the castle that had risen. On the back of the largest whale, there wasn’t just one castle; below the castle were cities of various sizes.

About half of the dozens of cities had disassembled.

The disassembled cities floated high in the sky.

Pieces ranging from tens of meters to just a few meters moved according to Icarus’s will. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of such pieces floated in the sky.

“Huh.”

Najin let out a hollow laugh. Having seen Daedalus’s memories, Najin knew. All of those were buildings created by Daedalus. In other words, they were materials sturdy enough to withstand the power of a transcendent.

And there were tens of thousands of them.

Feeling as if tens of thousands of spears, arrows, and swords were pointed at him, Najin sighed.

“Somehow I never get an easy fight.”

-So?

Merlin shrugged.

-Want to run away? That’s an option too.

“After coming this far?”

Najin gripped his sword tighter.

“Maybe in the past, but.”

The seven stars engraved on Excalibur shone. As the stars lit up one by one, amplifying the sword’s aura, Najin spoke.

“Things are different now.”

Almost simultaneously with Najin’s movement, pillars shot toward him. Boom! The ground shook as dust rose high into the sky. But by the time the pillars struck the audience chamber, Najin was already gone.

Leap, then Penetration.

Najin, who had jumped high by striking Penetration into the ground and using the recoil, exhaled deeply. With wide eyes, he assessed the battlefield. After determining the positions and sizes of the pillars floating in the sky, Najin moved.

Swoosh!

Pillars sliced through the air as they shot forward. Twisting his body in mid-air, Najin drove Excalibur into one of the pillars. Just as he had once stepped on a dragon’s scales to climb onto its back, Najin stepped on a protruding part of the pillar and climbed on top.

Though the pillar shook and moved at high speed, it was a manageable pace for Najin who had reached transcendence, unlike in the past.

Thud.

Najin ran across the top of the pillar.

The pillar’s direction suddenly changed, plunging down at a near-right angle, but to Najin it was no different than flat ground. Of course, Icarus wouldn’t just watch.

Pillars surrounded Najin, densely enclosing the space around him. Above, below, left, right—pillars with no gaps between them shot toward Najin. There seemed to be no space to squeeze through, but…

Boom.

Najin, with his foot planted firmly on a pillar, didn’t attempt to dodge. He swung his lowered sword. As starlight flashed, a single line was drawn in the empty air.

Slash!

The pillar split. Though sturdy enough to withstand a transcendent’s attack, it couldn’t withstand Excalibur’s cutting power. Najin dashed along the path created by the splitting pillar.

Dozens of pillars targeted his back. Dozens more targeted his front, and dozens more his sides. Despite being targeted by hundreds and thousands of blade-like pillars, Najin didn’t hesitate.

The Star of Penetration shone.

With narrowed eyes, Najin broke through along the thread-thin gap. Pointing his sword toward Icarus, who wielded tens of thousands of blade-like pillars, Najin aimed.

At the chains wrapping around his body.

As if to say he would cut those chains first.

3.

Najin felt like he was fighting an entire nation.

The cities that made up the nation of Helios united to block Najin’s path and attacked him like spears and swords. Blocking, deflecting, and dodging them, Najin thought.

Indeed, this wasn’t an easy fight.

A single pillar several meters long? He could cut it. Even if dozens of such pillars rained down, he could cut through them. He had that level of skill.

But what if it wasn’t dozens, but hundreds?

What if it was thousands or tens of thousands?

That’s when things changed. There was no end to the cutting. The tens of thousands of spear-like pillars moving as Icarus imagined were certainly threatening.

‘What’s worse is…’

Cutting them didn’t reduce their number. When he cut or split a pillar, even the fragments became small blades shooting toward Najin.

This was clearly an unfavorable battlefield for Najin.

Since ancient times, battles between Sword Masters and great mages were decided by “how well-prepared the mage was, and what artifacts the mage could use in the surroundings.”

And now?

This was Icarus’s country. An entire nation. Everywhere Najin looked belonged to Icarus and could be used as Icarus’s weapon. Even if Icarus had weakened from forgetting himself… here, Icarus was comparable to a god.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The fragments Najin had cut with his sword became small arrows raining down on him. He cut them down, but to cut the tens-of-meters-long pillar rising before his eyes, Najin had to allow some attacks through.

With a soft thud, several fragments embedded themselves in Najin’s body.

If they were ordinary arrows or projectiles, they would either pierce through his body or remain embedded. And at that level, they wouldn’t cause serious injury to Najin, a transcendent. That’s what he thought when he allowed the attack, but…

Najin’s brow furrowed in pain.

The stone fragments embedded in his body moved.

Stone fragments moved by telekinesis are different from straight-trajectory projectiles. They don’t stop moving even after embedding in the body. Neither piercing through nor staying put, they changed angles and tore through Najin’s body like living creatures.

Blood spurted from Najin’s mouth with a cough.

Feeling the stone fragments changing angles and pushing toward his heart, Najin let out a hollow laugh. In this situation, Najin felt surprise more than pain. This was certainly a method he hadn’t anticipated.

‘In that case.’

With a boom, Najin struck the ground and drew up his mana.

Mana emanating from his heart surged through his blood vessels. The mana circulating throughout his body crushed the foreign objects that had invaded. Having drawn up mana, he naturally had to use it. Najin spread the surging mana in all directions.

What he imbued in the spread mana was mental imagery.

The scenery preserved in the deepest part of his soul.

Najin’s stage began to unfold.

If Icarus had the advantage because this was his front yard, his nation of Helios…

‘I’ll just unfold my own stage.’

In the center of a nation built in the sky.

Flash.

An underground city built beneath the earth unfolded.

“……”

The king of a nation built closest to the sky, who had always viewed the stars from the closest vantage point, looked at Najin.

“……”

The hero of a city built farthest from the sky, who could never see the stars, looked at Icarus.

Their gazes overlapped.

In that overlap, Najin felt something.

“Ah.”

And then, he smiled.

He couldn’t help but smile.

Because Icarus was reaching out toward him. Just like he once reached toward the sky in that field.

Even as a dead soul, he still yearned.

To reach the stars.

To be able to touch the stars.