Chapter 404

Slash!

Rimmer didn't stop after the first slash. He regained his balance from mid-air to attack consecutively until the Specter's body was cut into pieces.

Whaam!

As soon as the black hands released Raon's limbs, he used the Supreme Harmony Steps to catch Yua and Yulius.

"Haa…"

He breathed out a sigh of relief as he confirmed their state.

'They are safe.'

Fortunately, there were no problems whatsoever with Yua and Yulius except that they were unconscious.

Whir.

He used the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's heat to completely erase the energy of death the Specter had used to make them sleep.

"Heave-ho!"

Rimmer landed on the ground and put his sword on his shoulder. His lips curved into a huge smile, showing that he was getting carried away with his heroic arrival.

"Squad leader…"

"Uh uh!"

Raon tried to talk to him, but he extended his hand and shook his head.

"You don't need to thank me! It's my job to protect you!"

The smile on Rimmer's face deepened. His nose was rising so high that it looked like it could reach the stratosphere.

"The Light Wind squad's squad leader? Which means, is that elf Zieghart's Sword of Light?"

"A-amazing. I didn't even realize he was here!"

"What amazing speed. I can understand why he's called the Sword of Light."

"He just destroyed the Specter…"

"I heard he was severely injured, but he's still amazing."

"Is this the Zieghart's power…?"

The swordsmen and magicians who were being crushed by the Specter's energy of death admired Rimmer's swordsmanship.

"Aheem! That wasn't a big deal."

Rimmer cleared his throat and raised his chin. He looked extremely arrogant.

"Haa…"

Raon exhaled in irritation and walked up to Rimmer.

'I'm thankful that he saved us, but before that… Why did he come so late?'

Watching him boast made him extremely angry because it reminded him of how much he suffered for the past six days.

"Why did you arrive so late?"

"Do you think you are the protagonist or something? What have you been even doing to arrive so late?"

"I think he must've been napping somewhere."

"Always late."

Even Martha, Burren, and Runaan glared at Rimmer and frowned just like Raon did.

"Yeah, the timing was too perfect."

"It was the perfect time for a hero's arrival."

"I bet he was sleeping in a tree because he didn't want to fight and came rolling down."

The Light Wind swordsmen also glared at him in suspicion before anything because of what he'd done in the past.

"Huh…?"

Rimmer's jaw dropped. He looked like he didn't expect that response.

"B-but I'm your squad leader, and I just saved you…"

"You should do the squad leader's job since you are the squad leader. You didn't come here right after you finished your training in seclusion, right?"

"Th-that's true, but…"

Rimmer nodded awkwardly at Raon's question.

"Then what have you been doing… Huh?"

It's not over yet.

'I noticed.'

Raon nodded and looked above him. The Specter's robe, which was torn to pieces from Rimmer's sword, was starting to gather together.

That implied that the Specter was still alive.

"Burren! Dorian!"

Raon threw Yua and Yulius at Burren and Dorian behind him.

"Huff!"

"Huh?"

They were surprised but still managed to smoothly catch them.

"Take the members and leave! Everyone, leave this land except for the Masters!"

"Why… Huff!"

"Th-that's…"

They were about to ask the reason why when their chins started to tremble as they noticed the Specter's robe being regenerated in the air.

"He didn't die!"

"Leave this land, everyone!"

Milland and Morell ordered the retreat to the swordsmen and magicians they'd brought.

"Your Highness! Retreat with the knights!"

"You can't handle this!"

Borini Kitten and Trevin also made their knights and swordsmen retreat.

"Huh?"

Rimmer tilted his head while looking at the Specter regaining his original form.

"I knew he could revive, but I've never seen that ability before."

He briefly clicked his tongue, saying that he never knew that the Specter could immediately revive himself.

"It must be because of that bead."

Raon pointed at the black bead glowing from inside the Specter's robe.

"He's been using that bead to amplify the energy of death all along."

Ever since the Specter first appeared, he used that dark bead to summon the black hands and cast spells.

Considering the fact that his body was gathering around the black bead, it was a plausible assumption.

"Which means…"

"Yes, we should attack it."

Raon kicked the ground as soon as he finished talking. Rimmer also jumped and unleashed his astral energy.

When Raon was about to slash the Specter with the Blade of Requiem wrapped in Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, dark energy emerged and created a round barrier.

Claang!

The frightening black barrier was sturdy enough to block the two astral energies.

Crack!

It was destroyed soon enough, but the Specter had already finished his regeneration and moved back in the meantime.

Raon turned around mid-air to step on Rimmer's shoulder and charge towards the Specter.

Claang!

Heavenly Drive, wrapped in astral energy, smashed the bead he was holding. Unfortunately. it didn't even leave a scratch, let alone cut it.

"Scram!"

A dark light radiated from the Specter's hand. Raon felt like his heart skipped a beat upon witnessing the light.

Thud!

Raon hurriedly increased his weight to return to the ground and used the Supreme Harmony's Third Step to withdraw.

Whaam!

The ground where he had been standing exploded, and a bottomless pit was created.

"Did you just fail to cut it? My shoulder was too good for you!"

"It's harder than I thought."

Raon shook his head at Rimmer, who clicked his tongue at his pathetic performance.

'But this situation isn't too bad.'

Since he showed that his astral blade was incapable of cutting the bead, the Specter was bound to become careless.

If he used 'that power' at the correct opportunity, he would be able to destroy it.

"You vermin!"

The Specter was trembling so hard that his mask was getting shaken off. Raon could almost see the expression on his face.

"I'll remove you from this world without leaving the smallest trace!"

"Like how you ended up just now?"

Rimmer smiled faintly while pointing at the Specter.

"Shut up!"

The Specter extended his hand holding the black bead, and a huge wave occurred in the Land of Death to revive the undead that they'd finally managed to kill with even more powerful energy of death.

Whir!

Every single one of them was clad with even more power than low-class death knights, and even powerful people like Milland and Borini Kitten weren't going to be able to get rid of them easily.

"We just need to get rid of him instead of them."

Rimmer smiled, saying that it wasn't a difficult task.

"Indeed."

Raon nodded and used the Supreme Harmony Steps.

Zap!

Rimmer caught up to him and unleashed his wind and lightning. He must've trained properly at least, since he could naturally control the lightning.

Rumble!

Raon tried to approach the Specter, but the land he was standing on started to fissure and collapse as if an earthquake were happening.

Whaam!

The dark land became distorted and a dragon's head covered with blue fire emerged.

A dragon's body and wings as huge as a mountain followed. A sharp tail appeared at last, like a long spear capable of reaching the sky, and slammed into the trembling land.

"That's…"

There was no mistake, as it was an ice dragon made of bones without skin. It was the bone dragon that competed for the place of strongest among the undead.

Roaaar!

The Specter mounted on the bone dragon's back as it roared and extended the bead to the front.

"Your chance is over. You won't be able to reach me ever again."

He declared and floated into the air with the bone dragon.

"Raon!"

"I know."

Raon kicked the ground with enough power to burst his thigh muscles.

Slash!

He cut the black hands trying to stop him by surging up from the ground with Blizzard Sword Art and thrusting Heavenly Drive above him.

'The technique I need to use is…'

The bone dragon had already started to fly. Since the Specter was probably going to fend off the attacks, dragging it back down on the ground was the highest priority.

Raon Zieghart Style Swordplay.

Second form, Heavenly Heavy Cannon.

The sphere of astral energy was created at the tip of Heavenly Drive, and the tremendous gravity from it dragged down the bone dragon's body.

'I knew it would work.'

The Heavenly Heavy Cannon could create gravity, and he could pull his opponent with it.

The gravity had grown even more powerful since he had become an advanced Master, stopping the bone dragon from flying.

"What the hell?!"

"Our vice squad leader is pretty good, isn't he?"

The Specter's chin trembled in panic, and Rimmer went above his head with a cold smile on his face.

"He has a bad personality, but his skills are the real deal!"

Rimmer gritted his teeth and slashed down with wind and lightning.

Whaaam!

The Specter hurriedly created a dark spherical barrier, but it couldn't perfectly defend against the tremendous power of Rimmer's strike. The bone dragon lost its balance.

'I should do it now.'

Raon didn't miss the opportunity as the bone dragon tilted its body and exploded the Heavenly Heavy Cannon's energy focused at the tip of his sword.

Baaam!

The flash of light extending from Heavenly Drive's tip destroyed the Specter's dark barrier and severed the bone dragon's left shoulder and wing.

Whaaam!

Rimmer crushed it from the top and Raon destroyed it from the bottom. The bone dragon ended up falling to the ground with its body turned upside down.

Whoosh!

Because of its huge size, a huge sandstorm occurred from the ground.

Raon dashed to finish it off, and a blue light burst from the dust.

'Don't tell me…'

It was a tremendous amount of ice. The bone dragon was using the ice breath.

Since it was an undead, it didn't feel any pain and counterattacked right away even though its body was destroyed.

Swaaaa!

The ice breath coming from the bone dragon was incomparable to the drake's breath that he'd previously encountered.

Even though Raon's Water Resistance was at seven-stars, he couldn't tank it with his body.

"Even so…"

'I'll do it.'

Raon didn't dodge the ice breath. He increased the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's outputs to the maximum and dashed toward the ice storm.

Crack!

He cut through the coldness with the sharpness of the Crimson Slash and stabbed the bone dragon's jaw with the Blade of Requiem before using the Flame Dragon Art.

Whaap!

The fire breath unleashed from the red blade pierced into the bone dragon's body.

Creak!

The coldness surrounding the bone dragon was pushed back by the Flame Dragon Art's fire and its bones started to be crushed.

Smack!

The coldness was the bone dragon's vitality. Once the coldness melted down from the heat, it couldn't last any longer.

Grr…

The bone dragon's chin trembled in regret before it collapsed.

"My side is done."

Raon confirmed that the light had disappeared from the bone dragon's eyes before he raised his head.

Cring!

Rimmer caught up to the Specter, who was trying to run away, and unleashed astral energies of wind one after the other.

"You failure!"

The Specter extended his bead. His energy of death was amplified in an instant, and countless black spears started to rain down.

Rumble!

Every single one of the spears was as powerful as an advanced Master's astral energy.

"Uwaah!"

Rimmer screamed like a girl and turned his body to dodge the spears of death.

Whir!

However, the spears of death were endless. Raon could predict that Rimmer was going to die at that rate—and so would the people behind him.

"Seriously."

Raon gritted his back teeth and dashed towards the Specter.

Cring!

He unleashed the White Shadow Slash with Heavenly Drive while he hacked with the Flawless Sea of Fire using the Blade of Requiem.

The white shadow removed the spears of death and the crimson flames engulfed them.

The white and red waves emerged as beautifully as a dancer's performance, and the spears of death disappeared without even leaving a trace.

Cring!

Rimmer didn't miss the opportunity presented to him, advancing like the wind to slash down the Specter.

Claang!

However, his sword didn't manage to reach the Specter. A red gate suddenly appeared from the ground and blocked the sword.

"Is this…?"

Rimmer frowned while looking at the red gate.

"Do you believe that the strongest undead summoned by an archlich would be a death knight or a bone dragon?"

The Specter sneered, and the chains dropped from the gate. With a noise that sounded like thousands of people screaming in unison, the crimson gate opened up.

From the darkness inside the door, a knight wearing red armor with noticeably large shoulder pads appeared.

His face couldn't be seen because of his helmet, which was the shape of a dragon's head, but Raon could tell that he wasn't alive. He must've been an undead, just like the death knight.

Rumble!

The power of the red armored knight was even stronger than an advanced death knight. The will inside his crimson eyes wasn't malice towards the living but fighting spirit as he craved battle.

"What is this?"

Rimmer licked his lips in anxiety and leaped backward.

Oh?

Raon frowned while looking at the unknown monster, and Wrath quietly exclaimed.

'Do you know him?'

Of course, that monster also exists in Devildom.

'What?'

That's a monster called a Hell Pilgrim. It's an evolved version of a corrupted death knight, which happens when its soul transcends and reaches Devildom.

Wrath said that Raon should be careful about him since he was a pilgrim of Devildom.

Shring!

The Specter raised his hand, and the hell pilgrim unsheathed his longsword. The frightening sound of the sword draw made Raon nauseous.

"Go, kill them all!"

He shouted, and the hell pilgrim stepped forward.

Whaam!

It felt like his entire vision turned red as the hell pilgrim appeared in front of his eyes and slashed down with his longsword.

The extremely weak dark flame burning on the blade, unlike the Sword of Purgatory, made a chill run down his spine.

'I'll die if I don't defend to the best of my abilities.'

Raon unleashed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation to the extreme and thrust the most defensive technique of the Fangs of Insanity, Division Slash.

Claang!

Astral energy burst from the clash between crimson and dark flames and created countless sparks in the air.

Grr.

The hell pilgrim seemed to enjoy the fact that Raon managed to block his attack, and he moved on to the next strike with grotesque laughter.

Whoosh!

His sword was falling in a curve from the right side, but it was fast and variable at the same time, which made it difficult to read the flow.

Raon resonated the Ring of Fire as fast as possible, and he could finally see the trajectory of the hell pilgrim's sword.

Cring!

He deflected the hell pilgrim's strike with the Blizzard Sword Art using Heavenly Drive and extended his left foot to thrust the Blade of Requiem.

Grr!

The hell pilgrim wasn't surprised at all and deflected the Blade of Requiem with his shoulder pad before he attacked with his elbow.

'He has a fast reaction time.'

Since the close-quarter combat wasn't unexpected, he fended off the elbow with the back of his hand before he smacked the hell pilgrim's stomach with his knee.

Smaack!

Since he was using the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, the hell pilgrim's armor was crushed like scrap metal, but he only groaned faintly and withdrew.

"Where are you going?"

Raon advanced with the Supreme Harmony Steps as smoothly as gliding through ice. He reached the hell pilgrim's back and unleashed Frost Pond.

Claaang!

Raon's two blades attacked one after the other, and the hell pilgrim deflected Heavenly Drive while burning the frozen blade with hellfire.

The reaction was appropriate on top of being fast. Raon felt like he was facing a properly trained knight or swordsman instead of an undead.

Grr!

It was time for the hell pilgrim's counterattack. He bent his right knee to lower his posture and raised his sword.

'The upper posture.'

The upper posture was the sword posture with the strongest attack. Focusing on defense was the best course of action.

'However…'

Defense didn't suit him since he had the Ring of Fire. Raon believed in his own skills and advanced.

Whaam!

The hell pilgrim's sword fell towards him. It was slow, but the heavy weight pressing upon his body gave the impression that it was unmanageably fast.

The principles of the heavy sword polished to the extreme were dwelling in his sword.

'That sword…'

Raon bit his lip.

'I'll destroy it.'

Raon had trained enough with the heavy sword that he wouldn't lose to any swordsman.

He stomped the ground with his left foot and unleashed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation to the extreme.

The rotation coming from his ankle was connected to his waist, shoulder, and wrist before he pushed with Heavenly Drive. A crimson sphere appeared from the tip of his sword and rotated violently.

Cring!

It was the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's Revolving Sky. The raging sphere condensed to the extreme and clashed against the hell pilgrim's strike head-on.

Whaaam!

Alongside a tremendous firestorm, the Land of Death fissured like a spiderweb, and the ground shook.

"Haa…"

Raon exhaled heavily, and a frightening light flickered from the smoke. He was coming. Raon immediately prepared his defense.

The longsword burning in black pierced through the smoke and rushed toward Raon's heart.

Clang!

He deflected the blow with the Blade of Requiem, which was engulfed with the Blizzard Sword Art's wind, and slashed down with Heavenly Drive wrapped with a crazy beast's bloodlust.

Clang!

Raon twisted his lips while pushing the hell pilgrim's sword back with his two swords from close quarters.

'He's rather strong.'

He had an unreasonable amount of physical strength, probably because he'd transcended from being a human and a death knight.

'Moreover…'

Judging from the hell pilgrim's unwavering eyes, he must've been hiding his skills.

"I'll force you to use your power."

He covered Heavenly Drive with fire and the Blade of Requiem with ice to push back the hell pilgrim, but he suddenly lost strength in his limbs.

His head hurt from the dizziness, and the world started spinning and grew blurry. He lowered his gaze slightly upon feeling something flowing from his nose. It looked like it was bleeding.

'The impact shouldn't be strong enough for that.'

He did gain some internal injuries, but they were definitely not bad enough to lose strength in his limbs and have a nosebleed.

You idiot.

Raon swallowed nervously in confusion, and Wrath's voice could be heard.

The King of Essence warned you. Stamina and aura can be recovered, but not willpower.

'That's…'

Moreover, you already used the Silver White Aurora twice. Even though the King of Essence helped you, you were eating away at your soul. You are only getting the rebound from it.

Wrath complimented him, saying that he lasted long enough for a human. It was such a rare occurrence coming from him.

'But I have to endure for now… Kuh!'

Raon tried to push the hell pilgrim back, but he must've noticed that Raon was having some trouble since he kept pushing even more powerfully.

Psssh!

The hell pilgrim's sword pushed Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem to start burning Raon's shoulder when a clear wind blew from behind to reduce the heat.

Clang!

Rimmer had appeared before he knew it and easily fended off the hell pilgrim's sword.

Grr!

The hell pilgrim briefly ground his teeth and stepped back.

"Huff…"

Raon exhaled roughly, and Rimmer walked up to him.

"I didn't teach my disciple to grow so weak."

Rimmer shrugged his shoulders while looking at Raon.

"How long did you even fight to be panting like a puppy?"

'Man, I've been fighting for six days straight!'

Raon bared his teeth and glared at Rimmer. He wanted to argue that he'd been fighting for six days straight without even sleeping, but his voice wasn't coming out.

"Well, I guess it's not a bad idea to do a teacher's work once in a while."

Rimmer smiled and went towards the hell pilgrim.

"You asked me about the Sword Field Creation, right?"

"Squad leader…?"

"You should witness it with your own eyes and learn what has changed."

His sword pierced the dark sky and his left hand pointed at the ground.

"Sword Field Creation."

Rimmer's quiet voice crushed the darkness.

"Song of Wind and Lightning."

Lightning capable of destroying evil struck the ground and pierced through the Land of Death alongside his aloof declaration.