Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: Mirror Flower, Water Moon
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***
*Swoosh!*
The wind grazed my cheek, sending my body staggering.
*Thud!*
Still, I planted my foot firmly on the ground to steady myself, then immediately assessed my current situation.
‘I can’t close the distance.’
That was the biggest problem. Glacia’s wind was lancing toward me with sharp precision, as if to completely block my approach.
Even though I thought I’d grasped a way to counter the wind during my recent spar with Jerad, this felt entirely different.
Jerad’s wind had seemed powerful on the surface, but its cohesion was low. So, when I sliced through it sharply with my spearhead, the wind would scatter anticlimactically.
But Glacia’s wind was far more cohesive, so much so that I couldn’t even meet it head-on with my spear.
Even though it was formless, the air began to shimmer again, and I threw myself aside once more.
*Thud!*
I dodged the relentless gusts of wind while putting strength into my right foot planted on the ground.
*Rustle!*
As my hair continued to fly about, I loosened my grip on the spear shaft. Tension mounted, but I didn’t let myself become hasty.
In any contest, the one who rushes is always the one to make a mistake.
‘Stay calm.’
Glacia simply moved her hand lightly, her expression unchanging. This meant she had anticipated that I would dodge like this.
That, more than anything, bothered me.
The reason I was dodging the wind instead of charging straight ahead was that the intervals between her attacks were incredibly strange.
The intervals.
When I first dodged the wind. The few times after that. And even now, the timing between each blast was different.
That’s why I couldn’t approach recklessly.
If I tried to close in and got hit by consecutive blasts, it would be over.
Then, Glacia suddenly stopped firing and simply aimed her sword tip at me. For a moment, it felt as if I’d been conditioned.
I couldn’t move rashly, not knowing when the next gust of wind would come.
…And this was a psychological game that seemed to prey on that very fact.
“……”
I slowly evened my breathing and pointed the tip of my spear at Glacia.
‘Instead of just dodging, let’s try to disperse the wind itself.’
My mood settled, and I decided to take the risk. I wasn’t confident I could cleave her wind apart like I had with Jerad’s, but I had to confirm it before I could even think about closing the distance.
If I couldn’t cut through the wind, there was no point in getting closer.
And then.
—!
The wind shot toward me again.
A formless gust erupted from the tip of her sword, shimmering through the air. The moment my spearhead met it, I swiftly swung the spear downward.
*Shwick!*
The instant I thought I’d perfectly timed my slash through the wind.
*Boom!*
“...!”
With a strange explosive sound, I felt a momentary illusion that my body was floating.
*Rustle!!*
The fierce storm blasting from ahead made my uniform flap wildly, and even my hair whipped about violently.
*Thud.*
As I forced my body, which was about to be blown back, to stay grounded, a dry laugh escaped my lips.
“…Ha.”
It was so different.
The cohesion of her wind was utterly incomparable to Jerad’s. This wasn’t some gust I could just cut through.
That single exchange was all it took for me to realize.
The moment I cut the wind, the condensed mana would explode, and the aftershock would hit me squarely.
—!!
With another gust shooting toward me without pause, I had no time to recover and had to kick off the ground immediately.
As I leaped back slightly, an unavoidable sigh escaped me.
‘This is a complete mismatch.’
For the first time in a while, I could feel the difference in our respective Traits.
Glacia was holding a sword, but she was by no means a close-range fighter. It was clear she intended to keep me at a distance, preventing me from getting near.
In a matchup against a close-range weapon user, the spear certainly had the advantage, but thinking about it now, that was a special circumstance I only felt because I could fight Leonhardt.
“…Hoo.”
Then, Glacia let out a soft breath, and my gaze instinctively went to her.
Her cold eyes and sword tip were still aimed at me, but she looked as if she was catching her breath.
‘So it’s not infinite.’
It felt like I’d found a small opening.
The nature of an elemental Trait like wind. Glacia wielded it as freely as her own limbs, but that power wasn’t limitless.
Every Trait had its limits; of course, she couldn’t attack indefinitely.
Realizing that simple principle, my heart felt a little lighter.
*Tap. Tap.*
I tapped my feet on the ground and began to withdraw and redistribute the mana cloaking my body.
I was changing the property of my mana.
Normally, using mana was as easy and unconscious as breathing. But when I recalled the infinite spiral circulation and changed its nature, the story was entirely different.
Mana with spiral properties required extreme concentration, and the amount of mana I could wield dropped sharply to about one-fifth of my usual capacity.
‘I’ll force Glacia to expend more of her power.’
Glacia probably still had plenty of energy to spare, but I figured it would be a different story if I forced her to manifest even greater power.
*Srrk…*
A blue aura began to rise slowly, wrapping around my spearhead. It emanated a strange mystique, completely different from the currents of wind surrounding Glacia’s body.
“…Han Cheon-seong. What is that?”
Her eyes widened in admiration, and I spoke lightly.
“A clue to a skill. It’s an application of a concept I’ve realized.”
I explained briefly, my mind still focused on the tip of my spear.
“I see. I’ve never seen it before.”
With that one-word reply, Glacia immediately shot a gust of wind at me as if to test it.
“……”
Facing the shimmering wind, I once again met it with my spearhead.
It felt completely different from before.
I had no intention of cutting the wind to disperse it.
Furthermore, it wasn't the vague concept I once had of piercing a single point and twisting.
‘I’ll shatter the wind completely.’
The spiral aura I created had to have that much destructive power.
With the intent to shatter the wind, I thrust my spear forward with all my strength.
*Srrk!*
The blue spiral aura shone brilliantly, decorating my vision as it collided with the shimmering wind.
*Ssssssk!*
For a moment, the spear seemed to falter, but it managed to completely pierce through the wind head-on.
The wind then washed over me again. But it wasn't a gale like before. It didn't explode; it simply collapsed and vanished.
Seeing the result I’d hoped for, I felt a sense of relief.
‘I’ve found the power to break through the wind.’
Now, all that was left was to close the distance to Glacia.
I kicked off the ground with confidence, but I didn’t let my guard down. Even now, I didn’t think I had the upper hand.
I didn’t believe this was the extent of Glacia’s power.
And just as I expected, as I closed the distance, Glacia showed another change.
She quickly switched from a one-handed to a two-handed grip on her sword. As I leaped forward, I instinctively twisted my feet.
*Ssk! Thud!*
‘Dangerous.’
It was a momentary instinct. Glacia, who had been aiming her sword with one hand, suddenly gripped it with both.
It was a sign that she was about to unleash a power far stronger than before.
As I threw my body diagonally, I saw it for a split second.
*Swish—!*
Glacia’s blue hair billowed even more brilliantly than before. And at the same time, an aura like a raging storm enveloped her sword.
Glacia wasn’t even trying to just aim her sword at me anymore.
She was preparing to swing her sword in a wide arc toward me.
“...!”
*Gulp.* I swallowed hard, pulling my spear back with all my might while still suspended in mid-air. It was an instinctive act to draw out even more of the spiral energy I was wielding.
‘Can I even break through that storm?’
Seeing Glacia change her stance in an instant, as if she had been waiting for me to approach, I stopped all further thought and thrust my spear.
Against a wind that strong, speed was already meaningless.
In that case, I had to strike first.
Then, I witnessed an astonishing sight.
Just as I thrust my spear into the empty air, Glacia also swung her two-handed sword in a wide arc through the air.
*Booooom—!*
For a moment, I felt the strange illusion that a shockwave had erupted from her. The storm that had been enveloping her sword was gone, and I could see what was in front of me.
*Swoooosh…!*
An incredibly powerful storm was raging from the tip of my outstretched spear, trying to swallow me whole.
***
The moment Han Cheon-seong neutralized the blast of wind, he kicked off the ground.
Glacia was inwardly impressed by his move but didn’t take her eyes off him for a single second.
She had expected the Han Cheon-seong she knew would be able to break through and approach her.
‘A little closer.’
And she wanted him to come just a little closer.
This very moment, when he would break through the wind and close in.
The instant he narrowed the distance, she could follow up with the attack she had planned.
—!
The moment she gripped her sword with both hands, the accumulated wind exploded outward, creating a massive current.
When he, who she expected to charge straight in, suddenly launched himself into the air, she twisted her sword and swung it with all her might toward the airborne Han Cheon-seong.
*Booooom—!*
The massive shockwave that erupted in an instant made her own body stagger, but her eyes remained fixed on him.
Seeing him thrust his spear at the same time, she couldn’t understand it for a moment.
‘Did he read all my movements?’
There was no way Han Cheon-seong, a C-Class, could know her training methods, yet he was reacting just as Leonhardt had in their countless spars.
Han Cheon-seong showed it in their very first duel.
Just as Leonhardt would anticipate the wind's arrival and thrust his sword first, he was meeting it by thrusting his spear.
*Swoooosh…!*
Against the raging wind, a brilliant blue spiral scattered. The light was so beautiful it momentarily caught her eye, but she still narrowed them.
‘…It’s very similar, but different.’
Compared to Leonhardt, who would either cut through her wind or nullify it with his own power to close the distance, Han Cheon-seong was charging in by piercing through the center of the wind.
He’d said it was a power that applied the concept of a skill, but she found that hard to accept.
Common and Legendary.
Despite the insurmountable gap between their Traits…
Han Cheon-seong was producing a remarkably similar result.
*Swish!*
Finally, the wind exploded violently and dissipated.
It had been a strike meant to finish Han Cheon-seong in one blow, but she had still achieved her main objective.
Han Cheon-seong was sent flying through the air. He displayed the miraculous skill of righting himself, but that was all.
*Ssk.*
She raised her sword tip and aimed it at him again.
A current of wind erupted along the straight blade, once again targeting Han Cheon-seong at her will.
—!
As he hastily threw himself to the side, she strangely felt good watching him.
He might have deviated from her expectations, but the fundamental premise hadn’t changed.
The way to fight Han Cheon-seong.
Just as he had done against Leonhardt in the past, she had no intention of letting him close the distance now.
‘Because this is something I learned directly from you.’
Thinking about him all this time had naturally led her to this conclusion.
How to win, how to reach him. Even what it meant to properly utilize her Trait.
And she was able to advance further.
By using the true power of the wind.
…
…
A faint smile touched Glacia’s lips. But she didn’t know.
That a faint blue light had begun to form all over her body.