The Vile Foe Returns (2)

What the hell is a "Happy Ending Quest"?

God damn it. Now is not the time to be worrying about that.

Right now, my attention needed to be on them — the overwhelming horde pressing us into a losing position.

Florence tilted his head slightly to one side and began showing me a smile steeped in madness. Then, with blinding speed, he threw himself at me.

Of course, with Storm's Master as my passive, blocking his attacks was no difficult feat.

"Did you know? I'm a Successor and a demon now...?"

"....."

I knew.

A successor of the Four Perils was simply a being who carried demon blood and human blood together, granting them a strength on an entirely different dimension from that of ranked demons.

But the fact that I could hold him off this easily — far more easily than expected, even in this very moment —

meant that Florence had not yet adapted to the power of the Four Perils.

He was posturing and provoking all he liked, but inside him, the faint remnant of the White Tiger's aura was still clashing with Taowu's power, devouring him from within.

Little by little, though, the White Tiger's energy was losing ground.

Now — this very instant — he had to fall.

I wreathed my blade in wind and knocked Florence's axe away, driving him back. I compressed the air and set it swirling around the sword. As a fierce gale howled to life, it shoved his axe clean aside.

I shot forward, scanning for an opening. Even though he clearly knew his own body was being swallowed by the darkness, he still wore the face of a man at his leisure — and slowly began to draw out a new power.

From within the darkness... soldiers wielding swords were rising.

This wasn't necromancy.

The disgust crawling up my spine was on a completely different level from that.

Those things are supposed to be evil spirits?

Black masses of writhing corruption punched up through the ground across every corner of my wind domain. Admittedly, the ones that surfaced in the wrong spots were skewered through head or torso by the swords they'd been bound to and oxidized on the spot — but even so, an overwhelming number of them spread out before me.

About ten of them.

Each one carrying a different weapon.

"Kill him."

Florence raised his axe toward me and gave the order to his evil spirits. The sword-wielding spirit at the very front lunged at me with a simple diagonal slash from the right.

I raised my blade to parry it —

"Shit."

My instincts screamed. Don't block that.

I pumped strength into my legs and leapt backward. The other evil spirits, apparently obeying only Florence's commands, didn't spare so much as a glance for the soldiers and knights killing and holding the demons.

Even though a small handful of the soldiers and knights were attacking them, the blows simply didn't land.

Ordinary physical attacks were useless against them.

Which meant they had to be smashed down with magic or authority.

I poured the authority of purification and the authority of wind into my sword and advanced slowly. Seeing me come, the sword spirit kicked off the ground and lunged.

Without warning, my New-Model shot out in a blur. The spirit flinched, trying to dodge my attack — but its legs were already bound by Jeongryeong's wind. My blade sheared straight through the evil spirit, and it oxidized into black mist.

Nine remaining.

Next came the dagger-wielder. It tore toward me fast, aiming for the right side of my neck; I turned the New-Model lightly to slip the strike, then cleaved through its throat.

Eight.

The moment I'd felled two of them, Florence spoke with a wicked smile creeping across his face.

"Everything you can see — except the demons — kill it all."

"No!!"

The soldiers and knights, as they were now, could not kill them.

Even now, some of the knights were flashing sword-aura here and there, but swinging sword-aura didn't guarantee a victory, not even close.

That son of a bitch...!!

I called out to the high spirits of wind as fast as I possibly could. When I had gathered five at most, Jeongryeong took point and the other four split ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off across the battlefield to bring down the evil spirits.

I stayed behind — I had a head to sever, the one commanding these things.

The throwing axes in his hands...

became shrouded in a foul, crawling darkness.

"Let's die — and let's kill — together!!!

He closed the distance on me in a flash, and in the same breath hurled the axe in his left hand straight at me.

Recalling the power of Azure Dragon's Ascension — whose sword-aura carried force beyond any ordinary slash — I drove my aura forward. But the axe sailed through my sword-aura like it was nothing and came screaming at me, as though it had never touched a thing.

I whipped the New-Model to the side and evaded, but Florence had reached me. He swung his axe in a horizontal arc, aiming to split my neck.

I leaned back out of its path and slammed a kick loaded with raw force into his flank.

"Kkuhk!"

He cried out in pain and clutched his side.

As I thought — he still hadn't adapted to Taowu's power. If he had adapted, or if Taowu had already devoured his body and soul, Taowu would have manifested by now. The tiny sliver of strength the White Tiger had left behind was doing its work.

Taowu could devour him completely and break its seal at any moment — and the only reason it didn't was one thing alone:

it wanted to watch him get beaten black and blue by me, and lose in the most pathetic way imaginable.

What a grotesque pastime.

But for me, it was nothing short of a blessing.

It was the only reason I could keep landing clean hits like that.

"Die!"

The first axe he'd thrown ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠earlier landed back in Florence's hand with uncanny precision. But true to form, the darkness coating it had already peeled away and vanished.

Florence charged me without a shred of fear. He hefted both axes and brought them flashing down toward my head; I gripped my sword in both hands, bracing for the impact to catch the blades.

- KAAAANG!!

The shriek of two steels meeting, and the sparks leaping into the air, testified to just how massive the impact had been. I tilted my sword slightly and hooked the blade into the joint where the axe's edge met its haft, then pulled forward. Do that, and his axes would slide out of Florence's hands with ease.

The throwing axes crashed to the ground, and Florence — weaponless for the first time — was plunged into crisis.

"Ughaaaagh!!!"

But the screams of the soldiers and knights turned my head before I could press the advantage. Even with five high spirits of wind deployed, the evil spirits had not yet been wiped out. And in the middle of it all, Florence wore his wicked smile and manifested his authority again.

By the time I swung my blade to stop him, it was already too late. Around him, evil spirits roughly three times the number he'd summoned before erupted from the earth. I snatched the wind-blade up in my left hand and leveled it at him — his whole body was being swallowed by the darkness, bit by bit.

Half-consumed, Florence spoke to me.

"Cripple. Just you wait. I'll be back in a few days."

The moment the words left his mouth, his entire body was engulfed by the dark, and his figure vanished. He had likely established a forward camp somewhere in the Crystal Territory and chosen to retreat there.

For now — let's deal with the evil spirits this bastard left behind.

The blade I released with Wind and Cloud carved through the evil spirits' weapons with ease.

The authority of lightning and wind settled whole into my blade. I dropped bolts across the front line, dealing heavy damage to the evil spirits — and to the ones still reeling from the shock, unable to gather their senses, I graciously gifted a sword strike as well.

And so, five more.

"Haah... haah..."

This was brutal.

My top priority was the evil spirits — but the overwhelming numbers of demons the enemy had left across ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the front were ours to shoulder as well. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Under the combined assault of demons and evil spirits, our forces were being pushed... steadily onto the back foot.

And me? I was wearing down, stamina bleeding away.

"Aaaagh!!"

"Hold the line!"

"The Successor of the Azure Dragon is here! We have to hold!"

.....

Their cries rang out from every direction, but one man alone wasn't enough. My mana, too, was dipping toward empty. It had been a long time since I'd been scraping by on the fumes, killing demons with nothing but pure swordsmanship.

- Kieeek!

Three goblins charged me. I booted one clean off its feet, sent it flying, and swept the sword in a single full rotation, taking the other two heads at the same time.

I killed and killed, and still they didn't stop coming.

Looked like I had no choice but to use the last resort.

It would be a long while yet before Ellie arrived. I'd thinned out the demon numbers along her path so she could come with ease — but as long as Florence was entrenched here, the demons would never stop replenishing. Naturally, she'd have to cut down demons all along the way too, so her arrival would take at least twice the normal travel time to the Crystal Territory.

Therefore —

I gathered every last drop of mana and recalled all five high spirits of wind spread across the battlefield. Having understood my command, Jeongryeong hurriedly gathered itself and the other four to my position.

Jeongryeong, who had taken up Baram's mantle, was far smaller in build than Baram had been and doubled as the squad leader — but since Baram's death, it had been a steadfast comrade filling the gap he left behind.

I gave its head a gentle pat, then let the overworked wind-blade fall from my hand. The blade I'd been clutching in my left hand was worn down to the point it could no longer hold an edge, and with the wind domain still holding, there was no reason to keep carrying a dead sword instead of drawing a fresh one.

- Shreung.

I took a firm grip on two longswords.

And unleashed the skill. It was a mad thing I had never once attempted — but if it could turn the tide, and if it spared our strength for the battles to come, then every soldier saved was a soldier gained.

I poured the power of wind into both blades.

That mad idea, in short, was this:

My skills were, at their core, single arts forged by blending the Azure Dragon's swordsmanship with my authorities. So what if I added those skills together? Surely a power enormous enough to turn the entire battle would come pouring out.

Praying my body would hold, I ran the combination.

A warning from the Status Window, unlike any I'd seen before.

I steadied my breath once and raised the authority of wind to its limit.

["Raging Wind Flash Strike" — casting.]

The Status Window, reading my response, assisted the skill's activation without further prompting.

A wind so fierce it blurred the world spun up around me and the five wind wolves.

- Awoooooooooo!!!

The five wolves howled with tremendous force and, riding the wind, hurled themselves across the battlefield at a speed beyond all comparison to before. Moving fast as light itself, the demons fell before they could even register what was happening. In the wolves' wake, the entire field became a zone of howling, savage gale.

The wind had grown so strong that neither the demons nor our own troops could move freely — even the evil spirits stood frozen, unable to lift so much as their own weapons.

Along the very path the wolf spirits had carved, I drove my blades forward. Sweeping upward from below, a tornado of wind erupted ahead and ground everything in its path to shreds — and miraculously, only the demons suffered. Not a single ally was touched.

Without pause, I rained attacks across every direction, giving the enemy no moment to breathe. Under the relentless assault, the evil spirits could neither withstand nor repel the wind; they simply melted away. Only after the last of them was swallowed by the tornado and annihilated could I finally bring the skill to a close.

Even a supreme demon had been whipped into a rag and left half-conscious by the cyclone — so the rest was up to the soldiers and knights.

"Uuughk!!"

Pain slammed through my whole body. I wanted to scream — but not here, not if I could help it. I'd come this far on morale alone; I couldn't let it collapse now.

I steadied myself, mounted Jeongryeong, and — just as I had during the Tide of Corruption — began a slow, inconspicuous withdrawal, beyond the enemy's sight. I simply couldn't hold out any longer.

Muscle pain that crashed over me like it meant to devour me whole, and a headache that bored into my skull like someone driving a blade through it. That maddening collaboration of torments was more than enough to bring me within a hair's breadth of collapse.

I released the wind wolves once more across every corner of the battlefield, moving as fast as I could to find Gerald. At last, one of them located him, and Jeongryeong carried me straight to him.

Watching the evil spirits and demons melt away so easily under that inexplicable wind assault, Gerald must have realized I had returned. He was the supreme commander, after all — and a commander who had taken the field himself.

Found him at last. Gerald was running toward me, guided by the wind wolf — a middle-aged man riding a wolf's back toward me without the faintest idea why. Jeongryeong kept me mounted and held position at my side, guarding against ambush, even though I had recalled it once already.

Perhaps because I had reverse-summoned every wolf except the one carrying Gerald toward me, the crushing headache seemed to ease a little. Most likely, this skull-splitting pain was a premonition of full mana exhaustion. I had scraped the barrel down to the bottom and spent it all, so of course it was.

Conscience speaking: it hurt like hell.

Just as I was gasping through the pain, trying to catch my breath, the wind wolf carrying Gerald halted in front of me.

Gerald looked at me, still breathing hard, and called out.

"Successor of the Azure Dragon!"

He scrambled down from the wolf's back and hurried over, desperate to check on my condition. I raised a hand and signaled him to calm down. Whether my silent gesture got through or not, Gerald gave a small nod and simply looked at me. I spoke to him quietly.

"Did you see the Successor of the Four Perils?"

At my words, Gerald shook his head.

"Not I, nor Khan, nor Lady Fairy — none of our forces ever glimpsed his true form."

So that bastard Florence showed himself to me alone?

That lunatic... just how much of his spite had he saved up for me...

I quickly explained the Four Perils' successor — his identity, and his techniques. And the longer I spoke, the grayer Gerald's face became.

It would weigh on anyone, from every angle. The Successor of a Divine Beast who had made his home in his own territory had committed atrocities, and to sever them, a Successor Contest had even been fought — only for the man to vanish without a trace, and resurface precisely here, in Gerald's own land.

And as a traitor to humanity — as the Successor of the Four Perils, no less.

Gripping my worsening body, I told Gerald:

"That wind assault that swept the entire battlefield a moment ago — that was my authority."

Gerald's eyes went wide.

"We received word that you were coming, but... judging by your attire, it seems you went straight into battle the moment you arrived."

Apparently the Emperor had sent word ahead by magic long ago. With a successor of the Four Perils appearing, it had been deemed an emergency worth the cost of a mage's dispatch.

Right. First... first, let me rest.

Whether my condition looked as bad as it felt or not, Gerald gave me permission to withdraw —

"Kkeuuuk..!"

— but having burned through so much time, the surging pain made me feel like my grip on consciousness was slipping. At my pained groan, Gerald hastily called for healers, and only after several of them swarmed over did the muscle pain finally begin to recede.

With my body marginally better, I resolved to watch the battle through to its end. Gerald and Jeongryeong stayed at my side, worried — but the healers were diligently layering healing and buff magic over me in turn, and the battle was visibly winding down, so it was a choice I could afford.

And then, at last, roughly thirty minutes later, every last clash ended.

At Gerald's urging, I returned swiftly to the estate. Thanks to Jeongryeong, the trip was quick, and with the maids' help I managed — barely — to lower myself into a bed and rest.

God, I was exhausted. How many times in a single day had I used my authorities and my combinations? And in those few hours of fighting, so much had happened... I was drained, body and soul.

"For now... let me sleep on it, and think after."

With those words, without even noticing Khan — who had arrived at the estate before me — I sank deep into the embrace of sleep.