Quit The Hero Party

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EP.519 The Last Battlefield (2)

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The constellation in the sky guided their path.

A line created by connecting shining stars, and a constellation formed by connecting those lines. The stars embroidered across the dark night sky resembled a river of stars. The Milky Way. Following the platinum river, Raniel moved forward.

“What a sight.”

Destel mumbled.

Kyle nodded in agreement. However, Raniel maintained her silence, continuing her walk. The sky reflected in her eyes as the Guide was somewhat different from what they saw.

The stars are a net.

The constellation engraved with Regulation appeared to Raniel as a net that binds this land. Therefore, it was less a scenic view and more a prison landscape, stifling rather than freeing.

“···Huh.”

Raniel exhaled deeply.

Just as she looked up at the constellation, the Ancient Dragons must also be looking down on her through the stars. Feeling someone’s gaze, Raniel kept walking.

Crossing the forest, passing through the gorge, moving past the ruins with ancient temples…

Before long, they arrived.

At the only passage leading to the city of the Ancient Dragons.

“······.”

Raniel stopped her steps.

The place she halted was a temple coated in platinum. A temple situated atop a steep cliff. The sound of waves crashing against the cliff echoed long and loud.

Standing there, Raniel lifted her gaze.

After walking endlessly, the end of the night had come. The sun was rising beyond the horizon. As the sea turned red with the rising sun, Raniel took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Thud.

The moment she stepped onto the temple, a strange sensation arose as if heaven and earth were overlapping, and a bridge made of constellations appeared before her. Looking around, the vast sea had vanished, replaced only by the blue sky.

An alien space where the boundary between land and sky was indistinguishable.

This bridge, standing alone in that space, was the only passage leading to the completely separated city of the Ancient Dragons.

“If you don’t open it, I was thinking of forcing it open.”

Raniel chuckled lightly.

“The path has opened.”

She took her first step toward the bridge.

Following her, Kyle and Destel moved forward. They stepped onto the constellation bridge and headed towards the city of the Ancient Dragons.

···The deep night had ended.

With the rising sun, a festival would begin in the Royal Capital.

And the heroes had arrived at the last battlefield.

The ancient capital, the city of the Ancient Dragons.

Raniel did not know much about this place. Only a few history books and some forbidden texts provided her with a vague understanding. In the ancient records of the Elves, this city of Dragons was often referred to as such.

The Platinum Tower.

The place where a certain God who put an end to the long war slept. A city made of platinum, with temples and towers made of platinum dominating the golden city.

Clap.

Recalling such a description, Raniel took her final step. The moment she stepped into the distorted space at the end of the constellation bridge, her vision was flooded with white.

Light, sound, tremor.

Finally, as she slowly opened her closed eyes, what she saw was a massive city made of platinum. The buildings shimmered with a faint glow, and a river of stars flowed along the channels that spread throughout the city.

And when she looked up…

What she saw was a gigantic temple.

The massive temple or palace at the center of the city of the Ancient Dragons. Looking at it, Raniel smiled bitterly. In the past, during the time she was known as the Ashen Mage, she had once visited this place.

‘Back then, I didn’t understand why this place was called the Platinum Tower…’

Now she realized.

From the documents left by the ancient Elves who experienced the primordial era, it became clear why they called this place the Platinum Tower. The reason was simple. There must have originally been a tower there.

Raniel’s gaze turned toward a corner of the city.

The place where the river of stars, which circled the entire city, began. The gently glowing water that gathered in the river must have been the site of some original structure. Perhaps there had been a tower there. A tower used by the Mage of Ancient Dragons to hang stars in the sky.

The first Babel must have been there.

‘But now, it isn’t.’

After planting regulations in the sky, the Mage of Ancient Dragons destroyed his tower. He blocked the path to the sky and annihilated related records. So that no one could dare set foot in the sky.

“It feels familiar.”

Kyle, standing behind Raniel, spoke up.

“It seems I stayed here for quite a while.”

Raniel turned to look at Kyle.

Kyle shrugged in response.

“It was right after I faced Ganikalt in the North. At that time, the Mage of Ancient Dragons had arrived regarding a contract.”

Where they were dragged to was this place.

Muttering that, Kyle continued speaking.

“And if I remember correctly…”

Kyle raised his hand.

The tip of his finger pointed toward the back of the temple. As if reacting to that finger, the city of the Ancient Dragons suddenly trembled. The earth and sky shook as something began to rise.

“There was an Ancient Dragon back there.”

What was rising behind the temple was an ancient dragon of the primordial era. The wing of the Goddess and the Giant Dragon that crossed the continent with Yormun, the Mage of Ancient Dragons. The shadow of the gigantic dragon stood tall over the city.

Its horns and wings were broken.

With every movement, scales fell from its skin, and its golden eyes, which should have shone, were dim and cloudy.

Lost to time, the Old Dragon, devoid of pride, conviction, or anything else, stared at the visitors of the city. Perhaps it was staring at intruders who dared to harm its master.

“Let’s go.”

Receiving that gaze head-on, Raniel spoke briefly. She approached the temple, going against the flow of the channels that spread throughout the city. Climbing upstream, they walked for some time.

【That’s far enough.】

A voice resonated throughout the city.

Raniel lifted her gaze toward the source of the sound. Her gaze fixed on the highest floor of the platinum temple. There stood he.

Yormun van Dragonik.

The God of Mages with golden dragon eyes looked down at Raniel and warned her.

“Do not cross that line, Ashen Mage.”

Do not cross the line.

Recalling the warning she once heard, Raniel involuntarily let out a laugh. Stopping her steps, she looked up at Yormun directly.

“If I weren’t going to cross it, I wouldn’t have come this far.”

“There’s no need to cross a line you don’t have to.”

Yormun exhaled deeply.

As if hefound the situation unpleasant, he anxiously brushed his hair back. At that moment, his tone softened considerably.

“The four disasters have all fallen. The First Light has also met its end at your hands. Not to mention you took down the false deity that had resided in this world.”

An astonishing achievement. An achievement that deserves to be praised.

Muttering that, Yormun continued.

“You are heroes. Heroes who banished chaos from this land. Heroes who accomplished great feats. I sincerely pay my respects to you.”

He moaned.

“So I tell you to stop there.”

“······.”

“I ask you to stop, so that I do not have to kill heroes with my own hands.”

Raniel looked at Yormun.

He was not speaking falsehoods. From what Raniel knew, Yormun was a man who concealed the truth if at all, but he was not one to speak lies. He truly appeared to be in pain.

“I will grant you whatever you wish. You deserve that. I will fulfill it. I can swear it by my name. But, but…”

Perhaps that was a plea.

“Just one thing.”

He exhaled deeply.

“Do not wish for the taboo of dropping the stars. A hero should remain as a hero. It would not befit you to be remembered in this world as a sinner who broke the taboo.”

Sinner, taboo, end.

“The era of chaos has ended. Finally, the peaceful era you have longed for has begun. So please, stop there. It is a request.”

The end of chaos and peace.

At those words, Raniel involuntarily chuckled.

“The world has already tilted. You should know this, Yormun.”

“······.”

“Chaos has ended. The peaceful era has come. Yes, that’s right. Even a brief peace can still be called peace.”

Raniel understood.

“The stars can no longer be free from providence. A counterpart to the stars has appeared opposite the Balance. And now that the shadow has vanished… the world will impose on the stars. They will be forced to maintain balance. Am I wrong?”

Yormun fell silent.

Raniel continued.

“It will appear. Whether in ten years or a hundred years, it will appear again. A being opposing the stars will come into existence. I do not know what form that will take, but…”

Raniel smiled bitterly.

“As long as stars were created for humans, the opposing entity shall wish for humanity’s demise.”

“…It’s not like I haven’t thought about that.”

Yormun rubbed his temples.

“There will be beings akin to heroes. The appearing beings will be targeted for elimination. There are various ways to go about it. The shadow was an unexpected case, and I was bound in such a way as to be unable to respond. But next time…”

“Next, next, next… until when exactly?”

Raniel interrupted Yormun.

“You’ll intervene? Then a larger balance must be achieved. What will happen when a being appears to oppose you, standing at your side?”

She was not naive enough to think that through.

She knew why Yormun had not acted. The moment he intervened, the Balance would tilt even more.

Knowing that reason, to Raniel, Yormun now only seemed to be making excuses.

“The strife will continue endlessly. And while it goes on, the stars will worsen. You will also decay further. You know this, don’t you?”

Raniel sneered.

“Since the birth of the shadow, the stars have deteriorated.”

Since the birth of the shadow and its rise to the scale, the stars quickly deteriorated. They became buried in the balance.

“The stars, you, have become so intent on merely maintaining balance that it has become clear you are not for the sake of humanity. The star that put an end to the primordial era then… is too different from the stars of now.”

There is no way he wouldn’t know that the current stars have strayed far from the winds of Gletus of Regulation.

“You must already know, Yormun.”

“······.”

“You are merely clinging to the remnants of the past. Let go of it now.”

“I cannot do that.”

Yormun replied in a cold voice.

“The stars are all I have left.”

He forced a bitter smile.

“I too have a line I cannot yield. This is one thing I cannot concede. She left me a will. Just keep the regulations. To me, the stars mean everything, and they are what I must protect.”

“Even though the current stars are far removed from the stars spoken of by the First Guide?”

“Even if they are far removed, they are still all I have.”

“Is that so?”

Raniel exhaled deeply.

Raniel and Yormun looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

“It seems negotiations have fallen through.”

“It has indeed, in the end.”

No matter who it is, there is always a line they cannot yield.

That is why humans have fought through the ages. To assert the values they believe in. This moment was no different.

“Yormun.”

“Raniel.”

Yormun van Dragonik.

Raniel van Trias.

“Come down, now.”

“Stop. That should be the end of your path.”

Raniel lifted her foot and crossed the line. Following her, Kyle and Destel also crossed the line. In that moment, Yormun raised his staff and struck down the temple.

Boom, boom…

A grand bell tolled throughout the city of the Ancient Dragons.

As the ringing bells echoed, the city’s waterways overflowed. With the surging waters, he closed his eyes. When he opened his closed eyes, the one standing there was no longer Yormun van Dragonik.

The calamity, Yormun.

The first sinner to drop the deities opened his eyes.