âMr. Preston! The weapons!â
âI know, I know.â
Preston muttered a spell in response to Caraculianbroâs shout.
Then, the ground rose up as if scooped by a giant spoon.
Four huge chunks of earth split and floated in the air, then quickly compressed by the force of gravity.
They were massive clubs made of compressed earth.
Caraculianbro grabbed each club with his four hands.
At the same time, Yu-hyun and Don Quixote charged at him.
Clang! Clang!
The clubs and swords clashed, creating a huge shockwave.
Preston took advantage of the gap and muttered another spell.
But then, a white bone hook thrown by Yu-hyun flew towards him.
It was always fatal for a mage to expose a weakness while casting. But Preston didnât stop his casting, trusting his ally.
âYou canât even touch a finger of Mr. Preston!â
Caraculianbro swung his club and knocked away the bone hook. Yu-hyun bit his tongue inside his mask. He was already annoyed by his large size and fast speed, but having four arms also made him cover a wide range with his attacks.
While he was distracted, Preston finished his casting.
A red flame formed into a sphere between Prestonâs outstretched arms. The flame was only the size of a baseball, but it contained a power that could burn down a mountain with a wildfire.
âSancho!â
âI got it!â
They had reached a point where they could understand each other with just their names.
Don Quixote raised his shield, and Yu-hyun also changed his lotus into a shield and stood beside him.
Right after that, a flame burst out from Preston like a laser, engulfing them both.
Kwaaaaaa!
A pillar of flame that looked more like a laser than fire. It swallowed up Yu-hyun and Don Quixote, and even reached beyond the horizon.
The pillar of flame heated by high temperature cut across the rocky mountains. The ground that touched the flame lost its shape and collapsed, melting like magma.
A terrifying power that could turn a small mountain peak into magma.
From the ruins of that attack, Yu-hyun and Don Quixote got up.
Squeak. White smoke rose from their heated shields.
âSancho. Are you okay?â
âIâm fine. How about you, sir?â
They said so, but their stamina was greatly depleted. They barely blocked the previous attack.
It was bad enough to have an unfavorable compatibility, but Grand Mage Prestonâs power was much stronger than they expected.
âI had a feeling that he would be as strong or stronger than the final boss-level phantasm, considering Sir Knightâs power.â
But this was too much.
Yu-hyun glanced at the melted mountain peak. It was still hot, and red magma flowed along the ground.
If this was the level of his power, it would be comparable to the trials that appeared after seven years in the apocalypse.
If he ranked his level in terms of fantasy worlds, it would be definitely S-rank.
If he measured his level and rank in terms of stories, he had already surpassed legends.
âBut heâs also quite exhausted.â
Preston had invested a lot of magic in that one attack, and I could see him heaving his shoulders. But even so, he couldnât bring down the giant, let alone touch him. We had already exhausted ourselves by breaking through their minions.
âBut still.â
I couldnât stop.
I had fought enough to survive. I had also fought to save.
Why do I fight? Why donât I stop?
The answer was always in my heart, never fading away.
âSir Knight.â
âWhat is it, Sancho?â
âIâll make a way for you. A big one.â
âIs that so? I understand.â
Our senses, honed to the extreme by fighting, were so sharp and keen that we could understand each otherâs intentions with a short conversation.
It was a strange feeling.
The bond that I vaguely felt when I fought with Kang Hye-rim, Kwon Jia, or Seo Sumin in moments of crisis.
This sense of unity, as if we knew each otherâs hearts. Who would have thought that I would feel it here, against these phantasms?
âIâm going.â
âWeâre ready here. Sancho.â
Yu-hyun lifted his White Whale.
Don Quixote also gripped his battered spear.
Preston must have sensed something too, as he levitated himself and said.
âCaraculiambro. Hold them off. This time, Iâll finish them for sure.â
âI understand. Preston Nari.â
Caraculiambro raised his club.
Preston gathered his magic and assumed his beast form.
Bang!
Without anyone telling them to, the four moved at the same time.
The first to strike was Yu-hyun.
âTake thisâââ!!â
He threw his White Whale with all his remaining strength.
And then, the follow-up [Kill The Whale].
The huge white harpoon that swelled up exploded into a 230m-long sperm whale and lunged at Caraculiambro and Preston with its dense teeth.
âItâs useless!â
Caraculiambro crossed his four arms and smashed Moby Dickâs head with his club. The collision of the giant and the whale caused a storm around them.
Kugugugung!
The incomplete stratum twisted and cracked.
The cracked ground flew out as if pushed by the shock.
Caraculiambroâs lower body, which had muscles that exploded in size, dug into the ground.
Caraculiambro and Moby Dick were locked in a tug-of-war.
Yu-hyunâs attack this time didnât disappear easily since it was his full power, but Caraculiambro was also giving his all.
As the clash of forces continued, Preston took a short magical formula.
âFreeze.â
At the same time, countless ice pillars sprouted in the air and pierced Moby Dickâs body.
The balance that was created by the clash of forces collapsed at that moment.
Caraculiambro didnât miss this opportunity and put more force into his club, smashing Moby Dick to the ground.
Moby Dick screamed and scattered into dust in the air. And that was what Yu-hyun was aiming for.
Hiding behind the fading traces of Moby Dick, Yu-hyun swung his Baekryeon with both arms.
A whopping 30m-long Baekryeon.
âWhat?!â
Caraculiambro didnât expect him to launch such an attack and hastily raised his club to defend himself.
But it was too late.
Yu-hyun had been pumping the energy of Seven Demons Black Sky Divine Skill into his Baekryeon since he was struggling with Moby Dick. And for that, he had also increased the size and mass of his Baekryeon to the maximum he could wield.
A sword 30m long. A 4m-wide blade.
The explosive aura on the sword. It swung at Caraculiambro.
A strike more fitting for a giant than a giant.
A final blow without looking back at what would happen next.
The Baekryeon roared with excitement.
[Letâs see you block this one, you giant!!!]
Swoosh!
That massive slash cleanly cut off the four clubs that Caraculiambro held and sliced his upper body diagonally at the same time.
A huge amount of blood spurted from Caraculiambroâs upper body.
The Divine Spirits who were watching cheered as they had finally dealt a fatal blow to the giant.
But Yu-hyunâs expression behind the mask was not very good.
âItâs shallower than I thought.â
He thought he had hit him for sure, but Caraculiambroâs muscles and bones were tougher and denser than he expected, so he couldnât cut him properly.
Proving that, Caraculiambro was still standing, bleeding from his mouth and glaring at him.
âBut it doesnât matter!â
Yu-hyunâs goal from the beginning was not to bring him down, but to open a path to Preston.
A gap opened as Caraculliam Bro fell to one knee.
Seizing the opportunity, a white flash ascended towards Preston, who was floating in the air.
âPreston!â
Don Quixote thrust his lance at Preston. It was a strike of supersonic speed, with no one to interfere.
But Preston was not flustered.
He even smirked under his robe.
Don Quixote couldnât see his face because of the shadow, but he thought he was smiling.
âFoolish knight. You fell for it.â
Along with Prestonâs mockery, his hand that was forming a seal made a different move. Then, hidden magic circles appeared and surrounded Don Quixote.
âDamn it!â
âItâs over! Don Quixote!â
Zap! Black lightning shot out from the magic circles and hit Don Quixoteâs body. His lance snapped weakly, and his armor shattered and scattered.
The last knight was caught off guard by the unexpected attack.
âSir!â
Yu-hyun shouted and tried to help him, but a huge claw pressed down on his body.
âWhere do you think youâre going? Youâre staying here with me!â
Caraculliam Bro grabbed Yu-hyun and collapsed, bleeding like a waterfall. Yu-hyun used Baekryeon as a shield and struggled against Caraculliam Bro.
Meanwhile, the black storm that swallowed Don Quixote was raging like a tempest. He could feel from the shockwaves of magic that touched his skin that this magic was not ordinary.
No.
Desperation filled Yu-hyunâs eyes.
Preston was confident of his victory, having rid himself of the annoying knight.
That was when it happened.
âKuhh⊠No way?!â
What flew through the black storm and tore apart the magic circles was a sword.
Preston had been careless, thinking he had won.
Don Quixote had thrown away his broken lance, blocked the magic with his shield as much as he could, and pierced through this onslaught with the sword at his waist.
âThatâs impossible! How did he break through that with his bare body!â
âFreestooone!!!â
Don Quixote roared as he flew towards Preston. His armor was almost destroyed, barely maintaining its shape, and Rocinante had already fallen and dropped below.
My dear steed. Thank you for blocking this attack with your body for me.
Don Quixote felt gratitude and sorrow for Rocinante, who had been with him and sacrificed himself to help him at the last moment.
He swung his sword with all his remaining strength at Preston.
It was natural for Preston to be startled by Don Quixote, who popped out of nowhere, but he was still worthy of being called a grand mage.
His hand moved quickly and conjured up a small magic.
A wind cutter that compressed the air to its limit. It precisely cut off both of Don Quixoteâs eyes.
Splat!
Blood splashed as his eyes were sliced. But Don Quixote didnât stop even after losing his sight.
âI can feel it.â
A true knight doesnât see everything with his eyes.
I can feel his aura on my skin. I can hear his rough breathing in my ears. I can smell his foul odor close by.
Thatâs why.
His sword trajectory didnât waver at all by such things.
The souls of all the knights who had been passed down from generation to generation were now holding the hilt with him at this moment.
Slash!
With a silver flash, Don Quixoteâs sword cut Prestonâs body in half.
âAaargh!â
Preston crumbled into dust along with his scream.
âHow could this be⊠Did we lose?â
Caraculliam Bro, who had been watching the scene blankly, also lost his strength and slowly dropped his head.
His huge flesh soon turned into dust like Preston.
Yu-hyun, who had been wrestling with Caraculliam Bro, realized that his corpse had disappeared and sensed that Don Quixote had won.
âSir!â
Don Quixote lost his strength and fell. Yu-hyun ran to him and caught his body.
âHis wounds are serious.â
Don Quixoteâs condition was terrible, no matter how optimistic he tried to be.
His armor was broken, and his body was scorched by magic.
He even lost both of his eyes to blindness.
But he won. We won anyway.
âSir. Sir! Are you alright? Can you hear me?â
âSanâŠSancho, is that you?â
âYes. Sir. Itâs me. Are you conscious?â
âYes. I did⊠I did win, right?â
âYes. We won.â
âI see.â
Don Quixote chuckled softly. Then he coughed roughly.
âSir!â
âDonât worry, Sancho. This wound is nothing to me.â
âButâŠâ
âRather, letâs get up quickly.â
ââŠAll right.â
Yu-hyun lent his shoulder to Don Quixote and helped him stand up.
The surroundings were completely overturned, and the ground was destroyed and looked like ruins. But the spire at the top remained intact and unscathed.
âWhere is Rocinante? Rocinante?â
Yu-hyun turned his head to look for the horse that had thrown himself for his master at the last moment.
But his eyes caught the strangeness of this world before Rocinante.
âHuh?â
The world was collapsing.
It looked like the old Ancient Sihwa War was over, and the field was disappearing.
The Divine Spirits were also confused by the sight.
This was an unexpected anomaly that no one had anticipated.
Could it be that they had cleared the Mental Realm with that?
No, this was different.
If they cleared it, this world would disappear with the light clusters. But now it was not that the world was scattering into letters.
Rather, it was closer to peeling off what had been overlaid on the original.
Like smoke from a Phantasm swept away by the wind.
It was returning to its original state.
The original landscape of the world.
âWhat is this, exactlyâŠâ
The mountain full of rocks disappeared.
The spire that had been on the mountaintop faded away like an illusion.
The destroyed ground, the melted peaks, the traces of fierce battles, all returned to their original state.
And what was revealed was a yellowed, withered grassland.
âWhatâs going on here.â
Why is everything disappearing? Why is it all gone? And what is this?
âSancho.â
âSir. This isâŠâ
âIâm sorry.â
Don Quixote smiled faintly, as if he knew what was happening even though he couldnât see.
âIâm sorry. Iâm sorry. I wanted to have adventures forever.â
âSir⊠Do you know something?â
âBut in the end, it turned out like this. Yes. We had to wake up from our dream someday.â
Yu-hyun swallowed his words at Don Quixoteâs words.
Dream? Wake up?
Yu-hyun then remembered what the system had said when he first entered this place.
To wake Don Quixote up from his dream.
In the end, all the adventures and life-threatening fights he had experienced so far.
They were all dreams.
âLeave me behind, Sancho. Your role as a squire is over now.â
Don Quixote said.
This was the end.
This was the final destination of adventure.
âCould it beâŠâ
Yu-hyun finally realized what kind of ending Don Quixote had in the original novel.
What this manâs fate was.
This world eventually followed the predetermined story.