Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Legend of Sunset Slash
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‘Cut it down.’
The thought flashed through her mind. The standoff didn’t last long.
Roca leaped forward with her sword raised. The phoenix glared down at the tiny figure below it with haughty eyes. With both sides burning to kill each other, the clash was inevitable.
Wooong!
With every step she took, it felt as if a faint lunar silhouette formed beneath her feet as a platform. Moon Maiden’s Footwork was such a technique, etched in the memories of the Crescent Moon Sword. It created a mana field using the moon’s power to counteract gravity.
Her steps naturally became as light as a butterfly’s, leaving no footprints even when she touched the ground. A single push off the earth sent her gliding effortlessly to a distant point.
In truth, simply flying through the sky was something even an Expert could do without much trouble. What mattered was how long and how efficiently one could maintain flight.
‘My body feels as light as a feather.’
Weight hadn’t vanished entirely. The moon’s mana was merely offsetting the pull of the earth’s gravity.
The drawback was the not-insignificant mana consumption, but considering the power it granted, it was actually quite efficient. Roca could handle this level of expenditure with ease.
‘But...’
Pa. Ha. Ha. Ha.
Had it spent so much time with Grimudo that it picked up how to mimic human laughter? The phoenix sneered. Not with a bird’s cry, but imitating a human voice to mock her.
In its eyes, no one—not even the greatest humans—mattered except its master. They were all just monkeys. Look at this one, clumsily taking to the skies and daring to challenge it.
The phoenix sneered and spread its two wings wide, as if to say, Come on then, if you dare. It seemed well-versed in gauging human strength, looking down on Roca with feigned disdain. And it had every reason to.
Even a single feather of this bird was older than Roca. This monstrous bird had lived through eons and encountered countless humans.
Roca lacked the distinctive aura of a human powerhouse. The phoenix knew from experience that anyone short of Master rank couldn’t even make it flinch.
“Die.”
Roca gripped her sword with both hands and shot upward. A lunar silhouette formed along the blade, extending its gravitational pull to guide the Crescent Moon Sword.
The phoenix hovered above, Roca below. At this height difference, even dropping a pebble would put the person underneath at mortal risk. No, it would definitely kill them.
The beast held the high ground, and she was charging right into it. In terms of aerial combat, this wasn’t just unfavorable for Roca—it was a situation where she might as well admit defeat.
But amid the Crescent Moon Sword’s memories, there was surely a technique perfect for such a disadvantageous moment.
‘I’ll slice right through.’
Crescent Moon Slash. The technique the Moon Maiden used to cut down any foe who dared seize the high ground, without fail.
Entrusting herself to the swordsmanship cherished by Moon Maiden Theresia, Roca surged upward. The moon guided her, drawing her straight toward the phoenix.
Ha!
The bird laughed, mimicking a human jeer. As she accelerated toward it, wings spread, it met the charging Crescent Moon Sword.
Flesh-and-blood wings clashed against the sturdy Crescent Moon Sword, forged by dwarves from moonlight stone. By all rights, it should have torn the wings to shreds.
“Urgh.”
Kang! Clang clang clang!
Instead, the sound of metal striking metal rang out, and her ascent halted abruptly. No matter how much the moon pulled her upward, if the sword couldn’t pierce the phoenix’s wings, it was meaningless.
Up close like this, its size was truly terrifying. Even its beak and talons dwarfed Roca. She hadn’t noticed from afar, but staring into its eyes now sent chills up her spine.
‘Impossible. What...’
The Crescent Moon Sword, infused with lunar momentum, could cleave through even an iron golem. This thing was a monster through and through. The phoenix grinned and opened its beak, unleashing a torrent of flames.
A pillar of fire nearly grazed her, scorching a line toward Roca. The girl swiftly widened the distance, evading with Moon Maiden’s Footwork.
‘Slicing won’t work. Then instead...’
No matter where she flew to dodge, its eyes tracked her precisely. She couldn’t keep flying and draining her strength indefinitely. Moon Maiden’s Footwork consumed a fair amount of mana, and once it ran out, she’d plummet to the ground.
With a grave resolve, Roca gathered solar mana in both hands. The now-useless sword was just dead weight, so she stowed it back in the Unassuming Jar.
‘That old man tricked me. Talking about the Moon Maiden’s legend and all.’
The young wolf swallowed her anger inwardly. But no matter the weapon, its power scaled entirely with the wielder. If the sword’s previous owner, Moon Maiden Theresia, had unleashed Crescent Moon Slash, it would have been enough to rip those wings apart.
No weapon in the world granted invincible power just by holding it. You wouldn’t find one even searching the imperial palace. And if such a thing existed, wielding it would make the person a slave to the weapon, not the other way around.
The human wouldn’t be the master; the sword would. What kind of person, born human, would become a slave to a mere tool?
‘This instead...!’
A solar silhouette formed between her hands, radiating immense light. The blazing sun extended forward, piercing through the pillar of flames.
The small sun devoured the phoenix’s flames, growing stronger, but the beast laughed derisively and gaped its beak wide.
“Ahh...!”
It wrapped its tongue around Heaven-Piercing Sun Wheel and swallowed it whole, then cackled with a chirr. Its red eyes curved into crescents.
Flames flickered anew atop its feathers. By devouring Heaven-Piercing Sun Wheel, the phoenix had not only neutralized the attack but regained its strength. Far from harming it, she’d refined the perfect elixir for the beast.
Ke. Heh. Heh. Heh.
Roca clenched her fists toward the mocking creature. She drew the useless sword again, gripping it with both hands.
The Crescent Moon Sword alone couldn’t sever a single feather. If the sword could think, it would surely blame its owner, Roca. But none of that mattered now.
There was only one technique she could trust. The single slash left by Master Heron. The Sunset Slash that traced a line—that alone was her sole hope.
“Is this the best you’ve got? It’s not helping at all.”
Just in case, she infused the sword with lunar mana and quickly scanned its embedded memories, frustration boiling over. Nothing useful for this situation.
The sword hummed in complaint. What, recommend a technique to its worthless owner who hadn’t even reached Master rank?
Weapons chose their masters, and techniques chose their wielders. Among the Moon Maiden’s legacy were several that required Master rank to execute.
As they blamed each other, the phoenix’s throat bulged. It spat out a round orb, and the moment it touched the air, a blast of heat erupted in all directions.
A sun. Three times larger than the Heaven-Piercing Sun Wheel Roca had fired, the mini-sun hurtled toward her. This was unavoidable—she had to block it head-on.
“Gravity...!”
The sun’s absolute pull dragged Roca inexorably toward it. No, it drew everything around it inward.
Like jumping from the ground only to fall back, this attack pulled her forward even if she dodged. A Moon Maiden might calmly use Moon Maiden’s Footwork to regain balance, but that required mastery.
At minimum, composure was needed. Balancing all these variables and escaping with minimal effort wasn’t Roca’s style.
The best defense was a good offense, and defense was for dogs. The girl reloaded solar mana, concentrated it between her hands, and fired.
Shwaaak!
The large sun and small sun approached each other, their mutual pull warping their trajectories. They orbited one another and veered off, missing entirely.
The large sun plummeted downward, the small one soared upward. Added to the real sun overhead, the sunlight intensified threefold for a moment.
Ting!
Blinding light erupted repeatedly, so intense it was hard to keep her eyes open. If not for the bluebird’s feathers blocking the glare, she’d have had to fight blind.
The phoenix chuckled in amusement and opened its beak again, spewing forth another sun. This time, Roca didn’t counter with one of her own. A war of attrition like this would only end in ruin.
‘I’ll kill it.’
Did a streak of sunset hue flash in her eyes, or was it her imagination? The moment she resolved to slay the beast, her solar mana pulsed, taking on sunset tones.
Shwaaak!
The girl gripped her sword and swung it horizontally in a wide arc. Between the slashing trail, sunset light flickered.
The phoenix’s vision—and Roca’s—dyed red. Capturing the edge of twilight, the sunset bent.
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