Chapter 178 – Chapter 35: Battle #5
Four types of power existed in Knight Saga.
One type of power was Aura. Aura was the power of life, a strength which could be used to train the flesh and master martial arts.
Another type was magic power, which allowed the user to temporarily impose false laws on the will of the world.
There was also psychic power—an innate ability which could be called a superpower.
The last type, divine power, was a strength which came from having a strong faith.
There was a story which told that if all four powers reached the ultimate stage, a perfect harmony could be created. However, that was just an ideology. Generally, it was common for the four powers to resist each other, instead of creating a harmony. However, Protagonist Body allowed him to repress that opposition. The power of Conquest did not allow for a quarrel between the four forces.
In-gong sensed the holy power in him increase by leaps and bounds. It felt like the divine power, given to him by the last flame, had grown at least five times stronger. Divine power itself could be called a miracle created by faith.
The stronger the faith of the believer, the stronger the god would be, which, in turn, strengthened the believer’s divine power. Divine power was strong against magic power which created false miracles. Additionally, it boasted exceptional power against the various types of beings in the natural world.
‘Creature Abseltur.’
He was the worst creature ever created by the fairy king, the first fairy user. Abseltur had stood on the side of the dark elves many times, but then the fairy king, the only being able to control him, died. The third daughter of the fairy king, who had been in charge of taking care of Abseltur, had been the first to be killed. Abseltur didn’t stop there and completely destroyed several villages and cities.
The fairy king’s eldest daughter, who had succeeded the throne, had been able to defeat him after making a great sacrifice. However, Abseltur had merely been defeated. Instead of being killed, he had been sealed. It hadn’t been very successful, however, Abseltur had lost the strongest body created by the first fairy king because of the fight with the new fairy king.
Then thousands of years passed. As the Era of Struggle occurred, Abseltur repeated a cycle of a long sleep and awakening to create his new body. He used the corpses of various strong individuals and monsters during the Era of Struggle as the materials.
In-gong remembered the Abseltur he had seen in Knight Saga. It had been Locke and Saintess Beatrice who had completely exterminated Abseltur, who had been on the verge of recreating the strongest body.
‘Anyway, the most important thing is divine power!’
Abseltur was a peculiar existence who was weak to divine power. Therefore Beatrice, who boasted the strongest divine power, was the key to victory.
However, In-gong did not care. Even if Saintess Beatrice or Dark Saintess Altesia weren’t here, he could not avoid the battle in front of him.
In-gong adjusted his breathing. He figured out the number of enemies around them through the mini-map opened in front of him. Then In-gong shared his gaze with Green Wind in the sky and detected the movements of the entire battlefield.
Abseltur was sitting in his carriage and wasn’t moving. The summoned blood warriors were the only ones moving. They divided into two. One group rushed toward the Sanctuary, while the other group ran towards In-gong. Of course, the numbers of the latter group were much smaller.
‘Master! They are dismissing you!’
Green Wind cried out angrily, but In-gong didn’t care. It was good if the other side was dismissing him. He didn’t slow down his running speed.
“Katur!”
“Kelala!”
The blood warriors spoke in their own language. They weren’t from this world and were instead demons summoned to fight. According to Knight Saga’s setting, they were warriors in an endless war. The only thing they did, aside from eating and sleeping, was fight.
‘How are they allies?’
In-gong was troubled by the fact that they had been summoned from another world. He stared at the blood warriors. They were all red. Although their bodies were different, all of them had an average height of three meters and sharp horns on their heads, shoulders and back.
Just before In-gong was about to collide with them, the heat from their breathing touched In-gong’s cheek. This was because the blood warriors produced flames from their long tongues. In-gong pulled back his right fist. His stance was just like he was pulling out a sword, but there was no sword at In-gong’s waist. It wasn’t a common sword he had pulled out from the inventory.
The space was opened, and the Giant King’s Sword soared from his inventory as it responded to his Telekinesis. It rotated roughly and smashed into everyone in front of In-gong.
Kwakakakak!
The lead warrior of the blood warriors was destroyed with a terrible sound, and over 20 blood warriors were thrown to the ground or into the air.
It didn’t end there. The Giant King’s Sword moved ahead of In-gong again. Under the control of his Telekinesis, the Giant King’s Sword was the most suitable weapon for wiping out the enemy soldiers on the battlefield.
The blood warriors shouted loudly again. They shot arrows at In-gong, and the power behind each one was enough to pierce through the target. In-gong didn’t bother reading the trajectory of the arrows. He just looked at the front like he was ignoring them. In fact, he was actually ignoring the arrows.
‘Battlefield Protection!’
It was a Protagonist Correction skill which lowered the accuracy of projectiles on the battlefield greatly. Half the arrows flew to the wrong place, while the remaining half didn’t even reach In-gong. It was natural. There was a heavy wind. Green Wind had created a wind barrier which twisted the course of the arrows. The arrows flew in the wrong direction and poured down on the heads of the blood warriors like bombs.
‘Rise!’
Green Wind commanded. Then the ground started shaking violently. The place where Green Wind was staring grew into a tree at a tremendous rate. It became a natural barrier which prevented the blood warriors from rushing to In-gong.
In-gong looked simultaneously at the mini-map as well as what was in front of him. At that point, Abseltur’s confusion could be felt, and the movements of the blood warriors rushing toward the sura showed unrest.
“Go!”
In-gong waved his hand, and the Giant King’s Sword flew straight ahead. Abseltur was no longer simply looking. The chimeras of the carriage he was riding were released, and they rushed toward In-gong. It was for the purpose of buying time.
The Giant King’s Sword collided with the blood warriors, while the chimeras rushed toward In-gong by trampling on the blood warriors.
The chimeras had the horns and body of a goat, the wings of a griffon, the tail of a snake, and the head of a lion. They were a monster which could reach a dozen meters in length just by staying still, making them seem five times larger when they were charging.
In-gong jumped over the Giant King’s Sword. When he saw the flames coming from the chimeras’ mouths, he didn’t hesitate to invoke Black Specter. The sound of hundreds of wings flapping was heard as black smoke wound around the chimeras. The chimeras screamed at the black blades which sliced their bodies, and as In-gong passed through the chimeras, he released Black Specter. The large carriage where Abseltur sat with an angry expression was in front of In-gong.
As In-gong approached, Abseltur rose up into the air, and his flesh started swelling.
‘Master!’
Green Wind shouted. Then In-gong opened his mouth and fired Dragon Breath!
Kwaaaaaang!
The pillar of light extended out swiftly. Abseltur, who was floating in the air, became greatly panicked. He spun his body desperately to avoid In-gong’s Dragon Breath.
Dragon Breath passed by Abseltur’s giant body. No, it could be called a wide area attack. Two out of the six wings popping out from Abseltur’s back were caught by the Dragon Breath and vanished.
Abseltur crashed with a scream. He now resembled a cerberus with the heads of a wolf, dragon and eagle as well as six bat wings.
The ground shook the moment Abseltur crashed into the ground, and it seemed like the earth was screaming. In-gong breathed out and focused magic power on his right hand. He completed the ballista-sized Fire Arrow and added the strength of Dragon Words into it.
“Levantein!”
It soon became a fire sword, and the giant flames rushed forward fiercely. However, Abseltur took care of it easily. Although he was hurt, he roared toward the Fire Arrow. At that moment, a powerful wave of magic power ripped apart the Fire Arrow In-gong had created.
Kuhuhuhung!
The battlefield trembled at the fearsome roar. Abseltur got up from the ground. He was a giant whose size reached 20 meters in height, but his movements were agile.
Chupak!
A blue smoke exploded. In-gong jumped and used Blink simultaneously as he thrust forward White Eagle on his left arm. Then something black emerged from Abseltur’s right hand and hit In-gong.
‘Master!’
In-gong couldn’t afford to respond. After being hit by the strong blow, he used Blink just before hitting the ground. Instead of being slammed into the ground, In-gong moved to the side and used Dragon Breath again.
Abseltur looked at In-gong, and the wolf head smiled.
Chupak!
This time, Abseltur was the one to use Blink. He moved forward from where he had been standing and completely avoided Dragon Breath before transforming. His three heads combined into a giant wolf mouth which aimed at In-gong. The transition was so quick that In-gong had no way to avoid it.
Abseltur bit down at In-gong, but he couldn’t tear In-gong apart with his teeth. His teeth were blocked by the strong wind barrier Green Wind had created.
‘Master! Hurry!’
The force exerted from Abseltur’s body was like poison. Green Wind was touching his aura directly, so she was feeling terrible pain. In-gong tried to use Blink, but it was impossible. Abseltur had surrounded In-gong with magic power and was blocking it. Abseltur was truly an ancient creature.
‘Master!’
Green Wind was close to screaming. Abseltur focused, and the power he emitted became even more tremendous. Even Green Wind, who had been strengthened through Apostle Appointment, couldn’t withstand it any longer.
It was the reason why a Saintess like Beatrice was needed to defeat Abseltur. Abseltur’s unique power could be overwhelmed by the divine power of Beatrice, who could be called the incarnation of the earth goddess.
In-gong created a spark of divinity, but it was weak. The power of the flame was too weak to drive back the surrounding darkness. He had to strengthen his divinity, and In-gong had one method left to do that.
“Green Wind!”
It was a command. Green Wind could no longer resist the power of darkness. She felt doubts and fear of losing In-gong. Abseltur would kill him. The force of darkness poured down suddenly on In-gong and swallowed him.
At that moment, In-gong triggered a skill which could be used because he had acquired divinity.
‘Spiritualism! Four Heavenly Kings!’
‘Dhrtarastra, the guardian of the east, the true king of the gandharva!’
At that moment, In-gong’s divinity swelled, immediately burning the power of darkness surrounding him. This time, Abseltur was the one who screamed. As though he had swallowed fire, he opened his mouth urgently and retreated.
It wasn’t just Abseltur.
Everyone on the battlefield felt the power of a mighty divinity. The blood warriors and sura looked in In-gong’s direction without knowing it. Beyond the boundary of the Sanctuary, the sword duke stopped wielding his sword against the army of the lich.
“Gandharva!”
The sword duke exclaimed. He remembered the sin of the gandharva many years ago.
They had intended to artificially create the strongest royal child who would leap over the 2nd Prince Zephyr. It was an absurd ambition to have for the next demon king.
The 5th Queen, who loved the demon king more than anyone else, had agreed to this stupid plan. It wasn’t because of a desire to become the mother of the next demon king. It was instead because she couldn’t bear a child and wanted to have a child with the demon king.
However, the plan had failed tremendously. Additionally, unlike the 5th Queen’s wish, the child hadn’t been born with the blood of the demon king. Unlike the rhetoric of the gandharvas who had persuaded the 5th Queen, the demon king’s blood hadn’t been used.
It was the strong divinity which the gandharva kept… It was the last essence left behind by their great ancestor that was implanted.
The child had been born without a soul, just like a breathing doll. That existence had become vitalized after a dozen years and showed an overwhelming talent when compared to the 2nd Prince.
Now, yet another power was blooming once again.
The sword duke recalled the face of the 5th Queen, Semita Ignus. He also remembered the appearance of the demon king who had lifted up the devastated Semita as she hugged her child, the sin of the gandharva. On that day, the demon king had taken the 5th Queen’s child as his own, and the child had been given the position of 9th Prince.
That’s how it was, but the sword duke didn’t care. He simply rejoiced in the prince’s pure strength. The sword duke swung his sword again and no longer looked back.
Green Wind was also affected. She stared at In-gong with a blank expression.
In-gong’s hair grew instantly until it reached his ankles. His hair became pitch black, and his original red eyes were dyed gold.
‘Beautiful.’ She could only think of that. The heavenly aroma spreading from In-gong’s body seemed to paralyze her.
‘M-master. This is a foul! So handsome! Ah, no. Beautiful!’
In-gong could regain his spirit thanks to Green Wind’s words, well-aware of the powerful divinity throughout his whole body.
This was a temporary power. Just like Beatrice’s great skill where she became the incarnation of an earth goddess, In-gong could only hold it for a few minutes. Moreover, it was an excessive transformation.
However, it was enough.
‘Conquer!’
The white woman’s voice was heard. She seemed giddier than usual. In-gong formed a fist, and Green Wind blessed In-gong again. The divinity of the last flame was added, and a white spark rose from In-gong’s whole body.
Abseltur could not approach and growled angrily. In-gong smiled as he watched Abseltur. It was such a bewitching smile that Green Wind almost screamed again.
The distance between In-gong and Abseltur narrowed.
The god and creature collided once again.