ArcheBlade written by Jung-Hoon Hong
ArcheBlade - The Original Novel in EnglishBy [Codebrush] Mike This guide is dedicated to an English version of the novel "ArcheBlade". This is going to be updated regularly (almost daily), so please stay tuned. PS: As English is our second language, please bear with us with unnatural expressions and grammatical errors you may find in the translation.
Prologue – The Empress of Darkness and Seven’s League.[]
Garura Fever...
Val Nar, the great empire of Garura that had colonized Tiseira from very early time, crumbled to its feet as the deadly divine disease known as “Garura Fever” spread across the region. The people of Naga, who were once under the control of Garura, succeeded the world dominance, only to be perished by the rebellion of humans and elves.
It was human’s turn to take charge of the world.
In an attempt to gain the world dominance lost to humans, elves began practicing forbidden sorceries only to unleash the Empress of Darkness, Massaerath into the world. Using her powerful magic, she destroyed the elven civilization, and united the barbarians, giants, and snowmen in the north to form “Queen’s Land”, the most powerful nation in the north as well as a constant threat to the safety of Tiseira.
Merciless and cold-blooded, the empress of darkness continued her rampage of destruction by killing elves and consuming their nations. She had only one goal in her mind, and that was to rule Tiseira. Nation after nation succumbed to her power helplessly and her unstoppable forces continued to expand.
There was no one who could stop her rampant expansion, at least in the west.
Or so it seemed…
Just as it seemed the world was about to crumble in the hands of the invading barbarians led by Massaerath, an old sorcerer rose from the ashes to take on the daunting task of uniting the seven states. A tribune from the city-state, Odessa named Shielz Hassen, who was also the dean of the sorcerers of Tower of Black Pillar, brought together the seven city-states, Odessa, Barandale, Ginia, Alonzo, Syslidgue, Daffenal, and Magassen. Under the leadership of a disciple of Shielz Hassen named Acias, the bravest and toughest warriors recruited from every corner of the seven states were able to deliver a decisive blow to the Massaerath’s barbarians.
With the ambitions of the Princess of Darkness now perished, the allies formed Seven’s League to protect themselves against the north. In honor of Shielz Hassen and Acias, Nations of distinctive cultures and traditions got together under one roof to form a great federation, and peace was restored once again. As a protector of freedom and a shield against destructive Empress of Darkness, Seven’s League became a formidable force in the race to dominate Tiseira.
Little did they know, the federation had a deep-rooted political conflict, and the ever threatening Empress of Darkness was lurking in the shadows…
The First Chapter – Princess Valle and the Children of Sorrows[]
<1>
After putting on her armor, Valle Estrada made her way to the watch tower. Her dragon-scaled battle cave, bluish-white armor, and especially her long shiny blonde hair made her look as if she was glowing, making any passerby or guard turn his head and watch her in awe. One of the seven guardians of Seven’s League, she was just doing one of her daily routines as any other day.
“Your highness, the night wind is getting chilly, why don’t we get back inside?” Her advisor, Therol asked her in a worried tone.
“Worried about a little cold?”
She was looking at him with a grin on her face as if she just heard a joke. He couldn’t help but to avoid her gaze because her sapphire-like blue eyes and milky skin were enough to make even an old man like him blush. Therol, now a grandfather and an aging-soldier couldn’t help but to feel as if he was a boy again whenever he was with her although he’d been fighting by her side since he was a kid. Any man would feel exactly the same way in front her. In addition to her milky-skin, and sapphire-like eyes, there was something about her strong will hidden inside those eyes that she drew attention from both men and women. Although she had a long scar right above her right eye, it was almost unnoticeable because of her exceptional beauty. Getting that scar meant the beginning of warrior life for her. It was also a constant reminder that she was a battle-toughened warrior, not some kind of an eye candy.
“Even an incarnation of Dragon needs a rest, don’t you think?”
“This is not a moment for rest, and you should know that.”
The news of a small country in the north recently invaded by the Empress of Darkness made her uneasy, and seeing refugees flooding into the country through Leenan River wave after wave didn’t help either. As a chief commander, a rest sounded like a luxury she couldn’t afford, especially not at a time like this when she could just smell the trouble approaching.
“How about you take a break, Therol? Aren’t you considered to be old in human age?
“Old?! Not at all! I’m still healthy and those toddlers have to wait until I die if they’re thinking about replacing me”.
“But still… Isn’t your son captain now? Am I right?”
“You can’t be serious, your highness. He has still a long way to go, and nowhere near capable of serving you. Anyone who’s thinking about replacing me has to kill me if he wants to get this job.”
Now an old official, Therol, who spent most of his life in battlefield shook his head from side to side in denial. Just thinking about the possibility of his job being handed over to another person made him dizzy, even if that person was his own son, and this over-the-top commitment to his job made Valle smile.
“By the way, it looks like we never run out of incoming refugees. It must be very tough for the guards at the checkpoint to deal with them waves after waves.”
“Speaking of devil, did you hear the news, your highness?”
Asked Therol with a big smile on his face. It was always good to have company like him by her side as guarding at the watchtower could turn into a very dull experience. His question piqued her curiosity.
“What news?”
“Solram, now a perished country as of today morning, sent an envoy demanding we send back the refugees from their country.”
“First of all, if I heard correctly, the country is now perished, and last time I checked only countries send envoys. Second of all, they’ve got some balls making a demand like that”.
If sent back now, only thing that’s waiting for the refugees is death by execution. It didn’t appear that the country of Solram hold their citizens in high regard, and it quickly crossed her mind that having any reasonable negotiation with them would be a difficult task.
“The problem is their king claims that the country signed a treaty with the Empress of Darkness, and his country still remains. There’s a rumor going around that the king is just a puppet controlled by the Empress of Darkness and her dogs. Their envoy says their demand is legitimate.”
“Are you implying that they’re using dark magic to control him?”
“Not exactly, it was a known fact that he wasn’t much of a king. He’s kind of a scumbag who’s willing to sacrifice his own country without a second thought if that means saving his own behind.”
“You gotta give him a credit though. Withstanding an invasion from the Empress of Darkness over a month is not easy by any standard, and there are only a few countries that are capable of doing that.”
Princess Valle tilted her head in curiosity. Although it was far from a full scale assault, and Queen’s Land and Solram are miles apart separated by the most rugged mountains in the north, Nathgarl mountains, it didn’t sound quite natural that a country as small as Solram could hold their own against the mighty army of the Empress of Darkness for as long as one month.
“The source tells us that the general who was leading Solram’s army was quite an exceptional one, a military prodigy, some say…”
“A military prodigy?”
Asked the princess raising her eyebrows. Being a soldier herself, the word, military prodigy easily got her attention.
“Yes, your highness. He’s said to have held back the assaults from the enemies single-handedly for seven days. Whether that’s true or not, we would never know. But one thing’s certain. All refugees seem to think very highly of him.”
Continued Therol in an excited tone. The fact that Valle was showing interest in his story meant a lot to him.
“Sounds like a fine general. We could use someone like that if he’s still alive that is.”
“Too late. Fine people like him die early these days.”
“Hm…indeed. That explains why there are so many people fleeing that country.”
As soon as she turned her gaze to Leenan River, something caught her eyes.
“I’ll be damned.”
She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. However, what she saw was still there.
“What is it, your highness?”
“It’s a Wyvern.”
“A Wyvern??.”
“Not just a Wyvern, a black Wyvern.”
She grabbed her battle hammer, and shield lying next to her. One of the Empress of Darkness’ most trusted generals known as “Lords of Despair”, was approaching from the north of Solram.
<2>
With an exploding sound rose a tower of blaze. It set a fire on one of the boats and everyone on it felt unable to withstand the impact.
“Screeeeaaaam!”
“OH NO! IT’S LORD OF DESPAIR!!”
Knowing very well what he’s capable of with his evil power, people were terrified. There was nothing more terrifying than watching him on his Wyvern looking right down at you from above.
“You listen to me and listen to me good, you parasites.”
The lord of despair spoke looking down at the boat from his wyvern. His ghost-like eerie voice echoed in everyone’s ears. His could be heard very clearly even while the boat was burning down and its masts were falling.
“I believe a disciple of Remanasark, and his daughter are hiding among you. If you hand them over to me, I will let you live. If not, you will all face death, and trust it will be a painful one”
No sooner he spat out his last word that he raised his hand. A ball of fire was forming above his palm. The ball struck the already wrecked boat.
Bang!
The explosion split the boat in half, and all the refugees on it were thrown into the cold river. The lord of despair snorted, amused by the sight. He drove his wyvern to move on to the next boat. The crews on the boat fought back firing arrows and guns, which were useless against the durable armor that was covering the wyvern’s body. It flapped its wings towards the boat.
“YOU FOOLS.”
It created a couple of whirlwind, which struck the boat on the both sides. Designed to stand light wind, and built to be used on rivers, the boat instantly became unrecognizable. Few wizards onboard fought back with their wizardry, which was blocked easily by the lord of despair who was blessed by the empress of darkness with powerful force.
The First Chapter – Princess Valle and the Children of Sorrows[]
The First Chapter – Princess Valle and the Children of SorrowsContinued from ArcheBlade - The Original Novel in English
“Screeeaaam!”
“Heeeeelp!”
“Find the daughter and disciple of Remanasark!!!”
Panicking, people started to subdue to the lord, apparently forgetting that he’s the one who killed their own people and eventually destroyed their country. Remanasark was one of the warriors who stood against the Empress of Darkness and it was all thanks to him that at least this many people were able to make it out of the country alive. The Lord of Despair is practically asking these people to pay their savior back, not with gratitude, but with brutality.
It would be hard to imagine taking such an inhumane action, but rationality is out of option when you have to survive. The Lord of Despair’s wyvern was hovering in the air firing magic fire balls at their boats, and people were dying every second. There were willing to do ANYTHING to escape from this nightmare at this point, even if that meant giving away Remanasark himself.
However, it looked almost like his plan was to wipe them out even from the beginning as he continued his assault without even waiting for their answer. One kilometer from here, the boats would reach the land claimed by Seven’s League, so he had to finish them right here right now. It wasn’t his intention to wait for their answer and let them live anyway. All was just an excuse to kill them all.
But he underestimated the people’s will to survive.
“Here is the child of Remanasark!!”,
shouted a group of refugees on one of the boats in chorus.
“Jesus!”
Princess Valle bit her lip watching the refugees getting massacred by the Lord of Despair. She was about to grab her hammer and shield and rush towards the scene, but stopped by Therol.
“Your highness! That’s outside of our border, that land still belongs to Solram!”
“Not anymore, the country doesn’t exist now”
“Legally the land still belongs to them. If you intervene, you’re interfering in their domestic affair. Their king has the written order.”
“Bloody hell!”
She was not unwise by any standard. She had very clear idea of what situation she was in, and what she was getting herself into. Unless the refugees stepped their foot on her soil, she had no right to intervene. Although the Lord of Despair was one of the generals of Queen’s Land, he got an order from the king of Solram himself, and as an outsider, making a wrong move might even trigger a war. All she could do was watch.
But the Lords of Despair were powerful generals of Queen’s Land, and the refugees didn’t have a slight chance of surviving. Their death was inevitable. They were thrown into the water like useless dummies every time the wyvern descended upon them firing magic fire balls. Although they were in group, not a single person had chance against the mighty lord of despair.
“Open the gate!”, ordered the princess.
It could just well be bait set up by the enemy, but she couldn’t just watch innocent people dying. However she was still aware that saving them herself could raise some serious problems, so all she could was open the river gate so that they would have slightly higher chance of making it to her land. As a soldier who had to standby the rules, that was all she could do.
“I can’t take this anymore! Therol! Follow me!!”
Princess Valle started to cast a spell on the top of the watchtower. Lights covered her body, and next second, she turned into a huge blue dragon. It stretched its body and roared into the sky. It kicked its hind legs to lunge itself into the air, and flew towards the river. This whole scene made the Lord of Despair flinch for a second. Everybody knew very well that they were looking at the true form of Princess Valle, one of the high generals of Seven’s League.
She was probably the most famous figure here in the Northern part of the land. However, the lord of despair resumed killing the refugees even after seeing her coming. If she intervened now, that would create a huge problem for him, so it would be wise for him to stop his assault.
What he also didn’t know was, Princess Valle was not the type who would turn a blind eye on innocent people getting hurt.
<3>
Remanasark, a great commander mastered in the military art of Chun Wee Ryu (The art of heaven), was the one who took the army of the Empress of Darkness all by himself to protect Solram.
Looking very haggard, his disciple and daughter were standing on the deck of one of the boats. The refugees surrounded the children and threatened them with their torches and clubs. What they should’ve done was to protect these children with all they’d got to repay their savior, but with the lord of despair raining fireballs at them, they couldn’t afford to think straight.
If it wasn’t for a giant sword that the blonde boy was holding, the mobs would’ve caught them and handed them over to the lord in an instant.
“Easy, easy. Any volunteer to die first? You old man right there! Don’t cut in line! Please take a number and wait your turn!”
Although the boy looked fatigued having been on the run for god knows how long, he was acting very boldly pointing his finger at the mob arrogantly. Shocked by his confidence, not a single person of the mob seemed to be willing to lunge attack.
“Let’s attack him all together!”
“Ye…Yeah! Let’s do that!”
Although they all agreed to attack together, they were busy looking at each other. Holding the giant sword downwards with his both hands, the boy was not willing to give them any opening. His eyes were gazed at the mob, but sometimes looked up to stare at the lord of despair who was hovering in the sky.
“Agh…”
Being almost dragged by the boy, the girl with red hair lost her balance and collapsed on the floor. Seeing that as an opening, one of the mob lunged himself towards the boy.
“Pow!”
The boy took one quick step forward striking the man with his palm. Although the boy was big for his age which gave them a hint of his strength, no one had expected what just happened, and struck fear in them. All he did was striking him with his palm but the man was knocked back all the way to the other side of the boat, hit the handrail, and felt into the river.
“Bloody Hell!! What did just happen?!!!”
“Bring a spear or pole!”
The people started panicking after witnessing the brutal power. Watching the whole scene from the above, the lord of despair snorted.
“Haw! I guess a mob of rats is still no match against a single tiger cub.”
The lord of despair casted a spell throwing a powerful blaze at the boat. However, what happened next surprised everyone. The boy who was fighting with the mob a moment ago suddenly raised his hands to cast an anti-spell against the blaze, destroying it in an instant.
“What!!!??”
The boy must have analyzed his spell as he’d been casting it for a while, but it definitely caught the lord off guard. One has only a split second to cancel a spell like that, but the boy did that at perfect timing, which meant that the boy was reading his move. His reputation of making even a baby stop crying in absolute fear was put to the test. He just disgraced himself in the public.
“If you want to catch me, why don’t you come down here and try!”
Where did he get all this energy?? The boy taunted the lord shouting with a big voice that could be heard miles away.
“If death is what you want, that’s exactly what you’ll get, boy!”
The lord of despair grabbed his battle wand stuck in the saddle, and jumped off the wyvern. Although his whole body was covered with metal armor, he softly landed on the handrail of the boat like a feather.
His body was covered in....His body was covered in dark energy and it was very visible although it was night. The refugees didn’t dare to fight him stepping back away from him.
The boy held his sword and pointed at the lord of darkness with the tip of the sword. Even though he was a disciple of Ramanasark, and was able to cancel his magic attack successfully, he was no match against the lord. However, his will to protect the girl who was down on the floor helplessly, was second to none.
“You remind me of every bit of your master. Annoying as hell.”
The lord of despair kicked the handrail quickly charging at the boy and took a swing at the boy with his battle wand. The boy also swung his sword, and two weapons were about to clash.
Thud!
To everyone’s surprise, the sword struck the lord of despair’s shin guard. However, he didn’t have enough energy to deliver big impact scratching only the surface of the armor. On the other hand, the wand got a piece of the boy’s face.
Bang!
Blood spurted in all directions, leaving the strong smell of blood everywhere. The smell reminded people of that of pine tree, but a lot more elegant and classier. The boy was staggering but didn’t fall down. He speared the sword on the ground and leaned on it, getting back his balance. The fact that a boy who was about to die of fatigueness challenged him left him dumbfounded.
“You are…Gandharvan, aren’t you?...”
That surprised the lord of despair a little bit. One of the races of the eight ancients, Gandhavans are celestial people who are known to ride nimbus playing instruments and consume dews. It wasn’t very hard to find one of them in Tiseira, but almost all of them were in the form of angel, and it was extremely rare to find one in human form. However, the strong smell of this boy’s blood was an evidence that Gandhavan blood was running in his vein. At least his father’s side must have a Gandhavan in the family tree.
The lord of despair fixed his battle wand. He started to cast a spell with his wand and electricity started to form. Now all bloodied up from the last attack, the boy probably won’t survive from this one.
The boy too began to cast a spell standing in front of the girl to protect her. Apparently his plan was to block the attack with his body, which didn’t seem would work. The spell the lord was about to cast was at different level than the ones he’d before. The fact that he had three-layers of magic shield on while casting gave a hint that the spell he was about to cast would be powerful enough to burn down the boy and the girl into ashes.
“Hold it right there!”
A strong voice echoed from the sky. To everyone’s surprise, a huge blue dragon was hovering in the sky.
One of the protectors of Seven’s League, Princess Valle was here.
The protectors of Seven's League were the rivals of the lords of despair. She couldn’t take just watching innocent people suffer, which was exactly what the lord of despair wanted having the written approval from the king of Solram.
“Stupid dragon woman, thank you for falling into my trap.”
He finally released the electricity and it struck the boy and the girl in violent way. The impact was felt through the whole boat. The heat of the electricity dried all the wetness in the wooden parts of the boat creating an explosion of stream, ripping them into pieces. The amazing power of the electricity spread in all directions, giving a reminiscence of a firework. Some refugees died right there at the spot from the electricity, and some felt into the river and got a severe burn because of the incredible heat of the steam. An explosion followed which dismantled the whole boat after lifting it into the air.
“You son of a!”
The blue dragon hovering in the sky flashed its body and transformed itself into a woman. Since it was difficult to hover in one spot in her dragon form, she chose to fight as her human form. She felt from the sky, and landed on the surface of the river. It was nature’s law for one to sink into the water but her magic allowed her to stand on the water as if she was standing on a rock. The lord of despair welcomed her.
“You thought I would stop because you told me to?”
The lord of despair taunted her. Maybe it was because he finally killed the daughter and disciple of Remanasark who had humiliated him, his voice sounded a lot less dreary and lonesome than before. It wasn’t difficult to see that he was being happy in his own way after killing numerous refuges, and the boy and the girl, who didn’t even have enough energy to stay up.
“YOU DIRTY PIECE OF SH.T!”
Princess Valle lunged with her battle hammer grabbed tightly in her hands. The hammer was coming for the lord of despair at a speed of a bullet. However, the lord of despair stayed out of harm’s way by spinning around away from her with his wands in his hands. He knew very well that it was suicide to get into a brawl with an incarnation of dragon when he/she’s using Dragon’s Valor, a sorcery often used by the dragon tribe.
“Look everyone, it’s Valle Estrada!!! She stepped her foot in Solram without any king's approval! Do soldiers’ of Seven’s League have any respect for other countries?”
“What did you say? You really want to bring that up when it’s you who’s massacring all these people?!!!”
Him questioning the morality of the soldiers of Seven’s League left her speechless.
“I have the letter from the king of Solram himself giving me an order to punish the traitors!! What right do you have to interfere like this? Solram is an ally of Queen’s Land, and invading Solram like this is clearly a violation of the treaty!”
The lord of despair continued to taunt her. Not known to have big patience, Princess Valle was just a second away from exploding. However, all her facial muscles relaxed all of a sudden.
To her surprise, the boy and the girl were still alive. Holding the girl with one arm, and hanging onto one of the pieces of the boat with the other, the boy was a mass. How could he survive such a powerful magic attack?!!! It showed how skillful this boy was in magic.
Valle let out a sigh of relief.
“Excuse me sir, what is your name by the way? The names of the lords of despair are all very forgettable, you know.
“………”
“Should I call you, the lame lord number two?”
Her sarcastic remark definitely made the lord angry.
“Elrath! I’m the great Elrath Nazaruth!!! We met several times before, you stupid!”
“It’s Soooo difficult to tell who’s who with all the armors and the black aura on, you know. Do you get those armors from your army? Why do you guys all wear same armors?”
Valle was now totally into taunting her, and must have forgotten that the whole purpose of her sarcastic remarks were to make the lord angry so that she would get careless, making the lord Elrath more and more angry.
“By the way, you are a woman??”
That made Elrath explode in anger. She raised her battle wand in rage.
“YOU STUPID LIZARRD!! Seven’s League will burn in hell once again, and it’s all because of your ♥♥♥♥♥y mouth! You just broke the ceasefire!!”
To be continued...
"I won't let you!!"Princess Valle shook her head.
“As of today, I’m no longer a general of Seven’s League! Are you happy now?!!”
“Come again?”
Her sudden declaration caught Elrath off guard. This was beyond her expectation. One of the Lords of Despair blessed by the Empress of Darkness, it didn’t cross her mind that the warriors of Seven’s League could strip off their position as a last resort if necessary. If Princess Valle did this, she could fight Elrath without breaking the ceasefire.
“Pshaw!”
To make things worse for Elrath, the pieces of the destroyed boat had already reached the bridge of Daffenal, one of the nations that belong to Seven’s League. If Elrath steps her foot on the land of Daffenal, that means she’s the one who made an attempt of invasion. Elrath started to growl and leaped to the sky. The dragon that was hovering in the sky flew towards her and caught her in the saddle.
Just as Valle grabbed her battle hammer to stop her from getting away, Therol and the border guards rushed towards.
“No, your highness!”
As old as he is, Therol rushed towards her shouting at her from his lung. Valle bit her lips and put down her hammer. She walked on the river towards the boy and the girl who were holding onto one of the pieces of the boat.
Are they really the disciple and the daughter of the war prodigy who led the Solram army and put the Empress of Darkness to shame? She reached out her hand to grab them and pulled them up. The boy and the girl seemed to have lost their consciousness.
“You, you are…?”
Getting back his consciousness, the boy asked her. Valle put her hand on the boy’s cheek.
“Don’t worry about who I am for now. All of you! Save the survivors! Come on! Move!”
She grabbed them in her arm and leaped towards the bridge using the surface of the water as a platform.
To be continued...