Swordmeister of Rome

Chapter 85: Apental

“What... what is this... Kirat, what happened? Huh?”

Lagaope became confused as the Barakuna was enraged and breathed a fire attack toward the city. Lagaope looked at Kirat who had fainted.

“Oh man...”

He picked up the crown and put it on his head, but it didn’t work. It seemed like the connection with Kirat was still intact. Lagaope couldn’t understand what happened, so he picked up Kirat on his back. The Barakuna was now charging straight toward the city of Kerbal. The tremor was enough to destroy Kirat’s internal organs if left alone, so Lagaope put her up on his back and jumped up.

As he jumped up, something flew straight into the Barakuna and struck it.

Lagaope was shocked and turned back.

The Barakuna was thrown off and was dazed. Something was approaching from the distance.

“Oh no.”

He needed to avoid it or else Kirat would be dead if he got involved. Lagaope activated his wristband, and the area around it swallowed both Lagaope, Kirat, and the Barakuna’s gigantic body passed through where they were.

Sian jumped out as he watched his Chrona-Phon piercing the monster’s face. The monster which was the size of a mountain almost fell to the side, but it quickly managed to stand back on its feet. The simple footstep created a large tsunami on the coast, destroying the half-intact Kerbal again.

But Sian didn’t care. The city was already done for after the first explosion.

The monster used its eight legs to lift itself and swung at Sian. It was much bigger than Fish No.1, but it looked quicker. Sian struck his Chrona-Phon at the front leg. When the monster was struck by Sian’s sword, it was pushed back as if it were hit by a meteor, but it kept coming back again and again.

‘Why is this... still...’

Sian was amazed at his first fight with a Harijan.

One reason was because of its enormous power.

The second was its viciousness.

It was not a human, nor was it a superhuman. It did not learn anything and did not have Bander or Exar. Yet it was very strong. Three superhumans from Lagran weren’t enough to fight it. Still, it was no match for Sian.

That was what he couldn’t understand. The monster should’ve known, but it kept charging at him as if it had met a life-long enemy. Sian couldn’t let the monster live when it was trying to kill him. He began sending Bander into his wrist. A light began covering his entire body.

<Kill it... Kill it...>

<Rip it apart...>

<Swallow it...>

Kirat couldn’t think straight as the Barakuna’s instinct kept invading her. She also felt all the pain that the Barakuna felt as Sian struck it. Now she was able to control the monster.

The monster wasn’t something that could be controlled by Kirat’s power. So she decided to let the monster loose and only sent her own feelings.

Her memory and feelings toward Sian.

The monster was enraged at Sian in return. Its rage was growing stronger as Sian kept slashing it. Its rage was strong enough to overwhelm its survival instinct.

It wasn’t enough. That was why she needed to fulfill her quest.

[Chance of a lifetime]

-Your target is at the city of Kerbal. It is the chance of a lifetime. You should aim for the success for your revenge.

-Control the <Barakuna> to push the target into the <Dungeon: Gate to Apental>

-The <Gate to Apental> will close soon.

-Time limit: 15 minutes (7:21/15:00)

-Reward: 420,000 Exp. <Crown of ???> Proficiency increased by 3.1%

-Warning: Do not enter the <Gate to Apental>. You cannot return from it.

Kirat didn’t understand what this <Gate to Apental> was, but she quickly realized that it was the red sphere that was now big enough for the Barakuna to go through. She wasn’t sure why it would be so dangerous. So she used <Eye of Gran-Ra> to look at it. She couldn’t get much information out of it, but one line of description was enough. She didn’t need to win. She just needed to push the guy in there.

<Gate to Apental>

...

-Level requirement: 399

...

-Very dangerous. Do not approach.

“Ugh...”

Kurin opened her eyes as she felt the tremor and touched her head.

‘...what happened?’

She thought she was on her way to evacuate the citizens, but she couldn’t remember anything else past that.

‘Was I attacked?’

There was a possibility that the walking mountain could’ve done something. She then quickly looked around looking for her friends and found all of them nearby. What was interesting was that they were all awake but they were looking at another place. Kurin couldn’t think to ask and tried to look to where they were watching, but a voice stopped her, forcing her to turn in that direction.

“You’re awake.”

It was Stiel. She was grinning.

“...what happened?”

“I paid for the necklace and the ring instead. I saved you four in return of the necklace that can save one, so you owe me, but I’ll let it go.”

‘...Necklace...?’

Kurin then remembered the bargain they made with them.

<I’ll save you all for the necklace.>

She decided to ask again, but stopped. A large explosive sound came from the distance and she turned around to look at the scene her friends were looking at.

“It did pay off, right?”

Kurin couldn’t agree more. The city where they were staying at was laid in ruins.

It wasn’t because of the gigantic monster. The monster was just rolling around as it was struck and beaten up into the city. On the other side was shining being in the sky.

“...is that?”

“Isn’t he marvelous? I hope he always lives like that.”

Stiel mumbled as she marbled at the sight of Sian. Kurin realized it was the same, weak-looking man she saw before, but she couldn’t agree with Stiel. A man of such power should not live however he pleased.

The fight was almost over.

The sphere was now shrinking into nothing and the monster only had three of its horns left. It was barely breathing. The light in the sky seemed to realize this and was loosening its power.

At that moment, the monster began charging toward the sphere.

“What is that mad cow doing?” Stiel spoke as she looked at the cow-like monster with broken horns and laughed. The sphere had shrunk too much; only the monster’s head could barely fit. Needless to say, the monster was stuck with its head in the sphere.

“What is it doing?”

Something happened. At that moment, the monster’s mouth fired an enormous amount energy into the sphere, something much stronger than the previous one that destroyed half the city earlier.

And vicious energy began radiating from within the sphere.

“UGH!”

“ARRGH!”

The four of them gasped and screamed at once as they felt the energy and fainted. It was very far, but it still was powerful and Stiel frowned. At that moment, something penetrated the crushing Barakuna’s head and shot out from within.

“What is that?”

It was an arm. But it was so fast and so long that it looked like a red line. It snatched Sian up out of the sky. Then it pulled it back at an incredible speed and as it returned back into the sphere. Then the sphere sealed itself up, leaving only the headless Barakuna on the ground.