Ch.288Icarus’s Wings (8)

Najin’s stage painted over the sky.

The landscape of the underground city Attman.

Built in the lowest place, a city where stars couldn’t be seen spread out with Najin at its center. Originally, it would have been a dark city without even a speck of starlight, but…

Sparkle.

Stars were now shining in Attman. A constellation of seven stars, the Morning Star. This was the optimal place where Najin could affirm himself. At this starting point where all his stories began, Najin raised his sword.

Excalibur shone.

The stars engraved on the star sword shone fiercely.

The underground city Attman painted over the sky, and beneath that sky spread Helios, the nation that had been closest to the heavens. Icarus reached out toward the stars shining in that sky. The star that had forgotten itself and become a dead one roared.

The cry of the transcendent shook the entire world.

Immediately after, all elements comprising Helios shot up toward the sky. Buildings disintegrated. Pillars large and small that supported the buildings were fired like arrows. The waterways that spread like spider webs throughout Helios became nets. The main roads, wide enough for several carriages to pass through, became whips.

A massive wave crashed down upon Najin.

The name attached to that wave was Helios.

And, naturally, a nation has its citizens. The corpses that had been taxidermied throughout Helios began to run along the roads and waterways stretching toward the sky.

What moved them wasn’t their own will or signals sent from their brains. They were already dead, their souls long gone. What moved them now was Icarus’s telekinetic force.

He surrounded the citizens’ bodies with force fields, made them grasp weapons coated in force fields, and moved their bodies with his telekinetic power. They were Icarus’s army, no different from apostles of the Celestial Star.

Buuuuuuuuu!

As if announcing war, they blew horns and charged toward Najin. As an entire nation declared war against him, Najin smiled.

Flutter.

The Free Knight’s coat fluttered. The military flag tied to the Cross Star spear fluttered, and the symbols of various knightly orders tied to Najin’s pauldrons billowed in the rushing wind. Before he knew it, the symbol of the Bull Horned Star was in Najin’s hand.

The horn announcing the start of war.

The captain of the Golden Horn Knights blew his horn. The sound of horns made by countless citizens of Helios was buried and disappeared beneath the sound made by Najin alone.

“I am the captain of the Golden Horn Knights.”

Najin shouted before the overflowing wave.

“A Free Knight and…”

With a spin, Najin aimed the Cross Star spear at the nation named Helios and smiled.

“The Seal of Morning Star.”

I accept that war.

Charging Horn.

The storm that burst from the spear tip tore a large hole in the army that was crashing down like a wave. The hole was quickly filled, and the soldiers and pillars that had been blown away soon found their places again, but Najin wouldn’t miss the gap created.

Tak, tak, tak.

Najin, who had been taking one step at a time.

Kwang.

He stomped the ground and began to sprint.

…Since ancient times, transcendents had been compared to nations. In reality, they possessed power comparable to an entire nation and had their own stage.

And Najin had ascended to transcendence.

Though he could only step into transcendence while wielding Excalibur, and it was still an incomplete transcendence, transcendence was transcendence nonetheless. It meant that the current Najin also possessed power comparable to a nation.

‘Ah.’

Najin could now understand what that meant. With each step he took, the scenery changed completely. Power overflowed, incomparable to when he was a Sword Seeker. The stage spread behind him amplified Najin’s starlight.

A wave that would have swept him away when he was a Sword Seeker.

However, it was a wave insufficient to sweep away the current Najin.

2.

It was the moment Najin leaped into the wave. The spears and swords they thrust, the buildings that rippled, the pillars falling from all directions swallowed Najin.

For a moment, the light Najin produced was engulfed, but.

Light that even the Dragon of Abyss couldn’t swallow couldn’t possibly be covered by mere buildings. Along with the light that leaked out, everything surrounding Najin was completely cut to pieces. With sword energy spreading in all directions, Najin sprinted while dragging his sword.

Not stopping for even a moment.

The things Icarus threw at Najin, Najin used as a path toward him. Mounting the road that was being wielded like a whip, Najin dashed forward.

Swaaaaaaack!

The air brushed past Najin’s ears. The Free Knight’s coat fluttered like a flag. As the scenery changed with each step, the Helios army rushing along the road extended their spears and swords toward Najin.

Still, Najin did not stop.

There was no need to stop to swing his sword, nor even a need to swing his sword at all. Najin collided with them head-on with his bare body wrapped in mana. When the star of Penetration shone, Najin’s body accelerated.

They break. They snap. They shatter.

A transcendent is literally a being who has transcended. Mere mortals cannot stop a transcendent with their spears and swords. Even if transcendent-made weapons were placed in their hands, the situation wouldn’t change much.

Even with their weapons shattered, they still reached out toward Najin. Najin paid no attention to the hands reaching out to grasp a star.

After all, he had no intention of being caught by such feeble hands.

Their hands crumbled the moment they touched Najin’s body. Fingernails and blades left small wounds on Najin’s body, but these were of little significance to him.

Flash.

Excalibur’s regenerative power instantly erased such minor wounds.

This was why transcendents who opposed Arthur regarded him as a nightmare. Not just for his strength, but because no matter how many wounds they inflicted, he would instantly recover and charge at them, causing their morale to crumble.

Kwajik.

Najin increased his speed as he stomped the ground.

Though Najin had been unfamiliar with transcendent battles, now he seemed to understand the feeling. He realized what it meant to unfold a stage. If a transcendent’s strength came from believing in oneself, then the stage was a means of imposing that belief not only on oneself but also on others.

“Hoo…”

Exhaling a long breath, Najin opened his eyes wide.

The city’s bell tower was being fired at him like a stake. Toward the bell tower that had approached right in front of him, Najin swung his sword. After cutting off the ceiling of the bell tower, Najin leaped inside.

Kwajik, kwadeudeudeuk…

Icarus tried to crush Najin with the entire bell tower, but Najin’s speed was faster than the compression of the tower. Najin, who had penetrated through the bell tower and escaped outside, spun in mid-air and readjusted his grip on the sword.

The basic stance of the Triumphant Sword.

While suspended in the air, Najin swung his sword. The bell towers being fired consecutively at Najin split along the trajectory of his sword. The split fragments tried to fire again, but Najin’s movements were faster.

Before the fragments could be fired at him.

Najin made leap after leap, kicking off the fragments floating in the air. Najin’s eyes were fixed on only one person from beginning to end.

The Celestial Star, Icarus.

Everything else was merely an obstacle. Najin approached Icarus, who was bound to his throne and reaching out to him. As if saying that such things couldn’t capture a star, he struck down all the hands reaching out.

Stand up. Tear off those chains.

‘If you can’t do that.’

I’ll tear you from that throne myself.

Kuung.

Najin cut through the road flying toward him and stomped down with his raised foot. When the force field was stripped from the heavily undulating road and it returned to a flat road, Najin took his stance.

For the first time, Najin, who had never stopped until now, came to a halt.

The First Horn.

As if waiting for that moment, Helios crashed down all at once, and Najin brought down his raised sword.

Triumph.

A storm raged.

Chaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

The sword energy that raced along the straight road shattered everything in its path. Hundreds of fragments floating in the air evaporated in an instant. The ferocious sword energy, as if it could cut even the sky, leaped across hundreds of meters and finally reached Icarus.

The audience hall split.

Most of the chains that spread like spider webs throughout the audience hall were cut off. After shattering the chains binding Icarus, the sword energy dispersed as if having accomplished its purpose.

Silence fell.

Nothing remained where the Triumphant Sword had passed. The pillars, fragments, and even soldiers that had filled the air could not, at least in this moment, stand between Najin and Icarus.

A path created in a straight line.

Enduring the recoil of the Triumphant Sword with gritted teeth, Najin looked at Icarus.

Only one chain remained bound to his body.

In fact, rather than being bound, it was more accurate to say it was piercing through Icarus. It was a chain extending from a stake that pierced Icarus’s heart. That was not a chain Najin could untie.

It was a chain Icarus himself had to untie.

Najin couldn’t offer any help with that, but…

Kwak.

Daedalus could help.

3.

Daedalus.

The first and last inventor in human history to recreate a masterpiece.

He, who was Icarus’s friend, built all the buildings of Helios, the nation of the sky, for his friend. And in his final moment, what he designed using all his knowledge was none other than the castle where Icarus resided.

Labyrinth.

The masterpiece that would later be called the Great Maze.

Some said it was a prison to contain Icarus who had become a dead one, and others said it was a trap to entangle and kill intruders who set foot in the ruined nation.

But Najin, who had experienced Daedalus’s life, knew.

That this maze was not for such purposes.

“Look at this, Daedalus.”

“It’s a maze. A great maze at that!”

Once, when exploring ruins with Icarus.

“This ruin was left by a great magician of ancient times, right? So, this maze must also have been created by that great magician. Huh, I’m excited.”

“Can’t we just break through and pass?”

“Ha, what a boring thing to say, Daedalus.”

A maze created by a great magician. At the entrance of the maze hiding treasure, when Daedalus asked, “Can’t we just break through?” Icarus replied like this:

“This is a trial left to us by a great magician of ancient times, and an enjoyable adventure. Only by breaking through this maze with the proper strategy will the reward at the end be worthwhile. The very act of wandering through the maze is an adventure in itself.”

“An adventure?”

“Yes, an amazing adventure!”

A trial and.

An amazing adventure.

Daedalus couldn’t forget those words.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Let’s conquer the ruin, Ariadne.”

He couldn’t forget even after a hundred years.

And, in his final moment, Daedalus designed.

‘The Great Maze where memories swirl.’

It was a maze that would only be completed when Icarus forgot himself and eroded, radiating the starlight he possessed in all directions. Daedalus, who knew his friend would someday break, designed such a maze.

Icarus’s starlight, his life, his memories.

To contain and preserve those things that would scatter and disperse in all directions. To ensure they couldn’t escape outside, to make those memories wander forever within the castle.

‘But.’

Daedalus smiled bitterly.

‘This is not a prison to confine you forever.’

Someday, if you escape this maze.

If you can untie the chains you’ve bound yourself with.

You could fly through the sky one last time.

‘Someday, surely.’

Hoping for that day to come, Daedalus prepared one clue so that his foolishly stubborn friend could break through the maze.

A ball of thread unraveled from the entrance of the maze.

Daedalus’s masterpiece that marked the only path through the Great Maze Labyrinth, a pair to the Labyrinth.

‘Ariadne’s Thread.’

In the last moment of his life, Daedalus visited Icarus. Then, he threw the ball of thread he was holding. So that someday, if his friend rose from the throne by his own power, he could navigate through this maze Daedalus had prepared.

“…”

Najin looked ahead.

A thread invisible to anyone else’s eyes.

But to Najin’s eyes, who had lived Daedalus’s life, a path made of thread was visible. That path extended straight behind Najin. Until now, Najin hadn’t moved irregularly. He had followed that thread, clearing away everything blocking the path to ensure unobstructed progress.

Najin looked at Icarus.

Now, this path should be visible to his eyes too.

With all chains broken and only one remaining, the light of the Mourning Star beat upon Icarus’s body. Icarus’s pupils began to tremble.

One step forward.

Suddenly, Najin looked to his side. Light was leaking from the La Mancha flag tied to his pauldron. The leaked light soon transformed into human figures.

“Now, it’s time for the finale.”

The eccentric gentleman of La Mancha patted Najin’s shoulder.

“Let’s run with excitement!”

A tapping sound of a staff was heard.

“Do you mean this, my lord?”

Rocinante smiled while tapping his staff.

“Well, I can’t help it. Understood, my lord.”

Sancho smiled, shaking his head as if he couldn’t be helped.

Tuk.

The three pushed Najin’s back.

“Ah.”

Najin chuckled.

“Of course, my lord.”

Najin threw Excalibur toward the sky. The light emitted by Excalibur flashed like a star. As a massive star rose in the sky, Najin held up the Cross Star spear.

The Laughing Star shone.

A straight path extending all the way to Icarus.

As if inviting him to come, Najin pointed with his spear at the star high in the sky.

And, kwajik.

Icarus slowly began to rise. The chain piercing his heart seemed to be connected to the audience hall, and beyond that, to the nation of Helios. It was a weight too heavy for a single human to bear.

There was no way he could fly through the sky with such a weight.

To fly, he needed to remove those shackles.

Najin smiled.

Because he could guess what Daedalus would say.

“Icarus.”

Daedalus pointed to the sky.

“It’s time to embark on a journey.”