Chapter 410: Back to Those Days

Thunder roared amidst the swirling black clouds. The Celestial Fortress gradually slowed, coming to a halt just short of the Blood Cave as it avoided the lightning strikes.

Strangely enough, the storm clouds loomed directly above the Blood Cave, as though defending it from intruders.

“The Wyvern Squadron will hold position! Watch out for lightning!”

At Ganeth’s command, the wyverns that had been flying in formation around the fortress broke into a semicircle, forming a shape of a crane wing with the fortress at its center.

“My lord, look over there!”

Kinu Mukari, his eyes ever sharp, pointed down toward the ground. Surprisingly, although lightning had struck the earth from the clouds above, it had not dissipated. Instead, it sparked wildly around the area near the cave, as though alive.

The lightning, left unabsorbed, continued to build as it circled the cave at a terrifying speed, like a predator hunting for prey.

“One wrong move and we’ll be roasted alive,” Allen muttered, clicking his tongue as he scanned the terrain below. “At least there don’t seem to be any people.”

“I had Suan and Israphil sent to the Blood Cave in advance and ordered them to relocate the citizens near Tramel,” Karyl explained. “They were already refugees, driven out of the empire and living in the ruins. Offering them settlement funds was enough to handle the situation.”

“Thorough as always, but remember: a ruler’s virtue is foresight, not unnecessary kindness. That kind of sentiment will only weigh you down,” Allen warned.

Karyl simply shrugged in response.

“So what are you planning to do?” Allen asked. “We have to get down there if we want to find and eliminate monsters.”

“The people gathered here in the Celestial Fortress are all elites. They can defend themselves, at the very least... but we’ll need to deal with the lightning first.”

Karyl turned to Aidan. “Lend me your Twin Blades. I have a feeling the only weapons that can withstand those ridiculous bolts are Thunderstrike and Thunderclap.”

“Yes, sir,” Aidan replied without hesitation, drawing the two blades from within his cloak and handing them over.

Boom—!!

Karyl hurled Thunderstrike down toward the ground with all his strength. The moment the blade struck, a violent whirlwind erupted, and the lightning spiraled into the sword as though sucked in by it.

“Hah, only you could use one of the Five Great Blader Artifacts as a lightning rod,” Allen muttered in disbelief. “Just the sight of one would leave most people in awe, yet you toss it around like a spare tool. Then again, no one else would think to use it this way.”

Bzzzt... Crackle... Bzzzzzzzt...!

“I’d say we have one minute at best,” Karyl muttered.

With his Infinity Circle active, he could see the Thunderstrike trembling violently in the ground, as though the lightning was about to make it snap.

“We should just be grateful it hasn’t shattered yet.”

With that, he tossed the Thunderclap back to Aidan, who immediately understood what they needed to do.

“You all heard that, right?” he shouted at his Snakel unit. “We have exactly one minute to break into enemy territory. Get ready to drop!”

“Tramel may be in ruins now,” Anthem added, pulling out a map, “but during the Magical Era, it was once used as a fortress.”

Strangely, this map was not the typical kind, painted on animal hide. Rather, it was a magical invention that projected the map itself into the air. As Anthem gripped the glass orb with both hands, the translucent map hovering in the air expanded, sharpening until it revealed the terrain of Tramel in crisp detail.

“Incredible,” Nain Darhon murmured, intrigued by the gnome invention.

“It’s connected to Lord Israphil’s Superior Vision, so the map updates in real time,” Anthem explained. “Not only that, but we can open a magical screen to view any location directly. Since our war against the Tarak spans multiple regions, the speed of information is everything.”

Karyl gave a satisfied nod. Though Anthem was not a knight, he could handle golems better than most pilots. After all, one needn’t stand on the frontlines to be a great leader. Just by his command alone, the golem units piloted by Wingel always performed better than others.

Combat prowess wasn’t everything in this war. The deployment and coordination of the golems was crucial, and only Anthem could manage that flawlessly.

“My lord, over there...!”

At Kinu Mukari’s shout, everyone looked up.

“Ghrrrr...!!”

A massive creature appeared briefly through the storm clouds before vanishing. Its body resembled that of a snake, but its face was demonic—twisted into a grotesque human expression.

“What the hell kind of monster is that?”

Even the battle-hardened Gordon recoiled at the sight of the abomination.

“Anthem, move the Celestial Fortress to a safer position. Tell Israphil to give us as many eyes as possible, and...”

Anthem undid the map and pulled a small, finely-crafted item from his pocket.

“Here.”

“Can you hear me?” Karyl asked as he fitted the device into his ear.

The small jewel embedded in it blinked with light. It was a miniature communicator, newly crafted by Calypson with his Crafting Magic.

[Yes, my lord. There’s a bit of static, probably due to the Tarak’s influence, but it’s manageable for now. Though, once we move into the core, the connection may become unstable.]

Karyl’s eyebrows rose slightly as he heard Wingel’s voice through the device.

Communication magic had once been exclusive to sorcerers. But with this device, even those without mana, like the immigrants, could now communicate across vast distances, making tactical coordination far easier.

“How are the golems responding?”

[No issues so far, but there’s no telling how they’ll function once we enter the inner zone.]

Karyl nodded at Wingel’s reply.

“Deploy all available golems around the Blood Cave. Once the cave is destroyed, the Tarak will lose their leader and swarm out in a frenzy. We must make sure they never escape Tramel’s perimeter. I’m leaving them to you.”

[Yes, sir.]

Though Wingel was stationed across the strait, the tension in his voice was unmistakable.

[All golem units, descent.]

Click—!!

Whirrrrrrr—!!

At his command, the golems that had been positioned along the outer rim of the Celestial Fortress dropped to the ground in perfect coordination.

Fwoosh...

Ssssss... Boom!! Thud...!!

As the power cores mounted on their backs emitted bursts of energy, their descent slowed. The golems landed one by one and proceeded to establish a perimeter.

Watching the mana weapons move seamlessly, the others around them quickly readied themselves for combat.

“Darryl Harian.”

“At your command.”

“The Celestial Fortress’s spatial core has been adjusted to respond to my power, so even non-sorcerers can now pilot it. However, the four turrets are different. They require Radiant Power to fire.”

“Yes.”

“If, as Yula claimed, the Tarak are beings who defy the gods, then Radiant Power should be especially effective against them. You know what you have to do.”

“I will take control of the turrets.”

Karyl gave a brief nod. Divine Power could only be wielded by those chosen by the gods, but that wasn’t the only reason Karyl ordered Darryl to operate the turrets instead of fighting on the front lines.

He wouldn’t be much good on the battlefield with just one hand. Besides, Alkar, the divine beast imbued with Rasis’s power, made him a valuable asset.

“Don’t forget, this battle is only the prelude to the Great War. I reckon you understand better than anyone the importance of morale. Our victory here will become the driving force behind the more than one million soldiers awaiting us.”

“Woaaaahh...!!”

“Yeeaaahhh...!!”

The soldiers aboard the Celestial Fortress shouted with all their might in response to Karyl’s words. Their roars could have split the sky, and yet there was a lingering sense of unease among their ranks. They were about to face an unknown enemy.

Without hesitation, Karyl leaped toward the cave below. The Thunderstrike had absorbed most of the lightning, though streaks of residual electricity still flickered across the ground.

Crackle... Fzzzt!

With every step he took, sparks of electricity burst beneath his feet.

Thud!

Aidan and Suan followed close behind. Karyl cast them a brief glance. He said nothing, but deep down, he had always known that these two would be the first to follow him into the war.

“...Hah.”

Suan tightened the straps on his gauntlets with a tense expression, while Aidan lightly tapped the blade he had embedded in the ground and looked at it with mild amusement.

“This is just the worst... Do we really have to fight those things in a place like this?”

“No, quite the opposite,” said Karyl.

“Sorry?”

“This place is deserted. But what if those monsters had invaded our homeland instead? You don’t need me to tell you how much worse that would have been.”

“...You’re right. Just imagining it is horrifying.”

“Exactly. Just the thought of it...” Karyl muttered with a rueful smile. To him, it wasn’t just a thought—it was a memory of the horrors that had been. And now, he had to face it again.

Back then, the Tarak surged out from this very Blood Cave. But we didn’t even know how to fight them. That ignorance cost us countless lives. Now compared to that... I’m only grateful.

This time, they knew how to fight, and they were strong enough to hope for victory. This formation was far greater than the one from his past life.

Squish!

Karyl stepped on the writhing fragment of a dead Tarak, crushing it beneath his boot.

Sssshhhk—!!

The black thing hissed, releasing a horrid stench before burning away to nothing. The moment he saw the body, he felt as if every drop of blood in his veins froze and then thawed all at once.

“Yes... this feeling.”

The rhythm of his heart felt familiar—so familiar it irritated him.

This was the moment he had been waiting for, and that was what the quiver in his chest signaled. He had never intended for a crisis that would decide the future of humanity—no complicated strategies and political games.

None of that.

Everything he had done up to this point was to ensure that all he needed to do now was swing his sword and cut down whatever stood before him. As he gazed at the Blood Cave, he felt ready to take the final step he had never managed before.

And to do that, he had to become the Sword Saint once more—that version of himself whose blade was sharper than anything else; that Karyl MacGovern who lived only for the sword.

He was ready to begin his final tempering.