CH 245

“Which means that a lot of them have crawled out all of a sudden. I wonder what happened?”

Nienna did not answer Anya. She intentionally tried to avoid finding out information related to the Crack, but there were many things that she inevitably found out due to dealing with it for a long time.

Although Nienna didn’t have a clear understanding of the creatures of the Crack, she knew that the relationship between the predators and the prey was maintained by any means, in any form.

“Perhaps they were chased here by something?” It was Anya who spoke out Nienna’s thoughts.

Nienna glared at Anya and nodded.

“That might really be the case.”

“Or they might even be under someone’s command. You know, being commanded by an immensely powerful being like a nine-headed dragon called Qzatquizail or something,” Anya added.

Nienna let out a sigh.

Anya’s curiosity seemed endless. Anya had also heard about Qzatquizail and the story about the nine-headed dragon from Nienna. Nienna did not want to tell Anya, but she did not have a choice, since Anya wouldn’t stop asking.

“Neither do I care nor do I want to know. All I know about the monsters of the Crack is that commanding them is similar to commanding flies or maggots. You can feed them, but you can’t command them. No matter how enormous Gerard’s power is, he won’t be able to command these monsters,” Nienna explained.

“But I heard that the Thornbush Priest Organization can control the monsters of the Crack.”

“I told you—you can ‘feed’ them. You can designate the target as food, but the next target for them to ‘feed’ on is the Priests themselves once their designated target is eaten and gone. What the Priests do is send the monsters back before they become the target or control the consciousness of the monsters for a very short time only. They can’t do any more than that.”

Nienna frowned and continued. “These nasty monsters can’t be tamed by anyone. Extremely intelligent monsters can be an exception, but not these monsters. You don’t really think that we wouldn’t have thought about taming them before, right? The North has more monsters than cattle, you know.”

“Hmm…” Anya fell into deep thought as if she was thinking about something.

“What else are you curious about now? For your information, the more you learn about the Crack, the higher the probability of you being encroached upon by them. I will immediately split your head in half if I see you talking to yourself later,” Nienna warned.

“Oh, it’s just that… if that is the case, maybe Qzatquizail is actually somewhat similar to the monsters of the Crack.”

“What?”

“Of course, I don’t think that such a very powerful and huge being would have the same desires or needs that we do… but I feel like that’s also true of the monsters as well. In the end, the nine-headed dragon is also just a huge monster and is overrated.”

Nienna’s expression became distorted as she stared at Anya in silence. Then she soon smacked Anya in the back of her head.

“Just stop thinking about useless things, will you? The deeper you think, the more you are tempted by the Crack. It seems like you’re already showing signs, considering that you are thinking about it so much.”

“Ugh…”

Even as she scolded Anya, Nienna couldn’t help but feel uneasy about what Anya had said. It was true that Nienna tried her best not to think about the Crack, but if the nine-headed dragon really was nothing more than a monster, it would mean that the whole world’s safety and existence was dependent on a monster’s trivial will.

“I keep having trivial thoughts because His Majesty isn’t here with us. Since His Majesty had that monster’s Crown for a while… I would have asked him what it feels like to have a monster’s heart if he were next to me.”

“Does the fact that he had the Crown bother you?” Nienna asked.

“I think it’s incredibly cool. It’s like wearing the heart of the strongest monster in the universe as a Crown,” Anya answered with eyes filled with joy.

Nienna shook her head; she came to the conclusion that she wouldn’t have to worry about Anya being encroached upon by the Crack. A simple and straightforward person was not easily tempted by the Crack. All Anya had toward the Crack was plain curiosity.

Anya looked toward the North. Over the ridges of the great mountain range, something that resembled a black bubble had soared into the air. The bubble was swelling, growing bigger day by day, so much so that it was now visible even to the Northern Army.

“The point is, His Majesty wearing that awesome Crown would mean fighting against that thing over there,” Anya said.

“To be precise, he’s fighting the bastard inflating that bubble. For your information, that bastard is also the one who currently has the Crown.”

“Hah, not everyone can be an emperor just because they are wearing a Crown. His Majesty wearing the Crown can’t be the same as a stray dog wearing it. I think it’s right to call it the Crown if His Majesty is wearing it, and a dog lease if Gerard is the one wearing it.”

“Well, tell that to him when he shows up,” Nienna said as she glanced behind the line.

Meanwhile, Juan was watching the situation of the battle coming to an end from atop the hill. Nienna greeted him with eye gestures.

At that moment, Pavan approached Juan.

“It seems like General Nienna is doing quite well. To be honest, I don’t really have anything to do because she is doing even better than when she’s fighting against humans.”

Pavan’s armor was covered with the bodily fluids and pieces of flesh that belonged to the monsters. Although the army was overwhelming the monsters now, he could feel the monsters getting stronger and stronger as they were approaching the North; it was to the point that Pavan had to step up himself.

On the other hand, Juan was clean, since he was not participating in the battle at all. He only occasionally gave orders through Pavan.

There were no major problems in most cases, since the orders given by Pavan and Juan were consistent. However, there were still voices whispering and wondering about why Juan was not joining the battle.

“Why don’t you step up and show off your skills?” Pavan asked.

“What would I do that for?”

“To raise the morale of the soldiers…”

“Victory alone is enough to keep their morale high. The commander of the Northern Army is Nienna. There is no need for me to step up and shake up the command chain.”

Pavan shrugged and nodded.

The fact that the Northern Army was more loyal to Nienna rather than the emperor was quite famous. But that was only the case when the emperor did not show up in front of them.

‘Who would dare to deny the authority of the emperor when he is right in front of them?’

That would be disrespectful not only to the emperor, but also to Nienna, who was loyal to Juan.

But Pavan did not argue with Juan anymore.

“All right,” Pavan said as he got back on his horse and left.

Juan looked toward the North in silence. The speed of their progress would be much faster if he joined the battle to help the army. However, there was a separate battlefield waiting for Juan to step up. He had to curl up for the moment and wait to step up on the said battlefield.

The wind continued blowing toward the North.

Amidst this wind, Juan whispered some words that no one could hear.

***

A lukewarm wind of unknown origin tickled Sina’s cheek.

Sina trembled without even realizing it and stood up from her seat. Her eyes moved toward Gerard, who was sitting on the edge of the cliff. Ever since Dane destroyed the structure he had been working on, he has been concentrating on restoring it.

All Sina could do here was watch Gerard.

Ever since her resurrection, Sina had been able to sustain her life even though she hadn’t slept or eaten. She didn’t even feel like she was running out of energy.

She didn’t ask, but she could already tell that it was because Gerard was injecting mana into her.

Sina couldn’t figure out Gerard’s intentions.

‘Why is he treating me in such a special way? Why does he want to be acknowledged by me so badly?’

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Sina wondered if his only reason was that she had acknowledged Juan as the emperor, but she didn’t think that it was the slightest bit important—Gerard could be whatever he wanted even if Sina did not acknowledge him. It was just like how Juan was the emperor from the very beginning, even when she hadn’t acknowledged him.

Sina looked at Gerard’s back and inadvertently grabbed the handle of the sword next to her. She had already thought over and over about stabbing Gerard. Of course, she already knew that would neither be able to kill nor damage Gerard.

Gerard was just as powerful as the emperor in his heyday. Sina even had a feeling that he might actually be even stronger from looking at the way he handled the power of the Crown.

But that did not matter. Sina just wanted to kill herself by borrowing someone else’s hands.

While Sina’s hand, which was holding on to the handle of the sword, was trembling, Gerard suddenly turned his head. Sina almost drew her sword before she knew it, but stopped when she realized that Gerard was not looking toward her.

Gerard stared toward the South for a moment and then disappeared in an instant.

Sina loosened her grip. Even if Gerard hadn’t disappeared, she would have given up on attacking him, just as she had already done countless times before.

‘Juan, I know what you would have done if you were placed in my shoes. Of course, you would jump in and crush him to death.’

No matter who the opponent was, Juan would always jump in without thinking about death and win.

But Sina did not want to die without saying goodbye to Juan a second time.

The reason she did not attack Gerard was because of the thought that Juan might appear one day if she continued to stay by Gerard’s side. Although her life was given back to her by the devil, she did not want to lose it in vain.

Sina wandered dazedly around the rocky island. She had been looking around the area several times every day from the very first day in hopes of finding a way to get out, but there was no way out.

The entrance to the Crack was a cliff with no bottom in sight. Unidentified bizarre creatures roamed around in the purple mist, and that was true today as well.

Sina blankly looked around at her surroundings, then she suddenly felt a stinging pain on the back of her hand. She turned her head in surprise and found something strange.

Someone was curled up and hiding in the shadow of a rock.

Sina drew her sword without realizing it.

“Who are…”

As soon as Sina was about to ask the opponent who they were, the opponent hiding in the shadow raised his hand and signaled something.

As soon as she recognized the signal, Sina closed her mouth even before she knew it.

It was a message that she had no choice but to react to immediately. It was a signal for the Imperial Army.

The opponent signaled her to stop and then carefully pulled down the robe, which was completely covering his face.

It was Opert, a member of the Order of Huginn and the Vice Master of the Magic Tower.

Sina tried to approach him in surprise, but hastily came to a stop when she recalled that the surrounding energy was dominated by Gerard. Sina knew that her every move was being watched.

For the same reason, Opert did not approach Sina; instead, he sent her a message through a signal.

‘But how was he not caught?’

There was no way that Gerard hadn’t been able to sense Opert’s presence. But soon Sina remembered that Opert had experience infiltrating Aruntal, and how all of Arurntal was wearing robes that could hide their presence, even from Juan.

Sina figured that it would be hard for Gerard to notice Opert’s presence if he wasn’t concentrating.

‘Dane is dead but his articles are still alive, huh.’

Whatever it was, Sina felt that it was fortunate. Sina pretended to look toward the Crack and paid attention to Opert.

Opert began to once again send signals, relieved. This time, it was a regular sign language rather than a signal used in the Imperial Army. Sina could easily understand the message, since all knights were taught this sign language.

[His Majesty asked me to make sure that you are safe and sound.]

Sina wanted to tell him that she was okay and ask the many questions she had in mind: how far had Juan come, how much time is left till he got here, what she should do, and whether her physical form was fine.

However, all she could do was remain motionless and try her best not to miss Opert’s sign language.

[There was a message His Majesty asked me to deliver to you if you were safe.]

Sina waited anxiously for the next message.

Oper soon sent a short message using sign language. Then he bowed his head as if his business had ended and disappeared into the shadows. It was hard to find any traces of him; it was as if he had never been here.

Sina couldn’t hide her excitement as she recalled Juan’s message.

[I am coming.]

***

“An avalanche?” Nienna asked back with a frown.

The Northern Army was stopped by a series of unexpected events during their march. The road ahead was blocked by a huge cliff that was not on the map before.

Nienna sent a scout to figure out the situation, and the scout had just returned.

“Yes, General. The surroundings have been completely destroyed because of the earthquake and the existing path has been blocked. I think we will need to make a modification to the map.”