Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: The Sword Saint's Misunderstanding
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The greatest southern forest, Line Roth.
The Impudent Plateau lay deep inside Line Roth, accessible only after passing through swamps and jungles.
Deeper still into Line Roth's jungle.
A lone wolf was charging forward.
It was a wolf with ragged red fur bristling wildly.
Wolves in the forest weren't unusual.
But this wolf's speed was abnormal.
Every time it dashed ahead, a thunderous boom echoed out.
Trees tilted and shook from the wind whipping up around the wolf.
Just then, a swamp appeared in the path of the charging wolf.
The wolf didn't care and kept running.
It raced across the swamp's surface, supported only by the water's tension.
Of course it did.
This wolf was inherently lighter than anything else, after all.
Red Shadow Wolf.
It was the wolf Syria often used for travel.
Line Roth was a place no ordinary person would dare enter.
And right now, it was the rainy season.
The sky had holes punched in it, pouring rain down relentlessly.
The downpour swelled the rivers and triggered floods.
The rivers scattered throughout Line Roth had long since overflowed their banks.
But to Syria's Shadow Wolf, it was all irrelevant.
Her wolf trampled even the oncoming floods as it charged ahead.
It felt like a calamity worse than any natural disaster was on the move.
Inside that Shadow Wolf.
Leyzon watched the scene unfold with his arms crossed.
'The Sword Saint crossed this bare-handed?'
The Sword Saint had sensed the apostle summoned by the Transcendent of Evil and headed for the Impudent Plateau.
He must have passed through Line Roth during this very rainy season.
'What a monster.'
The Sword Saint was an 18th Ascension silver hero-rank fighter.
A monster on par with natural disasters.
Floods and rain couldn't stop him.
"L-Leyzon, sir."
At that moment, Hanok tugged at Leyzon's sleeve.
Leyzon turned his head while preparing to enter the Impudent Plateau.
"What? Something wrong?"
"That... isn't that the Sword Saint guy?"
Leyzon followed Hanok's pointing finger and turned.
And there he spotted it.
The Sword Saint, being swept away by the floodwaters.
Watching him get carried downstream in an instant left Leyzon feeling a bit dazed.
He'd just been hyping the guy up, and now this sorry sight.
"Leave him be."
Leyzon ignored the drifting Sword Saint.
He'd never cared about the Sword Saint to begin with.
His reason for heading to the Impudent Plateau this time was the apostle summoned by the Transcendent of Evil.
'The Transcendent of Evil once appeared in the Resonance World.'
There might be some useful information to pry out of it.
Plus, there was the issue with the Shadow Warlord.
If he got tangled up with the apostle, that would be a headache.
"We press on."
Just as Leyzon was about to leave the Sword Saint behind.
He felt a sudden brightness from behind.
Tszzt!
A sparking sound rang in his ears.
"Syria!"
With Leyzon's shout, a bolt of red lightning streaked toward them.
BOOOOOOOM!
The deafening roar echoed as red lightning flashed past the Shadow Wolf.
Leyzon immediately recognized the owner of that red lightning.
Sword Saint, Begris Fernando.
He had activated Thunder [SS].
A simple effect: move at the speed of lightning.
But in the Sword Saint's hands, no skill was more dangerous.
Crash!
"Eek!"
Hanok tumbled out through a tear in the shadows caused by the Sword Saint.
The problem was that he'd fallen right into the river.
Rumble!
The swollen river gaped open to swallow Hanok whole.
Just before he got swept away, Iden's straw shot out and snatched him back.
Iden's straw barely managed to reel Hanok in and return him to the shadows.
In the meantime, the Shadow Wolf mended itself and perched atop a tall tree.
"Ughhh, I-I thought I was gonna die!"
Hanok clung to Leyzon's pants, sniffling.
Leyzon patted him reassuringly and looked up.
The Sword Saint, who had become lightning, landed by tilting a massive tree.
Soaked to the bone from the water, he let his sword hang limply.
Fierce murderous intent burned in his eyes.
"Damn it."
Leyzon clicked his tongue.
How had this flood-swept bastard spotted them in that brief moment?
His eyes were too damn good.
'I was too careless.'
Iden's darkness was slow for travel, so he'd borrowed Syria's Shadow Wolf.
He hadn't expected to run into the guy because of getting caught in the flood.
The Sword Saint gripped his sword again.
Holy energy poured thickly from the blade.
Syria and Iden both winced.
It was an aura utterly repulsive to the undead.
"Did the guy chasing the apostle lose his mind?"
Leyzon swallowed dryly as Syria grumbled.
"The Sword Saint's target was you, Syria."
One thing nagging at him: had he seen Hanok tumble out, or not?
No matter how brutishly straightforward the Sword Saint was.
He'd remember meeting Hanok today.
'If it weren't for that Thunder, Syria could've reacted.'
Making it purely from shadows for travel had been a mistake.
If he'd beefed up the defenses, it wouldn't have been pierced.
"Making me show such an embarrassing blunder in front of Leyzon, sir?"
Just then, Syria walked past Leyzon.
Her eyes glowed bright red.
"Don't worry, Leyzon, sir. It won't happen again."
Syria cracked her knuckles.
Killing intent as vicious as the Sword Saint's poured from her.
"He was a real pain last time."
Corruption Level 19, Vampire Queen.
Syria, the strongest of Leyzon's undead.
She'd even evolved today, gaining six SSS-grade skills.
No way the Sword Saint could match her.
Even if he'd geared up specifically to fight the Vampire Queen, the raw power gap was overwhelming.
"Time to make it crystal clear who he dared point his sword at."
'Syria's gonna kill the Sword Saint.'
That would be a problem.
He planned to infiltrate him into the imperial family.
And with business at the Impudent Plateau, he wanted to conserve strength.
"Vampire Queen."
The Sword Saint spoke up then.
He glared steadily at Syria through his damp red hair.
"That Sword-Tooth Clan kid you swallowed into your shadows earlier."
Damn, so he had noticed.
Leyzon swallowed a groan.
All that acting for nothing.
"Hand over the child you kidnapped."
The Sword Saint assumed a stance atop the tree and aimed his sword.
Leyzon blinked.
Kidnapped?
"W-Was I kidnapped?"
Even Hanok, the person in question, looked baffled as he asked.
Leyzon quickly realized something.
'That idiot's misunderstood.'
He didn't know exactly how, but the Sword Saint seemed to think Syria had taken Hanok hostage.
'This is...'
Leyzon's lips curved up.
Usable.
"Syria, send Hanok out. Wrap him tight in shadows."
"Yes, sir!"
Syria replied brightly, as if she'd never bared her fangs.
"Wh-whoa!"
She instantly bound Hanok in shadows and shoved him outside.
Hanok dangled from the tip of the Shadow Wolf's tail.
The Sword Saint's eyes sharpened even more at the sight.
"Let the child go."
He truly believed Hanok was Syria's hostage.
Syria let out a chilling laugh.
The Shadow Wolf's maw gaped wide.
Her voice echoed out from it.
"If I drop him here, he'll go splash in the river, won't he?"
Syria's voice dripped with provocation.
Leyzon looked at her in surprise.
"Syria, you can make that kind of laugh too?"
"I'm just copying you, Leyzon, sir~?"
"What? I smile brightly."
Leyzon straightened up at Iden's words.
Smiling was his specialty.
He flashed Iden a wide grin.
With the mask on, his fierce face looked outright criminal no matter who saw it.
"Look closely. See how innocently I smile."
"......"
Iden said nothing.
Leyzon grabbed and shook him.
"Iden, why aren't you answering?"
"I'm a curse doll. I can't talk normally~."
'You talk just fine.'
Leyzon felt hurt by Iden's evasion.
Fine. Back to business.
"Syria, from now on, relay exactly what I say in your voice."
"Got it, I'll do it!"
Syria raised her hand energetically.
"Sword Saint, cooperate with me if you want this kid to live."
"Why trust the Vampire Queen's word?"
The Sword Saint didn't buy it.
At that instant, the shadows squeezed Hanok tighter.
"Gahhh!"
Hanok screamed from the pressure.
Hanok, kid, your acting's improved a ton.
"......Not acting, is it really squeezing for real?"
Leyzon glanced back at Syria.
A sadistic smile flickered on her lips.
'......She won't kill him, right?'
But it made the Sword Saint's gaze even more earnest.
"Don't trust me? Then the kid dies. Believe."
The Sword Saint stared at them with boiling eyes, silently.
Slowly, he lowered his aimed sword.
"What do you want."
Good thing he was straightforward.
And righteous too.
'No wonder Pandor follows a guy like that.'
The Sword Saint was the type to save even recent acquaintances.
That personality explained why he'd honed his blade for decades for a friend's revenge.
"You know an apostle descended on the Impudent Plateau."
"I do."
The Sword Saint had raced through rainy Line Roth because of the apostle.
So he answered plainly.
"I have business with the apostle. Help me catch it, and I'll let the kid go."
The Sword Saint glared fiercely.
His face screamed he wanted to swing right then.
His friend's enemy was before him, after all.
"......Fine."
But he accepted for Hanok's sake.
Whoosh!
The moment the talk ended, the shadows yanked Hanok back in.
"Eeeeek!"
Hanok tumbled inside.
But like a roly-poly toy, he popped right back up.
"S-Syria, ma'am! You nearly squeezed me to death!"
"Hmph, better than your crappy acting."
Syria snorted at Hanok's protest.
The two got along well.
"Vampire Queen, one question."
As Leyzon relaxed, the Sword Saint asked.
"There was a man with the Sword-Tooth Clan child. Is he safe?"
Safe? He's right here chatting.
"No idea. Never cared about him."
But he couldn't say that.
Leyzon gave a vague answer.
"I see."
The Sword Saint didn't press further.
He seemed to buy it as not a lie, at least.
"Keep your promise."
The Sword Saint righted the tilted tree and prepared to leap away.
"......Syria, snag him."
Leyzon forcibly stopped him.
"What is this?"
The Sword Saint yelled, but Leyzon sighed.
"The Impudent Plateau is the other way."
The Sword Saint quieted down.
Didn't expect him to get lost even here.