There was a low, loud rumble as a shape appeared atop the bulky walls—a catapult. Before long, several catapults were slotted into place. These catapults, equipped with all sorts of magic devices, were Müller’s masterpiece. The huge weapons took aim at the bears, and the mood along the wall took a rapid turn.
“We’re stronger on the ground!” the knights hollered.
Clope watched the scene, a deep wrinkle creasing his forehead. What in the world?
What was going on? While his sword—or rather, the aura surrounding his sword—swept forward to decimate even more skeletons, the bone dragon flanking the flying skeleton brigade hung in the air without taking action.
No, these skeletons aren’t important right now!
The more Clope thought about it, the more flabbergasted he became. Tigers weren’t native to the Western Continent, yet here they were. And what were those catapults? Why did a rural county in northeastern Rowoon—an unrefined territory with nothing but rocks to recommend it—have all of these things? It wasn’t the ruling hub of the kingdom, but it was better equipped than most capital cities.
One of the smaller skeletons, down a wing after Clope’s attack, flapped its remaining wing as it circled him. Clack, clack.
Anger simmered in Clope’s chest. He wouldn’t stand for this. As he wheeled his wyvern around, noting the numerous skeletons still in the air, he could see Cale smiling once again.
I need to get rid of that bastard first. It was all a matter of momentum.
His wyvern’s black eyes flared a fiery crimson. Clope pressed low to the wyvern’s back as the creature flew faster and swept into a dive, hurtling toward Cale at incredible speed.
Even then, Cale didn’t falter—he kept on smiling at them. Watching the white wyvern’s rapid descent, he uttered a single word: “Come.”
The bone dragon finally jolted into motion. At the same time, the invisible figure behind Cale got to work. Mary’s face was pale as she controlled the bone dragon with hand motions, but there wasn’t even an ounce of hesitation in her actions.
All the other corpses were mere decoys. As the flying skeleton brigade dispersed with a spontaneous bout of screeches, something else silently took their place. The bone dragon’s empty eye sockets ignited with a black glow. Then it shot through the air toward the shield. Opening its toothy maw, the bone dragon aimed for the white wyvern’s neck.
“No!” Clope cried.
His white wyvern roared, flashing its fangs as it tried to fight back. Yet despite being a pile of bones, the black-eyed bone dragon was not repelled. Clope grunted, yanking frantically on the reins.
The bone dragon spread its wings in front of the wall. Flap, flap. Anyone watching would think that bag of bones was guarding the city.
Snow-white aura clashed with pitch-black light.
Bang, bang!
Clope’s white wyvern rushed the bone dragon with claws and teeth at the ready, but the dead mana merely trembled; it didn’t disappear. The bone dragon didn’t sustain a single scratch.
The shield creaked, quivering anew as the wyverns rammed into it again, fixated on its destruction. Their eyes now glowing red, the wyverns tried ripping it apart with their claws.
Cale, for his part, remained calm and commenced the final stage of his plan. “Choi Han.”
“Yes, sir?” Choi Han asked from beside him, then waited as Cale snuffed out the silver light from one of his hands.
“It’s your turn.”
“You have a job for me?”
Cale hadn’t given Choi Han any instructions, so the swordsman had been hovering by Cale’s side like a shadow to protect him. But Cale had determined Choi Han’s role a long time ago. “Use your full strength this time.”
“Is this part of that ‘new history’ you mentioned?”
A smile formed on Cale’s pale face. In a steady voice, he replied, “Yes. It’s the history you’ll will write for yourself in this place.”
The history I’ll write for myself in this place—my second home. Those words echoed in Choi Han’s mind.
Soldiers nearby eyed the pair in confusion, wondering why they were engaging in chitchat with things so dire.
Then Cale took a sword out of a magic bag and pointed the handle at Choi Han. It was a weapon forged by Müller. “It’s yours.”
Cale was giving Choi Han his original role, the one he had in the novel. This would be the moment Choi Han became a hero. The fifth volume of the series might have ended, but all Cale had to do was create a new opportunity for that hero to be born. This was it: Birth of a Hero.
“I’m sure you know best what you have to do.” Facing Choi Han head-on, Cale added, “Come back soon.”
Choi Han accepted the sword. He didn’t deliberate long before drawing it from the scabbard. Unlike the scabbard itself, the blade gleamed brightly.
Beaming at Cale, Choi Han said, “I like this sword.”
At that moment, a rumbling sound emanated from the sword. An aura enveloped the blade; it was the same shade of black as the hair and eyes of this young man, who still looked like a teenager. Shortly thereafter, the aura shot into the sky.
“A-an aura-wielding swordmaster!” one soldier cried out, then clamped a hand over his mouth.
The young man they knew as Cale’s guard was actually a swordmaster. A real one. Not only that, but this swordmaster, a necromancer, and the Tiger Tribe all took orders from Cale. The soldier who’d shouted got chills, but they stemmed from something other than fear.
Meanwhile, Choi Han calmly voiced what he needed to do. “I’ll return after I kill him.” His role was to neutralize the Guardian Knight—to kill Clope, or at least the white wyvern he rode upon.
But then Cale beckoned him over out of nowhere, stuttering as he said, “L-let’s embrace before you take the field!”
Embracing in the middle of a battle? Wondering when Cale had developed such an affectionate side, Choi Han gave him a light hug. With one arm wrapped around Choi Han and the other keeping the Unbreakable Shield aloft, Cale shouted loudly enough for everyone to hear, “I believe in you!”
Suppressing a surge of emotion, Choi Han replied, “Thank you so much. I’ll definitely bring you his head.”
Why does this punk keep saying things like that?! Cale wondered, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t kill him.”
Yes, why waste such a useful pawn by putting an end to him now?
Cale regarded Choi Han, who somehow held on to his innocence despite hanging around the lout for so long. When Cale spoke again, he oozed wickedness. “Collect both those white pawns for me.”
Choi Han gasped. The way Cale looked at him said it all: If he had any hope of learning how to control the wyverns, they couldn’t dispose of Clope just yet. Plus, there was so much money to be made by capturing that bastard.
“I’ll make this mission a success.”
With that, Choi Han leapt from the wall through a gap in the shield that Cale had opened for him. He landed lightly on the bone dragon’s spine. Tat. Then he stood up straight, his eyes seeking the two “white pawns.” With senses that exceeded the limits of normal human hearing, he caught the sound of Cale’s faint yet firm voice.
“Begin.”
Together, the hero yet to be recognized and the dragon forgotten by time moved to carry out Cale’s orders, a maneuver that would go down in history.