Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Iljimae (3)
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“Are you okay?”
“Feeling alright, Theo?”
Trainer and Evelyn were the first to ask, their voices thick with concern.
Theo nodded.
“I feel refreshed. Thank you.”
“That’s a relief. Looks like it worked!”
Only then could the two let out sighs of relief.
Theo wasn’t lying at all.
No, in fact, his condition was far better than he’d let on.
‘Thanks to Iljimae, my brain’s information processing speed has picked up too. My heightened senses don’t feel so foreign anymore.’
His grasp on the sword had improved the most.
The fifth claw.
It was right on the tip of his tongue, but not quite there.
He itched to test it in real combat as soon as possible.
“Well then... We’ve rested enough, so shall we get moving?”
Evelyn swept her gaze over the squad members, as if reading Theo’s mind.
The knights nodded with steadier breaths than before and rose to their feet.
The bombardment had stopped a little while ago.
Meaning the enemy was closing in to check the situation.
Now was the time for their counterattack.
In that instant, Evelyn’s eyes sharpened.
“White Dragon Knights, Squad 5! Who are we? Answer!”
“Unyielding! Unretreating! White Dragon Knights!”
“Who are we? Speak!”
“Invincible! Undefeated! Squad 5!”
“That’s right. We are White Dragon Knights, Squad 5. So from this moment on...”
Their responses rang out crisp and disciplined.
The other knights’ eyes gleamed like Evelyn’s.
“Show the enemy exactly who we are!”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”
“Then let’s go.”
Step-
The White Dragon Knights gripped their swords once more.
* * *
“Make sure they’re all dead. No survivors.”
At Sidra’s command, the Central Intelligence agents began their search.
The area where Blanc Key Fortress had stood was now a wasteland of rubble.
Dust swirled in the air, with only the remnants of barely standing structures left behind.
No one could have survived this.
“Talk about overkill.”
“If anyone survives this, we’d have to respect their survival skills, right?”
“Heh, agreed.”
The human corpses visible amid the debris were all mangled beyond recognition.
Every one torn apart or crushed somewhere.
The agents stabbed them one by one to confirm kills, but there was no need to look further.
Then, right at that moment,
“So anyway, once we’re back, let’s grab a beer...!”
One agent, chuckling mid-chat with a friend, suddenly vomited blood.
A flash erupted from underground.
Slash-
Splurt!
“Wha...!”
His comrade stared blankly at the geyser of blood shooting skyward, realizing too late what was happening. Before he could pull the signal flare from his pocket, his head came off.
Thud!
Evelyn landed silently atop the two fallen bodies.
Dust swirled around her like armor, her gaze sharper than ever.
“Eliminate them.”
That was their signal flare.
Dust storms raged in every direction.
Boom!
Swoooosh-
Whish whish whish!
White Dragon Knights burst from explosions amid the debris piles.
Caught completely off guard, the Central Intelligence agents could only fall like dominoes.
-What the hell?!
-How did they survive...?!
-Guh!
-The enemy’s still alive! Everyone, battle stations!
Sidra, arriving latest at the scene, went rigid.
‘The plan’s gone to hell! How did they survive that bombardment?’
The problem was that in group combat, the White Dragon Knights—honed through countless drills—were a nightmare to beat.
If their identity leaked, it could spark a political backlash.
He reached for his whistle to order a retreat, but
“That must be the head honcho.”
A cold voice drifted from above, followed by a dust cloud crashing down.
Flinch!
Sidra wildly swung his sword upward.
Claaaang!
Sword auras clashed, scattering shards everywhere.
At the same time, the dust cloud obscuring his vision began to whirl.
A ploy to pin him down.
Over a dozen sword auras shot out from the wind currents.
Gale of the Wind Thunder God.
And the Flying Sword Steps’ Thrusting Sword.
The Wind Lord’s secrets revealed in full for the first time in forty years.
“...!”
Clang clang clang-
Sidra barely blocked them, his hands a blur.
‘Fast...! Too fast!’
Evelyn had cornered him in an instant.
Her swordsmanship had always been top-tier—enough to face a “wall”—but mastering the Wind Lord’s manual had elevated her several realms higher.
She was even stronger now than before losing her left arm.
Sidra, unaware of her old limits, could only panic.
But he too was a master who’d learned directly from Ed.
He quickly regained composure and met her head-on.
Boom!
Swords clashed again, whipping up a gale that soared skyward.
“As expected.”
“...?”
“Your swordplay and footwork know me too well. You’re with the Ragnars, aren’t you?”
“...!”
“No idea about the rest, but you—I need you alive.”
‘Damn it!’
Sidra ground his teeth.
The worst mistake since becoming a first-class agent.
He scrambled to reassess priorities.
‘No clue how they survived, but since they’re alive... I need to secure Balmun first...!’
But before his thoughts finished, a barren wind brushed his cheek.
Swoooosh-
‘No way!’
Sidra glanced over in alarm—and froze in horror.
The head of the Balmun carrier, held back in reserve, was soaring into the sky.
Spluuurt!
Beneath the blood fountain stood a boy wielding a massive zweihander.
Theo Ragnar—the one from the Awakening Ceremony.
The one Ed had insisted they confirm dead.
‘How did he know about that!’
Fewer than five in Central Intelligence even knew of Balmun.
All Ed’s innermost circle.
For Theo to pinpoint it exactly meant one thing.
‘There’s a mole in the agency!’
Crunch!
Who the hell betrayed the Chief?!
But Sidra’s thoughts didn’t last.
“Gutsy. Got the leisure to get distracted mid-fight.”
Whish whish whish-
Evelyn’s sword whipped through the gale toward his throat.
Her movements sharp as the wind incarnate.
Theo, meanwhile, scooped up Balmun from the corpse.
“Everyone—!”
In this do-or-die moment,
Sidra had no choice but to decide.
“Protect the ‘package’ at all costs—!”
Defend to the death.
Stake your lives.
The agents unleashed their mana in unison, charging Theo.
-[Reverse Flow Blood Explosion Technique].
A forbidden art favored by demons, burning life force for a massive short-term power surge—at the risk of death.
But the agents didn’t hesitate.
Central Intelligence’s iron rule: carry out orders, even at the cost of your life—unlike the White Dragon Knights.
Swoooosh-
Over twenty trajectories converged on Theo.
“Reverse Flow Blood Explosion? What the hell are these guys...! White Dragon Knights, protect Theo!”
Evelyn shuddered at their demonic technique and barked urgent orders.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
In a flash, Selphard, Arin, and several others stood before Theo.
Selphard at the front bellowed.
“Can’t let the newbie show us up! Time to remind him how badass the vets are! Let’s goooo!”
“Azuuuu!”
Clang clang clang!
The clash between agents trying to break through and knights holding the line was ferocious.
Sword auras flew wild; blood winds howled everywhere.
Theo was in the thick of it.
[Item stored in inventory.]
He tossed Balmun into his inventory to avoid dropping it in the melee, then raised Drake’s blade high and drew a long breath.
‘My movements are lighter than ever. Senses sharper too.’
Theo recalled the Plum Palace Lord’s teachings from Iljimae.
Branches as swords. Blossoms as swordsmanship.
But [Plum Blossoms in Full Bloom] showed more than one or two flowers.
The more blossoms, the deeper the insight.
And woven in were Julius’s strikes.
His claws, sharper than any other.
Theo tried blending the two.
It wasn’t easy, of course.
The Plum Palace Lord and Julius had reached their peaks on different paths.
‘But it’s possible.’
Theo believed otherwise.
Both had chased Kyle’s sword to their current heights.
So he just needed a bridge between their styles.
‘A bridge.’
Whoosh!
Theo’s mind sparked with sharp pain, whirring back to life.
White heat.
Overdrive kicked in.
But no headache this time.
If anything, it felt clear.
Immersion sharpened his focus immensely.
Soon, he found his answer.
‘Wind.’
The Wind Lord’s manual made it possible.
Lightning, petals—they all rode the wind.
‘To manifest it... the Dragon’s Claw.’
And for that, he needed speed above all.
[Allocating 10 bonus stats to Agility.]
[Agility: 62 → 72]
[Movement becomes smoother.]
[Attack speed increases.]
Swoooosh-
His body felt lighter in that instant; Drake’s blade flashed.
First claw. An agent squeezing through the knights’ line had his skull split.
Second claw. He parried an attack aiming for Arin’s blind spot,
Third claw. Theo surged forward, sweeping the enemy ranks like a tidal wave.
Boom boom boom boom-
“Guh...! Our newbie doesn’t mess around. What’re we waiting for? Let’s roll!”
Led by Selphard, the knights pursued Theo, pressing the agents hard.
The agents floundered; the tide turned in a blink.
Clang!
Fourth claw. Theo’s streak slashed diagonally, spilling three agents’ blood.
And
The final fifth claw.
Black lightning—darker than ever—struck the ground.
Rumble-
Flash! Flash! Flash!
The massive crater it carved spread shockwaves everywhere.
Enemies caught in it flew back or convulsed from electrocution, collapsing.
Black bolts rained from the sky after.
-Thunder Calling.
Attribute magic Theo wove into his newborn fifth claw.
Rumble-
The White Dragon Knights seized total victory.
Central Intelligence’s formation crumbled instantly.
“Reeeetreat! Fall back!”
Sidra bellowed, sensing real danger.
But
A heavy shadow fell over the agents’ heads.
“Squad leader! We’re here!”
“Wahahaha! These bastards are done for!”
Erika and Holkus arrived mounted on wyverns.
Mana shells rained on the fleeing agents.
Boom boom! Boom!
“Argh!”
“Aaack!”
Mana barrages from outside,
White Dragon Knights’ counter from within.
Central Intelligence, squeezed from both sides, had nowhere to run.
Sidra paled.
‘What now...!’
Slash-
Spluuurt!
“Arrrgh!”
As Sidra’s mind blanked, Evelyn’s sword gashed his right forearm.
A blade pressed to his nape in a heartbeat.
Evelyn’s gaze was ice cold.
“Kneel.”
Her eyes promised no mercy if he resisted. Sidra bit down hard.
Suicide? But Evelyn read it first, thrusting her sword into his Aura Hall.
Thud!
“Guh...!”
Mana leaked uncontrollably.
“Kneel! Unless you want your remaining men slaughtered!”
“...!”
Sidra bit his lip bloody and dropped to the dirt.
Clang!
His sword clattered disgracefully to the ground.
Victory for the White Dragon Knights.