Chapter 642 – Are you scared? (4)

Unfortunately, there were obstacles on their way to the peak.

"Stop those bastards!"

"We must protect this area at all costs!"

The Cat tribe leader and Lion king Dorph… Although their respective core members had gone with them to the center of the mountain, there were still a large number of strong individuals guarding the mountain top.

"Stop!"

"Charge at them!"

Cale bluntly commented after listening to the shouts of the ones leading the Cats and Lions.

"I don't have time to deal with shitty louts." (TL: I'm sorry I just had to do it)

He turned his head and looked toward Dodori.

"Dodori-nim."

"Hmm?"

Cale hesitated for a moment. It was extremely awkward to say what he was going to say. But he needed to say it in order to quickly take care of these chumps.

"My, ahem. Do you remember the battle at the Gorge of Death you read in the book about me?"

"Of course! I remember it very well!"

Cale smiled gently at Dodori, who was vigorously nodding his head and pointed to the enemies in front of them.

"Please do it just as I did it. You are going to recreate what I did with your own hands, Dodori-nim."

"…R, really?"

Dodori's pupils were shaking.

They were not shaking in fear, but in excitement. Dodori could see his hoobae Dragon clenching his paws together and shouting loudly.

"Dodori! You can do it! Boulder is great and mighty! I'll hold on to our king hostage for now!"

Dodori's eyes lit up with a fiery passion.

The battle at the Gorge of Death…

That story, along with the Plaza Terror incident where Cale first made his name in the Roan Kingdom as Young Master Silver Shield, was a staple that was in all books about the great Young Master Silver Shield.

He had been so excited after reading that story the first time!

'I'm going to do that myself?'

It seemed as if hot steam was coming out of Dodori's nose.

He looked toward Cale and responded.

"Just trust me! I am part of the hero's party! I will prove my worth!"

Cale hid his look of disgust as he gave Dodori some words of encouragement.

"I have faith. You will definitely prove it!"

"Yeah!"

Dodori stomped his feet.

Boom!

The entire stone mountain seemed to shake. Dodori was able to do this with a single stomp because it was a stone mountain.

He charged forward like an arrow that had been released from a bow.

"Who the hell is that?!"

"Is it an archer? Why is an archer charging forward!?"

The enemies frowned while looking at Dodori, who was charging forward without any fear in his eyes.

Even the Mercenaries Guild's Ranger Brigade members who didn't know Dodori's true identity seemed concerned.

Dodori looked young and seemed to be a long-distance dealer.

"Umm, Commander-nim-"

"Just have faith."

The man who was now a former commander but forever a commander in many people's hearts was smiling.

"Do you remember the Battle at the Gorge of Death?"

Cale was talking to a Ranger Brigade member from the Eastern continent, but every single member of the Mercenaries Guild had heard about that famous great battle on the Western continent.

"…The enemy that attacked with the light attribute-"

How had Cale gone up against that enemy?

How did Cale defeat that enemy?

He knew the answer.

"…With a stone spear-"

A stone spear.

Stone.

Boulder.

As the Ranger Brigade member's eyes opened wide as he thought of those words… They could all feel the ground shake. To be more specific, they could feel the boulders they were standing on start to move.

As the Rangers turned toward Dodori…

"I will go first!"

"I will go as well!"

One of the Lion warriors and a Cat frowned at the shaking before moving forward to attack Dodori together.

But as they pointed their weapons and took another step toward Dodori, they could see that Dodori was smiling with joy.

"I truly made the right decision."

As Dodori mumbled out loud… The two enemies charging forward as well as more enemies standing behind them ready to follow up all felt their bodies tilt.

Booboboboooooooooom-

Boulders shot up into the air.

Approximately two hundred large boulders were floating in the air.

Before the enemies could even register what was going on…

"…Shit...!"

"Look down!"

The enemies could see a pink light surrounding the entire mountain top.

The boulders were all glowing pink. They were so pretty that people might mistake them for things that might appear in a fairytale, but this was actually the sign of death for them.

Their enemy smiled and said the following.

"Don't get in our way."

The boulders shot down toward the Lions and Cats as if they were meteorites.

"They're just stupid boulders!"

One of the Lions went berserk and tried to punch a pink boulder. His body was more than strong enough to destroy a boulder.

Baaaaaang!

The fist and boulder crashed into each other.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The Lion grabbed his hand with his other hand and lowered his head. All of his fingers were broken.

"Holy shit…! Why the fuck are boulders so sturdy-?!!"

He couldn't continue to look at his injured hand. Although his hand was broken, the boulder that didn't even have a scratch on it still struck him.

"Ahhhhh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Run! Dodge those boulders!"

"These are not ordinary boulders! Retreat! Retreat now!"

There were screams, groans, and shouts telling people to retreat.

The enemies in Cale's way were all pushed aside thanks to the boulders.

"…Let's go."

Cale quickly passed through the path Dodori had made for him and was able to reach the zenith without using much energy.

The Super Rock whispered to him.

– Cale. Those boulders… They became 50 times stronger once they turned pink.

The Super Rock's voice was shaking.

– …Those aren't boulders… They are a new kind of weapon.

Cale agreed with the assessment.

Unfortunately, Dodori seemed disappointed as he returned to Cale's side.

"…How disappointing… I'm still lacking in control and range… I couldn't even create a stone spear...."

That was the truth.

The boulders Dodori had thrown against the enemies were not stone spears like Cale had made at the Gorge of Death. They were just large boulders.

He also lacked the control to accurately aim for the enemies, and he could only use the boulders in a small area of the mountaintop.

"You are amazing, Dodori-nim."

"…Hmm?"

Dodori, who was disappointed that he could not recreate the scene from the Great Battle of the Gorge of Death, turned toward Cale.

Cale was looking at the enemies who were trying to dodge the boulders as he quickly rushed past. But his words were definitely directed toward Dodori.

"You created a path for us without any of our allies getting hurt. You were the reason that nobody got hurt. Your attribute is amazing as well."

'They're such sturdy boulders!'

Cale could not even fathom what he and Dodori could create if they worked together.

'…I just need to pummel anything I don't like.'

Smirk.

Cale started to smile. Dodori smiled brightly without knowing what Cale was thinking about.

'…He said none of the allies got hurt!'

Dodori liked those words very much for some reason.

"You're amazing! Dodori, you rock!"

Dodori's steps felt extremely light once Raon praised him as well.

"This is nothing! Someone in the hero's party should be able to at least do this much!"

Dodori was trying his best to hide his excitement, but it was easy for everybody to tell. Raon watched him and quietly mumbled in a weak voice.

"…I want to use my attribute too."

Dodori, his mom Sheritt, Goldie gramps… All of them looked so cool using their attributes, but Raon had still never used his attribute.

Raon's attribute was 'the present.' That was all he knew. He had no idea about how to activate it or what it could be used for.

He heard Cale's nonchalant voice at that moment.

"There are powers that take longer to figure out."

Raon looked toward Cale's back.

Cale didn't know Raon was looking as he was thinking about his other power.

Kim Rok Soo's other power…

This ability and 'Record' made him a multiple ability user, and it had activated much later than 'Record.' That ability strained Cale's body so much because of how severely it overloaded his body.

'That ability is related to time like Raon's attribute.'

Knowing about that ability was why Cale was able to share his thoughts without thinking much about it.

"Maybe your attribute is waiting until when you will be okay with using it. It might be waiting until you grow big enough to handle its power."

"…You think so?"

"Yes. So just eat well, sleep well, and enjoy life."

Cale stopped walking as he said that.

Boom! Boom! Boooom!

A large pit appeared in front of Cale as boulders continued to crash behind him.

The zenith of the mountain… The pit located here seemed to be a smaller version of the sinkhole in the Endable Kingdom.

"…Ha! How can they do that to people?!"

"Mother-fucking bastards!"

There was a staircase on the cliff heading down to the bottom of the pit.

They could see cells along the walls all the way from the top of the staircase to the bottom. They were so small that one person could barely fit inside and stretch their legs.

"Y, young master-nim! I, it's the young master-nim!"

"What? The young master-nim?"

It was at that moment.

Someone reached their hand out through the bars of their cell.

That person was looking at Cale.

Although his hair was dyed red, they could tell that this was young master Naru, the future leader of the Vampires that all of them respected so much.

Multiple cells became ruckus as the Vampires all looked out.

Cale looked at each and every one of them.

They were extremely skinny as if they had not eaten properly and some of them must have resisted quite a bit as they were injured and their bodies did not seem normal.

However, there was somewhere else his gaze landed on last.

"…What is that?"

He was asking what it was, but he already knew the answer.

"Human. It's that thing! It's the power of the Darkness Elemental!"

Raon was right.

Lion king Dorph had used it against them in the past. The darkness used by the bastard who had eaten a Darkness Elemental was covering the bottom of the pit and preventing them from seeing what was underneath.

They could not see through the black fog covering the bottom at all.

"…There was a reason Dorph came here."

He was probably here to use his darkness and cover the bottom of the pit.

Cale had a feeling that he knew what was underneath there.

There was something that he had recalled as soon as he read the file about the Sez Kingdom.

"Young master-nim!"

"The young master-nim came to save us!"

"Sooooob! Sob!"

"P, please save us!"

Cale removed the band on his wrist as the Vampires shouted.

That band was the treasure that had been passed down through Duke Fredo's family, the item that allowed him to look like young master Naru.

He was returning to his normal appearance now that he had taken it off.

"H, he is-?!"

"Why did young master Naru-"

Cale, who was wearing the uniform for a senior of the Sez Royal Academy, was back to his original appearance.

He gave an order.

"Rescue the hostages!"

He then added on.

"I'm heading down."

He jumped down before the Rangers could even respond.

The Rangers saw Cale being covered by rose gold-colored light the instant they were about to flinch.

The power of the Darkness Elemental…

Cale had a power that could light up that darkness.

– Just leave it to me.

The Fire of Destruction.

This ancient power spoke up for the first time in a long while.

Craaaackle-

A burning red light started to gobble up the darkness.

Screeeech- screeeeeeech-

There was a chilling screech as the rose gold currents ate away at the darkness.

It was like the first torch lighting up the darkness… The darkness disappeared more and more as Cale headed down to the bottom of the pit.

Both the Vampires who were chaotic at Naru turning into Cale and the Rangers who had tried to move quickly could only blankly watch in shock.

Dodori could not take his eyes off that sight either.

He then saw Raon, who was next to Cale. Raon was always by Cale's side, and it would be weird if he wasn't.

"I should go too."

Dodori knew he should quickly follow behind them.

"…Ah-"

But he suddenly stiffened up like a statue.

"W, what is that-"

His voice was shaking.

Now that the bottom of the pit was revealed because the darkness had disappeared…

Dodori could not move once he saw what was down there.

Many of the scenes he had read in the stories of great figures had been vivid on his mind, however… It was completely different from experiencing it himself.

"…W, why are there so many bones-"

There were piles of bones once the darkness disappeared.

Large circular glass coffins were at the center of the bones.

"Mmph!"

Dodori covered his mouth.

A putrid odor was seeping out of the circular glass coffins now that the Darkness Elemental's power was no longer suppressing it.

It wasn't an actual odor. Only Dragons who were sensitive to mana would be able to feel it.

"Raon."

Cale descended to the middle of the piles of bones and looked at the four large glass coffins as he asked.

"Is that the fluid you talked about being processed with dead mana?"

"That's right! Human! It is that thing! This odor, this aura, everything is the same!"

Around these four large circular glass coffins… People wearing grey priest outfits were holding weapons and glaring at Cale and Raon.

"Cale Henituse!"

"…Fuck! What the hell were the Lions and Cats doing?!"

But Cale was not looking at them.

"Heh."

At the center of the four circular glass coffins…

There was an altar.

There were four sculptures of monsters Cale was familiar with on the altar.

"…Half of the unranked monsters are here."

Cale could hear the urgent voices of the Wind Elementals as he was holding the golden top's whip.

'Chaos, destruction! I really thought they were all still at the Endable Kingdom!'

'When did they move it?! Did we not notice because of the Darkness Elemental's power?'

'I guess so. Cale, we're sorry. But those sculptures and this fluid are definitely in the Endable Kingdom as well! I'm sure of it!'

Cale nonchalantly responded.

"Let's talk about that later."

His voice was void of all emotion that the Wind Elementals urgently responded.

'Chaos, destruction, apologies! We're truly, truly sorry! We didn't know!'

'Sorry, Cale. We dropped the ball big time. What do we do now?'

'We'll redeem ourselves next time!'

But Cale was not listening to the Wind Elementals right now.

He moved his hand.

"Mmph! Mmph!"

He reached toward Bakehe, who was floating in the air with Raon's magic…

And grabbed him by the collar.

"Ugh!"

He then slammed Bakehe down on the ground. King Bakehe rolled around while still completely bound.

"Ugh!"

Cale then pushed down on Bakehe's head with his foot.

Bakehe could see the pair of cold eyes looking at him. Cale continued speaking in a stoic voice.

"Here's another son of a bitch like Adin."

Underneath the Mogoru Empire's Alchemists' Bell Tower…

The large pile of bones that filled that area…

The numerous people who were killed to create dead mana…

Most of them were people who had come after hearing that they could become Alchemists.

They were abducted by human traffickers and ended up as slaves.

This was the reason Cale had an ominous feeling when he had first heard of the Sez Kingdom's sword art training center.

"Human! T, there are more bones here than at the Mogoru Empire!"

Raon's voice was shaking. The bones here were at least ten times as much as the ones underneath the Alchemists' Bell Tower.

"One was an Alchemist, and the other is a knight. Heh."

Cale chuckled.

"Ugh! Ugh! Mmph, mmph!"

He was still stepping on King Bakehe's head as he started speaking.

"Raon."

He pointed to the altar at the center of the piles of bones.

"Destroy those sculptures."

"Human, I got it! I'll break them this time! I can't forgive those bastards for doing this!"

The priests of the Endable Kingdom who served the Demonic race and the Demonic Gods shouted at them.

"If you break these sculptures! These fluids will flow out and we will all die!"

"I dare you to destroy them! Everyone inside the Sez Kingdom will die from the fluid!"

Raon hesitated after hearing that.

He had failed to steal the sculptures last time at the Endable Kingdom as well. It was because of these processed dead mana fluids connected to the sculptures.

It would be bad if these things got out.

"Raon."

He heard a low voice at that moment.

"Don't worry about that. I will take care of everything."

It was the most reliable voice.

Raon was unable to hear this voice when he was trying to destroy the sculptures last time at the Endable Kingdom, but the owner of this voice was next to him once again.

"I got it, human!"

Raon was not worried about anything anymore.

Cale was standing behind Raon with a cold smile on his face.

Someone had been speaking in his mind since a bit earlier.

– They are the same at the foundation.

During the Era of Darkness that covered the ancient times…

The warrior who had created a sea of fire everywhere to burn up the dead mana…

The Fire of Destruction was informing Cale about this fluid.

– Whether it is dead mana or this fluid, we just need to burn it all.

Purify this crap.

Use that power.

It was saying that the rose gold thunderbolts could purify this fluid.

* * *

At that moment.

"…They found it."

Lion King Dorph peeked toward the apex of the mountain before looking toward the enemies with a twisted smile on his face.

"You can't use your powers properly because of the darkness, right?"

Mount Nex had become covered in darkness that was even thicker than the fog.

Not a single ray of sunlight could make it through this black wall.

It was the power of Dorph's Darkness Elemental. Those with the Darkness attribute would get stronger under this black wall, while others would become weaker.

"Ugh."

Beacrox looked down at his palm. He could tell that he was losing strength.

"Suddenly!"

"My body feels slower!"

It was the same for the Ranger Brigade members and the Mercenary King.

This black wall that suddenly appeared made it so that they could not use their powers properly.

'Time, we need time to adjust to it!'

Dorph smirked while sword master Bud had that thought.

Even Rosalyn and Eruhaben could only use a fourth of their mana while under this black wall.

"Even that ancient Dragon could not use his mana properly under this black wall last time. It should be the same for you, right?"

Dorph was looking at Rasheel, who was standing there with a stiff expression on his face.

Rasheel recalled something Cale had said at that moment.

'Rasheel-nim, you just have to beat one bastard down to start.'

'Huh? Only one? I can beat more chumps down.'

'Just one to start.'

'Who is that one bastard?'

'The Lion King.'

Rasheel thought that Cale must have anticipated this moment.

'He's quite big when he goes berserk.'

'Oh. It should be entertaining to beat him up. Fine. This great Dragon will pummel that bastard.'

'Hmm, how should I beat him up?'

Rasheel's face was stiff from too much excitement.

Nobody here knew that this was the case.

'Rasheel-nim, feel free to beat him up as you please.'

There was nothing stopping Rasheel since he had received Cale's permission before coming here.

—
Translator's Comments

Happy holidays from our translation team to you and your family! Hope your face is as stiff with excitement as Rasheel's!

What will happen next?

***

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]