Chapter 317:

Chapter 317:

Yu-hyun was unable to move.

The person he had trusted and relied on until now turned out to be the most suspicious suspect.

He felt a surge of tension as he realized this.

‘I have to stay calm.’

Yu-hyun moved his hand that was holding the paper calmly.

He pretended to look for something, just like before.

“...Don’t bother me right now. I’m busy.”

“Did you find anything?”

“No. I still can’t see it.”

Yu-hyun spoke casually as he folded the paper and opened another one. But that was not enough.

He was still in Ryan’s gap. And he couldn’t draw his weapon yet.

‘Get away.’

He could clearly see the sword wrapped in black cloth on his waist, and he could pull it out with a slight movement.

But the distance felt impossibly far.

He couldn’t reach it even if he stretched his hand, and he felt that Ryan’s sword would move faster than him even if he drew his sword quickly. It was an instinct.

An instinctive wariness.

That made Yu-hyun’s movement slightly hesitant.

“Your hand stopped.”

“...”

“...I see.”

Ryan muttered in a disappointed voice.

He noticed something too.

Yu-hyun closed his eyes tightly and opened them as soon as he heard that. And with a lightning-fast speed, he grabbed his sword and...

“Too late.”

Ryan was faster than him. He slashed the sword sheath on Yu-hyun’s waist with his sword.

Before he could grab it with his hand, the sword on his waist flew out and rolled on the floor.

Yu-hyun quickly grabbed the papers on the ground with both hands and threw them back.

The rolled papers unraveled and blocked Ryan’s sight.

Ryan didn’t panic even in that situation.

His hand holding the sword moved a little faster, and soon the papers that were fluttering in the air and blocking his view were cut into pieces and scattered.

“It’s useless to resist.”

Ryan kicked Yu-hyun’s side as he tried to grab the sword on the floor.

Yu-hyun reflexively crossed his arms to defend himself, but he couldn’t stop his body from flying back.

Kwoong.

Yu-hyun’s body hit the closed door and rolled on the floor.

He frowned at the pain in his arm and looked up at Ryan who was approaching him.

“Why are you doing this?”

Why did you betray us, weren’t you Lean’s right-hand man?

“You were a veteran explorer who had been guarding this place for 32 years...”

“Yeah. I’m an explorer. And before that, I was one of the great warriors. And after that, I’m an explorer. And after that, I’ll always be an explorer. Fighting against the frost giants, struggling endlessly.”

“What are you talking about...”

“I don’t think you’ll understand what I’m saying.”

Ryan still had an expressionless face.

He thought they had become friends after talking a few times before.

But now, it felt like those memories were lies. Ryan looked down at Yu-hyun with a cold gaze.

“It would have been better if you had disappeared like before, being called a witch by everyone. Then I wouldn’t have to do this annoying thing.”

“What are you saying...”

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. Even if you die, it will be blamed on Frechen and his gang. That’s lucky. Thanks to that capricious emperor who drew all kinds of attention, I was able to move so easily.”

He never thought that he, who had been Lean’s right-hand man, was a traitor.

No, he had left some possibility open. Yu-hyun didn’t think Frechen was 100% a traitor. He came here to fill in that gap, and that’s why he survived Ryan’s attack until now.

But that was over now.

Ryan lifted his sword up.

“Die.”

And as he swung it down,

Crack!

The wooden door above Yu-hyun’s head broke and a monstrous hand popped out.

“What...!”

Ryan was too late to react with his sword.

The hand that broke the door grabbed Ryan’s neck and pulled him out with a strong force.

Crack!

The wooden door shattered and Ryan flew out.

“Wow. That was close. You could have been in big trouble if I was a little late.”

“Who are you...”

Yu-hyun recognized the person who saved him and widened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was gray hair.

“Frechen?”

He was the last bloodline of the fallen empire, always acting on his own and hostile to Lean.

He was also the one I suspected of being a traitor, but he saved Yu-hyun at this moment.

Frechen smiled slightly, turning his head.

“Why? Are you too surprised to see me?”

“No, how did you...?”

“How did I know? Well, I’d love to answer that, but.”

Frechen twisted his lips as he saw Ryan getting up from his fallen body.

“We don’t have time for that right now.”

He said, grabbing a large axe.

The blade of the axe was jagged at the end.

“...It was you? The tail?”

“Hey. That’s too harsh. I’ve never been a tail. I’m a head, if anything. You also figured out the existence of the traitor, didn’t you?”

“That’s...”

“Frecheeeen!”

Ryan roared Frechen’s name, enraged by the interruption.

His face, which was always expressionless, was distorted like a demon.

He exuded a murderous and fighting Divine Spirit that made my skin tingle. His Divine Spirit was like a well-forged sword.Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

A pressure comparable to a high-ranking collector.

“Oh yeah. Here comes Frechen.”

Surely, it was the peace that everyone had been waiting for.

But not for Ryan.

‘What am I supposed to do now?’

Ryan lost his purpose of swinging his sword. The sword was for killing someone. But if there was no enemy, what was the sword for?

He had lived only for killing and fighting, but he couldn’t accept peace.

A great warrior must fight. Only struggle proved his life.

But what is this peace? What is this terrible boredom?

So Ryan was secretly happy when the curse of the frozen land erupted.

The frost giants that threatened humanity.

Enemies.

They were the enemies he had longed for, the ones he could fight against.

“The curse of the frozen land? Everyone will freeze to death? So what!”

Ryan shouted while spitting blood.

“There are enemies! We can finally fight! Keep on, keep on, keep on! Finally, we have found our purpose!”

Ryan didn’t want this hell to end.

If winter ends and spring returns, peace will come along with it, and weapons will inevitably rust.

What he wanted was eternal struggle.

A cold and eternal winter where weapons never rust.

“We haven’t lost our value! We can keep fighting! If this curse continues, we can fight and fight and fight again! And prove our worth! We will go to the land of salvation...!”

“No. Ryan.”

Lean shook his head with a sorrowful gaze.

“There is no salvation in a place where there is only fighting.”

“...What are you talking about? Fighting is the very salvation! Why don’t you understand that!”

“Ryan. Do you still not know why we are fighting?”

The reason why our ancestors have fought until now. It was not because they simply enjoyed the struggle.

“They fought until now, and we are still fighting, because they all wanted peace. They wanted to create our own fence, where our descendants can live safely.”

“Don’t make me laugh!”

Ryan shouted as if he had a seizure.

“They fought for peace? Then what if peace comes? What are we supposed to do, who can only fight! Our comrades who have been with us until now! My ancestors! What did they die for!”

Ryan did not want to hear that. He had enough of his life being torn apart once.

Grab your sword.

Shed blood.

Seize honor and glory.

Black shadows swirled around Ryan.

No, they were not shadows. What had been with Ryan until now were the ghosts of the past.

Ryan himself might not know, but Lean could tell.

“Ryan. You have been devoured by the demon of fighting.”

“I will always...!”

“Just rest now.”

Faster than Ryan could scream, Lean’s sword pierced his chest.

It was strange that Ryan, who was wounded so much, could not react. Lean’s sword was so quiet and fast. It was hard to catch even a trace of it.

Ryan’s eyes widened. He made a rattling sound for a moment, and then slowly fell backwards.

Ryan, who fell looking at the sky, touched his chest with his trembling hand. His hand was full of red blood.

“Ah.”

Ryan’s voice, which had been screaming until now, calmed down.

“Lean. You were there.”

“Ryan...”

“Lean. Look at this. I defeated the enemy.”

Ryan looked at something else with his transparent eyes, along with Lean.

A glorious fight.

The final battle that he had longed for, that was more than enough to end his life.

Ryan swung his sword there. Even when his comrades died, and his precious people fell one by one, he did not stop swinging his sword. He did not even remember how long he had fought.

The enemies were.

And, the outcome of the fight was.

What happened?

“Lean. I can’t see anything around me. I can’t feel my body. Lean. Please answer me. Did we win? We won, right?”

He asked desperately, even though he was gasping in pain.

Everyone watched that scene solemnly.

“Did we win?”

Lean suppressed the sadness that welled up in him.

He was shocked by Ryan’s betrayal, and hated him for deceiving him for 32 years. But more than that, he felt sorrow and compassion for his end as a comrade who had fought with him for 32 years.

He never got out of the battlefield until the end.

Lean bit his lip with a complicated face, and then nodded heavily.

“Yes. Ryan. We won.”

“...We won.”

Ryan smiled innocently like a child.

It was his smile that he had never seen in 32 years, that he saw for the first time.

“Lean. I think this is it for me. I hear voices from above. The great ancestors. They are calling me. Mother, father. And my dead brother too. My friends, my comrades. They are calling me too. Yes. They were all there... waiting for me.”

“Yes. Ryan. That’s where you belong.”

“Where I belong?”

“The place you wanted to go so much. The land of salvation you wished for. Your long fight that lasted until now was all for this moment.”

“That’s right...”

Ryan coughed up blood along with his words.

The energy in his body drained away, and his fingertips became cold as ice.

His body became heavier and heavier, but his mind was lighter than anything else.

“I can finally... rest...”

He could finally go to the land of salvation he wanted.

He could finally meet his family who had parted from him.

“Yes.”

Lean closed Ryan’s eyes with his hand.

“Just rest now.”

Did he go to the land of salvation in the end?

Or did he go to hell where he would suffer endlessly for betraying his comrades?

Realizing that all those assumptions were meaningless, Lean recited the prayer that he had repeated endlessly from the past until now.