Chapter 128: Going Together

Rankelon’s face was filled with joy; the corners of his lips raised up high.

Seeing this, Isaac took a deep breath.

Breathing the same air as the creature in front of him was already enough to make him feel uncomfortable.

Although at the same time, this sight reassured him.

The people in this village are beyond saving.

And this guy is the center of it all.

While the Transcendent Race and humans were fighting over a cake called the ‘world’…

This guy here boldly proclaimed that destroying that cake would make everyone happy.

He said such words with so much sincerity that it made goosebumps appear on Isaac’s body.

Such destructive tendencies made the creature feel even more Transcendent-like than the average Transcendents.

Disgusting.

But, the most disgusting part about this wasn’t his desire for destruction, but rather the fact that he believed that he was right.

Of course, Isaac wouldn’t just slap him in the face right away.

They still needed him to enter the Primordials’ land.

“Our next destination is the land of the Primordials.”

Rianna said, interrupting Rankelon, who was drowning in bliss.

Her voice was colder than it had ever been.

“From there, we’re going to cross over to the humans’ world.”

Hearing her next words, Rankelon’s smile got even wider to the point that one would wonder if his head would be split into two.

He seemed to be basking in joy, as if he had been waiting for this for the longest time.

It showed his innocence and purity, like that of a child’s.

Which made the fact that he directed such innocence to destruction all the more disgusting to see.

“Ah, then, there’s no need to worry.”

Rankelon said with a soft smile, as if a burden had been lifted off his chest.

But this time, his smile wasn’t filled with joy, but worship.

Worship towards destruction.

“I will make it so that you can go on your journey comfortably.”

The fact that he could say such words with such a gentle tone only added more to the disgust that Isaac felt.

Next day.

The village was enveloped in silence.

Apparently, the merchants left the moment they saw the signs of stars appearing in the night’s sky, and that was probably why the place was eerily quiet compared to yesterday.

Still, since there were two batches of merchants, Isaac thought that only the first batch would leave while the second batch—the one who came at the same time as Nameless—would stay, but…

The village felt like it had been deserted.

Those merchants seemed to have disappeared, as if they were hiding somewhere.

As for why that was the case, it was revealed quickly enough…

“Everything’s ready!”

The village’s center.

This was the place where the soldiers had eaten together the first time they got here.

The merchants were lined up here.

But, on the contrary to their strange, unfamiliar attire…

The creatures who wore those attire were familiar faces they had seen in the passing.

They noticed one who had served them food.

Another who had guided them to the cattle shed.

One that they had seen patrolling and so on.

Indeed. They were none other than the villagers.

“…”

Isaac took a deep breath.

He could feel a chill running down his spine.

It wasn’t hard for him to guess what Rankelon and the other villagers had done.

Rianna, who was staring at the calm-looking villagers, also turned frozen stiff like a statue.

Only Isaac noticed the shift in her emotion though.

Hence why Rankelon just casually approached her with a smile.

“The plan is to disguise ourselves as merchants and go there directly. Things will go smoothly, there’s no need to worry.”

“…I see.”

Rianna didn’t say anything else.

Soon after, the Northerners joined the group.

Their wrists were tied with ropes since they were supposed to be sacrifices, but the binding was loose enough for them to break free at any time.

“Isaac! Isaac! Come here, quick!”

Just before they departed, Sharen called out to Isaac quietly.

He then followed her to the village’s entrance, where Pressing Stone and Nameless stood, waiting.

“I-I saw it!”

Though trembling and restless, Pressing Stone continued its explanation, waving its hands frantically.

“I-I was lying down over there, b-but then I felt a presence, so I got up! T-That’s when I saw it! T-The villagers! T-They buried the merchants’ corpses near the entrance!”

“…”

Nameless just listened to the story with her arms crossed, while Isaac’s expression hardened.

“O-Over there!”

Pressing Stone rolled urgently, guiding them.

The ground was damp, and it was clear that the place was freshly-covered.

Even Isaac’s just-average sense of smell could catch the strong scent of blood coming from down there.

“Urp.”

Sharen had already blocked her nose.

From the way she frantically shook the herbs in her hand, it was clear how disgusting the scent of blood was to her.

Meanwhile, Isaac felt a complicated feeling when he saw this.

It wasn’t just because those people were unfortunate victims though.

Am I really gonna mourn the corpses of Transcendents now?

He believed that their death would help in achieving his goal. In his eyes, Transcendents were enemies that he had to slain, no more, no less.

But after seeing this…

A complex feeling rose in his heart.

He never expected that he’d ever feel this kind of emotion when facing the Transcendent Race’s corpses.

No words came out of his mouth.

He thought that he probably should just leave, but…

No…

At the very least, I…

“…”

He closed his eyes, bowing his head.

Silence enveloped the place.

Everyone stayed still, not saying anything.

He believed that this was the least he could do for these people. When he thought it was enough and turned back…

Nameless was staring at him. Her eyes that resembled crescent moons stared at him from underneath her satgat.

“…”

“Why are you staring at me?”

“No reason. Just surprised.”

“Huh?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a human paying their respect in front of a Transcendents’ grave.”

Isaac didn’t say anything.

The feeling he felt was too complicated to describe with words.

Regardless, from what it seemed, the woman probably also shared the same feeling as him.

“If we have good weather, it’ll take us two weeks to arrive at the Primordials’ land.”

Aside from that, Rankelon also told them that there wouldn’t be any city or village in sight.

In fact, there wasn’t even anything to see; just dark sky and desolate land.

Only dusty wind and Demonic Beasts greeted them in their journey.

As they were walking like that, Isaac realized something.

I think I know why the merchants looked like pilgrims.

The journey was really that harsh.

One would need great courage to venture out of a village to go to another one.

Like its name, Naraka truly was a dreadful place to traverse through.

“…Even playing word chain becomes boring now.”

“I-Is that so?!”

Sharen, who was standing on Pressing Stone’s head, grumbled.

If there was one good thing about keeping the stone around, it was that it kept her occupied.

Too occupied in fact, to the point that the poor thing had to suffer every single day.

“S-Something’s approaching from the right!”

Suddenly, a bat-eared Transcendent who was walking at the very front of the group, shouted as such.

At that, Rianna and Isaac stepped forward.

What approached them were mole-like Demonic Beasts. They came in packs, kicking up dust, just like wolves, and had teeth just like them.

Since Naraka was so dark, it was easy to miss those guys until they were right in front.

“Their number?”

“T-Twenty to thirty.”

“A medium-sized pack.”

Holding her greatsword, Rianna nodded and stepped forward. Isaac did the same, holding the tachi on his waist.

Seeing them, Nameless frowned.

“Tsk, I told you before, no?”

“…”

“Pull your sword and clean them up. Don’t overly rely on your Iai.”

“…”

“Quickly, do it. There are only thirty of them—”

“Who do you think you are, my master?”

“What? Am I not good enough as a substitute?”

Nameless remarked, using a tone that was similar to the Grandmaster’s.

After spending a few days with her, Isaac got to know something about this woman.

She was a frivolous woman.

“Hurry up and go! Fight, fight! Is it right for a disciple of Number 10’s to be hesitating like this?”

“Haa…”

Being pushed from the back, Isaac was forced to step forward.

Rianna, who had been watching their conversation, also stepped back to give him some space.

“Good luck.”

She said quietly.

At that, Isaac nodded and stepped forward to confront the moles—each was as big as a grown man.

Every time he swung his sword, one Demonic Beast fell after another.

I’m used to reading the movements of my enemies…

That was his biggest strength, but now, it became a weakness as he couldn’t exactly read the beasts’ movements even if he wanted to.

“Don’t assume that the person you’re facing would act in line with what you know! That’s your weakness!”

Nameless shouted from behind.

This was something that Isaac understood.

For example, if he were to try and predict a sword trajectory and react to it…

If his opponent was too ignorant to know the perfect way, or if they made an unexpected move, then all of his predictions would be useless.

Strong against the strong.

Weak against the weak.

For someone who always ended up in long fights, this was a fatal flaw.

In fact, he had noticed this during the Volten Massacre.

“Remember, analyze, and adjust? C’mon, those things are useless if you can’t even take them head-on in the first place!”

But, his weakness wasn’t the only problem.

My body feels happy.

Naraka was a place without mana. His body felt unreasonably heavy during the battle and he quickly ran out of breath.

Even though he didn’t really deal with mana regularly, the mana-less environment still affected him.

Now he could truly understand why Rankelon believed that if the human world were to be turned into Naraka, only the strong would survive.

“What a good slave. He hunts down those beasts so eagerly.”

Rankelon rubbed his hands as he said that, as if trying to curry favor to Rianna—the one he deemed the strongest out of all of them.

After exterminating all the moles, Isaac returned to the group.

“Fighting with your head again? Stop doing that too much. Swordsmen usually are hot-headed, so it’s good to have a cool-head, but yours are too cold.”

“…”

Thinking too much about the sword was the habit he gained when he lived as the Ink Sword.

Whenever he saw a sword, he’d try his best to analyze and absorb everything about it.

This habit affected him in combat too.

“Try to use your feelings more. There are times when you’ll need that.”

“…You know.”

“What?”

“I appreciate you teaching me all this, but I don’t think the Grandmaster would be pleased if she were to know about this.”

Isaac could already see her grumbling, saying how dare she defiled her precious disciple behind her back like this.

Her tantrum would last for a really long time too.

Even a few bottles of alcohol wouldn’t fix it.

Nameless raised the corners of her lips slightly.

“Good. I’ll teach you more then.”

“…”

As stated before.

This woman was more frivolous than one might think.

The Silver Clock was up high in the sky, meaning the night had fallen.

Everyone stopped to pitch their tents, gathered around their campfires, stood guard, or ate their meals.

“No, that’s not it! Take one out!”

“Like this?”

“Why are you taking two out?! Are you an idiot?!”

“…”

Currently, Isaac was playing a game that Sharen had taught him. He was too speechless to say anything because he didn’t expect Sharen to call him an idiot.

Meanwhile, Silverna, who was watching from the side, burst out laughing.

“…”

At that moment, Rianna approached them quietly.

Seeing the way her eyes were locked on the greatsword, Isaac slowly got up.

During the day, he had to deal with the Demonic Beasts.

But that didn’t mean he was free at night.

Spar.

Every night, he’d be sparring with Rianna.

Their record so far was:

31 matches, 31 wins for Rianna, 0 wins for Isaac.

Indeed, he couldn’t win even once.

That was why the Transcendents believed that they weren’t sparring, Rianna was just torturing her slave.

Following behind him, Nameless called out to Isaac.

“Yesterday, you were forced into a fight of strength and lost helplessly. But, don’t make that a reason to avoid a fight of strength.”

“…Yes.”

“She already knows of your Demonic Energy. Don’t hold back, just use it against her, aggressively if you can. You need to get used to that kind it anyway, no?”

Unlike what the Grandmaster had taught, Nameless told him to use his Demonic Energy.

It felt off, but he understood why she told him that.

Truth to be told.

When it came to Demonic Energy, Nameless was more proficient than the Grandmaster.

After all, she had been living with the Primordials all her life.

“Isaac Logan.”

When he was about to take another step, a deep voice stopped his ankle from moving.

This time, it was Uldiran, who was sitting in front of the campfire, holding his wife on his side.

“Don’t use petty tricks. A Helmont isn’t one to be tricked.”

“…”

Lohengrin crossed Isaac’s mind for a moment there, but he clenched his mouth shut.

“They always go with overwhelming force. How to receive their blow would be a good direction to start thinking about.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

Isaac bowed at him.

These past few days, Uldiran had also been giving him advice on his spars against Rianna.

“You helped him again, Dear. Are you, perhaps?”

“Has he gained your recognition, Father?”

Watching his departed back, Seleni and Silverna asked Uldiran in turn.

“What recognition? Hmph, he’s still lacking!”

He grumbled, but when he saw Isaac’s back, he let out a bitter smile.

“That guy just reminded me of my younger self.”

“…”

“That’s all.”

In his youth, who was Uldiran?

He was none other than the man who went on to challenge Arandel for most of his life.

Perhaps that was why he saw himself in Isaac as he went on to challenge Rianna every day.

“You aren’t as good-looking as him, though, Father.”

…But, even a man like him was still having difficulties raising his daughter.