Chapter 810: The Land of Elements [1]

BANG—!

A terrifying explosion reverberated, destroying everything within the vicinity.

What followed was a terrifying pressure that swept through the surroundings, followed by a bright light that blinded everything.

SWOOOOOOOSH!

The light faded in the upcoming moments, revealing an old church that remained standing at the top of a hill.

Bodies lay scattered everywhere, a disheveled-looking figure standing outside, his hand clasping the head of another, his breathing growing rougher and rougher.

"You..."

Panthea stood not far from him, her expression serene.

"What’s wrong?"

Her voice quietly traveled across the surroundings, her gaze fixed on the Living Saint, his entire body soaked in the blood of the people he had thought were on his side.

"Is something the matter? I thought you were supposed to take my position and become the new god. But look here..."

Her gaze swept over the countless bodies and scattered limbs strewn across the floor, blood pooling through the cracks of the church tiles as she slowly shook her head.

"...They’re gone."

The Living Saint’s body shook, his expression twisting at the sight of the Goddess before him.

Eventually, just when it seemed he’d explode, he calmed himself down as his eyes narrowed.

"I have made a mistake thinking that this was enough. I have also made a mistake, thinking that you wouldn’t resort to such a trick. The reason the situation is like this is because I failed to see what you’re truly like."

"Oh?"

Panthea raised her brow.

"What did you think of me before? I’m actually quite curious now."

"...I used to think you were a naive and kind Goddess. Someone who was holed up trying to recover from her injuries the entire time. I... never expected you to be the complete opposite of what I’ve imagined. For so long I thought like this, and yet..."

The Living Saint’s body trembled, his expression twisting once more.

"I never took you for the crazy bitch that you are!"

"..."

Panthea’s lips curled into a large smile, her eyes flickering with joy as she looked at the Living Saint.

"Hehehe."

She even started to giggle.

"You really had such an image of me? Hehehe."

Her giggling echoed across the entire rundown place.

Covering her mouth, she stopped for a moment as she took some time to recover before opening her mouth again.

"...It makes me glad to know that you and everyone else had such a positive image of me. I tried really hard, but... hehehe."

The Goddess giggled again, her smile growing wider.

"You’d be naive to think I would be normal. None of us seven is normal."

She pointed towards her temple, her eyes widening with a certain craziness.

"We’re all fucked up in the head. All the years have taken a toll on our minds, and what’s left of us is nothing but craziness. If we could, we’d burn the entire world ourselves... hehehehehehe!"

A faint glow emanated from the Goddess’s body, the flames in her eyes flickering wildly as she looked at the Living Saint, his expression distorting further as he heard her thoughts.

And soon, her smile faded.

A cold chill replaced her body a moment later.

"Kill yourself."

BANG!

The Living Saint didn’t waste a moment.

His hand moved on its own, reaching for his temple before a magic circle formed and blood splattered all over the place.

Whatever remained of his body limply fell onto the floor a moment later.

Thump!

For the coming moments, the surroundings turned deafly quiet.

Panthea stood in the silence, her expression calm as she looked at the dead body in front of her before suddenly paling. The previous smile that marred her features faded as she hurriedly brought her hand to her mouth.

"..."

The flames in her eyes dimmed as her expression grew increasingly strained. Eventually, unable to hold it in any longer, blood started to leak out from the side of her mouth as the hue around her body disappeared completely.

"Shit..."

A curse eventually left her lips as her brows furrowed together.

But just as she started to stabilize her condition, a voice whispered in the air.

"Wow, it looks like you haven’t changed in all these years. You’re just as crazy as you were in the past. Who would’ve thought you’d place such seals inside the bodies of your followers?"

Panthea’s expression froze, and she slowly lifted her head, eyes fixed on the space before her as it warped and twisted, until, at last, a figure stepped out from the air itself.

Panthea’s eyes narrowed.

"...Sandra."

But soon a smirk appeared on her lips.

"Just when I was hoping that you’d be dead. What a pity."

***

"...We’re about to reach land! Everyone, get ready!!"

Anne’s voice reached everyone present as her crew began raising the anchor, ready to dock at any moment.

Gazing out from the ship, I watched countless shards of ice drift across the crimson sea, their jagged edges catching the dim light. Farther out, larger masses floated like frozen islands, but even those would crumble to pieces at the slightest touch of the ship’s hull.

If an iceberg proved too thick, one of the crew would step forward to break it apart, sometimes with a quick burst of magic, other times with the swing of a weapon.

It slowed the journey down a little, but not enough to make a real difference.

"It’s really starting to get cold, isn’t it?"

Leon appeared beside me, one hand gripping the wooden railing as he gazed down at the dark, rolling sea below.

He stood quietly for a moment, the sound of the waves filling the pause, before turning his gaze back to me.

"What’s the plan from this point? You didn’t just come here without a plan, right?"

"....."

I looked away.

Truthfully, I didn’t have much of a plan. The idea was simply to head toward Veltrus territory and, along the way, try to find Delilah.

From Panthea’s words, she was potentially in danger.

Even though I had no idea how I could help, and I knew I wasn’t ready to face a God, I still wanted to see her.

It hadn’t been long since I’d last seen her, but the same couldn’t be said for her.

Three years had passed.

A lot of things could change in three years.

However, would things really be that simple?

How easy would it be to find Delilah?

I didn’t really think it was going to be easy at all. If anything, it was probably impossible.

Since that was the case...

"Let’s head further into the territory and let’s see. My main goal is to go to Veltrus’s territory. I need to save my brother."

"Hm? Linus...? Why would you need to save Linus?"

"....."

I looked at Leon speechlessly.

What Linus!?

I was obviously just k—

"I’m just messing around. I know you’re talking about Mortum."

Leon offered me a faint, half-hearted smile before turning his gaze back to the sea. He stood there in silence for a while, the wind carrying his quiet voice when he finally spoke again.

"How... is he?"

"My brother?"

"Yeah. What kind of person is he?"

"....."

I was at a loss once again. I could see that the question was genuine, and he was really curious, but...

’How should I tell him that he knows my brother very well? That’s the family head that we were both scared of. He’s also the one who kidnapped you since you were young.’

I really felt like throwing myself off the ship, but I still managed to retain my composure.

"I thought you had met him and learned from him. You should be somewhat aware of how he is."

"But that’s different."

Leon replied, leaning back a little.

"I didn’t interact much with him, and all the things that I did learn are things that I mainly got from the Chalice. What I’m curious about is how he is in real life. The different side that I’ve never gotten to see."

"I see."

I gripped onto the railing, turning my attention towards the sea as well.

I watched the passing ice blocks before shrugging. How would I describe Noel? There were a lot of words on my mind, but I had to choose a few, I’d say, "Naive fool."

He was a naive fool.

Although he was different from the past, he had always been a little too trusting.

Perhaps the reason why he had gotten into the mess that he had was because he had trusted the wrong people too many times.

’I guess I’m also at fault for that.’

I hadn’t had time to teach Noel back then properly.

I had been too busy handling other matters.

But most importantly—

"He’s got a good heart."

Of all the ’gods’, Noel was probably the softest and nicest. He had turned a lot different compared to the past, but he was still nice at heart.

...Or at least, I hoped that was the case.

’Maybe kidnapping a child, torturing a little boy, and trying to install ideas into him aren’t the nicest things, but he probably did all of those things under my orders. That can be forgiven.’

I wasn’t like Noel.

I wasn’t nice.

I was selfish and only cared about what mattered to me.

This was something that I had always known and never shied away from. I wasn’t a good guy, and I had never pretended to be one.

’...Yeah, I don’t think things will change in the future.’

Toren’s goal was ’noble,’ but I didn’t care about any of that.

My goal was different, and I didn’t really care for humanity. I only cared for myself and the people around me.

Of course, given how humanity was closely tied to their well-being, I knew that I’d eventually have to face the Outer Beings myself, and for that, I needed to be ready.

I needed to grow even stronger.

"We’re here!"

A voice suddenly shook me out of my thoughts.

Turning my head, I watched as the faint outline of a vast city took shape before my eyes. The mist draped over the horizon, blurring its finer details, but even through the haze, its size was unmistakable. I pulled my hands away from the railing and stepped closer to the ship’s bow, drawn toward the sight.

The air appeared to grow colder, and several others appeared to have arrived at the bow as they all stared at the distant city.

"Welcome to Eisylra."

Anne muttered, her tone dropping low as the outline of the city grew clearer, revealing tall buildings entirely made of ice.

"...The city of ice."

***

Volume [6] End.

The next volume will most likely the second last volume, but it’ll also be a bigger volume.