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Chapter 635
Chapter 635
KWAAAANG!
No one who hasn’t experienced it could understand what it felt like to be trapped inside sand spinning like a gigantic mixer.
That horrifying sensation of being ground down from head to toe was so dreadful that even recalling the memory was unbearable.
The same applied to Dantal.
‘Damn it!’
Because he had already suffered terribly at Zeon’s hands before, his face twisted on its own.
He was suffering from a kind of trauma.
But his mind was not so weak that he would collapse from something like this.
Though he took a slight shock, he quickly regained his composure.
Most of all, the violently spinning sand particles could not harm him at all.
Because an aura shield had spread around his body.
The sand particles merely scraped uselessly against the aura shield and could not inflict even a single wound on him.
“You bastard!”
SHUGAAK!
Dantal swung his sword and burst through the wall of sand.
Rising high into the air, Dantal hurriedly scanned his surroundings. But nowhere on the ground could he see Zeon.
“Then?”
Dantal’s gaze turned upward.
Just as he expected, Zeon was floating high in the sky.
“Insolent!”
Dantal gritted his teeth.
He did not like the sight of Zeon looking down on him from above.
The highest place had always belonged to him.
To look down upon all others from the highest point was a privilege granted only to the absolute strong.
Until now, Dantal alone had possessed that privilege. The fact that Zeon was now looking down on him from an even higher place filled him with humiliation.
SHUUU!
Dantal flew toward Zeon with the Sword of Cobaltan leading the way.
Flight magic had been cast upon the Sword of Cobaltan.
Thanks to that, Dantal too had escaped gravity’s restraint and could move freely through the air.
Even while watching Dantal merge with the sword and fly toward him at terrifying speed, Zeon did not evade.
Zeon’s hand moved toward the air and made a grasping motion. At once, an enormous amount of sand surged upward from the ground.
The once-clear sky darkened in an instant.
The immense quantity of sand rising from the earth blocked the sunlight like dark clouds.
The corners of Dantal’s eyes twitched.
Because he realized what Zeon was trying to do.
But unlike Zeon, he too had no intention of avoiding it.
His pride was at stake.
Though corrupted by his obsession with power, he still considered himself a warrior.
“Hyaaaat!”
With Dantal’s shout, his ascent accelerated even more.
At that moment, Zeon slammed the fist aimed at the sky downward toward Dantal.
KWAAAAAA!
The massive amount of sand floating in the sky like dark clouds compressed together and fell as a gigantic pillar of sand.
A single grain was as light as a feather, but when compressed together, sand could increase to dozens or hundreds of tons.
Zeon understood that property of sand better than anyone and knew how to use it well.
KWAAANG!
The pillar of sand carrying hundreds of tons of mass smashed directly into Dantal.
“Keugh!”
A groan escaped Dantal’s lips.
But he neither retreated nor stopped.
Dantal believed in himself, and above all, he believed in the Sword of Cobaltan in his hand.
A divine-slaying weapon imbued with a portion of the authority of the chief god Cobaltan.
With a weapon capable of killing even gods in his grasp, there was no reason to fear a mere human.
SEOGEOK!
As he swung the sword, the enormously thick pillar of sand was sliced apart like paper.
Having cut through the sand pillar, Dantal reached Zeon in an instant.
Without hesitation, Dantal swung his sword.
The Sword of Cobaltan drew a red trajectory.
A chilling sensation ran through Zeon, and instead of daring to clash head-on, he retreated backward.
SEOGEOOK!
The front hem of the robe made from Balrog hide was sliced apart.
It was an incredible item that ordinary weapons could not even scratch, and even if damaged, it would regenerate immediately.
But the robe cut by the Sword of Cobaltan split apart as though sliced by a razor blade, with no sign of restoration.
The divine-slaying authority had devoured its regenerative ability.
‘As expected, it’s no ordinary sword.’
Zeon felt chills run down his spine.
The sense of danger told him that if he were cut even once, it would be over.
That was how threatening the aura emanating from the Sword of Cobaltan was.
PEOBEOBEOBEONG!
Zeon continuously fired Sand Blasters while widening the distance. Meanwhile, Dantal fiercely cut through the Sand Blasters while trying to close in.
One trying to hold the other back, and one trying to approach.
The two flew at terrifying speed, unleashing skills and sword strikes relentlessly.
Sand scattered in all directions, and flashes of sword light flickered.
In the skies beyond people’s sight, the sand mage and the mad elf fought like lunatics.
---
While Zeon battled fiercely against Dantal in the sky, Lili, Yuri, and Gaia were approaching Del Roa on the ground.
The storm where water, fire, earth, and wind mixed together was completely transforming the terrain of the region.
Massive craters like the surface of the moon formed everywhere, and the earth split apart.
It truly looked as if a god had become enraged.
In truth, Del Roa was currently wielding power comparable to a god.
The problem was that he could not control this immense power.
Because his mind had been completely devoured by the remnants of the Elemental Kings.
His consciousness was already gone.
No matter how long-lived an elf might be, he could not endure the power of the Elemental Kings.
Even if they were merely remnants of the Elemental Kings.
If he simply went berserk under such overwhelming power and died alone, that would have been one thing. Though the entire region would be overturned, there would be nothing more left to destroy.
The problem was that even unconsciously, Del Roa was heading toward the Steel Fortress.
If Del Roa could not be stopped, the Steel Fortress and everyone inside it would disappear without leaving a trace.
Having sensed the crisis, Jin Geum-ho and Seo Taeran hurriedly evacuated the people inside the Steel Fortress to Neo Seoul through the portal, but it was impossible to safely evacuate everyone.
No matter what, Lili, Yuri, and Gaia had to calm the rampage.
—Ppiiiiii!
—How pitiful!
—Calm down!
Gaia and the two spirits spoke to the remnants of the Elemental Kings controlling Del Roa.
Within those tiny fragments lingered the will of the great Elemental Kings.
Though they had synchronized with Del Roa’s will and gone berserk, destruction was not their true nature.
The four elements were the fundamental components supporting the world.
Of course, there were many other elements as well, but the world could remain stable only if these four firmly supported it like bedrock.
Though no one had taught them, Gaia and the two spirits understood this fact better than anyone.
Had they been born in Kurayan, the remnants of the Elemental Kings might have become their origin.
—They’re only confused. We have to help them.
—Yeah! We can do it.
The faces of the two spirits looking at Del Roa were filled with pity.
They approached Del Roa, trying to help the remnants of the Elemental Kings. But as if rejecting their help, the remnants released even more violent destructive energy.
KWAKWAKWA!
The earth overturned, and clouds of sand dust shot upward.
KWAAANG! KWAANG!
A tremendous shock struck the Steel Fortress.
Under the rampage of the four elements, the Steel Fortress shook as though it would collapse at any moment, and the underground lake overflowed.
—Ppiiiiii!
Gaia let out a faint cry and approached Del Roa.
Though Gaia was over a hundred meters long, even she could no longer push through the energy erupting from the remnants of the Elemental Kings.
Only because it was Gaia was she enduring this much; any other being would have long since been torn apart or blown away.
Gaia and the two spirits advanced with difficulty, giving and receiving energy from one another.
But whenever they got close, they were helplessly pushed back.
No matter that they were spirits, they could not avoid taking damage.
Large wounds covered Gaia’s enormous body, and Lili and Yuri flickered as though they might disappear at any moment.
Even so, Gaia and the two spirits did not give up and continued trying to approach Del Roa.
Seeing that sight, Hera and the elves let out cries of despair.
“Ahh!”
“Just a little more strength.”
To them, spirits were not strangers.
They were beings like parts of themselves.
Even if Gaia and the two spirits were not contracted to them.
At the desperate struggle of the spirits, thick tears flowed down Hera’s cheeks.
“Please, hold on.”
Deep in her heart, she bitterly regretted the choices she had made in the past.
They had tried to terraform Earth in order to survive, and because of that, Earth had become a desert.
Looking at Earth, transformed into land where life could not survive, and the humans struggling to live there, she had thought countless times that perhaps they should have met their end in Kurayan instead.
If only time could be turned back, she felt she could even offer up her own life.
But she could not remain drowned in sentiment forever.
She still had kin she needed to protect, and she had to save them somehow.
That was why she had no choice but to become cold.
She hid her emotions and concealed her guilt.
That was also why she had treated humans even more harshly.
Whenever she looked at the humans of El Harun, she felt guilt toward Earth’s humans, and so she treated them even colder.
That was how she had lived for over a hundred years.
Hera dropped to her knees.
“Lady Siela, please help them. Please lend them your strength.”
She desperately prayed to Siela, the god of the elves who no longer existed.
Seeing Hera like that, the other elves also knelt and offered prayers to Siela.
“Mm!”
“Ugh!”
Groans escaped Brielle’s and Har’s lips.
The damage the two spirits suffered was transmitted directly to them.
It felt as though their entire bodies were being hammered repeatedly by a giant mallet.
Their whole bodies hurt, and their blood felt dry.
Even so, they did not move a single step and did not release the thread connecting them to the spirits.
Seeing that sight, Jin Geum-ho muttered,
“There’s no way for us to help them. To be this helpless…”
The birth of spirits on Earth was certainly something to celebrate. But the fact that he could do nothing to help them filled Jin Geum-ho with despair.
His skill, Heavenly Eye, could see through causality to some extent, but it was completely useless in situations like this.
The same was true for every awakened inside the Steel Fortress.
They possessed tremendous power beyond the imagination of ordinary people, yet they were utterly useless in this kind of battle.
“Haa…”
“Hoo…”
Just as deep sighs from the awakened echoed throughout the Steel Fortress—
HOOONG!
Suddenly, the portal inside the Steel Fortress emitted a powerful tremor and light.
At the ominous change in the portal, Seo Taeran and the awakened hurriedly stepped in front of Jin Geum-ho.
“What is this?”
“Why is the portal now…?”
At that moment—
Someone walked out from inside the portal.
She was a middle-aged female elf who had not lost her beauty despite her age.
An aura of nobility surrounded her, enough to cleanse one’s heart just by looking at her.
She was Latricia, ruler of the World Tree Village and Brielle’s mother.
But Latricia was not the only one who came through the portal.
All of the High Elves from the World Tree Village were crossing into the Steel Fortress through the portal.
Not only that, but the Dark Elves from the Primordial Forest were also arriving one after another through the portal.
“What are all these elves…?”
“What in the world?”
Everyone inside the Steel Fortress looked at the High Elves and Dark Elves with confused expressions.
But neither group of elves even spared a glance for the awakened inside the Steel Fortress.
The reason they had come here today was because they had heard the voices of the spirits.
Specifically, the voices of Lili and Yuri.
—Help us!
—We need your strength.
The voices of the two spirits had been conveyed through their contracted spirits.
The moment she heard them, Latricia brought every High Elf contracted with spirits and crossed over here.
The same was true for Flora of the Primordial Forest.
The instant she heard the spirits’ voices, she crossed over here together with Latricia’s group.
Latricia’s and Flora’s eyes met.
Smiles appeared at the corners of both elves’ lips.
Because this was the moment of the historic first allied battle between High Elves and Dark Elves.
The two elves immediately summoned their contracted spirits.
“We need your help.”
“Help us!”
Responding to their calls, the spirits revealed themselves.
Following them, countless spirits appeared inside the Steel Fortress.
The other elves had all summoned their own spirits as well.
Hundreds of spirits flew toward Del Roa.
“Oh! Dear God.”
“So many spirits have been born.”
Seeing that sight, the humans called upon god, while the elves shed tears.