The Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 195 – Iolin (4)

Cuare foresaw his victory as soon as he felt the heavy shock when he hit Dilmond with the hammer. His attack on Dilmond was successful and left behind a fatal wound that would shatter Dilmond’s internal organs—at least he thought so.

Cuare, who was about to throw Dilmond’s body into the air, belatedly noticed his chest getting wet with a warm fluid. The moment he lowered his head to check, he felt a strange and grotesque sense of alienation. He groped his chest for a while and then clutched his wobbly tongue.

A beastly scream broke out when he realized that his lower jaw was no longer attached to his face. Cuare trembled at the bizarre sensation of his own tongue that was twitching in shock.

Dilmond tried his best to take a breath, despite the difficulty. Instead of dodging Cuare’s attack, Dilmond had decided to bear the incoming shock as he swung his hammer; he had no choice but to end everything before he exhausted himself fully.

The hammer, which Dilmond had swung faster and more accurately than ever, smashed Cuare’s jaw at once.

But Dilmond couldn’t avoid the consequences of his action either.

“Keuk, Keugh, huff!”

Cuare slumped to the ground as he started losing a huge amount of blood. He tried to find his jaw that had flown away, but soon slammed his head on the muddy ground and collapsed. Red blood soon colored the ground red.

Dilmond looked at Cuare in silence, then stumbled his way toward Anya. The spear that had penetrated through Anya’s body had left a fatal wound, but her vital organs remained intact.

‘Thank goodness. That’s fortunate enough.’

Dilmond looked up at Iolin, yet he soon staggered and fell to his knees while vomiting blood mixed with pieces of flesh. His head was falling to the ground; he couldn’t hold out anymore.

He could see Anya breathing weakly in his dim vision.

“...It may have only been for a short time, but you were a pretty decent Captain.”

The blood flowing through his throat made it difficult for him to speak properly. Dilmond tried to communicate with Anya several times over and over, but she seemed unable to hear him.

But it didn’t matter because someone else could deliver his words to her later.

Dilmond saw the resurrection of the emperor, and he also saw the emperor regain his stolen throne.

‘I think I did well enough that I will be able to face my seniors again without having to feel ashamed.’

***

The spring breeze and the darkness that swept around the surroundings suddenly receded as soon as Juan stomped on the ground.

Juan was staring at the huge ash tree that sprang up in the middle of the boulevard with a nervous expression. Although it had grown much weaker, he could still sense the strong energy of a god.

“Iolin…” Juan muttered as he let out a groan.

‘It just had to be Iolin out of all the gods?’

Juan had felt the signs of a god being resurrected from the beginning, but he was hoping that he was wrong; the area around Torra was a land that had nothing to do with the elves, let alone Iolin.

After glaring at Iolin with a stiff face for a while, Juan realized that his priority was to find Anya.

Iolin’s energy was significantly weaker than when he felt it earlier. Given the fact that the speed of her resurrection had grown much slower compared to the beginning when it was unusually rapid, Anya seemed to have dealt with the situation pretty well.

However, Juan could not feel Anya’s presence anywhere around him. That could only mean one of two things—either she managed to escape unharmed or she had already died.

But Juan was soon able to find Dilmond lying close to Iolin. His expression immediately hardened upon realizing that he couldn’t feel any signs of life from Dilmond.

Juan stood still for a while to take a deep breath before slowly approaching him.

Dilmond was lying face down and still staring straight ahead with his eyes open. His gaze and expression was telling Juan what Dilmond had gone through and how he felt right before he died.

“Dad! Did you manage to find Anya?”

Nienna didn’t even bother to look toward Iolin, and looked for Anya as soon as she arrived. Then her eyes soon stopped upon seeing Dilmond who was lying in front of her. Nienna immediately checked Dilmond’s pulse to examine his condition—but she quickly realized that there was nothing she could do.

Nienna could only bite her lips as she glared at Iolin.

“Did that thing kill Dilmond?”

“No. Both Anya and Dilmond carried out their duty very well. But looking at his wounds, it looks like he was killed by someone other than Iolin. Dilmond successfully protected Anya, but it seems that someone took Anya after his death.”

“Took her? Who?”

Juan turned his head. Among the messy footprints left on the ground, there were some that were particularly dark and heavy.

‘They must be left by Dilmond and his mysterious opponent.’

And there were signs of someone’s movement in the place where the puddles of blood were formed.

“I don’t know who it was, but Dilmond dealt them a fatal wound; however, Dilmond himself was injured as well. It looks like the opponent somehow managed to survive and then took Anya away,” Juan said.

Nienna belatedly found the pool of blood. As she rummaged through the pool of blood with her spear, she picked something up with a frown. It was a dislocated jaw which still had teeth attached to it.

“The opponent must be a little clumsy.”

“Dilmond couldn’t have guessed that his opponent would be alive, and even capable of moving after dropping his lower jaw like that. Anyway, there’s no way that the opponent could have run far away if he has lost so much blood. Actually, it might be possible if he had other colleagues to help him. Nienna, go and search the surrounding areas.”

“What about you, dad?”

“I have to finish what’s left here.”

Juan stared at Iolin and took a big step toward her.

Nienna tried to ask him some more questions, but she had no choice but to shut her mouth when she saw the look on his face.

Even Juan himself could not tell what expression he was making at this moment.

Juan jumped up to the top of the ash tree. On top of the tree was Iolin’s half-recovered body inside the melting Umbra. Only sticky and sloppy body parts that had failed to completely recover remained here—her breathtaking beauty was nowhere to be seen.

Only half of her mistletoe crown remained and her empty eye sockets flinched ever so slightly.

Juan slowly opened his mouth.

“Iolin.”

At that moment, the body parts that had been floundering around suddenly stopped moving.

***

Juan entered Iolin’s mental world—a world that consisted of a blue-colored, lake-like space. Here, he was nothing more than a small flame in the enormous space; however, there was no concern of him being extinguished. Rather, he was the one who had to be careful, so as to not boil and evaporate this entire space.

Inside this lake-like space were traces of red light shining that were trying to paint this whole space red.

Juan felt quite annoyed upon seeing the traces of red light—they seemed quite similar to the magic spells from beyond the border of the empire rather than the orthodox magic.

And, he could easily tell that this magic had a clear purpose.

In the middle of the lake was Iolin, sinking and motionless.

Juan’s heart ached at the sight of her staring blankly at the surface of water, with her hands and feet drooping. While he would still make the same decision even if he could get another chance, killing Iolin was not something easy for Juan.

Juan approached Iolin. Unlike in reality, the Iolin here was still as beautiful as she was just before she was killed at Juan’s hands.

At that moment, Iolin puffed her mouth to make a clear voice.

[Emperor.]

“Iolin.”

This time, he didn’t get a reply from Iolin. Instead, she just looked around as if she was confused. Juan could tell that she knew nothing about her resurrection and was able to confirm that his own guess was reasonable.

‘So this is the Cainheryar that was mentioned by Pavan.’

It was said that Iolin was also turned into a Cainheryar and put on display on the Cainheryar as well. It was not just a decoration to insult the gods, but also a collection of weapons with practical purpose. The red traces carved into Iolin’s inner world was a type of magic used to control and manipulate her, instilling a sense of purpose into her.

‘Conquering gods, killing them, and even using their corpses like a warhorse, huh?’

To be frank, Juan was quite impressed. He had killed many gods, but he had never thought it would be possible to control them; even if he succeeded in doing that, he felt that it was too dangerous and difficult to be efficient.

But after seeing all this, Juan thought that the only person who could make it happen in the whole world might be Dismas Dilver—he had the special ability needed to control gods.

At that moment, Juan suddenly felt Iolin reaching out her hand to touch his flame. Her eyes were hazy, almost like she was dreaming. Iolin didn’t even care about her fingers which started burning and scattered into white ashes due to Juan’s flame.

Then, she muttered in a quiet voice.

[You are still burning.]

“And you are still shining,” Juan briefly answered.

On the day Juan declared that he would be killing Iolin, she had chosen three legendary warriors to fight against Juan instead of herself. Juan managed to kill all three of them within just five exchanges each. Then, Iolin declared him to be the knight of the knights and the king of the kings, and promised to give him a blessing, while offering to give him a sword that had her essence inside it. Then, the two met up at the lake and then sank to the bottom of the lake along with the sword made by Iolin.

However, the only person who walked out of the lake after that day was Juan.

People had many questions. Was it even possible for the goddess of elves and lake to drown to death in the lake? Why did such a powerful god have her warriors to fight for her instead of fighting herself? Why did Juan refuse a friendly god’s blessings?

There were a lot of rumors, but Juan never once told anyone about what happened between him and Iolin. At the same time, Iolin didn’t leave any message behind before her death. However, her death was confirmed when the blessings she had given to the elves disappeared and the knights of the lake stopped appearing.

[I had a terrible dream,] Iolin whispered to Juan.

“I know.”

Juan contemplated whether or not he should hug her. However, her body was too cold and his current form too hot. He knew that it was a pointless concern, but he was still worried that she would be burned by his flames.

[The worst part about that dream was that I had become a monster.]

“You’ve never been a monster. You can’t be one even if you tried.”

[But there was a brave knight who stood up to me.]

Iolin opened her mouth and held out her tongue, revealing something that was placed on it—it was a black ring.

Juan picked up the ring with his flaming body. Inside the ring, the power of Umbra and the power of Iolin were mixed together. Golden elven letters were engraved along the rim of the ring.

Then, Iolin looked up at Juan and muttered.

[I can no longer make the sword that I had promised to give you.]

“I told you I didn’t need that sword.”

[I know. But one can still hope. You can be my knight, and I can be your goddess. We can build a kingdom of lakes under my protection and your guidance—a beautiful kingdom that will last for ten thousand years, a kingdom that will not be destroyed due to any prophecies or curses.]

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“All of that has already sunk to the bottom of the lake.”

[I know that as well. It all sank quite heavily and coldly.]

Iolin’s quiet whispers were becoming less and less clear, while bubbles were rising from the surrounding water—the heat from Juan was boiling Iolin’s lake-like inner world.

Iolin smiled faintly and reached her hand out toward Juan.

As if rising from the water, Juan returned to reality from Iolin’s inner world. The surroundings still seemed to smell like a lake, and then Juan confirmed that his flames were already burning the ash tree.

Iolin was desperately reaching for Juan from within the sea of fire. She puffed her mouth to mumble something unintelligible, but Juan could not hear her.

Juan reached out his hand and put his face on Iolin’s partially recovered small hand.

Iolin’s hands carefully brushed Juan’s face, almost as if she did not wish to leave even a tiny gap between her hand and his face. She soon smiled softly with her half-remaining face.

“Ah…”

At that moment, Iolin, who had only repeated unintelligible words until now, muttered in a quiet voice.

“You are still… beautiful.”

Instead of answering, Juan stretched out his hands to carefully wrap it around her face.

The huge ash tree was completely engulfed in flames in an instant. The raging flames could be seen from beyond the horizon. Both Nienna and the Order of Huginn that was returning to the boulevard looked at the flames rising from beyond the horizon in the distance.

The burning heat blew away the spring breeze and darkness that was hovering around the ash tree.