The Swordsman Genius Returnee Even Swallows Immortality

14

4th Floor of the Permanent Ice Field.

There were those who galloped across the snow desert.

They were none other than the 4th Knights of the Order of the Shooting Stars.

Among them, the leader, Dratein Glycis, the Captain of the 4th Knights of the Order of the Shooting Stars, was overwhelmed with irritability.

“Ery, are you really unable to contact him?”

“Yes, we cannot contact him.”

Dratein bit his lip.

Malek is a loyal knight.

There was no reason for him to avoid contact.

Then, it’s not that he’s avoiding contact, but that he can’t receive it.

There was only one reason why Malek couldn’t receive contact.

‘Did Malek run into those guys?’

A skilled knight who broke through to the 5th floor?

Dratein couldn’t accept it.

So he became even more anxious.

“Excuse me, Captain.”

At that moment, Erik, the last of the three vice-captains, called out to him.

“Is it possible that Vice-captain Malek has something else going on? Like a disaster?”

The tower is dangerous.

It always has variables, and disasters are dangerous.

So even veterans often find themselves in danger.

Perhaps there was a variable.

“Yes, that’s right! That’s it!”

Dratein rejoiced, saying it was an accurate observation.

He preferred this side of things.

It didn’t make sense that Dante and Habel went ahead first.

Even Malek was hit!

“That can’t be true!”

Drathen insisted on conviction.

It was hard to believe that he had dodged the accident.

“Erick, you’re right. It seems like something happened to Malek.”

Erick seized the opportunity and immediately farted.

“Yes, it seems like we should hurry and save him.”

Erick’s eyes sparkled.

He was the type to pursue success.

However, Bolanz only had a complicated expression.

He would have to pay a heavy price for instilling false hope.

“I see it!”

At that moment, a knight exclaimed.

A forest filled with ice trees.

It was the Ice and Snow Forest.

It was obvious.

It was the Ice and Snow Forest where Malek had decided to wait.

“Let’s go in right now. Everyone, prepare for battle!”

Malek is in danger.

That means there must be a strong, evil being inside.

All of the knights drew their swords and entered the Ice and Snow Forest.

They walked for a long time, crushing the icy ground beneath their feet.

Booooooom!

They heard the sound of something huge roaring.

Drathen, who was running in the lead, stopped in his tracks.

“Halt, everyone.”

Everyone stopped at Drathen’s command.

The sound they had just heard didn’t feel good.

‘Where did the sound come from?’

Even though he had disregarded Havel and Dante and had come on this expedition.

Drathen wasn’t incompetent.

The problem was that he was too preoccupied with thoughts of Havel and Dante, which made his thinking narrow.

He hadn’t been given the position of Captain of the 4th Knights solely because he was a direct descendant.

He was also considered a rising star in Glasis.

That was why, fortunately, his senses had been awakened by the sound from earlier.

“It sounded like a whale. Does anyone have any information about this sound from the 4th Order?”

Drathen, who had barely regained his senses, asked.

However, the knights only murmured amongst themselves and no one answered.

It was a sound that everyone was hearing for the first time.

‘A whale in this snowy desert?’

The moment Draetain’s eyes narrowed,

“Captain!”

A knight responded while pointing forward.

Draetain’s body stiffened as he looked in that direction.

There was a corpse frozen stiff while standing.

And engraved on his chest was the symbol of the Knights of the Meteor.

He was one of Malec’s adjutants.

Draetain hurriedly approached him.

As if frozen after seeing something.

The corpse’s eyes were wide open.

“…Something really did happen.”

The thought that he couldn’t be contacted because of the Omen had only been a conclusion to avoid the incident.

But it seemed something really did happen to Malec.

Booooooom!

At that moment, the whale’s cry rang out again.

It was closer than before.

Draetain was sure.

This monster was the Omen that attacked Malec’s group.

“Airy! Find the Omen’s location! Deputy Captains, prepare for battle against the large-class Omen!”

The Knights of the Meteor moved like a sword at Draetain’s command.

Airy, who was responsible for information delivery and search, quickly found the Omen’s location.

Then, her face soon turned pale.

“Ah, it’s below!”

“What?”

The moment Draetain asked back,

Kugugugugugung!

Everyone’s gaze turned below to the rumbling ground.

At that moment.

Kwaang!

The ground of the Icy Snow Forest collapsed, and a giant whale shot up.

Boooooom!

The snow-white Ice Whale let out a cry.

A whale larger than a ship floating on the sea.

It was the appearance of the Ice Whale.

“Euaack!”

“Kwak?!”

Those who were hit head-on by the Ice Whale were thrown into the sky and crashed down.

Most of them died instantly from the impact of the collision, and even those who barely survived lost their lives from the impact of the fall.

Among them was Vice-Captain Ellic.

It was the vain death of a man blinded by ambition.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The fact that the Iceberg White Whale had surfaced meant…

It was turning its body to dive back down.

“Here comes another one! Brace yourselves!”

Draithen’s voice echoed through the air, sounding almost torn.

The moment the giant whale’s shadow loomed over the Iceberg Forest…

KWA-BOOM!

Once again, the forest was destroyed with an incredible shockwave.

Then, in an instant, the whale disappeared beneath the snow desert.

Barely hanging on after the shockwave, Draithen lifted his head.

All that remained where the whale had disappeared was the Meteorite Knights in their devastated state.

It was the first time he had ever witnessed a Demonic Beast of that size.

Naturally, there has been no way to prepare for it.

“Is everyone alright! Move the wounded! Let’s get out of here, now!”

There was no way they could fight something like that.

Even if they were the Meteorite Knights, they would be wiped out first.

“C-Captain, isn’t something strange?”

At that moment, Bolanz raised a question.

“Strange?”

“Yes, wasn’t Malek’s aide frozen? Not crushed or fallen to death!”

Draithen’s expression hardened.

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

The Iceberg White Whale’s size was terrifying.

But the weapon was its size.

It didn’t freeze things to death, turning them into corpses.

If that was the case, then what had been done to him?

“…There’s more.”

Draithen’s cold sweat dripped down his chin.

“There’s another Demonic Beast! Search the surroundings!”

Draithen sensed a crisis.

The Iceberg White Whale alone was a problem.

But there was another Demonic Beast that had put Malek in real danger.

Even the most treacherous mountains weren’t as daunting as this.

He thought he had grasped all of the Fourth Order.

But another variable had suddenly emerged.

“Eurk!”

That was the moment.

One of the knight’s screams echoed through the air.

There, frozen like a corpse, was one of his men.

His heart had stopped, and a cold, white mist was coming from his mouth.

His eyes were wide open,

As if he had forgotten something.

Just like the corpse earlier.

It was certain.

That’s what happens when you see something.

Draithen sensed it.

“Everyone, close your eyes now! You’ll freeze if you see something! Close your eyes and get out of the forest first!”

Draithen shouted and started running.

He didn’t have time to take care of his men.

The top priority was to get out.

However, running with his eyes closed was surprisingly difficult.

Especially in a forest full of ice trees.

“Argh!”

Draithen’s sensitive hearing picked up someone’s scream.

Draithen couldn’t see it with his eyes closed.

“Kyaa!”

Another scream echoed.

Draithen was getting impatient now.

The sound of footsteps following the scream was fading away.

He had no sense of direction because he couldn’t see.

He couldn’t even tell if he was walking properly anymore.

“Kyaa! De, Deputy.”

And then came Bolance’s scream.

“Are you okay!”

Draithen shouted without thinking.

But there was no answer.

A quiet space.

Before he knew it, the only footsteps were his own.

Draithen gulped.

Gulp-.

The sound was so loud that Draithen flinched.

“Damn it, dammit, what the, what the hell is this.”

Tears streamed down from his closed eyes.

It was because he was completely terrified.

His legs were shaking.

He felt like he was going to collapse at any moment.

He thought he might be next.

That moment.

“What a sight.”

A familiar voice rang in his ears.

And then, the moment he realized who the voice belonged to, Draxien was seized by rage.

It was Habel, the one he had made a bet with, and now he had his thing.

“You, you bastard!”

Draxien looked around him wildly with his eyes still closed.

He was so angry that he feared it was a trick of the evil spirits, but he couldn’t even open his eyes.

However, there was no answer.

That made Draxien even more anxious.

Anything was fine right now.

He wanted to hear a human voice.

The silence was terrifying.

“If you wish, I will save you.”

At that moment, Habel’s voice was heard once more.

“Save me, save me! Save me right now!”

Draxien clung to that voice.

“But you know the price.”

“The price, the price!? Isn’t the victory of the friendly match enough that you want more?”

“Did you forget that you had the Meteor Knights waiting in the Icy Snow Forest first? Do you think I’ll just save you because I like you?”

Draxien’s body was cringed.

Of course, he had ordered Malec to do that.

“I’m sorry. I’ll apologize for that. Please!”

Draxien knelt down and begged profusely.

He didn’t care about his pride or anything.

If he died, it would be the end of everything.

He didn’t want to die.

“Then promise me that you will announce it to the world with your own mouth.”

“Promise?”

“You will tell them what kind of despicable things Glacies did in the friendly match.”

Draxien swallowed hard.

If he did that, he would be excommunicated from his family.

Death and excommunication.

Those two things filled his mind.

“It seems you don’t want to answer.”

And Habel made a move to turn away.

“Dammit, dammit, I’ll admit it! I’ll admit everything! I’ll announce it! Please, I beg you. Spare me. It was my fault.”

But Habel’s voice did not return.

Was it too late?

His anxiety doubled.

“Hey, hey! I said I’ll do it! I said I will!”

Draxien struggled to find Habel.

He felt like death was breathing down his neck.

Every sense except his sight was kicking in.

“Please, please.”

Ironically, it was in this moment that Drathain made a new awakening.

The Clairvoyance ability passed down through the Glacies family.

The power to see through the truth of the beholder.

A unique ability of the Glacies bloodline.

It was something he had accidentally awakened while struggling in the face of death.

But even with that, he couldn’t find Habell.

“I was wrong….”

“The Friendly Match will continue.”

At that moment, Habell’s voice was heard again.

Drathain, who was covered in tears and snot, showed ecstasy.

His face was a mess from extreme stress.

“Anything, I’ll do anything! I’ll do the Friendly Match or whatever!”

At that moment, he was shouted at, and his body suddenly floated into the air.

Before he could even scream in panic, he was rolling on the ground.

“Open your eyes now.”

In the midst of the fear of death, he had relied solely on Habell’s voice.

He couldn’t bring himself to defy Habell’s words.

Drathain finally opened his eyes.

At that moment, he saw Habell’s back.

However, he should have regretted opening his eyes.

“Hic, hic!?”

The Clairvoyance ability he had awakened in order to survive.

Not being used to handle it, the Clairvoyance reflected a fragment of Habell.

There was a monster there.

A giant monster whose head was hidden in the clouds no matter how much he looked up.

Drathain’s body shook as if he were having a seizure.

A terror greater than death squeezed his throat.

Drathan no longer had the will to resist.

The moment he caught a glimpse of Habell’s fragment, his will was broken.

Habell didn’t care about his appearance.

“Soon, there will come a time when you will have to keep your promise. Be prepared.”

With just those words, Habell kicked off the ground and jumped away.