The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 221

Herald of Destruction (1)

In the past, the Hybris continent was occupied by the Nether’s envoys.

In response, the Kurt gods waged war against the Nether’s envoys, and with the help of the Yegas gods who later joined, they succeeded in driving out the Nether’s forces from the Hybris continent. (The Kurt gods claim that they alone fought and won against the Nether, while the Yegas gods claim that they provided significant help, leading to conflicting claims from both sides.)

However, the Nether’s forces had the power to corrupt reality with their very language, so the gods felt the need to completely isolate these Nether forces.

What was chosen then was the Netherstorm.

It was a massive sea vortex located where the Arangian Inland Sea and the Hybris Peninsula met.

By pouring the corpses and blood of the Nether’s forces into the bottom of the endlessly swirling torrent, they sealed them in the deep sea, and the Hybris continent was finally safe from the Nether’s threat.

However, when Jupiter’s gravitational pull grew stronger, the Netherstorm’s currents weakened, and the Nether’s blood began to boil…

Whenever the world fell under Jupiter’s influence, the Nether’s monsters appeared on the Hybris Peninsula, causing terrible damage. That is why people in Hybris call the age of destruction the ‘Age of Jupiter.’

Now, it’s just that the currents weaken temporarily when Jupiter’s gravitational pull increases, but someday, if Jupiter’s gravitational pull becomes stronger than it is now, the Netherstorm’s seal will be completely broken, and the Nether’s envoys will once again rule this land.

Whether this prophecy of destruction is being realized, or whether it’s just the usual cycle of the seal weakening, the situation was serious.

“The Heralds are going to take the fall for everything.”

Dimia sighed, anticipating their fallen state and the even more intense persecution that would follow.

It was already widely known that the Herald clan had joined hands with the Nagas, used Nether magic, and attacked Coral Sahar and Butuma.

What would those who knew that fact think if the Age of Jupiter began to open after that? Wouldn’t they think that the ensuing disaster was caused by the evil magic of the fallen Herald clan?

The Herald clan was already being persecuted, but in the future, they would be regarded as terrible public enemies, mortal foes to be killed on sight.

“More importantly, we need to fight now, right? The crew alone can’t handle it.”

Seraph pointed to the sea.

Sirens were appearing from the sea. The sirens, appearing in the form of beautiful women, sang songs to lure humans. When the bewitched sailors jumped into the sea, the sirens rushed in, tearing them to pieces and devouring their blood and flesh.

“You guys aren’t in good shape, are you? Just shoot arrows. I’ll go.”

Indim took Araelle’s keepsake, the Wendigo dagger (originally Azadin’s), and jumped off the ship’s side.

The moment the sirens rushed at Indim, regarding him as a pitiful victim caught in their enchantment, Indim unleashed his magic.

-Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon, Mistletoe!

Using a technique that teleported him above the enemy, Indim’s position changed, and he appeared above and behind the sirens.

-Swoosh!

Indim swung his Azure Steel hand axe and the Wendigo dagger, slicing the sirens to pieces and landing on the water’s surface.

“You’re quite skilled.”

Dimia muttered in admiration at Indim’s spectacular performance.

Indim ran across the water, dragging his hand axe and Wendigo dagger across the surface, creating a spray of water. The huge spray of water that rose from the surface sliced through the sirens that got in its way.

As he was speeding along, Indim spun around and slid, then plunged the Wendigo dagger into the water’s surface, freezing the sea and creating a block of ice. Indim stood on the block of ice, taking a brief rest.

“Ugh…”

“Aaaah.”

The sirens berated Indim with their beautiful voices. The surface of the water was stained with blood, and countless dead sirens floated around.

“Hmph. Serves you right. Huh?”

Indim suddenly saw a black shadow forming beneath the water.

“Big trouble! A whale, no, wait…”

Suddenly, a huge crocodile-like creature appeared and rammed the ship from below. A crocodile dragon the size of a whale had lifted the two-masted sailing ship, which was about the same size as its body, from below.

The not-so-small two-masted sailing ship was lifted into the air. The ship, which had risen about ten feet into the air, fell back onto the water, breaking its keel, and the crew, its contents, were scattered in all directions.

“Aaaah!”

“Uwaaa!”

Some died instantly from the impact. Some were lucky enough to avoid the ship’s debris and fall into the water without being hit, but they were soon attacked by sirens and dragged into the sea.

“Damn it!”

Dimia and Seraph maintained their balance by stepping on debris in the air and landed on the water. But Azadin couldn’t do that and fell into the water.

“Ugh!”

“No! Araelle-nim’s legacy!”

Seraph climbed onto a capsized lifeboat that had fallen into the sea nearby. As he tried to save Azadin with it, other crew members began to cling to it.

“W-Wait a minute!”

“Save me!”

“You bastards…”

Seraph wondered if he should harm the crew members to take over the boat. But before he could act, the sirens swarmed in and dragged the crew members away.

Sirens also rushed at Seraph, but he lightly punched one, hitting its heart. The siren flew away, spitting blood, and the boat rocked from the recoil.

“Hmm.”

Seraph clicked his tongue as he saw that the siren he had punched was not dead. He had become too weak.

Of course, those who didn’t know the usual Seraph would have been shocked by the power that sent a siren flying with a single punch, but Seraph himself was not satisfied.

Just moving like that made his body ache. To fight sirens on the sea in this condition.

Not to mention that huge crocodile dragon…

“Indim! I’ll rescue Azadin and send him to land! Take care of the crocodile dragon!”

“Is it really necessary to go that far to save that guy?”

“If you do that, I’ll keep it a secret that you were comforting yourself by sniffing Araelle-nim’s hair bundle.”

“Y-You…”

Indim was shocked by Seraph’s words and gritted his teeth.

“If you say that, it defeats the purpose of keeping it a secret.”

Dimia scolded Seraph as he put Azadin on the overturned boat.

“If you keep acting like that, you’re really going to get killed by Indim someday, you know?”

Seraph ignored Dimia’s warning and cast a spell on the boat Azadin was on. It was a drifting spell that would ensure it would reach land, no matter how much it drifted.

Having used all his magic just by casting this spell, Seraph lost his strength and fell into the water. Dimia picked up Seraph and moved him to another boat next to them.

“Then we’ll have to draw the crocodile dragon’s attention.”

The boat with the drifting spell would never capsize due to normal waves and would instead gain speed and reach the nearest land. But things would be different if the crocodile dragon or monsters attacked and capsized the boat.

Dimia cast a mist of bewilderment on the boat to make it difficult to find, and decided that he and Seraph would act as bait to lure the monsters.

“…Is it really worth doing this?!”

Indim asked as he watched the crocodile dragon, its mouth open, lunging at him.

“Because Aleph loved her. If Aleph were alive, he would definitely want to carry on her legacy.”

Seraph spoke the name of his brother who had been absorbed and disappeared into him.

“That goes for you too. Why are you selling out Aleph?”

Dimia smiled bitterly and raised his bow, aiming at the crocodile dragon.

Araelle may have betrayed them. But from the beginning, the four of Flower, Bird, Wind, and Moon had gathered because they liked Araelle, not for wealth, fame, or power.

If they had any wish, it would have been that she had told them in advance. They were just upset that Araelle had made decisions on her own without confiding in them or trusting them.

‘Still, fulfilling the wishes of the person you love must be the joy of love!’

Dimia, with his weakened body, shot an arrow.

*********

On a field overlooking the Arangian Inland Sea, at the southern end of the Arangi Kingdom, a death knight was wandering.

Plank of Wisdom.

One of the former leaders of the Rescue Knights and once called the Knight of Wisdom, this death knight was making his swordsmanship and infamy known by cutting down those who disturbed his rest.

The coastal city of Coxhall, which bordered the Arangian Inland Sea, had offered a generous bounty of 20 gold coins and a knighthood to anyone who could defeat this death knight, but no one dared to challenge him.

The death knight, Plank Martensias, the subject of the rumors, was dragging his sword and searching through an old house.

“How tedious. I never knew tedium could be such torment when I was alive.”

He was feeling bored, living as he did, unable to die, wandering the wilderness and fields. It would be nice to talk to someone, but ordinary people were terrified and ran away at the mere sight of him.

The adventurers who had rushed at him to kill him were so terrified that their blood seemed to freeze, and they wet themselves and ran away as soon as they came within ten steps of him.

At this rate, he couldn’t even have a conversation with anyone.

If only he could read a book, but there were many in Arangian who revered manliness more than scholarship, so finding a book was like finding fruit in a drought.

“Ah, there is nothing meaningful. Well, how could someone who knows how to read be in a woodsman’s shed like this? …Hmm?”

The death knight, Plank, was searching through an old woodsman’s hut when he found something carved into a pillar. Perhaps it was to measure a child’s height, as there were worn-out scratches that had been made several times to match the growing child’s height.

Touching it, Sir Plank imagined the lives and stories of the humans who had lived here. Since he was bored to death without a book, even this small scratch was a bit of a pastime.

“…I’d rather fall asleep. Sweet oblivion. Why have you abandoned me?”

A body of a ghost that cannot sleep. He was bored to death, but there was nothing he could do.

No matter how hard he tried to leave this place, he would always end up back where he started after walking aimlessly. It seemed that he could not move more than a certain distance from the place where he had died.

“If I could meet someone, I would like to give them my beloved sword. Huh?”

At that moment, Sir Plank noticed a strange bird.

Usually, birds were afraid of him, a death knight, and didn’t dare to come near him, but this bird was different.

That was because there was a gruesome eyeball attached to the bird’s chest, glistening.

“Who are you? Hmm?”

In response to the death knight’s question, the bird stared silently at one spot.

There was a faint afterimage of a human woman there.

A woman with beautiful black hair gracefully raised her hand and pointed to a stream below the hill.

“If you are asking for rescue, you are mistaken. I already belong to death, so I am of no benefit to the living. But now that I have seen it, I cannot bear this tedium and will interfere.”

Sir Plank didn’t know if it was because he was tired of boredom or if he felt some kind of destiny, but he began to walk in the direction the woman was pointing.