Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Flower Breaking Path
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“Hoo!”
A smile crept across Luteon’s lips as he climbed the stairs.
He had already reached the fifth floor in less than half a day.
Even he had to admit it was a pretty fast pace.
The princess, not to mention the duchesses trailing behind, were still stuck on the third or fourth floors.
Overwhelmingly faster.
Speed like this was proof of his own power.
“The fifth floor’s bright.”
It looked like a floor for resting.
Various magic circles were drawn on the floor, seemingly gathering the sanctuary’s veins to concentrate holy power.
In short, it meant spent holy power recovered faster.
“Will you have a meal?”
Meals were possible too?
Luteon nodded and set down a Spirit Stone.
But the chef smirked and pointed to the sign.
“One Yawn Spirit Stone? For what!”
A Spirit Stone for one meal!
What nonsense!
“If you don’t wanna eat, then don’t.”
The owner didn’t say much else, as if used to the reaction.
Just as he was about to leave without eating.
He realized there were no nearby places to satisfy his hunger.
They were straight-up highway robbers.
But he was hungry.
No choice if he wanted to climb higher.
“Anyone besides me make it up here?”
“Yeah. Lots of pilgrims.”
So it was hard to pinpoint.
He accepted that.
While waiting and surveying the peaceful floor, Luteon’s face twisted the moment the food arrived.
“Tsk, no helping it.”
Simple soup and bread.
A bit of meat chunk in the salad. That was it.
Outside the sanctuary, a few silver coins would cover it.
And they wanted a whole Yawn Spirit Stone for this.
Not pilgrims—these were con artists.
“Heading straight up?”
“That’s right.”
“Brat using informal speech... Well, you bought a meal, so here’s a tip.”
“A tip?”
“From the sixth floor on, sight and hearing won’t mean shit, so watch yourself.”
On the previous floors, it had only felt like the puppets were getting stronger.
More by sound than sight.
Or like it was telling him to rely on his senses.
‘So from the sixth, they’re taking away sound too.’
A plausible hunch as Luteon promptly opened the floor’s door.
To catch that bastard, he had to save even eating time.
‘You probably never got advice like this. Too much of an asshole for that.’
I’ll definitely pass you.
...A few hours later.
“Meal.”
“Here you go.”
“What? A Spirit Stone? Are you insane?”
The princess and duchesses went through the exact same routine, cursing the sanctuary as they coughed up a Spirit Stone.
* * *
Screeech.
Death Knight Bladi’s movements halted abruptly as he swung his greatsword, radiating reverse momentum aura.
The reason was the shield before his eyes.
A worn and shabby shield.
A scene overlapped in his subconscious.
The agony of something precious having its hand torn by the shield he had given.
A shield that would shatter at a mere touch.
He couldn’t lay a hand on the shield.
Thus.
Crunch!
Boom!
He allowed the opponent’s attack.
Kallias’s attack.
His side’s plate armor tore open, and Bladi’s form slammed into the cavern wall.
But Kallias’s expression twisted harshly despite landing an effective blow.
‘If this were a game.’
If it really were a game, that would’ve been fine.
He wouldn’t feel this shitty.
To vulgarly target a weakness against someone tormented even in death.
But there was no choice.
This was the only way to take down the [Weeping Fallen].
The only way to pursue his own growth.
“Hoo—”
Kallias exhaled deeply.
Perhaps because he had come to deeply understand the friendship between Titeo’s emotions and Bladi.
It felt like the chasm in his own emotions had deepened too.
“Not my place to show pointless pity. Focus on what matters most.”
What mattered most.
My survival.
My growth.
That was it. Nothing else.
Emotion vanished from Kallias’s eyes.
All that remained was clear purpose.
His gaze turned to Bladi.
He soon sheathed his sword.
Sliiiide, click.
Gripping the sword firmly in its sheath, he widened his stance and leaned his upper body slightly forward.
Left hand on the sheath.
Right hand on the hilt, extended.
Silver Flower Sword Wave - Hundred Folds.
Shaaaa!
An invisible sword aura shot diagonally toward Bladi.
A sword that snapped a hundred necks in one go.
Crash!
But it held no effect against Bladi, who had honed his blade against dragons.
‘I expected that much.’
The shattered Hundred Folds aura fragmented. The pieces scattered, forming the shape of petals, as Kallias’s sword became imbued with the Peony Flower mystery.
Thud!
He kicked off the ground.
The scenery blurred, and at the same time, Bladi’s greatsword came crashing down from above.
A sword dropping so fast it was hard to even perceive.
But at that exact moment.
Kallias thrust out his shield.
Flinch.
The greatsword slowed noticeably.
The wavering blade was no longer a threat.
As Bladi’s greatsword veered to avoid the shield, Kallias swung Roas.
Shazazazazak!
Roas’s quick draw, faster than beams of light.
But Bladi was seasoned.
With a single strike from his comparatively slower greatsword, he pressed down Kallias’s flurry of four swings per exchange.
“Grh...!”
Boom! Kwang! Boom!
Predatory Sword - Roas’s fangs, reinforced by Peony Flower sword aura, advanced bit by bit.
Yet Bladi’s sword remained unscathed.
Compared to the Predatory Sword’s messy sword energy, the aura flowing along Bladi’s blade.
His sword beam gleamed with elegant light.
An uncrossable gulf existed between them.
Unless Kallias used the lord’s banner to erect a sanctuary, victory was impossible as it should be.
Whoosh.
Yet a close fight raged on, all thanks to one shabby shield.
Kwarazachang! Kwang!
He swung with force enough to make the air roar, but whenever truly in danger, Kallias aggressively thrust out his shield.
“Hahk, hoo. Hoo! Hah!!”
Otherwise, it would’ve been six.
He would have died six times.
Kallias’s breath grew ragged, his heart pounding like it might burst, yet his mind was sharper than ever.
Bladi’s swordsmanship was perfect heavy swordplay.
But he adeptly mixed in body techniques using elbows, shoulders, knees, and more to cover the greatsword’s shortcomings.
Yet the encompassing swordsmanship itself was so solid, dominating all directions while unleashing indiscriminate might—it left him in awe.
‘That’s why it’s all the more enjoyable to fight.’
Not that he had any right to say it.
Just clashing with this powerhouse from a millennium ago taught Kallias much.
Energy’s explosive power and flow.
The body’s suppleness.
Bladi wielded both freely, granting Kallias profound insights.
A rare powerhouse.
One he could control.
Such opponents were precious.
Crackle! Kwang!!
Drip drip.
“Grh......”
Dribble.
Swallowing the flowing blood, Kallias emerged from the cavern wall.
Roas was badly damaged.
Even wrapped in Peony Flower and protected by Sullivian holy arts, each of Bladi’s strikes had been devastatingly lethal.
A solid hit meant instant death.
No matter how many clashes, that thought never changed.
Indeed, a hero who endured the dragon wars.
Even as a Death Knight with his power halved or worse, he was strong and great.
But even so, Kallias had to break him.
Growing stronger was the only way.
The only way to survive in this world.
Boom!
Kallias stomped the ground powerfully, his form shooting forward.
Compared to the start, Bladi’s armor was heavily damaged now.
Time to finish it.
Seeing Kallias charge, Bladi swung his greatsword.
In one swing, it looked like three greatswords.
Whether from his unique swordsmanship or the sword’s ability itself, he couldn’t tell.
Kallias immediately thrust out his shield.
Sliiiide.
Bladi’s greatsword skirted the shield and bore down on Kallias.
“......!”
In that split-second moment.
Kallias’s eyes narrowed as his left hand—the one holding the shield—pierced into space.
What he drew out was Lament.
Whaaaaaa!!
A bone-chilling frost swept through, accompanied by a raging gale.
Crackle crackle crackle!
The floor froze over, and Bladi’s feet and body became encased in ice.
Whoosh!
But the three greatswords still targeted Kallias.
He swung Lament.
Craaaaaack!
Lament’s sword path shattered one greatsword and unleashed a frozen wave in a single strike.
At the same time, the Predatory Sword—dyed in Peony Flower mystery—clashed with another greatsword.
But that was when.
Whoosh!
“!”
Both greatswords were feints.
The real one was elsewhere.
A chill ran down his spine with goosebumps as a greatsword appeared in his blind spot.
No escaping it.
[Instinctive Intuition] rang its alarm.
An eerie sense of death enveloped his entire body.
A life-flashing-before-his-eyes moment, perhaps.
It was as if time itself had slowed.
In that slowed time, before the charging greatsword, something hazy appeared.
He looked up and saw a cape.
Long hair, a sword.
And petals.
Grit.
Kallias ground his teeth, twisting his sword.
Forcing its trajectory to warp and counterattack.
『......!』
Bladi’s green eyes wavered.
Before he knew it, the exchange had filled the area with silver petals.
In that moment when time seemed frozen.
He recalled scenery from ages past.
Her, charging ahead on the battlefield amid falling petals.
Stella’s form.
『......Stella.』
Kallias’s sword clashed against Bladi’s greatsword.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
An earth-shaking roar echoed through the underground stairs as hundreds, thousands of sword auras engulfed Bladi.
It was a storm of petals.
A single sword’s wave blanketed Bladi and the cavern.
Each petal, imbued with Peony Flower mystery, erupted in fierce explosions.
Crunch!
“Grk! Kraaaaaaaa!!”
Bladi’s greatsword shattered Kallias’s shoulder. With his broken shoulder as is, he squeezed out every ounce of power and thrust his sword.
Kwagagagaga! Kwang!
“Hahk, hahk. Grk.”
The only one left standing in the cavern was Kallias.
Clutching his shoulder and kneeling, Kallias gazed at the scene he had wrought through his pain-twisted face.
The entire cavern lay in ruins.
Immense power.
An attack worthy of a master’s single strike.
Even Kallias felt chills deep down at its ferocity.
Enough to demolish everything without mercy.
That was Flower Breaking Path.
“Still... half-baked.”
The excitement was short-lived.
Compared to Stella’s Flower Breaking Path as seen in Titeo’s flashbacks, it was still lacking.
Stella’s would have blown away the entire tower with room to spare.
But all he had done was partially wreck the cavern.
And that was exactly why he understood.
What he was missing right now.
‘The tower tempers heart, energy, and body.’
His body could be called complete, for all intents and purposes.
Not fully, but close.
His energy was the same.
But one thing.
Not his heart.
For true Flower Breaking Path, he needed to grasp the unmastered vast concepts, the compressed energy flows, and awaken to the heart concept permeating it all.
That was why he couldn’t surpass the wall.
Stella’s swordsmanship only unleashed its true might with heart, energy, and body in harmony.
Still half-baked.
That was Kallias’s assessment.
Gripping Predatory Sword tightly, Kallias passed through the half-destroyed door.
Between the continuing stairs.
Among the rubble piles, half-buried: the Death Knight.
Bladi creaked his head up.
Broken bones rolled across the floor.
“......Sorry.”
Kallias’s sword severed the skull.
The skull tumbled amid the rubble before crumbling to dust and vanishing.
Predatory Sword gleamed brilliantly, completing its soul predation. Instinct told him two more souls would perfect it.
While staunching his shoulder wound, Kallias picked up Bladi’s greatsword.
「Four Directions Sword - Leituba」
Grade - Spirit
Indwelling Soul - Giaros
Unique Ability - Four Directions.
-A sword that dominates all directions.
A sword that produced illusions seeming to attack from all directions simultaneously.
Merely a Spirit-grade sword, but quite powerful depending on how it was used.
Pocketing Four Directions Sword, Kallias confirmed his shoulder wound was stanched.
With the Light Dragon within and his fusion constitution, wounds healed quickly.
Beatrice’s potion seemed to help too.
Normally a month of rest needed, but with the swelling down and wound closing, no need to delay.
Focusing holy power solely on healing brought quick hunger, but the wound mended rapidly.
Kallias sat where Bladi had vanished and had his meal.
Once finished, he headed back down the stairs.
At the spot where he had been.
A single loaf of bread lay alone.
As if in commemoration.
* * *
At the heart of the abyss.
One sat upon a throne.
Unholy green-stained candlelight illuminated all around: a figure gripping a single sword reverse-handed, barely propping himself up.
A knight clad head to toe in black full plate armor, his face shrouded by a helmet more reverent than valiant.
[Aah.]
Black tears flowed down his cheek.
The tears trickled through the helmet slits, soaking the armor and throne.
Soon, everything at his feet was dyed black.
Clatter, clatter.
[Bladi......]
Everything at his feet began to stir with life.
Bony hands reached out.
Bony heads lifted.
Issuing non-human roars, they grasped their weapons.
Their empty gazes turned rust-colored, and armor formed from the king’s tears enveloped them—summoning thousands of troops in an instant.
Drip. Drop.
Yet the king’s tears showed no sign of stopping.
The skulls’ rage reached its peak.
『Weeping Fallen』
His tears made warriors risen beyond death even stronger.
Unintended though it was.