“The information has arrived. The other side has started to move too.”
“Which side?”
The man who gave the middle-aged man the report answered as he looked at it.
“It seems like the Rans.”
“As expected, but I didn’t think an army composed of only Rans to come.”
Well.
If what appeared were the traces of Shiva, then it wouldn’t be strange if the Rans moved, considering that they were called the direct descendants of Shiva.
It was natural for them to try and obtain that power with their hands.
“And it seems that Hasyath is also with them.”
“The Sword Disaster?”
Until three years ago, nothing about the Ran King had been revealed to the world, so no one knew his strength. And then, the battles began to happen when the world was divided between the Sun God and Diablo, and Hasyath showed his strength for the first time.
He slaughtered tens of thousands of troops single-handedly and dozens of master-class warriors fell.
And three of those who held the position of Saint in their respective Churches had lost their lives to his sword.
He was a true disaster.
So the world began to call him the Sword Disaster.
“It looks like they are determined.”
“Yes.”
The middle-aged man nodded his head, and seeing this, the man said,
“We will see quite a lot of bloodshed.”
“It will not be easy. The enemy has come out strong.”
“We need to gain strength…”
“Are you afraid?”
To that question, the man answered as if he were in military training.
“No!”
The middle-aged man smiled at the man’s response.
“You must be scared. The opponents were once one of the three major races and had ruled the world.”
“…”
“But all of that is just in the past now.”
It was true that Hasyath was a man so powerful that he was given the name ‘Sword Disaster,’ but that was only because the world was falling apart at the time.
And this didn’t mean he was weak. Rather, he was definitely strong.
But this side became strong as well.
“Remember. We are the proud paladins of the Sun Church. That is the Sun. That is a power which cannot be subdued by the Rans.”
The Sun.
The paladins were blessed by the Sun God.
Their power swiftly exceeded the realm of superhumans, and they were now known as one of the most powerful armed forces in the world.
They came to the Rotomo Strait.
In order to acquire the traces of Shiva.
“Rather, they should be the ones afraid. The Rans haven’t shown up in official fights for over two years now, so they don’t know our power yet.”
“Right.”
“They will realize that we are no remnants of the past. And how much of those who have been hailed as the three major races have fallen.”
“It will happen.”
“Huhu. And don’t we have that left with us?”
At the word ‘that,’ the eyes of the man flashed.
The middle-aged man, who read the look in his eyes, smiled and hit his leg with his fist.
“Do not worry. If possible, everything will end the way we want.”
That was what he said.
The man looked at the middle-aged man and smiled.
He looked like he was expecting something.
Mero, a Ran warrior, climbed to the top first and shouted,
“There it is!”
The warriors who arrived later than Mero looked at the Romoto Strait in the distance.
“Those dark clouds are no joke.”
“I can smell the wind and rain there. It is faint, but there is thunder too.”
“Isn’t that a hurricane? I don’t think there is just one or two.”
“A strait in the form of a valley. There is a lot of raging weather. And there should be a huge vortex too.”
Each of them began to talk about what they could see from where they were and describe it word for word.
Sarah, who arrived late, fell to her knees and gasped for breath, not hearing what they were saying.
“Huk, huk, huk.”
“You followed us pretty well compared to the first day. But you were still slow.”
Mero, who arrived first, squatted down next to Sarah and teased her.
“D-Do not talk to me!”
“Haha. Seems like your soul has left your body.”
“I-It is hard, so do not talk…”
Sarah fell down, face first, saying it.
It was a four-day journey.
It was a little exaggeration, but the training of the past three years felt ridiculous. Even though she was following and running for ten hours without proper rest, she felt like she had exceeded her natural limit.
Aside from that, she learned the sword from Isis in their free time. Since she was wielding the sword in an extreme state of exhaustion, she had fainted several times.
She had done so many difficult missions before, but she had never once thought of running away.
Even when she wasn’t used to killing, she had never thought about running away for murder and even from the difficult training.
But here, she thought of it every day.
What was more pitiful…
“Here. Eat.”
Mero would smile wickedly and put a pill in her hand.
Sarah looked at it with tired eyes.
This….
…was what hurt her the most.
‘…a special pill of the Ran race.’
It would take effect as soon as one swallowed it, and it would relieve the fatigue built up in the body. The problem was that the effect was too good.
‘If I eat this, I will have to go through the training again.’
She would be fine again, as if she had never been exhausted. And it was ridiculously effective enough to be thought of as an elixir.
At first, her exhaustion went away, so she felt really good.
But that was only once or twice.
If one was not a warrior of the Ran, one had to follow an unreasonable schedule, which was difficult to do. And right now, it was like forcing Sarah to do something that her human body couldn’t do with the help of the pill.
It was no longer about stamina.
‘I-I will lose my mind.’
Sarah looked at the pill with a pitiful face.
And Mero had a bright smile as he handed it to her.
‘You evil monster.’
Since Mero was the youngest warrior among the Rans, he could talk to Sarah without any barriers. At first, he was kind, and soon they were able to joke around with each other and became close.
But as time passed, his true colors came out.
He would say the wrong things at the wrong times. Isis told her that within the clan, there were too many honest individuals.
“Eat it, you slug. Do you want to be a burden or something?”
Such merciless words.
Sarah grunted and brought the pill to her mouth. As soon as the pill melted inside her mouth, her body felt energized.
It was surprising and strange at first, but now it is quite unpleasant. Sarah, who was now feeling better, stood up.
“Can you run again? You have to run until you fall again. Ah, the land from now on can be more difficult than what you… Ack!”
“Why do you keep saying weird things to the kid?”
Isis slapped Mero on the back of his head.
“But why slap me on the back of my head?!”
“Shut up. How should you treat a newbie? And do you even have time to do this? Hurry up and do your work.”
“Tch.”
Mero just clicked his tongue and ran ahead. He was the guy in charge of scouting the party, so he had an obligation to figure out the situation.
Isis looked at Mero as he walked away.
“Do not hate him too much. He is doing this because you must have gotten a little closer.”
“…. is it an expression of affection?”
“I guess so. Although it’s a little twisted.”
“A little?”
Isis cleared her throat at Sarah’s question.
“Well… Still, he didn’t mean to make you upset. Upon closer inspection, the strait ahead is quite strange. It will be a tough time from now on.”
“It cannot be helped. This is part of training.”
“A good mindset.”
Isis nodded, looking happy.
Sarah’s strong point was that she accepted the situation for what it was. Even if she wanted to run away now, she could never express it out loud.
Isis had seen so many warriors and knew how they trained. From her point of view, Sarah had the qualities to be a great warrior.
‘Be in her mind and her skills.’
“We start again.”
At Hasyath’s words, Isis and Sarah moved to where the group was. From now on, they would begin their search.
Whoosh.
Rumble!
Rain and wind, thunder and lighting, along with strong waves… It was so difficult to open their eyes.
The Rotomo Strait was known to be one of the six Bans, which created a terrible environment.
And there were groups of individuals moving through this place that normal humans wouldn’t even think of going.
They were the Rans and Sarah.
“Are you fine?”
“Yes. I can handle this.”
Sarah had a hard time enduring the heavy rain, but other than that, nothing else was difficult because Isis was next to her.
“Monster coming ahead!”
It was then.
A huge snake-like monster appeared from the sea.
A monster that was strong enough to survive in this messy land.
But who were these people?
“Clear it.”
At Hasyath’s short command, two Ran warriors ran from behind and jumped at the monster without hesitation.
Even a swordmaster wouldn’t be able to do his best against a monster in the six Bans. But that was only applicable to humans.
The land where the Rans lived was a world where they would not be pushed back, even with the six Bans.
In the first place, the Bans were known to be places where it was impossible for humans to enter. The Ran warriors had fiery eyes as they slaughtered the snake-like monster.
The monster couldn’t even react properly and immediately turned into a corpse.
‘A-Amazaing!’
Sarah, who watched this, admired the warriors who took care of the monster in a second. If it was her, there was a high chance of the opposite happening.
She could once again feel just how strong these people were. The two warriors returned to their positions, and they all started to run again.
The process was so smooth that she forgot that a monster had appeared.
“Someday, you can do the same.”
When Sarah had an envious look, Isis tried encouraging her.
“Yes.”
As she said, Sarah could do it in the future too—because she had to.
‘Because I need to get stronger.’
Watching strong people fight was already an experience, and she had to see more of this for the sake of her future.
They could greatly help Sarah become stronger in the future.
Somehow, her desire was burning, and at that time, Mero, who had gone to scout, returned.
Hasyath beckoned, and the group stopped.
“How is the front?”
“It turned out to be an interesting situation.”
Mero, who arrived in front of him, said excitedly.
Hasyath tilted his head.
“Interesting?”
“Yes. Much more than we thought.”
“Enemy?”
“Not just an enemy. They seem to be from the Sun.”
Everyone here has heard of that name before. They were the ones who were the main topics of the rumors these days.
Hasyath smiled.
“This. It will be a pretty interesting fight.”
These days, many were trying to take the position of the Ran race.
And the Sun was one of those.
Hasyath touched his sword’s handle.
“It has been a while since I drew my sword.”
At those words, all the warriors smiled.
When the atmosphere shifted, Sarah seemed confused, which made Isis smile.
“Looks like everyone’s hands are itching.”
The Ran warriors had itchy hands. And for some reason, Sarah wanted the opponents to find peace.
