Embracing, Dwelling, and Being Born (11)
The mana blooming at the tip of the spear shot forward like arrows of wind. Fffft—!
The deep green mana was incredibly thick, carrying a force so overwhelming it felt like an ogre ripping a tree from the ground and hurling it. The few knights who had been concentrating so hard they’d forgotten to breathe suddenly choked, doubling over in violent coughing fits.
“Kuh…?!”
“Cough—! Hrrk! Cough, cough…!!”
They had been so absorbed in the spar, imagining themselves in Gaius’s place, that when their predictions were completely shattered, they gasped in shock and ended up swallowing the wrong way. It was clear proof that, despite their natural talent and focus, their training still fell short.
Even the senior knights who had managed to maintain their composure through harsh training were in a similar state. Their minds screamed the same thing.
‘This is impossible!!’
‘That was definitely the stance of the Flying Leap charge…!!’
It was a technique that clearly originated from their family’s sword art, yet it looked like something none of the knights had ever seen before. They had never once imagined that a simple thrust could evolve in such a way. The shock was so intense it went beyond breaking preconceptions; it left the back of their heads tingling.
To be honest, they had all believed they understood the family sword style better than Nord. That was why, just a few dozen seconds earlier, they had grown furious when they saw him attempting to use the family’s techniques against the Knight Commander. That anger had quickly turned into underestimation of the man holding the spear.
The senior knights realized too late that their complacency had been the real mistake. In a real battle, they would already be dead. This was the price of misjudging an opponent’s strength. As their hollow pride crumbled, they bit their lips hard.
‘I already knew he was superior to me, yet I lost focus with shallow assumptions and let my guard down…!’
‘Pathetic fool! Have you grown lazy since becoming a senior knight?’
‘Could it be… that he deliberately chose an unfamiliar weapon just to teach even us…?’
It was possible. Nord had only switched weapons after the knights had shamelessly gathered to steal a lesson. Hadn’t he originally asked for a spear?
To think he would offer guidance to mere uninvited guests while facing someone on his own level like Gaius. The knights were struck speechless by both his immense generosity and the mastery with which he put it into practice.
‘He must be trying to smack some sense into our pathetic attitudes!’
‘Even if you’re ashamed, hold your head high! Even if you can’t learn anything, you must not look away from his teaching!’
Whether it was true or not, the knights straightened their postures and watched with renewed focus.
—Taat!!
In the training ground where countless emotions and gazes collided, Gaius dodged the wind arrows. The thick projectiles flew far even after losing their target, carrying more than enough power to do real damage. Fortunately, because the family’s sword style emphasized slashing attacks, the training hall’s ceiling was installed higher than a person’s head. If it hadn’t been, several of the dazed spectators would have ended the day with holes in their skulls.
—Chak!
Gaius, having evaded the attack, planted his feet firmly.
“……You unfolded the principle of the charge technique through your arm.”
His body trembled with emotion. A joy greater than anything he had felt while viewing the dozens of artworks owned by the family head flooded his chest.
“Did you apply condensed mana to a thrust? And then added something else to release it as a slash!”
Gaius, who had not yet fully grasped the martial principle behind the technique, couldn’t contain his impatience and asked directly. A genius on Nord’s level might have understood it just by watching, but he was not there yet.
The reason the Armaals family sword style was named Flying Sword was precisely because of the slashes that exploded condensed mana outward. It was also the origin of the name Flying Sword Knight Order. Even Gaius had tried releasing slashes according to the established forms and grafting them onto other secret arts, but he had never once considered manifesting that slash through a thrust.
The secret of the Flying Sword that had evolved from thrusts was completely different in form from what Nord had just shown.
“……I pulled a few spell formulas from wind-type magic and mixed them into my dash and thrust.”
Nord answered a little late this time too, having turned Odin’s Eye on and off again.
“From the first time I saw the family head’s sword style, I thought it was an extremely fast blade. When mages talk about ‘speed,’ they usually mean lightning or wind. But lightning mana is hard to control, so it’s difficult to deploy without proper magic.”
So Nord had dismantled several magic formulas with Odin’s Eye and experimented by mixing the spell structures that converted his body’s mana into wind mana with his sword techniques. The thrust he had just used was the result.
“You mixed… magic formulas into swordsmanship?”
Gaius was stunned, realizing it couldn’t have been as easy as the words suggested, and he was right. Because Nord lacked natural sense, he had struggled quite a bit to separate swordsmanship and magic during the mana conversion process. It would have been much easier if he had simply used magic, but there was no way he could say to the Knight Commander, “Would you like to learn some magic?”
Despite the hardship, Nord had ultimately succeeded in allowing wind to be infused into swordsmanship even without deep magical understanding, as long as one had sufficient skill.
“When mixed with a dash, the speed increases slightly. When mixed with a thrust, it releases a slash like you just saw.”
It was a concise explanation, but anything more was beyond Nord’s vocabulary. There was also the issue of his limited eloquence. And if he were to be completely honest, Nord didn’t think this technique held that much value. Wouldn’t it be more effective to just apply magic directly? Mixing wind mana into dashes or other techniques was difficult. Even he—the one who had developed it—had barely been able to incorporate it into his own style.
Using a thrust to launch long-range attacks might be applicable to spear arts if combined with magic, but that was it. His personal assessment was that it was difficult and not particularly useful.
“In just a few days… to reach this level……”
But no matter how low Nord’s evaluation of the technique was, Gaius, who possessed a natural talent for swordsmanship, saw even the parts Nord himself had not yet realized. To Gaius, the technique’s potential for development was truly limitless.
It was a martial art used by humans. There was no way every type of mana could be mixed into it. If that were possible, every sword style in the world would be spitting fire or lightning. The fact that Nord had identified and proven that, among countless mana types, only wind mana harmonized with the family’s sword art was enough to engrave his name in the history of the Flying Sword Knight Order.
‘Of course, right now it’s still a technique that only a genius on the level of Sir Nord could understand and use.’
But what if the technique of infusing wind into the sword was properly systematized and improved so that anyone could learn it through effort? The Flying Sword of Armaals would one day carry the wind, and a new sword art would be born.
“It feels like my eyes have been opened. In this short spar today, you have given me an incredible realization……”
Thrust and slash. Gaius trembled with pure admiration at Nord’s genius, which had started from the same foundation yet reached completely opposite directions. A new path had opened for the family’s sword art, which had seemed stagnant after hundreds of years of development with no further progress. It felt as if a wind was blowing against the wall that had been blocking his own way forward.
“I see…… So that’s how it was.”
Gaius forgot he was in the middle of a spar and looked up at the sky.
“Since becoming Knight Commander, I’ve drawn my sword far less often on pure impulse like I did when I was young. Just as you said, Sir Nord. When the wind stops, it is no longer wind.”
“……Huh? Did I… say something like that…?”
“The wind I put into my sword could fly far and wide, yet I myself was too busy settling comfortably into my position. I have no regrets about devoting myself to the family head, but at some point I had become trapped in empty pride and arrogance—Knight Commander, Mithril Class, all of it.”
“Um… I’m sorry to interrupt while you’re having some kind of realization, but if we’re done, can I head back down now……?”
“Because my heart was trapped in one place and wouldn’t move, my own progress could only stagnate as well… The wind had stopped, yet I folded the sails even tighter and greedily tried to go further. I am ashamed of the years I’ve wasted.”
Gaius closed his eyes and smiled at the realization lingering at his fingertips. If he held onto this insight and used it as a lifeline to walk forward, he would one day reach the Master Class. By presenting a new direction for the family’s sword art, Nord had also blown a clear, refreshing wind into his heart.
“Since you have given me such a profound realization… it is only right that I repay you.”
Gaius raised his sword and drew up his mana.
“Sir Nord!! From now on, I will fight with my full strength! I apologize that this inadequate body of mine possesses no talent for teaching, but… this Gaius Ritter Vane!! As a warrior before he is a knight, I hope to be of even the slightest help to your growth!!”
“Huh? Wait, no, you really don’t have to—”
Clang—!!
Nord seemed flustered by his enthusiasm and opened his mouth to say something, but from the moment he blocked Gaius’s sword, his eyes began to shine. He shut his mouth and didn’t utter another word. Hadn’t he said himself that his speech decreased when he concentrated? From the middle of the fight onward, he even dispelled the magic on his spear and began using proper spear techniques. It seemed he had become genuinely immersed in the spar as well.
If so, his genius would surely, through that superhuman concentration, grant Nord some kind of realization.
‘I pray that my lacking swordsmanship can become even a small stepping stone for his growth.’
With that silent wish, Gaius swung his sword with fierce intensity.