248. Gift
Sitting in front of the piano, pressing the keys with thin hands, presenting beautiful melodies to the world.
That was the talent of a boy named Owen Baltany.
It was also one of the reasons why I nominated Owen as my successor.
The boy’s performance was a gift to the world, but that gift was not just for the living.
The only thing we could give to the dead was a funeral song. Owen Baltany gives the dead more than that.
The boy’s performance had the magical power to attract the dead, not the living.
As the boy’s music begins to flow quietly, I activate the magic circle carved on the royal palace’s huge rooftop.
A shout out to the continent.
A light start compared to Ruaneth’s method of annihilating all spiritual beings.
It is bound to be much easier for the voice to spread than to spread magic across the continent and destroy the soul.
I have previously asked for help from the spirits in Graypond to stop Romuleus. I open my mouth, clearing my throat more skillfully than before.
“Countless people sleeping on the continent.”
The voice does not resonate at an extreme volume like before. However, even if it is a small wave, it reaches the end of a lake.
My voice will also definitely reach the end of the continent.
“Starting from those who died just yesterday, to those who have fallen into such a long sleep that they have forgotten themselves.”
From Noble mtl dot com
I have no doubt that it will reach all the dead.
“Awake, listen to me.”
A strong wind is blowing.
The cloud of divine power is in a fixed state, unable to approach any further, as Stella and Lucia are solving the problem.
I think this is enough for souls to reach me.
“I am the envoy of the Griffin Kingdom.”
Introduce yourself.
“Deius Verdi.”
In the end, most of the things I can say to the dead do not end well.
No matter how much you comfort them, consider their feelings, or wipe away their tears.
There is only one last thing I can say.
Go into rest now.
“You who are asleep.”
It was the same this time too.
The souls that have been sleeping for thousands of years are awakened one by one.
“You who have lived on this earth now.”
And I had no choice but to reveal the cruel truth to them once again.
Because in the end.
They are dead, and those who remain must continue to live.
“We are leading this continent down the path to destruction.”
The truth flowed out of my mouth again.
* * *
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
At first, I thought hail was falling from the clouds. However, they were too heavy and rough to be called hail, but it was somewhat strange to call it a disaster.
“Mr. Heo Er?”
Those who failed to fall properly and fell to the floor instead of the roof of the royal palace were completely destroyed and exploded.
All of the guys who landed properly on the royal rooftop had bizarre shapes.
Some had three hands, and some had six legs.
Monsters that are glued together like corpses. I wondered if it would be right to call them chimeras, but anyway, their basic frame was all human.
Finden Eye raises its head towards the sky. They realize that necromancer Yoon is controlling them from above the clouds.
“Just a corpse?”
The chill flowing from the white snow and the heat emanating from the war shoes clash and swirl in the air.
Because the opponent is a corpse, the Hand of Blood will not be activated, but Findeneye grabs the white snow with both hands and swings it wide.
“Where are you going with this thing?”
Buuung!
The corpses are cleanly split in half horizontally by Findeneye’s blow. It was not an ordinary necromancer, and even the corpses of Yun, Dante’s necromancer, were nothing more than pieces of meat in front of Findenai.
I will not allow you to disturb the owner.
If you want to go, defeat me.
With that meaning in mind, Finden Eye hits the snow-white floor and looks up at the sky.
“If you just watch from above, you won’t be able to do anything, you bastards.”
Did you hear Findenai’s voice? He is a man who has fallen again.
But this time, unlike other corpses with multiple bodies attached, it was a man without a left arm.
A warrior holding a spear.
Zhang Lun, a warlock from the Han Empire.
He holds the spear with one hand and boldly points to Findeneye.
“Zhang Lun of the Han Empire! “I will ask your name.”
“Did you come here to play? “Unless you want to split your head and not your arms, use the spear and not the mouth.”
“hahahaha! That’s funny! “He must be so talented that he speaks foul.”
Wood clack!
Something strange pours out from the man’s empty left hand. It was rightly said that it was his neck that extended rather than his hands.
Crumbling!
The left hand sprouted in an instant.
Where the palm should be, a black wolf howls harshly and barks at Findeneye.
“A monster surgeon?”
“The fight with Dina was truly impressive.”
Findeneye has fought with Dante’s monster surgeon Dina in Claren, so she knows very well how difficult monster surgeons can be.
Jang Lun slams his spear on the ground. Then, the bodies of the necromancers that had been split in half behind him rose again, sticking together like a magnet.
“Ask again! “Hey, what is your name?”
“Ah, there are so many baby horses.”
Finden Eye, who had to deal with the monster spellcaster as well as the corpse spellcaster, puts a piece of tobacco in his mouth and lights it.
“Huh.”
Considering that it was going to be a tough day, I was quite disappointed that there were only a few days left in the year.
* * *
“Turn it off!”
Findenai, who wields a white sword and begins to fight against Jangrun, and Deius, whose voice spreads throughout the continent through the magic stone.
Meanwhile, Lucia was moaning desperately with both her hands raised.
Usually I would have been in a posture of praying to God, but today it was the opposite.
I was blocking the steps of God who came to this land.
She was using many of the methods she had learned from Stella, her predecessor as a saint, to block a huge chunk of her divine power. She was now handling her divine power so skillfully that she could be called a full-fledged saint.
But.
Even she cannot block the divine power wielded by her god on her own.
Above the sky.
If it weren’t for the support of Stella, the former saint who was blocking it in front of the clouds, Graypond would have already fallen under the divine power of God.
[…] ….]
Stella with a serious expression.
The situation is completely different from the time of Romuleus. Unlike him, who helplessly lost control of the divine power, this time the divine power was clearly giving the gods a hand.
[I won’t be able to stop it for very long.]
With her bitter smile, Stella sheds her sighs. She will try as hard as she can, but will she be able to hold out until Deius accepts her whole soul?
It may be a dizzying time, but Stella is determined.
In fact, Stella was the most dangerous person right now. It would not be strange if her soul, standing right in front of her divine power and resisting it, would disappear immediately.
But.
[Because we said goodbye.]
I have no regrets anymore.
I had a great time.
Funny enough, it was only after his death that he made friends and someone he loved came to visit him.
In some ways, it could be said to be a tragedy.
She was a saint and had no choice but to live her life, and she considered it a blessing that this time had come to her even after her death.
[Velika, I’m sorry.]
She apologized in advance to her companion, Velika, but Velika did not say anything.
She was just silent, so she just stayed with Stella.
Even if it is a bitter end, she will be with you.
In such faith, Stella looks at the woman standing on the clouds.
She is a white woman who came to Gray Pond accompanied by Dante’s warlocks.
However, she was closer to a flame than a light. The brilliance of the flame is so great that it is sublime, so she emits white light, not red light.
The long sword in her hand is imprinted on the ground, and a white flame burns at her feet.
Funny enough.
[This is how we met.]
The owner of the name Stella was called the most during her lifetime.
She is the goddess in charge of hearth and fire.
[Hertia.]
The goddess Stella served looked at her and declared coldly.
“Get out of the way, Stella.”
[…] ….]
It is known among believers who worship Goddess Hertia that after her death, she becomes her angel and lives her life receiving her love and praising her.
Stella, who served Hertia more than anyone else, is here now.
Stella asked amid bitter feelings.
[Why are you interfering with Deius?]
“Stella, the continent has a determined destiny.”
[…] ….]
“The souls in rest will eventually saturate and destroy the continent or disappear. “It has to come down to one of two things.”
[Your children are among the sleeping souls.]
“Even so, that is fate. Stella, the time that all of us gods have been waiting for has come. Deius…… No, we cannot allow that stranger to throw this land into chaos.”
The earnestness emanating from Hertia’s voice. I could see how worried and afraid she was about the current situation.
[Please trust him. If that doesn’t work, even me, who was your daughter.]
“Stella.”
[…] ….]
“We cannot entrust one of the continent’s greatest destinies to a stranger.”
Gods are ultimately beings bound by fate (main story). No compromise could be found with them.
[So what you have chosen is the extinction of all souls? Did you want to stop the god Romuleus by making him fall and killing people?]
“Huh.”
Hertia, perhaps thinking that conversation was no longer working, stretched out her hand holding her sword and aimed it at Stella.
The white flame burning from the sword body is a fire of divine power.
Stella will disappear if she is just grazed by the sword.
“Are you teaching me while embracing the Great Devil?”
[…] ….]
“Is it because the divine power was taken from you that you end up like this?”
[After.]
“I feel sorry for you, but that was fate. “I had to give Lucia divine powers.”
Stella does not appear in the original story. Her only saint is Lucia.
The reason Stella’s divine power was taken away was simply because it was the flow, without any ill feelings whatsoever.
[I had many conversations with the man you call a stranger.]
I can’t say that I never resented her for taking away her divine power, but Stella wasn’t stopping Hertia just because of that.
[As I was with him, I suddenly became curious. As Hertia said, Kim Shin-woo is a foreigner.]
Asleep inside him, Stella continued to have questions.
Why?
Why on earth?
For what reason?
[Why is he so devoted to this continent?]
Undeniably an outsider.
I was not born, raised, or lived on this continent.
A man who suddenly fell here from another world.
He lives by borrowing the body of Deius Verdi, but that is not a reason to live a life for the continent.
“… ….”
The reason why not even the goddess Hertia knows. The conversation between Stella and Kim Shin-woo when they saw each other for a moment.
As the silence continued for a moment, Deius’ voice rang out towards the continent.
– Wake up and look around. There is no more room on the continent.
Numerous souls coming up from the ground begin to be seen. Before you know it, the entire city has been filled to the point where you can’t even see the buildings.
It was a scene that made me realize at once why it was said that there is no longer a place for the dead to rest in this land.
Back to the story.
Not Deius Verdi.
The reason Kim Shin-woo is devoted to this land.
Stella chants along with the calm voice she heard that day.
[Because he is grateful.]
“…… Thanks?”
[Yes, to this world that became a temporary resting place in the midst of his terrible life. Also, to the continent that accepted him.]
“… ….”
[So he lives for us. He is trying to save this continent.]
To a future unknown to the gods.
To another happy ending he thought of.
It was a pathetic life.
In the end, sacrifice.
No other words came to mind in Goddess Hertia.
Stella smiled and corrected Goddess Hertia’s thoughts.
[He doesn’t want to be called a sacrifice.]
In fact, when Stella heard this story at the time, she brought up the word sacrifice, but Kim Shin-woo corrected her.
This is not a sacrifice.
[Gift.]
– Dead people, will you destroy the continent? Will it be saved?
Stella burst into laughter as she heard Deius’ voice ringing again.
[Can you hear me? What is he doing? What kind of gift does the stranger you spoke of want to give us?]
The tightly closed lips of Goddess Hertia.
She couldn’t organize her confused head.
– In the end, it all depends on your choice.
[Ah.]
From Noble mtl dot com
– I appeal to you as Monumentalist Deius Verdi. For the salvation of the continent, come to me.
[How.]
– I will be your new haven.
In the end, Stella couldn’t hold back the bright smile.
[How can you not love that man?]