Chapter 680
Chapter 680
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 680
Chapter Title: The Sword Saint's Legacy
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680.
Leo crossed his arms and looked ahead.
Leo's group had formed a party and left the fortress to scout the surrounding area.
This was the heart of Tartaros's domain.
Before long, the magical beasts began their assault.
“All three of them are fired up.”
“Yes. It seems they were greatly influenced by Karl and Kanea's duel.”
At Leo's words, Chelsea recalled the events of two days ago.
It was a duel that left a deep impression on the hero candidates.
As Chelsea watched the trio from the second-year Knight Department, she glanced up at the sky.
Leo asked, his eyes still fixed on the second-years.
“Can you take it down?”
A demon had appeared in the sky.
Chelsea took out her magic staff and smiled brightly.
“Of course. Who do you take me for?”
Chelsea soared high into the sky.
Watching her, Leo let out a soft chuckle.
‘Chelsea has grown so much I can barely recognize her.’
It was hard to treat her like a kid anymore.
She felt like a proper mage, fully capable of pulling her own weight.
Grrrrooooooar!
The roar of a magical beast echoed.
Leo looked straight ahead.
He saw a flash of golden light.
Sh-sh-shk!
The gruesome sound of flesh and bone being sliced.
A giant, bull-headed man.
The minotaur's body was hacked to pieces.
Thud-!
Having cut down three minotaurs in the blink of an eye, Aina landed on the ground.
Aina, armed with minimal armor for ease of movement, was covered in blood.
Watching her, Leo muttered.
“Her fighting style is as savage as ever.”
When she fights, Aina pays no mind to her own body.
She butchers her enemies as if unleashing the blade she carries within.
With eyes gleaming with bloodlust, Aina scanned her surroundings.
‘What about the others?’
Haviden moved like the wind, piercing a minotaur's heart with his spear.
As for Luke, he became a flash of silver light, severing a minotaur's head.
Just as Aina, having confirmed this, was about to move to cut down the fourth minotaur.
Grwaaaaaaaar!
With a roar, a dark shadow fell over her.
A gray-skinned minotaur was swinging down a massive hammer.
‘A Lord Minotaur!’
Despite its grand name, ‘Lord,’ its appearance was no different from an ordinary minotaur.
The only difference was its gray skin instead of brown.
But it wouldn't have earned the title of 'Lord' if the only difference was its color.
‘So there was a Lord after all.’
Ordinary minotaurs don't live in packs unless controlled by a beast tamer.
But the number of minotaurs currently attacking the group was close to fifty.
A magical beast with the title of 'Lord' can not only control lesser species like beast tamers but also strengthen them.
Moreover, the individual combat strength of a Lord-class beast was overwhelmingly powerful.
In terms of pure strength, a Lord Minotaur was on par with a third-class demon.
Seeing the Lord Minotaur, a golden light flashed in Aina's eyes.
Crash-!
The Lord Minotaur's hammer smashed into the ground.
Terrifying dark magic erupted in all directions, centered on the Lord Minotaur.
Everything the dark magic touched turned to dust and scattered.
The Lord Minotaur, having shattered the earth, gave a vicious smile.
High-ranking magical beasts may be swayed by instinct, but they possess high intelligence.
The Lord Minotaur suppressed its instincts with its intelligence.
This made it more cautious, and more vicious.
The Lord Minotaur knew the human girl fighting it was strong.
It was astonishing.
It had hunted countless humans on the battlefield, but there had never been one so young with this much power.
And it wasn't just this human.
The other humans also possessed strength that belied their age.
But the Lord Minotaur didn't care.
This land was no longer the humans'; it was theirs.
It was certain that no matter how great the humans were, it would be the one to emerge victorious in the end.
And it would devour the strong.
The first would be the human girl before it.
Feeling a thrill of pleasure, the Lord Minotaur's eyes followed Aina.
A fast human.
As expected, she had dodged an attack of this magnitude, but it was useless.
Its attacks had the power to destroy the entire surrounding area.
Besides, being fast was pointless.
The human girl before it was emitting an immense bloodlust toward it, a magical beast.
The Lord Minotaur's senses were reacting keenly to that bloodlust.
Hoo-!
As it snorted, the muscles all over its body twitched.
At that moment—
Aina stepped onto a mound of earth scattered by the impact and landed lightly.
Fwoosh-!
Then, she surged toward the Lord Minotaur at incredible speed.
The minotaur swung its hammer at her.
In that instant—
A sharp sword aura formed on the tip of Aina's blade.
The sword moved fluidly.
As if performing a sword dance.
Beautiful swordsmanship embroidered the air.
The sword of the Sword Saint, the hero who had shouldered an entire era, unfolded from the tip of Aina's blade.
The movement of the sword was beautiful.
But the slashes it created were gruesome.
Cl-cl-clang! Thwack-!
Grrrwooooooooooar!
The Lord Minotaur let out a monstrous scream.
Shards of severed metal and both its hands, now mangled chunks of meat, fell to the ground with a splat.
Seeing this, Leo narrowed his eyes.
‘She's gotten sharper.’
There are many ways to use a sword.
‘Slashing, stabbing, striking, blocking.’
Not one of them is unimportant.
But the one that could draw out the sword's characteristics to the fullest was, of course, the slash.
And Aina's talent for slashing was unparalleled.
‘When it comes to the act of cutting, Aina's talent rivals Ar-on's.’
Of course, Ar-on wasn't limited to just cutting with a sword; he was a monster who could draw out the full potential of the sword itself.
‘Well, that guy handles not just swords but all weapons that way.’
He shook his head, thinking of his friend who was simply born different.
He hated fighting, but ironically, when it came to fighting, Ar-on was a genius.
Shaking off his thoughts of Ar-on, Leo looked back at Aina.
‘In terms of talent alone, she surpasses her great-grandfather, the Sword Saint.’
Kalian, who had shouldered an era, made a brilliant contribution to the subjugation of the Demon Queen, and then closed his eyes for the last time.
Of course, having superior talent doesn't guarantee she'll surpass the Sword Saint.
Talent is, after all, only potential.
‘Still, she'll surpass him.’
The Aina of last year might not have, but the Aina of today will surpass her great-grandfather.
‘She was so precarious when I first saw her.’
Aina, brimming with bloodlust in all things, was like a single sword.
A sword without a sheath.
A sheath is an object that keeps others from being hurt by the blade, but at the same time, it also protects the sword from the outside.
A sword swung indiscriminately will grow dull and eventually break.
But Aina didn't care about that.
She was just consumed by anger, unable to see her surroundings clearly.
She had no thought of caring for herself, interested only in taking revenge on Tartaros, which had taken her family.
‘Kalian's will had a condition, didn't it? That she had to be acknowledged by me to inherit everything of the Sword Saint?’
At the very end, the Sword Saint learned Leo's identity, felt relieved, and closed his eyes.
But before he wrote his will, he didn't know Leo's identity.
‘He must have thought that Aina would surely enroll in Lumerne.’
His intention must have been for her to learn many things from me in the process.
As a hero who had shouldered an era, Kalian's eye for people was also exceptional.
Of course, Leo didn't teach Aina.
He just steered her in the right direction so she wouldn't go astray.
But that alone was enough to change Aina.
‘It's not that her ultimate goal has changed.’
She is still a sharp blade, harboring hatred and killing intent toward Tartaros.
But the tragedy of her being unable to control her own emotions and heading for ruin will no longer happen.
Grrrwooooooooooar!
The Lord Minotaur roared.
Hands shot out from the severed stumps.
A disgustingly powerful regenerative ability.
But that was all it had.
To be sure, the Lord Minotaur's pure strength rivaled that of a third-class demon.
‘But its danger level is low compared to those third-class guys.’
The demons' most dangerous ability, the curse.
The minotaur, being a mere magical beast, cannot use that curse.
Watching the regenerated minotaur, Aina landed lightly on the ground.
A terrifying bloodlust emanated from her calm face.
The suffocating bloodlust grew even thicker.
And…
Gruh?
The Lord Minotaur's eyes widened.
The space within Aina's sword range filled with bloodlust.
The minotaur's senses, which had been tracking Aina's movements by detecting her bloodlust, were thrown into disarray.
She masked her killing intent within the overwhelming aura of her bloodlust.
Before he knew it, Aina had grown enough to use her own emotions as a weapon.
Shlick-!
The Lord Minotaur's head flew into the air.
Having cleanly sliced off its neck, Aina landed on the ground.
Sheathing her sword, Aina walked away with light steps.
Blood spurted from the severed neck like a fountain.
The trembling Lord Minotaur raised its hands.
A Lord Minotaur doesn't die just from having its head cut off.
Its body moves on instinct, still wielding powerful combat strength.
Fwoosh-!
The minotaur's giant hands swung as if to crush Aina.
At that moment.
Aina turned back with a nonchalant expression.
In that instant.
A silver aura plunged down from the sky.
Splurch-!
The minotaur's tough, durable body was brutally split apart.
“Aina, are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“What's wrong? Letting your guard down. That's not like you.”
She looked at the flustered Luke and said with a deadpan expression.
“Because I knew you were coming to help.”
A minotaur with its head gone and only instinct remaining is a berserk monster.
It attacks relentlessly until it kills the one who cut off its head.
As such, countless openings appear.
Aina knew this nature well.
The moment Luke saw Aina confronting the Lord Minotaur, he moved to help her.
Realizing this, Aina drew the Lord Minotaur's attention, leaving it defenseless against a surprise attack.
“I trusted you.”
“I see.”
Luke was a little surprised.
After the end of the second semester of her first year, Aina had opened her closed heart to her classmates.
Even so, she had fought alone until the first-year final exams.
Aina's fighting style, accustomed to solo combat, was pointed out as her biggest weakness.
But now, she was different.
‘She's become able to coordinate perfectly with her teammates.’
Leo smiled faintly.
Aina's strategy just now was one she couldn't have pulled off without complete trust in Luke and Haviden.
‘Kids really do grow up fast.’
Luke's growth was also noticeable.
Even though Aina had created a perfect opening, Luke's power to finish off the Lord Minotaur in a single blow was formidable.
“You're amazing as always, Aina.”
As Luke expressed his admiration, Aina's eyes widened.
Then she broke into a bright smile.
“You're amazing too, Luke.”
“Huh?”
“That was cool.”
Seeing Aina smile brightly like a girl her age, Luke blushed, scratched his head, and stammered.
“You were cool, too.”
“Yeah.”
Aina is still a sharp sword.
But…
‘She's found a good sheath.’
Leo turned his head toward Haviden.
Haviden was walking this way with his long spear slung over his shoulder, looking up at the sky.
Luke said.
“Haviden, are you hurt anywhere?”
“Do I look like I'd get hurt?”
“Wow! Amazing!”
At that, Aina, her expression turning blank, said.
“Luke, why are you worrying about Haviden?”
“Are you trying to pick a fight, Aina Veydean?”
As Haviden scowled, Aina said.
“He wouldn't get hurt by something like that.”
“Hmph. That's true.”
“It would've been embarrassing if he got hurt. If it were me, I would've cut them down faster. You can do it too. In fact, facing the Lord Minotaur was more impressive. So what Haviden did wasn't that amazing.”
It seems she was unhappy that Luke's attention had been stolen.
Seeing Aina like this, a vein popped on Haviden's forehead.
“So you are picking a fight.”
‘Trust.’
They achieved results beyond their individual strength, based on the trust between comrades.
“Oof! I'm back! Are those two fighting again?”
Just then, Chelsea returned from the sky.
“That was fast.”
“A fourth-class demon is a piece of cake now!”
Fourth-class is a high-ranking demon.
But considering Chelsea's skill, it wasn't a difficult opponent.
‘And it was a demon from the old era.’
The strategies for dealing with the demons from 5,000 years ago are already widely known.
It might be different in a large-scale battle with many variables.
But in a one-on-one duel, it was nothing more than prey.
“Those kids are pretty good, huh?”
“The third-years will have to stay on their toes.”
“Huh?”
Leo smiled at Chelsea's puzzled expression.
She would soon find out.
That there were underclassmen chasing fiercely after them.
Aina and Haviden bickering.
Luke calming them down in between.
Watching them, Leo opened his mouth.
“Aina Veydean.”
“Yes, Senior Leo.”
Aina stopped bickering and approached him. Leo looked at her and said.
“The restriction on Clesis should be lifted.”
“……!”
Aina's eyes shot wide open.
Clesis.
The divine sword created by Dweno, whose true name was Demon Slayer.
In this era, it was the symbol of the Sword Saint, and the legacy of the Sword Saint that Aina had not been able to inherit.
It was a sword she could only use after receiving Leo's acknowledgment.
With trembling hands, Aina opened a subspace and summoned Clesis.
Shing—
The blade of Clesis, old yet retaining a powerful force, was revealed.
‘I can draw it.’
Her great-grandfather's legacy.
“Thank you.”
Sheathing the sword, Aina smiled brightly and showed it off to her classmates.
“Look at this. This is the sword my great-grandfather used. It's Clesis.”
“That's an incredible sword.”
“Yeah. I finally got acknowledged by Senior Leo, just like you, Luke.”
Then she glanced at Haviden and said.
“Looks like Haviden is the only one who hasn't been acknowledged by Senior Leo.”
“Luke. Stay away from Aina Veydean.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I've thought this for a while, but she's a sinister woman.”
Watching the bickering second-years, Chelsea crossed her arms.
“They get along well. I can feel that they trust each other.”
“I know. Just like you and Celia.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? What part of my relationship with Celia Jerdinger looks good? I don't trust her one bit. She's the enemy. The enemy!”
Chelsea scowled fiercely.
Leo pinched her cheek.
Leo laughed as Chelsea flailed.
The second-years, the third-years.
Watching them bicker childishly with each other reminded him of his past self.
Lisinas, Luna, Ar-on… finally thinking of Dweno, Leo closed his eyes.
‘Trust.’
After a moment of silence, Leo let go of Chelsea and said.
“Let's get going now.”
Leo moved out to continue the scouting.