Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Immortal Legion (5)
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Allen introduced Dr. Jurha, standing in front of him, to Nederman.
“That’s Dr. Jurha, the guy I killed twice.”
“You killed him twice?”
Nederman reflexively questioned him, while grasping the current situation.
He had heard several times from Allen about what had gone down in Cartusi.
It was always the boast he spilled out whenever he got drunk.
This bastard.
He’d been stalling by pretending to be Jenes again.
“Looks like you had a comrade. Heh heh heh.”
Dr. Jurha let out an awkward laugh as he eyed Nederman.
It didn’t even look like a laugh.
Nederman gazed at him in admiration.
“Hah, just as I’d heard.”
He’d thought the stories were exaggerated, but seeing him in person, from the voice to the appearance, it was a sight to behold.
He looked like he’d just kicked open a coffin lid.
“Keh heh heh! Seems you’ve heard a lot about this body of mine.”
Dr. Jurha misinterpreted Nederman’s admiration and burst into a smug laugh.
“Yeah, a ton. He’s as impressive as they say.”
Nederman casually stepped past Allen to block his path.
“So now we just need to kill this guy, right?”
“You wanna do it?”
“Yeah. Since we’ve already spilled blood, might as well be me. My hands are still itching.”
“If you’re that set on it. Don’t get careless.”
Allen spoke as if reluctantly handing Dr. Jurha over, then stepped back.
Nederman smirked at him still putting on the act to the end.
Maybe because of that bluffing technique, his presence was pretty convincing. His speech and expressions even gave off a vibe similar to Jenes.
What was it?
Totally different, but somehow similar in a way that pissed him off.
Fortunately, Dr. Jurha seemed completely fooled.
Nederman raised his sword and said,
“Then let’s see if you really can’t be killed.”
“Heh heh heh. Cocky bastards. To think you’d dare underestimate this body.”
As Dr. Jurha raised his staff, a dark red light scattered from its tip, drawing a massive magic circle on the ground.
“You think I came here without any preparations! Kuhahaha! You shouldn’t have given me time!”
With his booming laughter, pitch-black smoke rose from the black magic circle.
At the same time, a foul stench stabbed at their noses.
It was followed by a deep growl.
“Grrrr.”
“This is it! Bolan, the Hell’s Watchdog!”
Dr. Jurha kindly added unasked details to stoke their fear.
“Kuhahaha! The one summoned to this realm through my black magic cannot be killed by ordinary means! Moreover, it possesses power at the peak of Expert level! Think you punks, who aren’t even White Lions, can take on Bolan?!”
The guy yelling loud enough to make the area ring clearly didn’t take Nederman for a dragon hunter.
* * *
Stairs ran along the altar’s slope from the ground up to the top level.
From below, it looked like a path straight to the heavens.
I climbed it in one go.
Flash.
Moments later, I set foot on the top level where the ritual was underway.
Halent spotted me first as I appeared out of nowhere.
“You’re here.”
He must have sensed my approach.
Following Halent’s voice, Iriel whipped her head around, eyes widening as she shouted,
“Lord Jenes!”
Beside her loomed a massive wolf, big enough to make a meal of someone like her.
“Looks like you’ve become a packed lunch in the time I was gone.”
“What are you talking about! This one’s super sweet!”
Iriel furrowed her brow and snapped at me.
Her voice was full of energy, so she must be fine.
Only then did I take in the spacious center of the altar.
The Fake Crown Prince sat there performing the ritual. In front of him stretched a vertical dark red line.
A faint pulsing, like closed eyes about to open.
Shockwaves pulsed from it, whipping up fierce gales around us.
“Too late.”
Halent said.
A transparent barrier enveloped the space around the Fake Crown Prince.
Fierce winds swirled around it.
It deserved to be called a curtain of wind.
Not easy to slice through with a sword.
It seemed like a phenomenon from the ritual.
Halent apparently believed I couldn’t pierce it to reach the Fake Crown Prince.
I showed him with actions instead of words.
Heavenly Spirit Divine Art: Swordsmanship Chapter.
Chapter 1: Heaven-Severing Line.
A trajectory horizontally bisected the wind curtain.
As the blue line cut through the wind and burrowed in,
Rumble!
The magic circle spewed even stronger light, thickening the curtain.
At the same time, fiercely swirling wind columns surged up.
The blue sword energy slicing the curtain horizontally got caught up and vanished into the black thunderclouds in the sky.
Not enough, huh.
“Didn’t I say it was already too late?”
Halent butted in from the side, grating on my nerves.
I gripped my sword hilt again.
This time, I’d cut properly.
The dark red line pulsed wildly just as I was about to swing.
Boom!
It let out a thunderous roar, shuddered, then—boom!—burst a shockwave, splitting left and right.
A fierce blue gale exploded out at the same time.
Transparent mana waves swept the top level in an instant.
I blocked in front of Iriel and cleaved the shockwave with my sword. The fierce wind split at the blade tip and flowed past.
Where the dark red line that unleashed the shockwave had been, a half-open portal now yawned.
The split line revealed a cross-section rippling with red light, its interior invisible.
Groooar!
The wind curtain around the Crown Prince thickened further with the intensifying mana release, red hues mixing into the formerly transparent barrier.
I gripped my sword, staring at it.
Yeah, not easy.
* * *
Boom!
A green flash blazed, followed by an explosion that shook the area.
Allen watched the battlefield with sweaty palms.
Bolan targeted Nederman with its long tail whipping like a lash and massive claws.
Tough enough on its own, but Dr. Jurha was backing it up with attack magic.
Boom!
Orbs blazing with black flame exploded, kicking up thick dust clouds.
A single flash tore through, shredding Bolan’s right arm.
“Whoa…….”
Allen let out an involuntary gasp of admiration.
If Jenes’s strength was immeasurable, something unreal.
Nederman’s was grounded, relatable strength.
Even though he’d long shed his human shell.
It was like seeing the hero he’d idolized as a kid.
In an instant, his flashing sword rent space itself.
“Ha, this monster bastard.”
Nederman gnashed his teeth as he shook off Bolan.
His breathing had grown ragged.
Chop and chop, but it felt like slicing intangible clouds. Even deep gashes healed in seconds as it charged again—tricky as hell.
He’d arrived already laden with wounds and fatigue.
Nederman still dominated the field, but as time passed, the scales would tip the other way.
Allen easily read the flow.
“Kuhahaha! Quite the struggle. But how long can you hold out?!”
Dr. Jurha, immersed in battle while supporting Bolan, cackled loudly. He’d completely forgotten about Allen lurking in the back.
Allen glanced at the massive brazier off to the side.
Inside churned bright blue flames.
His fingers toyed with the vial of Immortal Grass.
Toss that in, and the ritual stops.
A few guys were shoveling mana stones in front, but he could handle them alone.
Sneak close without Dr. Jurha noticing, chuck the vial in.
Steel resolve, Allen bit his lower lip watching the frenzy-mad Dr. Jurha.
Boom!
As his magic blasted the ground, kicking up dust, Allen leaped with all his might.
Thud thud thud!
The soldiers spotted him late, shouting in panic.
“Dr., Dr. Jurha!”
Dr. Jurha’s gaze, fixed on Nederman, finally turned to Allen. His head tilted.
“Huh?”
At first, he didn’t get it.
The movements of the guy he’d pegged as the White Lion were way off expectations.
He didn’t know exactly how strong knights got at higher realms.
But no Sword Master would show such desperate human speed.
The suspicion clicked to truth in a flash.
“You rat bastard, daring to fool this body!”
Allen gritted his teeth at Dr. Jurha’s thunderous bellow.
Knights moved to block him, but he dodged with nimble footwork, sprinting for the brazier.
The goal rushed closer.
‘I have to do this!’
Allen steeled himself.
By skill alone, he was no different from the knights littering the ground outside.
Proud of reaching Expert Beginner without formal training since childhood, but coldly, in this mess, he was just dust.
If this were a story, he’d be the one pitifully swept away by giant powers.
Forgotten dust no one remembered.
You needed Jenes or Nederman level to make a difference.
What role could he play squeezed between those earth-shakers and space-renters?
But.
‘I can do this much too!’
“Hah!”
With a shout, Allen hurled the Immortal Grass vial into the brazier.
It spun, vanishing into the blue flames.
Allen grinned wide.
That’s when Nederman’s urgent shout hit.
“Idiot, dodge!”
He whipped his head around—black-flamed orbs flying at him.
Hit by those, he’d burn to nothing—instinct screamed it.
Dang it.
But Allen sensed he couldn’t evade.
No time to even throw himself aside.
Swoosh—!
Then came split-second silence. Time stretched like taffy, sounds sucked to a point.
Not even a breath to exhale in that instant.
The world froze.
Then.
The world resumed speed, spewing back the devoured time and sound.
Boom!
Something erupted from the brazier.
Before he could check what, black shadow swallowed Allen, sweeping away the incoming black orbs and blanketing the area.
In a blink, green vines ballooned, sealing the brazier mouth.
Crack crack!
A long fissure raced up the massive chimney linking to the upper level.
Rumble.
Chunks from the half-split chimney rained down. Bounced off by the vines spilling from the brazier, Dr. Jurha staggered up, staring blankly.
“……Wha—.”
Slash!
Before he finished, a flash horizontally sheared his neck.
Dr. Jurha’s head spun off, arcing high before tumbling across the ground.
With his death, Hell’s Watchdog Bolan dissolved into black smoke.
“Carelessness is forbidden.”
Nederman addressed the dumbly staring severed head, then bolted toward where Allen had been.
“Allen!”
Nederman shouted urgently.
It looked like a jungle now—massive vines sprawling from the brazier center, twisted like ancient tree trunks.
“Damn.”
He scoured everywhere, but no Allen. Vines blocked sightlines. Then a hand popped from the side, grabbing a vine—snap!
“Urgh!”
A groan followed.
It was Allen, laboriously hauling himself up the vine. Nederman grinned and rushed over, yanking him up by the scruff in one pull.
“You pathetic idiot! Wanna die that bad? Even a three-year-old wouldn’t pull that stunt.”
If the Immortal Grass growth had been a hair slower, Allen would be dead.
Allen, knowing well what dying and reviving felt like, stared blankly up at Nederman.
“Must’ve lost it for a sec. Anyway, I’m alive, right?”
“Yeah, you are.”
Nederman plopped down right there.
“Thought my heart would drop out. If you croaked, you think that guy would let me live?”
“Yeah, Lord Jenes does value me.”
“Value my ass. He sees you as one of his limbs.”
They met eyes and grinned.
Tension fully released.
They lay flat on the massive vines.
Vines fed on mana, never wilting if mana lasted—Immortal Grass.
Having sucked up all mana headed to the upper level, the ritual couldn’t continue.
Nederman stared at the distant ceiling beyond light’s reach.
“Ha, we did our part. The rest is on that guy.”
“Can’t move anyway—legs gave out. Wouldn’t say no to a piggyback, though.”
“Damn. Gotta teach you to walk from scratch.”
They lay still, chuckling.
* * *
To pierce the curtain and behead the Fake Crown Prince mid-ritual would take serious sword force.
Even I needed to put some real intent into it.
That’s when the altar shook violently.
Rumble.
A massive echo rose from underground, rattling the top level.
Those guys, huh.
“What did you do?”
Halent’s face hardened coldly as he eyed me.
I smirked.
“You’re not dumb enough not to know.”
The magic circle, spewing intense red light, faded like it lost power.
The gales swirling everywhere vanished like a lie, and the Fake Crown Prince at the center collapsed limply.
Silence blanketed the chamber, storms and noise gone in a heartbeat.
“Now we can have a proper talk.”
As I shifted gaze to Halent,
Whoosh!
A gale exploded suddenly.
The forcibly halted ritual resumed.
Even with the magic circle’s light out.
“Didn’t I say it was too late?”
Halent curled his lips smugly.
The half-open portal in the air snapped wide like eyes flashing open, forming a giant circle.
Whoosh!
At the same time, a massive mana storm began pouring from within.