“You only need to hold him off for a little while,” Illaoi whispered.
Levi immediately understood what she meant and stepped out from the crowd.
“Levi, be careful!” Miss Fortune called from behind him.
Levi nodded, then raised his voice.
“Hecarim, if you’re coming, then come. Spare me the talk.”
“Hahahaha! Mortal, your arrogance will cost you dearly.”
Hecarim let out a savage laugh and stepped forward, pointing his halberd directly at Levi.
Levi’s relatively slender figure looked impossibly small before the Shadow of War.
Hecarim charged without mercy and rapidly closed the distance.
Levi tried the same trick again, firing a strand of spider silk from his palm.
Hecarim twisted aside and dodged it.
“Is that your only little trick?” he sneered.
“Then prepare to die.”
Levi smiled coldly.
“Sorry, I’ve got a few more.”
The moment the words left his mouth, red light rapidly wrapped around Hecarim.
His previously unstoppable charge immediately weakened.
A flicker of shock appeared in Hecarim’s eyes.
His power had actually been diminished within the Black Mist.
Immediately afterward, a ring of Dark Procession erupted from beneath Hecarim’s feet, trapping him inside.
At that exact moment, Cocoon came off cooldown.
Hecarim had nowhere to dodge.
Spider silk wrapped around him once again.
At the same time, Bullet Time rained down from above.
A dense storm of bullets hammered into Hecarim’s body, blasting countless gouges into the ground around him.
Caught completely off guard by several abilities in rapid succession, Hecarim accumulated more and more wounds.
He roared furiously.
Then Piercing Light shot straight into his throat, punching through his neck and leaving behind the stench of scorched flesh.
On the surface, Levi seemed to have gained the upper hand.
But he knew better.
Empowered by the Black Mist, these undead creatures would not be destroyed so easily.
Sure enough, when the smoke and dust cleared, Hecarim’s body was covered in horrific wounds, but the Black Mist immediately enveloped him.
His injuries rapidly healed.
Blue flames erupted from Hecarim’s empty eye sockets.
He roared, swearing to kill the mortal who had made him experience pain.
“Behold the power of the Shadow Isles!”
Hecarim charged forward.
Four spectral figures resembling him appeared alongside him.
It was his ultimate ability, Onslaught of Shadows.
“Enough! Get out of my city!”
Illaoi roared.
Brilliant light erupted behind her.
Miss Fortune saw the twisted statue behind Illaoi blazing with dazzling radiance.
White light poured from its surface.
Every shadow it touched was driven away.
The radiance surged forward, annihilating every shadow in its path.
The Black Mist was stripped away, exposing the evil spirits concealed within it, and the white light purified the hateful magic that had cursed them for countless years.
Under the impact of the light, the spectral riders beside Hecarim vanished instantly.
The radiance pierced straight through Hecarim’s own body.
He let out an unwilling roar, but it accomplished nothing.
Fear filled him completely.
With a furious shriek, he fled at tremendous speed alongside his knights and the retreating Black Mist.
The light of Nagakabouros swept across Bilgewater like the dawn, purifying the entire city.
Before it, the Black Mist could either be cleansed or flee.
The first rays of sunrise once again fell upon the city.
The Black Mist retreated again and again until, at last, it could do nothing but withdraw to the islands it had originally claimed.
Levi let out a long breath.
Exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed him, and he nearly collapsed.
Miss Fortune hurried forward and caught him.
“It’s finally over,” Sarah said.
“No. There will be another time,” Illaoi replied.
Her voice was filled with exhaustion.
“The hunger of the Black Mist is endless.”
“What did you do?” Levi asked curiously.
“Only what I was supposed to do.”
The moment Illaoi finished speaking, the woman who looked stronger than a hundred men collapsed.
Levi and Sarah had to work together just to catch her and gently lower her to the floor.
“Is she dead?” Rafen asked quietly as he leaned closer to take a look.
Illaoi’s palm flew out.
The swollen, burning mark that immediately appeared on Rafen’s face gave him his answer.
She wasn’t.
Sitting on the bridge, Lucian watched the city gradually emerge as the Black Mist receded.
Morning sunlight washed across the rooftops, making them shimmer in countless colors.
He felt the beauty of light and life.
After the horrors of the Harrowing, the city had been reborn once again.
Many people were already rushing toward the docks, repairing ships and rebuilding houses.
Even after a terrifying Harrowing, business still had to continue.
“It’s pretty beautiful here, isn’t it?”
Levi sat down beside Lucian and watched the busy crowds.
The rebuilding had already begun.
People still had lives to live.
“Maybe.”
Lucian looked into the distance.
Levi knew what lay in that direction.
The source of the Black Mist.
And somewhere there, someone was still waiting for Lucian to save her.
“I’ll be leaving soon,” Lucian said quietly.
“I’m going back there.”
“Maybe you could stay and help me instead.”
Miss Fortune walked over, sat beside Levi, and idly played with one of her pistols.
“No.”
Lucian rejected her immediately.
“I’ll pay you very well. You could punish plenty of villains and save even more people,” Sarah continued, still trying to persuade him.
“There’s only one person he wants to save,” Levi said, looking toward Lucian.
“Am I right?”
Lucian chose to remain silent.
“What about you?”
Sarah seemed to understand and stopped pressing Lucian.
Instead, she turned her bright, intent gaze toward Levi.
Levi turned his head away and rubbed his nose.
“I’ll probably stay here for a while. Think you can give me somewhere to stay?”
“Of course.” Sarah nodded with a smile.
“You can stay as long as you want.”
Out at sea, an old man aboard a fishing boat spotted something floating on the water and quickly steered closer.
It was the rotting carcass of a Krakenwyrm.
Huge wounds covered its body, and it had been hacked so badly that it was almost unrecognizable.
A burly man lay sprawled across the corpse, completely motionless.
“Quick! Pull him aboard!”
Several crewmen brought out ropes and other tools.
It took every ounce of strength they had before they finally managed to drag the huge man onto the boat.
“My God, he’s heavy!” one sailor gasped, shaking out his aching arms.
“I swear he weighs more than the cow my mother raised back home.”
The old man’s eyes immediately lit up when he noticed the burly man’s armor and the two axes still gripped tightly in his hands.
He was just about to make his move when the man suddenly spat out two mouthfuls of bitter, salty seawater and sat upright.
“Why am I still alive?”
The burly man sounded genuinely disappointed.
“Don’t worry. You won’t be for long.”
The old man pulled a dagger from behind his back.
Apparently, he intended to send the sea god another offering on the morning after the Harrowing.
Judging from his practiced movements, this was clearly not his first time doing it.
“If I were you, I’d put that knife away,” the burly man said.
He picked up one of his enormous axes and glared viciously at everyone around him.
“Otherwise, I’ll hack you apart just like that Krakenwyrm.”