Chapter 409: The Secret of the Thousand-Year Ice Cave (4)

“No.”

Despite the overwhelming tension in the room, Darryl Harian’s response was unexpectedly calm. Some let out a sigh of relief, while others scoffed as though it was the answer they had expected.

Everyone had been completely absorbed in the conversation.

“Then what is he?”

“Before the rebellion of the Great War, those who wielded Divine Power and delivered divine judgment were known as Bladers. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”

Karyl nodded.

“Now, the term Blader has come to mean a Godslayer. But originally, they stood on the side of the gods.”

Darryl’s lips curled slightly, as though he was about to reveal something most intriguing.

“If Divine Power is a union of two forces, then there must also be beings endowed with Dimensional Power.”

“No way...” Mael, who had remained silent, gasped almost in disbelief at Darryl Harian’s words.

“Kaye Aesir possessed Divine Power, but in a different sense than the Bladers.” Darryl spoke slowly, almost drawling his words. “The Lancepho were humans known as Yula’s proxies, or incarnations. If a Blader is the sword of the gods, then Lancepho, who wielded Dimensional Power, could be considered the will of the gods.”

“That’s impossible...! The Lancepho no longer exist in this world! After the Great War of the Spirits and Gods, Yula stopped blessing humanity with her incarnations as punishment for the rebellion led by the Bladers.” Mael’s voice rang out.

“I told you, didn’t I? He’s not of this world.”

Karyl frowned at this unexpected revelation.

“Lancepho? What is that? Mael, have you been hiding more from me?”

“Why would I hide something? I never mentioned it simply because I thought it was irrelevant.”

“Elaborate.”

“They’re no longer born,” Mael explained. “The first Bladers were directly chosen by Yula, but the Lancepho were different. They were humans into whom the drifting will of Yula settled at birth. Status meant nothing; it could be a farmer’s child or the offspring of a noble.”

“So aside from their birth, how are they different from a Blader?” Karyl asked. “What kind of power does a Lancepho have?”

“As I said, they were humans who acted according to the will of the gods,” Mael answered. “Unlike the Bladers, who thrived in combat, the Lancepho lacked physical strength. But even without a Dimension Spiral, they were able to wield Divine Power, the power of creation. I suppose they were the ones you could actually call demigods.”

At that, Karyl turned his sharp gaze toward Alteman. “Did you know that Kaye Aesir was a Lancepho?”

Alteman shook his head. “No. He never told me that. And Karyl, I didn’t hide the other Ice Cave from you on purpose.”

“Then why?”

“Because Kaye Aesir asked me to reveal only one of them,” Alteman said.

“Why?”

“He told me that the other Ice Cave would be meaningless to someone who’s not a Lancepho.”

“...Fine,” Karyl muttered after a pause. “That makes sense.”

Indeed, Gordon Fabian had stumbled across that Thousand-Year Ice Cave, but he hadn’t grasped what the tower truly represented. At the time, he simply assumed that the Lawful King referred to the ruler of the empire.

“Okay, so Kaye Aesir is a Lancepho or whatever. And on top of that, he’s from a different dimension? You do realize how ridiculous this sounds, right?” Karyl murmured, clearly frustrated.

“That is absolutely impossible,” Mael shot back, clearly flustered. “You are saying a being from another dimension managed to influence this world? If you’d claimed he was a god, I might’ve believed it. But even if he is a divine incarnation, he is still human. Are you telling me a human could cross dimensions? That’s ridiculous.”

“...Is it?” Karyl challenged in a low, steady voice. “There’s no such thing as absolute impossibility. You all know what kind of being I am, don’t you?”

“...”

It wasn’t only Mael who knew that Karyl had turned back time. Everyone bound to him by contract was aware of it. Mael had also dared to hope that perhaps this impossible variable could alter the future.

“But your case is different,” Mael said flatly. “Crossing dimensions would require breaking the divine laws themselves. In other words, one would have to kill a god.”

“You yourself once mentioned Xeck-Mut, the one known as the Lord, the highest among the gods. You must know that the Dimension Spiral still lingering in this world belonged to Xeck-Mut. And you also said it yourself: gods are born and eventually die, just like humans. They have a beginning and an end.”

“Do not twist my words,” Mael snapped. “What I meant was the natural end of a god, not being slain by humans.”

“Why not?” Darryl Harian challenged, his tone surprisingly bold. “Why do you think it’s impossible?”

“What?”

“Because that would mean you are calling your own plans impossible,” Darryl said. “You’re being contradictory.”

“That is...”

“The reason Kaye Aesir’s essence still existed in this world was precisely because Xeck-Mut was slayed.”

“Are you saying that a human managed to do in a different dimension what the Bladers, Spirit Kings, and even the dragons couldn’t? How could that be?” Mael demanded.

Darryl Harian slowly shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“But one thing was certain,” Alteman intervened. “He was human.”

In other words, the idea of humans slaying gods wasn’t just fantasy.

“If that is true... then Lancephos could no longer exist in our world. I suppose that’s why our rebellion failed. Perhaps we were just fighting an unwinnable battle.”

“I thought as much,” Darryl Harian murmured, a hint of admiration in his tone.

“That’s exactly why a contingency was put in place.”

“A contingency?” Karyl asked.

“Yula sealed away the Blader, whose very existence could threaten her life and made sure that no more Lancephos would be born. The reason the two were incomplete was that they were fundamentally different entities.”

Thump, thump, thump...!

Karyl’s heart began pounding violently.

“Don’t tell me that contingency was...”

“That was to merge the Blader and the Lancepho into one, so that their power would not be divided, but concentrated in a single vessel. But since the gods no longer allowed Lancephos to be born in this world, another variable was required for salvation.”

“To create a Lancepho,” Karyl said quietly.

“A human creating life like a god? That’s just arrogant nonsense,” Mael spat.

“No one was creating anything,” Darryl said. “It had to be seized. But the methods used so far were unstable. That was why Kaye Aesir had to deceive the gods one more time.”

Darryl turned and looked directly at Karyl. “To concentrate both the power of the gods and their will into a single person, without splitting them.”

At that, everyone turned toward Karyl.

“And in my opinion,” Darryl added, “Kaye Aesir’s gamble seemed to have paid off.”

“Hah...”

Karyl let out a wry laugh, as if Darryl’s words were utterly absurd.

Of course, Darryl was talking about him. Karyl had earned this crucial chance by defying time itself, so the odds that Kaye Aesir’s hidden contingency would succeed had been next to nothing.

It was quite literally a gamble.

“But it worked,” Allen Javius whispered.

“I’m just a human. I knew nothing beyond that,” Darryl said. “I only knew that Kaye Aesir had left behind a final will.”

“...A will?”

“A kind of Spirit Language that only someone who possesses both Divine Power and Dimensional Power could use.”

Wooooooong

...

As soon as he finished speaking, the young divine beast standing beside him let out a low, resonant cry. With that, light began to swirl and gather around Karyl.

“What I did know,” Darryl continued, “was that he had another name. Kaye Aesir was merely the name he took after arriving in this dimension.”

“What was it?” Karyl asked.

“Who knows...” Darryl shook his head.

“But according to the records passed down by the Golden Cross Association, Kaye Aesir referred to himself as the soul who killed Xeck-Mut and became one with the flow of dimensional matter. In truth, he never called himself a Blader or a Lancepho. Those labels were assigned to him later after the nature of his power became known to us.”

He looked straight at Karyl.

“Do you understand now? He came from another dimension, and he succeeded in killing a god. That is the truth. Which means...”

With that, Darryl got to one knee and bowed his head to Karyl, as though offering formal allegiance to his king.

“...We could also do it. The Golden Cross Association pledged everything it had to stand and fight beside you in the war against the Tarak.”

“Is that so?” Karyl asked with a cold smile.

Shing!

It happened in the blink of an eye. No one even registered Karyl’s sword slicing through the air; they only saw the blood on the floor.

“...!!”

Darryl Harian didn’t even scream. He simply stared at Karyl in disbelief, clutching the bleeding stump of his wrist. All color had drained from his face.

“Who gave you the right to ask whether I understood anything?” Karyl said. “You think you could do it? Do what, exactly?”

“Th-That...” Darryl stammered, unable to finish.

No one dared to intervene.

“This is not the stage you created. You were nothing more than a gatekeeper standing at a door, waiting for guests to arrive on behalf of the master inside—doing nothing.”

With that, Karyl raised his sword and pointed it directly at Darryl.

“You’re running your mouth without knowing your proper place. Consider yourself lucky to be alive.”

That was what true authority looked like. From Kaye Aesir to the gods themselves—no matter who stood before him, Karyl never lost sight of who he was. He was always at the center. That was the one value a leader could never afford to lose.

“You never once made your position clear,” Karyl went on. “Back when we were in the principality, Anthem sought you out in order to study formations, but you refused.”

Darryl slowly lifted his head.

“And now, after all this time, you swore loyalty to me in front of so many eyes. You thought this might save your life after keeping things from me, huh?”

He lightly set Polsetia’s blade on Darryl’s shoulder.

“But I’m not like you,” Karyl sneered. “The goal I set my sights on matters more to me than how others see me. I wonder, is there anyone who would come to save someone like you?”

Karyl paused briefly, frowning as he gazed down at Darryl.

“Besides, I’m not buying this. From where I stand, it looks like you’re merely seeking my cooperation in order to carry out Kaye Aesir’s will. This ain’t loyalty.”

At that moment, the voice of one of the wyvern riders rang out from the landing platform of the Celestial Fortress, cutting through the chill in the air.

“Tarak spotted ahead!”

Everyone turned their eyes to the ground below.

Rumble...!!

Crimson clouds erupted from the entrance of the Blood Cave. A thick, slime-like red mass oozed from its mouth, as if vomited onto the ground, slowly spreading across the surface.

“What is that...?”

Miliana grimaced at the sight of the grotesque creatures. She had never seen anything like it before.

“Kaye Aesir’s gamble may have succeeded, but I wonder if yours will,” Karyl mused. “Do not forget that your life is still in my hands, regardless of who wins this war.”

“...Understood,” Darryl murmured with a bitter smile.

“My lord,” Anthem carefully cut in as he stepped forward. “He’s too valuable to discard. Would you allow treatment for his injury?”

Indeed, a sorcerer could not cast spells properly with just one hand. For Darryl Harian, also known as the Magic Bullet, speed was everything, and having both hands was crucial.

Of course, that was precisely why Karyl had cut his hand off.

Crunch... crackle...

Darryl’s severed hand froze over the second Karyl grabbed it from the ground.

“Eh, soldiers often have to keep fighting with a broken arm or a shattered leg. So a Great Sorcerer shouldn’t expect to be coddled.”

“Of course,” Anthem acquiesced.

Karyl’s people had grown uncomfortable with how casually Darryl spoke to him, but when their lord finally drew the line, they looked at him with renewed loyalty, clearly reassured by his authority.

“I’ve sealed your hand using the power of Ethereal, the Queen of Tides. It can be reattached at any time, but I will be the one deciding on that. Darryl, it’s up to you whether you regain your hand or keep living as a cripple.”

“...Yes, sir.”

“Whether Kaye Aesir was from another dimension or not means nothing to me,” Karyl went on. “I will use the power he left behind gratefully. But power is just a tool. I will use my own strength to accomplish what I intend.”

Perhaps it was his firm tone, or the sharpness of his presence—whatever it was, it sent a chill down Darryl’s spine. He felt as if he were standing before a drawn blade that was ready to cut him down.

He bowed, unable to meet Karyl’s gaze.

“Don’t do that.”

“...What?”

“You need to watch,” Karyl said in a commanding tone. “You’re the one who carried out his will for 250 years. That gives you more reason than anyone to see this battle through.”

With that, Karyl brought two fingers to his lips and whistled. Shortly after, his red wyvern emerged from the clouds, flapping its wings fast.

“You will watch and record everything—from the beginning of this war to its final moments. Leave nothing out, so future generations will know. That is your task. You can still hold a pen, right?”

“...Understood.”

Despite the dire situation he found himself in, Darryl Harian felt his heart tighten with a strange thrill that took him by surprise. This wasn’t a duty bestowed upon him as a member of the Golden Cross Association—this mission was his alone.

“Raise your sword.”

Thump!

Standing tall atop the wyvern’s head, Karyl spoke in a voice that seemed to echo across the entire Celestial Fortress.

“This is the first step toward godslaying.”