Chapter 198 : Chapter 198
Chapter 198
Swoosh.
His eyes opened. A not-so-large but cozy two-room apartment. The man who had opened his eyes in a clean bed and interior was a person named Lee Seo-jun.
“…”
He quietly got up and slowly looked around the room. The feel of the blanket. He opened the refrigerator and popped the cap off a can of soda.
Chiiik.
With the sound of the can opening, the cool soda hit the back of his throat hard. The taste of it, which had been cold in the refrigerator, was amazing.
Chiiik.
Another can of beer quickly went down his throat.
‘Delicious.’
He had been searching for this taste. He didn't know his name, or how he had lived, but he had strangely been searching for this taste there.
‘Is this reality. Or a dream.’
There, he couldn't come here even in his dreams. It seemed he had only dreamed of the West Continent.
Karl, no, Lee Seo-jun, sat in front of the computer and stared at the glowing monitor. The sun was setting, and the sunset was shining through the large picture window of the two-room apartment.
A game was on in front of the monitor.
Annabel, Karl Reitz Arthur Meyer, Ellenhower, Rogério, Kelvin, Bastien.
Characters with familiar names were floating as cards on the game screen.
‘Was I here. Or, was I never here in the first place.’
It was strange. Everything was strange. The numerous events there felt like an old dream. In contrast, the sense of reality was so clear.
It felt as if the decades he had spent there had disappeared.
“As if it had disappeared.”
The last scene in his mind was blurry and did not come back clearly.
‘I think I’ve heard that somewhere.’
He got up, opened the door, and walked outside.
Beep beep! Woooong!
In the midst of the car horns and the crowd of people at the traffic lights, Karl walked silently.
“Seo-jun!”
Just then, someone’s voice struck his ear.
“Yun-jeong…?”
Right, he had a lover too. She, who was truly beautiful and had a lovely smile, was Seo-jun’s lover.
Embrace.
He felt warmth. The warmth of reality that could not be a lie. A completely different feeling from when he was holding a sword dulled his senses.
‘The feeling is….’
Disgusting.
It was disgusting. Very, very disgusting. He didn't like anything, from one to ten.
“Seo-jun, what’s wrong?”
The killing intent that unconsciously rose from his body made the woman in front of him tremble. This woman was definitely the lover of Lee Seo-jun, who was living in this world. But, he was, crucially, not Lee Seo-jun.
‘Whether that world made me like that, or whether it didn't. Whether I was Lee Seo-jun in the past or not. That’s not important.’
He was Karl Reitz Arthur Meyer.
Although he was a little confused for a very brief moment, the taste of the soda and beer was so amazingly good that he had almost forgotten for a moment. But still, he knew.
Woooooong.
The forgotten energy swirled. As if the screen were shattering, the world split in half. It felt as if the world and the world were being torn apart, and between them, a black wormhole, like a bridge, appeared.
In front of the woman who had suddenly stopped as if in a frozen screen, Karl, without any hesitation, turned his body and walked towards the opposite world, full of monsters and blood.
‘They do as they please. Then again, am I the same?’
He knew. That both he and the person who had brought him into the world were moving according to their own tastes.
With a short resonance, Karl, who had crossed space, threw himself into the midst of his allies who were being unilaterally pushed back.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
As his body fell from the sky, the world began to move again.
And the golden aura that erupted from his entire body was accurately plunged into the heads of the gray allies who were rushing towards his allies.
“His Lordship has returned!”
“His Lordship has been resurrected!”
“It’s Sir Karl!”
“Follow the Commander!”
The appearance of Karl, who had been sent flying by a gray monster as if it were a lie and had then vanished without a trace, was a terrible illusion to all those present.
And now, at this moment, Karl, who had reappeared, was no different from hope to them.
“You’re late.”
Agnitus flew to his side and poured flames in front of him, and next to him, Gremory snapped her fingers and fired a barrage of blue flames.
“Karl! Take this!”
The king of the dwarves, Ultore, threw a sword at Karl. The sword, as if it had a will of its own, quickly split the sky, shining, and flew towards Karl.
At the very bottom of the blade, a beautifully engraved letter was visible. Léctĭo (léctĭo: choice), the name of the sword he had received through his own choice.
Choosing the life of Karl Reitz Arthur Meyer and walking the path of a Free Knight, all of him was contained in this one sword.
Wooooooooong!
A cry erupted from Léctĭo, held in Karl’s hand after a long time. It was the resonance of a sword that far surpassed Laevateinn, the sword of the dragon.
“I dare say, it is our sword that will never exist again, now and forever.”
At Ultore’s firm voice, Karl expressed his thanks by nodding his head. At the same time, his body flew into the sky.
“…”
The gray being looked at the reappeared Karl.
“Why did you come back? That place was not a lie.”
“Why are you here?”
“…”
The gray being, for the first time, seemed to be in a bad mood. His expression was the same, expressionless, but a certain discomfort was felt.
“Is there a need for words?”
Woooong!
A golden aura split the sky and advanced towards the gray being.
He raised a gray energy as before and faced Karl’s aura with both hands.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
A deafening explosion as if the world were about to burst, and a strange light created by the explosion of gray and golden light, enveloped the surroundings.
At that explosive power, not only the allied forces but also the Gray Demons moved far away from the two.
***
“My, oh my! My blood is boiling again!”
Bastien’s greatsword, which was becoming stronger and adding divine power as he aged, swept through the surroundings and cut down the Gray Demons without hesitation.
Kuuung!
Next to him was the Pope, who was smashing the heads of the Gray Demons with his ever-consistent fists.
Whack! Thwack!
And somewhat incongruously, Isabel, with her flying blond hair, holding a shield and mace, and enveloped in a bright light, was bursting the heads of the Gray Demons.
“Essus said, let there be light!”
Every time she killed a demon, she recited a passage from the scriptures and added light. Sometimes, it seemed that a light stronger than the Pope’s fist was descending.
“Hmm, amazing.”
Bastien, impressed by her power, let out a loud exclamation without realizing it.
She certainly seemed to be a person of a different caliber from the Saintesses of the past.
[Lumentia Swordsmanship. Manov’s Form. Annihilation]
Further to the side of the Saintess, the light created by Kelvin, who had stepped into the realm of a Transcendent, was swallowing everything around it. Where the light emitted by Kelvin disappeared, the Gray Demons had also disappeared.
Next to him, Kirk, who was swinging a giant axe, and Rogério and the Lighthouse Knights, who were emitting the same light, continued their magnificent battle.
“Shall we bet on who catches more, brother?”
“Wouldn’t I be a little more suited for the battlefield than you, younger brother?”
“If you’re confident, you’re buying a drink at the moonlit night when this is over. No backing out, no matter how much it costs!”
“You’re a Pope, and you’re going to a tavern!”
“Isn’t a Pope a person? Hahahahahaha.”
The Pope’s fist once again burst the head of a Gray Demon.
“One!”
Woooooong!
Bastien’s aura fell with his greatsword, and several stage 3 Gray Demons died on the spot.
It would have been impossible before, but his skill, which had developed ceaselessly even in his old age, had made the impossible possible.
“A stage 3 counts as two!”
“Let’s do it that way from now on. The one I caught before was one!”
“Hey, you!”
“Come on, let’s not be so petty when you’re a marquis.”
The more the two bantered, the faster the number of Gray Demons decreased.
Agnitus and Amadeus were also quickly dealing with the stage 5 Gray Demons while circulating their Dragon Auras throughout their bodies.
The two dragons, as if competing, were conscious of each other and were increasing the speed at which they killed the Gray Demons.
“Hey, how about you do it without being so conscious?”
“I was conscious of you? You must be conscious of me.”
Amadeus sneered at Agnitus with a sly smile and then grabbed the head of a stage 5 Gray Demon with his hand, which was full of black Dragon Aura, and burst it.
The smile he made next to the demon that was turning into gray powder was a clear provocation.
“…!”
Just then, a storm of red flame passed by the smiling Amadeus' side.
It was a flame so close that a few strands of Amadeus' black hair were singed by the flame.
“You crazy bastard…!”
Kwaaaaaaaang!
The flame exploded behind Amadeus and annihilated a large number of Gray Demons at once.
“Sorry, there was a bug there, and it was bothering me, so I did it without thinking.”
The light apology, which felt completely devoid of remorse, further fueled Amadeus' anger, but Agnitus had already floated his body above his head and had flown off in search of another Gray Demon.
After Karl returned, the Gray Demons were being rapidly pushed back, and the allied forces, with their momentum raised to the fullest, began to be quickly dealt with.
In the midst of that, a vortex of black flame raged in the middle of where the Gray Demons were, and dozens of Gray Demons were annihilated in one spot.
In that flame was a woman who was walking leisurely out of the storm, her red hair flying.
“It’s been a long time, this feeling.”
She, who was regretting not being able to use her full power in the human world, smiled in excitement at the feeling of battle she was experiencing after a long time.
No matter how much she was a peace-loving demon who loved humans, Gremory was also a high-ranking demon who vied for the top.
And so, as the battle with the Gray Demon was becoming advantageous for the allied forces, the battle between Karl and the leader of the Gray Demons was fiercely heading towards its end.