Kuwung!
The great sword swung, and a fierce whirlwind blew in. Looking at that scene, Hobaek, who had just faced Kurika, couldn’t help but feel a dizzying mix of emotions—anxiety and despair.
‘Is he not going all out against us?’
He wanted to believe it was impossible, but even a fool could see that Kurika’s great sword was showcasing an overpowering strength that intensified as time went on.
Though labeled as the Army of Death, they could honestly be called the Army of Beastmen.
From the Beast King leading to the soldiers defending the kingdom and their advisers, they fought to protect the goddess.
‘The Beast King’s strength is beyond imagination.’
He had no choice but to admit it. To Hobaek, the Beast King was a formidable opponent beyond his expectations.
Even when he faced him, he hadn’t lasted more than a few exchanges before kneeling. Realizing this made Hobaek think that this rebellion was utterly in vain.
“I never imagined things would end up like this.”
Gripping his spear tightly, Hobaek thrust it towards the oncoming army. He anticipated battling the Beast King’s forces.
However, he never imagined their roles would be so reversed.
Hobaek’s rebel force had become the defenders of citizens, while the Beast King’s army turned into a mad group wanting nothing but slaughter.
Even now, he could hear the cheers of the escaping Beastmen supporting Hobaek’s army, the irony tickling his ears.
“Don’t think you can reach them before you take me down!”
Kurika’s roar threatened the ground. His back had been stabbed multiple times, and even a few blades still protruded from him.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kurika dominated the battlefield.
“Ah, Calios!”
“Have you come to save us!”
“Great Emperor! The Emperor of Salvation!”
“Go for it, Calios!”
Of course, the Beastmen behind were cheering, thinking Calios had returned to protect them from calamity.
To them, he was a savior, as good as a god, writing another legendary tale. It felt like that, yet…
“Shut up.”
Was his remark enough to anger the goddess? She extended her hand, a chilling expression crossing her face that sent shivers down her spine. Darkness slithered along the ground, creeping quietly.
It planned to pass under Kurika and Hobaek’s forces and engulf the citizens whole.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
Kurika’s great sword drew a long line across the earth. Like a geyser erupting, dirt and stones shot high into the air.
The darkness couldn’t advance beyond the line he drew, scattering and disappearing.
He glared at the goddess beyond the army with a dreadful momentum and declared, “Until you can cut me down, don’t even think of coming here.”
“Kurika…!”
The goddess clenched her fist and lifted her sword. Just staying idle wouldn’t end the fight. Her army could revive again and again, no matter how many times they fell.
The Beast King had already died under Kurika’s great sword at least five times and still kept getting back up.
So, she thought that with just a little time, she could naturally break through.
‘Is that monster’s stamina endless?’
Despite having fought Hobaek’s army before, allowing herself to be ambushed and having swords stuck in her back…
Kurika showed no signs of exhaustion. On the contrary, his eyes glinted with insane light, ready to rip the goddess’s throat out at any moment.
This was the first time she felt fear.
It annoyed the goddess that such emotions were felt towards a mere Beastman, so she stealthily concealed herself in the darkness and approached Kurika.
Deliberately, she allowed the highest power she had—The Beast King, Jaegyua Baekplin, and the dwarf Hatsim Velok—to swarm Kurika.
Drawing attention, she attempted to stretch her sword from the shadows again, nearly succeeding.
Kwaang!
If not for the two daggers held by the silver-haired girl blocking her way.
“So predictable.”
Gaining the ability to handle killing intent also meant she could read it. For a goddess who had lived amidst one-sided slaughter, masking her killing intent was surprisingly challenging.
Sen pushed back the goddess’s sword with her twin daggers.
It might have been insufficient with just Sen’s strength, but a white chain enveloped the goddess’s sword from behind.
“Phew. If witches are gods, we’re used to this.”
With the chains created by Adriana’s magic added to the mix, as they restrained the sword, the goddess’s anger began to surface.
How dare these trivial beings interfere with her?
Thus, she didn’t flee but emerged from the shadows herself.
As the essence of darkness descended, Sen and Adriana had no choice but to retreat. Touching that darkness was dangerous.
In fact, as the Army of Death absorbed units from their side, it was rapidly growing.
Yet, there was one being in this place that could touch the darkness without losing their own existence.
Having already been consumed by darkness, the emperor swung the great sword with a flourish.
“……!”
“I will take that body!”
Kurika’s great sword swung fiercely. It was a rough and powerful strike that even the goddess had to raise both hands to block.
Even now, darkness continued to crawl up Kurika’s feet, gradually consuming him. The shadows creeping along his body were evidence of that.
One of his eyes had already turned black, making it impossible to see clearly, yet…
Kurika didn’t stop swinging his sword even for a moment, using all his power.
At this point, even the goddess couldn’t help but feel anxious.
She had to make Kurika hers here and now. If not soon, Daniel McLean would arrive.
While Kurika was certainly a threat…
He couldn’t compare to Daniel McLean, who wielded the sealing dagger given by the Goddess of Time and could stop time.
‘Hurry! Hurry!’
Did Kurika sense the goddess’s urgency? He pushed himself harder, swinging the sword as if his muscles would explode.
His pressure was so immense and eerie that even allies dared not step forward.
Kurika became obsessed with the idea of killing the end and desperately tried to break through the goddess.
“Guh!”
Ultimately, the goddess’s left arm was severed, as if caught in a gnashing of teeth.
“Gotcha!”
“Kurika!”
To avoid interrupting Kurika’s battle, Sen and Adriana, who were stalling against the Beast King and Jaegyua, exclaimed in amazement.
They thought they had inflicted a significant wound.
“Truly annoying!”
Instead, the goddess shouted with a twisted laugh mixed with hysteria.
Not wanting to miss this moment when the goddess was thrown off balance, Kurika prepared to slam his great sword down.
Pwoook!
The severed left arm of the goddess sprang up as if it had a will of its own and pierced Kurika’s heart with deadly precision.
Like a ripe fruit hanging from a tree, it targeted its mark.
“Grrr… ugh.”
Desperately trying to bring the sword down with the last of his strength, Kurika ultimately found himself kneeling.
He managed to embed the great sword in the ground and didn’t completely fall, but it was nearly the end.
The Goddess of Death reached out, wanting to consume Kurika.
“Kurika!”
Riding on wind magic, Eris and Daniel McLean were flying towards them in a straight line.
‘That distance already…!’
The goddess bit her lip, desperate to make Kurika hers. She alternated her gaze between the desperately struggling Kurika and the incoming Daniel McLean, showing signs of impatience.
“An opening!”
“Get your hands off!”
Sen and Adriana leaped forward, stepping onto the darkness they had been so careful to avoid, trying to hinder the goddess.
They were quickly halted by the surging darkness, but they managed to temporarily halt Kurika’s consumption.
Daniel McLean’s range for stopping time was drawing nearer.
Allowing him to approach would mean doom. At any moment, time might freeze, and a sealing dagger would implant itself in his chest.
Thus, the goddess…
“Gaaaaaaaaah! Daniel McLean!”
With a hysterical scream, she withdrew her hand and vanished into the darkness.
The Army of Death vanished with their master. As the army, which had grown by consuming more than half of Hobaek’s forces, melted back into the earth, people cheered.
Yet the emperor coughed out a mix of blood and air.
*
The goddess sensed my approach and disappeared into the darkness. A sense of choking suffocation and pain washed over me, but Kurika came first.
He continued to bleed profusely without stopping.
His once soft and valiant fur was already soaked and sticking to him with his own blood, and his flesh was torn.
Kneeling and losing consciousness, he still clutched the great sword, desperately waiting for me.
“J-Just hang in there for a bit.”
Adriana was sweating profusely using healing magic, but it had no effect.
No matter how good Adriana was, there was no way to save a man with his heart pierced.
The surrounding Beastmen, who had just been celebrating their victory, fell silent upon realizing the emperor’s state.
“Kurika!”
Thanks to Eris, who landed right in front of Kurika from the sky, I rushed over to him.
Kurika glanced at me and, even while spitting blood, struggled to speak.
“My, bag…”
After swinging his sword with all his remaining strength as if in a trance, he hardly seemed able to say more.
I hurriedly unbuckled the bag from his waist and placed it before him. He slowly reached into the bag, struggling as if seeking something, trying to pull it out repeatedly but failing due to his lost strength.
Eventually, I retrieved it for him.
It was…
“Tudogs…”
The unique dagger of the Tudogs that Kurika had displayed in the illusion.
A uniquely shaped dagger with blades on both sides. It was through this dagger that the Tudogs had implanted the powers of various magical beasts residing in the Forest of the Demon Realm…
“Insert it.”
Kurika declared resolutely.
“W-wait, Kurika! Don’t give up yet!”
Knowing his intentions, I urgently called out to him, but Kurika, lacking the strength to speak, merely demanded through his gaze.
He wanted me to stab him with that dagger.
“…Kurika.”
“Hurry, insert it.”
At Kurika’s voice, which conveyed his inability to endure any longer, I felt my eyes burn, but I slowly drove the dagger into his shoulder as he wished.
The dagger glowed as if responding and began to tremble, while Kurika’s condition worsened.
Perhaps it sparked the last of his strength, as he managed to flash a faint smile and apologize to me.
“I’m sorry for leaving all the burdens behind.”
“……”
“I’ve lived as an emperor.”
He slowly looked up at the sky, exhaling heavily. He seemed to wish to take in the brilliant blue sky for the last time.
“Before I knew it, I had become a god.”
“And because of that, I became a fugitive, leaving them behind.”
“In the end, I became the keeper of the most burdensome things in the forest known as the Demon Realm.”
“And…”
Kurika lowered his heavy head again to meet my gaze.
Gently resting his hand on my head, he smiled brightly for the first time.
“I die as your friend.”
Strength gradually drained from Kurika’s body. He released his grip on the great sword and pulled the dagger from his shoulder.
The dagger trembled violently as if unable to bear Kurika’s power, yet Kurika carefully inserted the opposite blade into my chest.
“Friend, I shall give you all of me.”
Kurika’s eyes slowly closed.
Having witnessed a kaleidoscope of miraculous scenes and being a part of the continent’s history, he took one last look at his small friend.
