Chapter 99

Chapter 99
## Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: The Four Evils Descend

The end of the world seemed to be approaching.

The collision between two titans had begun.

Peaks disintegrated into dust, while obsidian storm clouds blanketed the entire horizon.

“Let us out of here!”

“Staying trapped means certain doom!”

Hysteria took hold.

Both the human population and the supernatural creatures were plunged into a state of total panic.

Even the massive army of monsters that had seized the peaks fell into disarray as Lactusha started to lose ground.

Retreat was no longer an option.

The only path forward was to provide reinforcements to Lactusha.

However, the captured martial artists ascending the slopes presented a massive complication.

Lactusha had commanded that they be kept under guard, but the soldiers couldn’t focus on the Four Evils while dragging along a crowd of useless hostages.

“Sir Enkasa, what is the order regarding the captives?”

“Execute them all.”

The monster battalion decided on a complete slaughter of the practitioners.

“No, stop!”

“I beg of you, have mercy!”

The practitioners were cut down, unable to put up any semblance of a fight.

Enkasa was the premier champion serving under Lactusha.

He was a beastman with the features of a lion who had pledged his soul to Lactusha, captivated by the leader’s sheer dominance.

“Every available warrior is to support Lactusha immediately.”

“But sir… our enemy is one of the Four Evils…!”

Schlick!

The moment a soldier allowed his terror to speak, his head was parted from his shoulders.

Enkasa radiated a golden brilliance from his mane-like aura, his expression remaining cold and detached.

“Are there any other cowards who wish to speak?”

“……”

Silence followed.

Enkasa looked away.

While Lactusha had wanted the practitioners imprisoned, since there were none left alive to hold, he hadn’t technically violated his master’s intent.

It was in that moment of transition.

‘Wait.’

He sensed a new presence nearby.

Casting his eyes toward the movement, he saw a figure making a descent from the higher elevations.

Was it a wandering artist or a servant from the peaks?

“Is that human carrying the daughter of the White King?”

“Yes, sir! Without a doubt, that is the White King’s daughter.”

A lone man was trekking down with the White King’s daughter and another male slung over his back.

Enkasa’s brow furrowed.

‘Attempting a quiet exit amidst the carnage.’

Their fortune had run dry.

They had walked directly into his path.

Even if saving Lactusha was the priority, they couldn’t allow the White King’s daughter—their primary objective—to vanish.

“Vice-captain Enkasa, let’s finish him and reclaim the girl.”

“…… Stay your hand.”

Against a legion of ten thousand, a solitary human was insignificant.

Yet, a prickle of intuition bothered him.

A deep sense of foreboding took root in his mind.

Suddenly, the reason became clear.

‘…… They walked down from the crest through that deadly miasma… without a scratch?’

The very peak where the Four Evils and Lactusha were locked in a death match.

They had clearly emerged from that epicenter, yet they bore no marks of the corruption.

Even a powerhouse like Lactusha couldn’t withstand Baal’s blight without consequence.

Furthermore.

“Get out of the way.”

“……”

Whence came this audacity?

Standing before a literal army of ten thousand, the man didn’t show a hint of trepidation.

He spoke with the weight of a sovereign, suggesting they move if they valued their lives.

Enkasa ignited the golden sword light that mirrored his regal mane.

The stranger was an anomaly, but they had no time for games.

A quick execution, a retrieval of the asset…

Vrooooom!

In that heartbeat, everything changed.

A far more brilliant and majestic golden radiance erupted from the human’s frame.

The energy spun together like ethereal silk, coalescing into a distinct manifestation.

A blade.

‘That… that is…!’

Enkasa’s throat went dry.

Panic surged through him.

He couldn’t help it.

That wasn’t mere sword energy.

If it were just basic aura, he wouldn’t be shaking.

It wasn’t the standard layer used to sharpen a steel edge.

This was…

This was…

‘A sword beam…!’

The high-level art of compressing and weaving energy into a perfected, physical shape.

There was no error.

It was the fabled sword beam of legends!

Not even Lactusha had managed to cross into the territory of sword beams.

Enkasa tightened his grip.

If it were an illusion, his senses would have pierced it.

But the weight of it was undeniable. This killing intent was absolute.

“Vice-captain?”

The soldiers around him were bewildered.

They lacked the depth of knowledge to understand the horror of the technique before them.

Rooooooaar!

Crash! Boom! Thrum!

The cries of the Four Evils intensified.

Lactusha was being systematically dismantled as the minutes ticked by.

He was clearly trapped in the Four Evils’ relentless rhythm.

“…… Clear a path.”

“V-Vice-captain? What are you saying?”

“Our priority is Lactusha.”

If they engaged this monstrous human, Lactusha would surely perish.

Moreover, the life of their leader was worth far more than the White King’s daughter.

Even if it meant the annihilation of every soldier present, ensuring Lactusha’s survival was the only goal that mattered.

The sellswords Joaquin, Sean, and Malibu felt as though their grip on reality was slipping.

“Chief. This isn’t just some extreme training, is it? All that out there is real?”

“We’re leaving now, right? We have to.”

Joaquin stared toward the gateway in response to his men’s frantic questions.

The monster army under Lactusha had stormed the mountain, and shortly after, the Four Evils had manifested from thin air.

The scene visible through the shimmering warp gate was a vision of the pit.

“There’s no way that guy is still breathing!”

“The Four Evils? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

In such a cataclysm, the man was surely erased.

Regardless of his previous feats, nobody could survive being caught between the Four Evils and Lactusha.

Joaquin made a sharp clicking sound with his tongue.

It was time to retreat.

The city of mercenaries was likely already in a state of emergency.

“Hold on.”

A shape materialized in the distance.

The figure walking toward the portal was the very employer who had commissioned them.

“Boss?”

How in the world had he walked out of that furnace?

And he wasn’t returning alone.

Two had gone in, but four were now exiting.

“Take one each.”

“Excuse me?”

“Grab them and move. Get as much distance as you can. The gate is about to destabilize.”

“Ah……!”

The warp gate was going to detonate.

That meant the entire territory could be swallowed by the void.

If they were caught when it sank into the abyss, there would be no return.

‘Move it!’

If they wanted to see tomorrow, they had to run like the wind.

The arrival of the Four Evils had compromised the structural integrity of the gate.

Since the teleportation manuals were now useless, they had to rely on their own legs.

They had to sprint until they reached the gate connected to the neighboring city.

‘Why is this Se-ah girl still out cold?’

They had managed to locate the saintess Se-ah, but she had been found unconscious near the portal.

The cause was a mystery, but survival took precedence over questions.

Under Joaquin’s expert navigation, they managed a narrow escape through the Cartel gateway within the mercenary hub.

“Haa… haa… *cough*!”

“I can’t… breathe…!”

They were drenched in sweat, their lungs burning.

At that precise moment.

Groooooaaan.

The gateway trembled violently.

Suddenly, the portal leading back to the mountain turned into a void of pure shadow, as if the connection had been severed.

“…… The gate is gone. Sunk.”

“If we had lingered for even a second……”

The entire region was now sealed off.

The mercenaries gulped, feeling the weight of the close call.

A moment of hesitation would have meant eternal imprisonment.

‘So, we didn’t quite make it.’

Lactusha and his legion had proven insufficient to halt the Four Evils.

Regardless of who survived the duel, the mission to eradicate the Four Evils had failed.

“What’s the plan now?”

Sean inquired.

The next step?

One fact remained: the Four Evils were still out there.

If they survived, it was only a matter of time before they breached another territory.

The five neutral hubs, Cartel included, were the most likely targets.

If the cities held, the world might endure—if not, it was the end.

There was no telling how many realms would be wiped off the map.

‘The White King’s daughter passed the text to me.’

The encounter with the monster army had stripped away any doubt about the White Tiger’s lineage.

She was indeed the princess of the White King.

Just before losing consciousness again, she had shoved a book into my hands.

I reached into my tunic and pulled it out.

‘Sword Sage’s Diary.’

The leather-bound volume was titled the Sword Sage’s Diary.

Immediately.

《You have triggered the Sword Sage’s Hidden Legacy.》

《In order to subjugate ‘Four Evils Baal,’ you must possess the ‘Sword Sage’s Diary,’ ‘Baal’s Great Helm,’ ‘Baal’s Plate Armor,’ and ‘Baal’s Sacred Talisman.’》

《You are currently missing one component required to bind ‘Four Evils Baal.’》

《The coordinates for ‘Baal’s Plate Armor’ have been inscribed within the journal.》

An illusory map shimmered above the pages.

A crimson marker pulsed in the center.

‘The Empire.’

It was located somewhere within the Arhon Empire.

The Plate Armor was waiting there.

If we secured that piece, could we actually dominate the Four Evils?

But the notifications didn’t stop there.

《You have fulfilled the requirements for ‘Main Quest 7: Reach Mastery Level 15 at the Practitioners’ Mountain.’》

《Calculating rewards.》

With the successful extraction from the mountain, Main Quest 7 reached its conclusion, and the system began its tally.

Endless Settlement

A massive vaulted assembly room.

An incredible gathering of thirty ‘Dominators’ had convened.

These were the sovereigns of their respective cities, titans of industry and war who held absolute command.

The leaders of the five hubs directly linked to the mountain were there, along with the representatives of the twenty-five cities connected to them—all gathered in one hall.

It was an imposing display of power.

Veiled in the mysterious auras of the Dominators, they traded sharp rebukes and grim assessments of the unfolding disaster.

“Repeat that? You intend to sever the connections and leave us isolated?”

The sovereign of the Mercenary City Cartel, ‘Red Civet Jeraph,’ bellowed his outrage.

The other city masters simply looked away or shook their heads in disapproval.

“The Four Evils will inevitably move toward one of the five hubs connected to the mountain.”

“We cannot jeopardize our own safety simply because our gates happen to be linked to yours.”

“Now, now, Jeraph. We won’t be stingy with supplies while you hold the line.”

At a time when total cooperation was required, the talk was of cutting ties.

Severing the gates meant total isolation.

Ending all commerce and breaking every treaty.

For a single, selfish reason.

To ensure the Four Evils didn’t reach their borders.

“Do you have any idea how insane you sound!”

Bang!

Jeraph struck the circular table with his fist.

It was beyond logic.

It was an insult he refused to tolerate.

The necessity of linked gates was the foundation of their world. Cities with shared portals were de facto allies.

Furthermore, a city required at least three active links to keep itself from being consumed by the abyss.

“If you cut the links, you are sentencing Cartel to sink into the dark!”

“Then forge new links among your fellow neutral cities.”

“Indeed. With five of you still connected, the abyss won’t be an issue.”

Jeraph shook with suppressed fury.

“So you’re throwing us to the wolves? The five neutral cities on the frontline are just supposed to figure it out?”

“It’s not that simple… you could always petition the Empire or the Holy Church for intervention……”

“Tsk. Mercenaries are always so prone to theatrics.”

Their strategy was transparent.

The five hubs closest to the catastrophe were being designated as a meat shield to slow down the Four Evils.

Even if those cities fell, the hope was that the monster’s strength would be depleted before it reached the inner territories.

They were demanding a blood sacrifice from the neutral zones.

Jeraph saw right through the thin excuses.

“You believe it stops once we fall? You think the Four Evils care about whether a gate is open or closed?”

It was a delusion.

The mountain had already been lost to the void.

There was a high probability the creature would soon become the ‘Lord of the Abyss.’

Perhaps even the ‘Incarnation of the Abyss’ itself.

“If the Four Evils becomes the ‘Incarnation of the Abyss,’ it can bypass your gates entirely. That entity exists only to tear things down. You won’t even have the chance to prepare once it manifests—do you really not understand that by then, it will be over for everyone?”

Jeraph’s warning held a terrifying weight.

As the Incarnation, the monster could corrode reality at any point.

The moment that erosion touched a city, every connected neighbor became a target.

There would be no warning—only a slow, inevitable descent into darkness.