ALL NOVEL Chapter 205
Chapter 205: The Gathering Storm
As a man sat in the cafe, sipping coffee and scrolling through his smartphone, he suddenly felt an uncanny sense of unease.
What’s happening? he wondered just then.
He overheard a couple talking from across the room.
“Oh? Oppa, what’s that?”
“What? What’s wrong… Oh? That, that?”
The couple gazed wide-eyed towards the window. His own gaze followed theirs instinctively.
And then.
“What is that…?”
It was evident on his face that he’d discovered something astonishing.
In his eyes, there was something where it shouldn’t be.
He had lived here for over 30 years but had never seen anything like it.
That was the root of his unease.
…What the heck is that?
Flames?
The moment he saw it, that was definitely the impression he got.
‘But no, it’s just too….’
While he was caught in such thoughts, the cafe was buzzing with commotion. Everyone inside witnessed the phenomenon.
“What is that? Is there a forest fire?”
“A forest fire? But that’s towards Ganghwa Island, right? Is there a mountain that could catch fire that big?”
“Then what is it?”
“Isn’t that … damn it, isn’t there a war? Are those North Korean bastards firing missiles again?”
“D-Don’t say such cursed things!”
Voices were rising among the crowd.
Everyone had differing thoughts.
However, there was one common thread.
Unease.
Instinctively, they sensed something beyond human power emanating from that blaze.
◈ ◈ ◈
‘What is going on?’
Igni squinted her eyes in confusion and stared at Si-hyun.
For the first time in ages, she was unleashing the flames of Demon Fire with reckless abandon.
The overwhelming quantity of magic energy she consumed was immense, and the flames expanded endlessly.
The intense heat felt like it could melt everything around her.
Compared to the flames she conjured now, any previous attacks felt like child’s play.
She was preparing an absolute strike filled with her true intentions. That human, without a doubt, would know this.
Yet, he showed no signs of moving.
This left a sliver of doubt in her heart.
‘What on earth is he planning?’
Is he really thinking he can take on this attack with just his bare body?
If so, that would be sheer foolishness.
‘Well… it doesn’t really matter anyway.’
Death was, after all, a foregone conclusion.
Igni slowly opened her left palm.
Just a slight movement would engulf that human in the Death Flame.
“If you want to die like that, so be it….”
As she was about to move the Death Flame, she suddenly saw Si-hyun shouting hastily.
‘What is it now? Are you finally trying to struggle, albeit too late?’
But.
“It’s already too late.”
Just as Igni’s hand was about to move.
Si-hyun suddenly wore a look of shock.
That expression caught her eye. There’s no way he’d be surprised by the sight of the Demon Fire.
If he was, he would’ve reacted much sooner.
Then, something else—
Igni noticed Si-hyun’s gaze was directed not at her or the Demon Fire, but somewhere else.
Slowly, she tilted her head up.
And….
She too wore a look of horror, just like Si-hyun.
◈ ◈ ◈
Even while summoning the Prison Castle, honestly, Si-hyun was feeling ambivalent.
It was only natural.
He hadn’t even tested what kind of effect it would cause.
But there was no visible alternative, so going all in was his only option.
With a tense expression, Si-hyun waited for something to happen.
And soon, change occurred.
‘…What is that?!’
Si-hyun’s eyes widened in shock as he spotted something.
High up in the sky, an enormous something was coming into view.
It was… a mountain.
No matter how many times he looked, he could only think of it that way.
How?!
He had summoned a castle, not a mountain.
In utter disbelief, Si-hyun’s eyes caught sight of yet another thing.
On top of the mountain, he saw a structure of some sort.
It looked like a castle.
This meant….
Is the Prison Castle a mountain castle?
After all, a mountain castle situated on a rugged peak would be incredibly strong against external intrusions while also making escape internally nearly impossible—perfect for a prison.
‘But that’s not what’s important right now!’
Si-hyun shook his head to clear his thoughts.
Initially, he’d envisioned a medieval castle of a certain scale.
But this surpassed any scale he could imagine.
It looked like a mountain peak of over 500 meters was entirely summoned.
At least the whole mountain hadn’t been summoned, but even this alone was more than enough to bring disaster.
If such a thing fell from that height, it would be a natural disaster.
Literally, it would be complete devastation.
‘Damn it, what do I do?’
As Si-hyun desperately wracked his brain, Igni too noticed the sudden change above.
Faced with such an unimaginable spectacle, even the great Igni was left agape, frozen in shock.
Anyone would be.
If one suddenly saw a mountain dropping from the sky.
Even she had never witnessed such a thing in her long life.
“What, wh-what is this?!”
Si-hyun became the first human to witness Igni stammering.
That final move had struck harder than he could have ever anticipated.
Yet the one who executed the attack had no room to relish it.
“Damn it, I don’t know!”
Feeling the pressure of time, Si-hyun began shouting whatever came to mind.
“Slow down! Just slow down! Slow! Slow!”
Fortunately, it seemed they understood his words, and he could feel the mountain’s speed diminishing.
Only then did a wave of relief wash over Si-hyun.
“Okay! Okay! Hold it! No, wait. Slow down just a little more!”
The mountain, carrying the Prison Castle, heavily bore down upon the ground, suppressing the flickering Demon Fire.
At that moment, Igni’s dazed mind snapped back to reality.
She intuitively felt she had no means to counter that overwhelming force. And soon, death would descend upon her.
Had it been her old self, she might have stubbornly endured out of pride as a demon and met her end.
However, the Demon King Dagin’s prophecy had altered her way of thinking.
The annihilation of the demon race.
Seeing the incomprehensible ability of that human made the absurd notion she had once disregarded seem plausible.
If so, she could not die here.
Her desperate gaze fell upon the Gate she had traversed.
Simultaneously, her wings began to move.
There was not a moment to spare.
Just as the mountain’s colossal shadow was about to engulf her—
Her body barely made it through the Gate.
◈ ◈ ◈
Booming!!
With a noise resembling the earth collapsing, the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Alongside it, a storm of dust engulfed the area.
Si-hyun braced himself, relying on his formidable physical strength to hold his ground.
A regular person would have already collapsed under the tremors.
It was truly a stroke of luck that he had managed to slow down.
With that scale of a mountain, one could say it was an unexaggerated landing.
Though he was somewhat worried about the demon fleeing with such immense power, at least for now, the volcanic mountain had been prevented from devastating Ganghwa Island.
And having displayed such power made it unlikely for enemies to approach easily for a while.
Still, what to do about this…?
A mountain peak of over 500 meters that had suddenly fallen upon Ganghwa Island along with an unidentified castle.
It was impossible not to panic.
Surely, not only Ganghwa Island but also Gimpo, Incheon… and even places farther away must have witnessed this.
He felt utterly lost about how to handle the situation.
At that moment, a startled voice broke through the tension.
“…W-What is this, exactly?!”
Si-hyun’s gaze instinctively turned towards that voice.
A pair of man and woman seemed to have descended from the mountain.
Si-hyun, who had momentarily been flustered, suddenly recalled a crucial fact he had nearly forgotten.
All resources, both material and human, within the Prison Castle were under his control and management.
That meant that the summoned Prison Castle also harbored people.
“Calm down, Chuck.”
A cold voice came from the woman beside him.
She had a stern face and intelligent-looking eyes.
From her appearance and her previous comment, it seemed she had a particularly cool-headed demeanor.
“No, Mari. Are you seriously going to stay calm in this situation?”
Chuck, the man with a rugged face, countered.
He continued his thought.
“Regardless of the situation, there’s no doubt that some crazy people dared to meddle with the Prison Castle. Damn bastards… they thought they could take us lightly with the Lord out of sight.”
“I agree with that thought. But now that we have a lead, shouldn’t we move?” the woman called Mari suggested.
“A lead? Where’s the lead?”
“Over there.”
Mari’s finger pointed directly at Si-hyun’s location.
By chance, the gazes of Si-hyun and the newcomers met.
In that instant, Chuck’s already rugged face twisted even more.
“Is it you?!”
Without needing to converse further, Chuck lunged at Si-hyun with a fierce intent.
He seemed to have a particularly urgent personality.
And of course, Si-hyun couldn’t stand still either and raised his Guard Baton in disbelief.
At that moment.
Chuck came to an abrupt halt as if he had hit an emergency brake.
Staring wide-eyed, he pointed at the Lord’s Guard Baton in Si-hyun’s hands.
“Y-You have the Lord’s item?! H-How?!”
“….”
It seemed these people were employees of the Prison Castle, no, perhaps Correctional Officers… or simply Guards.
That’s why his reaction toward the Lord’s Guard Baton made sense.
As Si-hyun pondered how to explain himself, Chuck spoke up again.
“Is it possible that something happened to the Lord?! T-This can’t be! No way! The Lord is not someone who could be harmed! The Lord is invincible!”
From what Chuck said, it seemed like the Lord of that era was quite a formidable individual.
“The Lord’s item, you say? That’s absurd!”
Even the cool-headed Maria didn’t appear capable of hiding her agitation.
She rushed swiftly to Chuck’s side, her eyes widened as she stared at Si-hyun’s Guard Baton.
Then, she sighed in dismay, seemingly taken aback.
“T-This is unbelievable…”
She too had recognized it was undeniably the Lord’s emblem.
“Damn it. What the hell happened? C-Could it be the Emperor?!”
Chuck, who had been grimacing, suddenly opened his eyes wide in a realization of sorts.
At that moment, Si-hyun felt something strange and cocked his head in confusion.
The Emperor?
“…It could be Hyris’s doing,” Mari muttered with a grave face.
“….”
Si-hyun was flabbergasted.
Why on earth was that name coming up here?
The summoning of the Prison Castle was meant to bring forth the one at present in the Reiter continent, wasn’t it?
But Hyris was exactly contemporaneous with Po-ahim.
That made no sense.
Feeling puzzled, Si-hyun quickly recalled the skill description once more.
And….
– Summons the Prison Castle located in the Reiter continent to the current location you are in.
‘Now that I think about it, there’s no indication of the time period!’
After reading the description again, Si-hyun’s expression conveyed understanding.
If he had summoned the Prison Castle from the world where Po-ahim resided, that wouldn’t be strange at all.
The situation was starting to make sense.
“…Who are you guys?” Si-hyun asked, finally breaking his silence.
“Who are you instead?” Chuck sneered, glaring at him.
“I am Po-ahim’s Lord, no, the true heir of the previous Lord, Lee Si-hyun.”