EP.231 Trial of the Holy Grail (5)
Belial, the shadow dragon shaman.
The man introduced himself like that.
Belnoir looked at the man with narrowed eyes. A shadow was rising over the arm of a man with a tattoo resembling a dragon.
‘···Shadow spell?’
These are clear traces of shadow magic.
However, it is different from the shadow magic that Belnoa knows. The direction was different from the magic that the Demon King’s army used on the battlefield.
Something different and heterogeneous.
Belnoa’s eyes narrowed a little more.
That strange spell was a spell, but there was something that bothered me a little more. Belnoa opened his mouth.
“…Did you say Belial?”
“okay. “Do you know my name?”
There’s no way you wouldn’t know.
Because there was no one who did not know the name of the being who reigned as a disaster throughout the kingdom’s hundreds of years of history.
“This is my first time seeing you here, but I know your name, Belial.”
“I don’t think it’s a name I’ve heard in a good light.”
Belnoa nodded.
“Black Storm, Black Dragon Belial.”
A demon dragon that can overturn the battlefield with a single flap of its wings, and the flames it spews out can reduce even heavenly fortresses to ashes.
“…I expected it, though.”
Belial laughed bitterly at Belnoa’s words.
“It seems things have taken a turn for the worst. After all, the fact that I am meeting you here means that things have gone astray.”
He mumbled and walked away.
A footprint was left in the desert sand.
“Boy, did you say the black dragon Belial?”
“yes. “It reigns as a disaster in history.”
“Disaster, disaster.”
Belial’s eyes narrowed.
“Did that black dragon kill someone? No, it’s probably a question that doesn’t need to be asked. “He must have been called a disaster because he killed people.”
It’s not at the level of killing someone.
It burned the country and created countless ruins over hundreds of years. That is why the Black Dragon reigned as a disaster.
Many stories he had read in history books came to mind, but Belnoir did not say them out loud. That’s because she had a gut feeling that she wouldn’t be able to do it.
Instead, Belnoa said something else.
“Are you related to the Black Dragon?”
“I guess so. That is ■■■■■■■■···.”
Belial frowned before speaking.
“Hmm?”
He rubbed the back of my neck a few times, looked up at the sky, and burst into laughter.
“It can be nasty.”
Belial muttered and lowered his gaze.
“I guess it’s a story I can’t tell you right now. “I don’t know if you can overcome my ordeal.”
“···test?”
Belnoir blinked.
Ordeal, if you think about it, you were going through an ordeal inside the Holy Grail. Of course, I was nervous, thinking that Professor Rania would show up, but…
‘The one who came out was that man.’
An unknown man who calls himself Belial.
A shaman who practices a heterogeneous form of magic that is similar to but different from his own.
“so.”
He opened his mouth.
“This is the inside of the Holy Grail, right? ■■■ That’s what I promised that guy. Umm, you must have learned shadow magic from ‘someone’?”
What he pointed to was the shadow armor Belnoa wore on his arm. Belnoir nodded slowly.
“I do deal with shadow magic.”
“It looks like it was used sparingly. Seeing as how he has reached the realm of casting shadows around his body… he seems to have quite a bit of talent. “Okay, I like it a lot.”
Trudging.
Belial stops in front of Belnoa.
Belnoir looked up at the man standing in front of him. She felt it when she saw him from afar, but now that she was facing him up close, a cold sweat ran down her spine.
strong.
It is an incredibly strong being.
Even though he was just standing there, Belnoir felt the pressure of a huge wall pressing down on him. Her breath caught and his fingertips trembled.
“boy.”
The wall asks itself a question.
“Challenging the Holy Grail Trial means that you have a reason to move on, right?”
A reason to move on.
“For the sake of faith, for salvation, and for achieving great feats…”
If not all of that.
“To protect someone.”
Belnoir inadvertently nodded at the last sentence spoken. If there was a reason for her to become stronger, it was to protect Chloe.
“Good. “I like it very much.”
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As if satisfied with the answer, Belial let out a lively laugh. With his thick hand, he tapped Belle Noah on the shoulder a couple of times.
‘What power…!’
From Belial’s point of view, it may have been a light knock, but Belnoa felt the shock as if his shoulder was going to fall off.
‘Something… is strange.’
Looking at Belial tapping his shoulder, Belnoa felt a sense of discomfort. The opponent you face is clearly strong. That man standing in front of you is a gigantic being that can kill you with just a simple flick of his hand.
But why?
‘I’m not afraid.’
There is an instinctive fear.
There is a sense of intimidation you feel the moment you encounter a strong person.
However, Belnoir did not feel psychological fear from the man in front of her. This was because the man had a strong belief that no matter what happened, he would not harm himself.
unfounded confidence.
However, confidence without doubt.
It felt like something was strange.
As Belnoa was thinking such thoughts in his head, Belial opened his mouth.
“Boy, what’s your name?”
“This is Belnoa.”
“Yes, Belnoir.”
Belial let out a short breath.
“Seeing as you have reached the Shadow Armor, it seems you have reached a fairly high level. If you’re at that level at that age, it looks like you put in enough effort without relying on talent. but···.”
Belial’s eyes narrow. The narrowed eyes were reminiscent of the eyes of an animal.
“It’s stuck.”
Stuck state.
Belnoa gasped at those words.
It was true.
Belnoa was unable to advance to the next form of the Shadow Armor. Even when I asked old Cardi, he only said that the next form needed an ‘opportunity’.
“You will need an opportunity to move on. And, I guess I can help with that.”
Belial glanced around. He stroked his chin as he looked at the vast expanse of desert. There were already cracks in the desert.
“Has the limit reached when I recreate myself? Well, this is the only way I can endure it once.”
He mumbled and raised his arms.
“Offering.”
He muttered briefly.
The moment the magic contained in language was released, Belial’s skin began to peel off. The skin on both arms peels off, and something takes its place.
‘···scales?’
Something black and shiny.
The scales made of shadows had a much more stable form than the shadow armor that Belnoa wore on his hands.
Arms outstretched.
Shadow scales wrapped around the arms.
A shadow rises above it. Not a soggy shadow like Belnoa’s, but a sharpened shadow like the claws of an animal.
“You are using the shadow spell incorrectly.”
The wind blows in the desert.
“Break the limits of your thinking. Break down the limitations of your body. Witchcraft is a tool for that. “A means of obtaining strength beyond the body by offering one’s body.”
Sand is flying.
“Spells are wishes. “A shadow is what solidifies what you desire as a form.”
The wind gets stronger little by little.
“What comes to mind is the existence of a perfect form.”
An ancient dragon that once existed in this land.
“Perfect beings who swept the entire area with a single flap of their wings and set the earth and sky on fire with a single breath.”
Pop, pop, pop.
Belial’s arms expand with a loud noise. The arm wrapped in the shadow takes on the shape of a dragon, although only for a moment.
“Take a good look, boy.”
he laughs
“I’ll show you.”
The arms of the beast.
The claws of a dragon that once clawed at the sky.
“What is the shadow dragon’s spell?”
He swings his arm.
The dragon’s claws inhabiting human flesh claw at the sky. The wind rushed along the path drawn by the fingernails. What the rushing, whirling wind creates is a storm.
Ka-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!
A storm is brewing.
The wind created by the dragon’s claws engulfs the entire area. The shadows mixed with the wind turn the storm black.
The sand flies in all directions, gets caught up in the rushing wind, and crumbles into small pieces. The black storm that changes even the sand seems to return everything it touches to nothingness.
In a place where not a single wind blew, a storm that engulfed everything suddenly appeared.
“···ah.”
Belnoa looks at the raging storm with his eyes wide open. Next, we look at Belial, who created a storm with one swing.
“Remember what you just saw, boy.”
Belial smiles.
“Next time we meet, I hope you can experience the full ordeal. “The higher you reach the level, the more trials you can endure.”
Damn.
The space created by the Holy Grail begins to shatter. Faced with something it cannot handle, the Holy Grail chooses to collapse the space for its own protection.
Even as the ordeal was collapsing, Belnoa looked at Belial, who was standing alone in the desert.
Standing at the center of a raging storm, Belnoir unconsciously remembers the smiling figure of the shaman.
——Black Dragon, a nickname given to Belial.
‘Black Storm.’
It was the moment when Belnoa realized the meaning of that nickname.
2.
Crispy!
Belnoa jumped out of the ordeal with the sound of space being shattered. Belnoa, who rolled on the floor and stood up, hurriedly raised his head.
“Ugh, huh…!”
Belnoir exhaled the breath he had been holding for some time and placed his hand on his chest. My heart was beating violently.
‘What did I just see?’
What I saw was a shadow spell.
However, it was a completely different type of magic than what he was familiar with. In the first place, Belnoa did not even know that such an act was possible through magic.
By offering a part of the body, the shadow is summoned, strengthened, and the form solidified.
That is the magic that Belnoa knows.
‘But, what that person used a little while ago…’
Offer the body.
The offered body is replaced by a shadow.
‘The shadow immediately repairs the broken body.’
The process was smooth and no losses occurred. As if that was the right way to do it.
“You are using the shadow spell incorrectly.”
I had no choice but to admit that.
Also, I felt like I could see the direction I needed to go.
I think my eyes were opened just by seeing it once.
Excited.
It was a moment when Belnoa was trying to reflect on what he had seen a moment ago. Someone grabbed Belnoa’s shoulder.
“Belnoir.”
It was Professor Rania.
Belnoir blinked and raised his head.
“What on earth were you doing inside?”
“···yes?”
“No, you are you too.”
She pointed to a corner of the forest.
There is a pool of water there that Lark went into.
“Lark, what on earth is that guy doing?”
The puddle that Lark jumped into.
The space was distorted starting from the place where the starlight was concentrated. The space continued to twist, making a clicking, clicking sound.
It was as if the space had been forced to hold on.
“You guys met me, didn’t you? No, even if I lived my lifespan, I wouldn’t be able to do something like that…?”
Even as Rania was greatly mistaken, Lark’s ordeal continued.
3.
“You took the wrong time to challenge yourself.”
The knight’s voice echoes through the canyon.
“It is true that we faced a wall. However, the depth is shallow. I’ve only just heard the beginning. “I think it’s still too early for your ordeal.”
Lark was lying on the floor, out of breath. Although there were no wounds left on his body, Lark could hardly get up.
‘What on earth… was that?’
The knight’s words telling us to take up arms and attack.
Following those words, it was the moment I grabbed the ax and rushed at it with all my might. The knight didn’t even swing his sword. It was just the moment when the light in his eyes flashed beyond the helmet.
Lark lost his axe.
He collapsed on the floor ungainly.
The moment we made eye contact, Lark had a vision of his entire body being torn apart. And, at that moment, his will was completely broken. I didn’t even dare to try.
I can’t stand up.
There were no wounds left, but there was no strength in the body, as if a tendon had been torn.
The knight who was looking down at Lark let out a short breath.
“You lack will.”
The knight speaks with his sword lowered.
“If you are Grace’s child, have you ever learned about will? You lack will. “There is a lack of determination.”
There is a faint disappointment in his voice.
“I have no intention of swinging my sword at a warrior who has lost his weapon. “I guess it’s still too early for you.”
The knight with his sword in hand turns around.
Lark looked at the back of the knight walking away. The knight muttered as he walked.
“Fortify yourself as a warrior and then take on the challenge. “You are not worth swinging a sword at now.”
It’s not even worth swinging a sword at.
A person who does not have the determination of a warrior.
Lark frowns at the words that insult the pride of a warrior. Lark grunted and gritted his teeth. With his eyes wide open, he glares at the back of the knight walking away.
“Do not endure insults.”
“Especially if it insults the pride of a warrior.”
The words he heard from the warriors linger in Lark’s ears.
Lark grits his teeth and stretches out his arms. The tip of his trembling finger touches the handle of the ax he had missed. Lark put all his strength into his hand while holding the sack.
Pop, pop, pop.
A broken will, a body that has stopped.
Force it to stand up. The blood vessels in my eyes burst and my vision spreads red, and before I know it, the nosebleeds are pattering on the floor, leaving red dots.
“Keuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
It whips the body that tries to stop.
Gather the crumbled will and burn it.
Sigh.
Lark stands up, clutching the axe. Standing with both feet on the ground, he threw the ax with all his might at the knight who was moving away.
Huh!
The knight catches the ax flying through the wind without even looking back. The knight holding the ax stopped his steps and slowly looked back.
“indeed.”
The driver lets out a faint laugh.
“He is not even aware of pride.”
He raises his sword once again.
At that moment, the crack spreads starting from him.
The ordeal reached its limit just by summoning a being called Ganikalt. Traces of the Holy Grail, which has reached its limit, trying to collapse space, begin to appear throughout the canyon.
A land that is splitting apart.
The sky about to split.
This is the moment when the Holy Grail tries to force an end to the ordeal. Ganicalt’s eyes narrowed.
“An inexperienced warrior is showing pride. “A person who has shaken off fear is revealing his determination.”
He swings his sword lightly.
The sword he swung distorted space, forcing the cracks that were about to open to connect.
“Therefore, the trials must continue.”
Holding the space, Ganicalt turns to look at Lark. Although his mouth was hidden behind his helmet, Lark felt that the knight might be smiling without knowing why.
“I am an immature child, but I am proud.”
The knight extends his left hand and points to Lark.
“I will ask.”
Ganichalt van Galatric.
The proud prosecutor asks a question to the boy who is finally at the starting point.
“Are you a warrior?”
Do you want to remain a warrior?
Lark responds by kicking the ground.
Ganicalt laughs at that sight.
“That’s great.”
Ganicalt salutes the man who knows pride and the warrior who raises his weapon again in the face of fear.
