Chapter 718: Their Respective Battles (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 718: Their Respective Battles (8)
Outside Ricalton, on the battlefield of Jin and Dipus.
The wilderness was being torn asunder.
Like a massive storm, lightning from the Sealed Lightning Sword Sigmund ravaged the sky and earth.
A considerable amount of time had passed since the two teleported from Ricalton Castle. Although the battle had been fierce enough to twist the very terrain, neither had sustained a significant wound.
Neither could land a decisive blow.
Jin was the one expending more energy. While Dipus used flight to strike and retreat with ease, Jin had to constantly spread his lightning across the entire battlefield to maintain pressure.
However, even if Jin was expending power, he was far from running low.
On the contrary, Dipus was filled with admiration as he pushed back the lightning energy that grew denser with every passing second.
[To possess such power without having been granted Authority, as I was… I see now why you rebelled against Mother. You must have felt no need for it.]
Dipus spoke as he evaded a bolt of lightning.
[But not everyone can do what you do.]
Jin did not respond. His eyes were fixed on a bolt of lightning that had sliced through the air, only to vanish before it could strike the ground.
It’s not the first time. For a while now… my attacks that the 4th Flagbearer dodges or parries have been disappearing.
At first, Jin hadn't noticed. The exchange was so intense that he had no time to track the aftereffects of his missed strikes.
However, the balance of their confrontation was beginning to shift. The taut rope was being pulled slightly toward Jin’s side.
There was only one reason.
Even with a portion of Rosa’s Authority, Dipus could not become stronger than Jin.
It would have been the same even if he were in perfect condition, but combined with the irreparable damage to his Eternal Fire and his reckless use of teleportation, the gap between them was widening rapidly.
Where are my attacks going after they vanish? Are they being returned to the 4th Flagbearer in some way, or…
[You seem worried about those left behind at Ricalton Castle. You’ve only just started to push me back, yet your mind keeps wandering.]
Clang—!
Dipus spoke as he swung Volgar downward. Jin parried upward with Sigmund and fired a discharge of lightning, only to see the stray bolt vanish once again.
“Worry about yourself. Disposing of attacks you’ve already dodged seems like an odd way to fight.”
Suddenly, Jin withdrew all the lightning energy filling the battlefield at once.
Dipus descended slowly and shrugged.
[You have a sharp eye. I didn't expect you to notice so soon.]
“If I were worried about my comrades, I would have been trying to get back to Ricalton Castle by any means necessary, not staying here for such a drawn-out fight with you.”
Jin swapped his sword.
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why you’re dealing with my stray attacks. But it doesn't matter anymore. The probing is over. From now on, you won't have the luxury for such tricks.”
Pure white Aura swirled around Bradamante.
That quiet, glowing Aura exuded a presence completely opposite to the violent lightning that had been trampling the wilderness until now.
[You’re setting aside lightning and Spirit Energy for a lesser power? Are you sure about that?]
Jin had swapped swords to minimize errant strikes.
Lightning energy was inherently too wild, inevitably leading to many wasted attacks. Furthermore, he chose Aura over Spirit Energy to conserve his strength.
He’s certain he can’t beat me. He’s fighting with the assumption that he will lose.
Jin had been getting that feeling from Dipus throughout the fight.
In fact, every single move Dipus had made since the operation began was a trick to buy time: separating Jin from his allies, casting illusion magic on the Zipple mages, and deploying the most troops against Kinzelo.
It was the same now. Dipus was dragging out the fight by needlessly disposing of the stray attacks.
Jin reached a conclusion: all these actions were meant to pave the way for Rosa’s intervention.
Another piece of evidence was Orgal and Siris.
A long time had passed since Jin was separated from the group, yet there was still no word from his allies’ teleportation users.
Excluding the Evil God, there is no one in the Garden of Swords who can handle Orgal. The reason our teleportation users haven't found me yet is because Orgal is tied down somewhere.
If Orgal were with the allies at Ricalton Castle, they would have already settled the situation and started looking for Jin. With Orgal’s abilities, he should have been found several times over by now.
And there was only one being in the Garden of Swords capable of tying down Orgal.
The Evil God, Rosa.
Orgal was currently unable to join the battlefield because he was preventing her intervention.
This was why Jin had to save his Spirit Energy. He had to support Orgal after dealing with Dipus.
“Am I sure? Like everything else you’ve done so far… those aren't words Brother Dipus would say. He was a man who struggled with nothing but the sword. Though he later expressed his intent to join the Magic Sword Return for the sake of the clan, he still revered the sword above all else. Because we are a Sword Clan.”
So, I will show you the essence of a Sword Clan.
Immediately after Jin spoke, Dipus’s vision flashed pure white.
What blocked his sight was the blade of Bradamante.
His reaction was a fraction too slow, his senses still accustomed to the speed of lightning.
Moving faster than the lightning he’d just commanded, Jin unleashed a Runcandel Decisive Technique.
Runcandel 6th Decisive Technique: Lightning Flash.
The very technique Dipus had performed during their first mission together to assassinate Barton. Jin chose that sword as his opening move.
Dipus hurriedly used his footwork and spread his wings.
However, another Runcandel Decisive Technique was already falling upon the spot where he had ascended.
Runcandel 3rd Decisive Technique: Meteor Shower.
There was nowhere to hide.
Hundreds of sword energies suddenly covered the sky, parting the clouds and blurring Dipus’s vision.
The sudden surge in combat speed was startling, but it was still at a level Dipus could counter. He could also still redirect the stray attacks toward Ricalton Castle.
But Jin had already declared that Dipus wouldn't have that luxury.
That meant Jin had mastered all of Dipus’s patterns and responses during their probing phase. Jin was confident he could press Dipus so hard that he wouldn't have time to breathe, let alone redirect stray attacks.
The moment Dipus parried five streaks from the Meteor Shower and tried to redirect them toward Ricalton, Jin was already leaping through the attack's distorted trajectory to unleash his next technique.
Overlord Sword 1st Decisive Technique: Meteor Breaker.
This time, unlike Meteor Shower, sword energy surged upward from the ground.
Unlike the true Overlord Sword wielded by Ron, the sword energy didn't glow gray. Jin had adapted the technique he witnessed during the Sword Emperor Holy War into a Runcandel style, a feat he'd accomplished with the help of Fighting God Ban during his training in Laprarosa.
As Meteor Shower and Meteor Breaker converged on Dipus, one of his wings was torn apart.
Two seconds until regeneration.
No matter how fast, it would take two seconds. This was the speed Jin had confirmed earlier by tearing Dipus’s wings several times with Fighting God Techniques.
However, Jin prepared his next move even faster.
Runcandel 5th Secret Technique: Light Speed Thrust.
Jin displayed monstrous power, executing the Light Speed Thrust in just under two seconds.
The Light Speed Thrust pierced through Dipus’s remaining wing.
Four seconds until the Aura backflow settles.
A backflow had indeed occurred. As the fallen Dipus scrambled to his feet and parried the last remnants of the Meteor Shower, Jin closed the distance, simultaneously quelling the turbulent Aura within him.
Completely occupied with defending, Dipus could no longer afford to redirect Jin’s stray attacks.
When four seconds had passed, the distance between Jin and Dipus was twenty paces.
The backflow within Jin had completely stopped, and Dipus’s wings were just about to finish regenerating.
By now, he must have realized. That no matter what he does, my sword is faster than his regeneration.
As expected, instead of trying to create distance, Dipus closed in and swung Volgar.
A massive blade drenched in Chaos fell toward Jin’s head.
But as Jin shifted his stance, the move he envisioned was the one that would end this fight.
He probably thinks I just lack the time to manifest Eternal Fire.
That was true. In a battle this urgent, even Jin could not fully manifest Eternal Fire.
Therefore, he had to accumulate that time by staying one step ahead in every exchange. He had to push Dipus back, moment by moment, until there was nowhere left to retreat.
Runcandel 1st Decisive Technique: Sky Shatter.
The foremost Decisive Technique of the clan, among the legacies left by Jorden.
As Bradamante plunged into the earth, the charging Dipus realized—far too late—what technique that stance signified.
“You’re quick to recognize it. I suppose I have Brother Dipus’s memories to thank for that.”
But it was too late.
The Aura that had already permeated the earth exploded, creating a massive pillar of sword energy that split the ground and the sky.
Dipus hurriedly stepped to the side, but the sword energy of Sky Shatter surged from there as well. Even the lingering fragments of Aura from Meteor Shower and Meteor Breaker were swept up and pulverized by the force of Sky Shatter.
[Aaaagh…!]
The pulverized fragments of the earlier attacks peppered Dipus’s back as the sword energy of Sky Shatter continued to rip through the ground, surging toward the sky with ever-increasing ferocity.
A pillar of light swallowed Dipus’s newly regenerated left wing and arm whole.
Had it been the right arm holding Volgar, the battle would have ended then and there.
The fight continued, but the outcome had been decided long ago.
Jin was certain of it. Dipus, too, had entered the battle assuming his own defeat from the start.
He had lured Jin into a one-on-one duel, knowing he would lose.
To buy time for Rosa to move.
And to drive Jin to despair.
Jin gritted his teeth at the thought.
“Do you think… that if I end up killing you, I will fall into despair? Don't be mistaken, 4th Flagbearer of the Evil God. Sister Mary and I came here fully prepared to let Brother Dipus go.”
With cold, wide eyes, Jin completed the Sky Shatter and swung his sword at Dipus once more.