How to Live as a Knight After the Ending-Chapter 509

Everyone held their breath at Alberto's explanation. The atmosphere was so solemn that even Elise, who wouldn't normally care about such things, was reading the room.

"You may not all know this, but the Sea Dragon spends most of its life only in the ocean. For people like us who live on land, we would never encounter it unless we went out to sea. Even for seafaring people, it's the same."

Even fishermen who spend their entire lives catching fish never see the Sea Dragon. This massive dragon lives only in the deep sea and the vast open ocean.

Because its noble figure is occasionally glimpsed throughout history, it has come to be perceived as an even more mythical existence.

Such a being has revealed itself. And it's heading toward Tirna, leading a natural disaster as a symbol of its wrath.

"Is that really real?"

Someone invited to the gathering muttered in a disbelieving voice. Judging by the distinctly different aura from an ordinary person, they were presumed to be a mutant. If the city specifically called them, they must be fairly high-grade.

"Yes. We'd like to think it's fake too, but this is real."

The video captured by the artifact was shaking. Even though it was quite far away, the wind was blowing violently. It was impossible to imagine how high the wind speed would soar when getting close to that supercell.

The next video shown was even more spectacular.

It appeared to be filmed from the ground, and in the video the artifact showed, a tsunami of clouds rushed in with momentum to cover the sky.

What is commonly called an arcus cloud moved like a massive wall, as if to devour the world. Beyond the wall of clouds, thunder and lightning struck within cumulonimbus clouds towering high into the sky. Immediately after, a massive gale struck and the video cut off.

"They say wind that has never been observed in the continent's history is blowing at the scene. In a straight line too, sweeping the ground surface as if with a broom."

Osian suddenly recalled one piece of common knowledge from his previous life. Usually, this kind of mesoscale convective system is dangerous, but when its power is particularly strong, it's called a 'derecho'. The scene created by the Sea Dragon closely resembled that derecho.

As if proving Alberto's words, where the Sea Dragon had passed, the ground surface clearly showed traces as if swept by a broom. In fact, calling it a broom is an understatement—it would be more accurate to say industrial machinery had thoroughly plowed the earth.

Traces of destroyed houses were evident everywhere. These were villages unlucky enough to be caught in the path of the Sea Dragon's trajectory.

Places outside the zone of influence were relatively okay. In places even slightly closer to the center of the zone of influence, nothing that could be called a house remained.

'The sturdy buildings constructed in this era have all been completely disassembled.'

The city adjacent to the coast where the Sea Dragon appeared was utterly destroyed. A state of emergency was declared in that country as well. It was a moving natural disaster.

Cities caught in a straight line in the supercell's route were ground down to the point where traces were hard to recognize. If even sturdy steel structures ended up like that, could humans possibly endure it?

The problem was that it wasn't stopping and was coming to Tirna.

"Why on earth did this suddenly happen?"

Terence asked a question. To him, the fact that the Sea Dragon was invading Tirna must have felt completely out of the blue. Everyone gathered there felt similarly. If a Sea Dragon that had never shown itself until now was attacking, there must be a reason for it.

Alberto wiped his sweat with a handkerchief as if troubled for a moment. It was a timid action that didn't suit his build.

"Well, it's because of the Sea Dragon's egg."

"Egg, you say?"

"Yes. The Sea Dragon lays eggs only once in its entire lifetime. Because of this, the Sea Dragon has unparalleled maternal instinct, surpassing other dragon species and indeed all species."

Ooh. Osian exclaimed quietly. He thought they wouldn't know why the Sea Dragon was moving, but apparently that wasn't the case.

'Did Amenora convey this? It's proof that the situation is that serious.'

Alberto's explanation continued.

"Someone stole that Sea Dragon's egg. Not stopping there, judging by the direction the Sea Dragon is moving, the egg is presumably hidden somewhere in Tirna."

Murmuring sounds rang out from various places.

"Everyone, please calm down. Our goal is one thing. To protect Tirna from the Sea Dragon. We must minimize damage. Just having that thing pass over the city's airspace would have unimaginable consequences."

"Then you gathered us to find the egg?"

"No. Government officials are already moving to find the egg. There's only one reason we gathered you all like this. To prepare for a possible emergency situation—to subjugate the Sea Dragon."

The subjugation of the Sea Dragon. At those words, everyone fell silent.

Right. There's no way things would go that smoothly. If they found the egg, they could just immediately return it to the Sea Dragon. The reason they weren't doing that was because the city government hadn't found it yet.

But there was a separate problem. Even if they did return the egg, would the Sea Dragon, whose anger had already reached the top of its head, calm its fury?

What if it still harbored resentment toward the humans who stole its egg and insisted on punishing them?

Tirna had no choice but to prepare for a possible emergency. A fight that might break out.

'In the worst case, they might not find the egg even before the Sea Dragon arrives. If that happens, a fight will be unavoidable. It would be inevitable.'

There was a reason Alberto had gathered everyone here.

"Damn it. You want us to fight after seeing that?"

One mutant stood up abruptly from their seat. If they had been told to fight the Sea Dragon without knowing anything, they might have boldly stepped forward. But having seen what it had done, they couldn't.

That was a living, moving natural disaster. Fighting it—wasn't that no different from just going to die?

The reactions of others weren't much different. They were overwhelmed by the aftermath of the typhoon seen through the artifact. No matter how much they were considered superhuman among humans, one cannot oppose nature.

"I'm out."

"Me too. This is just dying for nothing."

Alberto was noticeably flustered. He probably hadn't expected such a reaction. However, before he could say anything to stop them, some of the outraged people stood up and tried to leave the conference hall.

It was then that Osian, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.

"What an unsightly display. The sight of defeated losers running away in fear. Makes them not even worth calling, doesn't it?"

"What?"

The people trying to leave the conference hall glared at Osian. At their fierce looks telling him to say that again, Osian sent them a sneer.

"This bastard. Are you talking about us?"

"Well, is there another defeated loser running away here?"

"This son of a..."

"You can't even fight the Sea Dragon, yet you're boldly getting angry at me."

An enraged mutant rushed at Osian. Someone nearby who recognized Osian tried to stop the mutant, but it was useless.

The mutant's body disappeared, then appeared behind Osian. His leg whipped around like a whip, aiming for the back of the head.

The moment that shin was about to strike the head.

Osian's figure vanished like a mirage. The mutant's leg sliced through empty air.

"Ugh!"

The moment his balance broke, a brutish hand shot up from below and grabbed his collar.

Bang! An irresistible force slammed the mutant into the conference hall floor. A huge impact struck his back, and all the air in his lungs was expelled. The impact was so great that the large conference hall shook once.

"Khuk!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The mutant coughed up blood from his mouth.

"Don't overreact. I controlled my strength."

Osian subdued the mutant in one move without even drawing his sword. At that sight, the expressions of those trying to leave the conference hall hardened.

‘Fixer Osian. I heard his main weapon is a sword, but he subdued that guy without even drawing his blade? Despite how he looks, that guy has real skills.'

'I heard a group called the Starlight Knights has been dominating the fixer industry lately. They said they're stronger than cyborgs and enhanced humans. Looking at that strength, the rumors weren't exaggerated.'

'I couldn't see his movement when he grabbed the collar and slammed him to the ground.'

Everyone present felt it. Osian was incomparably stronger than them. For those with power, the logic of strength is always intuitive. The words of Osian, who was stronger than them, had to carry much more weight than before.

"If you're going to run away, go ahead and run. But in that case, admit that you're weak cowards."

Some people bristled. They were called to this place because they had skills.

Tirna is a place where if you have ability, you receive commensurate treatment. Naturally, there could only be people with inflated egos. For such people, being told to admit they were defeated was no different from killing their personality.

But no one rushed at Osian. There was already someone who had done that and gotten thoroughly beaten.

Osian gave a cold smile toward the people who could neither advance nor retreat.

"The Sea Dragon subjugation battle. I will participate."

As Osian stepped forward and spoke, Alberto nodded with a much brighter face.

"Yes, yes yes. An excellent choice. And don't worry. We're not simply sending you to die. The city government and military have also recognized the seriousness of the situation and are preparing defenses. We're just recruiting additional personnel because our forces are insufficient."

At Alberto's words, those who had been about to leave exchanged glances with each other.

"Ahem. Well, if that's the case."

"If they're not using us as meat shields, it's fine."

"Tsk. Should've said so from the start. Made us misunderstand."

Without anyone taking the lead, they all sheepishly went back to their seats. Alberto let out a sigh of relief and conveyed his thanks to Osian.

Elise raised her hand then.

"Yes. Miss Elise Denarova."

"If we participate, is there compensation?"

"Compensation—what would you like?"

"The Sea Dragon's bones."

She so naturally stated she wanted the bones of the subjugation target. Setting aside whether they could kill it, what to do with its corpse if they did defeat it was also an important matter.

"Uh, um. Certainly. That part, I'll need to discuss with the Black Mage Labor Union first. I'll review it as positively as possible."

"That's fine then."

When Elise said she'd fight, Terence couldn't stay still.

"I'll do it too. As a proud mage of the Grand Cloister, I can hardly stand by and watch this situation."

While saying that, he glanced sideways at Elise's profile. Osian was dumbfounded watching this.

'Good grief. Is he still acting like a teenage boy trying to look good in front of a girl he likes?'

He seemed to understand why his sister still worried about and protected her brother so much. He had thought Terence had come to his senses after losing a lot of money in the Saint Tree incident, but with that mentality, could he even fight properly?

"We'll do it too!"

It was Muerte who spoke in a lively voice. It seemed like she was deciding without even asking her partner's opinion, but seeing no particular complaints come up, that didn't seem to be the case.

From Alberto's perspective, not knowing such reasons, the people confidently saying they'd fight seemed quite moving.

He bowed his head in a choked voice.

"Thank you. Thank you all so much. Please, protect Tirna."

Deliphiros walked down the stairs leading underground. This was a secret location unknown to anyone. It was beneath the city hall where the mayor stayed, a place unknown even to the civil servants working there.

Deliphiros, who had been walking along stairs with only dim lighting, eventually stopped before a door.

It was a solid door reminiscent of a vault, made of giant brass clockwork. He inserted the prepared key into the center of the door. The key, fitting perfectly into the groove, rotated with a clicking sound.

Soon the door opened with the sound of all kinds of complex and countless mechanical devices operating.

The bunker-like door opened, and beyond it, another passage leading downward unfolded.

Deliphiros got on the elevator beyond the door, then pulled the lever to operate it.

Creak. Whirrrr. Clunk.

The elevator descended rapidly. It was deep enough to be safe from the aftermath even if a baptism of fire poured down on the city hall above.

Bumpy circuits and pipes began to appear on the surrounding dry walls. The deeper down they went, the more their density and number increased, and when they finally reached the destination, everything around was filled with complex circuits.

Though made only of metal, the appearance felt bizarrely like looking at a space eroded by the Crimson Eternal.

Regardless, Deliphiros walked through the metallic flesh of machinery without concern.

"I'm here."

As soon as Deliphiros finished speaking, the surrounding lights came on one by one. Even so, it still wasn't bright, but it was enough to distinguish objects.

At the end of the place his gaze reached. At the end of the wide cavity, there was a brass-colored throne standing tall as if sucking in all the circuits.

And the old man in his 80s sitting on that throne, looking like a half-mix of human and machine, opened his closed eyes.

"You've come. Deliphiros."

"Yes. Lord Solenon."

The Current King, Solenon smiled, revealing his yellowed teeth.

"How is the situation?"