A landscape of chaos.
The ground seems to have become the sky, and the sky has become the ground.
The once ruined mainland of Cartia has turned into a barren wilderness, and the clouds that were once rising in the sky are now cracked and sticky.
And then, colors are painted in that sky.
Bright red.
A moon deeper than blood.
A red great sword engulfed in it.
Thud-!
The red great sword, infused with overwhelming power, shatters the space.
“Why aren’t you swinging the great sword?”
From behind the great sword, a sludgy magical energy erupts, wrapping around Valoran’s body.
“Why are you hesitating?”
As a result, a devastating aura began to pour out from Valoran’s body.
The fragile balance of power falters, and his knees start to buckle.
“Do you think I am different from the beasts you faced?”
Crack-
Countless cracks engrave the ground beneath.
“You feel I am not a monster?”
Thud-
As the ground that began to collapse starts to consume my body…
“Lift the great sword. Do not hesitate. I am the Monster of the End, Valoran.”
Distorted memories seep into my mind.
Memories of Carpen.
Memories of Tylant.
“I am a being that will bring calamity to this world and deprive you of your precious things.”
And memories of Cartia.
“So rise. Rise and wield the great sword. Kill me. If not…”
Dooming-
With the sound of a massive bell, hundreds of eyes arise behind Valoran.
“I will kill the shaman.”
Clatter- Clatter-
The eyes turning around focus on one place.
“I will tear the soul out and scatter it across the earth, leaving your tattered flesh hanging at the end of the world.”
An endless wave of magical energy erupts, incomparable to a moment ago.
[Noah.]
Blood aura surges, encompassing my body.
[What you see now is the past.]
A chilling cold spreads from my throat.
[A past that never existed. A world swept away and forgotten by time. A meaningless nightmare that will fade away once you wake.]
Frey, gripped in my hand, yearns for victory.
[So do not hesitate.]
The flow of magic reminiscent of vast land starts pouring towards me.
Thousands of needles fall toward the sky.
Tens of thousands of spheres rise into midair and explode.
The great sword wrapping around the red sky rushes towards me.
[That guy is just a trash talker.]
Phew…
[No matter where you came from, or what you are. Your name is Noah. The master of Frey and my friend. The Divine Noah.]
“Yes…”
[So let’s go. The path you desire.]
Nodding, I gripped Frey tighter. Heavier than before, but that weight felt joyful.
Gathering my breath, I painted the landscape. Every flow felt intricate, and the passage of time stretched.
I stepped forward. Light. The movement was smooth. Touching the ground without wasting a single motion.
The spikes of blood aura pushed through the needles and shoved the spheres away.
The cold that dominated the area interfered with the flow of magic, twisting its direction and changing its properties.
Stepping forward, I stretched my arm.
Frey and the sky align vertically.
With that, I raised and cut through the path of the red great sword.
Scritch-
The movement of the great sword was blocked.
Frey’s sword mark was engraved in Valoran’s mind.
“Hmm.”
Valoran’s lips curled upward.
The stretched-out time returns.
The wave of magic binding my body ebbs away.
The needles and spheres punctured in the air explode, generating a thick mist.
Swinging Frey, I cleared the mist and charged at Valoran.
At first, the most familiar upward slice.
Based on the sensation delivered to my toes, I transferred the power rising along my waist into my arms and swung.
In that process, Valoran’s movements were drawn.
A slight tilt of the great sword to twist it upward.
Gravity.
Gathering Tylant’s ice in one place, restricting Valoran’s movements.
Pounding Carpen’s blood aura into my arm twisted my muscles.
Valoran’s movements slow down. Frey’s trajectory shifts. The blow aimed at Valoran’s waist is redirected to his forearm.
Bam-!
The impact, resonating as if struck with a blunt object, sends Valoran stumbling. Without pausing, I plunged Frey vertically and used that as a springboard to jump upward.
From the ground, thousands of thorns sprouted, piercing the air. Loading blood aura onto my airborne body, I forcibly pulled myself down, twisting my waist and swinging Frey.
Crack-!
In an instant, Valoran’s great sword was deflected.
Dozens of eyes appeared behind him, shooting magical spheres. Flowing, twisting, and rapidly rushing toward me.
Without hesitation, I dashed for Valoran’s feet.
Clatter-
I flowed Frey’s sword aside and bound Valoran’s movements with ice. Immediately after, a mass of blood aura struck my body, sending me flying far away.
Thud-!
The magical sphere shot at Valoran’s body, following my movements.
Seizing the opportunity of Valoran’s staggering movements, I charged and attacked where his center of gravity lay.
Crack-
Feeling the sensation of bones shattering, I lifted my knee to kick his abdomen.
In that brief moment.
Magic compressed around Valoran.
A 0.2-second counterattack.
The moment I perceived it, it activated.
Crack-!
My body, struck by an unknown and formless energy, rolled on the ground.
The sensation in my limbs begins to dull.
I bit my tongue and thrust the spikes of blood aura into my nerves. A surge of pain returns all my senses.
I smashed the potion and poured it all over my body, rising to my feet as I swung Frey.
Silently wielding Frey, I sliced through Valoran’s encroaching magic from all sides.
I threw four daggers to dispel the magic circle blooming on the ground and wrapped my body in ice, leaping through the gap.
Then, a giant fist loomed before me.
Leaning back just in time to dodge, I raised Frey.
Scritch-
A deep black mark was etched into Valoran’s bicep, about the size of my body.
Simultaneously, a massive magic circle rose from the ground.
There was no escaping this distance.
I will slice it.
Leaving the deterrent to blood aura, I concentrated all my senses on the magic circle.
Recalling Sirin’s teachings, I depicted the formula at the heart of the magic.
I found it.
Immediately, I threw a dagger and struck at its center.
Without checking if it was dispelled, I charged at Valoran. With Sirin’s guidance, it couldn’t possibly be wrong.
“Ha!”
A hearty laugh erupted from Valoran.
“You little pest! Causing trouble, huh!”
As if delighted.
Valoran’s mouth curled up to the fullest as he spread his wings.
A series of attacks mixed with instant kill blows.
At first.
Upward, to the left.
Clang- Bam-!
Having deflected that, these will be my breaks.
Then, it’s my attack turn.
Twisting my body with blood aura, I etched a dark sword mark into Valoran’s abdomen, which was left wide open.
Next, diagonally downward to the right.
Thud-!
This one cannot be deflected. Instantly widening the distance, I prepared for the next movement. Following with a long thrust, I laid the great sword sideways to flow it through, leaning in toward Valoran.
Without hesitation, I sliced his ankle, then leapt up to evade the downward blow.
I pressed my body with blood aura, landing on the ground.
As soon as I did, the red great sword sliced past, brushing against my hair.
Before I could catch my breath, I flung my body to widen the gap.
Thud-!
The great sword came crashing down on the spot where I was standing.
Following that, an explosive wave of magic erupted, swallowing everything.
Regaining my stance, I swung the great sword toward the center of the wave that I drew in my senses.
Crack-!
Amidst the dispersion, a subtle gap was created.
Diving through that gap, I felt a chilling wave of killing intent rush past my body.
Ignoring the impact sound behind me, I swiftly rose and broke free.
With wings unfurled to the limit, the great sword focuses all magic.
The magic free from the cold converges all to the tip of the sword. The massive sphere shrinks down to the size of a small fist.
That little fist shrinks down further to the size of an eye.
At last, it dropped to the ground.
At the same time, I burst into action.
Charging towards the center of the wave.
Towards the eye of the storm, I pressed myself in without hesitation.
And then…
———–!
An indescribable explosion echoed as the heavens and earth wailed.
Swallowing a painkiller, I rose to my feet.
My sense of balance is off.
My ankle twisted, the direction is strange.
All my nails are pulled out, and half my side’s skin is stripped away.
Steering my movements with blood aura, I poured the remaining potion over my entire body.
As long as the disruption is dealt with, I’m fine.
Confirming the healing of my wounds, I gripped Frey tightly.
Now, it’s my damage turn.
Gnashing my teeth, I raised the great sword with all my might.
Kaboom-!
A shock echoing like a hammer hitting a wall.
However, Valoran’s resistance is nonexistent.
Like in the game, after a widespread attack, there’s a damage loss.
The cause… a chain descended from the sky.
Its aura is vastly different from magic, binding Valoran’s body.
Yet, he still seems to be enjoying this, grinning.
“Perhaps this could work.”
Ignoring Valoran’s words, I swung the great sword.
Breathing out blood aura, I scattered the ice.
The seal of the Emerald Bracelet shattered, unleashing everything to focus on Frey.
And I scattered it freely.
With a single strike, the sky splits.
With a single strike, the earth crumbles.
The heart that despises the flames of the End, marked with despair by Tylant, erupts forth.
The memory of Carpen, stained with the blood of his kin, pours out.
The memory of Cartia, which had drawn light over the dark world, overlays.
“However, it’s insufficient.”
The wings losing their form transformed into bright red wings, spreading out anew.
“That alone cannot kill the first monster.”
Above his head, a tattered halo looms.
“That alone cannot stop the End.”
From the rift of the split moon.
A red karma that drips down to soak the entire world flows out.
“Show me everything. And kill me.”
Phase 4.
I drained all the painkillers left, pouring down the elixir.
Shedding everything that weighed me down.
Clearing my head.
Filling my heart.
I clutched Frey.
“Look closely.”
Moments later.
“This is a path riddled with failures of mine.”
Valoran’s voice, as if pronouncing a sentence to the world, reverberates.
“Falling from Heaven (타천)”
The sky turned upside down.
