Chapter 92
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: An Unforeseen Foe
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Instead, he thrust his leg forward, pushing it right into the Fighting Flame!
To be precise, he pushed the guard protecting his knee into it.
Clang!
The guard was sliced off, and blood spurted from the man's leg. But it was only a minor wound.
'Crazy bastard.'
Chris frowned.
If the man had tried to dodge or block it some other way, his leg would have surely been severed.
But in that split second, he realized it was impossible to block or dodge, so he pushed his leg forward instead.
He had seen through the nature of the Fighting Flame—that it was weakest at its point of origin.
'This guy is no ordinary Shadow.'
Chris clenched his fist.
He stared at the man's face.
He wore a masked artifact that altered his facial contours, so his identity was unknown.
'This one's a genius, too.'
Of course, that didn't mean the man possessed talent on par with Chris.
But among the ranks of ordinary geniuses, his talent was clearly at the very top.
That meant he was a far more difficult opponent than any other typical 4-Star.
Just as Chris could perform beyond his own abilities, this man likely could too.
'This is troublesome. I can't easily use the power of the Crusade Alliance either.'
According to Chris's plan, no traces of the Crusade Alliance's power could be left on the man's corpse.
The plan was to frame this man for the deaths of Maisac and the others, allowing Chris to take credit for eliminating him.
'No choice. I originally planned to capture him first for a cleaner plan, but that's impossible. I have to kill him here and now.'
The reason Chris had intended to capture the Shadow first and eliminate him later was due to the sequence of events.
Once Maisac and the others were dead, their bodies would be investigated.
If it was determined that the Shadow had died before them, it could raise suspicion, which was why he'd planned to postpone the elimination.
'But it can't be helped. He's not an opponent I can subdue without killing.'
Chris's gaze grew cold.
Did the man sense the shift in his aura?
His own atmosphere turned heavy.
For a moment, they stared at each other.
The man lunged with his sword.
Fwoosh!
Another straightforward, powerful strike.
Its very directness made it a tricky attack to counter.
'I can't find an opening. No, there are no openings at all.'
Chris clicked his tongue in amazement.
His opponent was a perfect sword in and of himself.
Just how much had he trained?
It was just a single strike, but it carried the traces of the man's grueling, blood-soaked training.
Added to that was a talent even Chris had to acknowledge.
A difficult opponent.
It was almost an insult to compare him to a brat like Maisac.
However.
'He's not as good as me.'
Chris moved.
He powered his core and stepped forward.
Just as his opponent did.
The same powerful strike.
And then.
Chris imbued his Black Sword with his Will.
“!!”
Feeling the power of the Black Sword, which defied all common sense, the man's eyes widened in alarm.
CLANG!!
But surprisingly, the man managed to block Chris's sword.
In that fleeting moment, he performed an incredible feat, succeeding in deflecting the Black Sword's power.
'Damn, it's absurd being on the receiving end. I expected him to deflect it, but he actually pulled it off?'
Chris let out a dry laugh.
But it didn't matter.
He had assumed it would be deflected from the start.
He focused on the minuscule opening in the man's posture, created as he deflected the Will-infused Black Sword.
It was a tiny, fleeting opening that Chris normally wouldn't have been able to exploit.
Vwoom!
The Vampiric Ring on his finger hummed.
He had been saving this trump card, as he needed to use Radiant Mana when dealing with Maisac and the others, but this was no time to hold back.
The Radiant Mana converted into Dark Magi and spread through his limbs.
His physical abilities surged dramatically in an instant.
The man's pupils wavered.
But even then, the man reacted with another astonishing move.
Sensing that defense was impossible, he launched a deadly counterattack instead.
The man's sword shot out toward Chris's neck.
A counter that lands first.
It was a delayed counter, and while Chris was momentarily much faster, the man's sword would reach its target first.
It was an exquisite move, possible only because of the man's profound understanding of the sword.
If he didn't dodge, his neck would be pierced.
But Chris made the exact opposite choice.
Instead of dodging, he thrust his sword toward the man's chest.
The man's eyes showed confusion.
He couldn't understand Chris's choice.
The man put more force into his sword.
His blade accelerated, growing even more powerful.
The Mana Blade shone brilliantly, as if determined to see this through to the end.
It was a brilliant strike, a single flash capable of cleaving the Dead Sea.
But in that instant.
Something utterly incomprehensible occurred.
Fwoosh!
The man's Mana Blade suddenly faltered for a moment!
“?!”
This, of course, was Chris's doing.
'I aimed for the blind spot in the moment One Flash that Cleaves the Dead Sea accelerates.'
An incomprehensible feat.
Of course, it was only natural for Chris to know the weakness of the Sword Master House's secret technique, One Flash that Cleaves the Dead Sea.
He had seen the Hero Evan use it countless times. But that weakness wasn't something easily exploited.
If someone could neutralize it so easily, it would never have been called the secret technique of a Sword Master House in the first place.
As always, this was possible only because it was Chris.
'I anticipated he would accelerate with One Flash that Cleaves the Dead Sea and laid my trap accordingly.'
To be precise, he had engaged in a battle of wits, deliberately luring the man into using the technique.
Unleashing the Will-infused Black Sword at the beginning.
Using the Vampiric Ring to corner him—it was all to orchestrate this very situation.
The climax was the subtle Black Sword Transformation he triggered in mid-air.
It was faint, with no killing power, but it momentarily disrupted the flow of the Mana Blade.
A crazy feat possible only for Chris.
It was a series of moves that proved Chris was a monster on a different level from other geniuses.
“!!”
The man hurriedly withdrew his sword.
Fwoosh!
A Mana Blade materialized before his chest like a shield.
It was the 4-Star Starlight realm ability, 'Mana Transformation,' but...
“Useless.”
Crack.
Chris's Will-infused Black Sword split the man's mana shield.
Thwump!
And pierced straight through his chest.
The man shuddered once, then collapsed to the floor, vomiting a torrent of blood.
'Hoo.'
Chris let out a deep sigh.
'That wasn't easy.'
He had won, but the man had been formidable.
If he hadn't experienced his recent growth spurt, he wouldn't have been able to win.
'Just who is this guy? To think there's someone like this among the Shadows? He's like Evan.'
In that moment, Chris's face hardened.
A thought struck him belatedly.
'W-wait. No way. It can't be.'
With a trembling hand, Chris removed the man's masked artifact.
And then.
He froze as if he were a corpse himself.
“N-no. This is a joke, right?”
The rugged features that immediately caught his eye.
A face that looked as if it had been sculpted to be the protagonist of a heroic tale.
It was a familiar face.
It was the Hero, Evan.
* * *
“What the—? No way. It can't be, right? Why? Why is he here?”
Chris, unlike his usual self, rambled incoherently.
This was the most flustering situation he'd faced since his regression.
“He's from the Sword Master House, so maybe he's a brother with a similar face to Evan... No, that's impossible!”
Chris's face turned pale.
This man was Evan.
He was certain of it.
'Aaargh! Why did Evan come to the Dark Magic House?! He said he never once set foot in the Magitech Empire before becoming the Hero?!'
There were several reasons why Chris hadn't recognized Evan.
First, the fight had been too frantic to allow for careful thought, and more importantly, Evan had said he'd never visited the Magitech Empire during his time as a Shadow. So, Chris hadn't even considered the possibility.
Another major reason was the form of his swordsmanship.
Chris had first met Evan and joined the Hero's Party late in the Age of Ruin.
It was after Evan had already reached the 8-Star 'Absolute Realm.'
The swordsmanship Evan used back then and the one he'd just displayed had nothing in common besides their straightforward power, so there was no way to recognize him.
'Either way, I have to save him!'
By some miracle, Evan was still alive.
Befitting a hero with tenacious life force, he had twisted his body as the sword pierced him, avoiding his heart.
'But he'll die soon. He can't last long.'
Chris frantically pulled a pill from his pocket.
It was an emergency pill from the Divine Doctor Noble Family, an 'Anti-Death Pill,' which he had prepared for himself in case of a crisis.
He quickly popped it into Evan's mouth and used magic to guide it down his esophagus.
'Damn it, this isn't nearly enough.'
As its name suggested, the pill had powerful life-saving properties, but the injury was too severe.
Chris gritted his teeth and reached out.
The energy flowing through his blood vessels changed, and the Radiant Mana from his Inner Core came to the forefront.
Fwaaaah!!
A brilliant energy erupted.
The Divine Doctor's Ki Technique.
The power that had turned the disciples of the Divine Doctor Noble Family into saints.
After receiving the middle volume of the Divine Doctor Noble Family's secret manual from Duke Huam of the Extreme Poison House, Chris had been secretly practicing the Divine Doctor's Ki Technique.
Fortunately, it was working.
The Divine Doctor's Ki Technique created a synergy with the Anti-Death Pill, and Evan's breathing visibly stabilized.
But Chris's expression didn't improve.
'It's just a temporary fix. At this rate, Evan will die.'
As someone who once possessed medical knowledge on par with the continent's greatest physician, Chris could accurately assess Evan's condition.
'First aid like this is useless. I need to move him and give him proper treatment.'
The problem was time.
He was in a state where he wouldn't last even a few minutes, let alone be moved somewhere.
Just then, Evan coughed up another gush of blood and his body began to convulse.
He quickly checked his pulse; it was faint.
His heart was stopping.
'No! I have to save him, no matter what!'
Chris's vision darkened.
His original plan was to use the Hero to reorganize the Crusade Alliance's forces while he conquered the Magitech Empire from within.
But if the Hero died, his grand plan would be ruined.
'The Alliance side has to get stronger too if I want to prevent a war.'
And beyond such reasons.
Chris gritted his teeth.
- It should have been you, Chris, not me, who became the Hero.
Always.
He was an infuriatingly frustrating guy.
He had sworn to punch him for no reason if they ever met again.
But this man was his comrade.
He absolutely could not watch him die like this.
'I haven't even gotten to punch you properly yet! Get up and suffer with me!!'
Fwaaaaaaaaah!!!!
An explosive radiance burst forth.
The mana in his Inner Core was depleted in an instant.
But it was still useless.
His pulse returned, but it was only a momentary effect. It would worsen again soon.
'What do I do?'
Chris bit his lip hard.
'Think of a way.'
But Chris knew.
The reason the Divine Doctor's Ki Technique was ineffective now was simple.
Evan's condition had already passed the point of no return.
What Chris was doing now was a meaningless act, desperately clinging to a life whose candle had already been extinguished.
'Not even the Divine Doctor's Ki Technique can save someone who has already reached the brink of death.'
“Damn it!”
Chris slammed his fist on the ground in frustration.
Blood trickled down, but he couldn't feel the pain.
But in that moment.
As he saw the blood flowing from his own fist.
A realization struck Chris like a bolt of lightning.
'It's impossible to save someone at death's door with the Divine Doctor's Ki Technique. But...'
Chris swallowed hard.
'With black magic, it's possible!'