Baaaaaang–!

The fire sword and water spear created a loud explosion as they slammed against each other.

“Ugh!”

“Ugh!”

The White Star and Cale… Both of them moved back as if they were flung backward.

Boom!

Cale’s back hit a building he didn’t recognize. He used his wind so the impact wasn’t too strong, but Cale frowned after feeling the shock shooting through his body.

‘…This is no joke.’

Cale’s eyes looked shocked for the first time.

Water, fire, wind, earth, and wood.

The White Star who had all five major natural elements was completely different from the White Star that he knew.

‘He’s stronger than I thought.’

He could feel it after that single exchange of attacks.

This White Star was at least two times stronger than the White Star he knew.

‘…Two or maybe three times stronger.’

This was probably why the incomplete Cale of this place was unable to defeat the White Star.

“Ha, haha-”

Cale started to laugh. He looked down at his hand.

His water spear had disappeared after slamming into the fire sword.

‘My hand is tingling.’

His palm was slightly shaking after just one time.

‘Yes, if it is a complete White Star… Maybe this is more accurate.’

Cale started calmly analyzing the situation.

Looking at the person themselves, the White Star was much stronger than the feeble Cale Henituse.

Next, the ancient powers of the five major natural elements.

Both of their ancient powers were quite strong, making it difficult to say whose was stronger.

When it came to their other ancient powers, Cale had more of them in quantity. He could even use the White Star’s earth attribute ancient power. However, the White Star had the strong sky attribute ancient power.

‘Not an easy enemy. No, this is a difficult enemy.’

Cale accepted his enemy’s strong level of power and kicked off the building wall.

Swooooosh-

His body headed toward the White Star with the wind.

There was no hesitation whatsoever.

This was the same for his opponent.

Furthermore, Cale was not the only one who was shocked.

“…How did you become complete?”

The White Star asked Cale as they exchanged attacks once more.

One large red rock and a stone spear made of numerous little rocks crashed against each other at the same time.

Baaaaaang-!

The rocks crumbled to dust and scattered this time.

Tap. Tap.

Cale and the White Star both landed on the ground. All that was left of the altar were black ashes because it had been burnt by the red thunderbolt.

The White Star landed on the ashes and looked down at his hand. His fingertips were numb.

“You got the wood.”

Someone else made up their mind just as he finished making up his mind.

“Immediately!”

Alberu Crossman. He grabbed the administrator who had been waiting on one side of the altar to observe the celebration by the collar.

“Ugh, y, your highness?”

This administrator considered himself to be one of the White Star’s subordinates.

Alberu grabbed that administrator who had been running away and gave him an order.

“Open the city gate immediately!”

Alberu Crossman’s eyes were full of delight.

Cale Henituse was able to go up against the White Star.

That punk had achieved a balance of his ancient power.

“…As expected, as expected!”

‘That punk doesn’t bluff when he makes a move!’

He turned on his video communication device. He then gave the order.

“Advance into battle.”

The Mage Brigade and Knights Brigade that should be waiting in the forest nearby Puzzle City right now… Their numbers were small because it had not been long since they were defeated and restored, but they were all talented.

“Your highness.”

Alberu twisted his body and rolled at that moment.

Baaaaang!

There was a strand of light stabbed into where he had just been standing.

Siiiizzle.

There was a burning noise and the spot Alberu had been standing in was covered in heat.

“Ugh. Priest Sayeru!”

Alberu immediately got his body up from the ground and glared at the enemy who had sent the light spear flying toward him.

“Your highness, you can’t do cute things like this. Advance into battle?”

The area around Sayeru was full of bright lights.

“Do you wish to die?”

He launched light spears at Alberu at the same time.

“Fuck!”

Alberu swore before reaching his hand toward the air.

– It’s been a while, Alberu Crossman-nim.

Alberu listened to Taerang’s calm voice as he swung the white spear in his hand.

Baaaaaang-!

Sayeru watched Alberu being flung back from the explosion and raised his voice.

“Arrest Alberu Crossman!”

The troops, who were no longer in a state of chaos, started moving. Black Knights charged toward Alberu.

Clang! Clang!

However, there were knights who got in their way.

“We must protect his highness!”

Taylor Stan had the House of Stan’s knights with him as he stood in front of Alberu. Alberu and Taylor made eye contact as Alberu stood up.

There was no need for words.

“I’ll be going first.”

Alberu had places to go.

‘I need to rescue the hostages while Cale Henituse is keeping the White Star occupied!’

He also needed to safely evacuate the residents of Puzzle City.

It was impossible to protect them with magic shields.

“Ugh, your highness!”

Alberu grabbed the administrator who was crawling away by the collar and urgently started running.

“I can’t let you go.”

Sayeru smiled and tried to chase after him.

“…Damn son of a bitch.”

However, he frowned and could not move.

“You’re mine.”

Oooooo– oooooo–

It felt as if an animal was crying. It wasn’t an actual animal.

It was the roar of someone’s aura that was full of wrath.

The aura had a mix of black and gold. The owner of the aura removed her hood.

Sword master Hannah.

The only family member and younger sister of Saint Jack who had become a sacrifice.

She was standing in front of Sayeru with a smile on her face. However, she released her roaring black aura and did not hide her anger despite that smile.

“Cage!”

“Long time no see.”

Ex-communicated priestess Cage’s baggy sleeves fluttered. The Mercenaries Guild appeared behind her.

“Tsk.”

Sayeru clicked his tongue and slightly nodded his head. Hannah, Cage, nobody understood the meaning behind his action.

However, the shadows of the buildings in between the former plaza and the residential and commercial districts started moving.

Arm.

They were one of the White Star’s forces and had now seeped into the shadows throughout the continent, spying on the houses and workplaces of important figures.

However, assassination was always a part of their nature.

Arm chased after Alberu.

Their goal was to assassinate the target.

Sayeru could not watch them leave.

“You crazy son of a bitch!”

“Yes, I am crazy!”

An aura that felt as if it would explode swirled and charged toward Sayeru.

Bear King Sayeru and sword master Hannah started their clash.

The Black Knights Brigade started fighting the Stan Knights Brigade and Cage’s Mercenaries Guild.

Cage turned her head to look around at that moment.

Baaaaaang—!

Baaaaang—!

“Haaaaa.”

She subconsciously sighed.

A swirling wind wall and a whirlwind. A fire sword and water spear looked as if they wanted to gobble each other up in between them.

The White Star and Cale were launching attacks at each other nonstop.

“…This really is no joke.”

Cage had goosebumps on her forearms within her baggy sleeves.

However, her face soon stiffened.

“I’m going.”

“Okay, I leave it to you.”

Taylor asked with a stiff face as she started leaving.

“Don’t worry.”

Cage left their battle with the Bear King and quickly moved. She kept her body low and avoided people as much as possible.

The White Sky.

The place with the sacrifices was her target.

There was someone who was looking at the White Sky as well.

‘Why is it taking so long?’

It was Cale.

He was starting to get anxious as he had not heard anything from Raon.

The children averaging ten years old, the Molan household, and the Henituse soldiers who had come with them to deliver the sacrifices had attacked the White Sky to save the sacrifices a few moments ago.

Their goal was to use the chaos created by the sudden ambush to rescue the sacrifices.

‘Should I go there?’

Did he need to go there to see what was going on?

Cale couldn’t make up his mind, but he couldn’t easily move anyway.

“Mm!”

Cale immediately brought over some rocks in the air. They created a shield.

Baaaaaang!

There was a loud explosion, and the rock shield crumbled into pieces. A red stone spear in the White Star’s hand stabbed through as the shield disappeared.

Cale waved his hand. Water immediately burst out and turned into a spear to parry the stone spear away.

“Ugh!”

It was the White Star’s turn to step back and brush his hand off.

Cale bit down on his lips as he watched. His forehead was covered in beads of sweat.

‘There are no openings.’

The complete White Star.

This bastard did not easily show any openings.

Similarly, Cale could not show any openings.

That opening would determine whose life would be given to the other.

“Fuck.”

The White Star started smiling as those crude words came out of Cale’s mouth.

Ruuuumble- ruuuuuumble–

The rumbling in the sky sounded different from before.

‘He plans on going all out.’

The strongest of the White Star’s ancient powers…

The sky attribute ancient power was slowly showing itself.

The rocks that Cale had raised to the air were mainly destroyed already.

There was not much left to block the sky.

People started reacting to that noise.

It was because people knew and feared the White Star’s white thunderbolts as much as his red rock. They had not seen any power that could block it.

“Fuck!”

Cage started moving faster. She was running without anything getting in her way.

Puzzle City was in pandemonium.

“We need to run away!”

“Lock the door!”

“Mama, mama!”

“Come here! Mommy said to stick next to her, right? The thunderbolt, we need to dodge the thunderbolt! Where can we go?”

People hiding in their houses… People running away… People quietly hiding and looking around.

All order had crumbled a long time ago in Puzzle City due to the chaos.

“Ohhhh! Finally the god’s thunderbolt!”

“Oh sky, punish those who created this chaos!”

The White Star’s followers’ screech-like shouts reached Cage’s ears.

“You damn Tigers!”

“I guess you want to die, little teddy bear?”

The Tigers and Bears were busy fighting in their berserk states.

The Bears outnumbered the Tigers quite a bit, but the Tigers were fighting as if there was no tomorrow, and the small number of troops from the northeast region and the other kingdoms were helping them barely maintain balance. The Bears who had the numbers advantage would be the victors should this balance ever break.

‘Ha, this is driving me nuts.’

However, she could not help them. A bead of sweat slid down her cheek. Her eyes lit up in rage as she looked forward.

“That weak-ass Lion bastard!”

Boooom!

There was a dull thud and Cage saw Beacrox Molan slamming into a building wall.

Crack-

His greatsword cracked and broke before falling to the floor.

Boom.

Beacrox fell to the ground as if he was breaking into pieces.

“Ugh!”

A groan-like breath burst out of his mouth.

“Kahahaha! As expected, Cale Henituse is not a bastard who would submit so easily!”

The gatekeeper of this place, Lion King Dorph, was laughing loudly with a black presence around him.

“Grandpa Ron! What should we do?”

Raon removed his invisibility and looked uncertain as to what to do while next to Ron.

Ron’s eyes looked at Dorph and the area behind Dorph.

“…They didn’t have their guard down as we expected.”

The entrance to the underground area with the sacrifices… Ron had attempted to avoid that area while infiltrating the basement.

He thought that it would be fine if they destroyed a wall and headed down but the enemies had been more thorough than he had expected.

“We can’t put our guard down already when it has only been one year.”

Dorph was laughing extremely loudly, almost exaggeratedly, but his eyes were more rational than anybody else.

The people coming up from the basement started speeding up as he motioned to them.

They were wearing grey priest robes with sleeves that fluttered with the wind. They were the priests working for the White Star and the God of Despair.

“Ugh.”

“Ooo……”

The groans became louder as they quickened their pace.

There were chains in their hands.

The chains were similar to the shackles around the necks of the people behind them.

The priests had blindfolded sacrifices in each hand as they dragged them to the surface.

Dorph had his arms open as he spoke to Ron and the children averaging ten years old who were watching.

“I knew that Cale Henituse would try to rescue these sacrifices at some point. That is why we always had priests keep their eyes on the sacrifices during the celebration day.”

Cale’s side knew that there would be people on guard.

However, they had not expected it to be so many priests.

‘We haven’t seen them until now.’

Ron and everybody who had come to the White Sky building to deliver the sacrifices had never seen this many priests.

They had only seen a few priests and Lions standing guard.

Dorph’s Lions surrounded the area with the priests and sacrifices to guard them.

‘This is bad.’

Ron, who had planned on rescuing the sacrifices and leaving, wondered what he should do.

The priests would rather die than release the chains with the sacrifices.

‘We were in too much of a rush.’

Ron admitted his mistake.

They had to hurriedly prepare after Cale told them that he was going to Puzzle City immediately that they had not searched the temple properly. They should have at least spent six months scoping it out.

‘The young master-nim is fighting the White Star right now. If we are unable to do this in such a situation-’

That was too unfathomable.

Ron quickly started thinking about how to take care of this situation.

‘Make On and Hong use their paralyzing poison? Then the close to two thousand sacrifices will be unable to move as well.

Or maybe we attack Dorph first to distract them?

…Kill that bastard?’

Ron’s cold gaze headed toward Dorph.

Dorph seemed to enjoy that gaze as he spoke.

“How foolish.”

“…What?”

“Our liege has yet to finish the celebration.”

“…What the hell are you talking about?”

Boom. Boom.

Ron started to get an ominous feeling.

He heard the rumbling in the sky at that moment.

Ruuuuumble- ruuuuuuumble-

They had been hearing this noise since earlier.

“Grandpa Ron! It’s the White Star’s attack! The thunderbolt!”

Ron scowled as Raon shouted.

“Damn it! Go to the sacrifices, go to the priests!”

The people of the Molan household quickly headed toward the priests behind the Lions at his shout.

But Dorph laughed.

“Alright, let’s go.”

He gave the order and the Lions charged toward Ron and the others.

No, they brushed past them.

Plop. Plop.

The priests all knelt down and clasped their chain-holding hands together.

“The celebration is not over!”

“We will all give our lives for the White Star-nim and this world!”

The priests smiled toward the white thunderbolts that were crackling in the sky.

“Oo, oooo! I, I don’t want to die!”

“Fuck! It’s not time for me to die yet!”

Although they were blindfolded, the sacrifices could sense what was going on based on what they heard and started screaming or swearing.

The White Star lowered the fire sword he had raised as if he was going to attack Cale and looked at Cale.

“You are strong in your complete state.”

He sighed and wiped some blood off his cheek.

“However, you are a bit weaker than me.”

Cale looked up at the sky.

He could see the priests and sacrifices through a broken wall. The thunderbolts were revealing their faces toward those people.

The White Star calmly spoke.

“Being a bit weaker than I am… The difference is quite large, despite only being about the width of a single piece of paper. You should know that as well, don’t you?”

The White Star raised his sword again, charged toward Cale, and spoke with certainty.

“You cannot protect them since you need to stop me.”

The sky let out a loud roar at that moment.

Baaaaaang—!

White light, pure white thunderbolts that looked as if they would erase all light and color from the world, struck down from the sky to the ground.

It was directed toward the sacrifices and priests.

“Don’t stop!”

Ron shouted while looking at the light. He was still running toward the sacrifices.

He heard some noises around him but couldn’t hear them properly. The light seemed to even absorb the sounds.

However, his two feet did not stop. He could feel that the others around him were moving forward without stopping as well.

‘Ron. Do not fear no matter what happens.’

Before they came to Puzzle City…

Cale had said something to Ron.

‘I will block whatever it is. You guys understand too, right?’

He had said that to the children averaging ten-years-old and Vice Captain Hilsman as well.

‘The moment I block it…’

Silver wings had glowed around Cale as he had said that. A silver shield had appeared to protect him. Cale had spoken with confidence the moment he activated the shield.

The moment he blocks it…

‘That will be the moment everything changes.’

Ron raised his head.

He could slowly start to see a silver light in front of the white thunderbolts.

‘Have faith. Have faith in my words. And remember. Remember what I told you.’

He had faith and remembered.

It was not only Ron, but everybody who had been with Cale when he said that felt the same way.

Once the silver shield appeared above Ron and the sacrifices…

Cale looked at the White Star.

The White Star had said the following just now.

‘Being a bit weaker than I am… The difference is quite large despite only being about the width of a single piece of paper. You should know that as well, don’t you?’

Cale, as he had shown until now, would find it difficult to have an overwhelming victory over the White Star. Cale knew that much as well.

The White Star had also said the following.

‘You cannot protect them since you need to stop me.’

Cale smiled and the White Star frowned while turning away from Cale. Cale spoke while looking at his back.

“Why would I block you on my own? We can do it together.”

The White Star who had turned his back… a black yong was viciously charging toward him with its jaws open.

Choi Han was swinging his sword toward the White Star behind the black yong.

Baaaaang—!

The black young smashed against the White Star and…

Baaaaaaaaaang—!

The silver shield blocked the white thunderbolts.

—

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