Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Legend's Return (4)
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“Hmph. Fine. You’re right, Laura. I came too soon.”
He had stubbornly insisted on leaving the Shadow Sword Squad on standby and coming alone, but he couldn’t even match Laura. That fact wounded Dikal’s pride deeply.
“But that’s all it is. The only thing I’m behind you in is time spent honing magic! If those old fools hadn’t been so annoyingly picky and had just passed on their secrets without holding back, and given me a little more time, there’s no way I’d have lost to the likes of you!”
“Dikal, I…”
Suddenly, Laura raised her hand to her neck. She gave a wistful smile as she spoke.
“…for the first time, I feel sorry for someone.”
“What?”
“You’re a pitiful person. More than I ever was…”
The old Laura had been a puppet, shaped by the Aunsor clan to produce the results they desired.
Dikal was the same in that regard. But there was one big difference between her and him.
Dikal took it for granted that his worth was determined by them.
Even now, after being freed from treatment close to a curse by them, he still craved their approval. He cursed them with his words, but if they praised him as useful, he’d do anything for them. Because he knew no other way to believe in his own value.
“I think I know why you hate me.”
When they first met, she had thought it natural that he hated her. Wasn’t it obvious that those whose lives were stolen because of Laura would despise her?
But the more she listened to Dikal, the more she realized it wasn’t just that. The real reason Dikal hated Laura was…
“Because they threw away someone who clung to them like trash.”
“What nonsense…!”
“I get that feeling. But I can still say it with certainty.”
A red aura began to rise from the fingertips Laura held to her own neck.
“They’re trash. Trash that should have vanished long ago, who arrogantly created us and trampled our lives.”
“Shut up!”
“Better to die than fall into their hands.”
Dikal flinched. He had been too focused on Laura’s words to notice in time.
“Damn it! Stop her!”
Laura was trying to kill herself.
Better to die here than be captured by them. But simply ending her life wouldn’t do. They had the power to profane even the souls of the dead. So she intended to erase herself completely, leaving no room for that.
‘I wanted to live.’
She wanted to live longer, to see more things.
‘Now I finally know who you are.’
Azel’s face suddenly came to mind. She had doubted it, but to think he really was the hero Azel Karzark.
The moment she realized that, Laura laughed amid the crisis, as if to say she knew it all along. There was no surprise. Just the suffocating weight in her chest clearing away refreshingly.
‘If I die, will you grieve for me?’
Until now, her life had been one where no one would mourn her death or shed tears, and she hadn’t clung to such things. But traveling with Azel’s group under the pretext of being a prisoner had made her grow attached to them.
‘At least you all won’t get angry that a tool broke instead of mourning my death.’
Laura laughed in disbelief. Amid the Shadow Sword Squad and Dikal’s magic madly pounding her defensive spells, the curse power to annihilate herself was taking shape.
-Giving up too soon.
Then a voice flowed into her mind.
-Why not trust your comrades a little?
With those words, the magic pouring down on Laura rapidly faded. And…
Woooooooo!
A pure white flash, like lightning or flame, began racing through the surroundings.
Sword that Cleaves the Heavens. Three of the Shadow Sword Squad, distracted by Laura, were caught off guard and fell.
At the same time, the surrounding space, blazing with all sorts of magical flashes, warped like heat haze on a spring day.
‘Labyrinth of Lament!’
Laura immediately realized what it was.
She hurriedly dispelled the curse power like putting out an urgent fire.
“Ugh…”
She had canceled it just in time, but the magic she used to deny the enemy even her corpse had strong aftereffects. Black smoke rose from her whole body, and her stomach churned.
Suddenly, she spoke with a pouty expression.
“…I’m a prisoner.”
“That was true until now.”
Azel, who had appeared out of nowhere beside her, smirked as he replied. He flicked her with his finger and said,
“Let’s stop that now.”
With that, the wedge of Azel’s mana embedded in Laura’s Spirit Veins vanished. Laura glared at Azel with resentful eyes.
“You’re so selfish.”
“About 220 years ago, everyone said the same. People don’t change much even as times do.”
“Old man.”
“My age is twenty-eight, physically and mentally. No reason for a Dragon Demon girl older than me to call me that.”
“Shameless.”
“I’ve heard that one a lot too.”
Azel replied glibly, then said,
“For now, recover in here. I’ll handle those guys.”
She didn’t know if the enemies had a way to breach the Labyrinth of Lament. But even if they did, they wouldn’t have the leisure to use it while fighting Azel.
But Laura grabbed Azel as he tried to leave the Labyrinth of Lament.
“Let me take Dikal.”
“In that state? I get that you two have some connection, but…”
“I can do it.”
“…”
Laura’s attitude was so resolute that Azel stared at her for a moment. Then he gave a wry smile and turned his head.
“Back then and now, I’ve never been able to stop someone dead set on risking their life for something. That’s gotten me a lot of cursing…”
As he dispelled the Labyrinth of Lament, he continued,
“This time, I guess I’m the one doing the cursing. Don’t get cocky and die. Or I’ll curse you for real.”
“…First time.”
“Hm?”
“Hearing something like that.”
“You’re a first for too many things.”
With that, Azel’s sword became a burning flash and raced through the air.
5
“This can’t be happening.”
Dikal fell into panic.
When he learned Azel’s identity as Azel Karzark, he had only wavered briefly. Capturing Laura had been more important to him.
And after relentlessly pressing her, victory was in sight. Then this happened.
The flash raced in all directions.
Aerial combat was a mage’s specialty to begin with. Dragon Spirit Art practitioners and Spirit Order users had limited time they could stay airborne, and even solving that, they couldn’t properly maneuver. Once a mage took to the skies, fighting became difficult.
Azel shattered that common sense utterly.
Pajijijik!
The flash racing everywhere sliced through one Shadow Sword Squad member. As Azel briefly appeared in that spot, another fired flames at him.
But it was useless. The flames were fully reflected back by the space distortion field that appeared before them.
The moment they hesitated to block it, another Azel’s sword strike from behind split their body vertically.
“Ugh…!”
Dikal was gripped by terror.
The synergistic effect of the Sword that Cleaves the Heavens and Cup of Lament far exceeded their imaginations. A sword unbound by space combined with power to manipulate space was a disaster beyond remedy.
Moreover, the Shadow Sword Squad had no countermeasures for Azel. Panicking early and mindlessly using the most immediate flashes or lightning magic had invited catastrophe. The Sword that Cleaves the Heavens absorbed all those powers and incinerated six at once.
“Dikal.”
In the battlefield filled with flashes and explosions, a low voice reached his ears as clearly as thunder. Dikal jumped in surprise and looked toward the voice.
The battered Laura was glaring at him.
“Let’s settle this. Just you and me.”
“Ha…”
Dikal laughed in disbelief.
“Are you sane? Gotten arrogant with Azel Karzark backing you? You think you can take me one-on-one in that state?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmph. You think I’d fall for that? Pretend to fight me while letting Azel Karzark stab me in the back?”
At that, Laura tilted her head.
“You think you’re worth that?”
“…What?”
“If I hadn’t asked Azel to hold back, you might already be dead. I promise. If you beat me one-on-one, at least on this battlefield, Azel will let you go.”
It was Laura’s stubbornness. Realizing she meant it, Dikal ground his teeth.
“Laura, just how much do you have to look down on me to feel satisfied?!”
“That’s what I want to say.”
Laura attacked first. The moment Dikal blocked it, something incomprehensible happened.
Pajijijik!
“Gahk?”
Of the six cursed demon swords protecting him, one’s curse backlashed. His vision went dark, creating a gap in his magic formation.
Kwang!
An explosion erupted inside his barrier, sending him flying. As he plummeted, Dikal barely righted himself and unleashed magic indiscriminately.
“Kaaaaak!”
Unlike the near-dead Laura, he still had mana to spare. Even if Laura was superior in magic control, a storm of spells like this should prevent her from breaking through.
But contrary to Dikal’s expectations, Laura’s cold voice came.
“You don’t even know why you’re getting hit…”
It was a voice tinged with pity. Enraged, Dikal tried to hurl a demon sword at her.
“U, aaaaak!”
As if waiting for it, the demon sword’s curse backlashed. Burning agony raced through his body.
Only then did Dikal realize what Laura had done.
‘She stole control of the demon swords!’
Not exactly full control. But part of the magic formation controlling the demon swords’ movements was now at Laura’s mercy.
Foooo…
And as Dikal barely dispelled the curse, Laura’s condition rapidly recovered before him.
Not her physical state. She was refining and absorbing some of the mana Dikal had wasted from the curse, restoring her own. It was chillingly refined mana control.
“It’s over, Dikal.”
“Don’t make me laugh! Just messing with my tools doesn’t mean you’ve won! Even recovering a pittance of mana won’t help!”
Dikal raged and unleashed a barrage of magic.
‘Now I’ll use the demon swords only for mana amplification and defense, and end it with overwhelming mana superiority. No matter how superior her control, if the mana gap is absolute, I can crush her with firepower!’
That judgment was correct. Laura’s mana was nearly depleted. If he could cast ten spells at once to her one, the outcome was obvious.
In the end, Dikal’s magic, forcing through her control with brute strength, manifested all at once. The air swirled, lightning raged, flames exploded.
“You’re the one who ends here, Laura!”
The moment he cried out in ecstasy.
“I already told you. It’s over.”
Laura replied in a low voice. Hearing that sound, controlled by magic to pierce the explosions specifically for him, sent chills through Dikal’s entire body.
And the magic striking Laura all returned to Dikal.
Kwagwagwang!
“Kaaaa…!”
Even Dikal’s scream was swallowed by the blasts. Laura pursued him as he fell, engulfed in flames and smoke.
Soon, Laura stood before him on the ground, where he lay half his body blown away, gasping. Dikal, still alive by a miracle, asked in disbelief.
“How… in the… world…?”
“Cup of Lament.”
Laura answered.
“I’ve studied it to death.”
“…”
That was answer enough for Dikal.
Even across the Dark Wastes, few had mastered space magic. But Laura, who had handled the Cup of Lament extensively, had used the Aunsor records to research and reproduce part of its function with magic.
Dikal laughed in disbelief.
“Really… I… came… too soon…”
“They’ll vanish too. So rest now.”
“Hahaha… Anyway… you’re… a really… unpleasant… woman…”
With that, Dikal’s breath stopped. Laura ignited flames to burn his corpse, then looked up at the dazzling flashes of death embroidering the sky.
“I’ve… heard that a lot.”
Transparent tears flowed from her eyes as she gazed at the sky.