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Chapter 197 - The Slan Gorge (1)

Balak felt like he was being sucked away with a flash of light, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself not in the palace of Aenia, but in the snowy Salgaera in the north.

He was familiar with the area because if he walked the other way, he’d end up in Killive, where he had used to work.

Balak relied on his memory of the area as he moved forward, and before he knew it, he arrived at the Slan Gorge.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here.’

Beyond the gorge was Salgaera, a land abandoned by the empire. To get inside, it was necessary to pass through a checkpoint at the entrance of the Slan Gorge.

Balak resumed walking, and upon reaching the checkpoint, he felt that something was off.

‘There’s no one here?’

From what Balak could remember, there were supposed to be two soldiers and one checkpoint chief. However, no matter how many times he looked around the checkpoint, he couldn’t see a single soldier.

Even though Balak knew he was trespassing, he flung open the door to the office inside the checkpoint.

“Khhh...!”

“Khaaa...!”

“Phhh...!”

There were three men sleeping and snoring.

“What the...” Balak cursed under his breath.

They were all wearing the uniform of the Eurasian Empire, and Balak was mad because they were neglecting their duties. He grabbed the Black Punisher on his back and slammed it down on the office floor.

Thud!

Crack!

He didn’t use Aura because he had no problem shattering the wooden floor without it. Upon hitting it with his weapon, he caused the entire floor of the office to crack.

The three snoring soldiers on the ground all woke up in surprise.

“W-what’s going on?”

“Agh! It’s cold!”

“I thought a lightning bolt struck us... Oh!”

After a few seconds of grogginess, the soldiers realized that a knight stood before them.

Gulp.

Except for Vhant, the two soldiers swallowed nervously at the knight’s presence. Only Vhant stood up and met Balak’s eyes despite his terrifying presence.

“Aren’t you the Punishment King of Killive?” asked Vhant.

“You know who I am?”

“Although I’m just a gatekeeper of a remote area now, I used to work at the imperial palace, so of course I know you.”

“Well, I don’t know you.”

“You don’t need to know who I am anyway... Why are you causing a stir at someone else’s workplace when you should be in Killive?”

Vhant had once been called the shield gatekeeper and he was also a Sword Master, but he knew his skills were far inferior to Balak’s. Even so, Vhant wasn’t intimidated in the slightest as he faced Balak, who was clearly angry.

“I’ve come with an order from the emperor to bring back Marquis Aubert Crimson, a criminal who has been exiled to Salgaera,” said Balak.

“The emperor’s order, you say?”

“Yes.”

“Please show me the royal letter then.”

“The emperor did not give me a royal letter.”

“Then I can’t let you in, even if you’re the Punishment King.”

Vhant held his ground. His job was to guard the entrance of Salgaera, which was why he had no intention of letting anyone set foot inside without a royal letter.

“What a joke,” said Balak.

“What?”

“Do you know that the Eurasian Empire has collapsed?”

“What are you talking about...?”

“The emperor is dead and the empire collapsed with him. I’m here on behalf of His Majesty, Emperor Arthus, who has been crowned the new emperor of the new empire.”

“...!”

Balak delivered a concise explanation, and Vhant managed to understand everything. He knew that Balak wasn’t the type of person to make such tasteless jokes about things like the fall of the empire.

“I can tell by the look on your face that you haven’t heard the news. Your duties have disappeared along with the Eurasian Empire, so you’re no longer an imperial soldier, or anything for that matter.”

“...!”

Balak was right. Without an empire to protect, soldiers no longer had a reason to fulfill their duties.

Seeing that Vhant wouldn’t respond, Balak continued, “So, take your subordinates and leave this place right now because no more supplies will be sent here.”

Despite his hostile attitude, Balak was a kind person.

“...Alright,” said Vhant.

“Chief!”

“Be quiet!”

As Vhant complied with Balak, a nervous soldier shouted at him, but Vhant silenced the soldier with an even louder voice.

“I’ll take my leave then.”

Stomp, stomp, stomp...!

After finishing his task, Balak said a quick goodbye and left the checkpoint toward the Slan Gorge.

Seeing Balak leave, the soldier said, “Chief, but if we let him go, the people inside will...!”

“Be quiet! I know that much as well.”

“Then why did you let him inside if you know what’s going to happen?”

“It’s because of you guys.”

“What?”

“His name is Balak the Onir. He’s one of the strongest knights in the entire empire, equally as strong as Lore Valhald, the former first sword of the Imperial Ten Swords.”

“R-really...?!”

“I, too, have reached the rank of a Sword Master, but that doesn’t mean I can win against everyone. Most of all, I don’t want to lose you guys due to my recklessness.”

“Chief...”

“And if the Punishment King is right, we no longer have any obligation to defend this place. Both of you pack your bags, we’re going to leave this place as soon as possible.”

“Then are we going to the new empire as well?”

“No, we’re not going to the new empire.”

“Then where are we going?”

Vhant snorted at the soldier’s question because he had already decided on where they were going.

* * *

After informing Vhant that Eurasia had collapsed, Balak passed the checkpoint and entered the Slan Gorge.

It was snowing even harder, but a mere snowstorm couldn’t stand in the way of Balak, a peak Sword Master.

Swoosh!

However, Balak wondered if he had come on a bad day, for the deeper he got into the gorge, the harsher the blizzard got, until he could no longer see in front of him.

“Hmm...!”

It wasn’t the blizzard itself that bothered him, but the fact that so much snow had piled that it reached his knees.

Balak stopped moving forward and drew the Black Punisher from his back, and activated Aura.

Swoosh!

Balak’s Aura let out a sound that was similar to that of the raging blizzard, thus making the blizzard sound even more intense.

A moment later, Balak concentrated Aura into the tip of his Black Punisher, causing it to radiate a blue light and giving it the appearance of a shooting star.

‘World Shredder!’

Boom!

Balak swung the Black Punisher infused with a large amount of his Aura, producing a short ripping sound through the blizzard. Soon, the entire Slan Gorge was shaken by the Black Punisher.

The effects of the weapon were incredible.

The Punishment King’s main skill was none other than Destruction, which he had developed through his morning star, the Black Punisher.

Boom!

A significant amount of snow had accumulated in the gorge due to the heavy snowfall, and Balak had just caused a massive avalanche by using World Shredder.

Rumble!

Huge amounts of snow fell toward Balak, but he remained still.

Rumble! Rumble!

The avalanche swept away the gorge like a giant waterfall. If the snow had been up to Balak’s knees, now it towered over him, several times higher than his height.

...

Only after a while did the avalanche stop. Balak was still standing in the same position, and because he hadn’t moved, he was buried in a mountain of snow.

Clank!

Just then, a loud piercing sound came from within the pile of snow as it fell apart. To be precise, the inner center of the snow pile collapsed, resulting in what looked like a giant cave made out of snow.

“I’m good to go.”

Balak was inside the cave. He had used his Black Punisher as the avalanche swept toward him, creating a cave made of snow that shielded him from the blizzard.

Tzzz...

The cave was very dark, but that wasn’t a problem because Balak enveloped himself in Aura, illuminating his surroundings. The Aura lit up the cave as its blue light reflected against the snow.

Having finished his work, Balak put his Black Punisher on his back and resumed walking.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The gorge was long, and by the time Balak reached the end of the cave, he had caused several more avalanches, creating a path in the same way. When he could no longer create an avalanche, Balak knew that he had reached the end of the Slan Gorge.

‘Am I there now?’

He looked outside the cave and saw that it wasn’t snowing as abundantly as before.

‘Good.’

Balak walked out of the cave feeling relieved, and before his eyes was the real Salgaera, a nation of snow.

‘...I should’ve asked them to guide me if I knew it was going to be like this.’

It was good that he had made it to Salgaera, but he didn’t know where Aubert was. However, according to someone, there was an Exile Village at the end of the path where all the exiles lived.

Balak looked around.

-Chirp, chirp.

Just then, a sparrow flew and landed on Balak’s shoulder.

‘A sparrow?’

Balak raised his finger, and the sparrow moved to sit on it.

“A sparrow in a place like this... If I had known this was going to happen, I would’ve brought a magic scroll that allows me to talk to animals.”

It was a bummer. If only he had communication magic, he would’ve been able to ask the sparrow for directions, thus not needing a guide.

-Chirp Chirp?

The sparrow cocked its head.

Seeing this, Balak said, “Do you understand me or something?”

Balak was cold and merciless to criminals, but as a guardian of justice whose duty was protecting the empire, he was warm and kind toward the weak who needed his protection. In addition, it had been a long time since he had seen something as ordinary as a sparrow, given that he had only lived in Killive for years.

Therefore, he had no reason to treat the sparrow with hostility.

“It’s a pity, but I’ll see you again next time if I get the chance. For now, I must fulfill my duties assigned by the emperor.”

Balak raised his hand along with his farewell and let the sparrow go.

Flap!

The sparrow flew into the air. Just as it flew far enough to only be a little dot in the sky...

Whoosh!

“Huh?”

Giant black pieces of metal floated toward the sparrow.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

“...?”

Balak watched the scene in shock.

Dozens of metal pieces enclosed the sparrow, forming a single shape. Finally, the metallic pieces took the shape of a knight as big as an ogre.

Thud!

The sparrow that was now transformed into a knight fell in front of Balak with a heavy thud.

The knight wore black armor and had roughly the same height as Balak, and just like the Punishment King, he released a menacing aura.

“Chirp chirp.”

“...!”

The black knight was none other than Hector.