Raon narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the meadow engulfed by purple waves.
'What's happening here?'
This region, where Boardri village is located, was originally a mix of vast grasslands and mountains. Though not as fertile as the central continent, it had enough grass to feed livestock. Now, not even weeds were visible due to the purple waves.
'Death energy...'
But this was no ordinary death energy. Death energy is a force that concentrates the resentment of the dead. Raon had encountered powerful death energy while fighting necromancers, but the aura now covering the meadow was far more intense than anything he knew.
The problem wasn't just the death energy covering the ground. Grotesque monsters were constantly emerging from those hideous purple waves.
The Blade of Requiem also sensed the malevolence in the purple death energy, vibrating with a warning hum.
-How foul.
Wrath clicked his tongue as he looked down at the earth.
-Such a stench doesn't come from just one or two deaths. It seems countless lives were sacrificed.
He furrowed his brow, saying whoever was responsible must be a terrible fiend.
'Indeed.'
Raon exhaled briefly as he watched the undulating purple waves.
'It's still growing even now.'
The purple sea appeared to be rippling in place, but upon closer inspection, it was slowly expanding bit by bit.
"Why are you just standing there instead of going down? Are you tired... huh?"
Martha was about to tease Raon when she looked down the mountain and her eyes widened.
"W-what is that?!"
She trembled as she saw the purple waves coloring the entire land.
"Purple smoke? No, energy? What in the world..."
Burren also swallowed hard, unable to process the scene before his eyes.
"It smells awful..."
Runaan frowned, pinching her nose as if she had already caught the stench of death energy.
"Ugh..."
Dorian gasped, clearly unprepared for such a situation.
"W-what is that?"
His eyes shook as he stared at the darkly shimmering purple waves.
"It's death energy, created by concentrating the resentment of the dead."
Raon snapped his fingers, drawing the attention of the Light Wind division swordsmen.
"Exposure to death energy causes the body to rot and the mind to be corrupted. Surround yourselves with mana as a precaution."
After giving the Light Wind division time to compose themselves, he looked down the mountain. He could see numerous people gathered at the base of the mountain he had climbed.
'Are those the people of Boardri village?'
There were more than he expected. Boardri village wasn't originally very large, but it seemed to have grown to a small city's worth of people, likely those fleeing the tyranny of lords or cities.
'The Warring Steel Division is at the front.'
The Warring Steel Division swordsmen were battling monsters at the forefront of the purple waves to protect the Boardri villagers.
'Trevin...'
He saw a middle-aged man with golden hair at the head of the Warring Steel Division, delivering powerful sword strikes. Trevin was pushing back the monsters, looking unchanged.
'He's not in good shape.'
Though Trevin had become a Grandmaster after the war with the South-North Union, his sword hand was trembling, likely from fighting while exposed to death energy. He seemed very tired. But even in his exhausted state, he didn't take a single step back, protecting the Warring Steel Division and the Boardri villagers.
"We should go down quickly."
Mark Goetun bit his lip, suggesting it would be best to go help the people.
"Light Wind division. Use all your strength to stand before the Warring Steel Division."
Raon nodded and gave the order for the Light Wind division to charge.
"Yes!"
The Light Wind division took a deep breath and kicked off the cold, hardened ground. They descended the mountain faster than when they first set out on their journey.
'I don't sense anything special.'
While it wouldn't be strange to assume there were no necromancers if they didn't register on his senses, Raon remained vigilant and focused his mind as he followed his footwork, given what they had experienced so far.
-Sigh...
Wrath shook his head as he looked at the rippling purple waves.
-I guess it'll be Nadine bread for dinner after all.
'Just for dinner?'
Raon shook his head as he looked at the purple sea filling the meadow.
-Huh?
'It'll probably be Nadine bread not just tomorrow, but the day after as well.'
-Damn it all!
Wrath wrinkled his nose bridge sharply.
-Tell the bastard who caused this mess to come out! This king will catch him!
He shook his fist, saying he'd beat even a demon king if that's what it took.
* * *
"Huff..."
Trevin exhaled heavily after beheading a corrupted werewolf that had emerged from the sea of death energy.
"It's endless."
The purple sea rippling before his eyes had originally been smaller than a stream. But after devouring the corpses of monsters he and the Warring Steel Division had slain, then consuming even villagers, it had grown to this unmanageable size.
As the waves expanded, so did the number of monsters emerging from within, forcing them to retreat despite fighting non-stop.
"D-Division Leader! The right flank is being pushed back!"
A Warring Steel Division swordsman gritted his teeth as he blocked the fist of a corrupted ogre.
"The left side can't hold much longer either!"
Another swordsman on the left exhaled sharply, his pale lips trembling.
"Hold! Hold even if it kills you!"
Trevin took a short breath and thrust his sword into the purple waves. An Astral Ring bloomed above his extended blade, rotating diagonally and causing a powerful explosion. The Astral Ring, though incomplete, tore apart the monsters and made the purple waves sway greatly.
But as if it had never been impacted, the purple sea quickly filled the empty space and surged towards him and the Warring Steel Division.
"Support will arrive soon! We just need to hold out a little longer!"
Trevin clenched his sword hand as he urged them to endure.
'It must be difficult.'
These waves of death energy were affecting even him, a Grandmaster. With the toxic fumes released by the corrupted monsters as they died, the less experienced swordsmen were bound to struggle. But they couldn't abandon this line and flee, as not all the Boardri villagers were prepared yet.
"If we fall back here, all the villagers will die! Hold to the end!"
Trevin fired off consecutive Astral Rings to support his exhausted swordsmen, even as he inhaled death energy-laced air.
"S-Swordsman, we're fine, so..."
An elderly man with white hair approached, covering his mouth with a damp cloth. It was the village chief of Boardri who had first requested help.
"Please leave now. I'm sorry for calling you here..."
The chief bowed his head, his chin trembling as he apologized profusely. His cheeks and ears were rotting from exposure to death energy, yet he still expressed his regret.
"Don't say such things!"
Trevin shook his head vigorously.
"As a Zieghart swordsman, I cannot stand idly by in the face of this. If I fled and abandoned you, that friend who will soon arrive would surely scold me harshly!"
He told the chief to stay back as he turned his gaze.
'That's right. I can't show a shameful side to him.'
He had accepted Karoon's offer to join the Light Wind Palace, believing Raon to be a vessel that could contain him. To be worthy of serving under Raon, who truly embodied righteousness and chivalry, he couldn't retreat here.
Thinking of Raon seemed to give him a bit of strength. He raised an Astral Ring above his sword technique to push back the approaching purple waves.
The repelled purple waves surged greatly. Based on what had happened so far, this was a sign that a fairly strong monster was about to emerge.
"Huh...?"
Trevin let out a gasp as he saw the being that emerged from the waves of death energy.
'A person?'
What came out this time was a person wielding a sword. However, their skin was pale like a zombie's, and they exuded no signs of life.
"What is this..."
As Trevin furrowed his brow, the swordsman suddenly lunged at him, thrusting their sword. He managed to block it, but this zombie swordsman was wielding death energy like aura as they swung their sword. Though not particularly strong, the intense death energy they emitted would make it difficult for other swordsmen to fight.
'I need to deal with this quickly.'
To prevent other swordsmen from being harmed, he completely shattered the zombie swordsman's head. But as if this was just the beginning, the purple sea endlessly spewed forth corrupted monsters and zombie swordsmen.
"Urgh..."
A young Warring Steel Division swordsman fighting on the right flank collapsed, his complexion turning pitch black.
"I-I can't breathe..."
"Damn it!"
"Division Leader..."
Other swordsmen, unable to withstand the death energy and toxic fumes, dropped their swords and fell to their knees one by one.
"C-curse it all!"
"Argh!"
Even the swordsmen who could still fight were injured trying to protect those who had fallen, forcing them to retreat. The frontline that the Warring Steel Division had barely been holding collapsed in an instant.
"Division Leader! We can't hold this line! We need to fall back!"
Caman, the deputy leader of the Warring Steel Division, cried out almost like a scream as he beheaded a zombie swordsman.
"Retreat..."
Just as Trevin was about to order a retreat, the waves of death energy surged greatly, engulfing the injured and fallen Warring Steel Division swordsmen.
'Ah...'
Trevin tried to extend his sword to block the death energy, but he couldn't cover everywhere. Instead of the left side he reached for first, he saw the swordsmen on the right being swallowed by the waves. He wanted to help somehow, but there was no way. If he reached out to the right now, the swordsmen on the left would die.
'Damn it!'
As if seeing their last moments, memories of his subordinates and all they had built together flashed before his eyes. It felt like his insides were being torn apart.
"Urgh!"
Just as Trevin was about to let out a cry in the slowing time, the dark night split open, and a red line like a comet's tail was drawn. A blade engulfed in bright red flames sliced through the purple waves that were about to engulf the Warring Steel Division.
The red flames pushed back the waves of death energy and still had enough power to incinerate the monsters trying to emerge from within.
"That sword is..."
Trevin smiled, his creased face relaxing as he saw the flaming sword pushing back the sea of death energy. He turned around and called out the name he had been waiting for.
"Raon!"
* * *
"It's been a while, Warring Steel Leader."
Raon bowed his head as he looked at Trevin.
"But I'm disappointed that you couldn't handle this death energy and had to request support from the family."
He smiled faintly as he threw back the words Trevin had said when he came to support House Arianne.
"T-that's not..."
Trevin stumbled over his words, seemingly flustered by the sudden attack.
"We can catch up later. Let's deal with this first."
As Raon flicked his finger, brilliant lights flashed across the dark sky. The Light Wind Division swordsmen who had formed the Light Wind Formation. Their sword strikes, unleashed in a single breath, rained down like a meteor shower, bursting all the monsters and zombie swordsmen that had emerged from the purple sea.
But the purple sea paused for only a moment before it began to writhe and surge towards them again.
"This is more vicious than I thought."
The concentration of death energy was higher than when he had viewed it from the mountaintop. It was remarkable that the Warring Steel Division had held out this long.
'There seems to be something in there.'
Something terribly malevolent appeared to be hidden within the undulating purple sea.
"Attacks using aura are useless. It just fills back up immediately, like cutting water."
Trevin shook his head, saying that even firing off Astral Rings only momentarily halted the purple sea.
"I heard it was dangerous, but I didn't expect death energy to be erupting as well."
Raon shook his head, asking why this detail hadn't been mentioned.
"When we sent the request for support to the family, the death energy wasn't this severe."
Trevin furrowed his brow as he looked at the rippling purple waves.
"At first, it was just the size of a small stream, with only goblins and such emerging. But that stream gradually swelled, and before we knew it, it had grown to this size and surrounded us."
He bit his lip as he looked at the blackening, dying land.
"The people here fled the tyranny of other cities to come this far. I wanted to protect their home, but I couldn't..."
Trevin trembled his clenched fist, saying it was due to his lack of ability.
"Then we'll just have to reclaim it from now on."
Raon smiled faintly as he twirled the Heavenly Drive.
"What...?"
"There's nothing I can't do if my new subordinate wants it."
He waved his finger with a smile.
"T-this was my stubbornness! You don't need to exert yourself too!"
Trevin shook his head, saying they should retreat for now.
"It's pointless to argue."
Martha shook her head.
"That guy doesn't listen well to others."
She shook her head, telling him to give up.
"That's right. Once he says he'll do something, he does it."
Burren nodded, saying it was best to let him be.
"Welcome..."
Runaan patted Trevin's shoulder, welcoming him.
"No, you all..."
Trevin let out an exasperated sigh.
"Welcome to hell, which you've walked into of your own accord."
Krein nodded, dark circles under his eyes.
"There's no need to feel so burdened."
Mark Goetun calmly shook his head.
"The Division Leader made this decision because he believed we could do it."
He pointed his finger forward. The pure white blade of the Heavenly Drive extended, its blazing light cleaving half of the purple sea that had engulfed the meadow.