Chapter 113
Chapter 113: Storm's Eve (2)
"Mongma."
"Aah. Young girl, I'm going to go crazy! Please, stop! Didn't you just throw away all the effort we put into the Yellow Emperor General?"
At Makia's urging, Mongma flapped her wings. As if in utter disgust.
'I knew Thomas was close to her, but such obsessive fixation!'
Mongma was losing her mind. So she glared firmly at Makia.
"Makia Representative, I clearly didn't sense Thomas's presence in the Empire."
Representative, Makia. She had achieved the most successful manifestation in the history of the Black Mage Group. Wielding the power of mythic entities, she had obtained overwhelming authority capable of transforming the natural phenomenon of a river through manifestation. But......
"Mongma, Thomas is definitely alive out there."
She wanted to leave the Labyrinth.
"RepresentativeMakia. Young girl, I will not tolerate this any longer. Let us stop here!"
Mongma finally made a sharp point to her.
"We've already sent out the experimental subjects, haven't we? To celebrate the Representative's successful manifestation, the shareholders have contributed their efforts."
"But still-."
"Representative Makia, this girl hasn't even properly mastered Mongma's authority yet. If you, who have just manifested, go outside, what do you think will happen?"
Manifestation of a Possessor is powerful. However, it required commensurate concrete understanding. The world called Earth was one where countless forms existed even with the same concept of Mongma (Dream Demon).
'In some places, they appear as mere low-tier demons, while in others they're depicted as dream demons that could annihilate the world.'
Thus, calibrating multiple images to suit oneself was an essential virtue of a Black Mage who had achieved manifestation of a Possessor.
"Like this girl, strive forward and achieve liberated authority. After all, are we not in a space for growth?"
Mongma gazed at the curtain that surrounded all sides. Black Mages nesting in darkness. Had it not been for the shareholders' power, most of those gathered here might have gone mad.
However, thanks to the shareholders' efforts, this space had become a training ground. Of course, there was the problem that they couldn't leave.
'......The Major Shareholder also said it's extremely difficult to leave this space.'
Makia bit her lower lip. Wasn't the Labyrinth one where the Great Cataclysm was in effect? For a sentient being—and a living person at that—to endure it was nearly impossible. As if answering Makia's thoughts, Mongma's nagging continued.
"This space itself is maintained by the [Isolation] skill of the Possessors, and it's barely being sustained by reducing the cooldown with this girl's dreams."
However, such nagging was insufficient to stop Makia's infatuation. The manifestation was successful, but. After that, Makia's judgment seemed to be rapidly crumbling. All due to her obsession with Thomas.
"Mongma, but Thomas-."
However, Mongma had already grown accustomed. Mongma calmly cut off Makia's words and brought forth words to calm her.
"Representative, aren't the Major Shareholder and all the board elders struggling to hold back the power of the Labyrinth?"
Mention of a group member and shareholders. Exploiting her exceptional devotion to the group. Only then did Makia close her mouth tightly.
"From what this girl can see......the support for the Representative is already sufficient."
Mongma swayed her long tail and pointed to the Labyrinth's walls. Makia's tears had formed a river, and that river flowed endlessly up the Labyrinth's walls.
"The master of Hundred Demons' Night Parade and Demons of Delusion. The monsters sent by him and Sauron haven't gone outside, have they? Trust in those."
The monsters within the Labyrinth. Manifestations created using Black Mages and Possessors arranged in five rows.
"The Major Shareholder even promoted them to six rows, so it's unreasonable to want more than this."
Only then did Makia regain her senses, looking at Mongma with vacant pupils. And then she lowered her head.
"I was indeed rude. It seems my heart was impatient for a moment."
The black crown worn on her head glimmered.
"It's fine. Like this girl's dreams of infinity, I will overlook it."
The situation settled. Makia began calling out Thomas's name like a fanatic, gazing at the black river. It was the embodiment of manifested power, a vow made to the river. Multiple figures watched her sincere figure with complicated expressions.
'Half water, half monster.'
The area around Makia as she prayed was filled with monsters. And they were monsters from within the Labyrinth. They flowed endlessly upward along the river.
"Mongma, how many sacrifices has the Major Shareholder offered?"
Shin Pil-joong, the department head of the manifestation division, posed a question to Mongma as he watched the sight.
'To promote five-row entities to six rows......and do it multiple times at that.'
The Major Shareholder was an entity of unknown identity. One whose thoughts couldn't even be grasped.
'Sometimes it seems like they're just flowing along with the current, but then suddenly they ask to establish themselves in the gaps of the Labyrinth......'
To Shin's concern, Mongma laughed wickedly.
"Hehe, Department Head Shin. Nine rows, one hundred million are merely units, not concrete figures."
Mongma was an entity who had approached the eighth row. Moreover, she was a true veteran Black Mage who had lived since the days of the Black Society. The one who led her here was the Original Darkness, the Major Shareholder.
Flap!
She moved her wings gently. The words left behind.
"Flowing as it seems, yet creating a grand current somewhere......that is how this girl sees the Major Shareholder."
***
The situation changed rapidly. Monsters flowed down the river. They say Erica's hair was placed on a massive platform made of goblins.
Vicious, cunning, coveting humans, attempting to possess them—an evil species.
Considering such evil reputation of goblins...... This was clearly a provocation, a will to ridicule.
Whoooosh!
Even in such urgent circumstances, silence fell upon the Imperial Palace. Quiet and stillness. As if presaging a storm.
"Your Majesty, what will you do?"
Finally, it was the Prime Minister—the party in question and Erica's father—who broke this silence.
Tap! Tap-tap!
Leonardo, who had been tapping the armrest of the throne, furrowed his brow. Too much information pouring in in real-time.
"......A monster wave riding the river is approaching."
Leonardo filtered only information related to Erica and briefly informed those gathered in the grand hall.
"Furthermore, unidentified monsters are said to be numerous at the borders of the conflict zones."
It was a large-scale procession requiring an entire legion to deal with. Those coming on the river were monsters from the Labyrinth, but the monsters surrounding the border were all new types of creatures never seen before.
"The Imperial Guard cannot move."
As a member of the imperial family, the safety of the people was naturally the top priority.
"Your Majesty, I myself shall."
The Prime Minister understood this as well. However, it was a matter concerning his daughter. He was prepared to discard his status as a subject and take the battlefield like in the distant past.
"-I will go."
Erik blocked the Prime Minister's path. His heavy, low voice caused both the Prime Minister and the Crown Prince to hold their breath momentarily. What was contained in Erik's voice was anger. This led to a recollection.
"Yes, I understood! Erik, you are no mere lowborn orphan!"
He recalled the boyish Erica of his childhood. The time of her education and the bonds formed because of it.
'I owe them so much.'
How much help had he received through the Prime Minister and Erica?
"Erik, your father says that creating your status for you is a kind of investment."
From the church's grounds to the enlistment of his fellow orphans into noble families, to the magical tool shop. There had been much support. In truth, all of this was merely secondary. Most of all.
"Aah-!! My God!"
The eager voice calling out to him from the battlefield with the black dragon echoed in Erik's ears. Wasn't rewarding those who had faith in oneself the very existence of a god?
Thump!
Erik took a heavy step forward. The grand hall resonated. The Crown Prince and Prime Minister's eyes turned toward Erik.
"Of course, it is my duty to go."
Erik met those eyes and left a single statement. At his words, Leonardo seated on the throne spoke gravely.
"A Saint, a Pilgrim, the Director of the Possessor Management Bureau of the Empire—I well know that you are exceptional for your age."
However, that was all. Leonardo asked.
"Erik, the situation is not a matter requiring merely an individual."
Why does an army exist?
"War is a matter of numbers."
A few strong face off against a few strong.
"If it could all be decided like the Grand Duel, the world would have been unified long ago."
However, the world is cruel.
"When a few strong restrain the strong, the army beneath them plunders civilian areas and slaughters the people to weaken national strength."
Where to place whom and what to intercept? While the strong fight, how to protect the people from the approaching enemy army? This is why war is a matter of numbers.
"It's a situation where monsters controlled by someone fill the demon realm, and creatures presumed to be manifestations are abundant."
The Crown Prince's eyes saw the flow clearly.
"The Black Mage Group—those bastards wage war using monsters. It just begins with a hostage situation......".
The Crown Prince's words continued to here. And Erik turned his back without hesitation from the Crown Prince.
"Kill the Black Mages and that's it. The corrupted Possessors too."
Then he strode out of the grand hall.
"That is my conviction."
A firm tone, a gait without a shred of doubt. Watching Erik's massive back, the Prime Minister quietly lowered his head.
***
The Imperial Household played a strong move. In other words, many pieces moved.
'The Archduke to the battlefield, the Emperor to the North as his substitute.'
The Empire's strongest army, the Continental Unification Army, had also advanced to Lu-Sollas, the Solar Holy Army. Here, the Imperial Guard's feet were caught by monsters flowing from the Styx River.
'Probably, the other armies protecting the Imperial Capital were also mobilized there.'
After Erica's hair flowed downstream. With monster waves riding the river at massive volumes, the Imperial Household would have no spare capacity. Of course, there were strong individuals like the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister, and the Imperial Mage Tower Master.
'But they must protect the Imperial Palace.'
They were a form of asymmetric force. A rule set by the Empire. It meant preserving minimal strength before true crisis arrives. The hell created by Lucifer in the past. Or the allied forces of the Three Kingdoms. To face the rapidly changing world.
"No matter what, with me around, how does the Crown Prince's refusal make sense?"
Hearing such an explanation, Riferoze voiced her doubt. Erik's combat power was not negligible either. But......
"War is a matter of numbers, as they say."
Erik understood the Crown Prince's meaning.
"A matter of numbers?"
In other words, something to assign Riferoze to. Or some task she would need to undertake.
"War is a matter of numbers."
Riferoze drew mysterious eyes and gazed at the distant demon realm. The dark waves were vivid. Also vivid was the stream of water flowing along the Empire's border.
'Following the river, now the border?'
Three streams of water were distinct. Besides the stream that had polluted the Lupen River, black water was spreading left and right along the border.
'Much longer and wider than before.'
The water current was more intense than what she had heard. The range had expanded as well.
"This is a phenomenon we cannot avoid."
Riferoze immediately grasped its identity.
[Styx River]
Seeing that name tag, Erik's mind produced one hypothesis.
"This is similar to hell."
The representative of the original Black Mage Group manifested as an entity called Lucifer. He had created a field called [Hell], and a name tag had appeared at that time as well.
"In other words, this water is not a manifestation, but someone manifested created this river?"
"That's right."
A fact unknown at the time because only Lucifer existed.
"Something possessing pseudo-divinity."
However, now it can be confirmed.
"It seems to have manifested as an entity connected to the Styx River."
A fallen angel, a king of hell. Lucifer was an entity bearing such titles. That bastard had shown great resistance to divine power.
"Do those flowing from that demon realm show the same characteristics?"
Riferoze drew her great sword and pointed to the center of the demon realm. Massive monsters clearly poured toward them. And her white pupils turned to the great canyon beyond.
"Erik, you said it's a matter of numbers?"
There sat the Papal See. And her eyes hardened coldly.
"Can you trust my disciple and spare some time?"
***
Terrible monsters filled the world. The form of a long serpent. The appearance of a giant spider. Or something resembling a goblin.
Kyieeeeeek!!!
The surroundings were filled with monstrous screams, and terrible creatures with overwhelming numbers rushed toward Erik's party. But-.
Whoosh!
Such creatures burst apart in all directions with a single sword strike.
"These creatures, divine power doesn't work."
However, its power was weaker than expected. Erik collected the massive [Sword of Creation] and looked back. Jang Du-sik and Janson. Park Chang-ho and Nishida Ryo, Kang Pung-ho. Five in total were forming a defensive formation, following behind Erik.
"B-Brother. Then how are we supposed to do this?"
Jang Du-sik, standing at the front, blinked and asked.
"Just kill them like always."
Everyone moved following Erik. There was someone he sought to save. That was why they followed. Erik was light, a guiding beacon.
"Brother, there are too many!"
However, their path was not smooth.
'The demon realm has expanded.'
Black earth approaching near the Empire's border. A land without sunlight, a paradise for monsters that granted them power.
"Follow behind me."
Smooth or not, Erik simply walked forward silently.
'We're just one step short.'
It was impossible to operate Possessors who hadn't yet been trained. Moreover, even the mentor he trusted was now heading to the Papal See. Yet Erik advanced.
'When have I ever fought abundantly?'
Recalling what countermeasures he could, no matter what assumption he made, it always felt slightly insufficient. Yet that would be all.
A being who believed in and followed him was caught in darkness.
Saving them was merely what a god should naturally do. And those caught in darkness who abandoned humanity were only worth killing.
Clang!
Erik firmly resolved himself and planted his sword on the dark earth. And the prayer that began.
"I am-."
A vow once recited to someone in the past.
"—a single blade, to sever evil, protect this land, and establish peace."
The source of that power had also changed to be entirely his own.
"Let this land be graced with light and erase all that is dark."
Thus would peace be achieved.
Kwoong! At the same time, brilliant and holy golden light bloomed in the darkness. And it soon expanded to become a lighthouse illuminating the demon realm's darkness.
"I devote myself to the conviction of defeating evil."
Erik established his conviction. That conviction continued. His salvation was proven. Therefore.
Waaaaaaaa!!!
A tremendous roar echoed across the distant horizon.
"The Imperial Army!"
They came forward without hesitation toward Erik, bearing the flag signifying the Empire's Labyrinth Army. Thus the Imperial Army entered through the sacred light Erik had established.
Whoooosh! In the pouring golden waves, all personnel lined up before Erik.
With unified movements. The Imperial Army took their formation. The Imperial soldiers raised their swords high to the sky and placed the hilts against their chests.
They pressed their legs together, straightened their spines, and raised their heads high to the heavens. And as they stomped one foot down, they cried out.
"Loyalty!"
"Under Major General Iris, the 3rd Company. We have come to support Director Erik!"
Seeing them, Erik thought.
'The missing piece has been filled.'