Chapter 684: Promise (1)

His whole body got the chills, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured all over him.

Ancient Dragon Eruhaben looked away from the enemy in front of him and looked elsewhere.

It felt as if the darkness we call night absorbed all noise.

Everybody suddenly stopped moving after feeling… something. They all turned toward one place.

"…What… what the hell-"

Alberu Crossman's eyes were observing the room with the bed he had been lying on until not too long ago.

The wall that had crumbled from an explosion was being covered by something red.

'Dirt?'

The mud covering the rubble was oddly red.

It was not red like clay. It looked as if fresh blood was mixing in with dry blood. It was that kind of eerie red in color.

Something peculiar was flowing out of that red wall as well.

What was this thing?

Alberu soon found the answer.

Fear.

Or maybe terror?

No.

Was it dignity?

It was not a large amount of mana, a vicious aura, or even an explosive power, but… This abstract power was flowing out of the red wall, forcing all of Alberu's senses to focus on it.

He couldn't even think about that monster, the Lion Dragon, for a moment.

Drip.

A drop of sweat dripped down from his forehead. He was scared of that place.

An image popped up in front of his eyes, as if it was an illusion.

"…Mother."

When his mother had been about to die…

No, while she was dying…

He recalled the moment he had to face that unavoidable disaster.

This red dirt, this wall that seemed to be made of blood, made him think of death.

His death. Or maybe someone else's death.

Rumble- ruuuuuuuuumble-

The thunderbolts that were definitely the White Star's were still roaring in the sky, but… They did not seem like much to Alberu right now.

Alberu heard something odd at that moment.

"…Weird… situation detected..."

'Ah.'

Alberu finally remembered about the Lion Dragon. He remembered that he was on the battlefield.

He quickly jerked his head toward the Lion Dragon. He heard something odd once again.

"…Similar power… to master..."

'…What?'

Alberu subconsciously stopped moving again after hearing the Lion Dragon's words.

The only one that this monster would call master was the sealed god, the God of Despair. But the aura flowing out of this thing was similar to its master's power?

He finally thought about something very important.

'Did something happen to Cale Henituse?'

The Cale Henituse he knew was not someone who gave off an aura like this or had a power like this.

The White Star or the sealed god…

This power seemed more suitable for one of those two individuals.

'No.'

The White Star. There was no way that this kind of aura would emanate from a crazy bastard like that.

This was not simple malice nor madness; this was something of a higher level, something instinctual. It also gave off a pressure that made everybody feel as if they should bow.

God.

Yes, that word seemed more suitable for this power.

Alberu Crossman looked at the Lion Dragon. The monster looked possessed as it stared at the red wall. The way it was tilting its head from time to time made it seem to be in quite the chaos.

Alberu looked toward his ally, the only other individual who was close enough to the monster to hear the Lion Dragon's words.

The ancient Dragon and the crown prince…

The two of them could not say anything while looking at each other.

However, they had the same thought.

'Cale Henituse is in danger.'

'Something must have happened in there.'

This was not something that only the two of them were feeling.

"…Hoooo."

Inside one of the many rooms within City Hall…

There was a man obediently sitting on a chair with his hands and feet tied up. The mysterious man, who currently looked like Hilsman, opened his eyes with an odd expression on his face.

"That's quite the terrible stench."

He looked around at the three individuals surrounding him.

"Are you sure you don't need to go check on your guardian?"

This room was full of magic circles. It was the only place full of mana right now, the only location without mana disturbance.

On and Hong stood next to Raon, who was sweating bullets, and did not even pretend to hear the fake Hilsman's words.

They were busy completing their respective tasks.

However, there was someone who was so shocked that he couldn't do his assigned task.

Plop.

"Saint-nim!"

Jack's legs grew weak, and he plopped down on the ground as if he received quite the shock.

"S, such power-!"

The Saint subconsciously put his hands together and almost started praying to the Sun God after feeling the aura flowing out of the red wall.

"What kind of enemy is the young master fighting that h, he needs to go up against such a terrible and scary power?!"

His voice was full of disappointment and guilt.

Saint Jack was feeling upset that the only thing he could do for Cale, who was alone without any allies in that area with such a power, was to pray.

There were some individuals who had made up their minds to rush toward Cale as well.

"This does not look good."

"Yes, Eruhaben-nim. Let's go over there."

They were Eruhaben and Alberu.

They felt as if they needed to find out the identity of this red wall, not just because they were worried about Cale, but also because of the monster's weird reaction.

"You don't need to worry."

Choi Han came over with a confused Mila at that moment.

"That power is in Cale-nim's possession."

"…What?"

"This is the ancient power he earned a while back in the Stan March. This was the other earth attribute ancient power the White Star was looking for."

Choi Han remembered how Cale had fought against the large red snake to earn this power.

However, it seemed a bit different from what he remembered.

"…He has this kind of power?"

He could understand why Eruhaben was so shocked.

"It was a power that could increase the fear and terror inside us. However, it was not this strong."

The fear mixed in with pressure was even worse than what they had gone up against.

Maybe this was that power's original form.

That might be what allowed the ancient White Star to rule over the Western continent.

"…I believe that Cale-nim using the power properly revealed its true abilities."

They were all silent for a moment.

If Cale was the one who used this power, that meant that at least it wasn't the White Star or the sealed god doing this. A power that could cause so much fear like this should help Cale achieve victory.

But they were still worried.

'Can Cale, can that unlucky bastard control such a power?'

Mila was thinking about the same thing.

Since they had long enough to feel that death was near… They couldn't help but to have that thought.

"I think everything will be okay."

Choi Han's quiet voice echoed through the night sky.

His gaze was headed toward the window of the only room that was not affected by the mana disturbance right now.

He couldn't see inside because the curtains were shut, but a certain someone inside that room had delivered a message via magic not too long ago.

"Raon told me something."

As Cale ran off after realizing that the White Star was pretending to be Deruth Henituse… He made a promise to Raon before he left.

"He said that he will capture the White Star without getting hurt. Cale-nim promised that to Raon, so I don't think we need to worry."

Alberu pointed the barrel of his gun toward the monster after hearing that.

Boom-!

The monster suddenly moved, and…

Tang!

A bullet shot out of the gun at the same time.

"The monster is trying to head over to where our dongsaeng is fighting."

Alberu listened to Taerang's voice in his mind as he calmly informed the others.

– The area around the user is currently unstable. However, direct contact with user has significantly reduced the impact of the environment. Confirmed that mana is able to change form. There should be no problem shooting bullets. New data has been analyzed with information from Ahn Roh Man. The Lion Dragon Raid. Will you utilize version 1.2?

"Why don't we easily take down this monster first?"

Alberu spun the gun in his hand instead of responding.

– Your actions have been accepted as confirmation.

Click. Click.

The weapon changed.

A white spear that was taller than Alberu revealed its magnificent appearance.

Choi Han was in front of him with his Black Yong summoned and slashed his sword toward the Lion Dragon's supposedly Unbreakable Shield.

Baaaaang—!

The hunt for the Lion Dragon started with a loud bang.

Choi Han stepped onto the Lion Dragon's shield and mumbled to himself.

"I don't feel it anymore."

That fearsome pressure that came flowing out of the red wall…

He could not feel that aura anymore.

The people who were sensitive to auras noticed this and realized something.

That area…

The area within the red walls was separated from this area now.

They could tell that it was confined.

There was someone who knew that better than anybody else.

It was the person imprisoned inside of it.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The White Star slowly looked around. He looked pretty calm, but sweat was dripping down his mask from his forehead.

It was dark.

The bed with the soft blanket…

The luxurious chair that was destroyed in battle…

The beautiful candle stick…

Everything was quickly swallowed up by the red mud.

Boom.

The White Star stomped his foot.

He could feel that the floor was as firm as a boulder. The gooey mud had turned into a sturdy boulder.

He had not stomped his foot because he didn't know this.

He had to do so, despite knowing this was the case.

The terrible and dirty aura of death was relentlessly pressuring him.

"Huuuuuu."

He felt as if he was suffocating even though nothing was there.

Crackle-

The fire sword crackled in his hand again.

"Cale Henituse."

Cale was the only thing in this dark area that he could see clearly.

The White Star started to smile.

The power he tried to get… The power to rule over people by suppressing them with fear…

He was disappointed that he missed out on such a power.

However…

"There is something you miscalculated."

Death.

"There is nobody in this world who remembers their death like I do."

The White Star was already used to that kind of fear.

It wasn't that he didn't feel fear.

It was a living being's natural instinct to feel fear.

However, he was able to overcome that natural instinct.

The White Star just saw it as a necessary component for a greater goal, while others would just say that he was crazy.

"You can't stop me with this kind of aura…this kind of bluff."

"I know."

Cale calmly admitted it.

He could hear the Scary Giant Cobblestone's voice in his mind.

– In the beginning, humans lacked the power to hunt things with their bare hands.

That is why they started to carry weapons.

The first weapon was a rock.

Boom.

There was a short noise, and rocks started to pop out of the red dirt.

– Slamming down with rocks, throwing rocks, stabbing with rocks…

The rocks were of all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Ooooooooong-

The badge in his hand seemed to be shouting.

The Blood-Drenched Rock was not saying anything unlike last time. All Cale did was tightly clench the badge.

The Super Rock continued to speak.

– You cannot get drunk on that fear. You can't fall into the delusion that you are ruling over him.

This dirty and grimy emotion seemed to be covering Cale's whole body.

The Blood-Drenched Rock.

Cale naturally found out what it meant to rule with fear the moment he used this power.

That was why he was able to naturally threaten the White Star.

He felt as if he might even get addicted to this terrible power if he made the wrong move.

– Rocks do not exist to kill.

However, Cale was able to easily brush this feeling aside.

The extremely difficult and sad deaths he had seen and felt made it so that he could not get addicted to this power.

Smirk.

The corners of Cale's lips twisted up.

"By the way, it looks like you might not have noticed something."

The fire sword crackled even brighter in the White Star's hand and lit up the area.

Cale pointed toward the White Star.

"You're sweating right now."

He gently opened up his arms.

"White Star. The ruler that you wanted. Yeah. The person who can release an aura that goes beyond human limits. That person is actually me and not you, it seems."

Cale's eyes curled up as if he found this to be quite amusing.

"Alright, feel free to attack me. Who knows? You might be able to get this power if you kill me."

Cale then stomped his foot.

Boom-!

The rocks floating in the air all charged toward the White Star.

"You think these puny rocks-!"

He swung his fire sword as if to melt away the rocks. However, the White Star could see Cale smiling and walking toward him.

Swoooooooosh-

Cale quickly moved forward with whirlwinds at the tips of his feet. The rocks did not get in Cale's way as they attacked the White Star as if they were hail.

The White Star did not succumb to the attacks.

"I just need to destroy this area-!"

His clothes fluttered as his other powers roared.

Wind, fire, water… All sorts of powers mixed together and grew in size. This power felt as if it would send this entire area flying.

Cale was still smiling.

"Yes. Try everything you can try."

He was thinking about the person who taught him so many things.

"I have such a big heart that I can Embrace anything."

Lee Soo Hyuk had said the following about 'Embrace.'

'I'll be honest with you. I gave it the name Embrace, but… Ah, I'm only telling you, okay? That ability is more of a binding than an embrace? No, hmm, is there no better word for it? Ah, right, dominance!'

'That power is like dominance. It dominates the target and binds them into your hand.'

A long time after Cale, as Kim Rok Soo, had heard about how to use Embrace from Lee Soo Hyuk…

Kim Rok Soo had asked Lee Soo Hyuk a question about it.

'Team leader. If Embrace can embrace both tangible items and intangible powers… Isn't it pretty much an omnipotent power if you can store anything and everything wherever you want?'

'Rok Soo, Kim Rok Soo. I know I talked it up by mentioning binding or dominance or what not, but… nothing in the world is omnipotent.'

Lee Soo Hyuk had shaken his head side to side.

'You are imprisoning it. It doesn't disappear.'

Lee Soo Hyuk started there and mentioned some weaknesses or restrictions to this 'Embrace' power.

'There are quite a lot of issues when you use it on a person.'

Cale recalled those things as he walked toward the White Star, who had a large amount of power gathered at his sword and seemed ready to release it at any moment to destroy this dark area, without any hesitation.

His low and calm voice was echoing the calmness in his mind.

"Yes. I can Embrace someone like you as much as I want."

Cale's gaze headed toward the White Star's arm.

'I'm going to capture him. I'm going to capture this bastard. And when only this bastard and I are inside the temple…I will finish things.'

Cale had no confidence to show his loved ones the sight of him using the root dagger to stab his own heart and bleed out.

He didn't want to do that now that he made up his mind to live properly as Cale Henituse.

That was why, instead of a time like this where all gazes were focused on him… While they were taking care of the temple after defeating the Lion Dragon…

Cale planned to quietly take care of things while he was alone.

Cale pulled out whatever he could grab inside his pocket. He chuckled after peeking at the item.

He wondered why he had to pull something like this out of all things in his pocket.

A golden plaque was sparkling in his hand.

"My crown prince hyung-nim would probably faint if he learned that I used this for something like this."

Cale smiled brightly.

***

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]