/
PISODE 117 – HOLY ANGEL (1)
Hell Gate.
It wasn’t something unfamiliar to them.
The chances of seeing the Hell Gate in the Legend of Heroes series were surprisingly numerous.
But the timing was wrong.
Only one gate appeared in the first episode of Legend of Heroes.
Demon Prince Baikazel, the final boss who caused the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom.
The last battle in the first episode involved defeating him and closing the Hell Gate he opened.
‘The next one was in the middle of the second episode.’
Opening the Hell Gate on this world was by no means ordinary.
In addition to numerous offerings, a catalyst was needed in order to open the Hell Gate.
‘Catalyst.’
Things that came together with the overlords of hell when they descended on this world in the past.
The catalysts varied in form and were different from each other, but they were not common.
Even in large organizations like the Devil’s Hand or Devil’s Eye, there were only one to two catalysts that could open the Hell Gate.
‘Lena’s situation was different.’
The Hell Gate that opened in Endymion was not summoned in the usual way.
A link had formed when Lena escaped from hell and returned to this world.
Therefore, it differed from the usual Hell Gate in several ways.
The Hell Gate was opened in the opposite way – from hell to this world and not from this world to hell, so the Hell Gate remained open because it could replenish its power from hell without any additional support (sacrifices).
‘But that’s not it. He didn’t do that.’
Jude stared at the altar once again.
He interpreted the disassembled magic circle in his head.
It was the usual Hell Gate. It was like the one he saw several times in Legend of Heroes 2.
‘It can’t be kept open for a long time.’
It needed power to maintain the Hell Gate.
If the Hell Gate was opened on Snow Breeze Plain as Jude had thought, there would be no other means to maintain it other than through sacrificial offerings.
‘About a week at most.’
There would naturally be some miscalculation because he inferred it from the various events in the game, but the difference wouldn’t be that great.
‘Did I go too far? No, did he turn the board upside down?’
T/N: The ‘board’ here refers to a game board, like a chessboard. Basically, Jude and Haraken are playing a game of ‘chess’ and Haraken’s plans are losing to Jude’s strategy, so he flipped/turned the board upside down. I explained it here because the word ‘board’ gets mentioned several times later in this chapter.
There were few opportunities to summon the Hell Gate.
In the game, instead of summoning the Hell Gate, Haraken corrupted the wild gods and took control of the barbarians before attacking the northern part of the kingdom because it was much more efficient.
‘He opened the Hell Gate after destroying the northern part and attacking the royal capital.’
Which would be more effective – opening the Hell Gate in the wild lands or opening it in the royal capital of the Sälen Kingdom?
He didn’t even have to think about the answer.
It was definitely the latter.
To begin with, he had no information if Haraken had a catalyst.
But it made sense.
Even Jude himself wouldn’t waste the catalyst in that way.
The best way was to summon the Hell Gate in a key place after subduing the wild lands, the barbarians, and the northern part of the Sälen Kingdom.
‘But he didn’t do that.’
Because Jude himself had obviously interfered with Haraken’s plans every time.
Compared to the game, Haraken was currently in a very bad situation.
But summoning the Hell Gate was excessive.
This was almost a desperate move on Haraken’s side.
It meant that he gave up most of the power in the wild lands that he had secured.
‘Why?’
Wasn’t it better to have the western and eastern forces fight?
Why did Haraken give up the fight?
There was a reason.
An incident that changed Haraken’s mind that Jude didn’t know about yet.
GaĂŤl and Adelia.
Count Chase.
The three annihilated the infiltrators who were trying to infiltrate the east via the south.
It made Haraken think that there was no other way to do anything except for a head-on battle, so Haraken made a decision.
If he failed in whatever he planned, then he would do something that he wouldn’t fail in.
He would do something that his enemies couldn’t stop.
Because that was better than a complete failure.
That was the time he turned the board upside down.
The power of the wild lands had already been cut in half. In his situation, even if the eastern forces were defeated in the head-on battle, the damage would be too great. He wouldn’t be able to properly carry out his original plan with just half of the power.
So he flipped the board.
He created a new board.
But Jude didn’t know about that even if he was a rotten water.
Therefore, Jude stopped worrying about it.
He needed information first.
Their present location was not a good place to keep thinking about it.
“Cordelia.”
Cordelia immediately responded to Jude’s call.
She also had a stiff face as she was worried about it in her own way.
“Let’s move for now.”
“Yes!”
She had to brighten up at times like this.
Cordelia energetically responded on purpose and took the lead.
He didn’t tell her where their destination was, but there was only one place to go in this situation.
‘The underground passage left by the high elves of Magellan.’
Melissa gave them information that was not available in the game.
Magellan, the magic kingdom.
The elves in Pleiades were commonly thought of as mostly living in forests and mountains.
Even the dark elves refused to live underground unless they had no choice.
However, the high elves of Magellan built a city underground.
Most of the facilities were built under the mountains or under the ground as if they were dwarves.
‘It’s because of the dragon vein.’
Magellan’s high elves discovered an unknown power under the ground.
They researched and studied on how to somehow use that great stream, and as a result, they set up a livable base underground that was close to the dragon vein.
‘An infrastructure across the wild lands.’
The high elves built the infrastructure along the dragon vein stream.
In addition, several facilities were installed to use the power of the dragon vein.
The facility in the Sky Roof mountain range was one of those.
‘The dragon vein was different from what it was.’
It was much thinner and was blocked everywhere.
But Magellan’s high elves resolved that.
They smoothened the flow of the dragon vein, and relay facilities were built throughout the wild lands to strengthen its flow.
‘And that’s how the current dragon vein was made.’
And as Jude had expected…
“Jude.”
Jude came to his senses at Cordelia’s call again.
The two had gone back to the underground passage.
Jude took a deep breath.
And he thought again.
‘The gate is open.’
That was clear, apart from the others he thought of.
Cordelia’s intuition and the ritual altar guarded by Garammaru also informed him of this fact.
What should we do now?
Should we break the western dragon veins as planned?
‘We don’t have enough time.’
The reasons for opening the Hell Gate in the game all led to one answer.
To call out a mighty being to this world who couldn’t be summoned in the usual way.
Haraken went overboard.
He opened the Hell Gate using several catalysts from the Devil’s Eye.
If so, he wouldn’t be satisfied with someone on the level of Kriemler.
He would try to call someone higher than Kriemler to this world.
How many days would that take?
If he calculated the time required compared to the other events in the game…
‘Five days at most.’
If it was short, three to four days.
Then, it was impossible for them.
Even if they used the high elves’ tunnels that they had opened, they wouldn’t be able to make it.
The wild lands was too wide for them.
‘Town Portal.’
A space-leaping door that was used by the high elves.
According to Melissa’s investigation, there were still a few functional space-leaping doors in the west.
They would be able to immediately return to the east once they got to that door.
But there was no way to directly go to that door from here.
Going there would consume time anyway.
Jude’s thoughts deepened.
He thought and thought again.
And Cordelia saw such Jude.
She groaned and began to worry about it like him.
Is there any other way?
Maybe there’s a solution.
“Eueu.”
This kind of thinking didn’t suit her nor was it something she liked to do.
So Cordelia groaned and repeatedly stomped her feet.
But she didn’t stop thinking.
And at some point.
“Ah!”
Cordelia raised her head.
She grabbed Jude’s shoulder in a hurry.
After forcibly pulling out the struggling Jude from the pit of thoughts that he had sunk into, she talked about the idea that came to her mind.
“What do you think?”
It wasn’t a specific idea.
Just one idea.
Jude stared at Cordelia. He didn’t blink once, and in response, Cordelia’s shoulders drooped, and she made a glum expression.
Was that not it?
What was I thinking?
I guess it’s not something I should think about.
So when Cordelia began to be dispirited…
Jude unexpectedly burst into laughter.
He brightly smiled and hugged Cordelia all of a sudden.
“Ju-Jude?”
“You’re the best. My princess, my angel.”
“W-what?”
My what?
The grossed-out Cordelia got goosebumps at his choice of words, but Jude didn’t care much about it.
He tried to resume his thoughts again to make Cordelia’s idea a reality.
But at that very moment.
Jude and Cordelia looked at each other again.
They focused on the voice they heard in their minds.
***
Thanks to the heroic sacrifice of Blade Song, the eastern forces were able to leave the battlefield.
But too much blood had already been shed.
“But even so.”
Great Storm looked towards the west with sunken eyes.
He stared at the Hell Gate located far away that was radiating a chaotic aura even at this moment.
He was at a great distance.
But his eyes could see at a far distance from up high.
He could still see the monsters crawling out of the Hell Gate at this time.
That was why he declared.
“It must be closed.”
Great Storm didn’t know much about the Hell Gate.
Only a few wild gods remembered the days when the magic kingdom Magellan fought the overlord of hell.
Excluding the Golden Dragon King, there was no other wild god at that time who was active at the present moment.
Therefore, the wild gods didn’t know much about the demons.
They couldn’t even guess how long the Hell Gate could be maintained, and what beings would come out of it, so they thought of a more resolute response.
“At any cost.”
If the Hell Gate stayed as it is.
If more demons came out of it.
The wild lands would cease to exist. It would just become a small hell ruled by the demons from hell.
“Brother, Violent Avalanche…”
Great Storm looked at his back. Gentle Snow Breeze’s face was filled with tears as she sniffled.
She didn’t like Blade Song very much, but that didn’t mean she deeply hated him.
But Blade Song had saved everyone and died.
He made a heroic sacrifice.
Even his tribe, and even the numerous children in the wild lands.
And even Violent Avalanche’s whereabouts were unknown now.
Gentle Snow Breeze’s tears did not dry out.
She couldn’t stop crying.
But Great Storm reached out to her for a moment and wiped her tears.
He said with a forced smile.
“He will be fine. He’s a wild god even if he had lost his powers. He has lived far longer than we have.”
He just took the wrong road and didn’t lose his life.
“Is…that so?”
“Yes, it is. Yes, it is.”
Great Storm hugged Gentle Snow Breeze and patted her back.
It was like he was soothing a child, but Gentle Snow Breeze was actually taller than Great Storm in terms of their human forms, though that didn’t matter to them. She held back her tears in the arms of Great Storm.
“We must gather the wild gods.”
Every single wild god in the east had to be gathered.
The surviving main force and the remaining troops in the east had to be combined in order to form the final do-or-die army.
Blade Song and his children sacrificed their lives to give the east – no, the wild lands, one more chance.
So they had to live up to their songs.
“Gentle Snow Breeze, gather the children. Gather the wild gods.”
Gentle Snow Breeze nodded. She wiped her face several times before she turned around and ran.
Great Storm gazed at the back of Gentle Snow Breeze. He then turned around and looked at the west.
“Hell Gate.”
It reminded Great Storm of Blade Song.
He remembered the wild gods of the west that he hadn’t seen for a long time.
All of them were dead.
And now, more wild gods might die.
But even so.
“It’s our calling to protect the wild lands.”
Great Storm let out a cold breath.
He prepared for the final battle.
***
Haraken stared at the Hell Gate.
The creepy aura of hell gave him a new power.
Haraken smiled.
His stronger power had now allowed him to sense someone approaching from beyond the Hell Gate. He paid his respects to it.
Demon Prince.
A demon with a title.
It surpassed the great demon Kriemler and was a being in the same class as Baikazel, who caused the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom in the past.
Haraken’s smile turned wry.
His thoughts had changed too, perhaps because of the aura of hell.
‘Indeed, this was my calling.’
So what if it wasn’t the royal capital of the Sälen Kingdom?
It would be enough if the Demon Prince descended. He would lead the demons and end the wild lands. They would then advance to the Sälen Kingdom.
The demons and monster that came out from the Hell Gate did not go through a contract process.
Therefore, they did not follow or were under Haraken.
But that didn’t matter to Haraken.
Because the demons and monsters knew it.
The Demon Prince was coming.
It was their calling to follow its command.
“Master Haraken.”
Haraken turned to the voice that was mixed with fear.
The ever-faithful Sharp Horn looked at him with eyes full of hesitation.
Sharp Horn couldn’t help it.
The western forces were destroyed, and the Angry Bull tribe who accepted the aura of hell had now become creatures that could no longer be called humans.
Even at this moment, human offerings continued to be offered in order to maintain the Hell Gate.
Haraken looked at Sharp Horn.
Sharp Horn was no longer a human too. He was close to a monster.
His human mind still remained, but it was only a matter of time. So Haraken showed him a little mercy and told him the words that he wanted to hear.
“Not bad. You did well. It will be fine if you follow me as always.”
Sharp Horn nodded at Haraken’s words. He let go of his fear and blindly believed in Haraken’s words.
He wouldn’t be able to withstand the current situation otherwise.
“Just wait. For the greater glory shall be with us.”
Haraken brightly smiled and looked at the Hell Gate again.
He waited for the moment of its advent as he fully enjoyed the aura of hell.
***
“Lena?”
An answer came back when Cordelia spoke.
There were no specific words, but a clear feeling was conveyed.
Lena woke up.
The holy angel came back to this world.
And what that meant.
Another possibility rose.
“Lena.”
Jude and Cordelia then knew.
That she had spread out her wings of light.
She left the sacred place that was guarded by Blue Whiskers and flew towards the west.
The connection was lost.
But that was enough.
Lena conveyed her will to the two.
Having known that the Hell Gate had been opened on this world, she immediately took action.
“Lena woke up.”
Cordelia’s voice was filled with excitement.
She would obviously do that.
Because Lena woke up.
Holy Angel Lena, one of the five heroes who ended the tragedy of the Paragon Kingdom.
But that wasn’t the only one.
The reason why Cordelia got excited.
The reason why Jude wanted to embrace Cordelia once again.
The two had the same idea at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed, and Jude opened his arms. However, Cordelia stepped back and brightly smiled instead of hugging Jude.
She took out the item she had always carried since she got it and kept it where her eyes could reach even when she was taking a bath. She took the item from her back and placed it in front of Jude.
“Heavenly Judgment.”
A sword forged by the god herself, by Auriel, the Archangel of Judgment.
A sacred weapon that only angels could use.
And the other possibility.
Something Lena could try to do now that she was awake.
“My angel.”
Jude tried to hug Cordelia as he shamelessly spoke, but Cordelia retreated with disgust. She soon giggled and said as her canines glistened.
“I’ll show you a nice look.”
For the battle ahead.
There might not be one angel who would fly in the skies.
Jude nodded his head. And he smiled in satisfaction.
Because he finished it right at this moment.
Their best strategy.
“As expected of my Jude.”
Jude was satisfied with Cordelia’s smile.
They went into action again in order to reach a perfect happy ending.