Chapter 588

The chief god Kovaltan was by no means a benevolent deity.

In the genesis of Kurayan, he slew countless gods with the sword imbued with his authority and ascended the throne.

No god dared stand against Kovaltan.

Even Titan, the god of the giants, and Atansha, the god of war, had no choice but to kneel before him.

He was the god of gods, revered by all races.

But at some point, he disappeared from the history of the gods.

No one knew whether he had been defeated by the attacks of other gods or had stepped down of his own will.

From that moment, the twilight of the gods began.

As if by agreement, the Twelve Great Gods ceased their activities.

The divine oracles given to priests became infrequent, and the divine power they wielded weakened noticeably.

As the gods stopped acting, the influence of the religious orders shrank.

Before ceasing his activity, the chief god Kovaltan split off a portion of the sword he had used and bestowed it upon his order.

That was the Sword of Kovaltan that Dantal was demanding.

Though it was merely a degraded version dozens or hundreds of times weaker than the original, the authority contained within it was by no means negligible.

When Del Roa crossed over from El Harun to Earth, he prioritized bringing the Sword of Kovaltan.

It was more precious than even the sacred relic of Siela, the elf god he served.

Other gods had left behind quite a number of relics, but the sword was the only relic Kovaltan had left.

Since the entire order that worshipped Kovaltan met its end in El Harun, Del Roa had been keeping the Sword of Kovaltan in their stead.

However, Del Roa had kept the fact that he possessed the sword hidden even from his closest aides.

It was that dangerous an item.

Del Roa shouted loudly.

“What nonsense are you spouting? The Sword of Kovaltan? Such a thing does not exist.”

“Do you think you can hide it from me?”

“What?”

“I already knew long ago that you brought the Sword of Kovaltan with you. I simply pretended not to know because I had no need for it.”

At Dantal’s confident words, Del Roa realized there was no use denying it. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“Then why seek the Sword of Kovaltan now? That sword is not something elves can dare to wield.”

“Says the one who is also an elf.”

“It is an object imbued with a god’s authority. If you use such a thing, no matter how strong you are, even as the strongest warrior among elves, you will be annihilated.”

“I will not be annihilated. Do you know why?”

“……”

“Because I absorbed part of Krasias’s authority.”

“What nonsense are you speaking? Krasias?”

“Just take it that such a thing exists.”

“What in the world have you done, Dantal!”

“It is still better than what you have done.”

“What?”

“Look at yourself. Becoming one with a withering World Tree just to protect it. How much longer do you think you can keep that fake World Tree alive? You are the one doing something futile.”

“You dare mock my sacrifice?”

“Enough. Hand over the Sword of Kovaltan. If you give me that sword, I will leave quietly.”

“I will never hand the Sword of Kovaltan over to you.”

Kuuuu!

A tremendous wave flowed out from the World Tree.

The World Tree resonated with Del Roa’s fury.

The pressure that had crushed Liala and Hera moments ago was now directed at Dantal. But unlike the two women, Dantal did not even blink and remained calm.

Only then did Del Roa realize that Dantal had grown incomparably stronger than before.

“You… did you truly obtain Lord Krasias’s authority?”

“For now, it is only a part. But once I obtain the rest, I will become as strong as Krasias.”

“Mad elf! Do you really think that’s possible?”

“Hearing that from an elf who has become one with the World Tree, how amusing.”

Dantal curled the corner of his lips in mockery.

Shing!

He drew his greatsword and pointed it at Del Roa.

“I’ll say this one last time. Hand over the Sword of Kovaltan. Otherwise, I will cut you down and take it.”

“If you can, then try.”

Even at Dantal’s threat, Del Roa did not retreat a single step.

He was, after all, the ruler of El Harun.

If it became known that he had yielded to Dantal’s threat and handed over the chief god’s weapon, no one would follow him again.

Kuuuu!

As the two confronted each other, the air around them churned violently like a storm.

“This… what in the world?”

“To think that’s Lord Dantal…”

Liala and Hera looked at Dantal’s back with expressions of disbelief.

Dantal was a legend of El Harun.

Even Krudu, the leader of the giants, called the strongest in current El Harun, felt like a child compared to him.

It was Dantal who had left the safety of El Harun to wander the world in pursuit of strength.

His return alone was shocking, but that his purpose was the chief god’s relic in Del Roa’s possession,

The two women were so stunned they could not speak.

KwaKwaKwaKwa!

As two beings of immense power clashed, El Harun shook violently as if struck by an earthquake.

“Aaah!”

“What do we do? It feels like it’s going to collapse.”

Outside, chaos had already erupted.

On top of Mount Pankrena having already erupted once, now the entirety of El Harun shook as if it would collapse at any moment, throwing everyone into panic.

Neither Del Roa nor Dantal showed the slightest sign of yielding or backing down.

At that moment, Liala’s gaze sank deeply.

Watching the confrontation between the two overwhelming beings, her resolve solidified.

“I’m leaving.”

“That’s…”

Hera, about to say it might be too hasty, closed her mouth.

She too could see the downfall of El Harun.

It was already a place where many different races gathered, making unity difficult. And now, the eruption of Mount Pankrena, Del Roa’s tyranny, and Dantal’s threat,

El Harun’s division had already begun.

Even if Mount Pankrena did not erupt again, El Harun’s destruction was inevitable.

Kwaaang!

At that moment, a massive explosion occurred.

Del Roa and Dantal had clashed.

Del Roa wielding the authority of the World Tree, and Dantal wielding the power of Krasias,

The collision of the two was enough to shake all of El Harun.

Kwaaaaang!

At that very moment, in the distance, lava burst forth like fireworks along with a massive explosion.

As Del Roa drew even the power he had been using to suppress the eruption in order to face Dantal, Mount Pankrena finally erupted.

The volcano erupted several times more violently than the first explosion.

Volcanic ash soared high into the sky, and lightning struck without pause.

An enormous amount of lava flowed out, and ash and rocks flew all the way to El Harun.

Boom! Kwaang!

As rocks fell, forests were destroyed and buildings collapsed.

A great calamity had befallen El Harun.

Even if Del Roa were to win, today’s events would undoubtedly hasten El Harun’s destruction.

There was no longer any reason to hesitate.

Liala left the forest where Del Roa and Dantal were fighting and went to the district where humans lived.

A large number of people had already gathered in the square.

Before meeting Del Roa, Liala had told them that she would leave El Harun.

She had said they were free to stay or follow her, whichever their hearts chose.

At that time, only about a thousand had said they would follow her.

No matter how much discrimination they suffered, it was not easy to leave a place they had lived in for a hundred years.

But now, there were dozens of times more gathered.

As El Harun shook as if it would collapse and Mount Pankrena erupted again, their minds had changed.

Liala spoke to them.

“We are leaving El Harun today. It will not be an easy journey. The road from here to the Steel Fortress is very long, and many monsters lie in wait. The scorching sun and monsters will torment us, and many will die. Even so, we must go. As you all feel, there is no future here anymore. Even if you choose not to follow me, I will not resent or hate you. I do not have the capacity to take care of those who remain.”

No one objected to Liala’s words.

Even at this moment, the situation was worsening.

The volcano erupted more violently, and El Harun was collapsing in real time.

Their minds held only one thought, leave El Harun.

Liala said no more and departed.

In the past, many other races would have tried to stop the humans from leaving.

But now, everyone was too busy saving themselves to even think of stopping Liala and the humans.

They merely assumed the humans were evacuating, they never imagined they were leaving El Harun for good.

Thanks to that, Liala and the humans were able to leave easily.

Outside, the situation was even worse.

Kwaaaang!

Mount Pankrena erupted again, and an enormous flow of lava surged toward El Harun like a river.

The giants led by Krudu struggled to divert the lava, but it was useless.

It was only a matter of time before El Harun was buried under lava.

Realizing this, Krudu and the giants abandoned their efforts and ran back toward El Harun.

Once they arrived, it would become even harder to leave.

Liala spoke.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

With her at the lead, the humans left El Harun in a line.

Many looked back at El Harun with tears in their eyes.

Whether they liked it or not, it was the first place they had settled after coming to Earth.

It could not be easy to watch the home they had lived in for so long collapse.

Liala did not comfort them.

Putting distance between themselves and El Harun came first.

At that moment, Uslan pointed somewhere and said to Liala,

“Lady Liala! Look over there.”

In the direction he pointed, another line of evacuees could be seen.

Seeing the front of that group, Liala’s eyes widened.

Someone she knew was leading them.

“Hera?”

The group was the elves led by Hera.

Originally, Hera had intended to observe the situation a little longer before leaving El Harun. She believed there was still time.

But the moment Mount Pankrena erupted and she saw Del Roa’s true nature, all lingering attachment to El Harun vanished.

So she too left El Harun, leading the elves who followed her.

Countless elves followed Hera.

The elves, like the humans, wore devastated expressions.

Regardless of the circumstances, it was painful to leave El Harun like this.

But they had to leave.

If they stayed out of attachment, they would surely be swept away by that lava and vanish without a trace.

The elves led by Hera joined the humans led by Liala.

In the past, the two races might have felt uncomfortable around each other, but now, perhaps because they shared the common fate of losing their home, they walked silently together.

Hera spoke to Liala.

“So it has come to this.”

“You were going to leave El Harun anyway.”

“That’s true, but…”

Hera trailed off.

Ever since hearing from Liala that Zeon might know where a new World Tree had been born, she had been unable to sleep.

She had thought that if they could connect to that place through a portal, leaving El Harun would be fine, but she had never imagined leaving this soon.

Kwaaaang!

At that moment, a powerful explosion erupted from El Harun.

They could see countless trees breaking and the city being destroyed.

Dantal and Del Roa were still fighting.

No matter who won, El Harun would suffer fatal damage.

“Huuh!”

“Ha…”

The two women sighed at the same time.

Their steps leaving El Harun felt as heavy as if shackles were bound to their feet.