Extra in a Romance Fantasy - Chapter 132
132 – Legend (1)
“Ugh…! What……!!”
“Ugh…! You……!!”
The silver knight and the blood flame, wounded and bleeding, moved apart to create distance.
Then, hastily using their magic to staunch their wounds, they glared at the one who had brought them to this state, Baran.
“Hm. I suppose it must be called the Ten Blades.”
However, the one receiving their gaze, Baran, wore a smile devoid of any shadow.
“To think you would react in that moment when I aimed to kill you, exploiting your every opening.”
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He wore an expression of genuine regret.
“Who the hell…! What on earth are you doing!”
The silver knight shouted at Baran, his face contorted to the point where his veins bulged.
His fury was so intense it seemed he could tear Baran apart at any moment.
“What do you mean? You can see it, can’t you? I attacked you.”
Baran replied confidently, undaunted by the fierce atmosphere surrounding him.
His demeanor was so calm it was hard to believe he had just nearly killed two people with a swing of his sword.
“You…!”
An explosive surge of magic erupted from the silver knight upon hearing Baran’s absurdly nonchalant response.
“…You’re completely insane.”
The blood flame felt the same.
Yet, considering their fierce demeanor and usual temperament, it would have been normal for them to leap forward and behead Baran immediately. For some reason, however, they remained rooted in place.
“You spoke as if you would charge at me any moment… so why aren’t you moving?”
Baran asked with a smile, his demeanor even hinting at leisure, but the silver knight and the blood flame merely twisted their expressions, still not moving from their spots.
They knew all too well.
Even if it had been a complete ambush, utterly unexpected, if Baran’s level had been lower, they would never have found themselves in this predicament.
No, at the very least, if Baran’s level was as rumored, they would have reacted immediately, blocking or dodging his attack.
—
And yet, they were caught.
Both of them, at once.
Through that fact, the Silver Knight and the Blood Fiend realized.
“Hm. You seem quite displeased.”
The man before them, whom they wanted to tear apart and kill on the spot, was on the same level as they were.
“It seems you have no intention of coming, huh? What a pity. I was thinking of cutting off your breath this time…”
Baran muttered with a look of regret.
However, that expression didn’t last long.
“Well. That’s fine. The original goal was to inflict injuries on you, after all.”
As if he desired nothing more, Baran nodded in satisfaction.
It was then.
“What the hell are you doing all of a sudden?”
A voice reminiscent of a beast flew toward Baran.
“Hmm?”
Turning his gaze, he saw Kahim, frowning as he looked at Baran.
Yet, what was reflected on his face was not anger or passion.
Kahim merely sent a look of confusion toward Baran.
“It’s not like you’ve suddenly lost your mind, but from the way you’re babbling, it seems you’ve planned this situation from the start…”
For Kahim, the fact that the Silver Knight and the Blood Fiend were injured didn’t come as a shock.
After all, it was truly none of his concern.
No, it was even a good thing.
He wasn’t on friendly terms with them, even in empty words.
“So, what’s your goal? Were you so covetous of that sword? Or do you have a grudge against those two?”
What remained for him were only questions.
“Not at all. I have no personal feelings toward those two, nor do I covet this sword.”
Baran gently shook his head, denying Kahim’s words.
“Hmm…”
Hearing Baran’s response, Kahim stroked his chin and let out a dry voice.
“…Well, fine. Whatever your purpose, it seems this conversation will be lengthy. You must have your own reasons.”
As if it were of no consequence, Kahim decided to move past this shocking situation.
“Then… did you act without thinking about the consequences?”
With a nonchalant expression, Kahim asked again.
“Consequences, you say?”
“Yeah.”
Nodding, Kahim glanced around with his eyes.
It wasn’t that he was suddenly inspecting his surroundings.
He was silently communicating with Baran.
With witnesses surrounding them, could they manage to resolve this situation?
“Hmm… well, you’ve seen it for yourself. You know my skills aren’t just rumors. And now, with that unidentified monster here… I don’t think escaping would be too difficult.”
Baran replied.
However, Kahim shook his head expressionlessly.
“It won’t work.”
No one could have anticipated this situation, but the fault was clear, and there was no one here to help Baran.
Rather, most would likely adopt a stance of holding onto Baran and thinking things through, even if they didn’t understand the situation.
Given that Baran possessed strength on par with ten swords, he wouldn’t be caught immediately, but if there were this many people of this level, the outcome was obvious.
Simply managing these individuals would be a challenge.
Moreover, while the Silver Knight and Blood Flame had sustained serious injuries, they were not completely incapacitated.
If they managed to tend to their wounds and regroup, the end was as clear as day.
It was evident that Baran wouldn’t last long before being caught.
“…Well, I suppose that’s how it will be.”
Baran calmly acknowledged that fact.
Kahim frowned at his composed demeanor.
He couldn’t understand it.
Despite knowing his own end, there was no sign of anxiety in that attitude.
What on earth was he thinking to act like that?
Just as Kahim was about to voice his doubts again.
“As long as the situation doesn’t change, that is.”
With Baran’s added words.
Kugung─
Suddenly, the grave began to shake violently.
“What is this…!”
It was needless to say that everyone around was taken aback by the sudden phenomenon.
It wasn’t just a simple tremor; it felt as if a fierce earthquake was shaking everything violently in all directions.
“What on earth…!”
Even the strong ones, including the Silver Knight, Blood Flower, and Kahim, showed signs of confusion.
No, rather, they were reacting even more intensely.
Their instincts, honed to the level of superhumans, had begun to go wild.
Something unusual was happening, and their instincts were fiercely warning them.
In the midst of this unexpected turmoil at the altar, there was one person who remained calm.
It was none other than Baran.
Baran looked up at the sky with an expression that seemed almost relaxed.
Then he spoke.
Like a boy watching the curtain rise on a long-awaited stage.
“Now, it finally begins.”
As soon as those words left his mouth.
Zzzzz—
Suddenly, the sky opened up.
*
As I gazed at the abruptly opened sky, I couldn’t help but frown.
No, it would be more accurate to say that I naturally ended up doing so.
It wasn’t just because the sight was so bizarre.
It was the ominous feeling emanating from the open sky, coupled with a strong sense of déjà vu.
I had seen this phenomenon somewhere before.
Right, it was at the lake near Lakewood.
Yes, that looked strikingly similar to what I had witnessed back then.
And from the crack I had seen then…….
Kuwung—
Suddenly, the air around me grew heavy.
“W-what, what….”
“Th-this is….”
Gasps of shock erupted from all around, surpassing mere confusion.
In a way, it could be likened to the way the Silver Knight and Blood Flower had dominated the area with their presence, but this was on a different level entirely.
The weight of this pressure was so heavy and dense that it made their previous display seem like child’s play.
“Cough…!”
So much so that people were fainting from just the sheer force of it.
Ordinary people might not understand, but these were individuals each equipped with formidable power.
The fact that such beings could faint merely from a sense of pressure was beyond imagination.
I listened to the cries of those in pain as I gazed at the crack.
And then I realized.
Beyond that crack.
‘Something’ was looking down upon us.
It wasn’t that it had actively unleashed its power to exert pressure.
Simply by ‘looking’ at us, this overwhelming sense of pressure had emerged.
It was a brutal shattering of common sense.
“…….”
“…….”
The two swordsmen who had reached the exalted realm of thought, the Silver Knight and Blood Flower, seemed to sense something from the crack, gazing up at it with expressions of bewilderment they had never shown before.
In that moment, everyone was rendered speechless.
“O great being!”
Baran shouted towards the sky.
With a bright smile on his face.
And then.
────.
The gaze of ‘that’ fell upon Baran.
Despite undoubtedly feeling an incomprehensible pressure on his soul, Baran did not lose his smile.
No, rather, that smile deepened even more.
With that, Baran stretched out both hands.
And then he shouted once more.
“It is prepared for you! And these are the offerings we have prepared for you!”
—
What his hand pointed to were still the monsters, endlessly writhing, and the people who had completely lost their wits.
“Please, as a humble being, I ask you, if my meager sincerity pleases you, grant me your protection!”
Like a beggar pleading for mercy from an emperor.
Baran earnestly implored ‘it.’
And then, ‘it’ shifted its gaze, sweeping over this place.
Those on the altar, looking up at the sky in despair, and the bizarrely shaped monster.
At last.
────.
‘It’ smiled.
────.
A wave of intention that could never be understood.
That ‘will’ which could not be expressed in mere language.
I could grasp it, just a little.
‘Very well.’
‘It’ said so.
And then, ‘it’ reached out a hand.
That outstretched hand touched the monster that had been gently writhing…
Gurgle─
Then the shadow monster began to thrash violently.
So violently that it was clearly not normal.
The monster, which had shown signs of being anything but ordinary, soon began to spread as if it were exploding.
What had started as the size of a single person rapidly expanded.
The size that had been no more than a person soon grew to that of a house, and then to that of a city wall.
With every blink, the monster grew, and by the time I regained my senses, it was as large as a mountain.
It wasn’t just the size that had changed.
Its form was also undergoing a clear transformation.
The body that resembled a human shape vanished without a trace, replaced by scales of a dull hue that reflected not even a glimmer of light, writhing in an amorphous shape.
Each scale was as large as a house, with claws and fangs, and a pair of enormous horns sprouting from its head.
Finally, golden eyes, vertically slit like those of a reptile.
A dragon.
It had taken on the form of a colossal black dragon, as immense as a mountain.
All who beheld it were rendered speechless.
It was not merely the overwhelming size and appearance that left them in awe.
It was the familiarity of that form.
“…Armiannon.”
The newly reborn monster bore an uncanny resemblance to Armiannon, a calamity-level creature from the legend of the hero, Ferdion.