Episode 1156
Episode 1156
"What the hell is going on?!"
One of the remnants gasped as he shouted at Lee Han.
It was only natural for them to be bewildered—their leader, Hallenken, was transforming into a grotesque monster.
If they were to think calmly, the most likely culprit was a priest of Prahgal, so cooperating with the mage would have been the right move. But acting so rationally in such a situation wasn't easy.
Instead, the remnants grew wary and suspicious of Lee Han, suspecting he might have pulled some trick on Hallenken.
Lee Han nodded.
"The command has been lifted. ...Once again, follow my orders!"
"Gaaah—!"
The remnants who had just screamed let out another shriek.
The excruciating pain resonating in their souls.
It was the agony of the parasites writhing as they were forced out.
Lee Han didn't waste time trying to persuade or explain things to these suspicious individuals.
Instead, in this time-sensitive situation where every second mattered, he made the most optimal choice.
Those who could turn hostile at any moment—first, completely subdue them!
"Get down, Wardanaz!"
Giselle forced Lee Han to the ground, placed a hand on his shoulder, and leaped up. While she had stolen the Evil God's Authority to issue commands, Hallenken had lunged at Lee Han.
BANG!
The clash of swords produced an explosive sound. Giselle clicked her tongue quietly.
Skilled swordsmen could gauge each other's abilities just by crossing blades. That single strike had already given her a sense of her opponent's strength.
'Aura... and he's proficient with it.'
Currently, Giselle could only use aura in a limited capacity. Since maintaining it was unstable and her focus could waver, she couldn't claim to have fully mastered it yet.
In a swordsman's duel, a single mistake could lead to a fatal wound.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have forced herself to wield aura in battle, but now wasn't the time for such restraint. She had to push the enemy back until Wardanaz could provide magical support.
Emerald-hued aura intertwined with her twin swords as she unleashed the Moradi Family's sword technique—the Purple Cloud Sword. The transitions were so extreme that the very space around them seemed to distort.
But Hallenken was no pushover either. Gripping his longsword like a staff, he unleashed a surge of aura tainted with curses and plague, scattering it like an explosion.
Even the most unpredictable sword techniques could be overpowered with sheer force—a truth he instinctively knew, even in his frenzied state.
Though she was rapidly losing ground, Giselle's gaze grew even colder.
She had already known her opponent was strong, so there was no reason to panic. And she was no ordinary swordsman.
"...?!"
Hallenken, in his frenzied state, suddenly hesitated. His instincts sensed something amiss.
Creak—
A chilling magic seeped into the muscles and bones of his limbs.
Had Hallenken not lost his reason, he might have realized it much sooner.
Spellblades who could wield magic were always troublesome opponents. And for an anti-magic zealot, they were several times more infuriating.
The spell Giselle had just used was Axen's Frost Touch, a reinforcement magic.
Reinforcement magic was often thought of as simply boosting strength or agility, but skilled reinforcement mages knew how to utilize all kinds of spells in combat.
Axen's Frost Touch was one such spell—subtle enough that first-time victims often didn't even realize how they had been struck.
"Ugh... Gghk."
The true brilliance of this spell lay in its stealth.
It continuously released an intangible chill around the caster, layering its effects until, at a certain threshold, the opponent would find it difficult to notice.
For spellblades like those from the White Tiger Tower—and especially for Giselle, who wielded ever-shifting sword techniques—it was a perfect match.
The second round began. This time, Giselle took the initiative. Even if she was outmatched in pure swordsmanship, she intended to inflict more of that chilling cold upon her opponent.
The powerful magic swords passed down through the Moradi family—Frostlight and Frostbloom—assisted Giselle's strategy.
These two swords scattered visible cold energy while simultaneously amplifying the invisible, intangible cold magic <Axen's Frost Touch>.
When Hallenken realized he had sunk deep into the freezing mire, he launched a counterattack. His sword's aura diminished as blood suddenly gushed from all over his body.
He had materialized mana to inflict wounds across his entire body.
At a glance, it might have seemed like foolish self-harm, but with the Evil God's curse saturating his body, the effect was different.
The wounds healed instantly, and his muscles grotesquely swelled—as if he were evolving into a new species.
'This bastard...!'
To think he'd purge the frost clinging to his flesh like that.
Wardanaz wanted to check what Lee Han was doing, but the situation was too urgent for such luxuries. He had to trust that Lee Han was handling things and keep moving.
At this point, there was no choice but to crush him with swordsmanship once more.
The aura shimmering from Giselle's sword had diminished in size, but its glow had grown denser.
Mana flowed through her weapon as naturally as if it were an extension of her own limbs. At the peak of her razor-sharp focus, Giselle realized she had achieved perfect control over her aura.
'......'
They say battles against strong opponents refine a swordsman—but why did it have to happen at such an unpleasant time?
Yet, regardless of personal feelings, her hands and feet moved instinctively, executing forms she had practiced tens of thousands of times.
To wield aura meant to imbue one's sword with deep intent—and that, in turn, meant gaining the qualification to approach the principles of the world.
Though far cruder and more limited than a mage's Small World, a swordsman's techniques could also touch upon the fabric of reality.
If mages altered the world, swordsmen tore through it.
As the secret technique of the Moradi family's swordsmanship, the Purple Cloud Sword, unfolded, space itself warped faintly. Hallenken's sword traced an impossible trajectory before embedding itself into the ground.
A sword strike seared into the frenzied enemy's body. No blood sprayed—instead, ice burrowed inward with every piercing and grazing slash of the aura.
"Grrrrraaah!"
Hallenken discarded his now-burdensome sword and wreathed both arms in aura. The blazing aura left his arms tattered, but with the power of an Evil God Worshipper, it hardly mattered.
Giselle exhaled sharply, feeling sweat trickle down her back. Enhancement magics like <Axen's Frost Touch> were prepared before battle, but after unleashing a swordsmanship secret technique, her mana was beginning to deplete.
'He's tougher than I thought...!'
A single idea flashed through her mind.
Would it even work?
Frostlight stabbed into the enemy's left arm. Giselle spun, driving Frostbloom into his right.
With a crack, ice spread outward from where the swords had struck. Though the attack was devastating, Hallenken seemed to grow even fiercer.
He had sensed desperation—a last resort in a disadvantageous situation.
Hallenken tore at his own arms as if to rip them off entirely, preparing to charge again.
Thwack!
The battle's end was absurdly anticlimactic.
A compressed wind bullet blew Hallenken's head clean off, and he crumpled to his knees. Giselle exhaled deeply.
"...It worked."
Who knew it would come to this?
What ended the fight wasn't swordsmanship or magic—but a hidden Artifact. The enchanted Artifact embedded with a hidden mechanism, given to her by Wardanaz.
This Artifact, favored by a famous duelist mage, fired a compressed wind bullet from the hilt when triggered by a feigned draw—delivering a lethal strike.
It was a little embarrassing that such a petty trick had decided a high-level duel between swordsmen, but...
"Sorry, Moradi."
Lee Han, who had barely managed to control the stolen Authority of the Evil God, opened his mouth to apologize.
"Forget it. Is it really over now?"
"Yeah."
Giselle let out a sigh of relief.
Her entire body felt so drained that she doubted she could play the role of a shield even one more time.
'How did I end up doing this...?'
"Next time, bring Senior Jahan along."
"I did consider that, but the senior can't control his expressions. The moment he sees suspicious people, his ears will perk up immediately."
'That's definitely true.'
"Gaaah... Gaaah!"
The remaining cultists let out eerie shrieks as they glared at Lee Han.
They desperately wanted to escape, but the worms embedded in their souls held them tightly bound.
"Stay still. Unless you want it to get even more painful."
Lee Han issued a warning.
Unlike the beginning, when his command had slipped, now that he had control over the Authority, they had no chance of fleeing.
He had sensed that he could steal this Evil God's Authority the moment he seized the worms extracted from their souls.
Unlike imperial magic, divine magic—or rather, the Authority of cults—was closer to an innate instinct. Just as one doesn't consciously calculate how to swing their arm, Authority worked in the same way.
Having once, by chance, learned the divine magic of another cult, Lee Han adapted even faster.
The Authority of this Evil God amplified the vitality of souls while simultaneously spawning infectious curse-plague-spewing worms.
The scope of this Authority extended to controlling the worms and the curses they vomited forth.
It was only natural that the cultists, their souls infested with worms, eventually yielded and obeyed his commands.
"An imperial... imperial mage using such vile power... How can this be?!"
"That's a sharp observation."
When Giselle muttered under her breath, Lee Han shot her a glare.
Instead of helping, she's making it worse!
"I'm only using it this once. Just this once. To know your enemy well is to defeat them well."
"Don't you know it a little too well? Are you sure it's really okay to use that Authority?"
This time, she wasn't being sarcastic—she was genuinely worried.
She had wondered earlier if he might have been influenced by the Authority.
No matter how confident he was in his resistance, acting so recklessly was unlike him.
"The Authorities of cults are just power. As long as you don't blindly worship them, they're not a problem. ...Though I admit, the speed at which I picked it up might seem strange."
'Ah.'
Giselle winced.
She had assumed Wardanaz, with his shameless personality, wouldn't pay it much mind, but it seemed he was more sensitive than she thought.
Of course, even if Wardanaz had effortlessly learned Authorities before, human emotions weren't that simple.
"But my magical skills have improved since then, and last year, I did learn a similar Authority. Plus, I've clashed with the Sanguiros Cult multiple times in a short span. I must've instinctively grasped the structure of their Authority."
Lee Han rambled on about details the other person wasn't even that curious about.
Giselle had only wanted to hear whether it was truly safe to use, but now, it felt a little rude to say, "I'm not curious," so she just listened.
And honestly, it was a somewhat interesting topic.
Whether it was the Authority of a regular cult or an Evil God Cult, it wasn't impossible to replicate with magic.
After all, both existed within the boundaries of magic.
The former might be called primitive magic or divine magic, but there was clearly some overlap between them.
If one were truly an exceptional mage, they could instinctively understand and even steal the structure of such Authorities.
As mentioned, this divine magic was closer to an innate instinct.
...Though admittedly, she'd never heard of anyone instinctively understanding and stealing the Authority of an Evil God Cult before...
"Are you listening? Moradi?"
"Huh? Oh. But shouldn't we pay attention to the guys behind us?"
Lee Han turned around. The cultists were trembling in agony. He had forgotten about them after ordering the worms to inflict pain earlier.
"My apologies. I'll stop it now. Now—tell me what you know about Sanguiros."
"S-Sanguiros? We have nothing to do with those—"
Lee Han's face hardened. Another scream tore from the cultists' lips.
"GAAAAAH!"