Chapter 83
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: The Sword Saint's Hunt
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Boom!
Boom!
Loud booms echoed in succession from the very edge of the Vellaland battlefield, where the Overlords had set up their garrisons.
The source of the explosions was none other than the dark magic of Mikael and Maltiel. They intended to shatter the barrier that covered the vast battlefield and escape from Vellaland as quickly as possible.
Fighting the Sword Saint was not an option for the two Overlords. No matter how powerful the Overlords were, they themselves knew best that they were no match for the Sword Saint.
‘I’ll give you ten seconds.’
For the two Overlords, who had been looking for a chance to escape, the Sword Saint's declaration was a golden opportunity.
Judging that the Sword Saint wouldn't move recklessly until the safety of the injured and the less skilled was guaranteed, the two Overlords began to run at maximum speed in the opposite direction of the battlefield.
As a result, they came to a halt at the edge of the translucent barrier created by Bel.
Krr-ack!
As soon as Mikael encountered the translucent wall, he unleashed a barrage of magic to create an escape route.
He gathered pitch-black rays at his fingertips and unleashed them, and he also forged poisonous blood into spears and hurled them at the wall.
But even after taking all those attacks, the translucent wall remained standing stoically in its place.
Without a single wound or even a scratch.
“…What a peculiar sensation. I thought I knew everything about the magic of the Flame School… but this is a magic I've never seen before. Did he develop it himself?”
Mikael unleashed a few more spells at the translucent wall before placing his hand on it, focusing on the sensation at his fingertips as he spoke. It seemed the Overlord who presided over magic and knowledge was intrigued by the unidentified magic before him, even at a moment when his own life was on the line.
“Can't you break it? The barrier is large enough to cover all of Vellaland; its strength can't be that high.”
Maltiel, who was watching from beside Mikael, also placed his hand on the translucent wall before them.
It was a strange sensation. When pushing the wall with his hand, he should have felt something blocking him, but right now, Maltiel felt nothing at his fingertips.
It was as if he were reaching into empty air. Yet, no matter how much force he applied, his arm wouldn't move past a certain point.
“…No, this magic isn't based on the five major elements. Is it from a special school?”
“Is there a way through?”
As long as the Overlords escaped alive, the Mazoku could quickly restore their forces.
Mutants could be made again, and subordinates, including high-ranking Mazoku, could be newly bestowed by the Demon King.
After all, while it took the Demon King an average of four years to create one Overlord, it took less than two hours to create a high-ranking Mazoku.
Even if they lost all their troops, as long as the Overlords survived, they could completely recover from today's losses within a month.
“…I'll have to analyze it to know for sure.”
“Hmm.”
Maltiel said nothing and turned his head toward the center of the distant battlefield.
Just then, a heat haze was rising from that spot.
* * *
‘Overwhelming.’
Bin, who had never seen the Sword Saint fight in earnest, fixed his gaze on the man's back.
The Sword Saint had protected him once before, but because he had lost consciousness due to the aftereffects of ‘Blooming,’ he had never witnessed the man's fighting with his own eyes.
‘…This is a sight I might only see a few times in my life. I can't miss a single thing.’
Like it or not, Bin had to one day become as strong as the Sword Saint.
Although the Sword Saint wasn't a mage like the boy, there was much to be gained just by watching the battle of the strongest man, called ‘the continent's present and future,’ with his own eyes.
How he controlled the situation on the battlefield, his strategies for leading a battle when outnumbered, and so on… The boy still had a mountain of things to learn.
As if responding to the boy's gaze, the Sword Saint slowly raised his thin blade and took his stance.
“I will strike the Overlords directly. You all deal with the other Mutants.”
“…Yes, sir!”
The officer who heard the Sword Saint's command directly replied in a choked voice.
“All troops, kill the Mutants and the Mazoku! Stop them from interfering with the Grand General's fight!”
“Uwaaaaaaah!”
A great roar enveloped the area. The blue sky, the sun, and the wind remained silent, and even the screaming soldiers forgot their pain and raised their swords once more.
“…Ariel! Lend me some troops! Quickly!”
“Tch.”
The Overlord Raguel, whose troops had been annihilated by the Sword Saint, cried out in a desperate voice.
Soon, a hail of sharp bones flew toward the soldiers from beyond the hardened hill.
A Mutant with a bloated torso and massive arms that could rival a whale's came charging toward the soldiers from a distance, its steps loudly shaking the ground.
The monsters pursed their lips as if to spit, then continuously spewed bones from their massive mouths.
“Block it!”
The soldiers' shields gathered around the mages, and the mages cast protective barriers over the shields.
The bones, having lost their momentum against the barriers, were easily deflected by the soldiers' shields. Arrows shot out from between the gaps in the formation, flying straight toward the eyes of the giant Mutant charging from the distance.
“I leave them to you.”
The Sword Saint passed over the heads of the soldiers formed in a tight formation, his leather coat fluttering.
With the sole thought of not wanting to miss his fight, Bin kept his eyes wide open, his pupils following the man.
The Sword Saint, who had grazed past the soldiers' heads, elegantly slipped through the ranks of Mutants that had hastily gathered to protect Raguel.
With a terror-stricken expression, Raguel belatedly spread his wings and rose into the air.
Once again, the heat haze shimmered, teasing the boy's eyes.
The frail boy had no choice but to briefly close and reopen his eyes.
In that fleeting moment, everything was decided.
The two wings of Raguel, who had soared high into the air, had been severed from his torso.
“Raguel, is it? Our mages told me you're the weakest of the Overlords.”
Having lost his wings, Raguel lost his balance and staggered in mid-air. But the Sword Saint, a human born without wings, held his stance firmly in the air as if he were standing on solid ground.
“Wai—!”
The Sword Saint's sword sliced off the remaining wings attached to Raguel's body. Soon, that wretched body began to plummet toward the ground.
The Sword Saint's arm did not stop.
His slender blade drew a straight line, severing Raguel's head from his torso as he began to fall to the ground.
From the back of the powerlessly falling Raguel, new wings began to sprout. The headless torso of the Overlord randomly thrust a palm toward the empty air and shot out a pitch-black light.
Slice.
The arm of Raguel, who had been preparing a spell, was immediately cut off. Deadly poison-laced blood splattered in all directions, but the Sword Saint didn't even blink as he continued to his next move.
‘Not the wings, nor the head or arms. The restoration is still centered on the torso.’
To kill a Mazoku, one must find and destroy the ‘core’ located somewhere within its body.
No matter how much blood they lose, as long as the core remains intact, a Mazoku can endlessly restore its body.
‘Next, I'll cut off the legs.’
Therefore, when fighting a Mazoku, finding where it has hidden its core within its body is of utmost importance.
Slice!
The Sword Saint's blade once again ravaged Raguel's body.
At that moment, one of Raguel's wings, the first part to be cut off, began to restore itself.
Raguel struggled to regain his balance, forcing his half-sprouted wings to move.
“Stay still.”
As if annoyed by Raguel's flapping wings, the Sword Saint sliced open Raguel's chest and abdomen entirely.
‘Now, where is it.’
The Sword Saint's method for finding a Mazoku's core was very simple.
It was to meticulously hack the Overlord's body to pieces, part by part, until the core's location was identified.
From the severed upper torso, Raguel's face belatedly began to sprout anew.
On that face, the fear of death was clearly etched.
“There it is.”
When a body part is severed, an Overlord's body regenerates centered on the core.
The Sword Saint analyzed the subtle differences in the cycle and speed at which Raguel's severed wings and arms regenerated to deduce which side of Raguel's chest contained the core.
‘The left side. Near the heart, perhaps.’
The Sword Saint inwardly thought Raguel was a fool. Among all the Overlords he had cut down so far, not a single one had hidden their core in a place commonly considered a human's ‘vital spot.’
Because most humans would unconsciously focus their attacks on such areas.
That was why he had cut off the wings and limbs first….
“Well, if you were trying to use that to your advantage, I'll give you credit for it.”
The Sword Saint raised the tip of his blade and drew back his arm, preparing to hack at the spot where he presumed Raguel's core was located.
Fwoooosh—!
It was at that moment.
That a sonic boom arrived, along with a massive gust of wind.