Ch-376. **The Sunken Emperor**
—
The duel between the **Order of Radiance** and the **Knights of the Round Table**.
“Did the master of the Round Table run away out of fear?”
Kasim spoke, his brow furrowing.
He hadn’t expected the commander to be absent from such a pivotal confrontation.
The new lord of the Round Table—the one who had conquered the Tower of Ruin—was someone Kasim had wanted to cross blades with.
Had he truly fled to avoid this duel?
If so, it was impossible not to feel disappointed.
“Don’t worry. We’re more than enough without him.”
However, Abelof, vice-commander of the Round Table, shook his head.
There was no need to send out the commander just to face Kasim and the Order of Radiance.
It wasn’t idle bravado—his words were brimming with confidence.
At the same time, Kasim’s expression hardened even further.
He had long been familiar with the rumors surrounding the Knights of the Round Table.
They were said to be cruel and rude in practice.
That they followed no one but their commander, and spoke to no one else.
The rumors seemed accurate.
Still, he had also heard that the Round Table did not move without its lord.
If so, could they truly fight without their commander?
Thinking that way, he found it amusing.
“Heh. Let’s see how long that confidence lasts.”
He realized that further conversation was pointless.
Only the song of steel would speak for them now.
In truth, Kasim had sought this duel not only to contest the title of *Knight of the Goddess*—
but because something else caught his eye.
‘There are faces I recognize.’
Among the members of the Round Table, a few looked familiar.
He had seen them when entering the World Tree Dungeon.
They were among those who had proven their honor at the *World Tree of Honor*.
If some of them were here, then perhaps the *lord of the Round Table* had been among them as well.
Or perhaps he was someone else entirely.
Or—was he even human?
He intended to find out.
To draw out the lord of the Round Table.
If he pressed them hard enough, the man would inevitably appear.
Then he would test whether he was truly worthy of the title *Knight of the Goddess*.
“Izazel. Take the vanguard.”
“I receive the Radiant command.”
Kasim called Izazel forward.
The Order of Radiance’s **Angel Knights** were all living *Holy Swords*.
Kasim possessed the ability to turn living beings into holy swords, and among them, the Angel Knights were the strongest—those who had willingly chosen to become holy swords themselves.
After the subjugation of the Evil God, they had been laid to rest deep within the holy capital.
Now, Kasim had awakened them once more.
The invincible knights who had fought alongside him against the Evil God.
Izazel was a top-grade Holy Sword.
Hwaaaaaang—!
The moment he stepped forward, he unleashed a dazzling torrent of light.
Kasim watched the Round Table and Vice-Commander Abelof with keen interest.
Now then—this was the first clash.
There was nothing more important than the opening engagement.
Who would they send out?
“……”
Abelof hesitated briefly.
Without the commander, the choice was his alone.
It was the first time.
In the past, he wouldn’t even have made such a decision.
He would have waited solely for Wilhelm’s command.
But—
Hadn’t he decided to move forward?
Hadn’t he resolved to change?
Even without the lord of the Round Table, he had to be able to fill that role.
He could not bring disgrace upon the Round Table.
Soon, Abelof turned his gaze.
“Serengeti.”
He spoke while looking straight at her.
…She was the right choice for the vanguard.
Once the youngest of the Round Table—
but she had grown tremendously, to the point where she could now face any of them without losing.
Abelof had no doubt that Serengeti would secure the Round Table’s first victory.
*
*
The **Lord of the Grave**.
The golem who had aided me when I faced the Abyssal Lords on God’s Island.
The colossal golem was, like them, a monster that ruled several Abyssal domains—
yet unlike the other Abyssal Lords, it had no interest in conquest.
The Lord of the Grave desired only one thing.
To find the child who had created it long ago.
‘Then why is it here?’
It was puzzling.
Strange.
The Lord of the Grave had done nothing but wander in search of the child’s whereabouts.
There was no reason for it to drift into the deep Abyss.
To step into such chaos—where the Spirit Tower had collapsed and contamination ran rampant—
Common sense dictated that the child would never be in a place like this.
Yet, thinking back—
‘The Lord of the Grave didn’t enter God’s Island by its own will either.’
In the first place, it had been deceived into entering God’s Island.
By someone—
‘He said it was the administrator. That if he went to God’s Island, he could find the child.’
…The administrator.
Then was it the same this time?
Had it been tricked again by someone claiming to be the administrator?
And—
‘I deceived it.’
On God’s Island, I had deceived the Lord of the Grave.
I had lied, saying I knew where the child was and that I would help find them, using honeyed words to gain its aid.
But it was a lie.
How could I possibly find the child?
‘…Even if its memories are gone, if it retains even the faintest emotion toward me—like the Unborn One did—it would surely be enraged.’
I had used it with lies, and it had been torn apart brutally by *another Randolph*.
If I were in its place, rage would be natural.
At that time, the Abyssal Lords slaughtered by *another Randolph* were the **Unborn One**, the **Heavenly Demon**, the **Lord of the Grave**, and the **Star Breaker**.
The Storm’s Multiplier had already been devoured by the Unborn One, so in effect, four Abyssal Lords had been annihilated at once.
Only two Abyssal Lords had not been slaughtered by *another Randolph*.
The **Celestial Whale**.
And the **Sunken Emperor**.
Those two had died together while fighting each other.
The reason was unclear—but one thing was certain.
‘It’s grown even larger.’
Like a child in its growth phase, the Lord of the Grave had continued to grow.
It looked at least twice as large as before.
I had felt it when facing the Unborn One as well—
they were far stronger now than they had been back then.
Perhaps the experiences on God’s Island had been etched into their bodies.
“……”
Everyone held their breath.
Fortunately, they hadn’t been noticed yet—but imagining that impossibly massive golem attacking was enough to make one’s head spin.
And that wasn’t all.
At a glance, there were easily over a thousand powerful golems.
“Crimson Golems……”
“Wait. Are all of those *Golem Land* raid bosses?”
“Insane……”
When someone muttered after recognizing the familiar golem forms, everyone was forced into shock.
Crimson Golems.
The raid boss monsters of *Golem Land* in the southern region—beasts that required at least four one-star Transcendents working together just to barely handle.
And yet, were all of those—nearly a thousand—Crimson Golems?
“The Abyss…… what kind of place is it?”
“…What we knew as the Abyss wasn’t even the Abyss.”
What humanity had grasped of the Abyss was no more than licking the peel of a fruit.
And even that had largely been thanks to Raiga, the Empire’s greatest swordsman.
Only now did they begin to understand how deep—and how terrifying—the Abyss truly was.
And such things had surfaced in Pangaenia.
If they were to invade Earth—
Gulp.
“What…… is that?”
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, the golems all turned to look in one direction.
The Lord of the Grave did the same.
Their gazes fixed upon the sky.
Goooooo—
Grk. Grk. Grrrrk!
With a resonant hum that made the earth tremble,
the golems began moving restlessly.
The one who had spurred them all at once—
Even my eyes widened when I saw him.
‘The one who tamed Gross.’
A horse that walked the sky.
The king who ruled three Abyssal domains—**Gross**.
And the being who had tamed Gross.
‘……The Sunken Emperor!’
He appeared wearing a mask.
And the moment he did—
Hwoooooong—!
Gigantic black wings spread from behind the Sunken Emperor.
But they were nothing like living wings.
A space densely packed with countless, nearly invisible *black particles*.
The Heavenly Demon had called them “insects.”
Insects that gnawed away at everything they touched.
Sssssssss!
In the blink of an eye, the black particles poured down like a deluge toward the golems.
*
*
A battle that erupted without warning.
“……”
“……”
All were left overwhelmed by the sight.
The clash of two monsters was nothing short of war.
‘What should we do?’
Arin pondered.
For them, this battle was almost a stroke of divine fortune.
If they acted now, they could enter the *Mountain of Earth* without issue.
Sneaking past was the best option.
Who won among them was irrelevant.
In the end, Arin’s concern was simply *how* to enter the Mountain of Earth quietly.
The golems still blocked the entrance.
‘The best course is to wait for a while.’
To wait for the golems to be worn down, and for the newly arrived Abyssal Lord to bury them completely—this was the most realistic plan.
In particular, Arin knew well the being floating in the sky—the **Sunken Emperor**.
‘…Among the Abyssal Lords, he’s one to watch.’
One of the Abyssal Lords the Demon Realm kept a close eye on.
The Sunken Emperor was especially peculiar.
He had tamed another Abyssal Lord—**Gross**.
Such a thing had never happened before.
Abyssal Lords killed each other—but never followed.
Yet he had tamed the untamable, and still had no followers.
A rare absolute powerhouse who influenced the Abyss alone—that was the Sunken Emperor.
As if proving it, the Sunken Emperor obliterated dozens of Crimson Golems in an instant.
The Lord of the Grave rose and swung its colossal fist—
Kwaaaaaang—!
—but it was stopped by a *black wall*, unable to advance further.
Worse yet, the microscopic particles forming the wall spread across the Lord of the Grave’s body the moment they touched it, slowly gnawing it away.
‘That’s not mana. It self-replicates, and even decomposes and analyzes mana…’
…It was closer to a machine.
When she realized that, even Arin found the thought absurd.
‘An entirely new form of power.’
She had never seen anything like it.
She had grasped the Sunken Emperor’s existence before, but this was the first time she understood the nature of his power.
If the Sunken Emperor were to fight using the body of the Seven Lords’ Basara, what kind of battle would unfold?
‘That power is extremely troublesome.’
She wouldn’t lose.
The weakness of the Seven Lords’ Basara was love.
And she would never feel love toward the Sunken Emperor.
But it wouldn’t be easy.
Those countless insects possessed the ability to analyze everything.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more her weaknesses would be exposed—and exploited in one way or another.
That was the kind of power it was.
Avoiding contact was best.
‘The golems will lose.’
The outcome was clear.
In her mind, thousands—tens of thousands—of battles played out.
Every result ended with the golems’ defeat.
The chance of the golems defeating the Sunken Emperor was zero percent.
They would slip in at the right moment and climb the mountain.
That was Arin’s plan.
“You—what are you doing—!”
But soon, Arin had no choice but to frown.
Because someone acted in a way completely opposite to her intentions.
…Park Hyun-myung.
—*Receive the baptism of fire!*
He moved the Fire Spirit King, Agnis.
And worse—
“What—what are you doing?!”
“Stop it!”
“Why now of all times—?!”
Cries erupted from all sides.
The unspoken thought—*You lunatic!*—rose in everyone’s mind.
And with good reason.
…Because Agnis’s attack was aimed at none other than the **Sunken Emperor**.
