Chapter 98

*

- Did you see the message that just popped up?

- What, the Four Fiends Baal? No way... Why would the Four Fiends suddenly appear?

The player chat became noisy due to the sudden announcement.

- Who in their right mind revived the Four Fiends Baal?

- What are the Four Fiends?

- They are names that inevitably appear when you progress through the ancient quest. The Four Fiends are the four beasts that existed at the dawn of time.

- The Four Fiends were the ones who destroyed half of the ancient empire.

- Was the ancient empire stronger than the current one?

- Of course not;; Back then, the entire continent existed, and now more than half of it has sunk into the abyss. How can you compare them?

- So, where did it resurrect?

- I don't know.

- It's the Mountain of Practitioners. All the cities connected to it are in chaos.

- Why would Baal resurrect at the Mountain of Practitioners?

- I don't know... But if it's destroying the surrounding cities, it must be talking about the cities connected by warp.

There are five cities connected to the Mountain of Practitioners, all of which are neutral cities, including the mercenary city Cartel.

With the news of the Four Fiends Baal's resurrection, all the neutral cities connected to the Mountain of Practitioners were put on high alert.

- Then, the players' cities aren't far away?

- For now, it's fortunate.

- Fortunate? Does the Four Fiends look like a joke... If the empire or the goddess church doesn't step in, we won't be able to stop it.

- But isn't Phantom at the Mountain of Practitioners? Thinking about it, he might have gone to start the main quest 7.

- No way.

- He must have already completed it and come down.

- Yeah, yeah. He probably just hit level 15 and came down.

- And what if Phantom is the one who revived the Four Fiends Baal? Hahaha

- Even if Phantom is incredibly unpredictable, he wouldn't try to revive the Four Fiends.

- Still, he was called the King of Knights. Would he do such a thing?

- Our Lord Phantom is honorable!

- I believe in Lord Phantom!

- Lord Phantom!

- Lord Phantom!!!!

*

Crack!

Rakusha, who was pinned to the ground, got back up.

"Keh!"

He spat out blood.

Dark blood.

"......Interesting."

Rakusha bared his teeth and laughed.

Indeed, the being called the Four Fiends.

The rumor that it was a more powerful beast than the White King or the Black King didn't seem to be exaggerated.

'Surely, it is strong.'

He deflected the sword energy and plunged a curse deep into his vital organs.

His mind reeled.

If he hadn't used the rebound energy in that instant, he would have been instantly killed.

'A mere insect cannot be stronger than Lord Black King.'

A deeper sword energy flowed from Rakusha's entire body.

He couldn't kill him. Then, the Four Fiends would die by his hand.

Rakusha concentrated his sword energy even more.

Crack!

Crack!

His muscles swelled as if about to explode, and his body began to grow.

Crack!

Thanks to the Black King's grace, Rakusha transcended the limits of an orc.

Rakusha, now with the body of a giant, slowly relaxed.

'Indeed. This grace is remarkable.'

With the body of a giant and anti-magic resistance, the Four Fiends' curse was no longer a threat.

The curse of a mere insect could not affect him.

All thanks to the Black King's grace, which grants the power of a great upheaval, transcending species.

Roar!

The eyes of the fearsome Four Fiends Baal turned towards Rakusha.

*

"......"

Upon exiting the temple, I found myself connected to the summit of the Mountain of Practitioners.

I looked around and was momentarily speechless.

It was a scene of utter chaos.

Everywhere, practitioners lay fallen, and the mountain was desolate and destroyed.

In the distance, a giant beast that looked like the Four Fiends Baal was fighting a giant.

"Giant?"

Wait. Why is a giant here?

And I'm not sure if you can call it a fight.

"......A punching bag, it seems."

A punching bag with good resilience seemed more fitting.

Perhaps because of its size, it was getting pummeled by the Four Fiends.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling dizzy.

【Lv. 13】

The giant's level was a staggering 13.

A level that, if all the practitioners on this mountain attacked together, they still couldn't handle.

It was a real monster, stronger than Kramdel's assassination skills.

Even such a giant was struggling against the Four Fiends.

【???】

The Four Fiends' level was a question mark.

Unknown.

But.

'Is this an incomplete resurrection?'

......This being an incompletely resurrected Four Fiends was even more terrifying.

How strong would a fully resurrected Four Fiends be?

I shook my head.

'This is beyond what I can handle.'

There was no immediate solution.

First......let's get out of here.

As I moved my feet, a familiar figure came into view.

A human wearing leather similar to the White King's.

'Is this the White King's offspring?'

That was my immediate thought.

Only the White King had such pristine white tiger leather.

Moreover, there were signs of practitioners who had tried to protect this figure but had fallen.

It was undoubtedly a special existence.

I slowly lifted the figure.

"Ki Cheon Seok?"

My gaze then turned to the Ki Cheon Seok not far away.

It was clearly made of the same material as the one in the temple.

Though it had many dents and sword marks, it seemed subtly different, but it needed to be checked.

I slowly raised my sword and cut it.

Then.

Crack!

The stone, presumed to be a Ki Cheon Seok, cleanly split and crumbled.

"Hmm. It's not it, then."

It wasn't the same Ki Cheon Seok as in the temple.

I clicked my tongue and moved a bit more, and a man lying with a spear came into view.

'This is a spear user.'

I knew instinctively.

The shape of the spear matched the silhouette I had faced in the darkness.

After lifting the spear user, I began to descend the mountain.

*

"Keh!"

Rakusha spat out a large amount of dark blood.

"Damn it."

It seemed that facing the Four Fiends alone was too much.

Even with the grace that transcended species, his opponent was the Four Fiends.

'I can't do it alone.'

He was certain.

To kill that beast, at least two more individuals of his level were needed.

After reporting to the Black King, he would need to think about how to deal with the Four Fiends.

'First, I'll retreat.'

Rakusha looked at the summit of the mountain.

He couldn't retreat empty-handed.

At the very least, he needed to bring the White King's daughter to save face.

Rakusha quickly ascended the mountain but soon frowned.

"......Where did she go?"

Aria was gone.

And the spear user was nowhere to be seen.

Did they regain consciousness and escape in the meantime?

However, his subordinates were scattered at the base of the mountain.

It wouldn't be easy for them to escape.

"......What's that?"

Then, a split stele caught Rakusha's eye.

If it were an ordinary stone, he would have ignored it.

But this stele was clearly the one he had inscribed with a 'sword mark.'

Why was it split in half?

'Did the Four Fiends break it?'

He immediately shook his head.

If the Four Fiends had broken it, the marks wouldn't be so clean.

Rakusha's expression hardened as he examined the cut marks on the stele.

"......With one strike, with a sword, it was cut."

This was a sword cut.

And it was done in one strike.

Someone had cut the stele that even he had only inscribed with a sword mark.

Who?

Was there someone who had surpassed his sword skills, which had already transcended the sword line?

"Unbelievable......!"

It was unbelievable.

Impossible.

Rakusha's eyes shook violently.

More bewildered than when facing the Four Fiends.

The method to control the Four Fiends

Rakusha, the greatest orc warrior and revered as a sword master.

He was already famous as the next orc lord before he even reached adulthood.

He had never lost to anyone who wielded a sword.

A once-in-a-lifetime genius?

Not even that.

Unprecedented and unparalleled.

The only unique swordsman, before and after.

Everyone who saw Rakusha's sword skills praised him unanimously.

Rakusha himself, if asked who the 'greatest swordsman' was, would have said no one but himself.

'Sword deity......'

......He thought there was none.

But the sword mark on the split stele wouldn't leave his mind.

Sword deity.

If it existed, it would be a being called the god of swords.

But it was certainly strange for such a being to appear at the Mountain of Practitioners, cut the stele, and disappear.

Or, was it someone sent by the White King?

'There is no one among the White King's subordinates who can wield a sword deeply.'

The same went for assassination skills.

The Great Earth Dragon, the Four Kings, the Archer, and Medusa were not weapon users.

Then, who?

If not someone sent by the White King.

Who saved the White King's daughter and split the stele in one strike?

'The White King's daughter, Aria, would know.'

This mystery needed to be solved.

Rakusha's pride as a swordsman, honed over a lifetime, was crushed.

Only by uncovering the identity of the sword deity could he restore his crushed pride.

Roar!

A curse-laden tail instantly wrapped around Rakusha.

It wouldn't let him escape easily.

The intense curses from the three tails began to penetrate the giant's anti-magic resistance.

Crack!

"......You damn brat!"

Rakusha used the Black King's grace to the maximum.

*

Aria felt as if she were in a dream.

After being subdued by Rakusha, she was suddenly enveloped in the curse of the Four Fiends Baal.

The Four Fiends.

She couldn't understand why the giant beast, one of the four beasts from the dawn of time, had suddenly appeared at the Mountain of Practitioners.

But she couldn't resist.

The curse had the power to desolate everything around it.

For Aria, who was still on the path of a practitioner, it was an overwhelmingly fearsome force.

'I am a genius......'

But what plunged her into despair even more was Rakusha.

The sword master Rakusha toyed with her as if she were a child.

It wasn't just the overwhelming difference in abilities.

Rakusha deliberately lowered his skills and matched her, facing her purely with sword skills.

Moreover, he left deeper marks than the sword line, showing the overwhelming difference in skill.

A sky above the sky.

Rakusha was truly a genius.

'Clearly......the stele, was cut......'

But she had seen a sword deity surpassing even Rakusha.

The practitioner's stele, which only reacted to sword proficiency levels.

The stele was cleanly split in half with a single strike.

'The human I saw in the Chaos Practitioner realm.'

The human who had defeated the spear user and scattered brilliant sword energy.

She had tried to chase him but lost him at the bottom of a cliff.

That human suddenly appeared, saved her, and cut the stele.

Cutting the stele meant he was at a much higher level of ascension than the sword line or Rakusha.

- 'The one who cuts the practitioner's stele is the master of the sword.'

A tradition passed down at the Mountain of Practitioners.

A content written in the manual left by the sword line.

Aria, having served as the master of the Mountain of Practitioners for a while, had access to books related to the sword line.

There was definitely a mention of 'the one who cuts the stele.'

- The most powerful and fearsome 'sword' is buried in this mountain, and only 'the one who cuts the stele' can wield it.

At first, she couldn't understand what this meant.

Was there an incredible sword buried somewhere in this mountain?

But perhaps the sword line knew.

The most powerful and fearsome sword.

It was the beast, the Four Fiends Baal.

The sword line had said that only the one who cut the stele could wield the Four Fiends Baal.

Of course, simply cutting the stele wouldn't allow one to wield the Four Fiends.

- When the armor, helmet, and essence to block the 'sword' are complete, one can become the true 'master of the sword.'

The master of the sword was clearly referring to the man who had lifted her.

Just before fainting again, Aria took out a book left by the sword line from her bosom and handed it to the man.