Chapter 506 – It works! (3)

Peek.

Witira's gaze headed toward the sky.
Clopeh who had come down close to the ground smiled at her, but Witira had clearly heard it.

'I'm just helping out in the path of a legend. I don't care about anything else.'
'What reason do you need to help out in the process of a legend and a hero being created?'

Her expression turned stoic.

'…Dealing with this human will only lead to trouble.'

Clopeh Sekka was the type of human she only needed to work with when it was necessary.

The Lake of Despair. He came to provoke the Lion King without even knowing what was located here. It made sense that this was the human who had caused the earlier war.

Clopeh was observing Witira as well.

'…She is strong even when she is out of the water.'

The Paerun Kingdom ruled over the Western continent's northern region. But they dared not call themselves the strongest in the north. At least, not in front of the Whales.

In the ocean north of the Paerun Kingdom's territory… The Whale tribe that lived there would cause the other northern kingdoms to fall into chaos if they ever decided to show their explosive strength on land.

'And this woman has no hesitation.'

She showed up and immediately destroyed trees and crushed Dorph's subordinates.
Witira was a difficult opponent.

'But the Whale tribe listens to Cale-nim as well.'

It made him feel Cale's greatness once again.
Unlike the calm smile on Clopeh's face, his gaze was slowly glossing over.

He had grabbed onto the right rope.
The White Star or whatever his name was, that bastard was now a terrible villain on the Western continent. On the other hand, Cale was a handsome hero who was willing to sacrifice himself for others.
Clopeh liked the fact that he had latched onto this hero.
That was why Clopeh whispered into the video communication device he had turned toward the Whale tribe.

"Cale-nim, I will do a good job."
– …Haaaa. You really, your words… Anyway, I got it.

Click.

The call ended.
Clopeh flinched his shoulders at that moment.

Baaaaaaaaaang!

The whip roared like a wave and angrily gobbled up things around it.

Boom!

One of the Lions shot up into the air before slamming down on the ground. Almost his entire body ended up stuck inside the ground.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

His pained cry echoed through the forest.

'Haaaaa. So crazy."

Lion King Dorph did not pay any attention to the two subordinates who were stuck in the ground.
Lions were pretty strong even without going berserk. The fact that they were defeated by the whip did not catch his attention.
Dorph's body was weak compared to the other Lions.

Ooooooong-

However, a black barrier floated around him to protect him. He looked forward with a look of disbelief.

"It's amazing enough that things that should be inside the water have come out of the water. But there are only three of you? Ha! You really are looking down on me too much."

Witira.
Standing behind her were Archie and Paseton.
Archie started to smile. He leaned on one foot and lifted his chin.

"We're looking down on your because you ain't shit. What is it? Did you think we would cower at your numbers advantage? Aigoo. Witira-nim, lo, look behind him. Wow."

Archie pointed behind Dorph.
Lions were slowly appearing and filling the forest.

"Ugh."

A hand appeared from the crater on the ground. The lion that had been slammed into the ground by Witira's whip appeared once again.

"Huuuuuu."

The Lion that was first sent flying was controlling his breathing as he got up as well.
They seemed to have received some injuries but not enough to hinder them in a fight.

Dorph stood in place without any changes to his expression and didn't even look at them. He seemed to be saying that them being okay was expected.

The Lion tribe.
Their bodies were not weak to the point that they would be defeated by a Whale's whip. Weak bodies were a source of shame for a Lion, something that would get them exiled from the tribe immediately.

Shhhhhhh-

Cold wind was blowing from the forest, but the air was starting to get hotter from the anger of the two sides.
Dorph tried to open his mouth to speak to Archie with a stoic expression. However, Archie was quicker.

Clap, clap, clap.

He clapped as he spoke.

"Wow. There's so many of you. I guess you plan on fighting with your numbers advantage. Wow, wow! Witira-nim!"

Archie was sneering in a way that would make even Cale say he looked rude.
He lightly tapped his fists together as Witira looked toward him and asked.

"What is it?"
"Am I allowed to beat all those shitheads down? I've been very stressed lately. Hehe."

Witira looked toward the smiling Archie before looking away.
Dorph was looking at Archie with a look of disbelief.

"Haaaaa. I heard there was a thug among the Whales-!"

Baaaaang!

He could not finish his sentence. Witira's whip landed in front of Dorph with a loud explosion.
The trees broke, and dust filled the area. One of the Lions walked up to Dorph and stealthily asked.

"Should we attack?"

He was asking whether they should charge through the dust and attack the Whales.

"Hold on."

Dorph held his subordinate back. He then scoffed.

"Ha!"

The spot where Witira's whip had gone by…
There was a long line in front of Witira made from her whip destroying the ground.

Dorph would have touched that line if he had taken just three steps forward.

As Dorph who was looking at the line moved his gaze over to Witira…

"Do not cross the line."

Witira calmly stated as white mist fluttered around her. Water vapor was gathering around her.

"…Hahaha."

Dorph laughed before raising his head with a stiff expression.
He saw a snowstorm shooting up toward the sky past the forest.
This was the snowstorm that covered the Lake of Despair, one of the Five Forbidden Regions.

Dorph's goal for this mission was located there.
He needed to go there.
Dorph had a relaxed smile on his face as he started to speak.

"And if I cross the line?"
"What a useless question."

Witira laughed as she responded.

"You cannot cross the line. I said you cannot cross, so you cannot cross."
"…What?"

Dorph's started to frown.
This was different than that weakling Archie being arrogant.
Witira was the heir to the throne, but she was not the Whale King. He could not let someone like her talk to him, the Lion King, like this.

"…You damn arrogant bastards-"
"You're being very loud."

Clang.

Paseton drew his sword.

"Please just attack."
"Hahahaha-!"

Dorph laughed out loud before pointing to the three Whales.
However, his voice was cold.

"Go."

The Lions in the front started to grow at that moment.

"Aaaah!"
"Grrrrr- grr-"

They were going berserk.

Boom. Boom.

The ground rumbled every time they took a step, and their hair stood up like lions' manes as they swung their arms that were as thick as most people's thighs.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang- boom!

A tree weakly fell to the ground.
The berserk Lions in the front walked past where the tree had been and charged forward.

"Disperse."

Witira gave the order and Paseton moved right while Archie moved left.

"Each of you take control of a side."

Witira then pulled her whip back.
The whip wrapped around her arm as Witira stepped forward.
She crossed the line and entered the Lion's territory. Her gaze was focused on Dorph.

"I will take care of the Lion King."

She heard Clopeh Sekka's dignified voice in the air.

"Capture the Lions!"

Large arrows and long spears left the wyvern knights' hands and flew toward the forest full of enemies.
The battle up north had started.

* * *

Cale could feel the start of the battle while in the Eastern continent as well.

"Huuuuuu."

Cale let out a short sigh while looking at the disconnected video communication device.
That was enough to organize the thoughts in his mind. There was no need to overcomplicate things.

Cale's eyes started to sparkle.

"…I knew they would aim for the real thing."

The corners of his lips twisted up.

– Human! That's the type of smile everybody would run away from because they would know you are trying to scam them!

Raon excitedly shouted after seeing Cale smile more wickedly than usual and thinking that he was fine. However, Cale did not pay attention to what Raon was saying.
He was smiling but his mind was not calm.

"…This is bad."

The battle with the White Star could end up happening in four locations at once.

There were the two that had already started.
The first was the current battle underneath the Molden Palace while the other was the battle against Dorph who was aiming for the real World Tree.

Then there were the intruders in the Roan Kingdom's northwest region and the search for Mercenary King Bud's Ranger Brigade. If those two incidents became bigger, there was a chance of battles happening at four places at once.

'This is going to be no joke.'

Cale couldn't help but get nervous.

'We might end up missing some things.'

He would prefer to have one large battle.
Cale would not be able to pay attention to everything in four locations at once, which meant that something unexpected might happen that they could not handle.
He trusted his allies, but battles out of his control were bound to bring uncertainty and anxiousness.

– Human! Human!

It was at that moment.

– Human! Can't you hear my voice?
"Huh?"

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep-
Cale heard the sharp noise coming from the item in his hand before he could respond to Raon's voice.
He lowered his voice and he suddenly got the chills.

– It's from the Mercenary King!

'Yes, I can see that.'
It was an emergency call from the Mercenary King.

– I'm connecting him!

Ooooooooong-
The video communication device was instantly connected and Cale's eyes opened wide.

It was black.
He could not see anything.

– Huff, huff. Cale, can you hear me?

It was Bud Illis.

"Yes. I can hear you."

Cale urgently responded. Bud's voice sounded different than usual for some reason.

– I'm relieved. I can only talk to you because it is in my pocket right now.

The reason the screen was black was because the video communication device was in his pocket. However, Cale's face stiffened even more after learning why the screen was black.

It was because he heard screams and explosions as Bud continued to talk.
Cale's gaze started to sink.

"…What's going on?"

Bud must have been running as he was huffing as he responded.

– The entire mountain was under an illusion.

'What?'

– Now that the illusion is gone, the entire mountain is covered in enemies. And- mm!

As he heard Bud take a breath…

Clang!
He heard the sounds of swords clashing.

– Shit! Ugh!

Boom.

Bud swore before it sounded like his body hit something. Cale subconsciously clenched the video communication device and stood up.

"Hey."
– …Help me.

Cale's sunken eyes sparkled.

– Please quickly help me.

Cale started to speak.

"I'll be there right away."
– Yes, I'll be wait-

Click.

The call suddenly ended. A situation where he could no longer continue the call probably happened.
Either that or, something happened to the mage next to Bud who was connecting the call.
The mage next to Bud must be Glenn Poeff.

'…It's urgent.'

Time and quick actions were what they needed most right now.

Cale started to speak.

"Raon."
– Yes!

Cale looked up before he closed his eyes.
He went through the records in his mind.

The large Molden Palace map opened in his mind.
He then overlapped it with the map of the maze they walked through.

He then saw a spot.
Cale raised his hand.

"Raon. Starting now."

Cale heard the Super Rock's voice in his mind as he continued to speak.

– Cale, are you going to do it?
"We are breaking that spot starting now."

This spot on the maze…

"There's nothing above that spot."

It was the largest plaza in the Molden Palace.
It was the Knights' training ground that should be empty because all knights were in the maze chasing after Cale's group right now.

"And tell something to Choi Han."

His gaze headed toward another spot.
He recalled what Bud just said.

'The entire mountain was under an illusion.'

An illusion.

"Tell him to capture Elisneh the First alive. Of course, it is fine as long as she can talk."

They didn't have time to move slowly right now.

***

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]