Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: The Fall of Furosange (4)
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“Come here, Patriarch of Furosange House.”
Soleil took a bold step forward.
He was armed with a long longsword in his right hand and a massive square shield in his left.
Before him, the Death Knight lowered into a stance, gripping two daggers in reverse grip.
[Grroooo…… Groooo……]
Silver daggers tinged with a bluish hue from the black mana.
The sharply reversed tips pointed straight at Soleil.
And then.
Claaang!
Soleil's and the Death Knight's blades collided, sparks flying.
The Death Knight bared its black silver fangs, lunging to tear into Soleil's throat.
…Thud!
Soleil repelled it with a signature northern warrior shield bash.
[Kruk!?]
Though overshadowed by the fame of Meursault Swordsmanship, their shield techniques were equally a point of pride for the Meursault House.
Being struck by a seasoned Meursault's shield felt like being rammed by a full-charge bull—the impact flipped your world upside down.
The Death Knight fared no differently.
Booom!
Flung back by the shield, it tumbled on the spot, its face grinding into the earth.
[Gruk!?]
The moment the Death Knight raised its head, Soleil's sword cleaved through the air with lethal sharpness.
Shing—
The knights gasped in awe at the aura blade rising from the tip of Soleil's sword.
“5th Circle!”
“The Patriarch has reached the 5th Circle!”
“Sword Master! It's the birth of a Sword Master!”
There was good reason for their uproar.
Soleil had lingered at the 4th Circle wall for long years.
The realm of the Sword Sage, where one formed aura blades in liquid form.
But Soleil was not content with it.
The Meursault House of old had always been ruled by Sword Masters.
The 5th Circle: solidifying mana to freely extend or retract the blade's length.
A domain said to shatter liquid mana effortlessly, where nothing in the world could not be cut.
Soleil had striven endlessly to reach it, but as a collateral branch member, the complete sword style had not been passed down.
After the direct line perished with the sword style, he had all but abandoned hope of breaking through.
Then came hope.
The mysterious book his son had found in a snowy field.
It contained the ultimate secrets left by their lost ancestors, recorded in full.
A miracle.
To Soleil, it was as good as a directive from the ancestors to revive the house.
He pored over the secret sword manual day and night in hushed reverence.
And realized.
If he memorized, comprehended, and refined it, he could surpass the 4th Circle into the 5th—nay, aim even higher.
'Heh, if only I'd read this manual ten years sooner.'
But it didn't matter.
His son, decades his junior, had already read it.
Not only that, but overnight he showed a transformed self and was growing by leaps and bounds.
At this rate, he'd catch up and surpass in a mere dozen years.
'I can't squander the opportunity my son created.'
Soleil gripped his sword and shield tightly.
Then he glared at the twisted remains of his former vassal, Viscount Serubret.
“A perfect test subject for the power of the 5th Circle. Come here.”
[Roooaaar!]
Meursault 1st Form: Bloodletting
Throat slashed effortlessly
…Spurt!
The Death Knight, fearless of wounds, doggedly targeted Soleil's throat with its twin daggers.
But Soleil effortlessly deflected the blade and slashed open the Death Knight's throat.
Black blood sprayed like pus.
Soleil furrowed his brow.
“Being undead, bloodletting has no effect.”
Meursault 2nd Form: Skin Peeling
Armor shattered left to right
The next form followed seamlessly.
This one worked.
The left-to-right slash shattered the Death Knight's armor.
Craaack!
The jet-black plate scattered in pieces.
Exposing the Death Knight's gaunt skeletal frame within.
Soleil's eyes narrowed.
Meursault 3rd Form: Bone Extraction
Blade bends like an eel, shreds internals
[Screeee!]
Bone fragments shattered and scattered.
As the Death Knight staggered back, bereft of most ribs, Soleil closed the distance in a flash.
Meursault 4th Form: Flesh Carving
Twin daggers shattered
Soleil's longsword clashed against the Death Knight's twin daggers.
The result?
Snap!
The Death Knight's blades shattered into fragments.
But Soleil's longsword was not unscathed.
Clang!
It snapped clean in two.
In that instant.
…Grab!
Soleil discarded the hilt and reached out.
He seized the airborne blade barehanded and brought it slashing down.
Meursault 5th Form: Decapitation
Cuts iron like fresh bread—skull cleaved
[Roooaaar!]
A technique usable only by Meursaults who had reached the 5th Circle—an executioner stroke.
A simple, crude, yet devastating vertical slash said to part iron like newly baked bread plummeted from above.
The Death Knight clawed viciously at Soleil's throat.
But.
Slaaash!
Soleil's descending blade severed the claws entirely before splitting the skull in two.
…Spurt!
Tar-black, viscous brain matter poured from the bisected cranium.
The Death Knight's broken claw tips merely grazed one cheek faintly.
Drip—
Red blood trickled from Soleil's cheek.
Yet his gaze remained locked on the Death Knight.
[Grk—grkgrkgrk!]
The Death Knight's gaze fixed on him too.
Its severed stumps flailed toward Soleil.
Contempt entered Soleil's eyes.
“The sin of forgetting your duty as a vassal. The sin of forgetting your duty as a patriarch. And finally, the sin of forgetting your duty as a human.”
He discarded the blade in his hand.
Then gripped the large, heavy shield with both hands.
“Know that these triple sins are so grave that even two deaths are a bargain.”
The 49.2kg shield rose high overhead.
And then.
Whoosh!
It smashed straight down.
[A……]
The Death Knight's bisected maw gaped open.
But before it could utter a sound.
Bam!
The broad face of the square shield crushed it flat.
The Death Knight couldn't even scream as it was pulverized beneath the shield.
Bone shards, blackened marrow, and dark purple mana splattered like mush.
“Behold! I have slain the Furosange Patriarch, corrupted into a monster!”
Soleil bellowed.
All the surrounding knights thrust their swords skyward, roaring in cheers.
“Woooaaah!”
Tears welled in the knights' eyes.
The patriarch they had loyally served for so long—how much heartache had they endured seeing him bow his head in weakness?
But now, witnessing the house's renewed prestige and the patriarch's majestic prowess firsthand, their hearts swelled.
At that moment.
“It's too early to celebrate.”
Someone doused the exultant mood.
Yet no one chided him for killing the vibe.
Because he was the war's greatest contributor—and the son his father cherished above all.
Federback.
He stepped forward with an impassive expression.
“There’s more than one undead here.”
“!”
Soleil scowled.
Shhhh……
He was right.
Dark purple energy seeped from the Death Knight's pulped remains under Soleil's shield.
It drifted toward the scattered corpses of Furosange rangers nearby.
And soon.
[Wooo……]
[Meursault…… kill……]
[Fu…… ro…… san…… ge…… eternal……]
The Furosange rangers' corpses rose creaking as Death Knights.
As the Meursault knights hesitated.
Step—
Federback advanced.
“Father took down Furosange's ringleader, so I'll handle the small fry.”
At the same time.
Shing!
A white aura blade extended from Federback's sword tip.
The ghostly mana coalesced, thickening densely toward the tip.
Then, at the sharp point, it gathered and began dripping in beads.
Pure white and sticky, like milk.
An unmistakable liquid-form aura, plain for all to see.
Every knight's eyes widened in shock.
“4th Circle!?”
Even Soleil gaped, speechless.
Undeterred.
Step—step—step—
Federback strolled calmly toward the undead Furosange rangers.
And then.
Meursault 4th Form: Flesh Carving
Horizontal slash devolves into infinite piercing droplets
Shing—
A straight left-to-right sword stroke.
What began as a thin white line dissolved into a legion of countless points.
How many dots make a single line?
Infinite white droplets shot forward.
Slashes shaped like a child's dripping water drop.
Yet within each drop lurked razor-sharp energy compressed to its limit.
Federback's white droplets struck the undead flesh.
Pop—popopopopopopopopop!
Myriad pinholes perforated the darkened Death Knights' bodies—truly innumerable.
Dense rows of holes linked like perforations, slicing like paper.
[Ooooh!]
The charging undeads' torsos separated from legs, collapsing backward.
Federback turned.
He shrugged at Soleil and the knights standing there stunned.
“Just handle the cleanup.”
With that, Federback departed.
Soleil hurriedly called out.
“Son! Where are you going?”
“One left to capture and interrogate. I can handle it alone—no need for reinforcements.”
Federback vanished into the tower.