Chapter 268

EPISODE 268 – VICTORY (1)

At the place where the Ancient Dragon, a being said to have a godlike power, collapsed.

Landius leant against the rubble of a collapsed building and stared at the corpse of the huge monster before slowly turning his head. Because he saw people running towards him.

“Landius!”

Kamael shouted first, and Lena who came flying after him inspected Landius’ body.

“Are you okay? Are you awake? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Lena promptly asked as she scanned Landius’ entire steel-like body. He might have looked fine on the outside, but it could be completely different on the inside.

“If you’re feeling any pain, don’t lie and just tell me, okay?”

At Lena’s warning, or not, Landius warmly smiled.

“I’m fine. I’m just exhausted. I only used the Trailblazer Sword this time unlike in the past. My energy reserves are empty, and I feel like I will faint soon… but everything else is fine. I don’t even have a scratch.”

Landius slightly raised his arms to show it off, and Lena suspiciously looked all over Landius’ body before sighing in relief. As Landius had said, he really didn’t have any external wounds.

“Then are you feeling unwell?”

“Because I used that sword. With all my strength.”

In fact, it was quite reckless in a way.

The Trailblazer Sword indeed had an earthshattering power, as it not only destroyed Malekith’s Dragon Breath head-on, but also tore his chest. However, it did not immediately kill Malekith.

If only Malekith and Landius were present here, the exhausted Landius would be known in history to have died in Malekith’s hands.

Landius clearly did not pour all his energy into the Trailblazer Sword without thinking.

He had heard about Malekith from Jude and Cordelia beforehand, and his reliable colleagues named Kamael, Lena, and Velkian, were here in the first place.

“Haa… Anyway.”

Lena sighed again before she leaned against Landius and kissed him on the cheek. Landius grinned again and asked Kamael and Lena.

“How’s my disciple and the girl?”

“Unlike a certain person here, doing their best exhausted them and made them cough blood, and they fainted while having a passionate kiss.”

“Oh…”

“Shall we do it too?”

Lena asked in a soft voice, and Landius had a slightly shy expression that didn’t suit his large size.

The two were drawn to each other.

But it wasn’t just the two of them who were present here.

“Ahem, ahem.”

When Kamael cleared his throat, Landius had an embarrassed smile while Lena snorted and said.

“Don’t worry. We won’t do it in public.”

Lena knew that certain things had a proper time and place unlike other people.

“Moving on… it’s been a while since I’ve seen you use the Trailblazer Sword.”

Kamael spoke to change the subject, and Landius quickly nodded his head and said too.

“Is this the first time since we fought Baikazel?”

“It is.”

It was the first time they had faced an opponent that required the use of the Trailblazer Sword since their victory against Baikazel.

No, there was one more opponent that required the use of the Trailblazer Sword more, but they didn’t have the chance to use it.

‘Archbishop Manuela.’

Their enemy who caused the destruction of the Paragon Kingdom.

Someone presumed to be the strongest among the demon followers.

Kamael slightly furrowed his brows when Landius’ expression turned intimidating as he gritted his teeth just from thinking of that person.

Although it was not as much as Jude and Cordelia, they were able to understand the other’s inner thoughts just by facing each other.

They had chased after Archbishop Manuela here in the south.

But instead of talking about Manuela, Kamael continued their talk about the Trailblazer Sword.

“Its power has really grown.”

“Because 10 years have passed. I trained hard in my own way.”

Ten years ago, the Trailblazer Sword was also the one that killed Demon Prince Baikazel who caused the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom.

Its power was great even back then, but if one simply looked at the size of the Trailblazer Sword made by the Solar Blade, it was incomparable to that of 10 years ago.

At that time, the blade of the Trailblazer Sword was only around 20 meters long.

‘It’s already strange to say that it’s only 20 meters.’

But it couldn’t be helped for him to say that. Because the blade of the Trailblazer Sword that Landius showed in the battle just earlier was well over a hundred meters at the very least.

As Kamael and Lena admired him, Landius scratched the back of his head in his embarrassment before saying.

“It uses a lot of energy the stronger it gets. So I really don’t have the energy to stand up now.”

Him exaggerating his hardship was something that Kamael and Lena could see through.

“But I’m glad that the results are good. Doing our best from the very beginning was worth it.”

After all, the sooner the fight ended, the better.

Especially when their opponent was a monster like Malekith who could destroy the surrounding area by his existence alone.

Kamael nodded in agreement to Lena’s words, and then turned around.

Because he felt the presence of a fourth person who unaffectedly intruded in their conversation.

“Master Velkian.”

Lena called his name, Kamael gave a light bow, and Landius had a big smile before nodding.

“You look like you’re dying, but you also look fine. That’s a relief.”

As Velkian sat on the Phantom Steed and looked down at everyone, Landius and Lena smiled a bit. Because those words were very much like Velkian.

“You saved our lives. It really helped us a lot.”

Landius’ tone was lower and softer than usual. As though his late 30s self had gone back to his early 20s.

“We’ve been greatly helped.”

“It was a huge help.”

Kamael and Lena also greeted him afterwards.

Kamael was a bit stiff while Lena was very friendly.

Velkian was not just an elder to them. For the three of them, he was like their teacher.

Although Velkian did not directly work for the Paragon Kingdom, he was a close friend of Bardo Ainsburg, a royal wizard of Paragon, and often taught Bardo’s disciple, Lena. He also taught various knowledge such as strategy and herbal medicine to Kamael and Landius who were members of the Royal Knights then.

Therefore, just as the three of them treated Velkian as a teacher, Velkian also treated the three as students.

“Anyway, I’m glad that you three are fine. This battle has somehow come to an end too.”

In fact, it was a very effective fight considering that they won against an enemy called Malekith, but Velkian didn’t say anything about how this fight did little damage, or that their gains were great.

Because the number of people who lost their lives in this fight would at least be a hundred.

A hundred out of a thousand.

A number that was probably less than 10% in proportion.

However, Velkian was a necromancer who dealt with life, so he was more sensitive to the lives of people.

Treating people’s lives as mere numbers was one of the things he hated the most.

And it was the same with the three who were educated by Velkian.

“By the way, Master Velkian.”

“Say it, Lena.”

When Velkian pointed to Lena and allowed her to speak, she frowned and pouted her lips.

“It’s not class time right now.”

“You haven’t changed a bit. That’s an ugly expression, so fix it.”

At his teacher-like tone, Lena groaned before bringing up the subject.

“Anyway, Master Velkian, how come you are here?”

His appearance, though of great help, was a literal surprise.

Kamael nodded in curiosity as well, and Velkian stroked his chin before saying.

“It’s because of an agreement I made with Jude August Bayer and Cordelia August Chase. I gave them a trinket that could summon me. I never thought that as soon as I could be summoned though, that I would be summoned to a place like this.”

Velkian had a bitter smile under his beak mask and briefly explained what happened in the royal capital.

“Wow, that was really great timing.”

Lena clapped her hands in admiration and nodded her head again and again.

If Velkian had not appeared, there would have been more casualties in the fight against the Dragonflights, and the battle against Malekith would not have been as easy as it was now.

“You could say that we were lucky.”

As a wizard, Velkian did not deny the existence of luck.

One could say that they were indeed lucky in this battle.

“But… it’s not just luck. If the events had originally proceeded as it is, even if we had luck, the result we have now would have been different.”

Velkian was unaware of the flow of events because he suddenly appeared in between, but there were things he could understand just by looking at the current situation.

Even at a glance, he could see that he heroes of Paragon were gathered in one place with the 7 southern families that seemed to have formed an alliance.

There was even the dragon-killing sword Ascalon.

Moreover, Malekith’s Dragon Sleep was not finished properly, so it seemed like someone had made a situation where only victory was the result.

“It was similar in the wild lands. I thought that it was a desperate fight… but they had a way to win.”

They blew up all the dragon veins to wake up the Golden Dragon King.

If it hadn’t been for Jude and Cordelia’s plan that turned around the situation, Lena and the warriors of the wild lands would have passed away that day.

“The battle in the royal capital must have been similar.”

Even Velkian who directly participated in the battle at the royal capital was not aware of the Lord Protector’s rebellion itself.

But at Kamael’s words that it must have been similar back then, he nodded his head.

Jude and Cordelia.

Children who had already won three miraculous victories.

“It’s as if their eyes could see the future.”

“I don’t think that’s the case.”

Absolutely prophesizing the future was not possible, but it was possible to see the future to some extent.

Their words were clearly not serious though. Because if the two really had the power of foresight, Lena and Velkian himself would not have failed in recognizing it.

“By the way, I’m going to ask since we’re talking like this. What happened to Archbishop Manuela?”

He had asked that question despite actually knowing half the answer.

So instead of giving a long explanation, Landius answered with a somber expression.

“We missed him again this time.”

“Don’t be so discouraged by that b*stard who would suddenly appear and disappear. The mere fact that you’re tracking him will prevent him from doing anything as evil as the one he did in the Paragon Kingdom.”

“That’s good then.”

Landius tried to reply with a smile, but he still felt frustrated.

After all, they had been tracking him for 10 years, but they always missed him every time they tried to meet him.

‘Maybe…’

Maybe they were all dancing in the palms of Archbishop Manuela’s hands.

Perhaps it was not that Landius was chasing after Manuela and obstructing his plans, but it was Manuela who was exposing his location from time to time in order to drag Landius himself here and there.

That situation was possible.

And if that was the case, that was really agonizing.

Lena bit her lips when Landius noticeably became gloomy, so she changed the topic with a slightly cheerful voice.

“By the way, Master Velkian, do you have any news about Fran?”

Druid Fran.

The fifth and youngest person among the five heroes of Paragon.

He was in his mid-teens when they fought Demon Prince Baikazel, but he must have grown up to be a young man in his prime now.

‘Where in the world is he?’

Unlike Velkian who at least sent letters, they had not heard from Fran for 7 years.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything too. He has not contacted me either.”

“Is that so…”

Lena had brought it up to change the mood of Landius who had become gloomy, but this time, she herself became gloomy.

Velkian clicked his tongue when he saw Lena like that, and he pulled the reins of the Phantom Steed before saying.

“I’ll be going back now. I came here through the concept of summoning, so my summoning has a time limit.”

“Already?”

“The time I’ve been here wasn’t that long, but I’ve used a lot of power. Even my summoner is exhausted too.”

“Umm… It can’t be helped then.”

“It’s all right. I plan to stay in the royal capital for a while, so you can contact me there.”

Having said that, Velkian made a large circular portal with a gesture of his fingers, and drove the Phantom Steed inside it. His exit was quiet and abrupt, just like his entrance.

“He’s gone.”

“He left.”

“He went away.”

Lena, Kamael, and Landius spoke in turn.

The three of them smiled quietly as they looked at each other before their shoulders slumped.

Because they were exhausted after a long conversation.

So Landius leaned a little more against the rubble and opened his mouth.

“Kamael, Lena. I’m sorry, but I’ll be taking a rest first.”

“It’s fine. Leave the clean-up to me and just rest.”

“Sleep well, Landy. I’ll wake you up later.”

When Lena kissed his cheek, Landius closed his eyes in happiness.

And a few seconds later.

As Landius fell into a deep sleep, Kamael crossed his arms and laughed.

“Fu.”

It somehow felt like the laugh of someone who won.

Therefore, Lena narrowed her eyes and said.

“Hey, Kamael. Don’t tell me you’re happy because Landy called your name first?”

“Fufu.”

Kamael laughed again instead of denying it, and Lena puffed her cheeks in dissatisfaction before embracing Landius’ arm.

And at a place around 100 meters away from those two.

Kajsa and Scarlet burst into laughter as they watched Jude and Cordelia being carried on a stretcher.

“You know what? Aren’t they amazing?”

Kajsa spoke first, and Scarlet nodded her head in agreement.

“They’re not amazing. They caused a commotion because they coughed up so much blood.”

Come to think of it, they’re really amazing.

They seriously threw up a bowl of blood and not just a little. Wouldn’t it be disgusting if you kiss like that?

As Scarlet began to contemplate about their bloody kiss, Kajsa continued with a frown.

“No, I mean, they are amazing in a sense. To begin with, they’re younger than us, right? Those two.”

She wasn’t criticizing them of openly showing affection in front of everyone who was younger than them.

She was talking about the strength of the two.

The two were only seventeen – no, they were almost eighteen now, but in any case, the strength of those two was phenomenal.

Even if they had used Dragon Bane Ascalon, it was none other than two who had killed the mighty Ancient Dragon Malekith.

If Kajsa was given Dragon Sword Ascalon and was made to do the same thing… would she have been able to do it?

‘Impossible.’

She answered her question without even thinking about it.

Therefore, Kajsa became a little sad, and Scarlet who had felt the same way since the royal capital incident, clicked her tongue and said.

“Our age differences aren’t that far apart to them, so why don’t we treat them like we’re of the same age?”

At Scarlet’s suggestion, Kajsa blinked her eyes and nodded quickly.

“Yeah, same age. It makes you feel a bit comfortable when you think that way, right? Hey, we think alike. Let’s be friends.”

“How old are you?”

“Huh? Me? I’m nineteen.”

Kajsa answered innocently as she blinked her eyes, and Scarlet snorted afterwards.

“I’m twenty. So call me unnie from now on, okay?”

“You said that we’re of the same age.”

“That is that and this is this.”

“Whatever you like then.”

“Uh-huh, I’m your unnie, right?”

“Hey, you just don’t want to be friends with me, huh?”

“Even if we’re friends, you should be polite. So from now on, please politely call me unnie.”

Kajsa pouted at Scarlet’s words, wanting to answer back. But she eventually shut her mouth because she couldn’t think of anything to say, so Scarlet smiled at her victory and turned her head. She once again looked at Malekith’s gigantic corpse.

And at the same time.

In the mainland across the sea.

On a hill overlooking Argon Port.

Through Maximilian’s eyes, a being looked at the world, the south, and the sea beyond Argon Port.

The voice from a higher place.

That being knew.

Malekith was dead.

The ancient Black Dragon, the evil dragon who had tried to resolve his grudge of three hundred years ago by destroying the southern region.

“It’s a relief.”

The voice from a higher place did not immediately agree with Maximilian.

Instead of answering, the being thought of other things.

The failed kidnapping incident targeting the children of the 12 northern families.

The battle that occurred in the wild lands, and the battle in the royal capital that endangered the lives of the royal family.

And now, the death of Malekith in the south.

There were two people involved in every case.

These two were the ones who caused all these outcomes.

“Voice from a higher place?”

When Maximilian looked up the sky and asked, the voice from a higher place gave an answer.

First, the being ordered him to return to the empire.

“I will follow your will.”

Maximilian politely bowed and no longer had any lingering feelings for the south. He headed north where the empire was located.

But not for the voice from a higher place.

The being kept thinking of the two.

Jude Bayer and Cordelia Chase.

The being remembered the actions of the two who changed the fate of the Sälen Kingdom.