Chapter 864
“The so-called dragon, mediator of the world…”
Stehrin deeply furrowed his brow as he watched the flames and poisonous miasma burning throughout the great forest.
“How could you stoop to such a petty trick!”
“It’s for the sake of that very mediation.”
The dragon nonchalantly waved it’s hand, looking over the great forest engulfed in flames.
“Matirus!”
Stehrin called out the dragon’s name, his voice filled with fury.
“Don’t call my name with your worthless mouth. Even a high elf is nothing but a worm after ignoring our warning.”
Matirus brushed its hand as if swatting a bug, its gaze truly that of someone looking at an insect.
“Why go this far!”
Stehrin glared at Matirus with a piercing gaze.
“Stop hiding behind your mediation nonsense and tell the truth!”
“Raon Zieghart.”
Matirus dragged Raon’s name from its lips.
“Accepting Zieghart, the enemy of dragons, into Seiphia was proof you had no intention of listening to us, so I have no choice but to do this.”
She shook its head, saying the elves started this fight first.
“Raon only brought back my grandson’s relic! He had nothing to do with my decision!”
Stehrin slammed his hand down, telling its not to spout nonsense.
“…The reasons don’t matter anymore. Zieghart is a group that must disappear for this continent.”
Matirus quickly changed the subject. Seeing its so casually brush aside what didn’t benefit its, a thick vein bulged on Stehrin’s forehead.
“Mediator? Guardian? Nothing but filthy lies.”
Stehrin gnashed his teeth as he watched the burning forest.
“You’re just a dirty swindler, just as Raon said.”
He repeated Raon’s words, unslinging his bow.
“You’ve been tainted by humanity’s filth.”
Matirus nodded as if it expected it. It looked at him as if it were watching a zealot brainwashed by a cult.
“Your choices are wrong.”
Stehrin narrowed his eyes and notched an arrow.
“Raon Zieghart, whom you fear, won’t stand by and do nothing.”
“It’s not fear, just disgust. And you’re gravely mistaken.”
Matirus sneered and shook its head.
“What?”
“I’m not the only ancient dragon here.”
It spread its hand, declaring that today Seiphia would be erased from the world.
“If you think I’ll just watch—!”
Blue light, infused with Stehrin’s conviction, flickered above his arrow.
“Can you manage that with that worn-out body?”
Matirus raised a golden radiance in its palm, mocking him.
“It’s not my body that’s old and diseased, but your souls!”
Stehrin pulled the bowstring tight, unleashing his unyielding resolve.
Fwaaang!
—
Raon sat up in bed, eyes still closed.
He’d tried to get some sleep after finishing his training with Stehrin, but he felt a foreboding mana approaching Seiphia.
– To sense something that far away even while asleep…
Wrath yawned and licked his lips.
– It’s safe to say you’re truly a transcendent now.
‘So it wasn’t just my imagination.’
Raon let out a short sigh as he looked out the window.
‘It’s not just one or two. They’re monsters, but not ordinary ones.’
Most were monsters, but their auras were much stronger than typical wild ones. There seemed to be several master-level ones as well.
Raon grabbed the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer’s sword leaning against the wall and stepped outside.
The elves were still enjoying the calm dawn, unaware of the threat.
“Huh? Division Leader, didn’t you just get back from training? Why are you up already?”
Dorian, rubbing his eyes and eating snacks, tilted his head.
“You must be tired after training with the Guardian. You should get more rest.”
Errian, preparing for his shift, nodded, saying he should sleep more.
“Enemies are coming.”
Raon put both the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer’s leaf sword at his waist, his eyes narrowing.
“What? Enemies…”
Errian’s eyes went wide in confusion.
“There’s a massive group of monsters moving through the great forest. They’re moving incredibly fast. It seems they appeared using spatial movement.”
“If that’s the case, the Guardians should’ve sent word…”
“They’ve already been taken out. I can’t sense any elves outside.”
Raon bit his lip. He’d tried to find the elves’ presences among the monsters, but felt nothing.
It seemed the enemy had figured out the layout and dealt with the Guardians first.
“Sir Raon is right!”
Siyan, wrapped in her blanket, rushed up to Raon.
“The spirits told me the forest is collapsing!”
She trembled, saying the number of monsters kept increasing.
“N-no way…”
As Errian stared in shock, flames and lightning began to erupt from places all over the great forest. There were special monsters capable of using magic.
“Prepare yourselves. We don’t have much time.”
Raon gripped his sword, watching as the forest was soaked in flames.
“Understood!”
Perhaps because he’d experienced similar situations before, Errian erased his panic and ran to the Guardians’ quarters.
“I-I’ll go wake the Light Wind Division!”
Dorian nodded vigorously and ran toward the Light Wind Division’s lodgings.
“W-will we be alright?”
Siyan, clearly worried, trembled under her blanket.
“We’ll be fine.”
Raon nodded calmly, trying to reassure her.
“And the Guardian… ah.”
He was about to mention Stehrin but closed his mouth.
‘Is he fighting outside Seiphia?’
Stehrin, who should have been in Seiphia, was instead radiating his energy from the northern great forest.
His presence was raging as if he were in an all-out battle with someone.
“G-grandfather…”
Siyan, feeling the shockwaves reaching even here, realized Stehrin was fighting too and her hands trembled atop her blanket.
“He’ll be alright. He’s still strong.”
Despite his calm words, a flood of worry surged inside. After training all night with him, Stehrin must be exhausted.
‘I have to protect this place.’
Even if Stehrin had been drawn outside, Seiphia’s defenses wouldn’t be easily breached.
There were sure to be other attacks besides the monsters, so Raon needed to stay and defend the elves here.
“Haa…”
As Siyan let out a sigh filled with anxiety, the Light Wind Division and Guardians gathered in the village center.
“Leader, what’s happening?”
Burren frowned as he looked at the sky, filled with black smoke.
“Monsters? Seriously?”
Martha scrunched her nose, asking what part of the great forest monsters had come from this time.
“Ugh…”
Even Runaan, awakened from sleep, was showing rare signs of anger.
“As you can see, it’s a monster attack. But these aren’t ordinary ones. They’re moving in formation like a trained army.”
The monsters approaching Seiphia weren’t moving like chaotic wild beasts; they were systematically tearing down the forest as if acting on someone’s orders.
If they tried to just push through with brute force as usual, they’d risk leaving gaps open for an ambush, so it was necessary to decide how to respond.
“Squad 1, to the south. Squad 2, to the west. Squad 3, to the east. Don’t let a single monster set foot in this village.”
“Yes!”
At Raon’s command, the Light Wind Division roared fiercely, enough to blow away the flames.
“Just what I needed to wake up in the morning. This is perfect for a warm-up before breakfast.”
Martha licked her lips, pleased.
“Don’t get too cocky. This could be dangerous.”
Burren advised the swordsmen, raising both tension and confidence.
“Ugh…”
Though Runaan showed her rare anger at being awoken, she raised a wall of ice to block the incoming heat approaching Seiphia.
“Then what about you, Leader? Don’t tell me you’re just going to rest here after sending us out…”
“Shut up and move!”
Martha smacked Krein’s mouth and followed the Guardians heading south.
“We’re moving out too!”
“Follow me…”
Burren and Runaan also headed south where the most monsters were, planning to split up when necessary.
“I have a bad feeling about this…”
Siyan bit her finger, her shoulders trembling.
“Nothing will happen.”
Raon gripped her shoulder over the blanket and shook his head.
“I’ll block them all.”
—
Kugugugugu!
A horde of Black Orcs charged together with an ogre in iron armor.
Normally, these wild monsters would fight each other, but now they were advancing in a united assault.
“Just as the Leader said.”
Martha snorted and rotated her sword hand.
“These aren’t normal.”
The Black Orcs and Ogres here were bigger and had fiercer energy than any they’d seen before.
Not only did they form ranks, but even as individuals, their strength surpassed anything seen in the wild.
“Not that it matters to me! Squad 1, charge!”
At Martha’s order, Squad 1 swordsmen fell in behind her, forming a sharp wedge—the assault formation of the Light Wind Formation.
Kuaaaaaaang!
With the force of the Light Wind Formation, Martha’s strike pulverized the charging Black Orcs, leaving them as nothing but pools of blood.
“This isn’t even enough for a snack.”
Martha snorted and turned to face an ogre approaching from the left.
Fwoooosh!
A crimson fireball dropped toward her head.
“Kieeeek!”
It was magic cast by a Black Orc Mage hiding in the rear.
“Kyaaa!”
The Black Orc Mage tried to unleash the fireball on Martha’s head, but the spell never finished.
Slaaash!
Runaan’s frost blade suddenly appeared and severed the Black Orc Mage’s neck.
“I don’t need your help, you know?”
Martha frowned at Runaan.
“You’re supposed to be on the west side!”
She waved her hand, telling her to leave.
“You’re so dishonest.”
Runaan licked her lips and shook her head.
“Save the jokes for later, focus on the battle now.”
Burren sliced through the ogre in one clean stroke, nodding lightly.
“Why do you keep stealing my prey!”
Martha gnashed her teeth, frustrated.
“Huh…”
Errian let out a hollow laugh at the scene.
“Wasn’t Sir Raon supposed to be the only exceptional one?”
He shook his head, surprised at the strength of the still-young Light Wind Division.
“We’ll have to split up now. Stay focused—”
Just as Burren tried to give a final bit of advice while moving west—
Kugugugugu!
The ashen clouds covering the sky split apart, and a colossal Black Dragon soared above the great forest.
Gooooooh!
Black poison gathered in the Black Dragon’s jaws and then poured down toward Seiphia like a waterfall.
It was the Black Dragon’s ultimate weapon—Venomous Breath.
The thick poison twisted the very air, and the trees and shrubs that made up Seiphia withered and died instantly.
Kugugugugugu!
The Venomous Breath was so wide in range that it fell even on the heads of the Light Wind Division and Guardians already outside Seiphia.
“Shit…”
“How do you stop that!”
“It’s over…”
The Light Wind Division and elves, watching the dragon’s breath that seemed like a natural disaster, were plunged into despair.
At that moment, golden flames erupted from the center of Seiphia.
Kuaaaaaaaaaang!
A single slash split the sky.
With a crimson slash that burned away the poison, Raon soared into the sky.
—
Sensing the monsters’ coordinated movement, Raon narrowed it down to two possible enemies.
‘Dragons or Eden.’
The guardian beasts raised by dragons to protect their lairs were stronger than normal monsters and moved in disciplined formations like soldiers.
Eden also had the power to control monsters, so they were fully capable of causing what was happening now.
‘But this time, it has to be dragons.’
He’d seen a dragon when he entered the great forest, and Errian had avoided talking about it.
Judging from the situation, there was definitely a problem between Seiphia and the dragons.
“Siyan, did a dragon by any chance—”
As Raon tried to ask Siyan about the dragon, he felt a terrifying concentration of mana gathering in the sky behind the storm clouds.
‘Dragon!’
It was the classic phenomenon when a dragon gathered mana to unleash its breath.
Boom!
Without hesitation, Raon drove the Heavenly Drive and Rimmer’s sword into Seiphia’s earth.
[Sword Field Creation – Divine-Demonic Harmony].
Because the dragon’s presence was above him, he immediately opened his sword field and stomped into the ground.
Ssssss!
With the divine sword and demonic sword forged from sun and moon raised, he soared into the sky, and there, burning away the clouds as it poured out Venomous Breath, was the Black Dragon.
It was smaller than the Gold Dragon he’d seen earlier, but it was definitely an ancient dragon.
– All of it! Swing your sword as if you’re erasing all that spreading poison!
Wrath instructed that only then could he block the miasma.
‘Got it!’
Raon surged forward through the spreading wings of poison, unleashing extreme Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.
[Raon Zieghart Swordsmanship – Form Seven: Void Slash].
The blazing red divine blade split the space filled with poison.
Shhhhhh!
The Venomous Breath, about to engulf Seiphia and the great forest, was sucked into the rift created by the slash.
‘Kgh!’
Even as he forced the breath into the fractured space, the pressure pouring down on him didn’t lessen.
The shockwaves from the dragon’s ultimate weapon were so overwhelming it felt as if his shoulders were being crushed and his flesh torn open.
But if he stopped his sword here, the remaining poison would kill the elves and all the Light Wind Division. He had to stop it no matter what.
Zzzzzzzing!
Gritting his teeth, Raon swung the divine sword all the way across the horizon.
The Venomous Breath was ultimately swallowed up by the crack in space, unable to fall on Seiphia, and vanished into the flames.
[Wh-what is this….]
The Black Dragon’s enormous jaws trembled, as if it couldn’t believe its Venomous Breath had been neutralized by a single human’s sword.
‘Wrath. I take back what I said yesterday.’
A blue fury flickered across Raon’s scarlet eyes.
‘I’ll let you eat that roasted dragon you always wanted.’
– The poison will season it nicely—it’ll be delicious!
