Chapter 442

Liala lay sprawled on the ground, vomiting blood.

Dark red gore drenched the floor beneath her.

Her insides were shattered, making it impossible to breathe properly.

To make matters worse, mana exhaustion was setting in.

She had no strength, no will to even lift a finger, let alone strike back.

All she wanted was to close her eyes and sink into the floor. But with superhuman willpower, she clung to her fading consciousness and glared at Zeon.

“W-we… will never lose, Zeon!”

“Seems so.”

“Neither you nor the Black Queen can trample El Harun. We’re not that weak.”

“Sure, sure.”

Zeon answered halfheartedly.

From the moment he had neutralized her, Liala no longer mattered.

It was always frightened dogs that barked.

A true beast never barked—it simply bit.

And magical beasts, all the more so.

Whether she shouted or threatened, Zeon had no interest in her.

His gaze was fixed instead on the one hiding in the back—Uron.

Uron stood frozen, wide-eyed, as if unable to believe Liala and Hera’s defeat.

Liala, the one he trusted most, was wounded and kneeling, while Hera was barely hanging on, wrapped in the white phosphorus flame.

Yes, there were still some Hall of Guardians awakeners and elves left. But Uron no longer believed they could protect him from Zeon.

That was how overwhelming Zeon’s might was.

Leaving Liala behind, Zeon walked toward Uron.

“S-stop him! Stop that man now!”

Uron shrieked at the Hall of Guardians awakeners and elves, voice breaking.

But neither the human awakeners nor the elves dared step forward.

They too were crushed by Zeon’s display of strength.

“Who in the world is he?”

“How can a human be that strong?”

“Damn it!”

Dry gulps echoed, sweat dripping from their palms.

Zeon approached them at his leisure, as if they weren’t even there. Yet none dared to attack.

They were overwhelmed by the sheer pressure radiating from him.

Their minds screamed at them to strike—but their bodies refused to move.

The elites of El Harun, broken in spirit before an outsider. A mere human.

It was a humiliation they could not bear to acknowledge.

“Khhk!”

“Fuck! To a human, of all things…”

Some elves shook with fury, trembling at the disgrace. But Zeon didn’t so much as glance at them.

It was as if they didn’t exist.

A humiliation like none they had ever endured.

“You worthless fools! Stop him, damn it!”

Only Uron screamed, his face twisted with venom.

The title of “noble elf” no longer concerned him.

No, he no longer had the strength to keep up such a mask.

Not before Zeon, who already knew his true nature.

He wanted to live.

And so he screamed toward his last hope.

“Nokan! My son!”

—*Khrrr?*

In the midst of fighting other awakeners, Nokan tilted his head at the desperate cry.

Seeing his reaction, Uron pressed on, his voice pitiful.

“He’s trying to kill your father! Son! Please—save your father from him!”

—*Kwoooaaaah!*

With a monstrous roar, Nokan charged toward Uron.

A flush of joy lit Uron’s face.

At last, his devotion had paid off—or so he believed.

Boom, boom—Nokan’s heavy steps shook the ground as he planted himself in front of Zeon.

Zeon stopped and looked up at him.

Nokan glared down at Zeon with feral eyes.

Bloodshot, blazing red—enough to terrify most into soiling themselves.

But even that gaze could not shake Zeon.

Zeon spoke.

“Will you block me?”

—*Grrr…*

Suddenly, Nokan turned—not to Zeon, but to Uron.

And his gaze was far more savage.

Sensing the shift, Uron stumbled back.

“M-my son! Why…? I—it’s me, your father. Don’t you recognize me?”

His frantic words rang clear for all around to hear.

At first, when Uron had called Nokan his son, they thought it madness. But hearing him repeat it, they realized the truth—Nokan really was Uron’s bastard child.

Truth, like a sharp awl, always pierced through in time. And now was that moment.

But Uron failed to notice the change in the air. Nokan was already closing in.

“N-Nokan?”

Uron’s face twisted as if about to cry.

—*Kwoooooarrrk!*

With Uron right before him, Nokan roared and lunged, jaws gaping wide.

“M-my son…”

Uron never finished the words.

Crunch!

Nokan bit down on his head.

Like a cookie crumbling, Uron’s skull shattered.

White-gray brain matter and blood spilled from the cracks as Nokan chewed.

“M-my god!”

“This can’t be!”

The awakeners and elves, only now snapping back to their senses, stared in horror.

In their shock, the unthinkable had happened.

“Monster!”

“Yaaahhh!”

“You monster! Devouring your own father—you’re unforgivable!”

They attacked Nokan all at once. Yet Nokan did not resist.

He only looked at them with calm, almost gentle eyes, as if he had surrendered everything.

Watching him, Zeon murmured:

“So. Now that his wish is fulfilled… he’s abandoned life?”

Nokan had never chosen to be born.

He was the stain of Uron’s original sin—an abomination.

From the moment he came into this world, he was imprisoned underground, surviving only on the corpses of children Uron threw to him.

How could he have ever loved that life?

Perhaps killing his father was his only purpose.

Now that it was done, ending his cursed existence was, for him, a kind of salvation.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

A rain of skills and strikes battered Nokan’s massive body.

His flesh burst, muscles tearing like paper.

Weapons pierced vital points, fire burned his fur to cinders.

Still, Nokan did not move.

Then, his eyes met Zeon’s across the air.

They seemed to say something.

Zeon, reading them, sighed softly.

“…So be it. If that’s what you want.”

And then—he struck Nokan’s head with a blazing fist.

Boom!

Nokan’s skull burst like a melon, his body crashing backward.

That was his end.

On that day, an elf—and his bastard son—left the world together.

Liala, still collapsed and coughing blood, lifted her head to look at Zeon.

“Is… that true?”

“That Nokan was Uron’s bastard? Yes.”

“I knew it!”

“You heard it as clearly as I did.”

“So it’s fact.”

“You’ll find the proof in his home’s underground chamber.”

“Damn it!”

Liala hung her head in bitter shame.

Never had she imagined that Uron, such a respected elf of El Harun, could commit such atrocity.

“And the Black Queen?”

“She is the calamity you summoned.”

“You call undoing the Queen’s seal anything less than madness?”

“What else could he do? His daughter brutally murdered by a man like Uron—an esteemed elf of El Harun. And Derod? Just a pitiful Bug Master. In a land where humans are mocked, who would listen to the whispers of a lowly Bug Master? No one did. What choice did he have?”

“That’s…”

“I’d have done the same. Blinded, I would’ve done anything.”

“But innocent people will die!”

“Are you so sure they are truly innocent? Can you swear to it?”

“…”

“That’s the truth.”

Liala felt a dreadful chill.

Even as she wrapped her arms around her shoulders, her trembling would not stop.

“…Hah. Fuck…”

---

“Khrrk!”

Taboaru groaned in pain.

His right arm was swollen, throbbing.

While focusing on long-range spells, a tiny snake had slipped in unnoticed and bitten him.

Its venom made his head spin, his heart pounding like it might burst.

Had a nearby priest not healed him in time, he would already be dead.

There wasn’t even time to thank him.

Ssssshhhhh!

The snakes swarmed like a tidal wave.

Neria had summoned not only giant serpents, but also thread-thin snakes no thicker than a child’s finger.

The larger snakes were almost easier to deal with—their bulk made them easier targets for spells.

The tiny ones were the real problem.

So small they were hard to spot with the naked eye, and so fast they were nearly impossible to pin down and kill.

“Arghhh!”

“Damn it!”

Screams of awakeners rang out everywhere.

Many were already dead or wounded.

It was the overwhelming might of the Black Queen.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The giant serpents slammed again and again into the barrier. Each time, the ward woven by the Shadow Clan shuddered, on the verge of collapse.

Crackkkk!

The sound of fractures spreading echoed all around.

It was only a matter of time before the barrier broke.

“Damn it!”

“We have to strike the source.”

“Forget the snakes—attack the Black Queen!”

The awakeners of El Harun tried to target Neria directly. But it wasn’t easy.

From the smallest to the largest, every serpent hurled itself in her defense whenever she was threatened.

Whump!

Bang!

Tiny snakes burst apart, giant ones staggered under blows. But thanks to them, not a single strike touched Neria.

“How do we even kill that thing?”

“Who allowed a monster like her into El Harun?”

“There must be a way…”

At that moment, someone strode forward.

It was Garantha, the high priest and chieftain of the Highlander clan.

He addressed the council heads.

“I will make an opening.”

“Garantha?”

“There will be only one chance. Do not waste it.”

“Understood.”

“Hm.”

The council leaders nodded grimly.

“Hoo…”

Garantha drew a deep breath, fixing his gaze on the Black Queen standing tall in the distance.

Surrounded by countless serpents, Neria looked over El Harun with an indifferent expression.

Her presence alone was suffocating.

If they left her unchecked, their hard-won city would suffer devastating loss.

That much, they could not allow.

Garantha turned to his clan.

“I will invoke Godslayer’s Will. Lend me your strength.”