Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Third Repository: Sirius (6)
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Anyone living on the continent had heard the rumors about the Seven Corners at least once.
—The Seven Corners.
The seven powerhouses who shook the continent.
Individuals who reigned as symbols of terror through their solitary might, deemed untouchable by anyone under the heavens.
Even Austin Rainer had heard their names a few times in his life.
"You managed to run around in that sorry state all this time."
However, Austin had never once imagined he'd end up facing one of the Seven Corners.
At least, not until just moments ago.
"Keep your neck stretched out nice and long. That way, I might show some mercy and send you off in one swing."
Shring—.
The young man's gaze, as he drew the demon sword from his waist, brimmed with arrogance that looked down on the people standing before him.
The one who lorded over countless criminals.
The true ruler of the Black Market, which embraced innumerable crimes under the banner of the Brotherhood and sold everything imaginable.
Captain, Isaac Leobrant.
Whoosh—.
His hair whipped in the wind like a lion's mane as he brandished the keen demon sword.
"Ah, ah, Isaac… Leobrant…!"
Cardinal Juda's eyes, fixed on Isaac, convulsed in terror beyond mere fear.
Amid the killing intent glaring at the bishop.
Austin gazed at the man before him with a troubled expression.
‘The thief who was after the cardinal's life… to think he was the Brotherhood's captain…!’
Keening—.
Sirius's gaze locked onto Isaac Leobrant.
From the moment Austin took in the sight of the young man with wind-tossed hair, his instincts sent out a warning unlike any he'd felt in his life.
Thump, thump—.
It felt as if a nonexistent heart was pounding wildly.
The hairs on his lost fur stood on end, and a loosening sensation spread through legs bereft of muscle.
A warning toward one facing death.
His instincts, honed to the absolute limit, rang alarm bells relentlessly at Austin.
"Never seen the ones next to you before. Picked up new escorts while you were on the run?"
The cold-faced youth spoke in a subdued voice.
Isaac Leobrant.
Austin's instincts screamed warnings at every single movement he made.
The hand gripping the sword approached chillingly.
The hand not holding the sword ignored all distance.
His relaxed legs felt like razor-sharp daggers.
Isaac's hands, legs, gestures, even his glances—.
His instincts screamed that every last bit was dangerous.
"Yeah. Mercenaries we hired."
Friella gave a nonchalant reply to Isaac's words.
"I noticed from the start when you began fleeing, but you're awfully lucky."
Swipe—.
The hand resting on Friella's scabbard was ready to draw at any moment.
Taut tension hung in the air.
A hair-trigger standoff persisted, ready to erupt at any second.
"But since you found two people to die in your place, at least you've bought yourselves two seconds."
Sneer—.
Isaac flashed a cold smile and mocked the three of them.
Yet no one present felt that mockery was arrogance.
The man before them clearly possessed the strength to back it up.
"Who says we're dying in their place?"
Shring—.
Friella yanked the sword handle and shot back with a sneer.
Isaac Leobrant cast a leisurely glance at the ceremonial sword half-drawn from its sheath.
With a single look, he finished his assessment of the blade.
"An Eight Swords inspector's sword? You're lugging around fancy trash."
"It's not like I carry it because I want to."
Their eyes met.
Crossing gazes.
Just as the sharply building tension began to ease with a faint yawn slipping from Isaac's lips—
"Then let's see what you've got."
—"……!"
Austin immediately trusted his instincts, drawing a blade from the back of his hand and tilting it at an angle.
Right then—.
Clang—.
He realized the scenery in Sirius's vision had shifted.
A fleeting instant, time splintered into infinity.
A single point in a world where everything had frozen.
In that space, the demon sword's trajectory shot out, already aiming for Friella's throat.
—"……!"
Friella's eyes blankly recalled the timing she'd missed, unable to mount any defense.
The approaching blade.
The tilting sword path.
Isaac's eyes, gripping the demon sword, glanced sidelong at Sirius, who had raised his blade beside him.
Kaaang—!
Sirius's blade, blocking Isaac's path, rang with a crisp metallic clash and was pushed back.
Friella's body flew backward from the overwhelming impact, unbelievable from a mere human frame.
"Hngh…!"
Boom! Whoosh—.
Dust billowed up alongside the rebounding blade.
Friella, absorbing the unblocked shock, flipped in midair and barely landed on the ground.
Hah, haah—.
Her eyes, gasping ragged breaths as she opened them, were filled with shock.
A single attack.
That alone made the gap in their levels clear.
"Just what gap let you reach that point…!"
Fear mingled in Friella's voice.
It was an incomprehensible trajectory.
A single swing where the links between motions vanished entirely, leaving only cause and effect.
Surviving that strike was nearly a miracle.
Without Sirius's intervention, her head would have flown clean off without surprise.
"I swung to kill, so it's a bit unexpected that you survived."
—"……."
Isaac, the one who unleashed such a strike, casually sheathed his sword at his waist with leisurely poise.
Click—.
One of Isaac's demon swords returned to its place.
His hand, having sheathed it, quietly moved toward the next demon sword.
"I didn't plan on letting you live like this."
Glance.
Isaac's gaze shifted to the cardinal, who had fled some distance away.
Tap, tap—.
Incongruous with his large build, he sprinted at full speed to escape the battlefield.
"Well, whatever. Let's ignore that trash and have a proper talk among ourselves."
Isaac watched the fleeing cardinal with a gaze lacking any enthusiasm, but only for a moment.
Click—.
Soon, his hand rested on another demon sword's hilt as he addressed Sirius, standing right beside him.
"You… what are you, exactly?"
—"……."
"Even Cora wouldn't have reacted to that attack. It's downright baffling, no matter how I think about it."
His black eyes took in Sirius's armor.
Smooth obsidian plate.
At its peak, purple eyes met Isaac's gaze.
"I've never heard of someone like you coming to the Great Forest, but—."
Hummmm—.
The blue demon sword in Isaac's grasp vibrated.
The air churned, heavy pressure settling between the two.
Looking up at Sirius, Isaac Leobrant spoke in a voice thick with condescension.
"What's your name?"
—"……Sirius."
"Sirius, huh. Nice name."
Keening—.
Austin's instincts rang their alarm.
The moment Austin, heeding the perilous warning, tried to move his magitech armor at full power—
"Consider it an honor. This is only the second time I've drawn this in the Great Forest."
Swipe—.
A cold voice slipped from Isaac's lips as he gripped the sword.
"—[Demon Sword], activate."
—"……!"
Kwaaaaang—!
The erupting roar swallowed the Great Forest's trees.
* * * * * *
Sword Ghost Raparia had rarely faced such a headache-inducing situation in her life.
Everything felt off-kilter and wrong.
She'd ended up confronting a scenario where nothing went right from start to finish, everything tangling into knots.
‘How did things end up like this?’
Tadadadak—.
As Raparia dashed across the Great Forest's trees, a tangled web of events flashed through her mind.
—She had tried to block the Leobrant Brotherhood's intrusion into the Great Forest.
But their sacrifices were too great, shrinking her already precarious position even further.
—She had called in comrades from the Eight Swords Assembly to tie down Isaac's subordinates.
But the elf guide abandoned Friella and fled, leaving her whereabouts unknown.
—She had sent a letter in her own name to the White Order to restrict Isaac's movements.
But some deranged cleric led holy knights to invade the Great Forest.
—She had planned to stay in the village for a while to oversee the fruit harvest.
But a sudden raid by black mages resulted in the secret repository's documents being stolen.
‘Not a single thing has gone right from one to ten—!’
Nothing went her way.
Protecting her kin, intervening in the fruit harvest—none of it followed Raparia's intentions.
‘At this rate, I can't uncover the Great Forest's secrets.’
Raparia wanted to unearth the secrets hidden in the Great Forest.
To confirm the truth of the ritual her kin were entangled in and free them from their curse-like bonds.
But at this rate, she'd end up in a situation no different from the conclusion she'd faced centuries ago.
‘This isn't why I returned to the Great Forest, Raparia.’
She loved her kin dearly.
It didn't matter if they weren't chosen by spirits or mocked her as half-breed.
Akelnar, who had become a criminal alongside her long ago, had abandoned their kin ages back, but Raparia didn't want to become like that.
That was why she stood against Isaac Leobrant.
To prove herself with the sword her kin scorned and, in her own way, save them.
But the result was her chasing black mages through the Great Forest.
"……."
Irritation boiled in her mind.
Un-elven heat surged within her.
She was well aware she was exceedingly emotional for an elf.
It was something her first master—now long dead human—had told her centuries ago upon their meeting.
To see the sword, you must let go of your heart, Raparia—.
Her long-dead master's words lingered in her chest.
"I need to find them quick—."
Thud, tadadadak—.
Speed built in her legs as she kicked off the trees.
With each step, her vision blurred by rapidly.
Her impatience drew Raparia deeper into the Great Forest.
As her agile legs swiftly traversed it—
‘……I sense presences.’
Deeper in the dense forest of trees.
Faint signs of life emanated from there, and Raparia's hand moved to the sword at her waist.
‘No spirit power at all. Safe to say it's not kin.’
Click—.
The elf's gaze, hand on her sword, chased the emerging presence.
Right then, two slashes extended from Raparia's sword.
Kwaang! Koo-goo-goo-goong—.
Trees toppled along the sword's path, thick green foliage shredded and scattered.
"Huuk…!"
Amid the swirling green leaves.
Beyond them, someone who had ducked low came into view.
"There you are, human."
Bloodstained ornate robes.
Large gold ornaments on both arms.
And a rotund figure brimming with greed.
A cleric of the White Order, marked by their insignia, cowering in utter terror.
"Noble… no, more precisely, a holy order cleric."
"P-p-p-p-p-plea, please spare me…!"
"I heard holy knights invaded the Great Forest recently. You're likely part of that group."
Shring—.
The sharp sword pointed at the cleric, who rolled sweat-drenched eyes and raised his hands.
Raparia knew it well as humans' surrender gesture.
Swipe.
Her cold gaze, gripping the sword, pierced the man.
"Your name and purpose, cleric."
A question demanding his identity.
The portly cleric, trembling violently, began spilling words toward her.
"I-I'm… Cardinal Juda Callios of the order…! For quite some time, I've actively pushed for exchanges with stubborn ear… no, elves…!"
"Stubborn ear, what?"
"Noble… precious noble race, I said…!"
Huff, huff—.
The cardinal shuddered roughly amid his labored breaths.
Raparia's eyes narrowed further at the obvious nonsense.
Even aged as she was, she could distinguish human speech.
Yet the cardinal brazenly continued under her gaze.
"The order's scriptures! According to the great… Guide's words… um, heretics like you… no, other races… are worthy of the order's mercy…!"
"……."
"So I… came here with good intentions to bestow the Guide's teachings upon you… but alas! I ran into vile thieves…!"
Shring—.
The sharp blade pressed under the cardinal's chin.
Raparia's cold gaze fixed on him.
"Cardinal, is that all?"
A warning she would hear no more drivel.
Hearing the Sword Ghost's ultimatum, the cardinal's true feelings poured out.
"If you know honor… please spare me…!"
"……."
"Some mad thief was trying to kill me, so I fled… and now wicked black mages are chasing me…!"
Wicked black mages.
Raparia spoke at the intriguing words.
"Black mages are chasing you?"
"While fleeing, I unluckily ran into those bastards! And that's why I'm in this mess!"
Raparia's gaze lingered on the cardinal only briefly.
The Eight Swords Assembly's leader curved her lips in a faint smile.
Intruders in the Great Forest—
It seemed she'd found a clue to the thieves who stole from the secret repository.