112. Bascon Family vs Grander Family
The surroundings were shrouded in white smoke. It felt just like a foggy day. Amid the haze obscuring their vision, heavy footsteps thudded against their ears.
Thud. Thud.
From that, they could tell. The owner of those footsteps was someone with a massive build.
Helden's enormous silhouette emerged from the white mist. And as he drew closer, one change began to occur. The ground started to tremble ever so slightly.
Rumble. Rumble.
The shaking earth amplified the footsteps. But that wasn't all. Small fixtures from the nearby mansion began to fall one by one from the edges.
Clatter.
It was as if an earthquake had struck. Rumble. Rumble.
In stark contrast to the surrounding noises, the people around them maintained silence.
"……."
It was because they had sensed the overwhelming mana.
Billy lowered his head to stare at the quaking ground and opened his mouth.
"To shake the earth just by emitting mana……!"
He recalled the time years ago when Moden's intervention had ended the duel between Willie and Bin.
Shirley stared at Helden's golden epaulets with wide eyes in shock.
"Th-that guy's the head of the Grander family?!"
She had heard of him before. But facing him in person, the pressure hit her twice as hard.
Willie and Silva also frowned as they looked at Helden.
This is the mana of a 1st Class knight, called the realm of the gods……!
So that's Father's rival, Helden Grander……
Helden. Nicknamed the Crimson Lion. Head of the Grander family, and the man who had recently taken out the north's powerhouses one by one. His hobby was collecting and displaying the swords of the strong he had killed.
At Helden's appearance, the Bascon siblings couldn't let go of their tension. Facing a 1st Class knight as an enemy felt utterly foreign and disorienting.
On the other hand, Bin's eyes burned hotter than anyone's.
His heart pounded in that instant.
Thump thump.
It wasn't from tension or fear. His chest swelled with emotion.
How long had he waited for this moment?
This was the reason he had run without rest. The hours of sweating buckets, training until his muscles tore.
He could barely contain his excitement.
Unlike the past, the emotions feel fresh.
In his previous life, fear and terror had dominated. Now, his feelings surged.
He wanted to clash with the bastard right then and there.
Your disgusting face…… who knew it'd feel this welcoming.
Meanwhile, Helden exhaled a long trail of cigarette smoke as he surveyed the surroundings.
"Hoo."
The Bascon siblings caught his eye first. Their uniforms were soaked in blood everywhere. Traces of Emma's handiwork.
Helden clicked his tongue at the sight of the Bascon siblings.
What a bunch of gutless wonders.
He eyed the Bascon siblings suspiciously. Unlike himself, who had grown up desperately in a fading house, there was no desperation or venom in their eyes.
On the other hand, Codic at Bin's waist erupted in fury at the sight of him, teeth grinding.
Click! Click! That bastard deserves to be beaten like a dog in the dog days of summer—my liege's mortal enemy!!
As Codic struggled to contain his rage, Helden's gaze shifted to the 5th Division Centurion and the deputy lord.
But their conditions were poor. The 5th Division Centurion lay decapitated on the ground. Emma was missing one arm.
Karmaan and Emma……
The 5th Division Centurion Karmaan and deputy lord Emma. Both were powerhouses who could hold their own anywhere. For such men to suffer fatal wounds was surprising enough.
And his eyes turned to Bin, the one who had reduced them to that state.
So you're the one. The Bascon family's supernova.
Bascon's new supernova, the one who had cut off Gangble's lifeline. Whispers even linked him to Hobas's disappearance.
He desperately wanted to go after the boy, but the time wasn't right. The northern conquest of the Gana Continent came first. He could deal with him later.
Helden sized up Bin. Unlike the other siblings, his eyes brimmed with venom. It wasn't the gaze of someone that age. It was filled with deep-seated grudge.
And as Helden examined Bin, something caught his eye.
That's no ordinary sword…… enough to provoke me.
Helden smirked sinisterly at the sight of the top-grade weapon, Luminare. With his unparalleled obsession for swords, his long experience told him. This blade rivaled the absolute weapons at the pinnacle of top-grade arms.
Helden licked his lips at Luminare, as always. Killing its owner and mounting it on his rack already had him thrilled.
As Helden inspected Luminare, Moden spoke up.
"To raid the Bascon family…… You've given up on living long, I see."
Helden blew out a long puff of smoke at Moden.
"Hoo. Still the same, eh? That rigid thinking of yours. Bascon family? Senile old fool, as expected. Talking like it's the old days."
Then Helden looked up at the sky and uttered a meaningful line.
"Perfect weather to wipe out a house."
"Hmph. If you can."
As Helden and Moden faced off, footsteps approached. Thud. Thud……
The centurions from both sides flanked their leaders. On the Grander side, two centurions on horseback, spears and swords in hand, guarded Helden.
On the Bascon side, a pot-bellied man and a rider on a red horse approached Moden. 1st Division Centurion Dongfr and 2nd Division Centurion Hipo.
As the executives glared at each other, Emma's expression soured. Far fewer troops had survived than planned. Bin had taken out a huge number of their officers.
Yet the Grander family remained confident. As if they had something to rely on.
As Helden and Moden stared each other down, 1st Division Centurion Dongfr extended a hand toward Moden and stepped forward.
"My lord, let me handle that arrogant bastard."
Shing.
Dongfr drew his trident. He fixed his gaze on Helden.
Bin's eyes narrowed.
Has it begun?
In the past raid, Grander had crushed Bascon easily. One reason was preemptively neutralizing Bascon's 1st Class knight, Moden.
Dongfr's betrayal, bought by Grander bribes. He had inflicted a fatal wound on Moden with his trident.
But Bin knew it all. He had extorted every detail from Doni.
As Bin's eyes narrowed, Dongfr turned his head.
Opening. Attraction.
In that instant, silver smoke billowed from Dongfr's body in all directions.
And as yellow light flashed from both ends of the trident, it yanked the rusted Tombstone toward it. Like iron to a magnet.
The trident then pulled Moden in as well.
Ziiiiing.
Moden's massive body closed in on Dongfr in a flash. Point-blank range. Even a 1st Class knight couldn't evade a full-power Opening from a 2nd Class.
As the trident tip touched Moden's chest, Dongfr grinned viciously.
"Sorry about this."
"……."
Moden could only frown. No good options.
The trident would pierce his chest any second.
The siblings' eyes widened at the sudden turn.
"……!"
"F-Father…!"
2nd Division Centurion Hipo also glared at Dongfr.
"Y-You bastard!"
Ziiiiing.
As the trident neared Moden's chest—
Bin's gaze turned icy.
Change.
In that moment, a black barrier filled the space, and Bin appeared where Moden had stood.
The trident met Bin's chest instead.
Chiiiing.
Silver mana clashed, sparking like flint on steel.
Dongfr shouted in shock at Bin's appearance.
"Why are you here……!"
Incredulity filled his eyes. Moden had vanished, replaced by Bin. No weapon he knew had such ability. It meant Bascon used magic.
And compounding it, the trident couldn't pierce Bin's body.
Bin smiled leisurely at the flustered Dongfr.
"Pretty shocked, huh?"
Indeed. Bin had prepared for this, wearing Nemean lion skin under his uniform.
Meanwhile, Helden and Emma were stunned by Bin's magic.
"……!"
Familiar magic. Hobas's signature space magic.
This turned suspicion into certainty.
So it was you.
Dongfr gripped the trident, facing Bin, intent on swinging it to slice him in one go.
But.
Why……
The trident stuck fast against the Nemean lion skin, refusing to budge. And before his eyes, a manifested lion's head bit down on it.
An effect of the Nemean lion skin. It manifested with a chance against weapons with strong mana.
As Dongfr struggled to pull free—
Swish— A black sword wind from Luminare grazed his neck.
Pfsh!
Blood sprayed like a fountain into the air.
Crack. Crack.
Dongfr's head spun in the air, blood scattering.
Billy and Shirley couldn't close their mouths.
"B-Bin……."
"The 1st Division Centurion Dongfr's neck……."
Meanwhile, the Grander executives, whose plan had gone awry, frowned.
"This is……."
With their trump card foiled, their chests tightened.
Helden admired Bin.
No mere reflexes could pull that off. How did he know……
Helden ran through scenarios in his mind, but no solid clue emerged.
"……."
As silence hung between the two families—
Thud.
Moden gripped Tombstone, still stuck to Dongfr's trident.
"As family head, I've shown an unsightly sight."
His voice carried weight.
Moden then glared at the Grander family before him.
"Grander family…… I'll turn this Plentel Castle into your grave."
Opening. Earth Fortification.
In that instant, Moden's hair whipped in the air.
Silver smoke billowed from his body, and his eyes clouded white.
Thud. Rumble. Rumble.
The ground shook beneath their feet, cracking like shattered glass.
A powerful earthquake.
But this was merely the beginning.
From both ends of the Grander lines, the earth rose like towering waves, surging toward them.
Whoosh!!
The Grander executives' eyes bulged at the cataclysmic sight.
"……!!"