13 episodes
6 Black Forest (4)
That scene was very bizarre.
It’s like turning back time.
The explosion of the instrument, which had swelled as if it would swallow up the entire lord’s castle at any moment, was shrinking on the contrary.
No, it seemed to disappear from the world itself.
An explosion that contracts endlessly and finally turns into a tiny dot and disappears.
Everyone in the theater, including Chil-geol, was staring at the scene with blank eyes.
It was a sight that even the report could not comprehend.
After a moment’s silence, their eyes turned to Rayne Dranir, who stood closest to the explosion.
“ Kah ha ha! Lane, how did you do that? When did you secretly cook by yourself again?”
Ragno, who approached, scattering the remains of the instrument that still remained, asked with a big smile.
“ Miss, are you okay?”
“ It was great, Lane.”
Behind such Ragno, Rihanna and Hart followed and opened their mouths.
“ No.”
However, Lane, who was blankly looking at the place where the explosion had disappeared despite their question, quietly shook her head.
“ I didn’t do it.”
Really she didn’t do anything.
Seeing the fanaticism of the expansive Jeonghwagyo, he ran towards the full force, but it was too late.
So all I had to do was wave my hands with desperate eyes.
“ You… … Have you really not seen it?”
But was it because it was the closest?
Of those present, only Lane could see.
A man who was slightly further than herself from the explosion.
The moment the man lightly grabbed his hand, a scene of alien darkness enveloped the entire explosion.
I was never wrong.
No, I was able to see it more precisely because it was such a situation.
“ By the way… … .”
Lane’s eyes followed the back of Zeon Harness, the man who walked to his seat as if nothing had happened.
* * *
Six-headed beast tattoo and purgatory.
And the terror that takes place in Yeongjuseong.
For Shion, who had already read the ‘Chronicle of Plosimar’ and remembered everything, predicting and using it was easier than flipping the palm of her hand.
Zion knew.
‘ Simply defeating the other mercenaries and climbing up can’t catch the eyes of the Chilgeols, including Rain Dranir.’
That is why, before entering Yeongjuseong, he traced the location of the Puritans and continued to follow after they entered.
And waited.
until they start acting.
It could have been prevented, but it didn’t.
If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to catch the eye of Reign Dranir.
In the end, without a single error, the purificationists caused a terrorist attack, and Zion, who had known their location in advance, arranged the terror with ease.
As a result.
“ The people here now are the people participating in this subjugation. Get used to each other.”
Zion was now sitting in the small meeting room of the Lord’s Castle.
A total of eight people were facing each other with a long table in between, and Lane was the only one standing and looking down at them.
‘ As a result, are only two people selected for this mercenary recruitment?’
Looking around the people in the small meeting room, Zion thought so.
A total of five seven girls, including Lane Dranir, and a woman named Kayla with dark brown hair and a mature appearance who joined the four men who were judging the mercenaries at the gymnasium.
The middle-aged man in his mid-forties sitting next to Kyla seemed to have already been appointed as her acquaintance.
The only woman in front of Shion, who had scars all over her body, was the one who was being screened when recruiting mercenaries a while ago.
“ I’ll explain the subjugation briefly from now on, so listen carefully.”
Lane’s low voice was heard in the ears of people including Shion.
“ There is an unusual forest between the city of Ruin and the Saleos Mountains. A forest where everything that exists, including trees and grass, is dyed black. We call this forest ‘Black Forest’.”
It is called a forbidden place because anyone who enters can never get out, so it is a place managed at the city level.
And it was also the place that Lane was trying to subdue.
“ I already know about the Black Forest. Other than that, I want to know exactly what ‘what’ we have to subdue in the Black Forest and why.”
At Lane’s words, the Scared Fairy woman sitting in front of Zion opened her mouth in a blunt tone.
Rian flinched at the fairy’s half-talk and tried to open his mouth, but Lane’s answer was faster than that.
“ Evil.”
“ Evil?”
The face of a woman with scars stained with doubt.
“ You’ve probably heard at least a little bit of the legend about the ancestors of our family.”
People nodded at Lane’s words.
Legend has it that a hero clothed in dragon blood and gaining dragon power destroyed evil and built the city Ruin on it.
It was quite a famous legend in the North.
“ It’s true. Then evil didn’t die. Our well-to-do ancestors were strong enough to do nothing but seal. That’s why Ruin is still paying the price for that. Right away… … .”
“ Cleaning agent.”
Lane’s eyes fluttered slightly at the words that came out of Shion’s mouth.
It’s the first time I’m talking about this except for my family.
“… … right. To be more precise, the purification ceremony that takes place at the end of the purification process is a big deal.”
“ If it’s a purification ritual… … That’s sending your city’s death row inmates to the Black Forest, right?”
Rein nodded at Hart’s words, stroking his chin with a firm expression.
“ Yeah, sacrifice them to the forest and keep the seal.”
“ I wondered why such a barbaric ritual is still continuing… … .”
Hart nodded that he knew now.
“ Then there is no need for subjugation, is there? They are death row inmates after all.”
“ Five a month.”
At Ragno’s words, Lane stretched out five fingers in front of him.
“ The number of sacrifices made to the Black Forest. by the way. What do you think will happen if the death row is less than this number?”
“… … .”
Those who have not committed any sin, or who have not sinned, are offered instead.
Either way, the number of sacrifices had to be filled.
I’ve seen Lane since I was very young.
The sacrifices are being dragged into the Black Forest while crying for their lives.
And in contrast to that, the cheers of people excited by the festival coming from the city.
This city had something twisted, and the purifier was the shackle that kept it twisted.
A chain that has been passed down to Ruin for hundreds of years.
Lane was about to break the shackles.
“ And it’s like X. Giving my life to a f*cking bastard who doesn’t know any face.”
Even if he commits a crime, he punishes him, and even if he takes his life, it is right for him to reap what he wants to become the lord.
“ Kah ha ha! That’s right! It is not. That’s not enough of a reason!”
As if Ragno agreed to Lane’s words, he hit the table and burst into laughter.
Hart and Kyla nod to Lane, saying they are you, and Rihanna sighs deeply at her harsh words and actions.
“ I don’t know the exact details of the existence of that ‘evil’ because nothing has been told. One thing is for sure, the old seals have weakened their strength considerably.”
So I was able to take a chance.
“ Only a few can enter the Black Forest because of the special magic curtain. And the people here right now are the strongest I can gather right now.”
“ I agree with that… … .”
Kyla, who had been listening to Lane all this time, clenched her chin in one hand and pointed to Shion with her long finger and opened her mouth.
“ It doesn’t make sense to include the author.”
She wasn’t here during the mercenary recruitment screening, but she knew the situation because she had heard of it.
Zion Harness.
That the authors were chosen by Lane, not by judges.
In fact, he didn’t feel any energy, and his body seemed too weak to be uninhabited.
“ That’s why I want to hear why.”
Others also looked at Lane.
I’m going north
A gathering of supernovae that may become the next ‘sky’.
Those who are known to be able to create a huge force with just their name alone, and their skills have already surpassed humans.
Five such chil-geols were gathered here.
Kaila’s acquaintances, a middle-aged man and a fairy woman, were also well-known in the North as outstanding talents.
However, that person named Zeon was far inferior to him.
To the extent that I can’t understand why Lane chose him.
“… … .”
At the words of those people, Lane looked at Zion for a moment.
I still couldn’t understand.
How was ‘that’ possible?
A memory of the past that comes back vividly.
The power of Shion I saw at that time was definitely neither magic nor martial arts.
Something alien that could never be seen as something of this world.
“… … just. It’s a feeling. I feel like I need something.”
Those words came out of Lane’s mouth, which had been silent for a moment.
“ What nonsense? Have you been drinking?”
People frowned at him, but Lane’s mouth didn’t open anymore.
‘ Are you suspicious?’
Seeing her like that, a faint smile appeared on Shion’s lips.
He must have seen his own power, but not saying it was proof that he was suspicious of the people here.
It was impossible for a Jeonghwa Christian to enter Yeongju Fortress during the previous examination without the help of someone inside.
It’s also pretty high-status.
Lane is probably thinking they might be among them.
Her thoughts were correct.
And Zion already knew who the traitor was.
‘ I have no intention of telling you.’
All of this was an ordeal for Rein Dranir, and only through this ordeal will she be reborn as a true warrior’s companion and dragon dragon.
“ I’ll talk about that later and plan the entry route first, so listen carefully. On the outskirts of the forest… … .”
Ignoring Kyla’s gaze that looked at him as if he was going to wait and see, Shion listened to Lane.
* * *
The garden of the lord’s castle dyed with the soft moonlight.
In the center of the empty garden, there was a huge darkness.
sususu-
A heterogeneous darkness called three that pushes away the darkness of night that exists around.
In the expanding darkness, stars revolved like the universe, and Zion sat in the center of those stars.
Black Seongha.
A power that is the most foreign in this world and that only Zion himself can handle.
This force, which denies everything it touches, has no form, no character, no concept.
So it did not belong to anything, and therefore it could also be anything.
slurp-
The darkness that revolved around Zion begins to flow down like water.
Then the darkness seemed to harden like a rock, and then it scorched like fire.
‘It’s still not easy to control.’
Relieving such darkness, Shion furrowed her eyebrows slightly.
Clearly, he achieved a level of achievement that could not be compared to when he first entered this body, but there was no such thing as satisfaction in Zion’s eyes.
‘ Right now, I can’t guarantee victory even with any of the Seven Girls I’ve seen today.’
Obviously, Chil-geol could be called a strong force even in the world as a whole.
It was natural that Shion, who had just started training, couldn’t face it, but it didn’t matter.
Those whom Zion will face in the future are much stronger than the Chilgeol, and they will not wait for Zion to become stronger.
‘ I need to shoot 2 stars a little faster.’
That way, it will be easier to infuse the darkness with attributes as it was before.
The situation was getting more and more difficult, but there were low expectations in the eyes of Zion who got up from his seat.
The more difficult it is, the greater the joy of breaking it.
That was then.
“ Are you using a very strange power?”
A high and thin voice came from behind Zion.
Shion looked back at him and saw a woman who looked like she had just taken off her t-shirt.
Long hair down to her waist and white eyes.
And bright red eyes that looked like they were filled with blood.
A mysterious yet alluring atmosphere.
“… … .”
She couldn’t feel any murderous intent or strength in such a woman, but Zion’s eyes were still.
Because he wasn’t caught up in his sense of grabbing everyone in the castle.
Even now, right before my eyes, it was very faint.
“ How are you doing?”
A woman who asks Shion with interest in her eyes.
Zion did not ask who that woman was.
because I already knew
“ Has it been released already?”
“ What? Do you know who I am?”
The woman with her eyes wide open as if in a strange way turned around in her place.
“ What, does it matter?”
Then he slowly began to approach Zion.
Quiet footsteps, not even footsteps.
“ Don’t come to the forest.”
Finally, the woman standing in front of Zion smiles horribly red.
“ If you come, you will die.”
A new type of woman who disappears like a mirage at the end of those words.
At the corner of Zion’s lips, who looked at the place where the woman disappeared like that,
“ It was fun.”
A line similar to that of a woman was drawn.