Chapter 217: Ill-fated Relationship (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 217: Ill-fated Relationship (3)
One thing was certain: whatever Jin had just unleashed was dangerous.
His instincts screamed at him. For the first time, genuine murderous intent filled Joshua’s eyes as the aura enveloping his silver sword, Sran, blazed fiercely.
“Stop your tricks!”
Swoosh!
The aura condensed on Sran’s blade shot toward Jin. In that brief instant, so many blades of sword energy formed that they nearly obscured the spirit energy permeating the air.
But it was already too late.
“I told you. You should have killed me back then. That also meant you would never get another chance.”
Sliiiide…
Like a stone sinking into a bottomless swamp, Joshua’s sword energy vanished into the spirit energy without cutting a thing.
Even when he immediately unleashed more sword energy, the result was the same. In a mere two seconds, dozens of a 9-star knight’s strikes were swallowed whole.
Joshua hesitated to close the distance. While he had a vague inkling of what a ‘Spirit Sword’ was, he had never heard of anything like this.
Dazed, Joshua gripped Sran’s hilt and shook his head.
“You got me, youngest. Yes, it seems I was far too complacent…”
The spirit energy that had spread from Bradamante’s swing and swallowed Joshua’s attacks was, in fact, a ‘door.’
It was a portal to the ‘door of black light’—another name for Laprarosa.
Jin hadn't engaged Joshua one-on-one out of uncontrollable rage. He had simply crossed blades to gauge the exact gap between their skills.
As I deduced before, he was preparing to steal my contract. And his skills… they’re more impressive than I expected.
Jin had never thought Joshua would be weak. He had simply assumed Joshua wasn't quite at the level to justify being called the ‘Next Patriarch,’ but he had been wrong.
If it weren't for Sister Luna, there wouldn't be nearly as much gossip surrounding him.
Whooooosh…
The spirit energy began to scatter.
The door to Laprarosa had opened.
The Van brothers can’t be summoned, so I just hope one of the Fighting Kings comes out.
In truth, it wasn't time to relax yet.
Jin had no way of knowing which member of the Pluto Tribe would be summoned through the Spirit Sword Special Technique: Calling the Black Light.
If an ordinary warrior appeared instead of a Fighting King, he would have to postpone killing Joshua until the next opportunity.
“It’s been a while, Brother Jin!”
A familiar voice.
A smile played on Jin’s lips. He wouldn't have to lose face today.
“I’m sorry for calling you out like this, Brother Garmund.”
The 8th Fighting King, Garmund.
He was the Fighting King who had first trained Jin in Laprarosa. Fortunately, it was he who stepped through the door.
A summoning… Dammit, how could I have predicted this?
The moment Garmund appeared, Joshua was struck with shock.
Putting aside the fact that Jin had performed a ‘summoning through a sword,’ the sheer power radiating from this unidentified beastman was overwhelming.
He could feel it vividly, even before they crossed blades.
He’s strong. Strong enough that I’ll have to give it my all. I should have finished the youngest off before he could complete the summoning…
Regret came too late. He had been completely played by Jin.
“If you’re sorry, you can tell me all about it later, Brother Jin. For now, what should I do?”
“Kill him.”
“He looks like the bastard who cursed you. Are you sure? I imagine there’s a lot you'd want to ask if we kept him alive.”
“It’s fine. Whatever he confesses will be nothing but gloomy, filthy jealousy anyway.”
After bumping fists with Jin, Garmund turned his deep, heavy gaze on Joshua, the pressure alone weighing him down.
“I am Garmund, the 8th Fighting King of the Great Pluto Tribe. I have come here at my brother’s call, and my task is to annihilate his enemy. If you have any last words, speak them now.”
His voice was as firm as a judge reading a sentence, imbued with the majesty of a race that had once ruled the world.
The mere shockwave from his voice caused the island's soil to shift.
Joshua stood overwhelmed by that aura for a moment, his grip tightening on Sran.
“Nothing?”
“So, you’re a ghost of a race that failed and perished five thousand years ago. I don’t know what trickery my brother used, but cut the chatter and draw your sword. I intend to cut you down, and then I will punish my brother.”
Garmund let out a booming laugh.
“You put on the airs of a warrior, but you are nothing of the sort.”
“And you pretend to be my youngest brother’s kin, when you are nothing of the sort.”
A flash of blue light erupted from Garmund’s hand.
The sword draw was so fast that Jin could barely perceive it. Simultaneously, a bolt of lightning struck down toward the crown of Joshua’s head.
It was a bolt far more brilliant and sharp than the ones Julian used to fire in his avatar form. Garmund had unleashed a massive bolt of lightning the instant he drew his sword, with no preparatory movement or gathering of power.
CRASH!
Surprisingly, Joshua parried the lightning perfectly.
His upward-swinging silver sword sliced through the center of the bolt, and he even displayed the divine skill to immediately follow up with a counterattack of sword energy.
Garmund did not dodge the incoming strike.
He simply stood his ground like a giant tree weathering the wind. And yet, the sword energy failed to so much as scratch Garmund’s body. Joshua shuddered as goosebumps crawled up his neck.
It wasn't just the fact that his attack had been blocked so easily. Strangely, in Garmund, Joshua saw an image of Luna.
The image of the monster he had sparred with countless times since childhood, yet could never even scratch.
Joshua’s subsequent strikes seemed somewhat dull, a consequence of that old sense of inferiority rapidly resurfacing.
Garmund had never met Luna.
However, as if he could see right through him, a prominent sneer formed on Garmund's lips as he gazed at Joshua.
“I told you, you're no warrior. You're impressive for a human, but you can't hide that your achievements were earned from a position of safety.”
“Keep barking, ghost. In the end, you won’t be able to protect Jin.”
Crackle!
Garmund’s sword blazed with lightning energy. Then, his Heart of Light throbbed, once again blanketing the area in lightning.
In response, Joshua began to draw up his aura. The aura spreading from Sran countered the lightning, forming something akin to a barrier.
Given the limited space of the island, if a 9-star knight and a Fighting King poured out their full strength, the result would be mutual destruction.
Therefore, they used their aura and lightning to form a ‘solid’ space where they could move freely.
In a sense, they had artificially created a dueling ground.
This was a method Jin, who still lacked sufficient aura, had never considered. From the very start, their battle began on a plane far beyond Jin’s current comprehension.
Normally, Jin would have analyzed their fight to learn from it.
But today, he intended to enjoy the spectacle rather than analyze it. The sight of his lifelong enemy meeting a miserable end before his very eyes.
But… no matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand. Why did he come to the island alone without any guards? He must have known a major battle had taken place here.
That was the one thing he couldn't wrap his head around.
Even if not a Black Knight, it wouldn't have been difficult to bring along a few Enforcement Knights.
From the moment they met, Jin had been feeling a strange sense of dissonance regarding the fact that Joshua was ‘alone.’
Regardless, he dies today. If he's prepared anything for after his death, I'll just find and crush those preparations one by one. After today, the name Joshua will rapidly be erased from the Garden of Swords.
While it wasn't a complete slaughter, the fight had leaned in Garmund’s favor from the very beginning.
Though they seemed to be exchanging equal blows on the surface, Joshua could lose his head at any moment if he made a single mistake.
Conversely, Garmund pressed his attack relentlessly, his suffocating pressure like a siege engine slowly crushing a castle. It was a pressure so suffocating that even Jin, watching from the side, felt his own breath grow tight.
Creeeeak! Screeeech!
Caught by a basic form, Oppression, Sran let out an ear-piercing shriek. Though it didn't reach the level of the Black Sword Kiner, the silver sword Sran was still considered a legendary blade of the era.
Crack…!
However, before they had even exchanged three hundred blows, cracks appeared on Sran’s blade.
The importance of a weapon might not have been as apparent when Joshua fought Jin, but when fighting someone equal or stronger, its significance needed no explanation.
Garmund’s weapon, though unknown to the world, was one of the masterpieces of Boras, the 5th Fighting King and the blacksmith of the Pluto Tribe. Just like the weapons of all the other Fighting Kings.
Lagging behind in both skill and weaponry, Joshua’s defeat was practically decided the moment Garmund appeared.
For Joshua, not being armed with Kiner will be a regret he takes to his grave.
Of course, it wasn't over yet.
“Urgh…!”
Joshua hurriedly withdrew his sword and widened the distance, his eyes trembling.
Garmund, who was about to press his advantage and deliver the finishing blow, suddenly stopped and steadied his breathing.
Garmund had halted his offensive, suddenly overwhelmed by an instinctual sense of ‘danger.’ Jin felt the exact same thing.
A Runcandel Decisive Technique.
The source of their tension was a Runcandel Decisive Technique.
That had to be Joshua’s final card.
His opponent was strong, and his weapon was on the verge of shattering. It was only natural. Joshua had no choice but to make a desperate gamble, even if it was reckless.
But it’s too late. If it were me, I would have pulled out a Decisive Technique the moment I realized I was being pushed back.
As a reserve flagbearer, Jin had not yet learned the Runcandel Decisive Techniques, but he was well aware of their transcendent power.
If he had used a Decisive Technique before his sword cracked, it could have at least introduced a variable. There’s no way Joshua didn't know that… so why? Was it because there’s no turning back if it fails?
While Jin was thinking, Joshua’s aura, which had been blocking the lightning from all sides, began to converge into Sran.
“Your aura is quite something. It’s a waste on someone like you.”
Garmund spoke as if it were no big deal.
However, seeing Sran’s blade rapidly expanding, Jin’s eyes widened in shock.
Why that one, of all things? Don't tell me… has he decided he’s going to die anyway?!
The final move Joshua chose was the Runcandel 7th Decisive Technique: Volcano.
“Brother Garmund, you have to get back! That’s Runcandel’s…!”
“If I pull back, who will protect you, brother? I’ll be fine, so go. As far as you can.”
And Volcano was Runcandel’s only ‘self-destruction technique.’
Jin was more shocked by the fact that Joshua had chosen to blow himself up than by the power of the technique itself. The Joshua he knew was not a man who would choose suicide.
Just before the expanded blade of Sran exploded.
Garmund pushed his lightning energy to its limit, deploying a shield. Simultaneously, Shuri snatched Julian into her mouth while Jin, carrying Murakan, leaped onto her back.
That bastard… there's definitely more to this…!
The thought flashed through Jin’s mind. But for now, he had to follow Garmund’s words.