Chapter 55
Chapter 55
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Death-Time Insight
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Splash!
The axe sliced across his chest.
The wound was deep.
A long gash from shoulder to navel.
His ribcage was fully exposed, entrails gleaming in a pale pink hue. At the same time, red blood sprayed into the air.
‘Careless.’
The first thought that flashed through his mind was his own carelessness.
And regret.
If he had landed the Blood Anther Bloom properly.
If he had executed it more perfectly, this wouldn’t have happened.
But regret always comes too late, and opportunities never return.
‘Can I survive?’
No.
He wouldn’t survive.
Deeper than Elverton’s wound.
Moreover, the Orc Warlord showed no sign of stopping after one attack.
The axe that had tasted his blood now loomed once more.
This was the end.
『Death-Time Insight activates.』
The enlightenment that came at the brink of death.
It dominated Kallias’s body. But this time, it was useless.
Even with enlightenment.
『Divine Power』 - 0/6251
Expended divine power did not return.
Even the strongest pilgrim was merely a seasoned knight without divine power.
Even if his possession was an illusory sword, it was just pearls before swine.
‘It’s coming.’
But contrary to his calculating mind.
His body creakily raised the sword again.
It was instinctive.
He had held the sword for a mere three years.
But he had swung it for life and death.
Every moment dancing on the edge of the blade, overcoming death countless times, dragging his mediocre talent upward through sheer force.
‘I won’t just die.’
Yet contrary to his will, the sword rose slowly.
“Kallias, no!!”
Emily shouted from the battlefield, shoving everything aside to run toward him.
At a glance, Kallias’s condition was dire.
Yet the sight of him raising his sword was straight out of a heroic tale. But at this rate, he would die.
He would really die.
‘No!’
Orcs blocked her path as she charged, divine power flaring.
She dodged between their legs.
Slipped past their sides.
But.
‘Too late!’
Too late.
She could clearly see Kallias’s sword about to be cleaved in two.
“Huh……?”
But the situation unfolded utterly differently from the girl’s expectations.
Kallias cleanly deflected the Warlord’s axe!
The clash of sword and axe was so subtle that Emily couldn’t even hear it. It flowed like water, making her think for a moment the Orc Warlord had halted his attack.
But seeing the Warlord’s shocked expression confirmed it wasn’t her imagination.
“Kallias!”
Kallias staggered as if devoid of all strength. The Orc Warlord sensed something off and raised his axe again, pressing the attack.
Only one arm left, yet his strikes retained their ferocity.
However.
Miraculously, he evaded the axe without being struck, with the slightest movements.
One step.
Step by step, perfectly dodging the Warlord’s axe.
While doing so, he barely lifted the Storm Sword—that seemed about to slip from his grasp—and deflected the destructive force.
Forgetting her rush to save him, she watched Kallias move as if possessed by gods.
Parrying each fierce orc sword strike one by one.
As if mesmerized, Emily’s eyes etched his every movement into her mind.
The fingers gripping the sword.
The joints’ motions.
She missed nothing.
“Ah.”
A wondrous sensation.
Yet a familiar one too.
‘Death-Time Insight.’
The enlightenment granted by the trait.
The effect of awakened senses.
His senses were hazy.
But his mind was sharper than ever.
Kallias felt the Warlord’s attack without seeing it.
‘How did I do that?’
He couldn’t remember.
He tried to analyze, but couldn’t.
His eyes fixed on the raised sword.
Yet his body dodged the Warlord’s axe.
He didn’t parry.
No strength for that.
So he merely evaded and deflected.
‘No need to think.’
Just feel.
Unclear if his hand even gripped the sword tightly, but the enemy’s presence was vivid through his entire body.
A prickling aura.
Sharp, stinging the skin.
Likely the enemy’s killing intent.
‘So I can sense killing intent now. Why?’
Because of Death-Time Insight?
Awakened senses?
Pointless to dwell.
‘Come to think of it, I relied too much on the Three-Colored Eyes.’
The Three-Colored Eyes was a convenient trait.
It detected danger and selected the right path.
But that dulled chances to hone his sense for hostility.
Especially since coming north.
‘Foolish mistake.’
Kallias finally lifted his head.
He excluded the Three-Colored Eyes trait.
His vision, flooded with red, now regained its true color.
‘No strength at all, yet it feels freer. Is it just my imagination?’
Not parrying, but deflecting.
One step, twist the body, let the attack slide along the blade.
The Warlord flinched as Kallias deflected all his attacks with feeble energy, his excitement cooling.
But too late.
“You bastard!!”
An elderly man cloaked in blue lightning.
Bernard reached his side.
Crackle!
Boom!
“Drink this, Kallias! Ngh!!”
Rumble—!!
The Thunderclap Sword blocked the Warlord’s axe.
But it wouldn’t hold long.
The brief respite Bernard bought.
Kallias fumblingly pulled out his last holy water, drank it, and splashed the rest.
Vitality surged.
Depleted divine power slowly refilled.
Blood stopped, wounds eased.
But agonizingly slow.
The gash from the enemy was quite deep.
Kallias tossed aside the half-broken Divine Possession Sword and gripped the Storm Sword with both hands.
‘One more time.’
With this enlightenment.
If he unleashed Blood Anther Bloom once more.
He could bloom a more perfect one on the battlefield.
‘No need for Three-Colored Eyes.’
Not needed in this battle.
Too dependent on it.
What mattered was sensation.
With Death-Time Insight active, he could sense more precisely.
‘No need for Flower Breaking Path.’
No need to bloom White Mist.
Now, he could do it.
No preemptive setup; he could infuse it all in one strike.
No, now he could.
“I can do it.”
His ash-gray eyes gleamed.
He had used Flower Breaking Path and White Mist to aid the technique’s complexity.
But now, no aid needed.
He was confident he could infuse their essences fully into one strike.
One foot forward.
Sword-gripping shoulder back.
Two-handed sword above his head.
Kallias’s sword aura overlaid.
The dragon-scale-like aura solidified further, transforming.
Its surface smoothed, hardness doubled, unified.
Divine power was zero.
Yet ambient scattered divine power turned to sword aura.
Soon, the aura became sword beam, accepting Blood Anther Bloom’s essence.
“……What in the world is this.”
Crasion’s Ramatu.
He stared at the battlefield with a stiffened face.
Long since the wall crumbled, yet human knights still fought.
Orcs, who should charge without hesitation, faltered.
And not just that.
The Orc Warlord, who crushed even the north’s hegemon, knelt on one knee, one arm lost.
An utterly unforeseen sight.
The wall should have fallen long ago. Orcs should be roaring over their corpses by now.
“A wastrel turns the tide?”
Simple reason.
One pilgrim before his eyes.
Kallias von Jervan had ruined everything alone.
“Impressive grit.”
The man was a near-corpse.
His radiant divine power mostly depleted, the Warlord’s gash spewing blood.
A precarious figure, toppling at a touch.
“What a bother.”
Ramatu wouldn’t let it be.
With ages of experience, he pierced Kallias’s state.
‘Epiphany.’
A kind of awakening.
Surviving that state made a knight far stronger for sure.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Tales abounded of knights turning crisis to opportunity via battlefield epiphany.
Ramatu’s brows furrowed.
Deep wrinkles on his aged, frail body envied the youth’s potential.
But more, that brewing strike looked no ordinary thing.
‘Blood Anther Bloom…… Never thought I’d see that sword again in my lifetime.’
Survival odds already slim now.
But matters must be settled firmly.
Ramatu raised his staff.
Tapped the ground, birthing small ripples.
“Can’t let that happen.”
Rock spikes erupted at Kallias’s feet, targeting him.
‘Unbloomed young flowers break with bud intact.’
Regret and relief laced his words.
“Kallias!!”
A small child charged in.
The mere sprout hurled her bloodied body through the battlefield.
Setting aside her own life-or-death sword to save Kallias.
“Sir Kallias!! Dodge!”
Not just the girl.
An eyepatched boy, a blue-haired knight maiden.
A man clutching a dagger and large double bag.
All threw themselves to shield Kallias alone.
“Foolish!”
Rumble rumble rumble!
The ground heaved, Ramatu’s staff repelling them.
But not just them.
“Protect Sir Kallias!!”
“What are you doing! You all owe him your lives!!”
The northern army all rushed to save Kallias.
Their swords couldn’t dodge or block Ramatu’s tendrils.
Yet they stood before Kallias, roaring cheers.
“Vermin…….”
Rumble rumble rumble—!
But with Storm Sanctuary gone.
Allies flooded the battlefield.
And the north’s lord, walking toward his son despite grave wounds.
“Go, Kallias!!”
“Elverton! You’re half-dead…….”
Rumble boom!
Slash!!
“Argh!!”
Bernard’s Thunderclap Sword rebounded.
One of Bernard’s arms flew with the sword. But the severed arm clung to it.
“Die with me, monster!!”
Crackle! Boom!!
Blue lightning from the airborne Thunderclap Sword scattered everywhere.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
Amid thick smoke.
“Kallias!!”
Bernard clutched his severed arm, shouting.
Whoosh.
In the massive smoke.
Kallias gripped the Storm Sword two-handed, inhaling deeply.
Vision blood-tinted.
Legs numb.
Storm Sword weighed a ton.
But.
‘Just once.’
Just one more time ahead.
Exactly one swing possible.
So.
‘Forward…!’
Kallias’s form pierced the sandstorm.
Two-handed Storm Sword guided him swiftly to the Orc Warlord.
“I will kill you!”
The Warlord’s roar upon spotting Kallias cleared the smoke.
Yet he didn’t retreat.
Kallias’s single thrust at point-blank.
A simple stab.
But far from simple, so the Warlord met it with all his might.
Boom—!!
Flash burst, eerie whoosh echoing across the battlefield.
“…….”
“…….”
A whoosh silencing even the hellish field.
But soon visible.
“What…… is this…….”
Kallias with sword plunged in the Warlord’s chest, Blood Anther Bloom flowering green.
“Waaaaah!!”
“Sir Kallias did it!!”
“Waaaaah!! The Warlord is dead!!”
“Orcs defeated!!”
The crumbling Orc Warlord.
As its head hit the ground, knights cheered without restraint.
Orcs gaped in disbelief.
“Impossible……!”
Ramatu gripped his staff.
If left like this, it was over.
Orc morale plummeting; the longer it dragged, the clearer defeat.
He hadn’t wanted to reveal himself, but now unavoidable.
Not just Luteon staked everything here.
Crasion and the Empire’s vast wealth and time invested.
Failure meant massive loss.
“Not over yet!”
Ramatu appeared before Kallias.
Not over.
First crush the wastrel. Sever Elverton and Bernard’s heads. Momentum would swing back.
As he raised his staff toward Kallias.
“I just bought time.”
He murmured.
“Time?”
“Saw it when I flew up.”
What?
“My stalkers seem to have shown up in force this time.”
“What nonsense…….”
Then.
-Neigh!!
Horse neighs echoed.
Not one.
Ground-attuned Ramatu felt distant horizon vibrations.
Hoofbeats.
Many.
A great host charging against the sunset.
Armor and cloaks emblazoned with crossed red swords.
“Heretic Inquisition…….”
Even in Valterus Church, famed for elite combat: the Heretic Inquisitors.
“Thought reinforcements would take at least two more days…….”
By estimates, fastest arrival was two days off.
Expected northern main forces, not Heretic Inquisitors.
“…….”
Ramatu clenched his staff, face twisted in rage.
White-knuckled fist betrayed his fury’s depth.
“……This time, our defeat.”
No more delay.
He gritted teeth, donned hood again.
Glared at the culprit behind this mess.
Kallias von Jervan.
Thought a mere whelp.
Ramatu eyed him meaningfully, warning.
“Crasion will watch you.”
With that, he vanished, battlefield swiftly resolving.
『Wheel of Patalite - Complete』
-Killed Orcs: 2782
-Killed Beasts: 786
-Saved People: 453
-Killed Great Warriors: 1
-Killed Orc Warlords: 1
[Reward Grade] [S+]
[Main Quest completed.]
[Special reward granted.]