Chapter 154: Wavel (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 154: Wavel (6)
The 4th-Circle fire magic, ‘Flare Rain’.
A rain of fiery arrows poured from the ceiling, sweeping through the hall.
The assassin tried to use his signature speed to escape the spell's range, but he couldn't evade the wide-area magic completely. In the end, he was pierced by fire arrows and died instantly.
The gentleman also tried to block the spell with a barrier, but it seemed a 4th-Circle spell was too much for it; the barrier shattered and he was incinerated.
But the greatsword warrior with copper skin was a different story.
He seemed to have withstood the magic with an incredibly strong protective aura.
‘A B-ranker is using a protective aura?’
Contrary to my expectations, the situation was starting to take a strange turn.
“Guuuh…! You damn sorcerer…!!!”
He hadn't blocked it completely, as his entire body was covered in burns.
But his fighting spirit and killing intent hadn't diminished in the slightest. If anything, they seemed even more intense than before.
In the unsettling atmosphere, steam began to rise from the greatsword warrior's skin, and strange tattoos started to cover his body.
“My name is Fredegard Kubel! A great warrior of the plains! Do you think I would lose to a mere sorcerer like you?!”
In that instant, his killing intent washed over me as if it had taken physical form.
His aura had become ferocious in a heartbeat, and the killing intent, which seemed to stir my primal instincts, was enough to give me goosebumps.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing that had changed.
Not only his pupils, but even the whites of his eyes turned a dark, bloody red, and the muscles all over his body swelled as if he'd been injected with some kind of drug.
‘…Did he forcibly break through his limits?’
It wasn't just his appearance that had changed.
His power had also risen to a level beyond that of the men I'd met at the villa.
The energy rising from his greatsword wasn't mere Sword Qi. It was an Aura, glowing a dark crimson.
In the language of this world, it would be called an Aura Blade.
Boom! After crouching for a moment, he kicked off the ground and charged toward me.
He came straight at me in a direct line, but his speed was incredible, rivaling that of the assassin.
It was too late to dodge.
I drew upon my magic power and deployed a barrier of maximum strength.
Clang! The moment the Aura touched it, my barrier shattered like glass.
‘He’s insane.’
It's no wonder they say one of a mage's natural enemies is a knight who can wield Aura. Aura can actually cut through magic.
Seeing my barrier shatter so easily, the man grinned grotesquely. He must have thought that single exchange had already decided the battle in his favor.
I hated the sight of it, but my first priority was to use the recoil from the shattered barrier to put some distance between us.
“I won’t let you escape!”
The moment I tried to pull back, he leaped forward again, staying right on me. He might look down on sorcerers, but he clearly knew how to fight one.
Closing the distance is certainly crucial when fighting a mage.
But that only works if you know who you're up against.
[Thought Acceleration]
Against a mage who can use silent or high-speed casting, blindly closing the gap is actually more dangerous.
In the infinitely slowed perception of time, I cast my spell.
[Earth of Fire]
The moment he closed in, an intense pillar of fire erupted from the ground and engulfed him.
“Guaaaah!!!”
Swallowed by the superheated flames with no time to dodge, he was sent flying backward without a chance to resist. He seemed to have defended himself with his protective aura, but it couldn't stop the force of the blast from knocking him back.
As he hung defenseless in mid-air, I targeted him and deployed another spell.
For reference, even without ‘Thought Acceleration,’ I can cast 2nd-Circle or lower spells at a speed that's nearly silent.
[Fire Spear]
It wasn't just one spear of fire that appeared in the air.
Five, seven, ten. The number was still growing.
The man's expression twisted as he saw the spears of fire filling the air. With a light wave of my hand, dozens of spears shot toward him, slicing through the air.
“If you don’t want to lose to a sorcerer, try dodging all of these.”
“…I’ll kill you!!”
He swung his greatsword at the incoming spears. The Aura-clad weapon deflected a good number of them, but it wasn't enough to block the endless barrage.
Boom, KABOOM, BOOM!
The spears of fire slammed into his protective aura, setting off a chain of explosions. Perhaps because he had already blocked the 3rd-Circle spell ‘Earth of Fire,’ cracks began to appear in his aura.
But that also meant I still hadn't managed to break through it.
Blocking the attack with his protective aura, he leaped toward me.
It was a brutish fighting style, abandoning defense to focus solely on attack.
‘I’ve poured so much magic on him, yet his protective aura is still holding. Is it related to those tattoos?’
I noticed the strange tattoos glowing red each time he blocked a spell.
It seems to be a unique form of magic from this world.
I couldn't help but feel a flicker of curiosity, but that wasn't my priority right now.
[Mega Flare]
A massive fireball formed from a magic circle and flew toward him.
“Hmph!!”
The man charging head-on didn't dodge. Instead, he swung the greatsword held firmly in both hands and sliced the fireball in two.
KABOOOOM!!!
The fireball, split by the Aura, exploded. Riding the shockwave, the man closed in on me at an even greater speed.
‘Another Earth of Fire…’
At that moment, the protective aura covering his body thickened noticeably.
“Today, in this very spot, I will take the head of a treacherous sorcerer and accept an honorable death!”
“…You ignorant bastard.”
“Kuhahahahaha!!!”
Even though his body was a tattered mess of burns, he let out a hearty laugh and swung his massive Aura at me.
There was no way I could block that strike.
Moreover, I was limited in my use of magic due to the risk of collapsing the hall. I'd even had to intentionally lower the power of my 4th-Circle spell.
I boosted my lacking physical abilities with Vajra Qi, support magic, and skills, and dodged his attack.
KRAAASH!! The sword strike collided with the ground, causing an explosion that sliced through the floor like tofu.
“The sword, at last!!”
The moment I drew my sword, he let out a joyous laugh and swung his greatsword with brutal speed.
If I tried to block a strike imbued with an Aura, Gilenium itself might be sliced apart.
For now, all I could do was keep dodging.
Thump, thump, thump!! But as he stomped across the ground, my footwork kept getting disrupted, making it harder and harder to evade.
‘…First, I need to do something about that annoying protective aura.’
His original skill level was indeed B-rank.
A realm where he shouldn't be able to wield Aura, let alone a protective aura. But right now, he was burning his own life force in exchange for a glimpse of the next level.
The tattoos on his body were probably helping to draw out his innate true energy.
His noticeably ragged breaths and the new wrinkles on his face were proof. His lifespan was rapidly dwindling.
If I just dragged this out, I would win.
But for the sake of that day that would eventually come, I couldn't do that.
‘Yeo-hwa.’
To meet Cheon Yeo-hwa again, I had to be able to defeat an elder of the Heavenly Demonic Cult, a master who could wield Aura just like this man.
But if my opponent could wield Aura, it meant I might not be able to defeat them with magic alone.
To face such a master, I needed not only experience but also to raise the level of my martial arts alongside my magic.
‘…But the reality is, I haven’t made much progress in martial arts since reaching the second stage of the Formless Vajra Art.’
My master always said my Sword Qi was only half-complete.
But he never explained the reason in detail. Instead, he would just create his own Sword Qi and show it to me, over and over.
As if telling me to figure out the difference between us myself.
‘What on earth is different?’
There was no time for deep contemplation.
“How long are you going to keep dodging?!”
BOOM, KRAAASH!!
A heavy greatsword, powerful enough to send me flying, rained down on me relentlessly, aiming for my life.
It was a situation where not even a single mistake was allowed.
I dropped low and quickly rolled to the side as the greatsword deeply gouged the spot where I had just been standing.
The moment he raised his sword to attack again, I lunged forward without hesitation. With my footwork constantly being disrupted, dragging this out wasn't good for me either.
I stepped forward with all my strength and thrust my sword toward his heart. In that instant, my Vajra Qi focused at the tip of the blade.
The very air around me vibrated as a shimmering energy swirled around the blade, then burst forth from its tip.
Formless Sword Art, Light Dragon.
Krrrrrk- A dragon made of golden Sword Qi crashed against his protective aura.
An overwhelming force, enough to crack the ground and distort the air, engulfed the area, but his protective aura held firm.
“Kuhahaha! Kalapatusa! I, a great warrior of the Kalp Tribe, acknowledge this battle as a sacred offering to our god!”
Ignoring the repulsive force generated by the clash of his protective aura and my Vajra Qi, he raised his greatsword. I could see the madness in his eyes as he looked down at me.
Just as I was about to pull back, having no other choice.
—What do you think Sword Qi is?
My master's question, once tossed at me so casually, flashed through my mind.
[Thought Acceleration]
Simultaneously, and separate from my will, ‘Thought Acceleration’ activated. My head throbbed, but my thoughts continued.
To my master's question, I had answered that Sword Qi was a concentration of energy, focusing magic power or internal energy into a weapon to increase its cutting power.
After hearing my answer, my master had walked away without a word, but I had always wondered why he asked such a question.
Could a mere concentration of energy even be considered 'half-complete' in the first place?
One question led to another.
The very idea that one needed some kind of catalyst to reach the state of creating Sword Qi was strange.
After all, I had been able to use it naturally, without any such catalyst.
So, had I reached this state through the proper process?
‘…No, I just substituted the process with my vast magic power and internal energy.’
But if you were to ask if that was an incorrect process, I would say no.
Because even if the process is correct, if it doesn't produce the right result, it can't be called a proper completion.
Even if my process was flawed, I was confident that the result I created was not.
Then, it was time to complete the process.
Until now, I had considered Sword Qi to be nothing more than a concentration of energy. But that was the flawed part of my process.
There was no need to think so deeply from the start.
Like hunters who wield their abilities with willpower alone, or mages who use magic based on willpower and magic power.
What I lacked was intent. That was why my Sword Qi, which contained nothing, could only be half-complete.
The moment that thought solidified, it felt like the final piece of a puzzle clicking into place.
Crack. I heard something splintering.
“?!!”
A crack had appeared in the man's protective aura where my sword met it.
The bewildered man hurriedly tried to swing his greatsword, but.
Thwack—
Before he could, the battle ended with the sound of something being crushed.
*
Tuk, tutuk. Debris fell from the ceiling.
It was a near miracle that the ceiling hadn't collapsed amidst all that chaos.
Of course, if I had used the Light Dragon like I did at the villa, the ceiling would have caved in long ago.
Sword Qi imbued with intent, and martial arts.
Focusing its power on a single point had changed a lot.
“…I’m sore.”
I stretched lightly, checking my condition.
Surprisingly, aside from some sore muscles, I wasn't seriously injured.
In truth, that last moment had been dangerous in many ways.
If his protective aura hadn't already been cracked from blocking my spells, even my intent-filled Sword Qi wouldn't have been able to pierce it.
I looked down at the greatsword warrior sprawled on the floor.
“Are you alive?”
“Cough…”
“He’s alive.”
His heart had been pierced, and he was coughing up blood.
It was a fatal wound; it wouldn't be strange if he died at any moment.
“Before you die, can I ask you something?”
The man, who had aged drastically in an instant, looked at me with indifferent eyes.
“Do you know where the elves who were captured today are? I heard they were scheduled to be auctioned off tonight, just like you.”
“…If you mean the elves, they should be locked in the underground prison connected to the backstage area.”
The greatsword warrior answered my question surprisingly willingly.
“…You look puzzled. You may be a sorcerer, but you are a warrior who claimed victory with a sword. The victor is an honorable one with the right to take everything from the loser. Answering your question is only natural… Cough!”
As if he had truly reached his limit, he coughed up dark red blood and pieces of his organs. Blood was also flowing like water from the hole in his chest.
“…Take this.”
Snap. He tore the necklace from his neck and tossed it to me with a stoic expression.
It was a necklace made of animal bone. The quality was quite high, as if made by a skilled craftsman.
“What’s this?”
“A victor’s token. If you meet my tribesmen, show it to them. They will welcome you.”
“…Not seek revenge?”
“Think what you will.”
‘So suspicious, just like a sorcerer,’ he muttered, his eyes growing dim.
“…Thank you.”
They were short last words, but he closed his eyes with a faint, satisfied smile.
But even in the end, he did not let go of his sword.
I observed a moment of silence before putting his body into my inventory.
If I left a body in a place run by a black mage, there was no telling how it might be misused later.
Thanks to him, I had learned how to imbue my Sword Qi with intent. The least I could do was give him a proper burial.
I climbed onto the wrecked stage. Just as the greatsword warrior had said, there was a small staircase on one side leading down.
“…How unlucky.”
At that moment, I heard a familiar voice.
It was the gentleman I thought was dead.
“I didn’t expect you to be alive.”
I approached the gentleman sprawled on the floor to finish the job. Up close, I could see he was in no normal state. His entire body was covered in burns.
“Of all the days… I never thought not one, but two monsters would invade on the same day…”
“…What?”
With those words, the gentleman’s breathing stopped.
Just in case, I cut off his head and then burned the body for good measure.
It might seem excessive, but when dealing with a black mage, you can never be too careful.
His last words were a bit unsettling, but there was nothing I could do about it now.
I took the stairs behind the stage and went down, where I found the underground prison the greatsword warrior had mentioned.
Humans, as well as people of various other races, were imprisoned there.
As I checked each cell, I felt a strange sense of unease.
Not a single person was crying or screaming.
I wondered if it was black magic and checked for any magical reactions, but I couldn't feel anything.
They probably administered some kind of sedative to keep them from causing trouble.
A moment later, I found the elves in the very last cell.
Fortunately, all three of them appeared to be unharmed.
Shing. Just as I cut through the bars and was about to enter the cell.
Swoosh— Thwack! A dagger flew from somewhere, grazed my neck, and embedded itself in the wall beside me.
Blood trickled from the wound, but it didn't seem to be poisoned, so I turned my head to see where the dagger had come from.
At first, I thought it was a remaining guard or a prison warden.
But an unexpected person was standing there.
“…An elf?”
In the underground prison where torches were the only light, an elf with hair and eyes that shone pure white was staring at me, radiating a faint killing intent.
I was surprised by her beauty, which rivaled that of Iris, but the killing intent and aura I felt on my skin made me quickly raise my magic power.
“For the crime of kidnapping elves and selling them as slaves.”
With a voice so cold it chilled me to the bone, the elf drew the sword from the scabbard at her waist.
“You will pay with your life.”
She was clearly a cut above the greatsword warrior I had just fought.
“Sigh…”
My head was starting to hurt. I had a pretty good idea what kind of misunderstanding was happening.
The two monsters the gentleman mentioned were probably me and this elf.
“…If I told you I’m not a slave trader, but that I came to rescue the elves, would you believe me?”
Unsurprisingly, she didn't seem to have the slightest intention of believing me.
Instead, an even more menacing killing intent washed over me.
No matter how I think about it, my luck is just terrible.
