Chapter 270
Chapter 270
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 270
>Chapter Title: You, Three Moonlight Stones
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Shine didn’t hesitate and bolted from the spot.
……Boom!
Amid the massive roar that echoed out, a wyvern dangled from one of his hands.
“Lizard.”
[I, dragon. Great.]
……What a load of bullshit.
Swallowing the words that would’ve wounded the wyvern’s pride, Shine opened his mouth again.
He had no curiosity about the wyvern’s true nature. When he himself had just turned from a death knight into a vampire, a talking lizard was hardly surprising.
More importantly, there was something else.
“That sly bastard’s in danger?”
[Yes, that’s right.]
“Who’s the opponent?”
[Opponent…… old human.]
“An old geezer?”
Old humans weren’t exactly rare in the world. Of course, ones capable of putting that sly bastard in peril were few and far between.
And among them, those who could drive him to death’s door could be counted on one hand.
Unwilling as he was to admit it, that sly bastard’s level was one where finding a match was damn near impossible.
Yet here he was, facing mortal danger……
‘……Who the hell could it be?’
With the wyvern tucked under his arm, Shine had already left the Black-White Slums and was sprinting across the plains, his face beneath the mask coldly set.
If that sly bastard couldn’t escape and was cornered to the brink of death, his foe was no ordinary sort.
Thus, rather than forcing more speed recklessly, Shine gathered his wits.
‘At least a transcendent-level powerhouse.’
No, since that sly bastard had reached transcendence himself, it was safer to assume the opponent was beyond that.
Shine raced across the plains, senses sharpened. He asked no more about the enemy’s identity. Their conversation was limited to the bare minimum needed to set the direction.
How long had it been since he crossed the plains?
……Crack.
……Crunch.
A faint rupturing sound reached his ears.
Shine gradually slowed, heightening all his senses.
Sure enough, far off in the distance, flashes of light sparked as two figures traded attacks at each other.
Fortunately, he wasn’t too late.
[Parasite, help. Urgent, please.]
“Shut it for a bit.”
Shine stopped in place and drew his sword from his subspace.
Shing—
The blade gleamed blindingly, reflecting the moonlight.
It was then that Shine’s form melted into the darkness.
* * *
He’d found a breakthrough—or so he thought—but the battle’s flow hadn’t changed much.
Aster kept charging in, and Aebiron casually shook him off.
He’d rolled across the ground so much that his clothes were a mess of blood and dirt, and it was a miracle his mask still clung to his face.
“Persistent, aren’t you. But are you sure you can keep this up? You’re looking pretty spent.”
“……”
Aster glared at Aebiron with bloodshot eyes, breathing raggedly.
Indeed, his body was nearing its limit.
Gasping breaths, a throbbing heart, circles creaking out of tune. Everything was a wreck.
But his will hadn’t broken.
Ping—Pibibibibit!
As if embodying that will, spells bloomed into the air.
A countless array like the stars in the night sky, yet Aebiron stood before them as leisurely as ever.
“Numbers alone won’t cut it.”
Pashuk, pajijit……!
The spells withered away as quickly as they rose. The result of a single gesture.
But Aster didn’t falter there; he immediately kicked off again.
Aebiron was inwardly awed by that desperate tenacity.
‘Heh, what’s this…….’
He surely knew best that this was a hopeless fight.
No one grasps the yawning gap better than the one living it.
Yet the ‘mage’ never tired. As if he’d block him even if it killed him.
But if that were all, Aebiron would’ve felt nothing.
That will was rare, but not extraordinarily so.
No, it was uncommon only in this peaceful era; back in the old wars, such resolve wasn’t that rare.
And what became of those with such iron wills?
The few who survived the ordeals were exceptions; most saw their resolve crumble into futile corpses buried in the earth.
So it wasn’t the will that impressed Aebiron.
It was the growth.
A body at its limit, yet the onslaught adapted endlessly, honing sharper with each pass—enough to question if this was truly human.
And that was just the start.
Creeeong……!
Knocking Aster back once more, Aebiron dispersed the spell forming underground and narrowed his eyes.
‘……He’s caught on.’
The orphanage hostage threat was a bluff, and he’d sensed the situation forcing a drawn-out fight.
He hadn’t uncovered the ‘reason’ yet, but……
Forcing spells like that suggested he was probing to figure it out……
‘Won’t be easy.’
No, even if he did, it didn’t matter now.
It wouldn’t close the gap, and……
He wouldn’t give any more time.
No, there was no need to drag it out. All preparations were complete.
Aster kicked off again, leaping toward him.
“Time to end this.”
Aebiron tapped the ground with his weathered staff.
Mana spread in concentric circles across the earth right then.
Ziiing—
Ripples overlapping wide and wider, like waves on a calm lake.
The ambient mana froze solid an instant later.
Kwaddduk—!
At the same time……
“Gahk!”
Aster spewed blood and collapsed.
Aebiron leisurely crossed the frozen-mana space, stopping at Aster’s head.
“You held out longer than expected. Commendable. But this is it. Oh, and no need to answer now. I’ve come to my own conclusions.”
Aebiron flipped Aster over with his staff. Exposed to the sky, defenseless, Aster couldn’t even muster feeble resistance.
From the start, Aebiron hadn’t been toying around. He’d simply invested effort to capture a transcendent powerhouse without variables.
“Tower Lord, show me that famous face of yours.”
Aebiron lifted Aster’s mask with the staff’s tip.
To claim the spoils of battle.
……That was when it happened.
Tszzit!
A bizarre slicing sound rang in his ears.
No, Aebiron had kicked off and leaped back even before it sounded.
Not from sensing anything—just pure instinct.
And that response saved his life. Landing on the ground, Aebiron touched his neck with a chill.
His hand was drenched in blood. A wound deep enough that a bit more would’ve severed his carotid.
“……”
Tending the bleeding with a healing spell, Aebiron eyed the front.
Beneath the darkness-dyed sky.
A freakish figure stood.
The figure’s eerie red eyes glowed, the blade in his hand drooping limply, reflecting moonlight.
That’s as far as Aebiron parsed it.
Seokeok—!
A sword strike cleaved through space.
Ferociously sharp.
“Hup!”
No time to grasp the situation; Aebiron gasped and backpedaled frantically as the strike followed.
Pashuk—!
He formed a barrier in response, but this wasn’t something a hasty one could block.
Yet Aebiron’s reaction was swift.
Kwaddduk!
Barriers layered in an instant. The strike shattered them all before losing power at his nose tip.
A spine-chilling force.
But.
Shock was fleeting; Aebiron regained composure.
A normal foe might lose rhythm to the follow-up after a surprise attack, swept into the enemy’s pace—but Aebiron focused calmly on his opponent.
Who he was, where he came from—questions aplenty, but irrelevant now.
Only one thing mattered.
The freak was gunning for his life.
Pibibit, pibit!
Blocking relentless strikes without a breather, Aebiron calmly preheated his core and assumed stance.
Transcendence soon to unleash.
Minute mana waves spreading everywhere.
What Aebiron called his ‘domain’—an application of transcendence that detected all movement in range. Precise enough to call precognition.
……Though specialized for mages, a drawback, it should still wield full might against a knight.
With transcendence opened.
Aebiron realized how vicious the charging freak truly was.
‘……No ordinary bastard.’
Everything in the domain read its every twitch to Aebiron.
Like knowing an object drops when released—the natural outcomes of motion.
But this opponent was different.
Left? No, not left. Upper slash then? No.
One swing birthed dozens, hundreds of possibilities, flickering in and out.
Had he pierced the domain?
‘……No way.’
It was simply……
The freak leaving every possibility open in his assault.
Meaning, until the blade extended—no, even mid-swing—you couldn’t predict the result.
Grasping that genius, Aebiron hurriedly retracted the domain.
It wasn’t something to handle with domain alone.
That instant—
The freak’s blade slashed at Aebiron.
Boom!
Aebiron blocked with layered barriers, then eyed the freak beyond.
In that moment, he knew.
In this mere blink, before true blows were exchanged.
The freak had read him too.
“Heh.”
At minimum, a master knight-level swordsman.
Moreover, his own transcendence didn’t faze him. While the opponent’s was beyond guesswork.
‘Trouble.’
Yet why?
Aebiron remained calm. Nay, he even seemed delighted.
Because.
He’d deemed it fortunate just to find a lead on the Magic Tower. But the result?
The Tower Lord and……
‘……Sword Circle Lord.’
Two titans caught in his net.
No hard proof they were the Tower Lord and Sword Circle Lord, but Aebiron was convinced.
“The Patriarch will be pleased.”
A smile curled Aebiron’s lips.
Meanwhile, Shine took two steps back, eyeing his sword distastefully.
Briefly.
Unlike before, his aura sharpened fiercely. Soon, sword-red ether spread everywhere.
As if words were unnecessary.
……Thus.
Master knight and grand mage.
Genius and genius.
Two colossal talents clashed once more.
Shine moved first.
And watching that spectacle was a plump lizard off in the distance.
The lizard cheered Shine on with all its heart.
‘You, three moonlight stones.’
Three of them as reward—so please save my friend.