At Windia, the training center of the Sylphid Knights...

The men were sitting down with the scarlet sunset behind their backs. Kerenos was in the front row and he had already been meditating for two hours with his top off. Behind him, the other knights were also meditating with their tops off. Kerenos focused his mind while casually listening to the knights who groaned as their legs shook.

“......”

Kerenos was looking back on his fight with Belphegor. It was very helpful for his development to look back on himself and the battle. Kerenos often encouraged the other knights to meditate like this and now they were all practicing it together.

“Umm...”

“Ugh. My legs...”

“There is no blood flow...”

The knights behind him continued to groan. Kerenos spoke as if to ignore the pain of those knights, “Put up with it. This is also part of training.”

“Umm...”

“Ugh. s.h.i.+t...”

Behind him, disgruntled groans continued to emerge. Becker, the deputy captain sitting right behind Kerenos, slowly opened his mouth. “...Captain, this is a harsh act.”

“No.”

“I am now 40.”

“I'm also in my mid-30s.”

“I'm four years older than the captain.”

“So you want to quit alone?”

Becker flinched. He slowly turned his head and looked back. The other knights were sending him a stinging look. Becker realized he had been tricked by Kerenos and swallowed down the curses. “No. How can that be? Cough.”

Thus, Becker focused on meditation again like nothing happened. Kerenos laughed as he blocked the accusations. He was happy to see Becker stuck after this person tried to escape.

'I need more power.'

In the last first, Kerenos had used the Storm Spear 3rd style, Typhoon. Windia might now be restored, but it was a technique that once blew up nearly half of Windia. However, Belphegor didn't stop at all after being struck. It came as a great shock for Kerenos. He never dreamt there wouldn't even be one scratch.

'In the future, stronger enemies will appear. Was I too complacent?'

Kerenos looked back on the storm style and thought of his teacher, Mugen. Mugen was a longtime acquaintance of his mother, Flora. He was a high elf like his mother. He was particularly eccentric among the elves and it was said he used the spear alone when no one was sold on the idea of using spears. Then he learned the Storm Spear and was called the Spear G.o.d on the continent.

Kerenos was only able to see it now that he was closer to his teacher's body. From now on, he should develop his own Storm Spear, not his teacher's one. Maybe it would take a really long time. Mugen was a high elf, so he was able to focus on the spear for a long time. Kerenos was a human, so he didn't have this time. Perhaps that was why he was even more impatient.

'It would be nice if Teacher was alive at this time...'

It happened as Kerenos was recalling the face of his teacher, Mugen...

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind struck him and he felt himself being strangled.

“Keuk!”

His feet left the ground. Kerenos raised his eyes when he felt a floating sensation and realized he had risen in the sky.

“W-Who? Keuk!”

“Shut up, this guy.” 

There was the familiar painful feeling from his a.s.s being kicked. In this way, Kerenos was kidnapped by an unknown person.

Becker and the other Sylphid Knights blinked as they stared blankly at the sudden wind and Kerenos' empty seat. The first one to stand up was Becker. “Let's go for a meal. He seems to have been caught by the old man.”

The knights all nodded. No one was interested in what happened with Kerenos.

* * *

A short time later, I took Kerenos back to the tower of the wind. As expected, Kerenos was very annoyed by the sudden abduction. Punghee saw Kerenos and screamed, “Kyaaak!”

Ah, it turned out this guy had taken off his top. Still, I didn't know why Punghee was screaming when she wasn't human. Well, this wasn't important.

“I have one leather armor top left. Put it on.”

Kerenos wore the leather armor I gave him and once again complained. Punghee was covering her face with her hands, but I noticed she was peeping through her fingers.

In any case.

“No, old man. Aren't you too much? How can you suddenly kidnap someone like this?”

“Where did I do that?”

“...Hah, there is no point talking.”

Kerenos knew it was useless for him to argue with me and gave up with a sigh. I patted his drooping shoulders.

“Why are you suddenly pretending to be close to me?”

“We were originally friends.”

“No. Now I want to be less familiar with you.”

“I don't want that.”

Then I handed a thick bundle of money to Kerenos. The corners of Kerenos' mouth twitched and he coughed a few times before changing his stance. “Ahum, hum hum, what is this...? What is your purpose for bringing me here?”

A dead ghost who died because he didn't have any money must be attached to him. I explained to Kerenos why I brought him here. Kerenos nodded with understanding and folded his arms. “So you want me to teach Punghee some wind techniques?”

“Yes. She has to be able to beat them.”

I pointed to the top of the tower of wind. Kerenos' eyes became serious and he frowned slightly. In fact, Kerenos had been very concerned about that place just now.

“I didn't know there would be such a place in Windia.” Kerenos made a strange expression as he watched the Gaeram in front of him. Then he slowly nodded. “Okay. Before that, I must check what level they are on.”

The south wind general, Notos, let out a low chuckle.

“How interesting. A human will confirm the level of our Gaeram? Let him know how arrogant he is.”

Notos nodded and one of the Gaeram soldiers in the back scattered and appeared opposite Kerenos.

Kerenos shrugged. “The number is too small?”

“Hahahaha! You are a funny human being! Hey! Then I will send you some more!”

“The entertainment after a long time isn't bad.”

“Huhu. I think it will be a very fun showdown.”

The north wind, Boreas; the east wind, Eurus; and the west wind, Zephyrus; spoke in turn with interest. Then 10 Gaeram soldiers stood opposite Kerenos. It wouldn't be easy to deal with them using the wind. It was impossible to hit them unless there was a stronger wind. This was why they were the strongest and best royal guards.

“Come.”

The moment Kerenos called out in a low voice, the soldiers of Gaeram rushed like the wind from all sides. Punghee and I stepped back to watch Kerenos. There was a wind spear in Kerenos' hand. “Storm Spear 1st style. Wind Blast!”

The gust of wind from the spear spread out in a fan shape and hit the Gaeram soldiers in front. There was a loud sound as the wind struck and victory occurred in almost an instant. Naturally, the winner was Kerenos. All four Gaeram generals shut their mouths and stared at Kerenos. Just then, Zephyrus stepped forward. “What is your relations.h.i.+p with Mugen?”

* * *

At the east of the Arc Continent, the dark land, Dark Moon...

This place full of darkness all year round was called 'Dark Moon.' Black fog created by various black magic covered the sun and vampires drank blood on this cold, dark land. It wasn't just vampires. This place was near the East Continent so dokkaebi lived in groups led by the original dokkaebi king, just like Mudur was the original orc. The vampires and dokkaebi were always hostile to each other and fought for hundreds of years for the supremacy of this cold Dark Moon. Currently, they ushered in a period of truce.

At the land in the center of Dark Moon...

A dimensional portal opened out of nowhere and spat out a man wearing scorpion armor. Once nicknamed the pharaoh of desire with a true name of 'Antares', the demon king called 'Asmodeus' lay on the ground.

[Gasp. Gasp...]

Asmodeus sweated and forcibly raised himself up. He had a pretty deep wound on his arm.

'd.a.m.n Lupeon! You are like that even when dying!'

He barely succeeded in stabbing Lupeon's heart with Lucifer's claw, but Lupeon's resistance was overwhelming. Asmodeus suffered a wound that couldn't be ignored. It meant he was in a lot of pain as he crossed the dimensional door and came to Dark Moon in the human world. His arm felt a pain like he had been burned.

[Groan.]

Asmodeus gritted his teeth and endured the pain. Then he moved toward the vampire's estate to the west of Dark Moon. His footsteps were very light as he recalled the days in the Celestial Palace. Then Asmodeus recalled a human.

'Michael. He was a very interesting toy. Huhu.'

In fact, Asmodeus just felt that he was disconnected from Michael. He abandoned Michael and in the end, Michael abandoned him. Perhaps this was fate. It was a predetermined ending, but Asmodeus was disappointed he couldn't make Michael his subordinate. Still, he could always find more subordinates. The important thing now was to meet her.

'Spica, no, Lilith, I'm here!'

The Queen of Desire, demon king Lilith was the former maiden of the Celestial Palace, Spica. Spica was one of the traitorous zodiacs during Ragnarok so she was stained with demonic energy and became a demon king. A vampire who was purer than anyone and didn't suck any blood was eventually stained with demonic energy. She became a completely contradictory figure and became the queen of vampires.

However, Antares liked Spica. He liked her past innocent self, but he had the confidence to love even her corrupted self. Antares would just look at her no matter her appearance.

Antares finally entered Lilith's old castle. It was time for the other vampires to sleep, but Lilith would be awake. Antares entered the great hall that had antique paintings hung from the walls. Finally, Antares was able to meet her.

[You came, my love. You've finally achieved your long-desired wish.]

[Ahh, Lilith. What are you doing?]

[There was a toy and I was playing with it for a while. Now that you are here, I should put it away.]

Lilith's eyes glowed and the man who was called the toy started to move. The man sat somewhere and prepared to start drawing. Antares held Lilith in his arms and lay down on the bed. The man continued to talk quietly to himself as he drew the two figures. His brush moved brilliantly.  

[I... I...]

The man's name was Monet da Vinci. He was the painter constellation who was originally the owner of this place.