STM 197

Darkness was to Shula’s advantage, both for the monsters and for her. The magic flowing from her hands was pitch black, making it invisible to ordinary eyes.

Therefore, the only ones capable of facing her were the contractors of the divine beasts, who possessed superhuman abilities. However, they also had to protect the soldiers fighting against countless monsters. The entire situation tilted in Shula’s favor.

Whoosh!

With a sound like compressed air, a black mist spread from Shula’s hand. As that dark energy threatened to engulf the battlefield, a great wave of earth surged forward.

Rumble!

A wall several meters high rose with the rumbling of the earth; it was a defensive barrier created by Black Bear striking down with her sword. Tairok leaped up like a bird and flew over it.

From his hand, countless water arrows glowed with moonlight and shot out.

Whoosh—crack!

However, despite the attacks directed at her, Shula did not flee; instead, she continued her leisurely pace. As she reached out her hand, tangled strands of black magic slithered out like living snakes.

Hiss!

The water arrows slicing through the air evaporated into pitch-black smoke the moment they touched the dark energy. The black mist emanating from Shula’s hand did not only block attacks; it also drained the life out of everything it touched.

Grass and trees withered in an instant, the ground crumbled dry and parched, devoid of moisture, and the air became suffocatingly polluted. Like a living catastrophe, she moved toward her destination, gradually expanding the range of the black mist.

The problem was that no attack intended to stop her could penetrate it. Neither Tairok’s water nor Black Bear’s earth could pierce the black mist Shula unleashed.

Tairok, at least, continued to unleash attacks, but at some point, Black Bear began to sweat profusely and struggle. Shula noticed this and let out a mocking laugh.

“Do you know why you are weak? It is because it is not your own power.”

Black Bear gritted her teeth and buried her greatsword deep into the ground. Vibrations spread through the earth like an earthquake, and the power exploded beneath Shula’s feet.

A mound of earth rose in an instant, as if a volcanic eruption were taking place, and engulfed Shula.

However, this was merely an illusion to the outside; Shula, unharmed in the wave of earth, stomped her feet.

Soon after, the black mist in the atmosphere enveloped the mound of earth in reverse before tearing it apart like paper.

“How dare you, with power borrowed from another being.”

Shula remarked coldly and swung her hand at Black Bear. It was a light gesture, but the power extending from her fingertips transformed into a hand shape and struck Black Bear.

Whoosh!

Black Bear erected a barrier of earth, but as the massive black hand tore it apart, it crumbled like a sandcastle.

“Ugh!”

Overwhelmed by the power, Black Bear spat out blood as she collapsed. At the same time, the earth barriers that had been barely holding Shula back crumbled.

“Ha, it wasn’t just the divine beast that is weak. You, too, are feeble.”

Amidst the mockery, Black Bear appeared as though she was about to be consumed by Shula’s magic, but at the very last moment, a water arrow miraculously pierced through the magic. The black mist scattered like smoke in an instant.

“Hah…ha…”

Sitting on the ground, Black Bear gasped for breath and looked up at Tairok, who had saved her. Without even looking at Black Bear, he coldly said:

“Don’t get in my way.”

With those heartless words, a water shield bloomed from his hand like flower petals. At one moment, a black whirlwind engulfed him. It swirled around his shield before exploding in mid-air. As Tairok recoiled, unable to withstand the force, Shula’s taunts turned toward him.

“It seems that one’s divine beast is no longer able to exert its power. Do you think you can handle it alone, Tairok?”

Tairok responded briefly to the provocation.

“You talk too much.”

The next moment, a water spear flew from his hand and pierced through the black mist. Shula’s eyes gleamed, and she took a step back for the first time. As she waved her hands in a crisscrossing motion, the black mist thickened in an instant.

Hiss!

It seemed as though the water spear was disappearing with the sound of water evaporating. However, the steam rising like smoke in the air coalesced, transforming into a small spike that enveloped Shula.

The arrow struck right in front of Shula’s nose, but her body vanished in an instant, leaving behind only a deafening explosion.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Tairok leaped into the sky to seize the vanished Shula.

“How dare you try such a trick!”

Just as he heard Shula’s voice from the darkness, a black mist enveloped Tairok.

Whoosh!

He swung his sword to block the mist’s approach, but the mist clumped together like sticky rubber and wrapped around his ankle.

Crackle!

With a burning sound, smoke rose from Tairok’s ankle, and he mercilessly struck the mass of magic with his sword.

Bang!

A massive explosion shook the air. As the dust that had covered the scene vanished in an instant, Tairok’s figure was revealed at the center. Not only was he bleeding from all over his body, but he was also limping on one leg due to his injured ankle.

His appearance was wretched, yet his eyes were exceptionally bright. They shone like the sun. It was strange even to Shula, but Tairok’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Is that all?”

“How arrogant for a man about to die.”

A dark energy surged from her hand again and began to spread in all directions like the wind. It covered the world in complete darkness, devoid of a single light.

And those trapped inside could not move a single fingertip. The people had been caught in the invisible darkness.
‎
‎
‎

“Lord Lu, you must flee.”

I heard the earnest plea again, but I could not move, lost in self-reproach. I should have checked beforehand. If the reason Grand Duke Sarne disappeared was because of the divine beast, I should have been more careful.

He might have been hiding to find a way to obtain the divine beast’s power, but upon hearing that Black Bear had appeared… he would have instead tried to eliminate the divine beast.

Could it be Kilu who told him the method? It was too late to regret anything now.

“How is the situation?”

I asked belatedly, but no one could answer. I watched them for a moment, then silently walked out of the tent. Enya and Haas hurriedly chased after me to stop me, but there was no need to do so.

I understood why they had turned pale and told me to flee. The distant place where the battle was taking place was shrouded in thick darkness. An alien darkness that was impossible to miss, even in the middle of the night.

It was complete darkness, as if it were erasing the world black. And that energy was slowly spreading toward where we were. I had no idea what it was, but one thing was certain.

“It is the work of Grand Duke Montaine.”

As if the others felt the same, Enya’s voice grew heavy. Despair colored Haas’s words.

“I’ve never heard of such overwhelming black magic.”

Indeed, it was overwhelming. I knew that if we were consumed by that darkness, it would be the end. Was Grand Duke Montaine ultimately trying to fill the world with that darkness? Why?

I had doubts, but soon realized they were useless. She was a woman who had lost her reason. She might have had grand reasons at first, but it was obvious that now only the instinct to rush to the extreme remained.

That darkness was about to swallow the world, but Grand Duke Montaine herself might be the first to be devoured.

“Lord Salvation.”

Enya called out to me earnestly, even though it was a title I disliked. I understood her intention to evacuate me because she believed I was important, but if it ended in Grand Duke Montaine’s victory, it was all the same, I would die too.

Even without that, for some reason, I was calm. Had I unknowingly developed a belief in the ‘time’? The conviction that I had to be here, at this time, was the reason for the stillness in my mind.

And then, suddenly, something stirred inside my pocket. The divine beast egg. I took it out and examined it, and indeed. The movement I felt was not an illusion.

There was a clear crack in the surface of the stone. It was a change I had been waiting for, but I took a deep breath to keep from getting carried away. Because this was still not enough.

I needed greater power. Power that went beyond eliminating Grand Duke Montaine to completely seal the rift. Fortunately, I remembered Baron Owick’s words.

“My ancestors said ‘if only we could bring the master of the forest to the human world, Tubain would return to the beautiful land it once was.’”

However, the way to the forest was always the problem. Even though I was the door through which the divine beasts passed, and even though I held the key, the passage leading there never appeared. I knew the only answer to explain this problem.

Because it wasn’t the “time.”

Then what about now?

I clutched the two keys I possessed tightly in both hands. Then I raised my head and gazed into the distance. I murmured as I looked the darkness spreading toward me. It was so quiet that no one could hear it, but my voice was filled with conviction.

“The time has come. Let me in.”

For a moment, the air seemed to distort like a mirage, and soon a vivid world appeared within it.

A world of brilliant light that obscured the darkness. It was a Forest of the Crimson Waves.