Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Silver Flower Sword Wave
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Kikikikik! Kwajik!
Whoosh! Tsuuuk!
"...."
Roas's crossguard shattered.
At the midpoint between the hilt and blade.
As the axe slipped, it cleanly severed the crossguard and pressed forward.
A split second later, and his wrist would have been sliced off.
'At my current level, I can't win against him.'
His own breath rasped up to his throat, but the enemy showed no such strain.
No different from before the fight began.
His majestic bearing, unchanged expression, fiery red hair—all remained the same.
The aura he exuded pricked like needles.
'He's massive.'
The enemy's frame.
The enemy's axe loomed unusually large.
The gap in skill was clear.
Predator Sword—Roas wailed as cracks spiderwebbed across its blade.
Drip, drip.
Blood soaked through Dexter's gauntlet, pooling thickly.
Each time he blocked the great warrior's axe, the trembling in his hands grew worse.
His grip had already burst open entirely.
Sizzle!
He tore the cloth from his sleeve and wrapped it tightly around his hand and Roas.
"Huu—"
He circulated holy power to its limits, maximizing his physical abilities, sharpening his nerves like a honed blade as he thrust out a single strike.
Chaeng—! Whoooosh!
Each clash of axe and sword made the blood-soaked earth kick up sprays of crimson mist, shockwaves rippling through the air to sting his skin.
Kwang! Kwaang—!
His bones throbbed.
The holy power he had gathered was now less than half remaining.
His long-purified holy power had narrowed the disparity in intensity somewhat, but that was all. Between Kallias and Great Warrior Keltuk stretched a vast wall no amount of it could bridge.
Experience and talent.
A chasm beyond simple words, spat back and forth through axe and sword.
At a glance, it seemed evenly matched.
But the reality was far from it.
The enemy's twin axes moved with leisure.
They could have been faster, struck harder. They could have parried or deflected Kallias's sword.
Yet the enemy refrained, receiving every attack as if savoring the fight.
Clenching his jaw—Kallias bit his lower lip as his sword transformed.
A shift in sword aura, subtle enough to miss without close scrutiny.
The aura of Silver Flower Sword Wave changed.
Its smooth edge soon resembled countless petals clinging together.
His sword seemed to multiply into dozens in an instant.
'The essence of Silver Flower Sword Wave lies in endless variation.'
All it had was change.
A sword of deception and confusion through infinite transformations.
The blade for the weak against the strong.
It deceived one strike, then another.
Deceive and deceive until even the wielder was fooled—that was Silver Flower Sword Wave.
Chaang!
Petals swirled.
They scattered the holy power infused in the enemy's weapon, whipping into the air as petals.
Those petals circled in the void before adhering back to Kallias's sword. The repelled blade, driven by centrifugal force, tenaciously targeted the great warrior's throat once more.
Sssk. Seeing the murderous sword tip, the great warrior grinned.
Shwaaaaak—!
Taeng—!
A fierce shock from his sweeping arm coursed through Kallias's entire body.
Reeling from the impact, Kallias's body soared into the sky.
"Keok!"
Fresh blood scattered through the air.
He had aimed for the throat, without a doubt.
Yet another axe had appeared there, and Kallias failed to pierce the enemy's ferocious axe aura.
A clear blunder.
A failure to cut meant death closing in at once.
In that instant, as the kicked Kallias flew, Keltuk leaped skyward, his axe plummeting sharply.
Kwaaaang—!
Roas, barely regenerated, snapped again mid-flight.
Chwaaak—!
A straight line from right shoulder to flank erupted in a fountain of blood.
Thud.
"Krahk!"
Red blood soaked the ground.
Kallias's life poured out.
'Lost, have I.'
The sky burned red.
Dawn was breaking.
Yet he fell like twilight, crimson.
"Ha...."
The breath he exhaled in collapse burned hot.
The breath he inhaled was endlessly cold.
A simple truth.
Exhaling hot, inhaling cold—his flesh grew steadily colder.
The hot blood within cooled, quenching his fervor.
Thud.
Collapsed on the ground, Kallias saw both the reddened sky and the great warrior gazing down.
His ash-gray retinas flushed with blood, and fleeting moments stretched eternal.
With each exhale, hundreds of memories and regrets surfaced.
Yet time flowed inexorably onward, converging on one truth.
"Aaah... Aaaaaah!!"
His ears rang deaf.
Like eardrums submerged, sounds warped and muffled.
Even so, one of his talents, [Bard’s Blessing], mischievously relayed the cries of despair to Kallias's ears.
"You'll all die! I don't want to die!!"
"Uwaaaaaah!"
As Kallias fell, the knights fell into panic.
The wiser ones realized fleeing was futile and stood dazed; those consumed by fear foolishly shrieked and bolted.
The great warrior's eyes narrowed.
"You know no shame!!"
Shouting that they knew no shame, Great Warrior Keltuk hurled his scattered axes, slaying the fleeing cowards.
He killed only those fleeing unwarrior-like.
Snorting, Keltuk then regarded Kallias with satisfaction.
A rare exemplar for a warrior.
He knew death awaited, yet showed the best sword he could muster.
To bare one's blade despite knowing the skill gap was no small feat. Even beasts fled stronger foes by instinct and nature.
Those who defied that instinct we called warriors and revered them.
Thus, he was worthy.
At least as an orc great warrior.
So thought Keltuk.
Thus, Great Warrior Keltuk gripped his axe. In measure of respect.
An enemy's life must be ended cleanly. Their courtesy to a warrior returning to the gods' embrace.
Whiiiing—
That was when.
Kallias's aura abruptly changed.
Light vanished from his retinas, a strange haze encircling him.
His breath, moments from stopping, now exhaled long and slow.
"...."
Keltuk narrowed his eyes.
Kallias now clutched a box in his grip.
No telling where it came from, but it brimmed with sacred aura.
As the box opened, Keltuk instinctively stepped back.
"Saint's divine power."
Pure holy power began dominating the space.
Within the box lay a holy stone.
A saint's holy stone.
Why suddenly produce it... A gift for him? Keltuk momentarily deluded himself.
Handing over spoils to the victor personally.
An enemy, yet a man who respected and acknowledged foes. But Keltuk's delusion didn't last.
Gulp.
Kallias abruptly swallowed the holy stone.
"!?"
Chill.
An inexplicable dread washed over Keltuk's body.
He immediately raised his axe.
Danger. Eating a holy stone changed nothing. Yet instinct screamed against standing idle, defying reason.
Thud. Thud. Thud!
Keltuk charged Kallias swiftly.
And as he swung down his axe.
Kwaaaang—!!
Keltuk's eyes dulled in shock.
A north wind chilled the hot air.
With the north wind came lightning blocking his axe.
* * *
Kwaaaang—!!
'Damn it....'
One step too late.
Bernard had flown here from Jaybarshu Castle using North Wind's gales and his Thunderclap Sword—Rakan.
No time to mind his landing. In the end, no need either.
"Kallias, you foolish fool......"
Couldn't hold out a moment longer and fell.
Bernard's fury erupted from his sword tip.
Kwajijijik!!
Kwaang—!!
Thunderclap devoured the surroundings in blue.
Deafening explosions erupted simultaneously.
Krurruk! Keltuk groaned as blue lightning struck him.
He promptly raised his axe sky-high before slamming it down.
Kwaaaang—!
Jjeojeojeojeok!!
The ground split, chunks of earth leaping to cleave the thunderclap.
Whirlik! Spinning to evade the rocks, Bernard swatted them away with his sword flat and hurled Kallias aside.
"Emily! Take him and run!"
"What about Grandpa!"
"Don't worry about me! He must live! You must save him no matter what!!"
"O-Okay! Brans!"
"Leave it to m—Huh?"
That was when.
Kallias stood right up.
Blood poured from his wounds.
His face drained pale as death, lips bluish.
Yet for some reason, his eyes burned clear.
"My lord! No, you mustn't!"
Kallias shoved Brans aside and staggered forward. His destination: the famed sword—Lusen, stabbed into the ground.
Roas was broken, but one blade remained.
Not Lusen.
"You're insane... Why go that far! Don't just think of yourself, you idiot!"
Kallias gazed into the void.
[Gluttony trait digesting holy stone...]
[Absorbing holy stone...]
[Cannot fully absorb...]
[Absorbing...]
Messages flickered up and down, his body pulsing.
'Dazed... yet senses are sharp.'
A bizarre notion.
Mind foggy, yet senses keener than ever.
No strength in his limbs, yet everything felt vividly seen, heard. Positions graspable as if reaching out.
'Death-Time Insight trait, perhaps.'
Awakened only on death's door—thanks to that trait?
Kallias had swallowed the holy stone.
Not by thought.
Instinct drove it.
Yet that instinct let him move now.
'Gluttony trait... digesting a holy stone I never could before.'
And absorbing its holy power.
Unthinkable for the old Kallias.
Reckless, undignified.
Yet it kept him alive now.
[Imperfectly absorbed holy stone.]
[Sacred Core advanced to Two Stars.]
"Haa...."
Having absorbed the saint's holy power, Kallias's eyes now traced every flow of energy.
Temporary or permanent, he knew one thing.
'Sacred Core reached Two Stars.'
His holy power's quality rose.
Thus, breaking through to Two Stars?
Unclear.
His head spun relentlessly, strange visions flitting by.
But a new bud in his dantian steadied his mind.
Churluk.
The blooming peak emitted holy power utterly unlike the first.
And simultaneously drew it in.
Devouring the swallowed holy stone's power.
And external holy power too, swelling his own reserves.
"So that's it...."
Even from wounds that should have killed instantly, bleeding stopped. Kallias gripped Lusen and focused.
'Now I get it.'
How to infuse holy power into the sword.
Kiiiing—
Lusen's resonance shook the earth.
Dust spread around Kallias as pure holy power wrapped him in silver. His eyes saw Lusen first red, then gray, finally blue.
Three-Colored Eyes.
Correcting his sword path with Three-Colored Eyes to compensate deficient talent.
Now he could manifest Silver Flower Sword Wave forms untouchable before.
"Silver Flower Sword Wave—White Mist."
Named so for its white, hazy sword path evoking the White Mist Lands.
White Mist.
White Mist bloomed on Kallias's blade.
Elusive as smoke, the ethereal sword strike danced.
And in that instant.
Thud.
His left foot stamped true stance.
Gentle sand swirled circularly as a strange aura dominated the area.
"White Mist blooms from the earth."
Gorgeous yet profound, the swordplay deceived eyes and rent the ground.
Kwajijijik!
Spreading omnidirectionally like ice crystals, White Mist erupted from below as silver holy power turned sword aura.
Kwaaaang—!
Ten paces centered on Kallias exploded in silver sword aura. Bernard needless to say, even Keltuk scrambled back.
But their expressions differed starkly.
"When did you learn such techniques! Where do you think you're going!"
Seeing the technique's power at a glance, he wouldn't let fleeing Keltuk escape. Couldn't let his disciple's all-out effort go to waste.
His Thunderclap thrust a single strike.
Pajijijik! Koong—!
Krurruk! Keltuk's axe blocking the thunderclap flew off.
From the ground he couldn't fully evade, Kallias's silver sword aura surged.
Sasasasak!
Sweeping away the silver aura with his last axe, yet his skin split, blood bursting forth.
Chwaak! Tudduduk!
No way to block the indiscriminate silver sword aura onslaught.
Kaaaaak!
As agonized Keltuk screamed, Kallias stepped forward once more.
'Now I can do it.'
Like against Esther.
Silver Flower Sword Wave gathered to one point scraped away foe's sword aura, shattered and claimed it.
Shattering and countering with it simultaneously.
Like waves. Petals churned.
As if the petal-like sword aura gained will.
Ash-gray eyes gleamed silver.
His jet-black hair momentarily silvered.
'Silver Flower Sword Wave—Flower Breaking Path.'
Break and merge.
Those petals formed one path.
Petals surged like gathering waves.
Into a massive storm whirl.
And right now.
From Kallias's hand unfolded one of legend's techniques.
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
The blade storm swept the field.