Chapter 474: I Will Kill Him

"Come! Follow me to activate the backup route!" Viola waved to the Stone Descendants, hurried down the altar, and rushed out of the cave.

The Stone Descendants, still stunned from before, seemed to awaken as if a primal instinct had kicked in. They all started moving, following her toward the coast.

In just a dozen or so seconds, the cave that had been packed with people was suddenly empty.

"What's happening?"

The sailors remained where they stood, looking at each other in confusion.

Captain Jack watched the direction the Stone Descendants were flooding toward and spat on the ground: "Damn it, that bastard caught up to us."

He pulled his cap brim lower, turned, and shouted to the sailors behind him who were still frozen: "Lads, stop gawking! Grab your weapons and follow me!"

Only then did the sailors snap out of it. "Aye, Captain Jack!"

Even though they had no idea what was going on, they responded and grabbed whatever weapons were at hand, charging after Jack toward the coast.

Nilly's figure appeared beside Yano in an instant. "What do we do now? That bastard's catching up."

"And what perfect timing too, I haven't even passed the trial yet!"

Yano kept his eyes closed and said calmly, "You stay here and search for the Stone-Heart. I'll go help."

Nilly was taken aback, but quickly understood his meaning.

Hopkins's spells could control Stone Descendants. If she charged to the front lines right now, she wouldn't just be useless—she might actually get controlled by that man.

Staying on the island to comprehend the Stone-Heart, if she could pass the Legendary Trial, there might still be a turning point.

"...Fine." She gritted her teeth. "Then you be careful."

"Yeah."

Yano drew his knight's sword and released his grip.

The blade seemed to gain a will of its own, floating in the air. He stepped onto the sword, and like a streak of gray light, shot out of the cave in an instant, hurtling toward the coast.

The wind whistled past his ears.

Although he could fly on his own, and a gargoyle's wings were more agile than most methods of flight, when it came to pure speed, sword flight was still superior.

And in his focused state, he could master the Flying Sword with ease, wielding it as if he had trained with it for decades.

When he arrived at the coast, Viola and the others had only just reached the area.

She was startled to see him—clearly not expecting Yano to arrive before them—but there was no time to ask how he had done it.

She shouted orders, directing the Stone Descendants to spread out and take positions beside several ordinary-looking rocks along the shore. They pressed their palms onto the stones.

In an instant, the entire island trembled.

A dull tremor rumbled through the ground beneath their feet, and then the whole island slowly detached from its original position.

The silver-thread sent the island gliding through the void like a massive hunting shark, cutting through the gray mist as it began accelerating deeper into the Sea Vortex.

The Stone Descendants stood along the shore, nervously watching the void recede behind the island.

Everyone was praying, praying that no figure would appear in the wake of the silver-thread.

Captain Jack squinted into the void and spoke after a moment: "That bastard seems to be getting farther away from us."

Viola turned to look at him, about to ask how he knew, when the island's void-travel came to an abrupt halt.

Everyone stumbled from the sudden stop, and before anyone could recover, an angry Stone Descendant mage shouted: "Damn it, those traitors told them all the backup routes too! The silver-thread has been tampered with in advance!"

Viola's face turned grim. She hurried over to the mage: "How long will it take to fix?"

"At least an hour."

"We can't wait that long." Yano's voice came from the side. "I can only buy you ten minutes at most."

As he spoke, he drew his knight's sword again, then turned to Jack with a glance. "You're coming with me."

"We have to get far away from here, otherwise he'll control the Stone Descendants here."

Jack stepped out from among the sailors and shrugged. "Fine. In a crisis like this, us mature men are the reliable ones after all. Just hope that bastard doesn't feed me to the octopus as a snack."

He walked over to Yano, pulled a gem-encrusted dagger from his belt, and twirled it deftly between his fingers, clearly ready for a fight.

Under the watchful eyes of the Stone Descendants, Yano and Jack's figures rose into the air out of nowhere, shooting back in the direction they had come from.

An experienced first mate snapped out of his daze and shouted at the still-frozen Stone Descendant mages: "What are you staring at?! Fix it now! You only have ten minutes, maybe not even that!"

Viola snapped back to her senses, forced herself to calm down, and directed her people to speed up the repair of the silver-thread.

But her gaze kept sweeping back toward the rear, where Yano and Jack had stopped in the distance, hovering in the void.

The reason they stopped was simple—a massive octopus had appeared before them.

The creature was horrifyingly enormous, its tentacles stretching dozens of meters when fully extended, covered in dense rows of suckers, looming in the darkness like a writhing black mountain.

Its tentacles came crashing down without warning. Yano and Jack dodged in opposite directions as the tentacles slammed into the ethereal river flowing through the void, sending ripples of churned water through the air.

Once they were out of the octopus's attack range and looked up, Hopkins's figure slowly materialized atop the octopus's head.

He stood there, leaning on his staff, watching the two with keen interest.

"Captain Jack, it's been quite some time. It seems you've been getting along well with these slaves."

"Thank you for thinking so highly of me." Jack flashed a grin and tightened his grip on the gem dagger.

His figure flickered, turning into an afterimage as he lunged at Hopkins.

While Yano occupied the octopus's tentacles, Jack slipped through them like a slippery fish, driving the dagger straight for Hopkins's throat.

Hopkins merely gave him a glance, and his staff lit up.

[Spell: Bewitching Gaze]

Hopkins's eyes suddenly became gigantic in Jack's vision. The world around him began to spin, his stomach churned violently, and before he knew it, he was doubled over, vomiting on the spot.

"Damn it... I hate you spellcasters..."

Trembling all over, he cursed between heaves, frantically focusing his Divine Sense to break Hopkins's spell.

On the other side, Yano had already transformed into his Sword-Wielding Gargoyle form, cleaving through the incoming tentacles and charging straight at Hopkins.

Hopkins raised an eyebrow.

[Spell: Law of Agony]

The staff flashed with a dark red glow, enveloping Yano's body.

This spell could inflict excruciating pain in an instant, enough to send even the most iron-willed warrior into full-body convulsions and collapse on the spot.

Yet Yano's movements didn't falter in the slightest. The blade of light tore through the air, slashing straight at Hopkins's face.

Hopkins was briefly taken aback, then returned to his calm demeanor.

[Spell: Dominate Human]

He swept his gaze across the area, and a dozen Medusas suddenly had bloodshot eyes. They swarmed forward in a frenzy, entangling Yano and using their bodies to block his blade.

Only then did he have a moment to speak: "Land-dwelling Stone Descendant, you are an exception besides Hailam."

"I'm willing to accept you as my personal knight retainer. All you need to do is lower your head and swear loyalty to me."

Yano ignored him entirely. His massive form leaped through the swarm of Medusas, sometimes sweeping aside the oncoming serpentine bodies with the flat of his blade, sometimes smashing through obstructing snake tails with his knees—like a wild beast performing an elegant dance through the void.

Jack wiped the grime from his mouth, unwilling to be left on the sidelines. He hurled the gem dagger, and it flew through the air like a silver meteor, streaking toward Hopkins.

Buzz!

The ring on Hopkins's finger flared with light, and a deflecting force field enveloped him.

The dagger was deflected, its trajectory changed—now shooting straight at Yano.

Yano swept his sword back and batted the dagger away.

The dagger spun in the air, then under the pull of its controller's Divine Sense, circled around to strike at the back of Hopkins's neck.

Hopkins watched the dagger come and go with strange fascination in his eyes, as if admiring an interesting piece of art.

He raised his staff toward Jack once more.

[Spell: Crown of Madness]

Even with his Divine Sense shielding him, Jack's eyes still fell into chaos the moment he faced the spell head-on.

In his vision, the figure of Yano fighting beside him began to change, transforming into a ravenous deep-sea monster. Enormous tentacles writhed toward him, and a gaping maw lined with serrated teeth threatened to devour his arm.

Every hair on Jack's body stood on end. He instinctively swung his blade at the thing.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Yano swept his sword back and deflected Jack's dagger with the flat of the blade.

But Jack wasn't lucid yet—he kept attacking Yano.

The situation devolved into an even worse chaos.

"Hurry! Six minutes have already passed!"

Back on the island, Viola couldn't help but urge.

The Stone Descendant mage was sweating profusely: "No good... too little time..."

She knew full well the time wasn't enough.

But she also knew that Yano and Jack couldn't hold out much longer. They had to reconnect the silver-thread as quickly as possible.

And sure enough, just one minute later, Yano and Jack's figures were struck by the octopus's tentacles, sent plummeting back to the shore, crashing down hard.

Yano dropped to one knee, cracks spreading across the surface of his gargoyle body. Jack, meanwhile, lay sprawled on his back in the sand, his dagger long since flung to who knows where.

Before anyone could rush over to help them up, a cold, indifferent voice came from above.

"Long time no see, my slaves."

Hopkins appeared at the shore, riding atop the octopus. He looked down at the gathered crowd, speaking lazily: "It seems you've been living well these past few hundred years."

It's over. He caught up after all.

Despair slowly crept across the faces of the Stone Descendants.

One Stone Descendant mage, unwilling to accept it, tried to raise his hand and cast a spell. But Hopkins merely glanced at him, and the mage immediately clutched his head, collapsing to his knees in agony.

At that moment, the frenzied Stone Descendants who had been lurking in the shadows came running out.

They stumbled and crawled to Hopkins's feet, dropping to their knees with loud thuds, frantically knocking their foreheads against the ground.

"Master, Master..."

Hopkins smiled approvingly. "How obedient."

He raised his head, and the ring on his finger hummed, releasing an invisible wave.

Every Stone Descendant present changed expression at once, clutching their heads and collapsing to their knees.

The wave seeped into their minds like freezing tidewater, churning deep within their souls, as if countless voices were whispering, coaxing them to give up and submit.

Hopkins spread his arms wide and laughed: "My servants, return to my embrace."

Viola struggled against the pressure, bracing herself against the ground as she slowly pushed herself up. Sword in hand, she ground her teeth and declared: "No, we... will never submit!"

She had already prepared herself for one final resistance, when a deep rumbling tremor suddenly came from deep within the island.

Hopkins paused, lowering his hand as he turned to look toward the forest.

Everyone else raised their heads as well, gazing in the direction of the sound.

The rumbling grew louder and louder, as if something colossal was stepping out of the dark depths of the forest, each footfall making even the scattered pebbles on the ground bounce.

Under the weight of everyone's gaze, a towering figure emerged from the shadowed woods.

It was a Stone Giant, its face so familiar that every single person present felt their hearts seize.

"It's the ancestor!"

An elderly Stone Descendant cried out in shock.

"Ancestor Hailam!"

"The ancestor... he... he's finally awakened?!"

Along the shore, the Stone Descendants erupted in cheers. In that moment, despair and fear were torn apart like clouds split by sunlight.

Some wept tears of joy. Others fell to their knees, performing ancient clan rites before this colossal figure.

Viola snapped out of her daze, but it seemed she had figured something out. Unlike the other Stone Descendants who cheered and celebrated, her expression turned sorrowful instead.

Hailam stopped, revealing the small figure perched on his shoulder—it was Nilly.

Looking down at Hopkins, she set her hands on her hips and gloated: "Don't get cocky! Look who's here!"

And with that, she immediately slipped into the shadows, afraid that even one more second in the open would let Hopkins lock onto her and control her mind.

Hopkins was briefly caught off guard, but he wasn't fooled by Nilly's arrogant attitude. He simply said flatly: "Hailam, soul damage isn't easy to recover from. It seems you've already made up your mind."

What does that mean?

The crowd exchanged bewildered looks, unable to comprehend his words.

Under everyone's watchful gaze, the colossal figure slowly spoke.

"Children, leave this place."

"I will buy you your final freedom."

The Stone Descendants froze.

"What...?"

"The ancestor is... going to sacrifice himself?"

The celebratory atmosphere died in an instant. The Stone Descendants stared at him in stunned silence, grief beginning to spread through the crowd.

They had waited hundreds of years to see their awakened ancestor, this legendary figure—and on the very day they finally met him, they would have to watch him march toward his own destruction for their sake.

"No!" One Stone Descendant angrily raised his harpoon, voice hoarse: "We are the descendants of heroes! How can we retreat now?! We're not afraid of him!"

"That's right, we're not afraid!"

More Stone Descendants raised their weapons. In that moment, the entire shore seemed to ignite with fury and courage.

They summoned their bravery, pointing their weapons at the figure riding atop the octopus.

Viola raised her sword as well, screaming at the top of her lungs: "We will never retreat!"

"Commendable courage."

Hopkins nodded appreciatively, his tone carrying a hint of genuine sincerity.

He slowly raised his staff, a pale gray light gathering at its tip.

Just as everyone braced themselves for what was to come, an unexpected figure slowly walked to the front of them all.

It was Yano.

Clutching his injured arm, he stood before all the Stone Descendants, raised his head to face the figure perched high atop the octopus, and spoke calmly.

"No one has to die today."

"Because I will kill him."