Chapter 333 – Who are you?! (3)

The white orb was shining brighter than the moon over the capital's night sky.
The light was shining in sword master Hannah's eyes, but she did not close them.

It was so bright that she was tearing up, however, she was only looking at the sword within that orb.

The sword was white from the scabbard to the hilt.

'Hurry up and go!'

She could vaguely hear her brother Jack's voice.

She looked down at the wings of the White Bone Dragon she was standing on.
The White Bone Dragon which moved according to Mary's will was flying up to lead Hannah to the white sword.

"You think I'll let you grab that?!"

Tower Master Bernard was wrapped in black mana as he shot up toward the sky. His gaze that had been focused on Saint Jack was focused only on Hannah now.

"Protect the sword master-nim!"

Clang!

Hannah could see the knights heading down as she flew up.

"It is the Guardian Knight-nim's order! Protect the White Bone Dragon!"

Hannah started to smile.
Guardian Knight Clopeh's knights on top of the wyverns were swinging their swords toward Tower Master Bernard.

Bang! Baaaaang! Bang!

She could hear the sound of swords clashing underneath her.

"Aaaaaah!"
"Ugh!"

She could hear the Holy Knights scream.
She could also hear the sound of the wyvern bones breaking.
However, Hannah did not even look back. She just continued to fly toward that white orb.

She could see it clearer now.
Hannah, who was crouched on top of the White Bone Dragon's head, slowly reached out toward the white orb.

"You pestering bugs!"

Hannah looked down.
She could see that Bernard was chasing after her no matter how many of the bone wyverns and knights of the North were sticking to him.

"I will get rid of you along with the divine item!"

Bernard's dead mana turned into an arrow and headed toward Hannah and the White Bone Dragon.

Baaaaang!

However, the arrow was blocked by a silver shield this time.

She looked down past Bernard. Hannah could see Cale Henituse and her brother Jack looking up at her. Cale was using small silver shields in order to create obstacles in Bernard's way.

"Raon, tell them to attack."

Cale was telling Raon to signal the other person in the sky to attack.
This was the person who was most certain to defeat the thousand years old Lich.

– Alrighty! I will contact gramps!

Bang! Bang!

The silver shield and Bernard continued to crash against each other. Cale took a bread roll out of his pocket and started to chew. He then dropped the bread roll on the ground.

– I can't contact gramps! He apparently told Rosalyn that he needed to go somewhere for a moment!

'Hmm? Why? Wasn't he on the airship? What is going on?'

Cale started to frown.

'I knew that things were going too well!'

"Damn it! Nothing ever goes my way!"

He then responded back to Raon.

"Then tell Miss Rosalyn to do it instead."
– Alright!

Bernard struck down on the silver shield with a loud bang at that moment.

"This goddamn ancient power!"

Hannah could hear Bernard's swearing but had turned her head back up. It didn't matter that the Tower Master looked as if he would break through the shield at any moment.

"Protect her!"

Hannah heard Rosalyn's voice the moment she flew past the airship. She turned her gaze to the side. She could see the robed Rosalyn start to smile.

"Just trust this strong unni."

Hannah chuckled as she turned away from the smiling Rosalyn.

They were creating a path for her.
Hannah could feel how everyone was working to create a path for her as she reached both of her hands out.

It was right in front of her.
The white orb was almost within reach. Hannah let out a cry-like laughter once she reached the orb.

"Ha, haha-"

Siiiiiiizle.

Her palm started to burn when she touched the white orb.
Hannah could not help but laugh.

"You are saying that you are light?"

This was the Sun God's divine item, the divine item of a god who wishes to destroy anything with the darkness attribute.

This white light was rejecting her darkness attribute.

"I can't do it because I am darkness?"

Hannah could see that the sword was attacking her hand that was covered in black veins. She started to smile.

Baaaaang!

Her hand that was covered in aura smashed against the white orb. Her palm continued to burn. However, there was only one emotion on Hannah's mind right now.

'What do you want me to do about it?'

It didn't matter whether this white orb had the light attribute or not.
It didn't matter if she had the darkness attribute or not.
It didn't matter whether her hand burned or not.

'What do you want me to do?'

Baaaaang! Bang!

The white orb started to crack as Hannah slammed on it with her aura. Hannah continued to knock on the white orb.

No, she destroyed it.

'This is something my family gave to me.
The people who created the path for me to get here are still fighting down there.
I am not a shameless person.'

Her hand that was covered in black gold aura dug into the crack on the white orb.

Baaaaang!

Her hand that was covered in black veins ripped the white orb apart as it reached inside.
Her bleeding and burning hand moved toward the center of the white orb without any hesitation.

Siiiizzle- Siiiiiizzle-

The tip of sword master Hannah's hand sizzled as she touched the sword that was white from the scabbard to the hilt.

Hannah felt her body tilt the moment she touched the sword.
There was black mana around the White Bone Dragon's legs.

"I will destroy it!"

Bernard had dodged the silver shield and magic spells and used his black mana as a whip in order to grab onto the White Bone Dragon. Hannah kicked off the tilting White Bone Dragon and opened up her palm.

"Aaaaaah!"

Hannah shouted out as she grasped onto the item at the tip of her hand.
She heard something break at that moment.

Craaaack-!

The white orb broke apart like glass.
A bright white light enveloped the night at the same time. Cale, who had been shielding his eyes from that light, could hear a calm and relieved voice.

"It is finished."

Cale clenched his fists as Saint Jack said that and smiled at him. He then recalled his silver shield.

Why?

Baaaaaaaaaang!

He looked toward where the white light had disappeared. Everyone could see a knight holding a white sword.

"The warrior has the sword in her hand."

The warrior needed to attack the Tower Master.
Someone who nothing could stop did not need a shield.

Hannah swung the sword.
It was just the sword without any of her aura. Her hand was not burning anymore.

Something else was burning instead.

Siiiiiiizle-

Flesh was burning.
Bernard started to frown.

He touched his cheek.
That was the spot Hannah's sword had brushed by him when the white orb exploded.

"Ugggggh- that divine item!"

The groaning Bernard's cheek was melting.
However, he did not have the time to even gasp at the burning pain.

Baaaaaang! Baaaaang!

The tip of Hannah's sword continued to aim at Bernard. Bernard's black magic defended against her every attack.

However, Hannah was laughing so loudly that her shoulders were moving up and down as she gave an order to the Wyvern Knights.

"Support me!"
"Yes ma'am!"

"Ugh."

Bernard groaned as he shot a black arrow toward the White Bone Dragon. However, the wyvern skeletons crashed into that arrow with their bodies to defend against it.

"Damn it!"

Bernard quickly activated a black magic shield. However, Hannah was a bit faster.

Slaaaaaash!

The white sword slashed from top to bottom before the shield was created.

"Uggggh!"

Bernard let out a groan.
His arm and leg were lightly cut.
However, the pain was immense contrary to the light cuts on his limbs.

Siiiiiiizzle.

The spot where the white sword had cut through was burning.
His human flesh was starting to melt away.
They then revealed black bones underneath.

Hannah sounded amused as she watched it happen.

"Looks like your fake outer hide is finally coming off!"

Lich.
This was an existence that continued to live forever in the form of a skeleton.

Tower Master Bernard was a Lich.
The human hide that he had on him was melting away each time Hannah's sword touched him.

It could not recover.

"…The, 'Condemnation of the Sun.' "

Bernard grumbled as he looked down at the sword in Hannah's hand.

The Condemnation of the Sun.

It was the strongest weapon to destroy the darkness attribute and something that made people with the darkness attribute return to their original appearances.

Bernard's disguise was melting away with each attack to slowly reveal his true appearance as a Lich.

Siiiiiiizle-

Each tiny injury was burning and revealing Bernard's true appearance.

There were no visible veins, muscles, nor organs that humans should have, instead, the only thing there were black bones.

"…My goodness, Sir Bernard really is a Lich-!"

Both the evacuating citizens and the people from the slums guiding them could not hide their astonishment.
They could see only a black skull underneath the cheek that Hannah cut through.

His black skull slowly revealed more of itself.

"Everyone, it is not time to stand around like this!"

Sir Rex brought people back to their senses and had them run past the city walls. His eyes were looking around at the area rather than at Bernard who was turning into his Lich self.

'The majority of them made it out.'

Most of the Empire's citizens had made it out.
Rex reached his hand out toward someone who was sitting on the ground with a blank expression while looking at Bernard.

"Please get up."
"…Sir Rex."

This was one of the knights who had been controlled by Bernard and had been fighting Rex until just a moment ago.
He had blanked out after seeing Bernard as soon as he was released from Bernard's control. Rex helped him up.

He started to speak to the knight who was looking at him.

"Please run. It is dangerous here."
"T, the person I was following- was a Lich-"

The knight's face was full of shock. Rex tightly grasped the knight's shoulders and continued to speak.

"You will be swept up in the fight and die if you blankly sit around like this. Don't you want to live?"

'Don't you want to live?'

That sentence made the knight's eyes focus again and look toward Rex. Behind Rex's shoulders were others who had been controlled by Bernard being helped by the Dark Elves to escape past the city wall.

Ooooooooooooong-

He could also see a black presence gathering like a storm around Bernard, who was almost completely just bones now.

It looked serious.
He could see people running away from that black presence. The knight grabbed Rex's hand that was on his shoulder and responded back.

"I will help with the evacuation as well."

The knight could see Rex smiling at him.

"That would be wonderful."

The knight who watched Rex head back toward the center of the capital after giving a short response quickly started to help the rest of the citizens evacuate.

Rex heard Bernard's voice as he was looking around to find anybody who might not have managed to run away.

It was a chilling laughter.

"Kahahaha! I guess I've been found out. Hahahaha!"

Bernard opened up his hands.
His now revealed skull only had two shining lights where his eyes should have been.

He looked down at his hands.
The only thing that he had been left with ever since he escaped death were these black bones.
However, he still managed to survive.

But there was no reason for him to keep these people who had seen his true appearance alive.

"The power of death!"

He let the presence that was roaring like a storm around him run wild.
Hannah and the White Bone Dragon charged toward him as he did that.

"Let's go!"

The white sword was approaching Bernard, who just continued to laugh.

"I have lived over 1,000 years. I have lived even longer than Dragons. Do you really think this is all of my strength?"

Oooooooong-

The air and the ground started to shake.
Everything was severely shaking because of the black storm.

"I will destroy everything! All of you will die! Even the divine item will be weaker than me if the user is human!"

"Ugh!"

Hannah could not approach any closer because of the black storm around Bernard and retreated back.

The storm was too strong.
The wind was too fierce.

"Fuck!"

There was no aura inside this white sword. That was why she could not use long-distance aura attacks.

She could only fight like a regular swordsman.
Hannah bit down on her lips.

Saint Jack, who had been watching this, started to speak to Cale.

"That black storm is unable to harm Hannah or us, but it can destroy the rest of the capital!"

Although most of the people had already evacuated outside the city walls…

"Their homes will be destroyed!"

Home. The place they lived.

Jack, who now knew the importance of home, was asking Cale for help. Jack could see Cale smiling at that moment.

"Saint-nim, you see Bernard over there?"

Cale pointed to Bernard with his finger.
Bernard was standing at the center of the black storm. Cale casually commented as Jack looked at him with confusion.

"The moment we've been waiting for has come."
"…The moment you were waiting for?"

Cale nodded his head. His gaze headed to the side.

They had been waiting.
Cale and Mary had been waiting.

"Bones. We were waiting for the bones."

"Ah."

Saint Jack let out a gasp.

He was looking at the black storm.
There was a black thread reaching toward it.
The thread made of dead mana started to pierce through the storm.

"…What the…!"

Bernard could also see that black thread approaching him. That weak-looking thin thread was swaying in the wind but continuing toward its goal.

'Black thread?'

Bernard suddenly felt an odd sensation.
It was a sensation he had not felt for a long time.
His back and the back of his neck were getting cold.

Bernard lowered his head.

He could see someone standing on the ground.

The necromancer Mary started to speak.

"I've been waiting for this."

'What?'

"I've been waiting for you to turn into bones."

Necromancers were weaker than black mages.
That was said to be the truth.

But there was something Mary could confidently say that she was better than anybody else at doing.

"Handling bones. I am the best at handling bones."

Mary could not control the living like Bernard had done.

However, a Lich was both a living being and a being who had escaped death and continued to live in the form of a skeleton.

'You want to give it a try?'
'Yes, young master-nim. Controlling a Lich might be impossible, but I think I would at least be able to stop him.'

A Lich's body composed only of bones.
Necromancers controlled bones better than anybody else.

Mary didn't know how a necromancer could defeat a black mage, however, she realized the way for a necromancer to hinder a Lich.

"T, this useless power!"

Bernard could see the hundreds, no, thousands, of black threads cutting through the storm and trying to reach his fingers and toes.

"Ugh! These useless things are trying to!"

Bernard tried to create a sword with mana to slice the black threads away.
However, there were too many of them.

He had not been able to see them because they were so thin.
However, he could now see that there were thousands of those threads approaching him.

Mary had been stealthily creating these thin threads throughout the battle.
She had been waiting.

The opportunity had finally arrived.

"Kwaaaaaah, aaaaah!"

Bernard started to scream.
The black threads grasped at the Lich's ankle.

That was the beginning.
Thousands of black threads cut through the storm in order to grab onto the black skeleton. They were binding around the bones like spiderwebs.

The battle of strength between the necromancer and the Lich had begun.

The lights in Bernard's eye sockets turned red as he roared at the power trying to bind him.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Lich Bernard's shout and his mana made the area around him rumble.
Cale heard a voice in his head at that moment.

– Cale Henituse.

Cale flinched as he looked at Mary.

Eruhaben.

He heard the ancient Dragon's voice.

– I think I may have found the White Star.

'…Excuse me?
You found who?'

Cale's expression had a rare look of being completely baffled. That was how shocking it was.
It was at that moment.

Baaaaaaaaaang!

He heard the loudest explosion he had heard all day.
Cale turned his head.

The Mogoru Empire's palace.
An explosion had occurred at the palace that was still bright because of the emergency.
Cale could see a light shooting up from the site of the explosion.

It was a white gold light.

The ancient Dragon Eruhaben was shooting up into the air with his white gold aura around him. Cale heard Eruhaben's voice even as he watched him fly.

– Cale Henituse, you are a fake.

'Excuse me? A fake?
What is he talking about?'

It was as Cale's face slowly turned into a frown.

– I thought you were the heir to the Dragon Slayer household, but your bloodline is not the Dragon Catcher bloodline.

Cale could see someone else shooting up to the sky behind Eruhaben.
Eruhaben calmly continued to speak.

– The White Star was the true descendant of the Dragon Slayer bloodline.

'The White Star is from a Dragon Catcher household?'

Cale could see a person descending from the palace's roof at the distance.
It was a man with red hair who was wearing half a mask.
The man turned his head.

The two of them made eye contact.
Cale started to think to himself even though the man's face wasn't clearly visible as they were far apart from each other.

An unfamiliar voice started to speak in his mind.
The voice sounded extremely tired.

– Who are you?

The White Star was asking Cale a question.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]