CH 246

“Is there any other way?”

“There is an old hunter’s path, but…”

“No. Not there,” Nienna answered firmly.

The old hunter’s path in question was a cramped and precarious road to march on. They would suffer enormous damage if they encountered a raid in such a place.

Pavan approached Nienna as she let out a sigh.

“Well, it’s not like we can anticipate an earthquake or an avalanche.”

“No, I know the North better than anyone else. I can see in my head where and how much damage the earthquake would have caused. Have we ever wandered aimlessly or been late?”

“No.”

“Exactly. That was because I drew the map in my head while considering the cold, the weather conditions, and the other damage that might have occurred. That’s why this is strange. This is a place where avalanches and ground rises cannot occur due to the slope being too gentle and the ground being hard,” Nienna explained.

“Hmm. It definitely does make me feel uneasy,” Pavan nodded.

“It does, doesn’t it?”

“So do we not have any other way?”

Nienna looked at Pavan as if he was being absurd and then opened her mouth.

“Who do you think I am? I’m Nienna Nelben. We can march on the hunter’s path if we put some work into it. But the problem is…”

Then Nienna stopped talking as her gaze stopped ahead. An unknown man had slowly appeared atop the cliff. The man with long hair was wearing armor that was not suitable for the climate.

Pavan tilted his head in wonder at the sight.

“That’s an armor that does not fit the climate at all. If he wears armor like that in this weather, his skin will get all stuck and…”

At that moment, Pavan stopped talking as he suddenly realized that Nienna was glaring at the man with raging murderous intent. Her fierce gaze alone seemed to be enough to kill a man.

Upon recognizing the danger, Pavan quickly sent a signal to the knights to deploy the troops. The Northern Army quickly prepared themselves for combat. However, the man simply looked down at them for a long time and then suddenly disappeared.

At that moment, the snow piled up around the surroundings exploded in unison with a loud roar—it was almost like a thunderbolt. The glaciers that have been buried and frozen for hundreds of years were revealed as the snow covering the entire mountain was blown away.

The man who was standing on the cliff until just a moment ago slowly walked out on top of the glacier.

“Long time no see, Nienna.”

Nienna grinned, showing her teeth.

“You can’t begin to understand how much I’ve missed you, Gerard.”

That was the only greeting given by Nienna. She didn’t want to have any further conversation with Gerard.

At the same time Nienna drew her white sword, she summoned blades of cold air to pour them over Gerard. The sudden burst of cold air instantly pushed away the soldiers who were standing on the ground.

Pavan noticed that the soldiers weren’t damaged by Nienna’s attack—she was only pushing them away in order to protect them. Nienna wanted to turn this into an individual fight instead of getting the others involved in it.

Ice pillars popped out in unison and restrained Gerard. Then, Nienna immediately clamped her hand toward the glacier and thrusted the ice blades into it.

However, Gerard neither dodged nor fought back. He was just silently watching what Nienna was doing.

Nienna clenched her teeth and continued to pour out magic, but Gerard didn’t seem to be even the slightest bit damaged.

“General Nienna! I will go and call His Majesty!”

“Don’t!” Nienna exclaimed with a terrifying look on her face.

But Pavan knew what the right decision was. He ignored Nienna’s words and immediately ran to find Juan.

The disturbance at the front had already been reported to the rear, and Anya would soon come running.

Nienna tightly bit her lips.

“Fenrir!”

With a long howl, a white wolf jumped down from midair. Fenrir opened his mouth wide and swallowed Gerard at once.

However, in just the blink of an eye, the area from Fenrir’s head to waist disappeared.

This did not surprise Nienna, since she had already predicted it from the beginning. She had only intended to block Gerard’s view for a very short moment.

Nienne swung her white sword with extreme concentration. Instead of taking her time, she immediately used the most powerful swordsmanship that she could use.

It was Fleeting Moment, the fifth stage of the Baltic Sword, but it was performed with Nienna’s distinctive features.

Even time seemed to have frozen white. Nienna felt space being torn along her sword and the cold air pouring into the empty world at the same time. It was the coldness of a different world—a world that had never been exposed to any heat or light before. It was a perfectly pure space of cold, one that even the Crack had never permeated.

It was normal for one to suffer burns when using Fleeting Moment, but even Nienna’s skin was touched by the cold air, causing it to freeze and fall off.

Anything would break if touched by air so cold. Nienna raised her sword again, intending to cut off Gerard’s neck and making it impossible to reattach it.

At that moment, Gerard opened his mouth.

“I came to have a conversation, Nienna.”

Nienna’s eyes widened upon hearing Gerard’s voice. In the world created by using the Fleeting Moment, where nothing other than the user could move, Gerard had simply raised his finger and held Nienna’s white sword with ease.

At the moment when Gerard’s hands seemed to have frozen in the cold air, the white sword exploded and its pieces scattered everywhere.

Nienna staggered with a pale expression due to her use of Fleeting Moment being stopped forcefully. Her sword turned black and was held in the air between two of Gerard’s fingers. As Gerard lightly clenched his hand, the pieces of the sword broke down and scattered away in the wind.

Nienna threw away the broken handle of the sword without any hesitation and immediately swung her fist at Gerard. However, even her fist was blocked by an invisible wall.

Nienna gritted her teeth in anger.

“Conversation? I have nothing to say to you.”

“Then bring someone else.”

“Fuck you! Do you remember what I said back in Arbalde? I killed even my blood relatives if they had been encroached upon by the Crack. Give me a reason to not kill you when we don’t even share a single drop of blood.”

“I know that you don’t have a reason not to kill me. I won’t stop you from doing that. I understand and trust you, Nienna. I know that you can keep this world safe,” Gerard said in a calm manner.

“Yes. I will keep this world safe by cutting off your neck and…”

“Stop it, Nienna. Only your mouth will get dirty by talking to him.”

Nienna turned her head toward the voice that came from behind her. She could see Juan and Anya, who looked very nervous, approaching her.

Their response was much faster than Nienna expected. She figured that they must have already been walking toward the front, since they already expected Gerard to appear.

Gerard did not reply to Juan’s words, only looking at him in silence.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Meanwhile, Juan just leisurely walked toward Gerard without even drawing Sutra.

Nienna clenched her teeth as she glared at Gerard, but soon stepped back. It was her father’s turn. She was not stupid enough to act recklessly in a situation like this.

“Your appearance seems to have changed from the last time I saw you, Gerard,” Juan said as he quietly looked at Gerard’s face.

Gerard’s face had changed in many ways compared to what it looked like back at the Red Citadel. He had changed into a completely different figure from the moment he absorbed the power of the Crown. His hair was longer and his face was strangely radiant.

When Juan tried to get closer, Gerard raised his hand.

“Let me tell you this first. Dane Dormund is dead.”

“I know.”

“He was a piece of trash who deserved to die. But I don’t want to kill you too.”

“Haha, is that so? You should have thought so before you stabbed me in the back. You had your chance before you turned me into a squeezed rag back in the Red Citadel.”

Despite Juan’s mockery, Gerard continued in a calm manner.

“Your power feels like that of an ordinary man to me right now. There’s no point in fighting anymore. I want you to just live in peace for the rest of your life. It would be nice to go back to the South and farm there. I want you to live long and watch just how prosperous the universe becomes under my reign.”

The corner of Juan’s lips twitched; he realized that Gerard had been eavesdropping on the conversation he had with Nienna. But that was not really a surprise.

Juan made a distorted smile and opened his mouth.

“That was my dream at one point, Gerard—until you stabbed me in the back.”

Then Juan took a step closer to Gerard.

“A stable abdication, successfully passing on my throne to my successors, and returning to the valley where I was supposed to return… all these had been my dream. To be honest, that valley is neither a fertile place nor a place where people are kind. But it was a special place for me. There might even be someone waiting for me as well. At one point, I had wanted to see the empire under your reign from there.”

“Then do so now. I won’t disturb you,” Gerard answered.

“But I was mistaken, Gerard. I realized that I have been deceived by your kindness toward the people and your courage to fight against the enemies. But in the end, you’re just like me after all.”

“I’m just like you?”

Juan spread his arms toward Gerard.

“You wouldn't know what kind of crazy and nasty thoughts I’ve had, just like how I had no idea what you had been thinking. You probably didn’t know just how much I hated humans and just how tempted I was to destroy them. You thought I was the perfect emperor, but no, Gerard, I wanted to kill just as much as I loved humans.”

Nienna, Anya, and Pavan all looked at Juan with a shocked expression upon hearing what he said in such a calm manner.

Juan’s voice was so loud that all the northern troops could hear him. For the first time, Gerard also had a stiff expression upon hearing Juan’s words.

Gerard clenched his teeth and glared at Juan, but Juan just continued to speak as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Humans are trivial and dirty pieces of trash that betray each other with no guilt, and they are pigs who only care about themselves. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t feel joy from killing all those pieces of trash. I’ve got nothing to hide anymore. I’m probably the one who’s killed the most humans in history. You think two million lives in Arbalde was a lot? Come on, do you really think I killed less than that when I founded the empire? But just for that matter, you cried like a baby and decided to parasitize on the Crack.”

Juan tilted his head in wonder and went on. “Hmm. Come to think of it, maybe you loved humans more than I did.”

“Do not insult my father, you residue of a monster,” Gerard gritted his teeth.

“You’re angry, Gerard. Are you going to cry and run to your mommy now? But what can you do?” Juan asked wonderingly. “You don’t even have a mother.”

Gerard didn’t bother to answer Juan and directly swung his hand to the right. That alone pulled out Juan’s right arm with a cracking sound. Then, Juan’s severed arm was thrown somewhere in the snowfield.

Shock and screams erupted from all sides. Nienna summoned spears of cold air with bloodshot eyes, while Anya muttered a curse.

But Juan held them back by raising his left hand.

For a moment, Juan seemed to stumble, but he soon held the wounded area with his left hand. What came out was a sizzling flame instead of blood.

Gerard glared at Juan and opened his mouth.

“What do you want to do by provoking me with such trashy remarks? I never felt His Majesty to be inadequate as the emperor. He was a great man.”

“No, no. That’s not it, Gerard. In this situation, you have to answer me by saying something like, ‘you have neither a mother nor a father.’”

Gerard gradually made an expression as if he was dumbfounded. He was beginning to feel like he didn’t want to talk with Juan anymore.

“You have wasted my effort to come here and talk to you in person in vain. I remember the way you were back in the Red Citadel. I thought that some parts of my father still remaining inside you could encourage me, but now, I feel nothing besides contempt for you.”

“You’re so boring, Gerard. Humor is necessary in any situation. You probably don’t know how funny Hela Henna was. What a shame. She was completely different from when she first met you. Compared to Hela’s mannerisms, I’m very decent, you know.”

“Just piss off.”

Gerard raised his finger and aimed at Juan.

At the same time, Anya prepared to charge with a pale face.

The soldiers were also perplexed and prepared to charge, but Pavan stopped them.

The power that Gerard displayed was not at a level that the soldiers could do anything about. It was better to be wary of the surroundings—about whether Gerard had brought anyone else with him.

But Juan, who was being aimed at by Gerard, showed no signs of moving. He only opened his mouth again and continued speaking in a calm manner.

“Let me ask you one thing, Gerard.”

“...What now?”

“You’ve really never hated humans?”

“Of course not,” Gerard glared at Juan and snapped.

Then Gerard stood before Juan and shouted proudly.

“I am Gerard Gain, the eldest son and the alter ego of His Majesty. I am Gerard Gain, the Captain of the Order of Lindwurm. I am Gerard Gain, who will rescue humanity from the Crack. I am Gerard Gain, the one who will take control of Qzatquizail and control all things in the universe.”

Gerard exclaimed eloquently to the soldiers around him.

“The empire will not end as just a part of this star. The boundary of the empire will expand into space, and human cities will be built on every star. Human beings will prosper under my reign. Everyone will be equally great and happy. Why would I do this for the humans if I hated them?”

The soldiers glanced at each other without being able to breathe properly. It was clear that Gerard was making a show of his ideal plans for the future, but Gerard frowned upon seeing the soldiers’ reactions.

Not many of the soldiers seemed to marvel at his ideals.

Gerard’s expression hardened upon seeing the soldier’s react as if they were wondering whether Gerard was sleep-talking.

Juan was the only person who applauded Gerard’s eloquence. He then opened his mouth with a big smile on his face.

“That’s amazing. Then, you would be good enough to be called the human god. All right. I will acknowledge you as the god of humans.”

Gerard flinched at Juan’s unexpected acknowledgment. For a moment, he thought that Juan was being sarcastic, but Gerard could detect Juan’s true feelings—Juan’s acknowledgment was sincere.

No matter how much he referred to Juan as the residue of a monster, he could not deny that Juan was a part of his father. Gerard could have even acknowledged Juan as the emperor if Juan hadn’t made a mistake back at the Red Citadel.

But this same Juan had acknowledged Gerard.

Gerard had a moment of hope that his father might be watching him rule the empire while staying under his reign.

Then, Juan murmured briefly.

“And…”

The leisurely attitude he had until just a moment ago was nowhere to be seen. Only an ice cold madness and murderous intent lurked in the depths of his eyes.

“...I love killing gods.”

At that moment, Juan’s body bounced forward.