SFRW-Chapter 306

Ch. 306 Sword God From The Ruined World

Kugugugug.  

The wall crumbles.  

It was already on the verge of collapse, covered in deep cracks that threatened to shatter it at any moment.  

And now, with the last remaining symbols—holding it together like glue—vanishing, it could no longer endure.  

Barhaut, who had been staring blankly at the wall now reduced to dust, muttered in a hollow voice:  

—…I never imagined it would come to this.  

As if unable to believe it, Barhaut crushed the blue crystal sphere he had been holding in his hand.  

The first guardian planet, Pedroma, had been liberated.  

He had believed—no, he had needed to believe—that Vipiens would be different.  

But in the end, the outcome followed the most dreaded prediction.  

Barhaut immediately opened a dimensional passage.  

Now that Vipiens was dead, this was the perfect opportunity for him.  

However Vipiens had been killed, it was obvious that the one responsible must have suffered tremendous damage in the process.  

Barhaut planned to seize the final victory by launching a surprise attack while his enemy was wounded and drunk on triumph.  

In other words, he would strike back now—without giving his foe time to recover—when they were at their weakest.  

This counterattack would mark a new beginning.  

Just as he had done thousands of years ago, he would start over, step by step, rebuilding everything from scratch.  

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy. 

He was weaker than he had been millennia ago. He no longer had the Gem of Authority, and he might even lose some of his divine powers.  

Perhaps that was why—  

Grrrrk.  

Even though his mind was firmly resolved to start anew, Barhaut’s fist trembled with fury, his nails digging deeper into his palm.  

Drip—  

A single drop of blood fell as Barhaut stepped into the dimensional passage.  

Thud.  

The moment he emerged on Pedroma’s soil—a land he hadn’t set foot on in centuries—he immediately headed to where Vipiens had died.  

And there, Barhaut saw the full truth with his own eyes.  

—Why are Demons here…?  

The lingering energy of Vipiens, now returned to the flow of magic, was secondary. What truly shocked him were the corpses of beings that should never have been here.  

Demons, who were bound by the dimensional curse and unable to leave Helkaoden easily—how had they died on Pedroma?  

Staring at their corpses in disbelief, Barhaut muttered to himself:  

—So that’s what happened.  

He couldn’t immediately discern why the Demons had come to Pedroma, but one thing was clear: Vipiens’ death had been inevitable.  

Not just a fluke or a result of the enemy’s strength—there had been a reason Vipiens had to die.  

Demons and Dragons.  

They were beings that could never coexist. And Barhaut, who knew Vipiens’s past better than anyone, could easily guess why the demons were here—even if he didn’t know how.  

Most importantly, there were two Demon corpses.  

No matter how powerful Vipiens had been, facing two at once would have been an overwhelming ordeal.  

The fact that Vipiens had died not at the hands of his tormentor, but at the hands of Demons, eased Barhaut’s tension.  

“…Barhaut!”  

Only then did Barhaut notice the unfamiliar human snarling his name.  

A mere human remembered him?  

Barhaut glared at Seo Do-jun as if asking, Who are you?  

“Le. Ve. R. Ka.”  

Seo Do-jun enunciated each syllable clearly, as if chewing on the words before spitting them out.  

—Leverka?  

Barhaut still showed no recognition, and Seo Do-jun instinctively gritted his teeth hard.  

The bastard who had invaded his peaceful world and brought about its ruin didn’t even remember.  

The sight of it made his anger boil uncontrollably.  

“Huuuu…”  

Suppressing his rising fury, Seo Do-jun immediately recalled the words that would convey his emotions to Barhaut.  

“Has my appearance changed so much that you don’t even recognize me? Pathetic—you can’t even tell who I am without the Gem of Authority I shattered.”  

His words struck true.  

Barhaut’s eyes, which had been coldly observing him, suddenly widened as if they might tear apart.  

—Y-You…!  

“Yes, that face. The same twisted face you made when your arrogance cost you the thing you cherished most—when you tried to crush me like a bug and failed.”  

—IT WAS YOU!  

Barhaut’s roar echoed thunderously through the forest.  

How could he ever forget?  

—Give up. The world you lived in is already ruined.  

—Your talent is wasted. Become my sword.  

—No matter how much you struggle, you’re nothing but an insect to me.  

He had truly wanted to make that world a guardian planet, but in the end, he had no choice but to destroy it. And the last human who resisted until the very end…  

Zzzt—  

Barhaut’s eye twitched as a sudden pain shot through his finger.  

A severed finger joint.  

He had never felt pain or discomfort before. Yet the moment he recognized Seo Do-jun, the pain flared up.  

It wasn’t unbearable, but to Barhaut, it was proof of how violently his emotions toward Seo Do-jun were surging.  

Because of the pain in his finger?  

No.  

Barhaut wasn’t the type to agonize over a single lost finger joint.  

The Gem of Authority!  

The absolute power that had shaped Barhaut into what he was now—Seo Do-jun had shattered it.  

He had dismissed him as a mere human.  

A worthless ant whose limbs would fly off with a flick of his finger—so insignificant that Barhaut hadn’t even considered protecting the Gem.  

Just as Seo Do-jun said, that arrogance had changed everything.  

And now—  

—You… Did you revive using the Gem’s power?  

Seo Do-jun, too, had been completely transformed.  

“Obviously.”  

Seo Do-jun admitted it readily.  

There was no other explanation, and admitting it was the best way to make Barhaut feel the weight of his loss right now.  

The power you lost is now mine.  

Could there be any sweeter revenge?  

Sure enough, Barhaut’s pupils burned with even greater ferocity.  

When Seo Do-jun had first met Barhaut, he had thought of him as a human in appearance only—a shell concealing immense power.  

His aura had been suffocating, instilling an overwhelming sense of impossibility. But now…  

‘Is this all you’ve got?’  

Honestly, Seo Do-jun didn’t feel the same oppressive weight from Barhaut as he had from Vipiens.  

Even without the Gem of Authority, Barhaut was still immensely powerful. Yet, for some reason, he seemed… pathetic.  

Was it because Seo Do-jun had grown stronger?  

That might be part of it, but there was clearly something else.  

‘Could it be…?’  

Because he had absorbed Vipiens’ heart.  

Unlike when he had absorbed Arhekto’s heart, there had been no grand transformation or lengthy process. But Vipiens’s heart had assimilated into Seo Do-jun’s body naturally.  

Whether it was due to Vipiens’s final will or Seo Do-jun’s prior experience absorbing a Dragon’s heart, he didn’t know.  

But one thing was certain:  

‘I’ve grown even stronger!’  

Barhaut, who had once been as mighty as Vipiens, now seemed insignificant in comparison.  

As his surging emotions settled, Seo Do-jun calmly looked down at Barhaut.  

—H-How…!  

Barhaut, too, began sensing a power in Seo Do-jun’s presence that should not exist.  

Two distinct forces coexisted within Seo Do-jun’s body—and shockingly, both were familiar to Barhaut.  

The energy of a Dragon who had fled after losing to him long ago… and the energy of the Dragon who had oppressed him until recently. Both resided within a single human.  

—Th-This is impossible…  

Faced with something that should never have happened, Barhaut instinctively took a step back.  

It was an unconscious reaction, but the moment he realized he had retreated, his expression hardened.  

[To think Barhaut would cower before a human.]  

A deep, resonant voice echoed in everyone’s minds, drawing their attention.  

The first to react was Kael.  

“Lord Ophel!”  

‘Ophel?’  

Seo Do-jun frowned and turned toward the source of the overwhelming presence rivaling Barhaut’s.  

A towering man with an ash-gray complexion walked forward slowly.  

Though not as large as Barhaut, he stood well over two meters tall, with a muscular build and…  

‘Torn wings?’  

Ophel had a pair of wings on his back—one ripped out at the root, leaving a grotesque stump, and the other half-burned.  

The master of the Seven Apostles, a planetary sovereign like Barhaut—Ophel’s arrival cast a heavy tension over Seo Do-jun’s group.  

—He is no mere human. Two different Dragon powers reside within him.  

[One of them is familiar.]  

Ophel responded immediately, as if sensing it himself.  

[I wondered who could possibly trouble Barhaut, the Planet Conqueror. But it seems you are worthy of the title.]  

Ophel acknowledged Seo Do-jun’s presence, recognizing him as a formidable opponent.  

—Does your presence here mean you accept my request?  

Ophel’s arrival was no coincidence.  

If even Vipiens couldn’t stop him, Barhaut was prepared to stake everything on this fight.  

And Ophel’s support was part of that plan.  

[How could I refuse? This is my chance to reclaim the lost authority I’ve longed for.]  

A cruel smile played on Ophel’s lips.  

“Lord Ophel! Forgive me! Despite expending the authority you granted me, I… failed in the end.”  

Kael knelt before Ophel.  

[Your enemies were simply stronger than anticipated. Rise. This was not your failure—your foe was too powerful. Now, I will finish this.]  

Whoosh—  

A hundred ash-gray knights materialized in the air, mounted on winged steeds.  

Their presence alone was overwhelming—each knight was near-transcendent in power.  

The Hundred Knights of Ophel.  

Summoning them meant Ophel intended to end things here and now.  

[Leave none alive. We cannot allow another threat like Barhaut to remain.]  

As Ophel pointed at Seo Do-jun’s group and issued the command, Kael stood with a grim nod.  

For Seo Do-jun and his companions, who had thought everything was over after the demons’ deaths and Vipiens’ return to magic, this was like a bolt from the blue.  

Moreover, Kael, Raten, and the others—who had been acting meek after the demons’ demise—now radiated hostility, as if facing mortal enemies.  

There would be no more negotiation.  

No room for compromise.  

“Choi Kang-soo!”  

At Seo Do-jun’s call, Choi Kang-soo swung the Divine Sword without hesitation.  

Slice—  

Grichuk’s sword followed, cleaving downward at blinding speed.  

Splat—  

Witnessing Qua and Ver’s deaths before their eyes, Kael, Raten, and Pio’s killing intent exploded.  

“You started this.”  

Choi Kang-soo’s voice was uncharacteristically cold.  

Even though this had been agreed upon with Seo Do-jun, taking the lives of those who couldn’t resist didn’t sit right with him.  

But there was no room for mercy.  

The pressure from Ophel’s Hundred Knights was overwhelming—they couldn’t afford even a 1% chance of Qua and Ver recovering and retaliating.  

“I’ll kill every last one of you! I swear on my life!”  

Kael’s eyes burned with rage as he watched Qua and Ver die helplessly.  

Raten and Pio, too, prepared to fight to the death.  

“Fine. Let’s see this through to the end!”  

Choi Kang-soo raised the Divine Sword.  

Grichuk and Shinjo summoned the powers of darkness and lightning.  

Hyun Joo-yeon, Gloria, Kusaak, Veronica, and Rakun gripped their weapons tightly, sensing the final battle.  

Even Joi, who had never contributed much before, directed her hostility toward Ophel’s knights.  

“…Damn it!”  

Rahf, under Akada’s protection, reluctantly revealed his last trump card.  

“Let’s end this here!”  

From the darkness, a Death Knight emerged—radiating an ominous aura.  

And his face—  

“…Gettis?”  

Choi Kang-soo couldn’t believe his eyes. The man who had been beheaded by Seo Do-jun’s sword was now standing before them, alive.  

But something was different.  

It was as if—  

“You bastard!”  

Choi Kang-soo glared at Rahf.  

“Does that matter now? Having an ally like this is a blessing! Stop acting righteous and focus on surviving!”  

Rahf retorted, preparing his dark magic as Ophel’s knights charged.  

[Shall we begin as well?]  

As if worried Seo Do-jun might interfere, Ophel summoned two ornate swords from the air, gripping one in each hand.  

When he fully unleashed his power, his torn, burned wings spread like an illusion behind him—  

“An… Angel?”  

At Seo Do-jun’s words, Ophel smirked.  

[The selfish, greedy Gods abandoned me and my brethren. But once I kill you and reclaim my lost authority, my divinity will be restored. And then—]  

His voice cut off.  

Instead, a storm of ash-gray sword energy rained down from the sky like meteors, crashing toward Seo Do-jun.