A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 289 : Primordial Demon (7)

Fenghuang.

It was known by other names, such as the Great Peng or the Vermilion Bird.

Depending on the era and the witness, its name varied, but it was universally known as one of the four guardian gods—The Four Gods—who had protected the four corners of the continent since ancient times.

The pair of Fenghuang could not be truly separated; the male was called 'Bong' and the female 'Hwang.' Together, this pair of divine birds was referred to as 'Fenghuang,' and they were whispered of in legends as auspicious Divine Beasts that governed fire and summer among the Five Elements.

And now, appearing in the sky as if to oppose the Primordial Demon, Leviathan, was that very pair of birds from legend.

“…Fenghuang.”

It went without saying, but the person who had summoned one of the legendary Four Gods was U-jin.

In the first place, other than U-jin, most people in the current era didn't even know that such a being as the ‘Fenghuang’ existed.

“…To think that something like a real Fenghuang actually existed…….”

“…….”

“To be honest, I was half-doubting it myself. I believed you wouldn't be without a plan… but seeing this with my own eyes is truly astonishing.”

Louis muttered softly as he looked up at the wondrous sight.

As his words suggested, this was the reason U-jin had been able to persuade them into an ‘all-out war,’ which was practically an act of madness.

Normally, having ‘large numbers’ would actually make it more difficult to deal with a Primordial Demon.

Conversations would typically lean toward forming a small, elite group to subjugate the creature.

In fact, before U-jin intervened, that was the direction their thoughts were hardening toward.

It was only natural.

The energy source of a Primordial Demon was the ‘fear’ on the battlefield.

If the Order gathered all its soldiers for an all-out effort, it was certain that more soldiers would be paralyzed with terror upon seeing the Primordial Demon.

That, in itself, was an act that could increase the danger.

Nevertheless, the reason U-jin could push his argument was because there was a way to avoid that risk to some extent.

『…I hold a card that can counter the Primordial Demon.』

He had presented the ‘Divine Beasts’ as his card against the Primordial Demon.

Of course, when U-jin first spoke of the Divine Beasts, almost no one understood what he meant.

Most of those seated only tilted their heads with confused expressions, and some even spoke dismissively, wondering why U-jin was even present.

However, U-jin hadn't brought up the Divine Beasts for everyone to understand.

If that had been his intention, he would have started with an explanatory tone from the beginning.

The reason U-jin could abruptly drop the term ‘Divine Beasts’ back then was because there was definitely someone in the audience who would understand.

『…If you mean the Divine Beasts.』

That person was none other than Leonardo Louis Button.

U-jin thought that even if others didn't know, Louis would surely recognize the term ‘Divine Beasts.’

The reason was simple.

『…I think I’ll need a bit more explanation, Seo U-jin.』

It was because of the Messiah’s Apocrypha, which Louis boasted of having read over a hundred times.

Records of the Divine Beasts were briefly mentioned there as well.

Of course, the exact word ‘Divine Beast’ wasn't written.

However, beings that seemed to align with the role of the Divine Beasts U-jin spoke of appeared within the Apocrypha.

『…To restrain that wicked half-dragon, a Divine Bird, known as the leader of all winged creatures, was summoned from the Eastern Land of Gentlemen. It flew from beyond the Four Seas, passed through Kunlun, and arrived.』

『Sparks fly, and feathers sizzle. Then, flames erupt. It burns its own body, turns to ash, and is born anew. This cycle continues. The one closest to the miracle of immortality is not any human, but this fire-spitting Divine Bird…….』

A wicked half-dragon and a fire-spitting Divine Bird.

If everyone had known the contents of that Apocrypha, it was a scene so perfectly matched that every single person would have recalled it upon seeing the current situation.

Therefore, from U-jin's perspective, there was no need to persuade everyone present.

In the end, the person with the final decision-making power was Louis, and if he could be firmly convinced, Louis’s prestige within the Guardian Cross Order would handle the rest.

Ssh—

“…….”

It was common sense, but the reason U-jin could command the Fenghuang was that he had created the ‘complete Xuanyuan Sword’ by combining the blade fragment he received from the Emperor of the Murim Empire with the hilt fragment he originally possessed.

The complete Xuanyuan Sword had absorbed the three Divine Objects U-jin held.

After absorbing the Vermilion Bird’s tail feather, the Azure Dragon’s reverse scale, and the Black Tortoise Cold Iron, the sword regained its original power, emitting an even more intense light.

There was no special explanation or process.

The moment he grasped the perfectly completed Xuanyuan Sword, U-jin naturally came to know.

He knew of the pair of Fenghuang hiding their forms while flying in the heavens tens of thousands of miles above.

He knew of the Azure Dragon coiled and sleeping within the Dragon Palace of the deep sea.

He knew of the Black Tortoise, its shell buried in the rocky crevices of an unnamed eternal snow mountain in the north.

And he knew the fact that they would appear here at his single call.

That was why he could speak so strongly of an ‘all-out war.’

If he hadn't been certain whether they would truly help him, U-jin himself would have found it difficult to be confident about the total war.

Vwooom—

The Fenghuang flying high in the sky lowered its altitude slightly.

At the same time, the Xuanyuan Sword in U-jin’s hand vibrated lowly.

Wooo—

It wasn't just a simple vibration.

Like the Sound Transmission used in the Murim Empire, a voice like the five-colored cry from before reached U-jin’s ears along with the vibration.

【…So it is you, the Successor.】

He didn't know exactly what a ‘Successor’ was, but there was no need to answer.

It wasn't so much a statement directed at U-jin as it was the being confirming U-jin’s existence for itself.

Following that muttered internal monologue, the aura of the Fenghuang filling the sky changed.

The source of the aura was the Xuanyuan Sword U-jin held.

A strong red light gathered on the white Xuanyuan Sword, and what happened next was incredible.

—…W-what is this? Just what is…

—Ugh… it’s too bright.

The entire battlefield was enveloped in red light.

Fwoosh—

The source was, of course, the Fenghuang floating in the sky.

The Fenghuang’s body was instantly covered in flames, emitting an intense red light like the sun.

Accordingly, the already massive bodies of the Fenghuang pair grew about 1.5 times larger.

Of course, since fire doesn't physically have volume, it was hard to call it a literal expansion of mass, but it couldn't be ignored regardless.

The power of the Fenghuang lay not in its physical size, but in its powerful energy of Fire.

Previously, the Fenghuang pair combined were slightly smaller than Leviathan, but after the current change, the transformation was so great that the Fenghuang appeared even larger.

【…I will cooperate, but I make no guarantees, Successor.】

It wasn't just their appearance that changed.

Muttering in a low voice as if notifying U-jin, the Fenghuang broke the somewhat stagnant standoff and immediately lunged at Leviathan.

Swish—!

A realm humans could never reach.

A battle of the transcendental had begun.

To an outsider, it might look like a common scene in nature of a bird hunting a snake.

But natural objects had a way of overwhelming through their scale.

Even a pebble commonly seen on the road could be praised as a ‘wondrous rock’ if it exceeded tens of meters, far surpassing a human's height.

The bloody battle between the two monsters unfolding before their eyes was not a realm humans could fathom.

They were such monstrous beings that they could vanish from sight with just a slight movement.

‘…I will cooperate, but I make no guarantees.’

U-jin remembered the words the Fenghuang had muttered before the battle began.

There was no detailed explanation, but U-jin could roughly guess what it meant.

It meant that even if the Fenghuang gave its all, it couldn't guarantee that it could suppress ‘Leviathan.’

U-jin shared that opinion.

No, to be precise, the thought that ‘it cannot win’ had been firmly fixed in his mind even before he summoned the Fenghuang.

Even in the legends passed down through the Imperial Family, it said they summoned the Divine Beasts to oppose the Primordial Demon; it never said they defeated the Primordial Demon through them.

It was bound to be an impossible task.

Even the Saint Messiah of the great Guardian Cross Order couldn't completely destroy them and could only manage to ‘seal’ these irregular existences known as Primordial Demons.

No matter how great a Divine Beast was, defeating it was out of the question.

And resealing it was also a difficult task.

Then what exactly was the role U-jin expected from the Divine Beast?

It was the ‘alleviation of fear.’

—…Just what is going on right now?

—Aren't we winning?

Amidst the fear of the allies that hadn't been completely consumed, a bit of confusion mixed with hope began to creep in.

If the Primordial Demon had been alone, the massive fear would have long since been swallowed by Leviathan, but the appearance of the Divine Beast ‘Fenghuang’ neutralized that fear to some extent.

The ‘role of the Divine Beast’ that U-jin had set was exactly that.

To dismantle that overwhelming fear, prevent the excessive strengthening of the Primordial Demon, and maintain the front line in a neutral state.

To put it bluntly, it was a ‘holding pattern.’

Of course, that situation couldn't last forever.

However, if it was the pair of Fenghuang recorded to have helped the Messiah suppress Leviathan once before in ancient times, they should be able to maintain the battle situation for quite a while.

U-jin expected nothing more and nothing less from the Fenghuang.

From here on, it was a realm U-jin had to handle personally.

Ssh—

“Is everything ready?”

“…I just got word. Some bull-bastard invaded from the east. I think we should head there first.”

Nod—

At U-jin’s question as he turned his head, Ludwig Allegro nodded in response.

“Then let us move immediately, Seo U-jin.”

“…….”

“I’ve already set the coordinates for our exclusive use, so we can arrive instantly through the warp gate.”

Nodding at Leonardo Louis Button’s guidance, U-jin turned his back on the battlefield.