Chapter 387: The Appearance of the Divine Bow (5)
After the hundreds of monsters had been dealt with, the relief forces all dropped to their knees without anyone ordering them. It was not the posture of submission to power; it was the posture of believers welcoming a god.
“O Divine Bow, please forgive me for doubting you.”
“The Divine Bow was truly alive!”
“So that’s Limitless Archery, the legendary archery technique that doesn’t even require a bow…”
Keter placed a hand on their shoulders and smiled in satisfaction.
“Yes, yes. I’m Keter. More handsome than the rumors say, right?”
Those touched by Keter trembled, and it wasn’t just from joy.
“M-my chest pain is gone?”
“My severed finger also regenerated. What is this?”
“So the rumors that Lord Keter has reached the pinnacle of medicine were true?!”
“If this man isn’t a god, then who is?!”
Every time Keter’s hand touched someone, all kinds of injuries healed in an instant. This was thanks to two divine artifacts granted to Keter, who had always been well-versed in medicine: the Creation Tome from the Necronomicon and Dracula’s power of blood. It wasn’t evil black magic; it was a pure miracle that required no sacrifice. Of course, it wasn’t without risk. Regenerating lost organs or limbs required divine power.
After healing all the injuries of the relief forces, Keter suddenly smacked his forehead.
“Ah, I forgot about that guy.”
Keter walked back to where he had fought Asura Vector, then plunged his hand deep into the ground and pulled something out. Like pulling up a ripe radish, Jordic popped out.
“Commander?!”
The relief forces had been certain that Jordic was dead. After all, Vector’s attack had left nothing behind but his spear.
Of course, it had been Keter who saved him. Right before Jordic was struck, Keter had used the power of the Terra Ring, one of the Five Element Relics, to create a hollow in the ground, pulling him below. It all happened so quickly that to everyone else, it looked like he had been completely obliterated.
But Keter couldn’t be bothered to explain all that. He simply laid the unconscious Jordic on the ground. His heart wasn’t beating, and his body was cold. To anyone else, he was a corpse, but not to Keter.
“I’m here now. How long are you going to keep sleeping?”
Smack!
Keter struck Jordic hard in the abdomen. The action itself was crude, but what followed was nothing short of a miracle.
“Gasp?!”
Jordic, who had been a corpse, shot upright. He saw Keter’s face right in front of him and scoffed.
“So this is hell. I’m seeing your face, so you must’ve died ten years ago. Still, you came to greet me. Just like I thought, you…”
Crack!
“Gahhh!”
“Nothing stops nonsense like pain.”
Clutching his forehead with his right hand after the flick, Jordic thought to himself.
‘Th-this is strange. If I’m dead, why do I feel pain? Wait, where am I?’
Having assumed he was dead, the pain snapped him back to his senses. He realized he was still on the battlefield where he had been fighting. Seeing his subordinates looking at him with tearful eyes, Jordic finally understood that this was reality.
Then came Keter’s gentle voice from beside him.
“Jordic. I’m really curious why you called this hell after seeing me. I thought I had lived a decent life, but to you, I must’ve been a devil.”
“W-wait a moment, Keter. Our Bydent family has become a vassal of Sefira. So…”
“So, what?”
Jordic wanted to say that he was on his side, but the words wouldn’t come out.
Slowly, Keter extended his hand. Jordic thought that Keter was going to hit him, but he neither defended nor dodged. Though he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he knew that it was Keter who had killed Vector and wiped out the monsters. Even ten years ago, before he disappeared, Keter had been Sefira’s hero and pillar. If Keter chose to strike him, it would be an honor.
However, that was Jordic’s misunderstanding.
“It’s a relief that at least you survived.”
“…?”
“You’ve worked hard, Jordic, and thank you.”
“…!”
Keter wasn’t trying to hit him; he was offering his hand.
Jordic was stunned. He rubbed his eyes with one hand. He clearly wasn’t dead, yet Keter was speaking words of comfort and gratitude.
“Is this heaven, not hell?”
“Heh. Ten years later, and you’re still just as clueless.”
Keter grabbed Jordic’s outstretched hand and pulled him up, then grabbed his face. Jordic barely noticed that because an unbearable itching sensation spread through his left arm.
Crack, crunch!
He soon couldn’t help but stay still at the strange sounds coming from his left arm. The left arm that had been severed was regenerating. Starting from the bones, then blood and flesh, muscles and skin—it took less than ten seconds for it to fully regenerate.
“It’s my first time trying this, so I’m not sure if I did it right. Try moving it.”
“…It feels a bit awkward.”
“Then it worked,” Keter said. To the others, he shouted, “Your bodies are fine now, and your commander’s alive. So what are you all standing around for? Move!”
I didn’t save you so you could rest—I saved you so you could work harder.
Keter was saying that he didn’t save them so they could rest, but so they could work harder. However, those who idolized him interpreted it differently. All they heard was that Sefira was in danger and that they had no time to be standing around like this. Even Jordic misunderstood it that way.
Picking up Gungnir, he said, “Keter, lead us for now. It’s not just here; Sefira is in danger everywhere.”
“I know. I heard from Taragon. I already cleared out the monsters at that cathedral over there, so you all head there and return to the main force.”
“Return? Then what about you?”
“From your perspective, I’ve done nothing for ten years, right? Looks like some of you don’t even recognize my face. I should remind everyone who I am.”
His intention was clearly mischievous, but in the end, it still benefited Sefira. Jordic thought that was just Keter’s way.
Honestly, I doubt we’d be any help to him anyway.
They would only get in his way.
Has Keter even gained the consideration to say that indirectly now?
Jordic almost found himself admiring him.
“Understood. We’ll make sure all the wounded at the cathedral return safely to the main force. So Keter, take care of yourself.”
“Trying to act like an adult now, huh.”
Having suddenly appeared, wiped out the monsters, and saved everyone’s lives, Keter vanished just as suddenly.
“I’ve heard many stories about the Divine Bow, but they were all wrong. He really is a god.”
“How can someone be so humble and so considerate of us?”
Even after Keter left, the newly devoted believers remained, unable to leave the scene, basking in the afterglow. Only Jordic, who knew Keter well, snapped them back to their senses.
“Move it! He may be the Divine Bow… but he’s also the craziest man in this country.”
Of course, no one believed him. They simply dismissed it as a joke meant to ease the tension… but that was only for a moment.
* * *
Three days after Keter’s return, an unprecedented peace came to Sefira. Thousands of monsters—and even the monster-humans, each at least six-star—had all been eliminated by Keter.
After roaming the southern region for three days and nights without rest, slaughtering monsters, Keter rubbed his eyes.
“This is a bit tiring.”
He hadn’t rested even until just before escaping the underground of Liqueur. And the moment he got out, he traveled alone across vast lands, hunting monsters and even treating the wounded. Even as a Transcendental, he could feel the stiffness and fatigue in his body. However, while his body was exhausted, Keter felt rather exhilarated mentally.
“Laying the groundwork paid off.”
Everyone he saved now looked up to him with admiration and awe. In the past, people had feared him even after saving them, but now, they approached him willingly.
“At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I’m the real power in Sefira.”
To put it bluntly, he was confident that even if he grabbed Hissop by the collar and declared that he wanted to be the patriarch now, everyone would support him. Of course, he had no intention of actually doing that.
“That would just be throwing dirt into finished dough.”
Keter couldn’t understand why anyone would willingly take on a position full of responsibility.
“Power without responsibility—that’s the best, isn’t it?”
After sitting down briefly to rest, Keter stood up. No more monsters were hiding, no more people to save. It was time to return home. It wasn’t far. Even at a light run, it would take five minutes.
But Keter didn’t feel like running.
“This road… it’s the path I took from Liqueur to Sefira.”
Though now covered in fog and the once-lush trees reduced to bare branches, Keter remembered this scenery.
“Hah, I can still see Gramps Jacques fumbling around.”
Riding in a rattling carriage, looking out at the green plains and blue sky, he had made a vow that he would make all of it his and that he would kill the Lillian Queen who stood in his way.
“And now, that queen turned out to be nothing more than a pawn, and I don’t even know where she is.”
Because of Queen Lillian’s absence, there was a lingering unease that—unlike before his regression—he might be able to live peacefully without fighting, but…
“Yeah, like that would ever happen.”
Even with the queen gone, her children—Crown Prince Rukan and Second Prince Rakan—ended up pushing things to this point.
“Well… looks like everyone’s just being used. What a messed-up world.”
And the one behind it all was Akrah, his own mother, which made Keter smile.
“They’re all fighting over grand causes… but it’s too complicated. Might as well just kill them all.”
In the end, that was the simplest and most certain solution.
Muttering to himself as he walked, Keter stopped. Even though he had been walking slowly, he had already reached the main gate of Sefira.
Eleven years ago, when he first arrived at Sefira in a carriage with Jacques, no one had come to greet him. But now…
Creak.
The gates opened on their own. Keter already knew. Even if he tried to ignore it, his senses as a Transcendental made him aware of everyone beyond the gate.
“Ah, seriously, what is this?”
Inside the opened gates, hundreds of people had gathered. Some of them he had saved, some he hadn’t. However, all their expressions were the same: warmth, welcome, and joy. Some even had tears in their eyes.
“Keter…!”
Hissop had come out to greet him as well, and behind him were many familiar faces: Butler Jacques; Commander Gasilius of the Order of the Galaxy; Taragon, the fourth eldest of Sefira; Pekda of the Seven Stars of the North; Katherine, who had learned magic archery from Keter; Denison, the creator of sticker magic; even Orion, the self-proclaimed recluse master.
And it wasn’t just Sefira’s people. There was also Burgundy, deputy director of the Mercenary Association; Curette of the Blood Cross Order; Jordic of Bydent; Minerva, the Shield of the East… So many people had gathered here that it was almost unbelievable.
Keter had sensed that people came to greet him. However, seeing that they had truly been waiting for him and were genuinely happy to see him, stirred something in his chest.
“Don’t you all have anything better to do? Why are you all here?”
Embarrassed, Keter tried to act grumpy, but then Hissop embraced him. Then Jacques, Katherine, and Gasilius.
Hundreds of people silently welcomed the return of a single man; it was almost solemn. At first, Keter felt awkward and strange…
“Sorry I’m late.”
…but soon, he accepted their welcome.
