The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-419

Chapter 419: Goodbye Nouvellebag (1)

…Boom! Rumble!

The entire Nouvellebag prison was shaking violently.

Vikir and Aiyen were riding on Bakira’s back as they dashed up the spiral staircase.

Bakira, now a transformed beast, was running even faster than in his prime, significantly reducing the time it took to ascend the floors.

Whooosh—

A massive wave surged from ahead.

“Damn! This must be a flooded corridor!”

“This way is a shortcut. Break through it!”

At Vikir’s words, Aiyen nodded and nocked an arrow.

The arrow flew in a straight line, piercing a huge hole in the wave.

Bakira leaped through the ring of water like in a circus, kicking off the floor beneath the parted waves and soaring again.

…Thud!

After crossing the flooded corridor, Bakira landed on a partially collapsed bridge and continued running.

Beside them, the blue pillar of fire was growing larger, heating the gate of good and evil.

“We’re on the fifth floor now!”

“Yeah. There’s a gulper eel breeding ground on this floor.”

“Do you think any eels are left?”

“The last time I checked, there were quite a few eels. Even if some escaped first, they couldn’t have taken all the eels.”

Vikir’s prediction was accurate.

The breeding ground, where rocks and water were pouring down from the ceiling, still had a few gulper eels remaining.

It seemed many prisoners or guards had already escaped, leaving chaos everywhere.

Blood was spreading all around, and bodies were floating.

It was easy to guess that there had been a fierce fight to seize the gulper eels first.

‘It was a good decision to send those who would escape first to the fifth floor in advance.’

Vikir had previously instructed as many valuable people as possible to wait on the fifth floor before the escape, even going as far as forging command papers. So, many people would have been on the fifth floor.

Since they were already on the fifth floor when the chaos started, they likely escaped safely.

“It’s a miracle that any eels are left.”

Aiyen grabbed a fishing hook and rope, then jumped directly into the pond, catching a large gulper eel.

Splat—

She twisted the struggling eel’s mouth open and said with a smiling face.

“Husband, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Vikir nodded.

However, Aiyen spoke again despite his assurance.

“The surface has changed a lot. It’s not the world you once knew.”

“I already have some idea.”

“……?”

Aiyen tilted her head in confusion.

The world had completely changed since Vikir was imprisoned in Nouvellebag.

How could he possibly know that?

“Newspapers? Stories from new prisoners? Or perhaps an informant you had planted?”

Aiyen looked at Vikir with a puzzled expression, but he didn’t provide any further explanation.

Vikir was simply recalling the world before his regression.

The memories of that day haunted his nightmares every time he slept.

How could he forget? The catastrophic season where 98% of humanity was annihilated.

One day, the sky tore open, and from the rift poured blood-red flames.

Countless drops of fire fell like monsoon.

For 150 days, the ‘Storm of calamity’ continued, a monsoon of hellfire.

This terrible weather phenomenon turned forests into deserts and lakes into abyssal pits.

The cries of the dead, wandering the parched underworld, and the rasping breaths of those who couldn’t die, burning to ashes—those sounds would never be forgotten, even in dreams.

It was a time when nothing could be promised or certain.

Demons used their trump card, ‘The storm of calamity’, and it gave birth to…

The long rainy season that heralded the extinction of humanity.

‘…It will start again soon.’

Vikir already sensed the imminent appearance of the Gates of Doom.

The changes happening on the surface were mere droplets, only signs and omens.

It was just the demons warming up before the real game began.

Vikir had already prepared for all of this.

Step by step, without haste, thoroughly.

Now, it was time to strike back at the demons.

“The volcano will soon erupt.”

Poseidon has hatched, and now it will begin its ascent to the sky.

This was the start of the great Nouvellebag eruption.

“We need to escape this place before that happens.”

“But why did you cause Nouvellebag to erupt?”

“To counter the fiery monsoon, the Storm of calamity.”

“…?”

Aiyen tilted her head in confusion.

But Vikir didn’t offer any further explanation this time either.

He simply mulled over the 150 days of the hellish storm and the Gates of Doom in his mind.

“With Poseidon hatched, the climate will change drastically. Now, we just have to wait and see.”

With those words, Vikir pulled the gulper eel.

Boom! Rumble! …Splash!

Earthquakes struck, and debris fell everywhere.

Incoming seawater was flooding the fortress by the second.

Between the crashing waves and thunderous roars, the faint cries of prisoners and guards could be heard from the upper floors.

Aiyen stood before the faintly remaining Flubber Gate with the gulper eel.

“Let’s go!”

“…”

Vikir took a step forward.

…At that moment.

“Wait.”

A voice halted Vikir and Aiyen in their tracks.

“…?”

“…!”

Aiyen raised an eyebrow.

Vikir’s expression also tensed slightly.

Kirko Grimm stood silently in the corner of the breeding ground.

Her uniform was in tatters, revealing her wounded body beneath.

Her cherished sword, always meticulously maintained, lay broken in half.

Blood from her many wounds dyed the surrounding seawater red.

“….”

“….”

Vikir and Kirko stared at each other.

For the first time, their unmasked faces were revealed.

Kirko’s gaze was sharp.

She demanded, as if accusing him, “Are you an escapee?”

“….”

Vikir didn’t respond.

It was unclear why she hadn’t escaped yet.

But if she intended to stop them, he’d have to use force.

…However.

“If you take just any current, you’ll die without escaping. Go left and take the current number 3021.”

Kirko’s response was unexpected.

There were thousands of currents on the fifth floor capable of carrying the gulper eels.

Only one of them connected to the surface.

The rest were traps that would leave them drifting in the depths for centuries.

Vikir asked, “Why are you telling us this?”

“….”

After a moment of silence, Kirko spoke.

“I saw you kill Black Tongue.”

“…!”

Kirko removed her warden’s cap.

In a dry, clear voice, she asked, “What really happened to Garam?”

Her question was cold and sharp, piercing to the core.

Vikir replied calmly, “He died.”

“…When?”

“Two years ago, during Sakkuth’s riot. He saved you when you were unconscious.”

“…The body?”

“I buried him.”

“…”

Kirko’s eyes remained emotionless, her gaze steady on Vikir.

Her lips moved again.

“Did he leave any last words?”

In that moment, Vikir recalled Garam’s final moments.

Before he died, Garam muttered, ‘I wanted to show her… the outside world…’

That was Garam’s last wish.

Vikir spoke honestly.

“He said he wanted to show you the outside world.”

Instantly.

“…!”

For the first time, Kirko’s pupils trembled violently.

Vikir remembered Garam’s diary, long since burned.

At the end of every entry, Garam had written about wanting to leave this place with Kirko.

But Garam would never leave Nouvellebag again.

At that moment.

Click—

The sound of Kirko’s step broke Vikir’s reverie.

She turned away and started walking.

But it wasn’t towards the escape route.

Crash— Boom…

Huge boulders and waterfalls were cascading down, leading to certain death.

“You’re not coming?” Vikir asked.

Without looking back, Kirko replied, “I’m not leaving. This is where I was born and raised.”

She finished speaking and hesitated for a moment.

After a long silence, she turned her head slightly and whispered.

“…Live well.”

Her words were so soft that the roar of the raging waves beside them almost drowned them out.

With no more time to waste, Vikir reluctantly climbed into the eel’s mouth.

Soon, Aiyen cut the rope, and the gulper eel rode the current, moving swiftly out of the fortress.

The gulper eel was quickly swept away by the current.

Thus, Vikir and Aiyen left Nouvellebag, heading for the surface.

“….”

The fortress was collapsing, everything breaking and falling apart. Seawater was pouring in from all directions.

Kirko was the only one left behind.

In her mind, she recalled the face of a man.

He had claimed to be from the surface.

He had acted friendly, calling her his comrade.

But he never really seemed to fit the role of a guard.

…And somehow, he always seemed like he would return to the surface one day.

Which made her reluctant to get too close to him.

That weakling.

But what is this?

The man who always seemed like he would return to the surface never did.

Plop—

She threw the hat she had been holding, onto the soaked floor.

Finally, with her eyes misting, she lowered her gaze and spoke.

“…Foolish Garam. You were such a fool.” She let out a last smile.

That was the end.

Enormous amounts of seawater surged in, completely flooding the fortress.

Boom! Rumble…

And so, Nouvellebag was buried beneath the black waters.

Forever.