Chapter 435: Duel
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 435: Duel
Thud-
By focusing the power of the Tathagata's Divine Palm into a single point, I made Dermier collapse with a gaping hole in his abdomen.
But I didn't let my guard down.
Thinking he might use his Authority to regenerate, I immediately cut off his head and plunged my sword into his heart.
-Kiiiii!!
Only after seeing Tam greedily absorb the demonic energy could I finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Haa… That was intense.”
My stamina was long gone, and my muscles were twitching faintly, as if at their limit.
I wanted to collapse right then and there, but unfortunately, I had no time to spare.
‘…Four? No, five of them?’
Someone was approaching.
Thankfully, there weren't many of them.
Five at most.
The problem was that there was a mage among them. A high-ranking, 6th Circle mage at that.
It might have been different if I were in perfect condition, but in my current state, facing a high-ranking mage was impossible.
‘…They'll be within mana detection range soon.’
I had no choice but to shove Dermier's corpse and the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword into my inventory and quickly leave.
The one silver lining was that thanks to the adrenaline pumping through my brain, I didn't feel any pain even when I drew upon my internal energy.
Afterward, to avoid any potential pursuers, I used the Ghost Divine Art and ran without a moment's rest.
And so, I was able to return to the capital safely.
*
About five minutes after Kang Hyun-woo left, the Magic Special Task Force led by Birellion arrived on the scene.
They were an elite group, every one of them a Battle Mage of the 4th Circle or higher.
“Find any traces!”
““Yes, sir!””
The moment the order was given, the special task force moved with perfect coordination.
Despite this, Birellion's anxiety wouldn't subside.
A short while ago, Dermier's life signs had completely vanished.
‘…There’s no way that absurdly strong man is dead. Even if the Grand Duke had fully recovered, it would be impossible to settle the fight in such a short time.’
Knowing how powerful Dermier was, he simply couldn't accept the current situation.
Birellion shook his head, as if denying reality.
But what entered his vision was the landscape of the Eastern Plains, utterly devastated as if it had been hit by a large-scale magical bombardment.
“…”
Birellion swallowed dryly.
Though he wasn't a knight, he could still recognize the sword marks carved into the ground everywhere.
Above all, the lingering remnants of a coarse and savage energy in the surrounding area stabbed at his core, as if telling him what had transpired here.
“Found something!”
“?!”
Startled by his subordinate's shout, Birellion immediately ran to the location.
But what he found there was a gruesome scene with pools of blood and scattered pieces of human flesh.
Vwoom-
With a trembling hand, Birellion activated a spell.
It was a magic to trace the owner of the bloodstains, and as befitting a high-ranking mage, the result came quickly.
“…”
But Birellion cast the same spell over and over again.
His subordinates began to murmur at his strange behavior, but he couldn't stop, as if he simply couldn't accept the reality before him.
No matter what he did, however, the result didn't change.
[Dermier von Edramond]
“…”
There was only one reason the Empire had intervened in the Duchy of Orsia's rebellion.
It was to place Marquis Kailix on the throne and, through mind control, rule as regent, turning the Duchy of Orsia into a vassal state of the Empire.
But a surprise attack in the middle of the night had reduced their military strength by more than twenty percent, and now Dermier, the key force for suppressing the noble faction, had been killed by an unknown enemy.
Suddenly burdened with all the responsibility, Birellion's face turned as pale as a corpse.
At this rate, there was no point in winning the war.
Grit-
“…As of this moment, the operation is aborted. All units, retreat to the Empire immediately.”
*
“Hoo…”
I slowly evened my breathing and opened my eyes.
Just then, I saw the sun rising beyond the window.
“It’s already morning.”
After dealing with Dermier, I had returned to the mansion. To treat my internal injuries, I took an elixir I had brought from the ducal castle's treasury and immediately began circulating my qi.
With the addition of divine power, my recovery speed was several times faster than usual.
After about four hours of concentration, my condition had improved remarkably, aside from the injuries to my magic circuits.
It was at the point where my muscles screamed every time I swung a sword.
I still couldn't use magic for the time being, but this was a successful recovery, all things considered.
Moreover, thanks to consolidating my enlightenment, my proficiency with the Formless Vajra Art had increased overall.
The Formless Vajra Art (無相金剛訣) reached 7-star, the Formless Sword Art (無相劍訣) reached 8-star, and the Vajra Tathagata's Demon-Subduing Divine Palm (金剛如來降魔神掌) reached 4-star.
And just in time, Tam succeeded in absorbing all of Dermier's residual demonic energy.
Tiring-
[Tam (貪) has absorbed Urzekion's residual demonic energy.]
[Tam's growth rate has increased significantly.]
[Undigested fragments of the great demon have been absorbed by the user.]
-Buuurp!
“…You full?”
-Kiiiiiiit!!
I was dumbfounded by the sight of Tam letting out a satisfying burp.
Still, maybe because I'd grown fond of it from seeing it so often, I thought it was a little cute.
“Yeah, yeah. But if you ever bare your fangs at me when you're all grown up, I'll lock you in my inventory for life.”
-…Kiik.
I wasn't joking.
I had no idea what would pop out once it finished growing, but if I felt it was dangerous, I planned to seal it in my inventory forever.
Either that or I'd just dump it in the Tower.
The system would take care of it somehow.
Tiring-
[Bireciel's fragment has successfully absorbed Urzekion's fragment.]
[The growth rate of the ‘Mystic Eye of Time’ increases significantly.]
[The growth rate of the ‘Mystic Eye of Time’ has reached its limit.]
[The ‘Mystic Eye of Time’ evolves into ‘Foresight’.]
[Foresight
Grade: Epic+
The Authority of Bireciel, the Demon of Time.
Allows you to glimpse into the near future.
You can turn back time at the cost of your eyesight.]
“Keuk?!”
At that moment, I felt an excruciating pain in my left eye, as if it were being seared with a branding iron.
I steadied my staggering body, hastily removed my contact lens, and headed for the bathroom.
Thankfully, the searing pain soon subsided.
But when I stood before the mirror, a much clearer and more intricate pattern was engraved on my pupil.
“Foresight…?”
I stared into the mirror, panting.
On the surface, it didn't look much different. The skill description was also almost identical to before.
But the searing pain I had just felt was still vividly etched in my left eye, making me hesitant to try it out right away.
That was also why I hadn't used the Demonic Eye during the fight with Dermier.
No matter how overpowered the ability was, if I had flinched for even a moment from that searing pain during that fierce battle, my head would have surely been sent flying.
“…I’m sure I’ll find a use for it once I get used to it.”
I washed my face lightly, momentarily pushing thoughts of Foresight from my mind.
There were too many other things to worry about right now.
Malefis's second throne, Dermier Malefis.
Among the information I gained from absorbing his memories, the most noteworthy was the relationship between Malefis and the Eustaff Empire.
To put it bluntly, the Empire and Malefis were not in a cooperative relationship.
Rather, Malefis was more like a parasite lurking in the Empire's shadows.
But that didn't mean I could rest easy.
“Haa… Nothing ever comes easy.”
The leader of Malefis was the Emperor of the Empire himself. Moreover, Malefis's dark hands had already spread throughout the Empire like a spider's web.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the Empire was on the verge of being completely devoured.
Still, it was a relief that the Sun Cult, the Empire's state religion and the continent's largest, was not a follower of an evil god.
That fact alone was a huge weight off my shoulders.
If Malefis had been the Eustaff Empire in its entirety, I would have had to make an enemy of the Sun Cult as well.
But the entire Sun Cult probably wasn't clean. I had seen the faces of an archbishop and a cardinal of the Sun Cult in Dermier's memories.
Flop-
I lay down on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.
The truth was, I hadn't learned everything.
Whether it was from Lavinia or Dermier, the truly crucial information was blurry, as if someone had placed a security lock on it.
It would be a lie to say it wasn't frustrating, but for now, just finding out when the Empire planned to invade Peledeia was enough.
“…Three months from now, huh.”
Realistically, I had to cross the great desert and reach the Santala Kingdom within a month.
Of course, it would be great if I could remove the restraints as soon as I arrived in Saradin, but I already knew that things in life don't always go as planned.
That's why I needed to schedule things with as much leeway as possible and move while preparing for variables.
“Hoo, let's finish this war first and think about it later.”
I got out of bed, stretched lightly, and went outside.
The dawn air was cool.
A sense of tension emanated from the citizens' expressions and the overall atmosphere.
It was only natural.
A war that would decide the fate of the duchy was about to begin.
*
About 20 kilometers east of the capital, Pendria, lay a beautiful plain that anyone would admire.
Normally, it would be bustling with people out for a stroll, but now, only the heavy clouds of war hung over it.
Thump-
Around 9 a.m.
The ducal army and the rebel army appeared.
They glared at each other as if ready to kill, maintaining a tense standoff.
The ducal army numbered 84,000.
The rebel army, on the other hand, had over 157,200 soldiers. Anyone could see the Duchy's army was at a disadvantage.
Yet it was the rebel army whose morale had crumbled.
Part of it was due to the tens of thousands killed or injured in the surprise attack the night before, but a bigger factor was that more than half of their forces were conscripts of commoner origin.
Tactical-level magic had been dropped before the eyes of men who had never seen magic in their entire lives.
Yesterday, they had been lucky enough to be inside the barrier and survive, but the fear that it might be their turn next, along with the images of their comrades being swept away by explosions and flames, endlessly replayed in their minds.
It would have been stranger if they weren't scared.
Commanders moved about, trying their best to encourage the soldiers, but their words couldn't reach those who were already terrified.
Time passed, and soon it was noon.
Knowing that the drums of war would soon sound, the soldiers clutched their weapons as if they were lifelines and stared straight ahead.
“…Huh?”
But at that moment, someone from the ducal army's side slowly walked forward.
In this completely unexpected situation, the commanders were flustered, and the soldiers exchanged confused glances.
“What is it? A messenger?”
“A messenger? Anyone can see that’s a knight.”
The sight of the knight in dark armor, holding a greatsword, instantly captured the attention of the entire battlefield.
He soon stopped in the center of the two armies, then pointed his sword toward the rebel forces and shouted.
Shing-
“I challenge the knights of the rebel army to a duel.”