Chapter 71: The First Letter (71)
Chapter 71: The First Letter (71)
It was a bizarre sensation. Wild mana surged through my veins like a beast. My head spun. My vision was blurred, and my left arm was mangled.
A torrent of mana poured down, forcibly widening my pathways. Had this much mana always been dormant within me? The violent flow scraped against my virtual veins as it passed.
It hurt. The thumping of my heart felt like it was echoing inside my brain. Every sense in my body became razor-sharp. And with that sharpness came even more vivid pain.
My body was a wreck. My breathing grew more ragged. Heeeuuu. The oxygen I desperately inhaled expanded my lungs to their limit. Only then did my mind start to clear.
Where was I? Right, the forest south of the Academy. The site of the Hunting Festival.
My eyes drifted blankly toward the man shaking me awake. It was Senior Fermin. My hearing was gradually returning.
"Junior! Junior! You have to wake up!"
The man, with his hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, looked down at me with concern. He truly was a devout monk.
Of course, not all clergymen were kind, but those with deep faith were more likely to live diligent lives according to their doctrines.
It was that very depth of faith that allowed one to walk the path of a monk. To make their skin as tough as iron plates, they poured hot sand over their bodies from childhood, layering it with divine power to forge their physical forms into weapons.
In my current state—unable to use one arm and already pinned down—he wasn't an opponent I could face head-on. If I were to suppress him, there was only one way.
A surprise attack. I made that choice instinctively. As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"…Se… nior… Fer… heeeuuu… min."
Seeing me mutter those words blankly with dilated pupils, Senior Fermin’s expression grew even more urgent. Perhaps finding it hard to catch my small whisper, he brought his face closer to mine to hear better.
That was his mistake. I felt sorry for Senior Fermin, but this was my only option.
Crunch.
The sound of crushing cartilage echoed.
Senior Fermin’s eyes stared at me in a daze. Blood sprayed as I bit down hard on his nose.
Even if he had trained by pouring hot sand over himself, he couldn't have done the same to his face. So, I bit the nose—one of the few weak points. Even so, the skin was incredibly tough.
But I put every ounce of my spite into it, tearing a chunk of flesh from Senior Fermin’s nose. He let out a scream of sudden agony and clutched his face. Taking advantage of the opening, I drove a kick into his solar plexus.
Thud. It felt like striking thick leather. However, the impact seemed to land true, as Senior Fermin stumbled back. My body reflexively grabbed a hand axe.
BAM!
The hand axe slammed into Senior Fermin’s temple. I used the blunt side, of course, but that was more than enough.
No matter how much one tempered their body, the temples remained vulnerable. Someone like Teahn might have endured it with mana, but Senior Fermin wasn't in a position to manifest mana right then.
He collapsed, clutching his face with both hands and screaming.
"Aaaagh!"
It had taken only a few seconds for Senior Fermin to fall. The sequence of movements had been incredibly fluid. My body moved on its own, as if this were exactly how things were supposed to go.
The boiling mana pulsed as it passed through my heart. Vitality surged through my dying, broken body.
My gaze turned toward Senior Delphine.
She was my enemy. A formidable one. A strong, beautiful woman who resembled the sun.
Even in perfect condition, I was no match for her. When I was unarmed, I had barely managed to force a stalemate at the cost of a hand. But now, she was perfectly fine, while I was a mess with one useless arm.
By all rights, I should have been broken. Yet, I felt no fear.
Anger kicked open the doors of my chest and surged to the top of my head. It was an emotion of such intense color that I couldn't fathom its origin. My body moved of its own accord, hurling a hand axe.
The blade tore through the air, narrowly grazing Senior Delphine’s face just as she was about to turn around. Then, it sharply veered off its trajectory and buried itself in the neck of a demonic beast.
Whoosh. The sharp sound of cloven air reached Senior Delphine a moment later. She stared at me, stunned.
Blood sprayed like a peacock’s feathers. It was a fitting backdrop for a woman as beautiful as Senior Delphine.
Ptui. I spat out the piece of Senior Fermin’s flesh. I let out a ragged laugh.
"Let’s have a go at it, Pink-Haired Young Lady."
And I’m sorry, Senior Fermin. I’ll buy you a meal next time.
I offered a small apology to Senior Fermin in my head and drew my sword.
When the nose is injured, blood wells up and tries to block the airway. He wouldn't be able to rejoin the fight for a while, but a high-ranking priest could easily restore a nose.
It was the best judgment I could make. How had I made such a calculation in that split second?
It was a meaningless question. Every time I exhaled my heated breath, memories tangled in a mess as if my brain were overloading.
Don't forget? Don't forget what?
At that moment, a massive man with a shaved head blocked my path. A hand axe swung down with enough force to cleave me in two.
The moment I took a step back, the space where I had stood was split. The air hummed and vibrated with the sheer power behind the strike.
As one axe swung, another followed naturally.
It was a relentless chain of axe strikes. To make matters worse, Senior Aisia was in the distance, chanting a spell.
Was it support magic? Or was she planning to strike me directly? It didn't matter.
Senior Fermin’s movements flashed through my mind.
The grappling art that suppressed an arm just before it swung, slamming the opponent into the ground.
It was a Secret Combat Art that only monks trained in the Holy Kingdom could use. I didn't know the principles behind it, but even just intercepting an arm in the middle of a weapon swing should have required years of training.
I didn't know why. I just felt that I had to do it. And so, in that microscopic gap as the hand axe swung once more—
My body, which had been retreating, lunged forward. Senior Olmar had already been caught off guard by this sudden surge before we entered the forest. Naturally, he tried to step back to prepare for a follow-up, but his body wasn't my target.
Snap. My hand naturally gripped Senior Olmar’s thick arm. The movement was so seamless that Senior Olmar could only stare at me in a daze.
Even so, I only had one working arm. Common sense dictated that I couldn't possibly throw Senior Olmar’s massive frame.
And yet, he flipped. It was an unbelievable sight. Senior Olmar’s world turned upside down, and I slammed his massive body into the ground with everything I had. Blood vessels stood out in my eyes as I gritted my teeth.
BOOM! The ground exploded.
Shards of stone from the shattered earth flew in every direction. It looked as if a bolt of lightning had struck right where Senior Olmar landed.
"Cough… ack…!"
Blood erupted from Senior Olmar’s mouth. Dust billowed, obscuring my vision. But I had no time to hesitate.
Senior Olmar’s massive body was partially buried in the ground. Given the impact, he wouldn't be moving anytime soon.
I drove my sword into Senior Olmar’s shoulder.
"Aaaaaagh!"
The sensation of the blade tearing through muscle was followed by Senior Olmar’s scream. I didn't stop there; I put my weight into the sword, pushing the blade even deeper.
Another scream tore from his throat.
The pain was so great that Senior Olmar clutched the blade entering his shoulder with his remaining, trembling hand. His eyes were filled with unmistakable agony.
I locked eyes with Senior Olmar and spoke, spitting the words out.
"…This is for Celine."
Squelch. The moment I pulled the sword out, the pent-up blood sprayed. Then, I swung again. A strike to sever the tendons in his remaining arm.
Screams and blood painted the air once more. Between the damage from being slammed into the earth and these wounds, I didn't have to worry about Senior Olmar for a while.
That was when it happened.
Zip! Something was fired at me. An ice spike. It was Senior Aisia.
I tilted my head and easily dodged it. My eyes naturally turned toward her.
"O-Olmar! You… you really…!"
Senior Aisia seemed furious. It made sense, seeing her long-time comrade taken down like that.
I was currently feeling the same heat in my own head for the same reason. When my fierce gaze locked onto her, Senior Aisia flinched.
However, her anger still seemed greater than her fear. She bit her lip and fired the dozens of ice spikes she had already summoned, one after another.
Thwip, thwip, thwip. The ice bullets fired with strange sounds, tracing bizarre trajectories. They didn't just fly in a straight line. They gradually encroached upon the space, a spell designed to ensure a guaranteed hit in the end.
If I tried to parry them, I’d only be surrounded; if I tried to dodge, I’d only be cornered. It was a spell that required perfectly calculated orbits and a superior sense of space.
She had to be at that level to be a companion of Senior Delphine.
I ducked my upper body to dodge an incoming spike. Then, my hand scraped the ground and grabbed a hand axe. It was the one Senior Olmar had dropped.
My response was simple. I threw the axe.
The hand axe spun, tearing through the atmosphere. Its trajectory as it flew between the ice spikes was precarious. Grazing past the incoming projectiles, the blade headed straight for Senior Aisia.
Senior Aisia’s expression turned visibly panicked. She clearly hadn't expected a blade to fly through her wall of ice spikes.
But no matter how fast the axe was, she had already seen it. She fired an ice spike at the axe, successfully striking it at an angle.
The axe flew upward with a clang, tracing a parabola into the sky. Seeing the axe fly over her head, she finally looked relieved.
Until the blade buried itself in her calf.
"Gah…?!"
Senior Aisia’s stance immediately collapsed. She looked down at her calf in disbelief. A hand axe was lodged there. It had struck her from behind.
How? Her eyes asked me that question. The answer was simple.
The hand axe that had flown in a parabola had traced a returning arc like a disc, striking Senior Aisia’s calf from the rear.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury of explaining. I had already dodged the remaining ice spikes and retrieved Senior Olmar’s other hand axe. The moment her stance broke, it was already over.
I immediately lunged off the ground. My crouched body uncoiled, adding to my acceleration. In an instant, the distance between Senior Aisia and me vanished.
In a desperate struggle, Senior Aisia fired her remaining ice spikes. But fired from a broken stance, their trajectories were a mess.
I simply swatted them away with my blade. In that brief moment of hesitation, my sword left an afterimage of silver aura like a brushstroke.
Clang, clang, clang!
With a single swing, the ice spikes shattered one by one, leaving behind beautiful fragments. The light passing through the shards created a mystical atmosphere. But as Senior Aisia witnessed this dreamlike sight, her face only grew paler.
There were no more ice spikes to stop my next charge. Seeing me emerge from the fluttering icy debris, Senior Aisia clutched her head and screamed. She was already slumped on the ground.
"D-don't come near me! Stop! Sto— kyah!"
Reaching her, I stabbed her remaining leg without hesitation. Thud. Her scream echoed again. Then, I raised the hand axe and struck her in the side of the head with the blunt side as she shrieked.
Crack. The light vanished from Senior Aisia’s eyes. Now, there wasn't even a scream. Her body slumped like a bundle of dry straw.
"This is for Senior Elsie."
At my cold voice, Senior Elsie looked flustered, pointing at herself and stammering.
"…Huh? M-me?"
Come to think of it, Senior Elsie’s ankles were still bound by ice shackles. I didn't know what had been done to her, but she seemed unable to use magic yet. Out of concern, I tried to move toward her first.
Freeing Senior Elsie was the priority. I would have gone straight to her if not for the voice that tickled my ears.
"…How did you do it?"
My steps came to a dead halt. Silently, my eyes turned toward the source of the voice.
It was Senior Delphine. She was looking at me with a gaze of utter incomprehension, her brow slightly furrowed.
She was a woman who was always composed and haughty. The change in expression she was showing now qualified as an overt display of emotion. It meant she had lost her cool to that extent.
I looked at Senior Delphine as if asking what she meant. My arm was still throbbing, there wasn't a part of my body that didn't ache, and my breath was coming in gasps from overexerting myself while exhausted.
I was merely pretending to be fine. Hoping that both Celine and Senior Elsie would feel at ease.
"That martial art you used to take down Olmar… it’s the Holy Kingdom’s Secret Martial Art, isn't it?"
"Who knows."
"And that strange trajectory of the axe you threw at Aisia… were you perhaps tutored by the Sword Circle?"
"I wouldn't know."
Senior Delphine’s brow furrowed in dissatisfaction.
Without a word, gold and blood-red eyes met in the air. Then, hands moved toward hilts.
We were on the verge of a collision.