Chapter 531: San'gun, King of the Mountain
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 531: San'gun, King of the Mountain
Grul was like a bolt of lightning. He struck and retreated in a flash, never missing a momentary opening as he pierced through the briefest of instants. His two daggers, shaped like fangs, moved swiftly, mercilessly gouging his enemy’s weak points. With these weapons in hand, Grul feared no foe.
“An Axiom that can only be used with prior preparation? How half-baked.”
However, neither Grul’s vaunted Axiom nor his favored weapons had any effect on Marquis Raphaeno. The marquis approached slowly, his movements leaving trails in the air, as if nothing Grul did mattered in the slightest.
“Must you push off the ground with your foot just to move that distance? Stronger only for having prepared… You are weak, my friend. Your Axiom is far too weak.”
Noticing that Grul dragged his foot every time he used his Axiom, Marquis Raphaeno had instantly identified the trigger and was now pressing his advantage. He targeted Grul’s legs whenever he tried to use Ground Shift, leaving Grul feeling utterly suffocated.
“The Qi Art you’ve learned, the elixirs you’ve consumed, the skills you’ve honed—that is your preparation, Grul. You should trust in yourself more.”
“Don’t be so arrogant!”
“It is not arrogance. I am simply that good.”
Without his breathing so much as hitching, Marquis Raphaeno stepped forward. The Vulcan Combat Manual was a Qi Art designed for dueling. As the marquis leaned forward and extended his leg, his body stretched out long like a spear. To Grul, it looked as if the marquis was flying toward him like an arrow.
He’s faster than me…!
Without his Axiom, he was outmatched in both strength and speed. Was it a matter of talent? No, before they could even discuss that, it was clear the two of them were standing on entirely different levels.
The marquis’s Qi Art was more refined. His Qi was more abundant. And he had clearly not been lax in his training. After rooting his feet like a great tree, he would explode his Qi in an instant to propel his body forward, simultaneously extending his entire frame to channel that power purely into movement.
And that’s not all. Every one of his techniques is so precise! Not a single wasted motion!
These were techniques created and refined over decades, even centuries, by those called geniuses. Seeing their pinnacle, Grul had no time for admiration; he threw his back. A trajectory of light grazed past his eyes. As he was about to use the momentum to rise, Grul remembered the marquis’s Axiom and deliberately stuck out his foot to fall over. If he had lifted his head, a blade would have taken it.
Losing one’s posture is a fatal mistake. The marquis’s rapier bent and plunged down at Grul. Seeing the blade fall toward his stomach, Grul used Ground Shift while still on his back. It was a gamble he had never attempted before, but the Axiom activated properly, and his body slid back about two meters. The rapier, having lost its target, plunged deep into the earth.
“An Axiom is a new power. It’s like gaining another hand you can move freely. And yet, your Axiom is merely an extension of your Gon Qi Art. Moving quickly with Qi… isn’t that something one can do without reaching an Axiom?”
It should have been, yet the marquis closed the distance in two quick steps, resuming his pursuit.
Gon Qi Art was a technique for moving by gripping and pushing off the ground with Qi. Grul’s Axiom, Ground Shift, was a movement akin to teleportation, but Marquis Raphaeno’s footwork was so fast that it was nearly invisible to the naked eye. His footwork made up for the lack of an Axiom.
“It is precisely because of that Axiom that you never mastered proper footwork. And for that, you are no match for me.”
Slash. Grul’s side was torn open, and blood sprayed into the air. Gritting his teeth, Grul sealed the wound with his Qi.
He couldn’t win. Had he prepared the ground before fighting the wolf, when he was in perfect condition, he might have stood a chance. But in his current state, he was struggling just to defend himself. And considering Marquis Raphaeno’s Axiom, he probably couldn’t have won even if he had prepared the ground. No matter how fast he moved, if he got caught in the trajectory of the Lingering Blade, he would be the only one to get hurt.
“This is all because you are uneducated. To think a warrior as pragmatic and talented as yourself would make such a poor judgment. Tsk, tsk.”
In contrast to Grul, who was panting heavily, Marquis Raphaeno’s breathing remained perfectly steady.
“Grul, do you truly not know why you’ve been safe until now? Who wouldn’t have thought of bringing elixirs from the lands of the Fallen Dominion? It was simply that there was no need to advance into the empty Enger Plains while risking attacks from the wolves. Sending a large force would only result in losses from beasts and wolves. In cases like this, it’s better to leave it to civilians like adventurers.”
Grul had started his enterprise with the Beast Faction who roamed the plains, bringing them wealth and power. While Grul’s ability was certainly exceptional, it was also an opportunity that had arisen thanks to the Wolf King.
“But now that the vassal states have decided to act directly, you should have joined us. It would have been beneficial for both you and us. However… if you choose to fight us, we will have no choice but to eliminate you.”
But to Grul, that was an absurd proposition. He had rejected the offer because Marquis Raphaeno had said he would drive out the beastkin.
“You’re so pragmatic, so why are you trying to drive out the beastkin?! What do you plan to do in the Enger Plains without them?!”
And with that, the difference in their positions became starkly clear. Marquis Raphaeno expressed his confusion.
“…Hmm? If you all remain, it will be difficult to send settlers to this land, will it not?”
“They are the settlers!”
“That is not for you to decide.”
“No! We decide for ourselves! We decide what we can do!”
“Unfortunately, Grul, that is not for you to decide.”
Two daggers shot forward. The advantage of dual-wielding was, of course, the numbers themselves. Just as one hand cannot block two, it is difficult to block two daggers moving on different trajectories with a single rapier. In such a situation, one should attack the wielder’s body to stop the assault, but the marquis chose a slightly more troublesome path.
“Power decides.”
He slashed one side before Grul’s dagger arrived. Then he followed the other, deflecting it. A past slash blocked the left hand, and a present slash blocked the right.
And a future slash would cut Grul. The rapier, reflecting the sunlight, gleamed coldly.
“Without power, you cannot project your will upon the world, Grul. Come back when you are stronger. If you can, that is.”
“Stop!”
Just then, the Regressor intervened. A gust of wind leaped across space and flew toward Marquis Raphaeno. Sensing the unusual force, the marquis clenched his other hand into a fist and struck the air.
Volcanic Force, Explosion. The Qi packed into his fist seized the wind. Geon Qi Art was a Qi Art that acted on all things in the world. A master of the art could imbue not only steel but also the air itself with Qi. The marquis grabbed the wind with his hand, infused it with Qi, and swung.
KWAANG! The strike from Chun-aeng collided with Marquis Raphaeno’s fist and vanished. Feeling a tingling sensation, the marquis looked at the Regressor who had just interfered.
“Not an Axiom. A relic? Then you must be the adventurer the Violet Merchant Guild summoned.”
“That’s right. What’s with you showing up out of nowhere and causing all this trouble?”
Despite the Regressor’s appearance, Marquis Raphaeno showed no signs of tension. Instead, he sighed as if in pity.
“Is everyone here half-baked? A relic is ultimately someone else’s power. One who clings to it can never reach an Axiom… Such a waste of talent at your age.”
Without Jizan, the Regressor was objectively a little below a Master. She had lost to Sunderspear and had failed to gain a clear advantage against the Earth Sage. Even with Jizan, victory was not guaranteed, meaning her chances of winning against Marquis Raphaeno were almost nonexistent.
But the Regressor didn’t seem to care. After all, she was the Regressor.
“You’re the one wasting your talent! If you’re so great, you should have fought the Wolf King yourself instead of trying to stick your spoon in after the fight was over!”
Though annoyed by the constant interruptions, Marquis Raphaeno held his temper for a moment.
“This is an internal affair of the vassal states. Do not interfere. Well, if you insist on being unreasonable, I won’t stop you. But you’ll have to show you have the power to back it up.”
Dealing with a relic user will cause trouble, and I don’t want to give the Violet Merchant Guild a reason to get involved. How annoying. It would be nice if this could be resolved with words…
As expected, the Regressor snorted and shouted.
“You keep going on about power, power. What about you? You’re just some thug who throws his weight around in a vassal state, aren’t you? Only someone like the Sword Saint gets to talk like that. From the Empire’s perspective, you’re nothing but a backwater Master!”
“…”
As expected of the Regressor. She had just dropped a bomb that made Erectus’s antics look like nothing. The remark was so severe that everyone, from the Obelisk and the beastkin to even the army Marquis Raphaeno had brought with him, glanced nervously at the marquis.
In the suffocating silence, the marquis’s mustache twitched slightly. It was clear to anyone that he was feeling a violent rage.
“Right. Since when did we fight with words? I was trying too hard to resolve this with conversation.”
Shing. Marquis Raphaeno drew another sword from his hip. It was a main-gauche, slightly shorter than his rapier. With its pitch-black blade, the main-gauche seemed to swallow the sunlight, crying out ominously.
“Since there are two of you, I suppose it’s fine if I use two swords?”
His fighting spirit billowed out like smoke. If they fought now, someone would die. Sapien rushed to intervene, shouting.
“Stop, Marquis Raphaeno! If you don’t!”
For the sole purpose of stopping the fight, Sapien made his final choice.
“I will appeal to the Empire and the Sanctum!”
That single phrase made not only Marquis Raphaeno but his entire army hesitate. Confirming that his threat was effective, Sapien took another step forward.
“The Enger Plains are the land where Saint Enger planted his flag! We, his descendants, are the rightful owners of this land, nobles who have defended it with our lives! Justice will not forgive this attempt to seize land consecrated by a Saint!”
It was an attempt that would have been utterly futile in the lands of the vassal states. But the name of a Saint transcended even borders, and his claim had clear legitimacy. Moreover, the Empire would not pass up an excuse to intervene.
“You. You shouldn’t have done that.”
—But it was a terrible move for Sapien as well. Marquis Raphaeno gave a quiet command.
“All units, prepare for battle.”
Shk-shk-shk. The army raised their weapons in unison. The mage unit began their incantations, and the honor guard formed up.
The war host led by the Black Tiger Army. Each one a warrior stronger than those of the Beast Faction, they advanced in formation. Their target… was not only Grul and the Regressor, but every beastkin who was resting after the battle.
“Execute the traitors.”
“…What?”
“Sapien the official, Grul of the Beast Faction, and that adventurer. I hereby designate the three of them as traitors. Anyone who aids them will be slaughtered. This is a massacre order from the Black Tiger General.”
The vassal states were subjects of the Empire. Therefore, their people were one step lower in status than citizens of the Empire. It was a fate decided from birth.
Naturally, no one likes a fate that is to their disadvantage. And a few try to overcome it.
Marquis Raphaeno was one of those few. The Regressor was aghast.
“You want a war? Are you just going to do whatever you want?!”
“Does it feel absurd? What can you do? That is how the world works. When we ultimately clash, we have no choice but to test our strength.”
The pig beastkin had fought humans to overcome absurdity. But once they stood in the position of rulers, they gave birth to a new absurdity. The beastkin of Ende had condemned their foolishness and cowardice.
But were the pig beastkin the only ones so cowardly and foolish?
The pig beastkin had simply done it a little later. Such foolish revolutions had happened dozens of times before. And even the successful revolutions, though veiled in their own brilliance, saw the same absurdities continue.
Humans, too, had been pig beastkin.
The vassal states now inflicted upon Ende the absurdity they had received from the Empire.
“Obelisk! Prepare for battle!”
“Sons! Take up your arms!”
As they scrambled to their feet, lightning and flames rained down upon their heads. It was white magic, fired by the court mage unit. The preemptive strike, meant to break their will to fight, sent the Obelisk and Beast Faction warriors into a panic. Ende had no mage unit to counter them.
The Black Tiger Army was far stronger in Qi Arts alone. Advancing with the support of mages, they effortlessly cut down the soldiers who were exhausted from fighting the wolf and rescuing the buried.
In fact, the rescue wasn’t even finished. Regardless of the army approaching from the other side, the workers who were still clearing rocks and rescuing the buried were struck by a sudden disaster.
“Toeeeehng. I barely made it ouuut… Now I can finally rest—”
“Aaaargh! Fire!”
“Toeeeeeehng?!”
With no system and no strategy, they were ambushed by humans they had considered allies. Before they could even discuss victory or defeat, they had to worry if they could even escape.
If there was one stroke of luck, it was that Ende’s only mage had just been freed. The court mages, who had been indiscriminately firing magic at the beastkin, felt something was wrong.
“Mage Algios, the trigger is blocked.”
“What is it? A Unique Magic?”
“It seems so. The wands we use as catalysts are not working. The same phenomenon occurs even when we change the trigger. It’s as if it’s caught in some kind of law. However, if we channel mana directly, the magic fires normally.”
“A Unique Magic that controls triggers? The effect is weak, but the rule is simple and the area is wide. It would be tricky to face on the battlefield.”
“Wait. It controls triggers, you say?”
“The rule might be different, but that seems to be the effect for now.”
“In that case, couldn’t it also… activate triggers?”
“What?”
KWAGWAGWANG! The catalysts held by the mages activated, firing magic in all the wrong directions.
Unlike black magic, which uses the caster’s own body as a catalyst, white magic uses gems or tools. By drawing mana circuits on elaborate alchemical tools and infusing them with mana, one can cast spells with just a command word. There had been many magic tools with triggers set so they could be used without needing to infuse mana separately in preparation for battle.
The reason for the past tense was that they had all been activated by Kito’s Unique Magic. Flames erupted from the wands, spreading in every direction. The mage unit, accustomed to attacking but not defending, screamed and ran about in chaos.
“An ambush?”
“No. It’s a Unique Magic!”
The court mage unit was a valuable asset even to the vassal states. As the unit went berserk, everyone’s attention was momentarily drawn to them. The Regressor seized the opportunity and swung Chun-aeng.
“Skyblade Art, Wave Breaker!”
Chun-aeng was a relic that symbolized space itself. A storm raged, halting the army’s advance, and the rampaging magic spread on the wind. The army paused for a moment to identify the type of attack.
Having created a brief but precious opening, the Regressor looked back and shouted.
“Everyone, run— Kuh!”
“A futile effort.”
A sharp sword strike assailed the Regressor. Two blades aimed for her. It was a powerful and swift ambush, but the Regressor, activating the Heavenly Counter Domain, simply threw her back to dodge it.
In terms of pure Qi, the Regressor was not inferior to the marquis. She had drunk elixirs gained from her future knowledge like water and had mastered the peerless Qi Art of the Heavenly Counter Domain. No matter how fast the strike, the moment she perceived the attack, she dodged it completely. Her ability to evade attacks was no less than that of Grul, who had reached an Axiom.
Tch! I can’t counterattack…!
But she couldn’t say she had the advantage, not in a million years. The slashes Marquis Raphaeno drew lingered long after, remaining a danger. It was a common trait of Axioms, but his was so absurdly powerful that it was almost impossible to fight against.
And there was another problem.
How long do those things last?! There are slashes left all over the place! I have nowhere left to retreat!
The true value of the Lingering Blade was its spatial control. Any space his sword had once passed through now belonged to the marquis. Unlike Grul, whose power was consumable, Marquis Raphaeno grew more advantageous the longer he fought.
She might have been able to retreat in a direction his sword hadn’t touched, but the only safe places were usually where her allies were. Her allies would be caught in the Master’s sword strikes.
It’s absurd…!
“Isn’t it absurd?”
Marquis Raphaeno spoke as if he had read the Regressor’s mind.
“It is the same for everyone. Absurdity can visit anyone at any time. Whether one can overcome it or not depends solely on power. And so… we struggle to obtain that power.”
“So you’re going to drive out all the beastkin?! If you do that, that absurdity will come for you one day!” the Regressor shouted, thinking of the King of Sins, but Marquis Raphaeno replied calmly.
“Whatever I do, the absurdity that is to come will come. If it is to gain the power to overcome it, then I will gladly become absurdity itself.”
But that was not absurdity.
It was a perfectly natural event, a result of humans acting on their selfishness. Though they called it absurdity, it was in fact just the barbarism hidden beneath the mask of order, baring its fangs.
The reason one considers it absurd is because one expects something from the other person. One feels wronged because one hopes the other party is human, just like them, and will think and act as they do.
True absurdity does not happen that way. It comes so suddenly and so intensely that one cannot even feel wronged.
Yes, just like…
“Grrr. You must be the highest-ranking human here.”
…the girl who suddenly appeared before the marquis, her striped tail swishing gently beneath her jeogori jacket.
Appearing in a tear in the fabric of the war, the girl was perfectly at ease amidst the spreading flames and spattering blood. In the midst of clashing steel and screams, she showed not fear, but a hint of ennui. Her eyes held a faint curiosity, layered with arrogance.
The girl, who had appeared in a manner even more absurd than the absurd situation itself, spoke slowly.
“We ask of thee.”
I couldn’t read her thoughts. If it were only that, I wouldn’t have felt anything.
But my instincts were screaming in fear. My entire body was trembling, and a cold sweat ran down my back. My clothes were already soaked through. Even the fact that Azzy was healing people no longer seemed important.
Because it was possible there would be no one left for Azzy to heal.
The King of Tigers, San'gun. The Beast King, who was in name and in truth the King of the Mountain, commanded the human.
“Where is the wolf?”