Ending Maker Chapter 57
Ending Maker Chapter 57
Chapter 16 - Winter Flower #3
Soluzia stood atop the cliff from which Yuder and Cordelia had jumped, clenching her fist.
Inside her grip, a crow's black feather was being crushed.
"Sword Demon Kamael."
It was unlikely to be his true body.
After all, it had only been a fortnight since his true body had been sighted in the southern part of the Saelun Kingdom.
No matter how elusive the man was, he could not have traveled from the kingdom's southernmost tip to its northernmost reaches in a mere fortnight.
"Do not give up. We can still catch them."
Now that she herself, a branch leader, had taken the field, she could not return empty-handed.
Soluzia said it to herself, threw the mangled crow feather to the ground, and thought.
'Capture Cordelia.'
And eliminate Kamael's clone, a constant thorn in the organization's side and one of the Guardians of the Holy Cross's key assets.
That alone would be a considerable accomplishment. It was far too early to give up.
And that was the very moment.
"Caw!"
At the sharp cry of a crow, Soluzia immediately raised her head. Far in the distance, a flock of crows was flying toward her.
As if luring her, as if provoking her.
"How amusing, Kamael."
Soluzia glared at the flock of crows, eyes wide, then narrowed her gaze.
Soluzia could not simply let that flock of crows go.
Because there was a possibility that Cordelia was with them.
She could not simply let Sword Demon Kamael's clone get away unharmed.
"I will not let them escape."
From Soluzia's head sprouted magnificent, massive antlers like those of a deer. At the same time, demonic wings unfurled behind her back.
The demonization of a high-ranking Demonic Human.
That alone shook the atmosphere of the surrounding area. The violet demonic energy that erupted from Soluzia's entire body like flames polluted the sky and the earth. The snow of the snowfield melted away as if it were a lie.
Soluzia took flight.
Pursuing the flock of crows, she thought.
'So it was you.'
The one who had defeated Sisiot at Frost Anvil.
The one who had laid waste to the Demonic Humans and monsters.
Now she understood.
Because with the combat strength Yuder and Cordelia had shown in Langesthei, defeating Sisiot had been impossible.
Because the two of them could not even contend with the low-ranking Demonic Humans sent along with him.
In truth, even Lucas, famed far and wide as the prodigy of the Count Hraesvelgr Household, could not properly contend with a low-ranking Demonic Human, could he?
'A brat who has only just begun to learn martial arts.'
To her, Yuder did not even count as combat strength.
The one to be wary of, if anything, was Cordelia, but she too was ultimately nothing more than a greenhorn mage with meager experience.
For two such people to consecutively defeat demons and Demonic Humans made no sense.
'It was you, Kamael.'
You were the one hunting the Devil's Hand, using those two as bait.
Soluzia's suspicion soon became certainty. And her pursuit became swifter and sharper.
Dozens of blades of light surged from the violet demonic energy and struck at the flock of crows. The crows danced brilliantly through the air, then converged into a single figure on the ground.
Amid the dozens of crows, the Sword Demon revealed himself.
"Kamael."
Soluzia too landed on the ground. She drew a demonic sword from the air, and Kamael faced her with a composed expression.
"Alone? How foolish. Did you think that if you held me here, Cordelia could escape?"
Soluzia herself had not come alone. She had brought only the elite troops of her branch.
Kamael knew that as well. On his way here, he had seen Soluzia's subordinates scattered throughout the area.
The ravens guarding the north watched beyond the border, not the territory inside it.
Moreover, this area was so remote that even traces of human activity were scarce, making it nearly impossible to receive help from the ravens.
Therefore, Yuder and Cordelia would have to break through the Devil's Hand's encirclement with only their own strength.
Impossible.
Such a thing could never happen.
What could a pair of mere children possibly do?
By conventional standards, Soluzia was not wrong.
It was a sound argument.
But Kamael answered with the same composed expression.
"So they said."
"What?"
"They said they could escape."
No, even that understated it. Yuder had clearly said they would break through.
And one more thing.
A crucial fact he had learned while correcting the distortion of the Sunflower Herb.
"Yin-Yang Body."
A being with the potential to inherit both the power of Kamael himself, who wielded extreme yin, and the power of Landius, who wielded extreme yang.
That was as far as it went. Kamael did not waste any more time.
As if he were with Landius, he wore a faint smile and drew his sword.
He spoke to Soluzia in open provocation.
"Come."
For I shall face you.
Enraged by the look in his eyes, as though he were looking down on her, Soluzia roared and charged at Kamael.
* * *
Yuder ran.
A simple motion of kicking off the ground with both feet and moving forward.
But it was different.
The very feeling was different from before.
Freedom of his limbs.
The sheer pleasure of finally being able to move his body exactly as he wished.
That was not all.
Power overflowed throughout his entire body.
His qi circulation quickened. It was to the point where he felt as though all the martial arts he had used until now had been fake.
"Whoa!"
Yuder let out the exclamation naturally and stamped the ground. Grinning brightly, he unleashed the Twenty-Four Gale Steps.
The true Twenty-Four Gale Steps!
Boom!
The air exploded.
More than ten whirlwinds spread out in all directions, and amid them, Yuder became a gale. He surged relentlessly toward the enemies before him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunderclaps erupted.
The heads of the hellhounds in the path swept by the gale shattered and their necks broke. And without fail, a golden whirlwind rose and swept through the surroundings.
Even Cordelia could barely follow him.
Even with a mage's eyes, Cordelia could not accurately track Yuder's movements.
He charged straight ahead.
He faced a hellhound.
The hellhound tried to bite Yuder, but it was futile. He slipped past its attack like the wind. At the same time, the golden whirlwind that arose disrupted the hellhound's movements.
A thunderclap erupted.
A lightning-like Seven Chain Strike shattered the hellhound's entire body.
Boom!
The impact boomed.
Yuder looked back. He confirmed Cordelia and Red Wind, then became a gale once more and charged forward.
"Beast."
Cordelia said it without realizing. Sprinting in her Witchification state, she hurled magical blades at the enemies Yuder had felled to land the finishing blows. At the same time, she tracked the pursuers converging on them.
"Hah! Hah!"
Red Wind simply ran, following Yuder's back.
Thanks to a forbidden elixir made by mixing various potions, she had somehow become capable of keeping up with Yuder and Cordelia's speed.
But as expected, she was still low-level. Just keeping up was enough to leave her breathless.
"Hah!"
As Yuder ran, he launched a Holy Cross Thrust toward the front.
A massive golden cross, more than twice as large as before, extended forward. It was an attack reminiscent of the holy cross he had unleashed with a spell formation in the Witch's Forest.
It was thanks to the internal energy amplified by the Sunflower Herb shining through.
Moreover, Yuder could feel it.
This was not it.
There was still room to make it more efficient. He could use his holy combat techniques with more power and speed.
Heavenly Martial Body.
The martial talent bestowed by heaven! The incarnation of martial arts!
Crash!
A monster blocking the path ahead collided with the holy cross and was shattered.
It was a naturally occurring snow golem that often appeared in the northern border region.
Yuder ran through the creature's breaking body. From behind him, Cordelia shouted.
"They're coming from both sides! Seven o'clock! Two o'clock!"
Places hidden by trees.
But Cordelia's senses during Witchification were practically radar.
Yuder immediately understood Cordelia. Since she had even called out the directions, he could respond with ease.
Whirlwind.
Then came the gale.
And once more, a bursting thunderclap!
"Yah!"
Yuder shouted, and Cordelia thought once more.
'He's always calling me a beast, a beast, but he's the bigger beast!'
But it felt good. Cordelia too found herself laughing for some reason.
The only one who could not laugh was Red Wind. But even she, desperate just to keep up, could tell.
Their strength far surpassed anything people their age should possess.
The reason Great Storm had chosen the two of them!
"That's far enough!"
A sharp shout rang out from ahead.
It was the cry of a giant with violet skin and a massive frame.
Yuder and Cordelia looked at him simultaneously. And they identified him.
"Baras!"
"A synthetic Demonic Human made using a monster, not a demon!"
"His specialty is charging!"
"His attribute is fire! But he doesn't use attribute attacks, so you can ignore it!"
"He can only attack in a straight line! Attacking his flanks is the standard approach!"
"His magic defense is abnormally high!"
"He's weak to slashing attacks!"
"A vicious murderer!"
They shouted back and forth, and Baras momentarily fell into confusion.
"H-how!?"
Had they met him before?
No, even if they had met him before, how could they know so much about him?
While Baras was still flustered, Yuder and Cordelia had already worked out how to beat him. They exchanged a glance, and that was enough.
"Bind!"
"Grease!"
Yuder and Cordelia shouted in turn.
Bind magic caught Baras by the ankles, and as he lost his balance, he crashed onto the ground made slippery by Grease.
Having high magic defense meant being resistant to magical strikes, not that it disrupted magic itself. So both bind and grease could work on him perfectly well.
"Ugh!"
Then came the follow-up.
Cordelia ran past the creature and reached out her hand. Using her witch's power, she unleashed blue telekinesis and flipped the creature over on the slippery floor.
"Gah!"
Baras flipped over as if rolling across ice. Of course, as befitted a synthetic Demonic Human with a monster's power, he did not simply take it. He immediately exerted his strength and shattered the Bind, then wrapped his entire body in mana to raise his defense.
Yuder simply passed by the creature.
Baras, who had expected attacks to follow, rose to his feet in confusion, and only then could he see it.
Yuder had stopped right in front of him.
Sword drawn, he was still wreathed in the fading whirlwind.
There was only one technique he unleashed.
The one-hit-kill sword technique recorded in the Sword of the Eastern Warrior.
'Blood Wolf Hell Slash.'
The Sword of the Eastern Warrior roared. At the same time, Cordelia looked at Baras. With one eye closed, she used her paralyzing Evil Eye to hinder his movements.
They were not making direct eye contact, and she used the Evil Eye weakly out of concern for backlash, so it only hindered him for an instant. But that was enough.
A massive crimson slash split Baras's chest.
The black blood unique to synthetic Demonic Humans surged upward, and rings of pure white light rose at the chests of Yuder and Cordelia.
"Hah... hah..."
By the time Red Wind caught up to the two, Baras collapsed with a thud, and Cordelia looked ahead. In the distance, she could see a wall that had to be at least ten meters tall.
"We're almost there!"
It was the border.
Now they only had to get over that wall.
But how?
There was no time to think. Yuder had already moved. With one arm around Red Wind and the other around Cordelia's waist, he had unleashed the Twenty-Four Gale Steps.
"I said I'd hold you, right?"
"Hmph."
Cordelia snorted, and Red Wind blushed in embarrassment. But neither Yuder nor Cordelia was looking at Red Wind.
Yuder kicked off the ground again. Cordelia wrapped her arms around Yuder's neck, and the whirlwind guided their path.
The gale scaled the ten-meter wall in a single breath, and at the end, it leaped high as if taking flight.
Midair.
Yuder and Cordelia saw it.
The Wild Lands spread out beyond the wall. The overwhelming majesty of nature.
"Let's go."
Yuder said it again, then kicked off the wall.
To shatter the northern barbarian invasion scenario, they leaped over the border.