Chapter 33
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Unexpected Reunion
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The swordsman, letting his sword hang loosely as he silently stared at Eirana, let out a low murmur of admiration.
"Impressive."
"I agree."
She wholeheartedly concurred with her opponent's words.
Watching Eirana like that, the swordsman silently gripped his blade with both hands, raising the hilt up past his eyes.
The preparatory stance for unleashing a major technique.
Seeing this, Eirana's eyes twitched.
Considering how he'd unleashed threatening sword strikes without any prior preparation until now, taking such a stance meant an overwhelming attack was coming.
Eirana tensed every muscle in her body.
She circulated her inner energy and focused on the swordsman's movements.
She gripped Silver Fang tighter.
In that instant, the swordsman's body vanished like a shadow.
'Missed him!'
With her heightened senses, Eirana swung her sword toward the killing intent and sharpness she felt from the side.
Just as Eirana's blade was about to clash with the swordsman's, she shuddered.
'It's gone?'
The sword had disappeared.
It wasn't that it was too fast to see. Right before contact, the sword had literally vanished from that spot.
Eirana faltered in confusion. But her body reacted faster, tilting her head back.
The sword that had vanished in an instant reappeared, slicing through the space where Eirana's neck had been.
If Eirana had been even a fraction slower in leaning back, her throat would have been severed.
After rolling on the ground, Eirana quickly regained her balance, gripped her sword with both hands, and stayed on guard against her opponent.
Cold sweat drenched her body.
The swordsman who had swung his blade looked at Eirana with surprise as well.
Watching Eirana swallow hard, the swordsman asked in bewilderment,
"How did you dodge that?"
To that question, Eirana replied nonchalantly, as if it were nothing.
"I'm used to swords too fast to track with the eyes. Yours isn't just simply fast, though."
With that, Eirana steadied her grip on her sword and asked,
"How did you do it? Magic?"
The swordsman lowered his blade and shook his head.
"I know magic, but I can't pull off something this extraordinary with it."
'Then what the hell is it?'
It wasn't just a fast sword.
The basis of swordsmanship is the line.
Any sword technique follows basic lines.
No matter how fast the sword, it can't deviate from the path of those lines.
But the strike just now had no line at all.
Simply put, there was a result but no process.
A blow that completely defied normal principles.
Similar to the high-level magic Warp?
'No. Warp folds space to connect one point to another, like opening a door to a distant place.'
Whether short or long distance, the mana fluctuations can't be hidden.
Not even a dragon could conceal them.
If the opponent had truly intended to kill her, it would have been genuinely dangerous.
"Hoo..."
Eirana exhaled and sheathed Silver Fang.
Seeing this, the swordsman tilted his head.
"Giving up?"
"Giving up?"
Eirana let out a scoffing laugh and drew Black Fang.
Black Fang's blade emerged, as if erasing space itself.
Its surface was serene like the night, but the ferocity writhing within was incomparably savage compared to Silver Fang.
She raised her empty right hand, where dark demonic energy writhed.
"I've just decided to get serious about facing you."
A curve formed on Eirana's lips.
Seeing the killing intent in her smile, the woman tightened her grip on her sword.
In that moment, both figures vanished like shadows once more.
Clang! Kashing!
Their swords crossed, ringing out sharply.
As the clash of strength began, their blades repelled each other fiercely, spewing metallic sparks and flames.
It was the phenomenon caused by Eirana's sword aura clashing against the swordsman's.
Eirana, gripping her sword with both hands, pushed forward, forcing the swordsman back.
Under her pressure, the swordsman flicked his blade away, creating distance from Eirana.
Comparing their swords, the opponent's was longer.
Meaning the swordsman had a greater attack range than Eirana.
The basics of combat were distance control.
Eirana gained advantage by closing in; the swordsman by keeping her at bay.
Eirana swung Black Fang lightly as if shaking it off, stepping forward to pressure the swordsman.
The swordsman disrupted her flow, swinging at precise timings to interfere with her footwork.
Kwach!
Eirana planted her left foot firmly and thrust her right forward.
Her right foot gouged the ground, leaving a deep scar.
Using that momentum, she unleashed a horizontal strike.
Crack!
As Black Fang struck the swordsman's blade, an impossibly dull thud echoed—not the sound of a swung sword.
Yet the sharpness within was razor-keen.
The swordsman's blade hummed with a high-pitched ring.
He was flung back into the air.
As he regained balance and stamped down, his feet cratered the ground with a thud.
'Rough, brutish, and sharp.'
The swordsman muttered inwardly, grimacing from Eirana's strike.
It was the opposite of his own straight, nimble swordplay.
Yet its edge was terrifying.
'A swordsmanship I've never seen. It binds people utterly.'
The fundamentals might align with any sword art, but its movements were unlike anything she'd witnessed in her long years wielding a blade.
'Was there a human like this?'
The female swordsman steadied her grip.
Until moments ago, Eirana hadn't been fully serious, so she'd matched her. But now it was different.
The air around the female swordsman shifted as she widened the gap.
Sensing the change, Eirana tensed and charged.
But suddenly, another killing intent pierced between them.
Pew! Thunk!
A sharp whistle cut the air as an arrow buried itself deeply where Eirana had stood.
Eirana, having dodged, glared toward the arrow's origin.
Where Calvin had been earlier.
'Annoying.'
Arrows flying precisely from unseen distances.
And the female swordsman's blade.
Even for Eirana, it was burdensome.
As she scowled and assessed the situation, she spotted a hooded figure using magic to subdue the merchant group's guards.
The ease with which they cast complex spells marked them as highly skilled.
Yet somehow, it looked sloppy.
Eirana didn't hesitate and launched herself toward them.
The female swordsman flinched at the sudden move and gave chase, but Eirana reached the mage first.
"Gasp!"
The mage startled, casting a shield spell.
But Black Fang, infused with inner energy, shattered the shield outright.
Eirana seized the mage from behind, pressing Black Fang to their throat, and shouted,
"Stop! I've got a hostage!"
"Eek!"
The mage squealed at Eirana's killing intent.
"You coward!"
The swordsman cried out in dismay, but Eirana shouted back defiantly,
"Coward my ass! You started it—shooting arrows during our one-on-one!"
With that, she kicked the back of the mage trying to wrench free and escape, sending them sprawling forward.
"Aaaah!"
"Where do you think you're going!"
Eirana stomped down hard on the mage's back. From the voice, it was a woman.
'Why are there so many women in this group?'
As Eirana grumbled with a furrowed brow, the mage beneath her foot cried out,
"Aaaah! Lady Rocana, save me!"
The mage pleaded with the swordsman in a familiar voice.
At that familiar voice and name, Eirana froze.
"Rocana?"
Eirana looked at the female swordsman, Rocana, in astonishment.
"The elf Rocana?"
At those words, the mage writhing under Eirana's foot paused, as did Rocana.
Soon, the female mage under Eirana's foot cautiously asked,
"Lady Eirana?"
Eirana glanced down.
The one she was stepping on was none other than Leria, the high elf from the elf village in Leranas territory.
Calvin could only stick out his tongue at the woman before him, who drew her bow and loosed an arrow mid-clash with him.
'What the hell is her deal?'
At a glance, it seemed evenly matched, but Calvin was completely overwhelmed.
The woman who'd fired the arrow muttered inwardly in surprise.
'She dodged it.'
She'd thought the timing perfect, the aim spot-on—it should've hit, but it missed cleanly.
"One of your comrades is truly remarkable."
Calvin replied to the woman's smiling words,
"All our folks are highly skilled, that's true. But what exactly are you?"
"Your enemies."
She answered softly yet mercilessly.
Calvin let out a heavy sigh.
"Here to interfere with us?"
"I don't know your goal, but we're here to rescue our kin. And the harm to our kin is tied to the Adea Kingdom."
Calvin paused at her words.
They grated on him deeply.
"There are factions even within the Adea Kingdom. If my guess is right...!"
Calvin, hoping his inference held and trying to persuade her, swallowed as he saw her draw her bowstring.
A sky-blue aura rippled from her bow.
Utterly different from before.
She'd reacted sharply because she'd spotted her comrade taken hostage.
The woman hesitated just before releasing, stopped by another comrade, Roa, raising a hand.
Judging the situation less dire than thought, she eased the string, returned the arrow to her quiver, and said to Calvin,
"Your story intrigues me. Care to elaborate?"
Confirming they knew her well, Eirana lifted her foot from Leria's back.
As the pressure vanished, Leria groaned and rose, slyly removing her hood.
It was indeed the high elf Leria that Eirana knew.
"Long time no see, Lady Eirana! You've grown so much!"
Eirana replied flatly to her beaming, cheerful greeting,
"Yeah, sure."
No real growth or change in appearance.
With that, Eirana glanced at Rocana.
Her killing intent had already subsided.
If high elves Rocana and Leria were here, one conclusion followed.
And if that was right, there was no reason to fight them now.
So deciding, Eirana's gaze flicked to the bell tower.
She'd sensed unusual mana fluctuations moments ago.
The archer up there was clearly no amateur.
After eyeing the tower briefly, Eirana asked Rocana approaching her,
"Here to rescue that dimwit high elf?"
Rocana asked puzzled,
"You know Kirea?"
"Platinum hair?"
"Yes."
"She's captured over there."
Eirana pointed her blade tip at the warehouse.
"She didn't look off, did she?"
"She was fine."
Rocana sighed in relief at Eirana's words.