However, he wondered if there was a need to smack him in the back.
“Cough, cough! Ek, ugh!”
‘…Right? Is he going to just die like that?’
Cale couldn’t help but question whether they needed to fight this enemy who suddenly showed up but started coughing up blood while turning pale and having his limbs shaking in pain.
“H, how could such power of light……!”
Someone shouted out loud. Cale turned his head toward the voice that came from a distance away.
Boom!
Someone soon landed on the ground with a thud.
“H, Hannah, let me down.”
“How, something like that!”
His hands were shaking.
“Oppa…”
Hannah reached her hand out toward Jack’s shoulder as if telling him to calm down, but Jack had already walked past her.
He was observing the Bear King with shaking pupils.
“You.”
The Bear King raised his head. Jack made eye contact with him. He then took another step forward.
“What kind of power is the light that you are using?”
Smirk.
Jack took another step as the Bear King started to smile.
However, Jack had to stop walking. Cale had grabbed his shoulder and Jack finally came back to his senses after looking at Cale's gaze. Innocent Saint! What do you mean by pure light?
Raon's voice echoed in Saint Jack’s mind. Saint Jack opened his mouth to respond. However, the Bear King started to speak first.
“Saint, as you mentioned, this power is pure light itself.”
“…How-”
Saint Jack could not finish his sentence.
The light he had just seen… That was just light. It was a pure light without any traces of mana nor the powers of a light-affinity god. That was why Saint Jack who was a follower of the Sun God, which was one of those light-affinity gods, could realize the pure nature of it. He looked toward the Bear King as if he was looking for an answer. He was the enemy. However, that pure light made the hearts of the followers of light run wild.
“How, you ask?”
The Bear King smirked again before looking at someone.
“Hey, old man.”
Cale flinched.
“…Are you talking about me?”
“Yes. You're the oldest person here.”
The old man the Bear King was talking about was Eruhaben. …Human, the way the Bear King talks is similar to you.
‘What?’
Cale was honestly shocked. He wouldn’t speak so disrespectfully to the elderly even if he was trash. Of course, the enemy was an exception.
Cale heard Eruhaben’s voice at that moment.
“It is an ancient power.”
‘As expected.’
Cale nodded his head at the fact that his hypothesis was correct.
“…… An ancient power is that pure?”
“Yes, it is an ancient power. I knew you would understand, old man.”
“Pfft.”
Eruhaben started to laugh.
“You sure know how to talk, you disrespectful child.”
“I am indeed good with my words.”
Cale slowly took a step back as Eruhaben and the Bear King chatted. He then made his shield even sturdier.
It felt as if the battle would start soon. Human! Should I capture the Bear King?
Cale slowly nodded his head at Raon’s timely comment. Then, I am going to approach him!
The moment Raon shouted that…
Baaaaang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions could be heard from multiple locations. Cale let out a groan at the same time.
“Ugh!”
Oo. Oo. Oo.
The black wall started to let out that eerie noise again.
“Rooooooooooar!”
“Roooooar!”
Furthermore, the golems were destroying the tree trunks while looking more berserk. The tree trunks tried to regrow to grab the golems again, however… Something changed.
Cale felt that something was odd as he heard the glutton priestess.
‘What could it be?’
Cale was getting the chills for some reason. Do you remember what I told you at the Wind Island temple?
He heard the Scary Giant Cobblestone's voice at that moment. I told you that the ancient White Star believed himself to be a god, someone who would become a god.
Cale was able to tell what the ancient White Star had done thanks to the art on the ceiling of the black temple on Wind Island. I told you that he was able to use the power of the sky to make the crops grow well or wither and die. Do you remember that?
‘He wished to become nature itself.’
‘That person could control the sky as he had the sky attribute.’
‘That was how he was able to control the rain, wind, and even the clouds to control the amount of sunlight.’
He recalled the art in the black temple. He recalled the fields that were full of crops and the trees that were covered with delicious fruit. He recalled the people enjoying themselves underneath it.
‘Thanks to that, the land he selected became more fertile and plentiful as time went on. Crops grew endlessly, and the fruits that were grown in an environment where the sunlight and rain were controlled were extremely sweet and delicious.’
‘That was how that bastard made the people he chose and the land he chose to be plentiful and happy.'
On the other hand,
“The places other than the chosen land would have become desolate.”
The Bear King looked toward Cale as soon as he said that. His eyes clouded over as he asked Cale a question.
“You know about the ancient times as well?”
However, Cale didn’t pay any attention to that question. Instead, he raised his head to look at the sky.
He looked at the black wall that was making the golems go berserk.
The Super Rock commented at that moment. Beings born from darkness become stronger underneath that darkness. On the other hand, any lifeform without the darkness attribute becomes weaker.
This was the change the glutton priestess was talking about. She meant that this area had changed. The ground underneath a dark sky without any sunlight nor rain withered and died.
“That bastard.”
He thought a lot about it. Golem, black mages, and dead mana. Dorph the Elementalist was able to create a battlefield where all of those things could run wild.
“He could have flipped everything over on his own.”
However…
“But he pretended to be weak?”
The corners of Cale's lips twisted up.
“You only figured that out now?”
The Bear King laughed as he asked back. Cale responded with another question.
“You gathered them all here on purpose, didn’t you?”
However, all of the enemies suddenly gathered at the Northern Tower in the middle of it. This was especially true for the black mages and mages.
‘The mages were so that they could cast the teleportation spells.
That is why they came to the North.
They were brought here to bring the black mages over!
'They knew that someone would follow the black mages and mages here!’
“You were trying to make all of us gather here.”
Cale could see the Bear King smiling at his comment.
“You finally noticed?”
The Bear King was no longer coughing up blood and his gaze was firm even though his face was still pale.
“I promised Becrock. We agreed that the southern black mages coming to the north would signal a change in our plans.”
The Bear King and the Lion King kept their promise even with Sir Rex’s sudden attacks. The Bear King stood straight as he looked at the enemies on the other side of the silver shield.
“Who do you think it was that hid my presence?”
Cale could hear Ron gulp.
Neither Raon nor Eruhaben had noticed the Bear King. …Human, I still don't know how I missed him.
It was the Super Rock. He then heard the Bear King's voice.
“Nobody can defeat Dorph at night when darkness and death are most prevalent. Only the sky can look down at the darkness.”
Cale started to speak.
“The Lion King hid you inside the darkness.”
“Correct.”
It was a dark night. Furthermore, the ground of the forest was covered by the trees that the light from the moon or the stars could not reach it. Dorph had hidden the Bear King in the darkest spot. Cale, let's attack right away.
Cale could hear Eruhaben’s voice. Cale then raised his head. He made eye contact with a couple of people. He knew that he had made eye contact with them even though they were far away.
Cale closed his eyes and then reopened them.
‘This is enough. Choi Han, Tasha, Beacrox, they are all going to move.’
The signal would come from Eruhaben.
Cale slowly gathered the powers inside his body. You are going to faint.
‘That’s not the issue right now. These bastards gathered us here on purpose. There's definitely something more.’
“Do you think I was the only one he hid?”
“Ha!”
Cale started to smile.
“No. I'm sure he hid more than that, what did he hide?”
The Bear King laughed as he pointed to the sky.
Oo oo oo oo.
The black wall was still letting out that eerie noise. Something moved through the wall and started to descend from the sky.
“… Airships!”
“You saw them in the Jungle, right?”
“Ah!”
Rosalyn let out a gasp. The one who had controlled the airship in the Jungle had been a black mage, and the airship that required a lot of magic knowledge was not made by the Mogoru Empire.
They did not belong to the Mogoru Empire. In that case…
“We made them with Becrock.”
The Bear King started to smile even more. Rosalyn looked around.
She saw the berserk golems surrounding the tower, the airships in the sky and the enemies by them at the tower.
‘We're trapped!’
They were trapped. Rosalyn realized that this place was a trap. We are going to attack right away.
She heard Eruhaben’s voice. The Dragon also realized the situation and was about to attack. Rosalyn immediately started to prepare her spell stealthily without making it visible.
“Rosalyn-nim.”
“…I am fine.”
The battle looked as if it would start again soon. Nervousness filled the air. This nervousness would soon explode and another battle would start.
Rosalyn could hear someone's voice at that moment.
“The capital.”
“Young master Cale?”
Rosalyn looked toward Cale.
“Airships.”
Cale started to frown as he said that. He then made a comment.
“…The capital is empty.”
“Ah.”
“That's right, the capital is empty. Do you think these are all the airships we have? Do we look that stupid to you?”
Beeeep Beeeeep.
An emergency call from a video communication device could be heard.
It was not just one.
Rosalyn, Sir Rex, Saint Jack, all of the important figures’ video communication devices were going off at once. Rosalyn could see the Bear King smiling. He then started to speak.
Cale heard Raon's voice at that moment. Human, we got a call from Bud!
Cale started to frown. Mercenary King Bud, the person who was left in the capital to handle communication, was sending a signal to everyone. He was contacting everyone knowing that some people might not be able to answer as they were in the middle of a battle.
This could mean only one thing.
‘I don't care who it is, please, please, someone, anyone, pick up the call!’
Cale looked toward the Bear King. He was smiling as he started to speak to Cale and the others again.
“I will tell you one misunderstanding you have.”
He threw the handkerchief in his hand to the ground. He continued to speak as the bloodied handkerchief fell to the ground.
“We don’t give a damn what happens to the Mogoru Empire.”
Sir Rex and Saint Jack responded to that comment.
“Then why did you send airships to the capital? Why are you attacking it?”
Sir Rex and Saint Jack shared their anger one at a time.
If they didn’t care about what happened to the capital, why can’t they stop causing them issues?
Why waste their resources for no reason? It didn’t make sense.
“Who knows? Someone who knows about the forgotten story may have realized our plans.”
“What do you mean?!”
“… Young master-nim?”
However, he stopped walking and looked to the side.
Jack could feel Cale tightening his hand that was on his shoulder.
He could also see the giant frown on Cale's face. He could also see Cale's angry gaze. Those angry eyes were glaring at the Bear King.
Cale recalled the art on the temple's ceiling as he started to speak.
“The lands that are not chosen will become desolate.”
“Correct answer.”
He opened his arms.
“We will recreate the forgotten ancient times.”
The lands chosen by the White Star and the Forest of Darkness that were plentiful. The other areas that did not receive their blessing. Cale could tell why the White Star's subordinates were trying to fight to the end and attack the capital even as the power players and royal family members in the other three Alchemists’ Towers were all captured.
The answer came out of the Bear King's mouth.
“Mogoru had been chosen but tried to get out of our grasp. So, shouldn't we teach them a lesson? A chosen land that rejected its blessing and became one of the not chosen lands. That land must become desolate. That is the will of the White Star who wishes to become nature.”
“Just what are-”
Saint Jack flinched as he was about to speak.
“F*ck!”
It was because he heard Cale cuss before giving an order.
Saint Jack could see Eruhaben and Rosalyn’s hands being covered in white gold light and red light. It was at that moment.
Someone dropped from the sky and stood next to the Bear King.
“Who said you could go?”
That person was Lion King Dorph.
Oooooo-
The wailings of the black wall became even louder. They could hear the roars of the golems as well. Dorph pointed to Cale's group as he continued to speak.
“You guys are the ones who are trapped.”
Tap.
“…… Young master-nim!”
Jack then saw a rising fire. Wind and fire were surrounding Cale. Cale felt the ancient powers surrounding him as he stared at the two kings.
“You crazy bastards.”
These guys really were crazy bastards.
There was no need to try to understand them.
‘Recreate the ancient times? That is why they are attacking the capital and the people living there?’
The wind surrounded the fire and started to create a large whirlwind.
‘Fine, you crazy bastards.’
“Let’s take it to the end.”