Duke Pendragon

The soldiers of the Pendragon Duchy became nervous at Killian’s rage. However, although he may have been extremely angry, he quickly regained his cool as the head knight of the Pendragon Duchy.

“First, we will pick out 30 soldiers as advance troops. Lutton, pick suitable members.”

“Yes, captain!”

Lutton started picking out suitable soldiers at Killian’s words. He was previously a free knight known as the “Bloodthirsty Double Axe”, but now, he was an officer of the Pendragon Duchy’s heavy cavalry.

“Theo Milner, five griffons will stay behind. Have them be vigilant and eliminate any monsters or creatures that draw near the vicinity except the Red Moon Valley elves.”

“Yes, Sir Killian.”

Soon, five griffons flew up and took their positions all over the tall buildings spread around the site of the labyrinth.

Killian turned towards the neatly organized soldiers.

“His Excellency the Duke is here! Are you all ready!?”

“Hua!”

The soldiers gave a powerful response.

“We will be able to see the lord once more by the end of the day. Let’s go!”

“Sirrr!”

A group composed of orc warriors, griffons, and hundreds of soldiers entered through the entrance of the labyrinth.

***

Ominous clouds scattered over the ash coloured sky. The occasional breeze of wind carried the smell of death and blood. It was the smell of battlefields dotted with murder, rage, and fear.

It was once as intimate as life itself, but now it was a little unfamiliar.

Raven felt his quivering hands and pounding heart, then slowly lowered his eyes.

A crude, leather armor with scratched metal plates protected his body, and his hand held a rusty, dull scimitar. The sight was quite familiar but unfamiliar at the same time.

Raven looked up.

Far away, he could see black smoke rising up in various places, and thousands of monsters were advancing in formations across the brown wasteland, carrying torn flags.

A dark red atmosphere was created from the overflowing, wicked spirits of the various monsters. Soon, the coagulation of evil spirits materialized into a smiling devil with a sheep’s head.

The scene was like a hallucination, but it wasn’t unfamiliar.

This was it. This was the last battle Raven had fought on the Robstein Plains as a member of the demonic army.

Tap.

Feeling a strange sensation, Raven took a step forward like a possessed man. His hand firmly grasped the rusty scimitar. He did not remember pulling it out.

The monsters were drawing closer.

Brown goblins with crude leather armors and rather small swamp ogres charged while roaring. Raven tightened his grip on the scimitar. Sweat permeated the leather wrapped around the weapon’s handle.

The monsters’ jaws were wide open, and their eyes were glistening with madness. They were soon upon him.

Raven clenched his teeth and swung his blade.

He expected the tearing of flesh and cutting of bones to transmit through his arms. However, the monsters that came into contact with his blade scattered like smoke.

However, Raven kept swinging his sword like a madman, feeling his heart beating faster and faster. He could not tell whether this was a dream or a hallucination.

Raven moved forward, breaking through the monsters as they crumbled into black sand.

He wielded his blade, consumed by the thought of killing, and only killing. At that moment, he saw someone at the far ends of the waves of wildly rampaging monsters.

Raven knew the identity of the figure which was shaking like a black mirage.

“Kuhahaha! You are already dead! Your heart has been pierced by my weapon! Your head has been decapitated by the hands of me, the great Baltai!”

Baltai burst into demonical laughter. His head was adorned with a bone helmet, and his hand grasped his halberd.

Then, the monsters in the surroundings disappeared like magic.

A pain struck simultaneously.

Raven slowly looked at himself.

Blood was gushing out of the hole in his chest.

“You are dead! You are already dead…!”

The loathsome voice of Baltai quickly died down.

Raven attempted to speak up, but Baltai’s figure morphed into someone else’s.

“Who are you… Raven Valt…? Or Alan Pendragon…?”

The voice spoke in a heavy, gloomy tone. It was Gordon Pendragon, the very same figure that Raven saw in the mausoleum. His entire body was covered with armor and his head was obscured by a helmet.

But soon, his appearance changed once more.

The black shadow rattled before splitting into two branches, then suddenly enlarged.

Raven did not know the identity of the two beings. Only blood-colored eyes and lips were visible in the black, figureless forms.

[Another one has passed on as well.]

[What do you mean?]

[Another one besides the dragon’s flagbearer. What do we do?]

[Nothing for us to do really. Sol fulfilled the conditions, and we kept our promise. What happens now is really nothing that we can interfere with. I am sure it will work out.]

[Well… Yes, I am sure all will work out somehow...]

The whispers of the two beings caused his head to throb. It was a conversation he was familiar with. He had certainly heard it somewhere before.

Then, the two beings suddenly turned their heads. They spoke simultaneously.

[Are you a demon?]

[Are you the dragon’s flagbearer?]

[Are you already dead?]

[Are you a living man?]

Raven opened his mouth to utter a response, but his voice did not come out, and his headache got worse.

[You are a dead man.]

[You should have died.]

[But the Dragon Queen saved you.]

[Then the Dragon Queen died.]

[You will die again.]

[The Dragon Queen will die again as well.]

The two beings continued to speak words of unknown meaning. The two figures started to overlap and morphed into someone familiar.

Raven tried even harder to speak, but it felt as if his chest was clogged. His voice hovered around his throat, declining to escape through his lips.

It was Jean Oberon, the sorcerer who came to him in El Pasa.

“You will die again, and the Dragon Queen will die again. With that, the twist in casualty will once again be righted and regain its place.”

Then, something hot climbed through Raven’s chest, melting away the conglomeration.

“Don’t bullshit me!!!”

Like a fire regaining its freedom, a loud voice burst out.

***

“…Keugh!”

Raven’s eyes burst open with a scream.

Eltuan was surprised at the sudden movement and quickly helped him raise his body.

“Are you okay? Pendragon, are you all right?”

“Heuk! Heuk!”

Raven fought for breath as he raised his body, then looked around.

“This is…”

“It is the palace of the manticore. You defeated the manticore with the power of the dragon. Don’t you remember?”

Eltuan gazed at Raven with a worried expression. The human was sweaty, and his gaze was dull as he stared up at her. He somehow seemed like a different person. However, after gulping down several more breaths, he slowly regained his original composure.

He looked around to see the elven warriors looking towards him with worried expressions.

“Yes, I knocked it down. Dragon... With Soldrake’s power…”

“Yes, you did it. The kelberos fled as soon as the manticore perished.”

Eltuan nodded with a slightly brighter expression.

“You don’t know how worried I was. I really thought it had gone wrong this time.”

“Is that… so.”

Raven nodded his head half-heartedly. He recalled the scene when he knocked down the manticore.

The king of hellhounds had been burnt away without even any ashes remaining.

Then, some faces passed by in a flash…

“Keugh!”

A piercing headache caused Raven to groan and press down on his temple, and Eltuan quickly became restless once more. With his head pounding, Raven recalled the two unknown figures and Jean Oberon.

“Who… are you…”

Raven murmured in a low voice as he attempted to piece together the fragments of memories that were scrambling in his head.

“What do you mean? Did you forget who I am?”

Thinking he had been talking to her, Eltuan asked back in a concerned voice. Raven frowned from the headache and shook his head.

“No… Please leave me alone for a moment.”

“Hmm… Okay.”

Even though she was still worried, Eltuan bit her lips before standing up.

“Make sure you are on high alert. The rest of you can take a break.”

Raven closed his eyes again as Eltuan commanded the rest of the elves. It was still blurry, but he remembered the scene from a moment ago, although he wasn’t sure whether it was a dream or an illusion.

It had been the last battle he fought on Robstein Plains.

Almost all the soldiers of the demonic army were killed, and Alan Pendragon and Soldrake had been killed there as well.

He himself died at the hands of Baltai.

That was as far as his original memories reached.

But the sight he experienced just a while ago, whether it was a dream or an illusion, was clearly what he experienced at the last battlefield just before entering the realm of death.

‘Another one has passed on as well…?’

He recalled the conversation he heard between the two figureless beings with only eyes and mouths.

‘Who is the other one that they are referring to…? And what is the promise that Soldrake kept?’

He had thought it quite strange since the beginning. After being reborn in Alan Pendragon’s body, he had not seen a single being capable of rivalling Soldrake on earth. Even if she could not exercise her full powers outside of the Pendragon Duchy, he could not imagine any creature capable of killing her.

He was certain that at least two other dragons were required to stand a chance against her.

Hence, it did not make sense for Soldrake to suffer such a helpless death on the Robstein Plains.

Then there was only one answer.

‘Did Sol act like that on purpose at that time…?’

Though the idea was questionable, Raven was half certain. Otherwise, what transpired at the time could not be explained. He did not know why, but Soldrake had caused the unfathomable event in exchange for her own life. In addition, the two unidentified beings were related to the issue.

However, there was an unresolved curiosity and a problem.

‘Jean Oberon…’

Perhaps it was a mirage created by his own worries and distress combined with the aftereffects of overexerting the Dragon’s Spirit. However, Raven thought it could not be a coincidence that Jean Oberon happened to appear last, saying such vague words.

Even now, he clearly remembered the words Jean Oberon muttered.

‘The twist in causality will once again regain its place…’

A twisted causality.

He knew what it was referring to.

The fact that he, who had already died, was revived as Alan Pendragon – it was clearly an unnatural phenomenon. As a result, many events did not unfurl the way they were supposed to.

The logic of the world, the flow of the world had been contorted.

Jean Oberon had said everything would return to its place when he and Soldrake died.

‘Perhaps…’

Raven wrinkled his forehead at a sudden thought.

Perhaps Jean Oberon had intended everything. Crossing the inland sea and venturing to the labyrinth to once again defeat the Troll King. Maybe it was all part of the sorcerer’s plan.

‘But why…?’

To kill himself and Soldrake?

Then there must have been another way without having to go through the trouble. But if the sorcerer had deliberately lured himself and Soldrake to this place…

‘This place. It means there is something in the labyrinth.’

It seemed to be the only viable explanation.

The clear mark he made in the past may also have relevance to the entire situation as well.

‘Then whether I want to or not…’

Raven opened his eyes.

A thin light flickered in his calm eyes. Raven clenched his teeth as he slowly raised his throbbing body. He could still feel burning pain all over his body.

‘I must go to the end. That is the only way to solve all these questions.’

And the road was not as lonely as it was in the past.

Now, he had the Red Moon Valley warriors by his side.

Moreover.

‘Sol…’

Raven stood upright as he felt the spirit of his soul’s companion drawing closer.