Chapter 927 - Ascension
"Do you know who that blonde was?"
It was less than two days after their return.
Krais was chasing the identity of the bastard who had punched a hole in Enkrid's stomach.
It was a habit born of anxiety.
Even if he didn't know who the opponent was, he gathered bits and pieces of information to find out.
A guy who faced Enkrid and Ragna alone and won overwhelmingly?
'Is that possible?'
Krais was part of the Knight Order, but he wasn't as skilled in combat.
However, he knew very well how difficult and arduous the task he had just estimated was.
'Unless Leonesis Oniac came back alive.'
No, he was a great man who established and organized swordsmanship, but it wasn't known if he actually possessed outstanding skills.
'Maybe a Knight of the Dawn of Creation?'
The Knight of the Dawn of Creation was more of a story passed among children than recorded in history books.
One of the heroic epics bards loved to sell.
Did they say he split the sky with a single sword in an era when there was no light and only darkness?
'That's going a bit too far.'
Even if it was just a story, the exaggeration was severe.
Krais had read many books and listened to rumors for a long time.
Even if not the Knight of the Dawn of Creation, he recalled a few more knights who could suppress those two simultaneously.
'Like the Dragon Slayer.'
Wasn't he the knight who killed an evil dragon?
Since it was an era with dragons, this too was a protagonist in bards' tales.
'How about the Beast King?'
The Beast King was a beastkin who led all beastkin scattered and living as slaves in the world to form a nation in the borderlands.
This one was at least a great figure who historically existed.
'Though it's based on the oral history of beastkin.'
Seeing that Dunbakel, the only beastkin in the Knight Order, didn't even know of his existence, it must be a story passed down to only a few among beastkin.
Still, several historians across the continent had proven the Beast King's existence.
'So, to face those two simultaneously, doesn't it have to be at the level of myth or legend to be possible?'
That was Krais's conclusion.
"We'll see him again, right?"
That was why he asked Enkrid like this.
"Probably."
"Okay. Then what about preparation?"
"I did it this morning too."
Spending no day in vain and training.
That was the only preparation.
Krais accepted the scattered problems, including the blonde and the demons, and said:
"Fight without me."
He had the urge to escape the city right now and hide in some remote countryside corner.
"Picking fights with every demon in the Demonic Realm, and now an absurd swordsman appears on top of that? Huh? Why is the situation so exceptionally harsh for us? Did we slash the face of the Goddess of Fortune or something?"
Becoming talkative was a sign of anxiety.
Krais knew himself well.
He caught his breath and spoke as if repeating to himself.
"Well, if we know and don't prepare, that's being a fool."
Krais looked like he was about to cry.
Enkrid found it funny and smirked.
Wasn't he talking alone and answering alone?
"Don't laugh. I'm serious here."
Krais was consistent.
He caught his breath and opened his mouth again.
"Even if we don't know, preparing by weighing various possibilities, I think that's what we should do."
Enkrid found what to do through several conversations with Krais.
If you know, prepare.
No one knows demons as well as a Witch.
In fact, Esther had relayed warnings from such beings several times, so he asked her.
"Do you know how to kill a demon?"
There were many demons left in the Demonic Realm.
Truly many.
Transformed into a panther, Esther wrote letters on the dirt floor with her claws.
'Wait.'
After staying as a panther for days, Esther returned and immediately sought out Enkrid.
***
That was now.
"Yo."
Enkrid raised his hand to express welcome to the Witch who said she waited for him.
No matter how cold and sharp the biting wind was, if someone was by your side, you could share warmth with that person.
"Shall we walk a bit?"
Enkrid spoke again.
Seeing the sky dark, it looked like it would snow around dawn.
While he sometimes got rain wrong, perhaps due to his experience in the army, he guessed snow well.
Snowflakes were the enemy of all soldiers.
He suddenly recalled memories of avoiding clearing snow by making excuses to Shinar in the past.
Memories very close to his heart.
"Let's."
Esther answered and approached his side.
The two took steps against the backdrop of the city night.
There were several paths to the training ground.
They chose the one that took the longest.
A structure walking a long way around the outskirts, not the city center.
Border Guard looked like it was wrapped by three large roads from afar, and what they walked on was the stone path wrapping the outermost city outskirts.
It wasn't a time for people to come and go, but patrolmen holding lanterns would have to check this place as a duty.
What the two encountered was one such patrol team.
"Glory."
A recruit with strict military discipline and two soldiers fitting to be called veterans, a three-man team.
It was a manpower composition made for the reason that three were better to respond than two.
Did Krais say it was the realization of what Abneier conceived?
Since Krais was a guy who told every story whether important or not, Enkrid heard this and that through his mouth.
"Good work."
Enkrid nodded and passed by, but the recruit couldn't take his eyes off Esther.
From the black fur coat strangely reflecting light, it seemed to bewitch people.
Add to this the face shadowed by reflecting the lantern light, it would be twice as mysterious as when seen during the day.
Blue eyes and a nose bridge creating distinct shadows—if dividing standards of beauty and ugliness, it was beauty comparable to a Fairy.
'Goddess?'
The recruit thought.
"Eyeballs."
The woman resembling a goddess muttered.
One of the veteran soldiers pulled the recruit's shoulder.
"Do you want to become blind?"
There was no playfulness in those words.
"You shouldn't look at the Black Flower for long. Half-wit."
The recruit disappeared into the darkness following the two seniors, tense.
Enkrid took a step and asked.
"You didn't really pluck out the eyes of soldiers, did you?"
"Never plucked yet."
Strange, didn't he see very distinct fear?
While thinking briefly, Esther finished speaking.
"Just made them blind for a few days."
Esther was a Witch, but she didn't cast spells on just anyone.
There was a reasonable cause for her actions.
Enkrid believed so.
"It was truly enjoyable."
Sweeping her hair up with her hand, Esther laughed.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a smile full of insidiousness.
Of course, if an ordinary man saw it, some would offer their lives for this single smile.
'I can't understand all her actions.'
She'll figure it out.
Esther would have her own standards too.
Enkrid walked as if shaking off thoughts.
Esther accompanied him by his side.
The two walked looking around without words for a while.
"Sir."
The two encountered another group.
Members of the Gilpin Guild claiming to be night watchmen guarding the city night.
Recognizing Esther and Enkrid, they stopped and bowed instead of saluting.
"Good work."
Enkrid also passed them by nonchalantly.
They were also a three-man team.
This side had long turned into Krais's private intelligence guild.
It was natural to move with a composition similar to the patrol.
Though the paths they came and went would be different.
After passing them too, a few faint presences approached and then withdrew.
Probably people Jaxen had.
"Knowing the opponent is knowing how to deal with them."
Esther opened her mouth around the time no presence was felt nearby at all.
Enkrid was walking with a small stone wall on his right.
Here, there was no need to ask who 'them' referred to.
Esther spoke again without waiting for an answer.
"Do you see the stars?"
Although cloudy, a few starlights peeked out occasionally.
Since there was no light around, the starlight was clearer.
"I see them."
Enkrid glanced at the sky and answered.
"Long ago, several wizards gathered and built a tower."
A story heard somewhere continued.
"The name of that tower was the Tower of Wisdom."
The wizards who built the tower all touched forbidden arts, and that summoned the Lords of the Demonic Realm and Beelrog.
An event where the gate to another world opened, driving the world to the omen of destruction.
"Their wish was to become stars in the sky."
Esther said, extending her right index finger to the sky.
Enkrid's gaze directed at her eyes, not her finger.
"Ascension. The demons' goal is no different."
Demons are already half-immortal.
Would the Master of Wraiths die because his lifespan ended?
Then why do they live?
For what?
"Becoming a star in the sky is called Ascension."
The demons' goal.
They want to rise above the sky with everything they have.
"None of the countless wizards boasting wisdom knew how to ascend. Would demons know? If they knew, they would have done something already, whether the continent became a sea of blood or not. That they didn't means they don't know how to ascend either."
Esther stopped speaking, took two more steps, and asked.
"Now, what will you do? They are guys who say they will become stars way up in that sky. Killing thousands of people for various experiments would be considered trivial to them."
They aren't people who die by being cut because they have physical substance.
That is what demons are.
Esther finished what she had to say.
Enkrid's mouth opened.
"What to do, you ask."
Esther also looked into Enkrid's eyes.
Those eyes were no different from starlight piercing the darkness.
What the blue shining eyes said hadn't changed even a bit from before.
He was the same person now as when they first met.
Nothing had changed.
"I'll fight."
The Lords of the Demonic Realm place no value on human life, and do not hesitate to incite war and fighting.
Therefore, this man will fight.
Without retreating a bit, until his life burns away and disappears, he will fight like that.
'And I will be by his side.'
Esther vowed inwardly.
Only a knight's oath has the power of a vow?
A vow made on mana was as valuable as a knight's oath.
The Witch nodded as if succumbing to the demonic charm that bewitched her.
"Right, you will."
Dealing with demons, he would be very busy.
Even fighting offering his life, victory couldn't be promised.
If there is no anxiety, one isn't human.
In that sense, Esther was infinitely human.
Because she was human, she felt anxiety.
Starlight shone on the two.
Esther placed her hand on Enkrid's heart.
Thump-
Before becoming human from a panther, the sound of Enkrid's heartbeat was her lullaby.
To that beat, Esther's heart beat the same.
"My heart is settling."
Esther said.
Enkrid closed his mouth and waited for a moment so she could be fully relieved.
The fear faintly revealed in her eyes slowly disappeared.
Like salt dissolved in water, it scattered under the blue lake.
The two passed the patrol, Gilpin Guild, and Jaxen's subordinates three times, but didn't perceive the eyes of those watching the city night from far away for the fourth time.
Since Fairies possessed eyesight seeing night like day, they accurately perceived the two figures even from far away.
That is why their presence wasn't caught by these two.
The scout of the city Kirhais quietly memorized the appearance of the two.
It was a sight that must be conveyed to the Queen currently training risking her life within the city.
***
Enkrid returned, washed, and lay down.
His bedroom was on the third floor of the small fortress.
Krais tended to the Knight Order training ground and put effort into the quarters every time Enkrid vacated his spot.
Meaning he made a castle like a small fortress before anyone knew.
Beyond the window, snowflakes began to flutter.
In the weak wind, snow fell gently and covered the world silently.
Enkrid closed his eyes as is, fell asleep, and dreamed.
"This is the end."
Who?
Though he perceived it was a dream, it wasn't a voice made by his will but it was spoken with his mouth.
It was a strange feeling.
It felt like opening and closing his mouth underwater.
"I said this is the end."
His mouth opens without his will.
Someone who is himself yet a stranger howled and knelt.
Everything felt and seen had an unrealistic texture like made of sand grains.
"I cannot choose."
Frustration and despair seep in.
All I have now is helplessness.
Couldn't move a finger.
Just shuddering in pain quietly.
Then die.
Life cuts off.
Thought the Ferryman would be seen when opening eyes again, but not at all.
Another vision.
"Damn it, do I have to block this?"
Same as a moment ago.
He felt like he was speaking with his own mouth, but it's a woman's voice.
Her hands were very large and thick.
The texture felt on the right hand was extraordinary.
What was held in her hand entered vision.
A spear big enough to be called a small pillar.
Very long and thick.
He only perceived it as a form, the detailed shape of this weapon or surrounding situation didn't enter the head fully.
'What is this?'
Another one of ferryman's trick?
It was a reasonable suspicion.
'Himself' and 'Her' holding the spear faced waves of monsters and beasts seen for the first time and died.
Each one of the monsters was a guy strong enough to have a name in the Demonic Realm.
If there was a characteristic, all of them had large bodies.
On top of that, a monster spewing black liquid flew overhead.
'Dragon?'
He saw it for the first time as a shape consisted of sand grain, but it was hard to associate that shape with anything else from based on that appearance.
Body torn and limbs fall off.
Intestines burst and blood flowed down the mouth.
Pain was dull like a blunt knife applied over leather clothes, so it wasn't painful.
Beyond everything around being made of sand grains, even that looked like seeing through a blurry mirror.
Die again.
He didn't understand the process.
Only the moment was felt.
Like that, several different dreams passed by like grazing.
Experiencing dozens of situations instantaneously and waking up, he was leaning his back on the rocking boat deck.
***
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