Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: Trees and Iron
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After slaughtering every last member of the Radiance, Juda immediately recovered all his depleting mana through <Valentine>.
As he confirmed the rising volume of mana, Juda closed his eyes and repeatedly drew in light breaths, then exhaled them.
Strangely enough, after once fiercely circulating and expending the mana within his body, the mana now filling him felt denser, more profound.
When he channeled mana through his body to enhance his physical abilities, it seemed to flow more smoothly than before.
A faint smile tugged at his lips from the unwarranted sense of pride.
But the thought that he was smiling in a place thick with the stench of blood made his expression harden for a moment.
After scanning his surroundings once, Juda kicked off the ground and dashed away.
The surrounding scenery blurred past in an instant.
The smell of blood faded quickly, replaced by fresh air that filled his lungs deeply.
As he raced along at full speed while checking the , he saw red dots and blue dots intermingled.
He had thought he'd ended the battle with the Radiance remarkably quickly, but apparently not.
In one corner of his vision, the already showed red dots and blue dots mixed together.
He was moving as fast as he could, so he should arrive in a matter of minutes, but he couldn't count on the elves holding out at full strength.
Above all, the Radiance fighters were far more skilled than expected, so it was obvious they'd be overwhelmed and captured soon.
Just as that anxiety gripped him, one red dot and two blue dots simultaneously left the combat zone on the .
The red dot was surely a Radiance member, and the blue ones elves.
'As expected, the wraith knights weren't enough?'
Well, even wraith knights numbered only six, so it was impossible for them to hold off seven Radiance members plus their numerous summons.
Fortunately, they were heading this way.
And the summoner's position was relatively close to where Juda was.
Two tasty rabbits were in prime position.
Time was short, and prioritizing one might let the other escape.
After a split-second of deliberation, he suddenly recalled the black wolf subjugation battle at Serenia Castle long ago.
Back then, Kaseun Sabnak had unleashed a massive slash that cleaved through the distant forest from afar.
The tremendous power that rent everything in its path, and the overwhelming pressure of that slash, came back to him vividly.
He was a fellow spirit sword wielder.
His stats, mana, experience, and skills were all still inferior to Kaseun's, but Juda himself was a spirit sword owner.
He might not replicate it perfectly, but with the aid of the Shadow Sword Arts, he could probably unleash a powerful slash from long range.
If he struck the summoner with it and simultaneously hit the incoming Radiance member to rescue the elves... that would be catching two rabbits with one stone.
Still maintaining Yakal's [Radiance Burst], Juda poured mana into his sword.
An excessive amount gathered, more than needed for a simple slash, but it didn't matter.
A normal sword would have been crushed by that mana, its durability plummeting rapidly.
'No need for the Shadow Sword Arts at all.'
Whether from overconfidence or not, convinced he could do it, Juda raised his sword and swung it down.
Speed, form, and the timing of the mana release—all were perfect.
And as the mana surged from the blade—
Kwah-kah-kah-kah-kwak!
Kaseun's version extended as a blade of pristine white, but Juda's took on the hue of shadow.
Watching it plow through the earth and shoot forward in an instant, he decided: if it hit the summoner, great; if not, take out the approaching Radiance and pursue.
With that, he moved immediately.
The red dot on the halted.
It was some distance away, but it had clearly witnessed the slash just used.
Seeing it shift direction, Juda let out a smirk.
Did it think it could escape?
As he closed in swiftly, far ahead through the dense underbrush, he spotted a Radiance member fleeing with an elf tucked under each arm.
Running off-road slowed him down, gradually narrowing the gap, but the tangled branches and foliage naturally hampered Juda too.
Without hesitation, he kicked off the ground, bounded onto trees in succession, and leaped upward.
There were no obstacles in the sky.
Dropping from above at high speed created enough distance for Shadow Step.
Activating the skill without a care for mana cost, his vision seemed to flip, and suddenly the back of a man appeared right before him.
"Hik!?"
"Huhk!"
The two elves, gripped at the waist by the man's sides, gawked at Juda emerging from the shadows and let out hiccuping gasps.
The man tried to turn at the elves' reactions, but before he could, his head flew as his neck was severed.
The headless body, unable to follow the next command, simply collapsed forward.
"If you're elves, you know the forest paths at least. Head back on your own."
"W-wait a minute!"
"......"
Glancing back, he saw the elves crawling pitifully from the man's arms, covered in blood, on the verge of tears.
He quickly scanned them—not for their beauty or figures, but to check for injuries.
There was no time to indulge their clinginess.
These were people he couldn't touch anyway, so Juda entertained no idle thoughts.
He turned away coldly.
He saw them reflexively reach out, but Juda said nothing more to them.
'The summoner didn't die, it seems.'
On the , the presumed summoner's red dot was still moving.
A slash from that distance couldn't have been a guaranteed hit anyway.
It was just for intimidation.
But the summoner must have taken some injury from Juda's slash, as its movement speed was noticeably slower.
The ground was gouged straight like a plow, trees, bushes, rocks—all shattered in its path.
And there, two trails of blood stretched like train tracks into the distance.
"Kuhk, h-heuk!"
A groan came from not far away.
Heading toward the sound, he found a man whose legs below the knees had been severed by something, crawling on the ground.
The man's back bore the Radiance emblem, and the train-track blood trails came from his legs.
Juda walked up to him.
The man, muttering something as he crawled, didn't even notice Juda approaching.
Up close, he was spewing curses.
*Are you the summoner?*
Juda swallowed the question.
What did it matter now?
He already knew the man belonged to the Radiance; killing him was all that remained.
He summoned Altemia and hurled it.
With a light wrist snap, the dagger embedded straight into the man's occiput.
The man, who had been cursing and reaching out, went limp.
At the same time, most of the red dots on the vanished.
"Bingo."
More than the act of killing, the fact that he'd taken out the summoner drew an involuntary whistle from him.
He headed straight for the wraith knights and elves.
By the time he returned, the wraith knights were clashing with the Radiance.
A few, realizing they couldn't win, had snatched up downed elves and tried to flee, but Juda's attacks from behind finished them all.
No more red dots remained on the .
Even the elves who'd been kidnapped earlier were making their way back.
It was all over.
They hadn't fought the Radiance for more than a few minutes, but while the wraith knights were tied down by summons, many elves had been subdued.
Gathering the unconscious ones or those too injured to hold weapons, he moved them to a spot without the smell of blood.
Fortunately, the Radiance hadn't inflicted major wounds, intent only on capturing or carrying off the elves.
Thanks to that, Arhil had a bit of a hard time, but for the elves' treatment and rest, they took a full day of generous respite in the mountains.
In the meantime, Juda recovered badges symbolizing the Radiance from their corpses, along with robes stained only with blood but otherwise intact.
He asked an elf who could use what he conveniently called cleaning magic to cleanse the blood and dirt from a Radiance robe.
Then he distributed the cleaned robes to a few elves.
They were extremely reluctant to wear the robes of those who had attacked them, but grumbled and donned them at his words that it might allow them safe passage after leaving the Decarman Mountains.
They generally didn't complain about Juda's orders, but this time seemed different.
Having eliminated the Radiance who pursued closely and sent summons after them, Juda's group could now cross the Decarman Mountains far more comfortably than before.
Hostile monsters in the mountains, orcs, goblins, ogres, and other aggressive subraces that appeared and attacked were easily handled at the front line by Juda and the wraith knights.
They ascended the mountains at a leisurely pace.
In the peaceful atmosphere, they ate while laughing, and the elves approached Juda and Arhil with warm smiles and friendly words.
Around the campfire's glow in the chilly mountains, they shared stories of their homeland, the elven forest.
Their culture, food, songs... the elves opened up without reserve about things they'd never shared before.
Some even picked fruits growing in the mountains during breaks and offered them.
They climbed and descended mountains, then scaled even larger ones.
A week passed swiftly.
The weather grew steadily colder.
Atop a peak where icy winds howled, a breathtaking vista unfolded for all.
Vast lands stretched out.
Broad plains and dense forests untouched by human hands for ages extended to the horizon.
That forest was their homeland.
Starting with those who reached the summit first ahead of Juda, all twenty elves shed tears.
Some even knelt, clasping their hands in prayer.
Having given up hope of ever returning, the elves wept bitterly at the sight of the forest with their own eyes.
As their cries echoed like reverberations, Juda let out a sigh of relief.
At last, the elven forest lay before them.