Chapter 52
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: A Visit
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“Are you insane, White-Masked Young Master!”
By the time the White-Masked Young Master drew his sword.
And charged at him.
Despite the surprise attack happening in the blink of an eye, Jemin reacted quickly.
He swung his elegantly curved blade, parrying the White-Masked Young Master's sword and even launching a counterattack.
It was a strike so swift and sharp it would have been more than enough to fatally wound even a high-level Awakened One if they weren't a combat class, but…
Yet, Jemin gritted his teeth.
Because Dion had effortlessly dodged his counter and continued to press the attack.
As if to say there was no need for any more pointless conversation with an opponent who was going to die anyway.
*Clang!*
“Kiiik!!!”
A swordsman can tell his opponent's true intentions just by the way they wield their blade.
Realizing from the relentless strikes that Dion truly intended to kill him.
Jemin gave up on any thought of compromise.
Instead, his eyes flashed with a murderous glint.
“Fine, you arrogant bastard! If you're that eager to die, I'll grant your wish!”
***
Now that it had come to this, he would kill them all—White-Masked Young Master be damned—and finish this cleanly.
Jemin's decision was not the result of a momentary impulse.
He and his eldest son, Yuma, his wife, and his other two children—five high-level Awakened Ones from the Kahul family had gathered at the commotion.
For a minor noble family, it was an excessively robust force.
On the other hand, the only threatening intruders were the White-Masked Young Master and the dark elf maid who had overwhelmed Yuma.
The two kobold leaders, who seemed to be from the Wailing Woods, were a bit concerning, but a summoner without their familiar was no different from an ordinary person.
He had simply concluded, with cold calculation, that since they hadn't brought any soldiers, he could bury them right here.
It was a reasonably sharp assessment.
In reality, the Lair of the Crouching Dragon had only four high-level Awakened Ones.
And among them, Arsha was a non-combat type, while most of the Awakened from the Wailing Woods were tamers or other non-combat classes.
Judging solely by the balance of power in this mansion at this moment, they had the upper hand.
*Kaaaang!*
“This, this damn bitch!”
…Thanks to that, Yuma, who now had to face Parsha's iron fists again, felt like he was dying.
The fortunate thing was that he didn't have to face her alone.
“What are you doing, brother? You're struggling against a single elf bitch like that?”
“Help me out before you run your mouth, you stupid wench!”
“Kik! Who's calling who stupid?”
Yuma's younger sister, a shaman goblin who had inherited more of her mother's bloodline than her father's.
Yumin Kahul chanted a spell, her expression displeased.
Though she was always fighting with Yuma over the succession, she knew this was a time to cooperate.
And so, the moment Yumin finished her long incantation and held out her staff.
“Ru, rIa, ODra, AsKa!”
A faint light of Mana enveloped Yuma's body, and his muscles swelled as if they would burst.
It was a common enough enhancement spell.
But as expected of one cast by a high-level Awakened One, its effects were terrifying.
Yuma's once-lanky frame grew to over two meters tall, and his body, which had become sluggish from Parsha's beating, became twice as fast as before.
And it wasn't just his speed that was enhanced.
*Kwaaaang!!!*
“Kikikik! How's my strength now, you damn elf wench!”
“Hmph. Bragging about power that isn't yours.”
Yuma, who had been hopelessly pushed back every time he clashed with her iron fists and kicks.
But now, his explosive strength, shimmering with aura, sent Parsha flying back instead.
Thanks to this, Yuma regained his confidence and shifted from defense to offense.
Faster.
Much stronger.
A body as hard as stone.
These were the only differences, yet they alone became an overwhelming advantage, allowing him to press Parsha like an avalanche.
Even more so because his opponent was a dark elf, a race with naturally weak physical strength.
But even as he pushed Parsha back, Yuma grew increasingly anxious.
Far more refined martial arts.
A higher level as an Awakened One.
An incredibly swift and sophisticated use of aura.
And on top of that, a rare unique Trait called 【Iron Fist, Flying Kick (SR)】.
The sight of Parsha exquisitely using all of these to withstand his ferocious assault.
Above all, the sight of Parsha, who, despite being outnumbered two to one, showed no anxiety. The sight of her parrying his blade with a completely straight face, not even twitching an eyebrow.
It forced Yuma to push his aura beyond its limits.
“Kiiik! This is the end!”
『Kahul Family Sword Arts, Secret Technique
Rock Splitter』
*Woooong.*
His aura, focused to its absolute limit, vibrated the sword at super-high speeds, granting the blade terrifying cutting power.
It was a technique the founder of the Kahul family had learned by traveling all the way to the Martial Peaks.
A marvelous secret art that manifested martial prowess not with Ki, but with aura.
The terrifying thing about the nobility was their ability to inherit and develop such secret arts, thanks to the successive generations of high-level Awakened Ones born with prodigious talent.
No matter if she was a high-level Awakened One.
No matter if she was more skilled in combat than him.
Yuma had no doubt that a mere elf could never block this technique.
『Unlight Family's Elven Martial Arts, Third Form
Breaking Iron, Shattering Steel』
*Crack!*
“…What?”
Until the moment it collided with her steel gauntlet, and his own sword snapped in two.
Moreover, Yuma's misfortune did not end there.
His posture, already focused solely on attack.
The backlash from forcing his aura.
And on top of that, his unexpected shock.
As a result of all these factors combined, he took the full force of Parsha's follow-up punch.
*Poooow!*
“Kuaaargh!”
“Kyak?!”
A frog hit by a bat must look something like this.
With a sickening squelch, Yuma was sent flying backward, crushing Yumin beneath him and knocking her unconscious.
At the same time, Yuma coughed up a gout of blood mixed with pinkish flesh.
He had managed to raise a sliver of aura to defend his abdomen at the last second, avoiding having his body explode like a trampled frog, but that was all.
The pieces of internal organs mixed in with the blood already signaled a fatal wound.
But even in that state, what filled Yuma's mind was neither anger nor despair.
‘How?’
It was bewildering enough that a mere elf had used a technique that was not only on par with his family's secret art... but even superior.
But what was even more incomprehensible was the method she used to break his sword.
He could have understood it if she had done it with overwhelming aura.
That was the most common method used to destroy weapons between aura users.
The problem was that Parsha had used a completely different method.
‘While fighting me, she focused her attacks on a single point of the sword to destroy it?’
Aura was a powerful force, but it lacked finesse.
Yet, to repeatedly land precise strikes on a scale of millimeters while fighting another aura user.
That was something close to impossible even for a 4-star aura user.
Above all, at the moment of impact.
The subtle energy he had faintly felt behind the wave-like surge of aura was…
“—Cha, kra (Chakra)?”
The moment he finally understood why he had lost.
Yuma coughed up another mouthful of blood, his face a mixture of indignation and disbelief.
“Cough! A Multi-Awakened, why would she be a mere maid…!”
But unfortunately for Yuma, Parsha did not answer his question.
She simply walked up to him and raised a slender leg clad in a steel boot.
*Thwack!*
***
“IN, At, Ait, aMiT.”
*Kwang!*
Parsha was not the only one fighting the Kahul clan.
The youngest of the Kahul family, Yujin Kahul.
The mistress of the Kahul family, Atra Sheil.
The two of them had also joined the fight.
In particular, the magic of Jemin's wife, Atra, was incomparably more skilled than Yumin's.
Her ability to cast enhancements on Jemin and Yujin and still have enough leeway to unleash attack spells placed her at a high level even among [Experts].
It was more than enough to compensate for the inexperience of the youngest, Yujin, who, being the youngest, was still at the [Novice] level.
Enough to make her confidently step forward, intending to quickly deal with the others, help Yuma and Yumin, and finally assist Jemin in subduing the White-Masked Young Master.
*Vwooom!*
“Hiek, Yujin! What are you doing? Block properly!”
“I am blocking, I am!”
But in this moment.
She felt no threat from them whatsoever.
The two kobold leaders the 'master' had brought.
To be precise, it was because the crimson bees that had swarmed out of the box on his shoulder were pinning them down.
Of course, if that were all, they would have been no match for them.
After all, a high-level Awakened One could easily crush the twenty or so bees that came out of the box in the blink of an eye.
—If it weren't for the beautiful, ruby-like bee in their midst.
*Paaang!*
“Hiik!”
“Kik!”
While distracted by the other blood bees, a crimson flash shot toward them with the speed of light.
The male goblin swung his blade and parried it, but…
The result was his body sliding backward.
She didn't laugh at the male goblin, who, even with enhancement magic, couldn't cut down a single bee and even chipped his sword.
Because what they were facing was no ordinary blood bee.
【The Cruel Blood Bee Queen, Heda】.
A boss-level monster, stronger than others of its kind.
And among them, an even more special Named monster.
Frankly, the fact that they were still holding out against that queen was a testament to how formidable they were.
Even if it was only possible because Her Majesty the Queen had only brought a fraction of her swarm.
And so, with that acknowledgement in her heart, she paid them respect in her own way.
“AiN, A….”
A flash.
“Eek, that damn wench is at it again!”
Watching the female goblin.
The moment she raised her cursed energy.
She smiled as she watched the female goblin's mana flow become tangled while she was chanting, causing her to burst out in frustration.
Of course, she knew.
Her assimilation art was still immature.
Against a low-level Awakened One, it might be different, but against a skilled high-level Awakened One like that female goblin, it could only stop them for a fleeting moment.
Especially since a Driver without their mount was as helpless as a summoner without their familiar.
But it didn't matter.
Because her master had taught her.
That just by intermittently harassing the enemy.
That alone was enough to overturn an unfavorable situation and drive her opponents mad.
“Get that beast-kin wench first!”
“I know, Mom!”
While the female goblin created a vortex to trap the queen and her bees.
That was why she didn't panic when she saw the male goblin charging at her.
She was an intelligent species.
She knew she must look like an easy target, a non-aura user just getting in the way from the front.
And so, she waited.
For the male goblin, who had finally broken through the blood bees, to swing his sword at her.
*Thump.*
And then she acted.
As if falling forward.
She dropped to the ground, dodging the blade.
And from that position, she rolled and swung her tail.
At the male goblin, who ignored her tail and tried to continue his swing.
It was only natural. It would be foolish to be wary of the tail of a mere hunter-kin, not a lizardman or a dragonkin.
Even more so when he was enhanced by magic and aura to the point where he could deflect blades.
But what she had learned from her master wasn't just how to harass and lure prey…
『Unlight Family's Crouching Dragon Assimilation Arts, Basics
Crouching Dragon's Waving Tail』
*Kwaaaang!*
“Keoheok!!!”
“Yujin?!”
The male goblin experienced the result firsthand.
Bulging eyes.
A broken arm.
Splattering blood.
—The male goblin, smashed into a pulp as if struck by a dragon's tail, crashed through the wall and was embedded in it.
Horrified by the sight, the female goblin hurriedly chanted a spell, but…
The queen, the most ruthless predator in the entire Hunter's Forest, did not wait for her.
She simply shot forward, becoming a crimson flash.
*Piiiiing!*
“Kyaaaak!”
Looking at the female goblin, who had collapsed with her body pierced through, and the male goblin, twitching while embedded in the wall.
The hunter-kin girl thought.
As expected, my master is amazing.