Quit The Hero Party

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EP.521 Genius (Catastrophe), Yormun (2)

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The city of the Ancient Dragons was painted in pure white.

Then came a KWA-RUNG, the sound of thunder.

The pure white lightning connecting the earth and sky was truly a punishment from above. It was the wrath of a god standing in the sky towards the arrogant humans. Thus, it was a divine punishment, it was the wrath of the gods.

Since ancient times, lightning has been seen as the judgment from the heavens, making humans tremble in fear at its descent.

But… after many thousands of years, humanity no longer considers it frightening. The heroes representing humanity did not fear the heavens, which is how they made it this far.

Three flashes of lightning were sliced apart.

Sword light scattering from the sword’s edge.

Flash lines snuffing out ash dust.

The stunning star spear piercing through.

The lightning was cut, pierced, and torn apart. As the residual lightning was crushed underfoot, Raniel took a step forward. Fluttering the banner of heroism, she headed toward her last battlefield.

Her final trial awaited her there.

The lost wings of the primordial goddess, the Ancient Dragon who represented the former goddess’s wrath looked upon the sinners who set foot here. As it observed the humans attempting to commit the taboo of dropping the stars, the Ancient Dragon began to move slowly.

There was no master to serve anymore.

Ruinous to forget his master and friend, the Ancient Dragon remembered its promise.

To keep the promise with Yormun and Gletus, the Ancient Dragon moved. With every flap of its wings, the storm roared, shaking the city of the Ancient Dragons.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

A raging storm.

A trembling city.

To obstruct the humans rushing towards the shrine, the Ancient Dragon landed on the ground. However, the humans did not slow their pace at all. As the Ancient Dragon opened its mouth wide to spew flames at them, the ground split apart.

THWACK!

The humans parted.

Raniel and Kyle leaped to the side, planting their feet on the ground. The two dove smoothly into the side of the Ancient Dragon. As if it had never considered them, they sprinted straight to the platinum shrine.

With their backs completely exposed, not bothering to look back, they ran forward.

Then who was responsible for covering their backs? There was no need to look far for the answer. The Ancient Dragon faced forward. There stood one human, halted in front of it. The human was gripping a broken spear.

The ignoble Destel.

Ignoring the flames gathering in the Ancient Dragon’s mouth, Destel raised the spear towards it. This was something he had planned from the start. He volunteered to confront the Ancient Dragon representing the lost wings of the former goddess.

The role of allowing Kyle and Raniel to reach Yormun while conserving their strength. Destel believed that was his role.

“······.”

Destel silently gazed at his opponent.

A giant comparable to the Black Dragon. Wings that extinguished storms. The flames gathering in an open maw and the surging heat. True to its name as the giant dragon who sang the wrath of the primordial god, the Ancient Dragon made any creature standing before it seem utterly insignificant.

Destel couldn’t help but smile.

The past version of himself would have felt fear. He would have recoiled in terror. Of course, even now he felt fear, yet he did not back away. Gripping the spear tightly, Destel exhaled deeply.

FLAP!

The star robe fluttered.

There were no constellations embroidered on the star robe. This was only natural. Since he was headed to drop the stars, it made sense that the stars would not lend their power.

But from the beginning, he did not need the stars.

Fluttering the robe devoid of starlight, he gripped tightly onto the broken star spear. Holding onto the weapon left by that guy, what Destel recalled was… a conversation he once had with his future self.

「First, enter the city of the Ancient Dragons.」

「Second, harbor ashes instead of starlight.」

Ash dust settled on the fluttering robe. Destel brushed off all the ashes he received from the Goddess of Ashes. He aimed to use the arrangement left behind by the apostle created by the Goddess of Ashes and her for the first time here.

「Finally, third.」

「You will be holding the broken star spear.」

Amidst the swirling ash dust, Destel closed his eyes. All conditions were fulfilled. By meeting these conditions, Destel borrowed the power of the hero who had met death in the past or some future.

With his eyes still closed, Destel recalled.

The scenery he’d seen in his dreams. A horrifyingly powerful hero he had met in the vast plains. The twisted future he was destined to reach. Fleeting through his mind was the time the hero had lived.

At the end of that time, he stood.

“Imitation.”

Destel opened his closed eyes.

Shouting as he gazed into the present.

“Destel.”

The ignoble Destel.

A hero who had lived his whole life in regret.

Yet, the last hero who survived until the very end. Even if everything faded away… the record of his existence remained amidst the swirling ash dust.

SCRATCH!

Gripping the broken star spear amidst the swirling ash dust, at that moment, the Ancient Dragon exhaled flames. The platinum buildings lined in the city of the Ancient Dragons melted under the heat. In the towering waves of heat, Destel took a step forward.

He was imitating his future self.

With the fluttering robe, Destel jumped into the flames. The hero who had survived until the end while drinking someone’s spilled blood now bleeds for another.

The ignoble found joy in that fact.

Perhaps the ignoble laughed.

He entered the interior of the platinum shrine.

Once inside the shrine, no more magic rained down. Having come this far, he was to ascend to the top floor and face himself.

“······.”

Raniel climbed the stairs silently, gazing outside the shrine. There was Destel facing the Ancient Dragon amidst the flames, and the river floating in the sky.

The platinum river surged in the sky.

In one way, it resembled the shape of a dragon, and in another, the form of a constellation. Could that represent the constellation symbolizing Yormun? Staring at the constellation shaped like a wingless dragon, Raniel exhaled deeply.

The existence she was about to confront now was Yormun.

Not Yormun van Dragonik, but simply Yormun.

This was a different being than the mage of ancient dragons who the Goddess of Ashes confronted. The mage her future self had battled was one who had lost most of their powers as the world fell apart, yet had never broken the taboos until the end.

However, the one in the shrine’s top floor was… the first sinner who had unleashed all their restrictions, harnessing all powers freely.

‘A mage who dropped the gods single-handedly.’

An transcendent being who ended the era of the gods and ushered in the era of humanity. A being called the god of mages. Therefore, it was also the last wall she must overcome. With her resolve firm, Raniel ascended the stairs of the shrine.

Raniel’s feet landed on the top floor of the shrine.

At the same time, Kyle also reached the top floor.

In the expansive hall of the platinum shrine, Yormun stood alone. His blue hair fluttered in the breeze. Golden dragonlike eyes and constellations engraved on his arms. Space wavered around Yormun.

Invisible to the eyes of ordinary people, the wavering space was clear to Raniel’s eyes.

The undulating space, a cross-section of the world peeled back. There, the powers of forgotten gods settled. The powers Yormun took after bringing down the gods that day. They took the form of eyes. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of eyeballs were embedded in the distorted space.

‘… come to think of it.’

The shells of the forgotten gods she had encountered in Manseon, Alkeia did not have any eyeballs. Viewing the first sinner who had plucked out the gods’ eyeballs, Raniel smiled bitterly.

“Even seeing it again, it’s horrifying, isn’t it?”

Raniel exhaled while pointing at the distorted space.

“Do you have a hobby of collecting eyeballs? Are you planning to pluck out mine too?”

“If necessary, I would.”

Yormun lifted his arm.

The moment he raised his arm, the ceiling of the shrine shattered. Revealed beneath the ruined ceiling was the vast sky. Even during the day, Yormun gestured towards a night sky stained black.

CHARRRRRRR!

The constellations in the night sky rearranged themselves.

In that moment, Raniel’s eyes widened. Leaping from the ground, Raniel jumped. Kyle, sensing the same, thrust his foot down forcefully and swung his sword.

Without any warning, the spell struck down.

No, it hadn’t struck down. It seemed as if it had existed there from the beginning. The moment Kyle’s sword collided with the spell, he was sent flying backward. Raniel and Kyle slid and continued to face forward.

Yormun remained standing right there.

He neither moved his arm, nor spoke, nor channeled his mana. He simply cast a single glance at Raniel and Kyle.

With that alone, the spell was unleashed.

Suddenly, lightning fell from the sky. Flames erupted. The ground surged, and shockwaves struck. The first 360 spells that every mage learned, the ones Raniel knew, simultaneously drenched the two of them.

“···Tsk.”

Raniel clicked her tongue and clenched her hand tightly.

With a DIDI-DIDIK, a crimson lightning surged from her grip. Reversed lightning. Swinging her fist towards the incoming spells, Raniel countered.

Even if it appeared without warning, a spell is still a spell.

The countering lightning consumed the incoming spells.

The spells Raniel couldn’t catch were severed by Kyle’s sword. Dismissing it all as no obstacle, the two tore apart all the spells rushing towards them.

“Was that the plan you kept hidden that day?”

Yormun pointed at Raniel.

Referring to the lightning surging in his raised hand, Yormun narrowed his eyes. The peculiar mana that devoured the spell and disrupted its flow. It was a spell closer to the taboo than anything else.

In response to Yormun’s question, Raniel offered no reply.

She kicked off the ground and charged at Yormun. As she took a step forward, her body accelerated. Even without using starlight here, even without being able to use spells through stars, she cast a reinforcement spell on her body.

Already, she had reached a state where she could manipulate magic without going through the stars. Observing her, Yormun smiled bitterly. So she hadn’t advanced recklessly until here.

‘So, you made it that far against all odds.’

Before his eyes, Raniel was on the verge of completing her role as Guide. She could stand alone without the aid of a god, holding a dagger meant to pierce the gods. Yet to Yormun, the lightning she wielded appeared rough and unrefined.

True, it was a dagger that could pierce the gods.

However, it was not a well-honed blade.

A rough, unrefined dagger.

While she might pierce a few gods with that dagger, she wouldn’t pierce them all. Her own body would break before that could happen. That was a misfortune for Raniel, but a stroke of luck for Yormun.

The completed Guide was a troublesome being that could not be blocked by anything. As one who sought to uphold the laws, he could not block the completed Guide.

‘And…’

Even without turning, he could perceive the human rushing from behind him as he looked at Yormun. Charging in was Kyle Toven, a completed Knight. The sword of this being, surpassing Ganikalt, was complete.

One on the verge of completion as a Guide and another fully completed as a Knight.

They were indeed troublesome opponents.

However, Yormun faced both with the ease of a transcendent being who had completed himself thousands of years ago. Time seemed to halt as he clenched his hand marked by the constellation above. In that moment, the world was rewritten around Yormun.

There was no need for circuits or engravings. The constellations etched in the sky were his circuits.

In the halted time, stars shone in the sky. The shining stars connected. Dots turned to lines. Lines merged into constellations. Hence, a complete constellation descended from the night sky, crashing to the ground.

Time that had stopped began to flow once more.

The fist of lightning-cancelling Raniel and the cold sword of Kyle simultaneously shot towards Yormun. It was the split second when Raniel’s fist aimed at his heart, and Kyle’s sword sought to behead him.

KWARUNG!

The star-shaped constellation fell like a bolt of lightning from the sky, enveloping Yormun’s body. At that moment, Kyle’s sword was deflected. The reversed lightning filling Raniel’s fist collided with the constellation and was bounced back. As the two were forced back, they raised their heads to gaze at Yormun.

With his constellation-engraved hand, Yormun gripped the constellation itself.

Like lightning, like a spear, the constellation was the first one created in the era of the prime, a constellation that a certain genius, called a catastrophe, had used to drop the gods. A constellation that defied the flow of the ancient era.

However, it had now become the very law itself.

Yormun took a step forward.

As he stepped, he swung his hand gripping the constellation. The moment he touched it, the red lightning Raniel had held shattered. The enormous current that could not be resisted swept away the reversed lightning from Raniel’s body.

“If I were to pluck out those two eyes that see the flow…”

With his right hand, he grasped Raniel’s neck and extended his left hand, marked with constellations, towards her eyes.

“Then her qualifications as a Guide would end.”

“If you can pluck them.”

Raniel gripped the wrist reaching for her eyes. Despite the pain etched on her face as her neck was clutched, Raniel tightened her grip on Yormun’s wrist with both hands.

KIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Raniel’s fingers, gripping Yormun’s wrist, flickered violently. As Yormun frowned, a smirk formed on Raniel’s lips.

“Why don’t you give it a try?”

Ashes to Ashes.