Chapter 76: Sword-planting Oath
Step by step along the steep mountain slope upward, occasionally Xilutiya even had to support herself on rock chunks with her hands to climb onto those stones, then upward.
After more than half an hour of rock climbing, Xilutiya finally reached the last colored bubble. The grassland here had a faint green tint, different from the stagnant withered weeds in the gray white world.
The rocks on the mountain were eroded by wind, rolling down some dust particles. The view here was open, with no space for monsters to hide, nor any abnormally twisted places.
Everything was pretty good overall, Xilutiya thought to herself, then her gaze turned to the sword embedded in the mountain peak.
The sword body was gray iron, like weathered rock, where there should originally have been some inscriptions, but now they were blurred and unclear.
Xilutiya slowly walked toward the sword, gripped the sword hilt, and the solidified ‘castle’ nature power within instantly spread, once again scouring this area and pushing back the gray white world a bit.
So, this colored bubble here was formed this way? All thanks to this sword, Xilutiya observed intently.
【Weathered Iron Sword】（Castle）: Ancient stone-embedded longsword. A monarch of the past once thrust the sword into the stone to swear an oath: all lands reflected in its cold gleam shall be kingdom soil. （Solidifies environment, expels other nature power）
Her palm stroked the sword hilt, the ‘castle’ nature power emanating from it diffusing from time to time, making Xilutiya feel as if bathing in the wind, dispelling her prior fatigue. The strange power operation method contained in the sword was also slowly understood and memorized by her.
About forty minutes later, Xilutiya slowly released the sword hilt, a segment of enlightenment emerging in her mind.
『Sword-Standing Method』（Castle）: Those possessing ‘third order·castle’ nature can stand the sword to swear an oath, encompassing the surrounding land and turning it into a fiefdom, isolating it from erosion by other natures.
Although she couldn’t use it, this secret arts knowledge must be particularly precious.
Because it was already weathered, she couldn’t take this sword away. If forcibly pulled out, it would probably snap on the spot, and the ‘castle’ nature condensed in the sword would dissipate extremely quickly.
It was rare to have such a safe place, so Xilutiya decided to rest well here and sleep for a while.
……
Not far from the stone-embedded sword, she cleared a clean rock platform, then leaned back and lay down slowly, recovering the fatigue from trudging through the gray white world and the consumed nature power.
In her dream, she seemed to see a very distant past, where a group of people also came here. They wore cloaks and chainmail, their faces full of weathering, as if they had just come down from the battlefield.
“Knight Holling, my lord, do we continue forward? This is already deep in the shadow world,” one retainer inquired of the leading knight.
“We continue forward.”
This knight in black armor spoke decisively, forcing the few who were wavering to dispel thoughts of retreat.
They were all warriors with ‘castle’ nature. The leading Knight Holling was possibly fourth order, with great strength. Xilutiya saw him grip a wide two-handed greatsword, effortlessly slaying a ferocious monster as tall as a mountain, its flowing black blood enough to flood a pond.
From the boiling black mist, this knight slowly walked out, his resolute face unchanging. On his arm was a ‘fir knights’ badge, indicating he belonged to the fir knights.
This team passed through one colored bubble-covered area after another in the gray white world. All monsters encountered along the way were slain by them, including multi-headed monster snakes that could fly, bird-legged humanoid creatures that could speak, and one-eyed flying slugs. Most had twisted and bizarre forms with all sorts of strange abilities.
But these abilities could not affect Knight Holling. His strong ‘castle’ nature covered him like armor, protecting him and allowing him to defeat these eerie creatures step by step.
Thus, they won again and again, but grew increasingly fatigued.
Traversing the gray white world was a huge drain, even for fourth order·castle Knight Holling.
This drain was extremely hard to recover from in this world, so Knight Holling had to conserve power and no longer fought with the same bold sweeps as at the start.
They were searching for their target, or rather pursuing an enemy who had fled into this world: a powerful ghost hag who once ravaged the mountain forest.
These ghost hags mostly mastered ‘sleeping winter’ or ‘nightmare’ nature power and various eerie secret arts, some able to easily confuse and manipulate others.
After long searching and trudging, Knight Holling finally reached the ghost hag’s hideout deep in the mountains.
“You dare chase me all the way here.”
The ghost hag’s face was gaunt to the bones, but her frame was tall, over 2 meters high. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much flesh on the frame, like bird limbs. One hand held a special skull, the other pinched some kind of powder.
The ghost hag blew from her mouth, turning the powder into crystalline dust that floated up, then into pitch-black snakes slithering at her side, occasionally flicking blood-colored tongues, revealing hidden poison fangs.
Knight Holling and the remaining two retainers drew swords and charged at the last ghost hag. She let out a chilling laugh, then the black snake burrowed into the skull in her hand, as if devouring something, then emerged again.
At that moment, the black snake suddenly swelled, becoming enormous, its thick serpentine body thicker than a water tank, its raised head full of ferocity.
It pounced down, directly swallowing the two retainers and biting hard onto Knight Holling’s body. The poison fangs eroded the black armor bit by bit, slowly seeping into the flesh.
Knight Holling resisted fiercely. He used all his strength to thrust the sword into the black snake’s neck from the side, then activated the power within.
Steel sharpness manifested, severing the black snake’s power source. Soon the snake head fell limply, and Knight Holling tore open its entire head.
This powerful knight lifted the massive black snake body with one hand, then dragged and hurled it down the mountain. He picked up his damaged greatsword and walked once more toward the ghost hag on the slope.
“You’re at the end of your rope. No reinforcements, no one cares if you die here, no one will erect a monument for you, your departed soul can’t ascend to the heavens, and finally, you’ll become food for my pet.” The ghost hag sneered at the knight.
She beckoned again, and the black snake corpse that fell into the mountains turned into crystalline mist, then reformed into a black snake, circling her once more.
“See? This is true power, something you stone-headed fools will never learn.” She mocked the knight’s stupidity.
“Fall down, you.” Her black-purple lips blew, sending invisible air currents surging toward Knight Holling.
At this moment, two small black snakes burst from the wound where the black snake had bitten Knight Holling. Half their bodies were in his flesh, the other half twisting and flicking tongues, looking exceptionally vicious.
The two black snakes sucked at Knight Holling’s blood and flesh power. Because the black snakes were born from his own body, even the ‘castle’ nature’s protection could hardly shield or isolate them.
The knight walking up the mountain slope had increasingly staggering footsteps, stumbling from time to time and dropping to one knee. His exhausted stamina made it hard to stand steady.
Just as the ghost hag said, he was at the end of his rope, on his last legs.
But…
So what?
He had already sworn his oath, to follow that monarch and clear the filthy evils from these mountains.
At the edge of the twisted eroding fog, to open up a new kingdom.
The heavy greatsword was raised once more, then inverted downward, thrust into the rock with his last strength.
‘May our kingdom endure like fir trees evergreen, may our knights’ armor remain forever firm, longswords forever victorious.’
The ancient oath resounded. The knight fate in his fate shattered, the scattered fragments flowing with the sword blade into this earth. Invisible light spread, the rising light pillar for the first time dispelling the impossibly thick sunken clouds. At the vast horizon’s end, that massive serpentine body writhed in the sea of clouds, strands of light piercing through the snake body into this forgotten corner.
