Chapter 424
Chapter 424
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 424
Chapter Title: The Beast King's Flight
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It took some time for the person who wanted to butt into the young couple's romance—a man who yearned to be young himself—to calm down. Only after a long while, accompanied by the thudding sounds of banging on the wall, did the door to the closed office finally swing open.
"……"
Lania wore an incredibly bitter expression.
Kalt, standing behind her and letting out heavy sighs, patted her shoulder. Mindful of Lania's mood, he cautiously broached the main topic.
"I came to share the intel we gathered from Sword Gorge. I'll fill you in, so you two separate for a bit first. I get that you're in the heat of the moment, but there are elders present here…"
A chilling gaze.
Feeling daggers piercing his back, Kalt quickly corrected himself.
"…This is an official gathering with superiors. Know your time and place."
After a brief commotion, Kalt began his report.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
At the heart of Galatric, the Sword Graveyard.
In that place filled with crumbling and shattered remnants, Raniel and Kalt came face-to-face with the traces left by the Beast King.
"Bloodstains…?"
"That's what it looks like to me too."
Sword scars littered the area.
Amid them were bloodstains that appeared to belong to the Beast King. Following the splattered blood on the ground led them to the severed half of Baruta's body.
The right arm torn off along with the shoulder.
The right leg severed below the knee.
A crude body stitched together from the corpses of beasts, not truly Baruta's own. As Kalt gazed at the scattered flesh on the ground, he spoke up.
"…Seems like only the leg was cleanly severed?"
The right arm lying on the floor.
Pointing to it, Kalt continued.
"The leg has a clean cut. Looking at the sword scars etched into the ground, it was probably something like this…"
Kalt swung his sword along the path carved into the earth.
A blade rising obliquely in a crescent arc from below. Imagining Baruta before him, that strike would have precisely sliced through Baruta's knee.
"But not the arm. This looks torn off. See? The cut is ragged."
It was just as he said.
The right arm, yanked out as if with the shoulder. Deep claw marks were gouged into the shoulder.
"Probably tore it off himself."
Not his own body part. He'd ripped off the cumbersome right arm of his own volition. Kalt continued, eyes on the ground.
"After tearing it off, the sword scars become even sharper. Meaning he got keener only after losing half his body…"
Kalt followed the sword scars with his steps.
They stopped at a pile of collapsed gorge rubble blocking the way. The scars ended there. But no corpse remained.
"……"
Kalt silently stared at the ground.
The blade had grown sharper, but Baruta, having lost part of his body, must have been steadily pushed back. The sword paths etched into the earth were shaky. With his balance broken, Baruta had chosen to charge.
Baruta had gambled.
Traces of slamming the ground as he lunged forward.
At the moment the repeatedly retreating Baruta finally charged, Gannikalt must have swung his sword—like this.
"That's where he brought down the gorge. Like drawing a line."
Kalt looked up at the piled boulders.
Climbing the mound, the two spotted bloodstains continuing beyond it. The trail stretched all the way to the Demon Realm in the distance, with no signs of pursuit.
"He let it go. Gannikalt did."
"…He shows no mercy to those who flee?"
Raniel stroked her chin.
She knew it well. What Gannikalt valued and respected was will. The pride of a swordsman and a man. To those who abandoned their pride and will to run, Gannikalt answered not as a swordsman, but as death itself.
And that Gannikalt had let a fugitive escape?
Raniel furrowed her brow. If Baruta had met his end here, things would have been far simpler. The Sword of Death must have realized it. That the Beast King was not yet complete, still in the midst of growth.
…So, he wanted a rematch in perfect condition?
Raniel couldn't know what the Sword of Death desired or what the Beast King thought. What was certain was that Baruta no longer appeared on any maps.
'Freed from the contract.'
Baruta had voluntarily torn away the half-body reconstructed by the apostate. Had that severed the connection, making him untraceable? Or had he bled out and died while fleeing?
Nothing was certain.
"…What a pain."
Raniel groaned.
What Kalt had mentioned earlier. Transcendents are forged in brushes with death. That truth naturally applied to the Beast King Baruta as well.
A rematch with the Sword of Death.
In a battle where life and death had crossed countless times, Baruta had survived. If he hadn't died, what had he learned from that fight? How much stronger had he become? Raniel had no desire to dwell on it.
"Hoo…"
Exhaling deeply, Raniel ruffled her hair and plopped down on the boulder pile, propping her chin as she continued.
"You said he burst out by tearing apart a beast's body?"
"Yes. He ripped open the mouth of an eagle-like flying beast and emerged. Probably something close to spatial transfer…"
"And he used a space-rending sword as well."
Raniel tapped her chin with her finger.
"Let's head back for now. We need to come up with some countermeasures."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "…That's everything."
Finishing his account, Kalt let out a short breath.
After a moment of silence, Rak spoke up.
"High chance he survived, then."
"Yeah. Circumstantially, he's alive. And stronger than before."
"…Just a hunch, maybe."
Rak ventured carefully.
"I think the Beast King will show up where you and Kalt are. He's a calamity, a beast… but also a swordsman seeking a rematch."
A swordsman who knew pride.
Such a being would surely…
"He'll target us to finish the duel he couldn't conclude. No matter where we are."
"I could do without the Beast King's obsession."
Kalt gave a wry smile.
He agreed with Rak's speculation to some extent.
"Still, it'll take time to recover from those injuries. Even for him, losing half his body isn't trivial."
Kalt patted his sword hilt.
"We need to grow stronger in the meantime, even if just a little."
"We do. For the Alkaya annihilation battle, at least."
Raniel picked up the thread. Sinking into the sofa with a long exhale, her eyes grew cold.
"Six months from now."
Six months, half a year.
"In half a year, we'll breach Alkaya at the heart of the Demon Realm, just as the documents outlined…"
Raniel glanced at Natida and Rak.
Recalling their roles from the papers, Rak and Natida nodded slowly.
"Your parts are crucial."
So saying, Raniel let out another long breath.
As if something irked her, she shot a sidelong glare at Rak and Natida before finally speaking.
"Not gonna complain about you dating or anything, but just in case. Just in case."
Raniel widened her eyes.
"Mind the time and place. Don't create situations that rub others the wrong way. Like, for example, in a tent…"
"Let's stop there, Senior."
"No, I have to say it."
"Normal people don't. Normal people."
As Kalt barely managed to dissuade Raniel from giving specifics, Natida, who had been eavesdropping, gave a wry smile.
"I'll keep it in mind. And thank you."
Natida bowed her head slightly.
"This is all thanks to the Hero."
Freeing her from the church. Protecting her when she had nowhere to go. Introducing her to Rak. In countless ways, Natida owed Raniel—and she had no intention of leaving it as mere debt.
"I'll do my best to help."
Natida smiled, and Raniel, still looking displeased, shot her another glance before smiling wryly. Natida's expression was just too blissfully happy.
'She's not the type to smile like that normally.'
Yeah, as long as she's happy.
Raniel sighed and said,
"…Fine. Have a healthy romance."
Just no salting wounds in front of me, please.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
The 4th Branch of the Ashen Mage Tower, positioned on the battlefield.
Originally managed sporadically by Resti, the 4th Branch now had a new overseer. A mysterious figure recommended by Resti Eleanor, Lord of the Ashen Mage Tower, and Hero Lania van Trias.
The mages were briefly flustered by the sudden arrival, but when he shed his robe and revealed his name, they fell silent without protest.
"Pleased to meet you. I am Armiel."
Armiel. The inaugural Lord of the Ashen Mage Tower.
The lord thought lost appeared before his juniors after centuries. Some dismissed it as a lie, but Armiel proved everything through results.
Though he could no longer wield magic, he had once been hailed a grand magus. His arcane knowledge dwarfed that of any contemporary mage.
A short conversation and demonstration sufficed.
With the Hero and Ashen Tower Lord's endorsement guaranteeing his identity, it didn't take Armiel long to take full control of the 4th Branch.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "You took over the tower in just ten days?"
"Thanks to the current lord's fine training. A mage tower should have this atmosphere."
"What atmosphere?"
"Meritocracy. Everything by results and knowledge. Elevate the exceptional regardless of status or origin. That's what I stressed when I built the tower."
Visiting the tower, Raniel smirked at Armiel, who sipped tea while tinkering away at the top floor.
"The mages here are quick on their feet and sharp listeners. Quite satisfactory."
"Good to hear."
Raniel pulled the damaged Holy Grail fragment from her bosom.
It had involved considerable mishaps to retrieve, but she didn't mention them.
"Recovered it. The Grail shard."
The final piece of the plan.
Armiel gave a faint smile at the sight.
"Thank you."
Even as he smiled, his hands never stopped. Drawing circuits, revising them endlessly. The top-floor lab was a testament to relentless research everywhere you looked.
Cluttered, barely room to stand.
Yet that very chaos brimmed with vitality. Gazing at Armiel's current workspace, Raniel recalled his old, decrepit shop. Tucked in a dim alley, no sunlight piercing through.
That place had felt lifeless.
A haunt for one retired from the front lines.
A place where he waited for an uncertain someone, slowly dying day by day. There, Armiel had been withering away. But now?
"Progressing smoothly, Raniel. Just as you said. Connect this here like so…"
Armiel was living each day.
No longer waiting, but forging ahead.
Watching him, Raniel smiled unwittingly.
"Glad to hear it."
Seeing the ancient magus choose to live and advance once more, Raniel smiled. She patted the shoulder of the immersed researcher.
"I'll be off."
"Already?"
"We've both got our tasks. Best get to them."
Raniel donned her robe.
A robe much like Armiel's fluttered in the wind. Trailing it, Raniel stepped away in the opposite direction from Armiel.
Six months' time.
For some, the day awaited for centuries. For others, vengeance. For some, fulfilling a vow. For others, proving themselves to a master.
It approached slowly but steadily.
Thus, time flowed.
Toward the planned day of the Alkaya annihilation battle.