Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Life and Death
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Even gazing at the same sunset, some feel romance, while others sense dread. But certain sunsets make anyone realize their life is in danger, no matter who looks.
A sunset thick with murderous intent sliced through the sun sphere shot by the phoenix. It severed it clean, extinguishing the halved sun.
The blackened, cooled shape of the sun slowly fell toward the ground, and the sunset glow vanished. But this was only the beginning. Roca charged without pause, and red sunset light seeped into her Crescent Moon Blade, igniting fiercely.
...Guruk?
The phoenix hesitated for a moment. It stared at the Crescent Moon Blade with confused eyes.
For its massive head to ponder, that strike had been nothing but the desperate flailing of a small monkey. Like all such flailing, it would ultimately prove meaningless thrashing.
So it wanted to confidently take the hit this time too and watch the monkey's face twist in despair. Yet something kept blocking its thoughts. Something unrelated to thought. Something felt only when the mind closed its eyes.
Something that offered sharper insight than the knowledge piled in its head. Something that always pointed the way forward in crises. That was it.
Truly, utterly unfamiliar.
The phoenix's survival instinct rang alarm bells. This giant had been tiger-sized since hatching from its egg. From then until now, it had rarely felt true threats to its survival.
Its master, Grimudo, whom it had seen since hatching, was less an enemy and more a parent. Even grown this large, the phoenix acted spoiled around its master.
Thus, the Demon King had no reason to threaten it. If he didn't, no one could. This sensation was utterly foreign. Its long-dormant, rusted survival instinct now shone in this moment.
Whoosh!
Dodging the oncoming sunset glow, the phoenix leaped back. Where the blade had grazed, the sky's blue vanished, leaving only rippling, burning red sunset light. Roca's eyes, too, were now steeped in sunset hues, losing their original blue. All colors flickered out, leaving only flashing sunset.
‘If once isn't enough, I'll strike twice.’
The girl gripped her blade again, her eyes gleaming coldly. A red yet chilling sunset rippled along the edge—not warm, but somehow cool.
Seeing Roca like this, the phoenix let out a shriek tinged with humiliation. It had dodged, yet didn't know why.
Kiruk? Kiek?
One of the three masters sent by the Citadel Republic, the Frost Lord Eorin who wielded icy aura, had lopped off the phoenix's neck in a final strike. But that was half because the phoenix had let it happen knowingly.
An immortal monster doesn't die. Even reduced to powder, the powder gathers and reverts to an egg.
Deep within this place humans called the Calderan Volcano lay something vast and powerful that gave it strength. Even as an egg, it could draw power from that and hatch swiftly.
So the phoenix had simply died once on purpose. This birdbrain was smarter than it looked.
Eorin had grinned triumphantly at felling the phoenix with her final blow, only to despair and die upon seeing it revert to an egg, wriggling inside with mocking glee.
The phoenix loved that expression so much it even died deliberately to see it. Yet now, unbeknownst to itself, it had swallowed fear.
A pure beast would have retreated without pondering why, but the phoenix possessed a crude approximation of intellect. For a monster, it was fairly clever.
Kyak! Karuk!
So this time, it decided to trust its head over instinct. The enraged Monster King curled its body into a ball. Then it spun at unimaginable speed.
Whether a blazing wheel or fireball, Roca watched it calmly. The sunset in her eyes deepened to blood-red.
‘Kill it.’
That was the only thought in her head now. Why she had to kill it was pushed aside.
Killing intent filled her mind, leaving room for nothing else. She was nearly in a trance. Only the pure intent to kill remained intact.
She would cleave anyone blocking her path. The eerie demonic energy worthy of being called killing intent merged with the sunset glow, doubling its power.
If the knight Milenia under the Third Prince, whom she'd met before coming here, saw Roca now, she'd have fled in terror before even crossing blades.
The problem was, the phoenix wasn't one to be cowed by such things.
Shuwaak!
The massive monster plummeted toward her, hundreds of meters wide—now truly a sun-like fireball. Roca didn't retreat an inch. A crimson flash sparked, then scarlet killing intent condensed and erupted in brilliance.
The Crescent Moon Blade screamed as it endured the clash of powers, but its damned wielder ignored the cry and swung.
Skguk!
Within the crimson mana aura, annihilation's power danced. The sunset glow that destroyed all cleaved the phoenix in half and burst forth. The blade, bearing that power, slipped from her hand ablaze and flew off, glowing red and beginning to melt.
The phoenix stared at Roca in disbelief at the straight gash across its body. In truth, she was less a person now and more a falling lump of charcoal.
Kiruk.
Why? How? Was it worth it?
Though her body charred black and limbs burned, Roca didn't scream once. Knowing it wouldn't kill her, she pushed the blade to the end.
Just look at her falling like that. Yet Roca never despaired till the last.
Enraged, the phoenix swooped in with a roar. It hurt. It burned. The sunset's wound seemed to eat away at her body. Like burning, like scorching.
The pain was so intense she couldn't hold back screams. She'd never felt such agony in her life.
It charged with savage killing intent. Even left alone, Roca would only plummet to the ground now. She'd lost consciousness and couldn't stay aloft.
In this state, hitting the ground meant instant death. But it couldn't let her die like that.
It wanted to tear her to shreds with claws and beak. Having given it pain, she deserved equal payback.
“The enemy you spoke of... to think it was something like this. If you needed power because of that thing, you're the biggest fool I've ever seen.”
What? Her lip movements were too faint to hear. Not that it mattered.
No matter what that tiny monkey babbled, today, she would die.
The Monster King charged with eyes ablaze, mouth ready to spew fire anytime.
Falling Roca lifted her head and stared straight at the phoenix. Her eyes held no fear.
Guuk?
Roca's eyes were blue too. But now, they were closer to clear sky-blue than deep navy. As she reached out, a gust of wind came and settled in her hand. The Crescent Moon Blade had flown far off; her hands held nothing.
But a true swordmaster wields her will with a single finger, turns a mere breeze into a sword to convey her sword intent across heaven and earth. If she wills it a sword, nothing cannot be.
The sky is my sword, the earth my sword. How could a breeze flowing between them be an exception?
Flash.
The wind, bearing sunset glow, now came for the phoenix. Not the killing sunset Roca had wielded. Sunset Slash infused with intent to kill wasn't true.
Like twisting a chicken's neck brings dawn inevitably, evening comes unstoppably. Beginning and end interlock tails; Sunset Slash naturally guides to that end.
No need for screams or killing will. A mere curtain fall, utterly calm, without a scrap of killing intent.
Facing its own end, the phoenix panicked wildly. It flapped wings frantically to retreat—backward, upward, anywhere. But its body wouldn't move.
Why? The bird grasped it instantly. Too late, it understood. The sunset had already sliced it, no recovery possible.
Kkeektta!
The evening glow engulfed the phoenix, blazing red and cleaving the sky in two. It snuffed even its scream, burning feathers to the last flame. But the masterless swordmaster clicked her tongue.
“Still alive, huh.”
The thing must have hated dying so much it pulled some strange trick for insurance. Whatever. More urgent matters awaited.
“You fool. Whether you live or die is truly up to you now.”
Boom! Landing on the earth with a thunderous crash, Heron looked at his charred hand and sighed.
It looked like a crash, but it was a proper landing. The noise came from dissipating all the impact into the air upon hitting ground.
Now, he wasn't the real Heron—just a lingering thought left in the embryo. A kind of imprint placed to help when advancing from third-rate to second-rate.
So he would fulfill his duty. Guide her to enlightenment, but everything depended on Roca herself. If she gained insight enough to reconstruct her body, she'd live. Otherwise...
Even breaking through to master wouldn't save her long.
She was barely clinging to life now, borrowing ambient mana. For someone not yet a master to challenge that thing, surviving at all was a miracle.
“Ah, damn it all.”
Heron's lingering thought clutched his head. Even his main body hadn't foreseen this.
Who could've guessed a mere expert would boldly rely on a single Sunset Slash to hunt that thing? His original purpose wasn't to fight in her place like some mercenary.
His duty or not, if the girl died, it meant nothing, so he'd stepped in. Directly swinging to fell it was beyond expectations.
With his remaining power, whether he could properly elevate her was uncertain. Still, he had to try.
He was merely Heron's remnant, meant to dissipate once his purpose was done. Whether Roca lived or died, he'd scatter soon anyway. No fear in that. Just give his all.
‘Insight enough to reconstruct her body on her own.’
In his view, honestly, it was hopeless. Feeling this powerless was nearly a first in his life.
‘...Can I give her this? To such a reckless, headstrong child?’
A true sigh escaped, but there was no time to dawdle. The girl's breaths were growing fainter.
Whether it worked or not didn't matter. Success odds neared zero, but not trying guaranteed zero. If death awaited either way, try anything.
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