Chapter 186 : Chapter 186

Chapter 186 : Book of Eternity

It could be called the first declaration of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

If you only looked at the results, it wasn't all that bad.

Before I knew it, the chatter stopped abruptly, and everyone was focusing on me.

Of course, the majority probably didn't understand what I was saying.

‘It is fine.’

Isn't that the nature of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's birth from the start?

It was an idea that came up by chance while looking back and forth between the Heavenly Demon and the Martial Priest.

For an evil cult with a birth story so impromptu it was futile, I think this level of doctrine is quite excellent.

Of course.

It wasn't that I embellished empty words plausibly―

It was that I revealed my usual beliefs exactly as they were.

Still, moving my tongue in front of many people was a completely different matter.

‘……To think I had this kind of talent.’

I was admiring myself but didn't show it.

Anyway…….

The listeners were one thing, but I was also stiff while holding the Heavenly Demon.

It was then.

‘……!’

Something grazed the edge of my vision.

Beyond the silent audience, a silhouette sticking only its head out on the roof and watching me.

‘……Luke!’

Chaeng!

I immediately sheathed the Heavenly Demon and then kicked off the ground, soaring up.

In an instant, the surrounding crowd stirred all at once.

It was like ripples rising on a calm water surface.

“He is running away!”

“Ca, catch him!”

I stepped on the empty air as if stepping up stairs.

My body rose above the crowd.

The commotion of the area was buried beneath my feet in an instant as I moved away fast.

Even in the midst of that, I did not take my eyes off Luke.

“Ha……!”

A hollow laugh burst out because it was absurd.

Far from having an uncomfortable gait, Luke was unfolding Movement Techniques.

Pabababak!

Luke's form riding on the roofs bounced here and there.

It was neither a straight line nor a curve.

It was a strange footwork that flowed like sliding.

It was hard to believe even while watching.

He was hopping leisurely with his hands behind his back, and he even turned his head occasionally to look at me as if checking if I was following well.

Hwik―! Hwik―!

The sound of wind grazing my ears is sharp. It felt like arrows were passing by.

Strangely, as my breathing settled, my vision gradually narrowed.

Only Luke's back was becoming clear.

‘……State of selflessness.’

Without realizing it, I was immersing myself in the chase unfolding in the sky above the lawless district.

No, saying I was bewitched might be a more accurate expression.

‘As if instinct is leading me.’

Suddenly, this thought occurred to me.

From the moment I chased Luke's traces from a high place earlier…… maybe I was already trapped in the dragnet spread by that old man.

Hwarararak―!

In an instant, something like a large cloth carried by the wind covered my eyes.

Threads fluttered gently and blocked my view.

‘Cheap trick!’

I gritted my teeth and swung the Heavenly Demon.

Chwaaaak―!

The center of the large cloth was torn long vertically.

It was the moment my body passed through that gap.

‘Luke!’

It was an instant. The old man's afterimage formed blurrily. At the same time, something similar to the killing intent he emitted covered my whole body.

Kiing!

I quickly raised the Heavenly Demon to cover my body.

It was an instinctive posture.

Ku―ung!

My body slammed into the ground just like that.

An unexpected landing.

The shock spreading through my whole body was substantial.

Still, it was fortunate that I didn't fall ungracefully.

Hwiing―

My eyes opened wide.

The wind wasn't even blowing, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

‘This is―’

Something was approaching.

No shape, no sound. It felt as if a wind carrying a dagger was blowing.

My body reacted first.

It was a speed faster than consciousness.

Chwaak―!

The Heavenly Demon cut through the empty air once again.

My arm moved on its own.

It is embarrassing, but it was closer to a struggle resisting a threat rather than a swordsmanship movement.

Sagak―

It was cut.

Something.

‘…….’

I caught my breath and raised my head.

It was silent like a lie.

Not a single breeze blew.

Tuk.

Then―

What fell at my feet was a dry tree branch.

“Hah.”

The sound of a sigh was heard right next to me.

“Luke.”

He leaned his body against the wall and looked into the tree branch in his hand.

It was the opposite side of the tree branch that fell at my feet.

To speak precisely, he was looking at the cross-section of the tree branch.

“It is quite usable.”

At those short words, my eyelids trembled.

Only then did it feel like I could breathe.

Finally, my eyes met with Luke's.

His focus did not have a single point of shaking.

“You, was it all a deception?”

“There is no time.”

My brow furrowed.

“What?”

“Follow me.”

I stared at his back without knowing my mouth was open.

When he was unfolding Movement Techniques, and now he was limping again.

‘…….’

I came to my senses and checked the surroundings.

It was inside a dark alleyway.

It was quiet enough to make me wonder if this was really Brakenport.

“I said come quickly.”

Luke urged. Only then did I follow hesitantly.

Pathetic.

I chased after him gritting my teeth, but now I am hesitating.

Luke went inside a shabby shack.

It looked like it would collapse if tapped.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, darkness covered me immediately.

“Hey, wait―”

Because the surroundings were dark, it was the moment I called him thinking I might lose him.

The darkness lifted like a lie, and an unfamiliar landscape was revealed before my eyes.

‘……!’

There were stairs beneath my feet.

And below that, a corridor with no estimable end stretched out.

The texture of the air was also different.

It felt like I had entered a different world in an instant.

‘Sorcery?’

It was the moment I doubted. Luke, who had reached the middle of the corridor before I knew it, looked back and said.

“Come quickly, please! There is no time.”

The voice echoed.

I took a step on the stairs.

The hard texture of the floor was felt.

‘No, it is not an illusion.’

I walked down a few steps slowly, then jumped lightly and landed softly behind Luke.

Luke didn't even bother to look back.

I asked at his back.

“You, what is your identity? Also, what is this place?”

“Your personality is hasty. Young person. I am going now to explain.”

“You are the one who urged that there is no time out of the blue.”

“Ha, geez. My mind keeps going back and forth.”

“…….”

“Anyway, it means we are not free enough to list each other's inside stories in detail.”

While walking silently―

Truly fifty thousand thoughts brushed through my mind.

‘It is hard to even estimate the level.

It must mean the gap with me is quite large.’

Quick calculation and acknowledgment.

‘If I aim for the back now, can I cut him?’

……From the pure curiosity of a fellow swordsman―

‘A swordsman who reached such a solitary state is suffering from old age?’

To doubt.

“It is here.”

As if his husky voice was a signal―

Kugugugugu―

Matching the faint tremor of the ground, the surroundings brightened little by little.

I raised my head.

The ceiling and walls made of darkness split, and rays of light leaked in through the gaps.

The light rummaged through the space slowly like something alive.

Seuseuseuseut―

Golden particles waved in the empty air.

A shape made of golden grains of sand broke, then seemed to restore itself as if rewinding time in reverse.

‘Book?’

No, it is the shape of a book.

Books that regained their own colors piled up one by one and formed a massive bookshelf.

And that bookshelf rose upward, filling the space tightly.

Endlessly―

It was expanding infinitely.

“Welcome to the Book of Eternity.”

It was the moment I looked at Luke.

I frowned at the light pouring from above.

‘Sunlight?’

As soon as I raised my head, my legs relaxed and I almost sat down.

The ceiling disappeared and the sky was open.

A massive light source and golden clouds flowing leisurely, even birds crossing through them as if swimming.

“Th, this is…….”

It was just when I was getting sick from the majestic sight, as if overwhelmed by the mystery of great nature.

Suddenly, intuition whispered first.

That the sky spread out up there is another world, a part of another dimension.

The towers made of books, which seemed to support such a sky, were a kind of ‘door’ connecting this world and that world.

“Book of Eternity― you say?”

“Right. It is a repository of memories that transcends time and space.”

The voice sounded unfamiliar.

I looked at Luke.

Before I knew it, the turbidity in his pupils had lifted and they harbored a bright light.

“To explain a little more easily, it is a library where the history and memories of the Kingdom, and the great knowledge left by numerous sages of the past, are sealed in a conscious form.”

……It is not easy at all.

“In other words, the last bastion of us humans.”

“…….”

“Do you understand?”

Luke's gaze, which had stayed on the wide-open ceiling, slowly came down to me.

I gulped.

Luke was no longer a decrepit old man. His hunched back was straightened, and a clear and deep radiance dwelled in his eyes that used to be blurry.

As if―

A sage who woke up from a long sleep regained his original form.

“You must be confused. You also have many things you want to ask.”

He smiled faintly as if he knew everything.

He said repeatedly that there is no time.

It sounded like saying it is hard to explain everything right now.

Still, I had to know this at least.

“You, just what is your identity?”

“Sword Saint Luke.”

I was speechless.

He made something similar to a smile for a moment, then withdrew his gaze immediately.

“There was a time I was called that.”

Before fighting against Dayron.

There was a time I told Bolero and Noser that the fastest and surest way to correct the order of this land is to become the strongest sword and force Chivalry on everyone below it.

To do that, I had to become The Kingdom's Finest Sword.

―……Besides this, if we talk about strong candidates for the title of The Kingdom's Finest Sword, we can cite Sword Saint, Mercenary King, The Madman Dayron, and Sir Noser here.

Sword Saint was one of the names Bolero mentioned back then.

“Sword Saint, why are you here…….”

“I am in the middle of performing a mission.”

“Mission?”

“Yes. A noble command received a very long time ago.”

Luke caught his breath.

He added in a low voice.

“It is a mission to protect the Book of Eternity and watch over the Master of Illusory Dreams, Morosra.”

Morosra.

As soon as I heard that name from Luke, a scene grazed through my mind.

―……Has Morosra truly come?

After muttering that, he cut down all of the Alkabang Gang at the altar, then approached Rosaria who became the Moon and stared at her for a long time.

‘Was Morosra the Phantom Demon.’

It doesn't matter what the name is.

Titles of the human world would probably have no meaning to evil spirits that manifest across eras.

“Master of Illusory Dreams, Morosra…….”

“Have you heard of it?”

“……Are you talking about the Seven Sins?”

I asked back pretending not to know.

People of the Kingdom― to be precise, the Solari call the Eight Demons that way. It was good that I heard it from Bolero.

“I guess they call it that outside these days? Never mind. That is not what is important right now.”

“These days, you say. Since when have you been here?”

“That is truly a difficult question. Because there is nothing more difficult for me than tracing memories. Let's see…….”

Luke put his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky in the ceiling.

The pouring sunlight shone on his wrinkles.

Traces of old age were deeply embedded.

“Forty and five years have passed well over, probably. Memories are faint.”

“……That is terrible.”

“Right, it was terrible.”

I wetted my lips that were drying up and then asked.

“May I ask who the person is that gave you such a mission?”

“Originally, it was a top secret that no one should know.”

“Top secret?”

“Because Morosra is a dangerous fellow who shakes the foundation of the Kingdom with just its existence. Thus, it was treated as top secret so that no one could know easily.”

He looked at the empty air and closed his eyes for a moment as if choosing his words.

“His Majesty the King personally gave me the command.”

I froze just like that. My lips wouldn't even part.

Luke raised his head slowly. His eyes were not disheveled even an inch.

“I shall lead the world with light.”

The golden bookshelf shook and scattered rays of light wrapped around Luke softly.

As if it was the last light shone by the Book of Eternity.

Luke stood there wholly.