The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 270

270

# The Final Battle, Epilogue of a Century-Long Journey

An icy wind whipped around them as they reached the Spider Lord’s palace.

Each gust of the freezing wind brought swirling white snow, causing the party’s fur cloaks to flutter wildly.

The Land of Death… Even within this realm of terror and madness, its deepest part has long been known as the Mountains of Madness.

Kassena’s breath plumed out in white.

“We’re here.”

The snow here wasn’t pure white but tinged with a dark blue light—the repulsive light of the abyss.

“This is it.”

At the summit of the mountain range, amidst the raging winter, a palace stood, preserving its ancient grandeur.

The palace was enormous, larger than any building she had ever seen.

Perhaps because it was a space for transcendent beings, not humans, the pillars, paving stones, and statues were at least ten times larger than those in the human world.

And everything was constructed from a substance that was neither metal nor stone from this world, with ancient hunting scenes engraved on each paving stone.

Crude depictions of spiders devouring humans alive.

“What’s so fun about drawing something like this?”

Rem grumbled, and Valensidice replied expressionlessly.

“Are humans any different? Noble mansions are full of hunting scenes depicting boars or lions being hunted.”

“Those are beasts.”

“In the eyes of the old rulers, we are also beasts, Rem.”

“Do you have to say such terrible things?”

“Humans only began to live like humans after Karenden came. Before that, they were no different from livestock.”

Between the pillars, rafters, and arches, abnormally large and tough spiderwebs were layered, blocking the passage of intruders.

“Spiders in the human world spin webs to catch insects, but… spiders of the old world hunt humans.”

Flames erupted from Rein’s palm, forming a red ring that expanded outward.

The flames swept across the ceiling and outer walls, turning at the corners.

No sooner had the light vanished, consumed by the lack of oxygen, than the sound of something not human screaming echoed from the distance.

“Let’s go.”

Kassena watched Rein and his companions, who naturally followed behind him, feeling a strange sense of isolation.

In the short time she hadn’t seen them, the bonds of their youth had grown even stronger (though they were already formidable), and she hadn’t been part of that journey of strengthening.

There was no significant danger in breaking through the terrifying Shen Plateau for half a year.

It wasn’t that enemies didn’t appear; it was just that nothing could stand against Rein as he was now.

Kassena shook her head vigorously.

‘Don’t think strange things. I decided to forget everything now.’

After advancing about 500 meters through the ancient corridor, fog began to coalesce.

The dark blue fog that rotted everything first wrapped around their feet, then swallowed them up to their thighs, and soon up to their waists.

It felt like entering a dark blue swamp… strength drained from their entire bodies.

Their voices only echoed and weren’t clearly transmitted, as if they were submerged in deep water.

“Are we even going the right way?”

“What?”

“I’m asking if we’re going the right way!”

“I feel like we’ve been going around in circles for a while now. It feels like we’ve been walking for half a day.”

So they just unilaterally said what they wanted to say.

In reality, the corridor was a path that would take a person half a day to walk, and the party wandered along it for more than a day.

Then, from beyond the fog where no light reached, a clear light appeared, guiding the way like the sun.

‘Shurping…?’

Rista sensed Shurping [her magical artifact] on her back quietly crying.

It wasn’t because it detected the abyss. What to call this—the joy of meeting an old friend?

No, not a friend. This was like meeting parents.

‘But parents?’

At the end of the corridor was a vast space where a council of state might be held.

Far away on the high throne, a sacred blade was embedded in the spiderweb throne, emitting light.

The power of that light was so great that it blocked the fog from entering this space.

Kassena murmured in a voice full of awe.

“The True Holy Sword, Sharillion… the legend was true.”

Perhaps feeling a sense of familiarity as objects with the same creator, two black sheep scales began to shine brilliantly on Kassena’s neck.

“Sharillion?”

Rem raised her eyebrows, and Miria explained instead.

“One of the true holy swords used by the Elmine Knights, the warriors of creation. It is said that the Black Sun Karenden himself made it.”

The awe in Miria’s voice was no less than Kassena’s.

“It’s also the original of this Shurping… I’ve only heard about it, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in person.”

The Extreme Holy Swords used by the Fayer Warriors were all imitations made after the True Holy Swords.

There are six True Holy Swords and a total of twelve Extreme Holy Swords, with two copies of each True Holy Sword.

Imitations, merely fakes. They couldn’t even be compared to the power of the True Holy Swords.

“They say those swords truly split the sky, collapsed mountains, and tore the sea apart.”

“Hmm, isn’t that something even Grandma can do?”

“No, comparing my power to that of Enuel is disrespectful. She defeated the King.”

Enuel Yere Sharillion.

Enuel, the owner of Sharillion, thrust the holy sword into the Spider Lord’s heart with her last strength and then passed away in Tersia’s arms.

Rein’s heart ached as he recalled the day he heard that story from Barzhen long ago.

“Enough with the conversation.”

Rein, who had already climbed onto the massive throne, reached for the hilt of Sharillion.

“Is everyone ready?”

On the back of the throne, a magnificent magic circle was engraved, one that even Rein couldn’t help but admire.

“Don’t show off, just pull it out.”

“Wait for him. He secretly likes to show off.”

At Rem’s remark, Valensidice shook his finger, as if to say he still didn’t know Rein’s true colors. Kassena added.

“He was openly like that when we were in school.”

Then Miria competitively added her own experience.

“He’s been like that since a long time ago.”

A strange current flowed between Kassena and Miria… The party was so uncomfortable with that current that they glared at Rein.

Our hero Pipi, representing everyone’s wishes, pecked Rein on the crown of his head.

“Pull it out, pull it out, pull it out quickly.”

A smile appeared at the warmth of Pipi, and he missed Aki for no reason.

Rein turned back to the throne.

The magic creator Karenden’s light inscription…

The language and mathematics of the gods formed an almost artistic harmony.

And this Sharillion was a wedge adding immense power to that sealing ceremony. It was the key locking the lock.

‘I asked everyone if they were ready with such confidence, but…’

He found himself absurdly unable to easily grab the hilt of the holy sword.

Was he about to start a pointless fight? Wouldn’t he never see Aki, Nen, and Mir again if he pulled out this sword?

He was afraid.

Like when he was trapped in that cold ice 300 years ago.

But what was even more frightening was that those three children would face the King in an era without him.

Don’t be afraid.

Let’s end this final battle here. Let’s finish the race of life.

As he reached out and grabbed the hilt, a current like needles piercing his palm ran through him.

[Identifying the individual…]

Suddenly, a string of characters floated before his eyes like a hallucination.

[MT-0, Lord Karenden. Confirmed.]

It was the language of the gods.

[Transferring control of the logic system.]

It seemed that Sharillion, like Beshansidug [another artifact], interpreted Rein as the same person as Karenden.

The holy sword, which hadn’t moved an inch as if it were one with the throne, was pulled out with unnatural ease.

And the instant the holy sword was pulled from the throne, the magic circle began to rotate intricately, as if a lock was being unlocked with a key.

From the gap where the holy sword had been embedded, fog—ominous, eerie, damp, astringent, and repulsive fog—gushed out like an explosion.

“Rein!”

The toxicity was so terrible that it was impossible to breathe normally. Accepting this would rot the lungs themselves.

The gap, the physical gap, turned into a gap in dimensions.

The gap slowly grew, soon reaching the high ceiling of the palace.

Ah, that madness.

The ruler of that primal frenzy.

A being that blurred all light and made darkness and fog tremble like living things.

Everyone in the party, even Miria, doubted their eyes and felt a vast presence pressing down on their entire bodies.

Their breathing twisted.

Cold sweat poured down like rain.

Their entire bodies were paralyzed by primal fear and couldn’t move.

Shurping emitted an explosive light, but even that light seemed faint in the face of overwhelming darkness.

The first thing to emerge was a leg. Whether it could be called a leg or not, it was, in shape, a spider’s leg.

The shape of that leg was formed by human hands and feet. Hundreds and thousands of hands and feet were woven together, wriggling disgustingly like insects.

The King, who had been forgotten along with the legend that he had destroyed the world, was tearing off the deck of the seal and returning to his throne.

Panic raged, madness exploded, and fear seethed.

In the face of that absolute death.

Rein gathered his hands. With that movement alone, a dazzling melody of light began to dance at his feet—a light so intense that it completely burned away the darkness of this vast palace.

He also prayed. Earnestly, desperately.

Let me end this battle, this century-long journey of my life, here.

No incantation or calculation was needed in the subsequent process. As natural as providence, the three-headed dragon Asura manifested as a huge light behind him.

Surprisingly, and amusingly for those who knew, that Asura had a concrete form, unlike its previous abstract shape.

Akierea in the place of the Fire Dragon, Setsnen in the place of the Light Dragon, and Mirngardia in the place of the Water Dragon.

In the form of the Holy Dragons they would attain in the distant future.

Flames bloomed in the three hands of the Fire Dragon, a staff of light was held in the three hands of the Light Dragon, and an ancient book was held in the three hands of the Water Dragon.

He knew immediately. Was this the completed version of the Three-Headed Dragon Asura?

Rein glanced back at the Three-Headed Dragon and smiled.

“Let’s go, kids.”

At that moment, the Fire Dragon grabbed the True Holy Sword Sharillion, which had fallen to the ground, with its three hands.

Instantly, the holy sword resonated with Asura’s power, creating a massive blade of light that burned away all darkness.

Rista trembled silently at that light. Shurping’s light had only been devoured by the darkness of that King.

Against the old King, who was pulling his magnificent body out of the dimension with his eight legs, the former Archmage and modern Dragon Hyun shouted.

“Come out quickly, Ashron. I’ll make you forgotten forever.”

To this day, not much is known about the detailed parts of that battle, in which nearly half of the Mountains of Madness collapsed.

But all history records the same conclusion.

「Never before and never since has a human alone defeated the Old King.」

It is said that for 200 years after that, the terror of winter disappeared from the world.