The World after the Fall

Chapter 30: Dead man (5)

Silver Bind was very powerful.

All criminals could not resist his [Orders] and the brothers were having a hard time against [Silver Bind]. Karlton was living up to the reputation of the 'best of the four Guard Captains'.

"So, it wasn't a false rumor that you can kill a Garnak alone…."

Janya deflected Karlton's halberd as he gritted his teeth. To the Adapters traveling in <Chaos>, the [Silver Bind] of the Sky people was the worst skill to fight against. Janya was barely resisting, but his two brothers were already bound. Karlton's halberd swung towards Janya's neck.

"Your resistance is futile."

Janya gulped.

[We should use Black Cloud.]

[Are you serious? If we do that…]

[The ones who were reinforcing the barriers are all dead. We will all die anyway.]

[…Understood.]

Janya then knelt and raised both his hands.

"I surrender."

"Wise choice."

Karlton then released the bind and approached. At that moment, Janya laughed.

"You are as naïve as rumored also."

Karlton then realized something and shouted, "Everyone! Get out of the saloon!"

Something exploded from within Janya and a black cloud began filling up the saloon. Within the smog, people moaned and coughed. Some who moved out of the smog tried to come back in, but Karlton yelled, "Don't come back inside!"

The smog did not go away and Karlton's voice disappeared. Then, the sound of flesh and bones twisting was heard.

The Janya brothers were watching it unfold at the top of the ruined building next to the saloon.

"I never imagined I would need to use Black Cloud here."

They were all covered with some kind of a mask. Janmyung spoke grimly,

"Janmang breathed in a bit of the cloud."

"…Fool. I warned him so many times."

Janya frowned as he saw Janmang's darkened face.

"If he swallowed only a bit, he might live. Hang on."

Then, they saw reinforcements from Golden Sky running towards them.

"…About time."

Their leader was the high stage Adapter and an elder of Golden Sky, Heuk Surlang. He was famous for his sexual desire in the <Great Lands> and was eventually killed by Adapters with his tongue and penis ripped out. Janya was ashamed to side with such a man.

"Janya, look at you… how pitiful."

"…Shut up."

"What happened to the witch? You need to hand her over to me."

"I didn't have time for that."

Surlang frowned. He then checked the cloud in the saloon.

"You were in a hurry, I see. Using the cloud with the Leader's permission?"

"Silver Bind was here."

"Silver Bind?"

Surlang's voice shook.

"Wait- so Silver Bind is in there right now?"

"Yes."

Surlang cackled at the world.

"HAHA! That fool swallowed up the Black Cloud? That's a sight to behold."

No criminal had a good impression of Silver Bind. Even Surlang had bad memories of Karlton.

"That's a good sight to watch," Surlang said, but Janya didn't seem too excited.

'…What happened to him?'

Silver Bind wasn't much of a problem. Under normal circumstances, he would have defeated him already. The problem was the man who cornered them with just a stab.

And he couldn't stop thinking that the man was probably not affected by Black Cloud.

"Oh, and where's the stone?"

"Not yet."

"…Don't tell me you let the Fortress take it."

"Don't worry. We just need to pick it up now."

Janya adjusted his mask and readied himself to walk back into the saloon. The saloon was covered in black smog. Even the smallest effect was enough to corrupt the spirit so he did not want to go back in. The ones inside had probably reached their limit of corruption already.

'I don't even want to think about it.'

He knew what became of the ones who reached the limit of corruption. There was no one in <Chaos> who did not know this. Suddenly, Surlang stopped Janya and asked,

"…Janya. Who is he?"

Janya turned and found a man looking at him. He had casually walked out of the smog-filled saloon. Janya was shocked. It wasn't possible. Even the Greens could not stay normal after breathing in the cloud, and he was not one of the Greens.

"…He's the one with the stone."

"Oh? Good. Get him!"

The men who came with Surlang charged as the man took out his sword.

Step by step, with each step he took, Janya felt the ground shudder. One strike equaled the death of one of his men. Surlang bellowed, "What is he?!"

Who was he? That's what Janya wanted to know. He checked and it looked like there was still about fifty 3rd stage Adapters. That was enough to wipe out mid-level clans. Janya calmed himself.

'We have enough… we have…'

Jaehwan frowned as he fought off the enemies. There were too many to stab each one and there was a chance that more bad things might happen again if he wasted any more time.

He did not use his sword because he did not like relying on an item's power, but it was time to use it now. Jaehwan drew the sword from the scabbard. It was then that Janya first realized that the man had been fighting with the scabbard on.

'So I was only fighting a scabbard?'

The sword cried out with ominous power as it was drawn. Everyone excluding Janya and Surlang froze. It was as if a giant horned monster was standing in front of them.

"G-Garnak…"

The skill within the scabbard. [Garnak's Presence] was activated.

Janya stared at it dumbfoundedly. The reinforcements were smashed like insects and when he came back to his senses, the only ones left were himself and Surlang. But Surlang was already far away, fleeing.

'…Bastard.'

Janya then looked at his brothers on the ground. He would not survive.

"There's one way for you to survive."

To survive? Janya's eyes opened wide.

"Where's the [Nightmare]?"

[Nightmare]…

"Why do you laugh?"

Jaehwan asked Janya who was laughing maniacally.

"I can't tell you."

He knew. If he told him about [Nightmare], he would die even if he survived. He thought of one man. The strongest in <Chaos> and the only one who could unite <Chaos>.

The leader of Golden Sky.

Even if this man was strong, would he be stronger than the leader? He couldn't agree. He believed it was only possible for his leader to unite <Chaos> and get the [Fruit] to return to the <Great Lands>.

"Ke…hahaha…"

He laughed. With the cloud out, 'IT' would start now.

'If I'm going to die here…'

Janya quickly pulled out a dark gem and swallowed it.

[Stone of Forgotten Spirit]