episode_0017

There were no heavenly dragons there, no heavenly kingdoms, no heavenly beings.

Only a serpent, infinitely black and dark.

A serpent that devoured the heavens.

Heavenly Dragons, Heavenly Realms, Heavenly Beings. Literally, all things of the heavens there were being swallowed whole.

“The Eclipse Shadow Forbidden Art…”

A forbidden art, whose very use was impermissible. What’s more, it wasn’t magic. Needless to say, it wasn’t an art (martial art) either.

It was something for which no category or concept of distinction existed to define its type, known only by the name of taboo.

Nevertheless, Martial Monk Jin, by coincidence, possessed greater insight than others into the true nature of that shadow.

The forbidden art known as Eclipse Shadow.

It was something that had been sealed, guarded, and watched over for generations by the temple where Jin had once resided for his training. So that its cursed power would not fall into evil hands and be used for their selfish gain.

And when the 《Black Serpent》 appeared at that temple, no one knew what truly transpired.

Because everyone was slaughtered and died.

In Jin’s case, he was the only one who had left the temple on that day. That was why he was able to preserve his life. The others were not.

From the abbot to the novice monks, not a single one survived. All were dead and shattered. Only the remnants of absolute destruction, broken ruins, and void stretched endlessly along the horizon.

“Huh? Who are you, Unnies and Oppas?!”

The owner of that very Eclipse Shadow innocently smiled and lifted her head. A blonde girl, looking as pure as a child.

Standing before that girl, and facing the monster of the 《Black Serpent》, strangely, no feelings of hatred or vengeance surged up.

Before he knew it, his legs were trembling.

“You are the ones from that time—”

Sword Saint Zeruel said with wary eyes. It was a face he had seen before, on the surface of the labyrinth city.

At that time, a man who coldly kept his distance, refusing to be involved with him when he tried to offer help. A lady whose eyes were covered, and a small blonde girl.

The Martial Monk didn’t need to recall his past nightmare to figure out their identities.

He knew immediately upon seeing them.

That the men and women there were by no means ordinary beings.

“…I told you I didn’t want to meet again.”

The man spoke, his voice feigning regret. It was a warning. Given not for himself, but for them.

“W-We must retreat, Leader.”

Beside him, the Martial Monk spoke with a trembling voice.

“They are not opponents we can dare to handle with our strength. Here, we should think of the future and—”

“That’s right.”

The man replied.

“Retreat. I have no business with you.”

“Unfortunately, we cannot.”

“Zeruel!”

However, the leader of the Knights Order, the man called Sword Saint, did not back down. No, he couldn’t back down.

“Reveal your identities.”

“Why should I?”

“I am investigating this place under special orders from the Continental Adventurers’ Guild. In the process, in accordance with officially authorized procedures, I am obligated to question, at my discretion, anyone suspicious or whose actions are questionable.”

Sword Saint Zeruel spoke of the ‘righteous procedure’ that must be performed. The man also spoke his identity.

“《Black Serpent》.”

“……”

“Does that answer your question?”

The man asked back, his voice sounding comical, as if humoring a child’s game.

Sword Princess Alina held her breath. The cone-hatted mage was the same. Even the Martial Monk, who knew their identities from the start, trembled with fear once more as that name flowed from the man’s lips.

“—The Black Serpent. An extremely heinous criminal organization with a special Grade 1 danger level, subject to cooperative investigations and red notices from the Adventurers’ Guild and 13 nations across the continent.”

“Wow, we’re wanted! Alice, I just found out!”

Hearing that, the blonde girl giggled and burst out laughing. Her voice truly sounded uncontrollably amused.

“Oh my, how terribly frightening.”

The lady whose eyes were covered with a black bandage also let out a cold, hollow laugh. Because she couldn’t possibly not know how empty and meaningless her words sounded.

The man among them did not laugh.

“From now on, I will arrest you, the 《Black Serpent》.”

Sword Saint Zeruel also did not laugh. He drew his sword. A metallic clang. Beyond the scabbard, the pure white blade gleamed brightly in the darkness of the night sky.

A short silence descended.

“Hahahahaha! Oppa, that’s really funny! Hahaha!”

At the end of the silence, what returned to Zeruel’s resolve was mockery even greater than before.

As if she couldn’t stop laughing, the blonde girl clutched her stomach and rolled around on the floor. It was so funny that she was choking for breath, rolling around unable to breathe properly.

“Zeruel!”

Seeing his utterly reckless appearance, Sword Princess Alina shouted.

“Retreat with the two of them, Alina.”

“!”

“I will do what I must, here.”

What he must.

“What you must?! Are you saying that dying a meaningless death here is ‘what you must’ do?!”

Sword Princess Alina shouted, sounding unconvinced. Zeruel smiled silently.

“Because it’s not justice to see evil before your eyes and pretend not to, passing by. Especially not with extreme evil like the 《Black Serpent》.”

He replied after smiling.

“You retreat. —Still, someone has to prove that they didn’t cowardly run away in the face of evil.”

“You idiot, you idiot!”

“……”

Sword Princess Alina shouted, tears welling up in her eyes. This idiot had always been like this.

And she liked his foolishly naive justice. She liked that man who was stubbornly upright and just, like an idiot.

So—

“Alina?!”

A metallic clang.

Without a word, the Sword Princess drew another sword and stood by her childhood friend.

“It seems I’ve become an idiot too.”

“Alina, you…”

Only then did a hint of bewilderment appear on Sword Saint Zeruel’s face. For a brief moment, an uncontrollable feeling of agitation passed through him for the first time.

It was then.

The Martial Monk, whose legs were trembling with fear, spoke with a quivering voice.

“Justice must always be consistent.”

On that day, confronting the fear and nightmare that still vividly resurfaced in his mind, without fleeing.

“For justice to be consistent, courage is needed.”

Before they knew it, the cone-hatted mage echoed his words and stood beside him. It was the creed of the Continental Adventurers’ Guild.

“True courage is courage precisely because it advances knowing fear.”

“Ignorance of fear is not courage, but merely ignorance.”

The four members of the Knights Order each recited the adventurer’s creed and tightened their grip on their weapons.

“You call inviting a meaningless death courage?”

“We fight because we can win, and we don’t call running away because we can’t win courage.”

“I don’t care about your beliefs.”

The man replied in a cold voice. He had already pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. As he bit down, the tip ignited on its own, catching fire.

“Foolishness is just foolishness.”

Whoosh!

At the same time, flames descended around the man. It wasn’t just ordinary flame. It was a contradictory flame, Ice Flame, hot and yet freezing cold at once.

The inescapable Ice Flame swallowed the area like a barrier, confining the Knights Order as if setting up an arena ring.

An azure flame ring from which they could never escape until one of them died.

Inside the ring, several blades of magic began to orbit around the man.

.

The blade barrier surrounding the man pointed its tips toward the four members of the Knights Order. As soon as they were aimed, they launched like arrows released from a bowstring.

When the launched blades struck, the area turned into a wasteland as if it had been bombed. However, amidst the swirling black mist, not a single member of the Knights Order was injured.

Instead, surging through the scattered debris, the Sword Saint’s blade scattered its sharp edge.

A flash strike, slicing down in pure white.

Clang!

An advanced Swordsman-type art called . It was fast. And it was strong.

In a flash, the distance closed. However, the man didn’t even bat an eyelid before the Sword Saint’s Skyrending Flash. Instead, a barrier with a crystalline fractal geometric structure rose to block the empty space between them.

‘No scratch even after being hit by Leader’s Skyrending Flash?!’

Seeing that, the cone-hatted mage gasped in shock.

To think that a barrier existed that had no scratch even after being directly hit by the Sword Saint’s sword. Moreover, the geometric structure of that barrier was an unheard-of, incredibly complex and bizarre form.

He couldn’t believe it even after seeing it. But his belief didn’t matter. Because belief was unnecessary in the face of truth.

They finally realized what kind of absurd monster they were facing.

To the extent that the courage and resolve they had just mustered felt like a fleeting burst of youthful recklessness.

“Ah, Alice wants to play too! Alice too!”

Just as the blonde girl was about to join the azure flame ring. The lady of the black sword blocked her path and smiled coldly.

“Let them enjoy themselves.”