CHAPTER 534

The moment the white stone was handed over, the Hairan's war would lose its meaning.

If the war could have been stopped simply by passing the white stone, Jin would not have come here.

"If the fight escalates any further, I won't be able to propose the same offer with my authority. I just want to minimize unnecessary deaths."

"Now that Zipfel and I have each offered support to our friends, it's difficult to say that this war is just a fight between the Empire and Hairan. Unnecessary deaths? Is there such a thing between Runcandel and Zipfel? Anyway, it's our fate to keep fighting until one side is completely finished."

In the end, Laramaqua had no choice but to give up on negotiations.

"…You will regret this."

"The talk is over, return to your side. And don't add anything unnecessary to incur my grudge."

In fact, Jin wasn't really confident in pushing so strongly.

The all-out war with Zipfel was too burdensome even for Jin.

No, beyond the burden, it was a dangerous development and there was no answer at all yet.

Yet, Jin did not withdraw for a reason.

'Zipfel is talking about an all-out war against Runcandel… There must be something about the white stone that makes it so important.'

White stone.

If that cursed and accursed object, which undermines the honor and pride of his friend's clan, was something that Zipfel had to acquire even at the cost of an all-out war against Runcandel.

Then Jin must never back down. Jin wasn't backing down because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't.

It was no longer just a matter of sword emperor castle. If the white stone had such value, Zipfel would undoubtedly use it to leap one step further. And preventing Zipfel was the biggest mission of Runcandel.

Of course, there was a part of Jin that didn't believe that at all.

'My mother and the elites of the clan must be watching the situation.'

The emperor revealed the existence of the white stone to the world, and Zipfel sent reinforcements even revealing the mass production ship.

There was no way Runcandel was not taking action on such a huge incident.

'My mother probably hasn't judged the value of the white stone yet, so she decided to watch for now. However, if Zipfel shows a more desperate move, the clan will definitely step in. Without a doubt.'

It's the same with Talaris. 

She was still watching the battle as a bystander, but the moment she concluded that the white stone threatened the world in any form, she would join the fight. 

If Ron and Dante don't use the white stone as a means of last effort, she will point her sword to Zipfel.

'I don't know about Sir Ron, who is unconscious, but if it's Dante, he would never make that choice. Even if he made this extreme choice, I can just stop him. If I can prevent that, there will be no need for Madame Talaris to pressurize the sword emperor castle.'

Ron's condition was reported by the knights of Hairan on the way to the front.

Thinking about Dante still keeping Ron, who couldn't wake up, in the Sword Emperor Castle, it stung Jin's heart once again.

'Veradin.'

At the same time, Jin remembered another friend.

'I believe you are also doing something for Dante.'

He certainly will if his mind was sane.

Jin sincerely hoped that Veradin would not become a pawn of war, attacking Hairan like in the mission to assassinate Barton. It was too cruel for everyone involved.

Laramaqua turned around abruptly, transforming into her true form.

Battle resumed as soon as she repositioned in the sky.

 The brief lull in the fighting until now seemed like a lie, as the battlefield was now filled with screams and explosive sounds.

Most of it was the screams of the mages and dragons of Zipfel, and the explosion that spread as their fleet was broken.

Along with Murakan, the power of the five sword saints stood out in particular.

Unlike Dante, they have a rigid body, so they suffocate their opponents with a flurry of secret techniques.

Including the Heavenly flash, the successive secret techniques dazzled the night sky, and at times Jin's lightning energy revealed its dignity.

The ground forces of the imperial army could not narrow the siege anymore. It was because Amela's cannon support had not ceased, and Jin's companions, including Valkas and Proch siblings, were still active in the rear and sides.

The beginning and middle battles of the war were advancing towards the victory of the sword emperor castle.

However, those fighting for Hairan were not excited. Rather, as the situation improved, they prepared for the next fight with a stronger determination.

It was not going to end like this.

Zipfel's first reinforcements now noticeably dwindled in number. There were barely five or so remaining battleships, and most of the mages and dragons had perished. It seemed that even these remnants would meet their fate within minutes.

The leader, the blue dragon Laramaqua, was barely able to let out a roar with one wing missing.

'At this point... I think that's enough.'

Laramaqua thought. There was one matter that neither the imperial army nor the knights gathered for Hairan knew about.

In preparation for such a situation, the Zipfel had devised a method by combining unfinished technology and ancient dark magic.

Suddenly, the blood flowing from Laramaqua drew a magic circle in the air.

It was not particularly large or brightly visible, and because it was drawn in an instant, no one in the messy battle recognized the moment it took shape.

Jin and his companions recognized it only after a few seconds after the magic circle was completed.

'What is that?'

'A blood magic circle...!?'

As soon as Murakan recognized the magic circle, he fired his breath at Laramaqua.

Dark breath pierced her heart, and the blood that drew the magic circle was also scattered by that power.

 However, the blood soon gathered again, maintaining the shape of the magic circle.

And it wasn't just Laramaqua who formed the blood magic circle. The surviving dragons and high-ranking mages of Zipfel were also drawing similar blood magic circles.

What served as a catalyst for them was death, constantly blooming all over the battlefield.

Keek—!

The blood magic circles resonated, producing strange metallic sounds.

The knights of the Hairan who are capable of aerial strikes, continued to attack the magic circle, but even if the magic circle was torn, it continued to maintain its shape and merged.

Soon, the combined magic circle took the form of a cube.

'Cube?'

Suddenly, Jin remembered the Gaifa Islands.

The artifact that Midor Elnor used to summon Myuron Zipfel was also a perfect cube like this one.

'No way.'

Space-time device.

'Is it possible to do the summoning by magic, not by artifact…!'

Cough!

Laramaqua collapsed, vomiting blood, and her death completed the magic circle.

There was no need to shout that it was dangerous. The allies in the sky already sensed something was wrong and retreating.

The magic circle started emitting dark red light. The light, which looked just like an ominous sun on some fateful day, soon formed a huge portal.

The first thing to emerge from the portal was a battleship, similar in form to Kozec.

Zzzzt...!

The battleship came out by distorting the space around it.

A tremendous force sucked in the remaining bodies and blood in the air, creating a peculiar noise.

Kozec, which was the only flying battleship prior to the existence of mass-produced battleships, is known to have different performance depending on the occupant.

It was the same with mass-produced battleships. All battleships could be just a means of transportation or a formidable battle weapon, depending on the mana of the occupant.

The mass-produced battleships of Zipfel, which were destroyed earlier, did not show much effectiveness.

However, the new fleet was powered by mages of a different level. It was something that could be known without having to fight.

The density of mana surrounding the battleship was completely different.

It was so dense that even knights who couldn't read mana could feel it all over their bodies.

'Spectres.'

It was expected that more reinforcements would come.

Summoning through dark magic simply advanced the time, and it was not so shocking because Jin was aware of the appearance of the Spectres from the beginning.

Even so, the reason Jin let out an empty laugh was because there were too many of them.

The number of mass-produced battleships that came out of the portal reached thirty. And all those mass-produced ships were being operated by the Spectres.

'How in the world do these guys have so many Spectres...!?'

Back in his reserve flagbearer days, the first number of Spectres that Jin encountered on the island of Veradin were all 15.

At that time, Jin was certain that their numbers would at least exceed twenty by considering the instability of the chain magic of the Spectres.

However, there are over 30 battleships in front of him, and each one of them was powered by the mana of at least two Spectres.

Even with simple calculations, it meant there were at least sixty of them, and that was an impossible number without even delving into deep contemplation.

If Zipfel had maintained that level of Spectres all along, it could have ended Runcandel as much as they wanted before the time of Chiron ran out.

In that case, there were two hypotheses.

'Maybe they have invented a training method recently that far surpassed the conventional, and the number of Spectres has been rapidly increased….'

Or they resurrected the dead.

The fact that Zipfel could resurrect humans through the Demon God's orb was already proven long ago when he fought Andrei Zipfel.

Jin presumed it was the latter.

'Mages were resurrected with Myuron Zipfel in the Gaifa islands... It's the same as back then. It's just the size and quality was different.'

Kahaha!

Jin heard a familiar voice from the first battleship that appeared.

It was the voices of Midor Elnor and Myuron Zipfel.

[Fate is fate, and you guys are here too...!]

[I came back from hell twice, this Myuron...!]

Before they could finish speaking, Jin and Murakan at the same time fired a Light-speed thrust and exhaled breath.

The power of Runcandel's secret technique and the breath of the Black Dragon tore up the protective shield and shattered the front of the battleship on which Midor and Myuron were standing.

Midor and Myuron met their second and third deaths so vainly, respectively.

Only their ankles remained at the board of the battleship after Jin and Murakan's power swept the forefront.

[They are not some kind of cockroach, but they keep coming out even if we kill them. They are only going to disappear after showing such a pathetic state.]

 Murakan spoke with a sneer.

But he and Jin knew. The reason why Zipfel's idiot brothers died was because the Spectres of other battleships didn't protect them.

Despite being in the forefront, Myuron and Midor were not the commanders of Spectres.

The Spectre Corps considered them as mere scavengers who only held their positions because they were the sons of Kelliark. It didn't matter if they were dead or not.

Because of this, the Spectres silently raised their mana even though the forefront fleet was destroyed, and Myuron and Midor died.

'Those guys... they sure are tenacious.'

Jin gritted his teeth and thought.

He hoped the resurrected Spectres were not as good as the real ones that he had experienced the first time.