Chapter 100
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Night of Praise (2)
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[Skill Grade Up!]
[The grade of the Mana Heart skill has risen to [Sword Expert Lower Grade].]
A message appeared before his eyes.
However, Lloyd was still in a trance.
His eyes were open, but nothing registered in them.
He was simply sitting still, focusing solely on his inner self.
Kieeeeng-!
The Mana Heart, wrapped in three swirling circles.
Mana of astonishing density and purity poured in through the circles.
The experience was shocking even for Lloyd.
‘Kuuh!’
Just a fragment.
A single breath.
Even that much mana made his Mana Heart roil throughout.
It felt like a typhoon crammed into a tiny teacup.
Or like an ocean flooding into a bucket.
He couldn’t withstand the torrent of mana pouring in.
He barely contained a tiny portion.
Even that tore his Mana Heart apart.
Kwachang-!
‘Kuhuk!’
The shock of his mana being ripped apart entirely.
Immense pain shook his inner being.
At the same time, a cool sensation washed over him.
The pleasure of regeneration filling the space where everything had been destroyed and dismantled.
Before he knew it, his Mana Heart had been restored.
Larger and sturdier than before.
It could now hold slightly more mana.
But the mana from the King pouring in was still overwhelming.
Thus, the freshly regenerated Mana Heart tore again, shattered, recovered, shattered once more, and regenerated.
An endless cycle of destruction and regeneration.
Amid it all, sweat poured from Lloyd like rain.
Black sweat oozed from every pore in his body.
It was the stagnant energy, the impurities accumulated throughout his body from years of living.
That stagnant energy was being pushed out and expelled by the internal vibrations from directly receiving and absorbing the Swordmaster’s overwhelming mana.
‘Kuut…….’
His entire body trembled.
Yet he endured in his trance.
Five minutes passed, like brutal torture.
Finally, the three circles rampaging like a black hole calmed.
Kieee…….
Their rotation slowed.
The ferocious, gluttonous absorption halted.
In the meantime, the area around Lloyd was utterly devastated.
A radius of seven meters centered on him.
Nothing within that range remained intact.
The table had withered and crumbled to dust. It turned to powder.
The chairs beside it fared the same.
Not even a trace of the roses remained.
Insects were no exception.
Metal objects were completely rusted.
Even the bricks forming the walls and ceiling had crumbled to powder.
In that savage absorption zone, the only one unscathed was King Alicia.
“Huk, heuk…… Huk!”
Was it finally over?
It wouldn’t start again, would it?
‘It mustn’t.’
She had no confidence to endure more.
With her face pale as a sheet, King Alicia barely lifted her head.
It had been a truly vicious mana absorption.
She felt proud of herself for surviving that storm.
‘Even a mid-grade Sword Expert, no, even an upper-grade one, probably couldn’t have withstood it.’
They would have had all their mana drained.
In the end, even their life force would have been sucked away.
They would have withered into a shriveled mummy and died.
It was a spine-chilling hypothesis.
‘What in the world…… such a technique.’
Her trembling eyes turned to Lloyd.
At the center of the savage, ominous mana absorption zone, he sat quietly.
He slowly opened his eyes.
The same black pupils as before.
But now, all the impurities in his body had been expelled.
His gaze was clearer than before.
‘Ah.’
Only after opening his eyes did Lloyd finally notice the message before him.
‘What…….’
Dingdong.
[Skill Grade Up!]
[Skill Name: Mana Heart]
[Level: Sword Expert Lower Grade Lv 1]
[Physical Ability Enhancement Rate: 300%]
[Exclusive Skill Options Held: ① Shock Offset / ② Immunity to All Poisons]
[RP Required for Next Level Up: 300]
[The grade of the Mana Heart skill has risen to [Sword Expert Lower Grade].]
[Your Mana Heart has undergone rapid growth in a trance due to a chance opportunity. This special experience grants the skill a new exclusive option.]
[Skill Exclusive Option ③: Trance - Upon activation, enter a trance state for 60 seconds. In the trance state, you move blindly toward the goal set just before activation. All pain sensation is blocked during this time, and you absolutely will not faint. Additionally, strength, toughness, stamina, and reflexes increase by 200%. (Limitation: Usable only once per day.)]
[Current RP Held: 4,029]
‘What is this?’
In his daze, Lloyd’s eyes widened.
He felt joy mixed with bewilderment.
It couldn’t be helped.
He had merely activated the rapid charge option of the Asrahan Heart Method.
The new option seemed perfectly suited to the situation.
It seemed like a good chance to test its performance.
So he activated it.
Then he closed his eyes.
After that, he fell into a trance.
It felt like he had just closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them again.
But when he opened them?
He had become a Sword Expert Lower Grade!
‘No way, has five minutes already passed? Even if five minutes passed, does it make sense that I became lower-grade Expert in that time?’
He could hardly believe it.
But he couldn’t deny it.
The sight around him was literally reduced to ruins.
The table and chairs completely crumbled.
Metal decorations rusted through.
Even the bricks were friable.
The carpet had faded as if a century had passed.
And five steps ahead, the King stared at him with a vacant gaze.
“You, no, what in the world are you……?”
King Alicia stammered unusually.
Her complexion looked far worse than before.
Even when poisoned earlier, she hadn’t been this pale.
Now, she looked like someone who had suffered a year-long illness without a single ray of sunlight, utterly bloodless.
‘Did I do that?’
It seemed so.
Recalling the rapid charge option from the message, it matched exactly.
‘It said it randomly absorbs large amounts of mana from surrounding targets.’
But he hadn’t expected it to devastate the surroundings like this.
He truly hadn’t known it would suck in mana with such monstrous force.
Lloyd felt a bit sheepish.
But he kept a straight face.
Now wasn’t the time to worry about minor details.
In any case, the King’s poisoning was resolved.
He had survived fortunately.
Now it was time to go help Haviel.
‘Haviel’s fighting a Swordmaster, after all.’
He was worried.
Even if Haviel had heaven-sent talent, it was the same.
His opponent, Sir Cherni, was a formidable Swordmaster.
He couldn’t even guess how long a non-Swordmaster like Haviel could hold out against such a Swordmaster.
If unlucky, he might have already fallen.
‘Please, let that not be the case.’
Anxious, he abruptly stood.
Fortunately, his legs didn’t give way.
No, thanks to rising to Sword Expert Lower Grade, his body brimmed with strength.
He quickly moved to support the King.
“Your Majesty, are you alright?”
“Do I look alright to you?”
“…….”
“I want to ask again. What in the world are you? What did you just do?”
The King’s suspicious gaze fixed on him.
Her eyes flicked to the hole in the ceiling revealing the night sky, then stabbed back at his face.
“That explosive mana outburst earlier, and the tremendous absorption just now draining mana from me…… I have never heard of such techniques.”
“Yes, you probably haven’t, Your Majesty.”
“Can you tell me?”
“Of course, Your Majesty. But could we postpone that story a bit?”
“Because of the silver-haired knight who follows you, Sir Asrahan?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“You’re worried about him?”
“I wish to hurry and aid him, Your Majesty.”
“I feel the same. Let’s move for now. Can you carry me?”
“It would be an honor.”
He promptly offered his back.
The King climbed on without hesitation.
“Then I shall run, Your Majesty.”
He didn’t wait for a reply.
He immediately kicked off the ground.
Kwaaang-!
A leap far faster than before.
Using that momentum, he dashed out of the lounge.
He sped down the long corridor.
Inwardly, he prayed fervently.
‘Haviel, please be safe.’
Upon reaching the banquet hall, he would join the fight immediately.
He would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Haviel against Sir Cherni.
So he resolved.
‘Now I can be of some help too. Since I’ve become Sword Expert Lower Grade.’
On top of that, he had the triple circles.
If needed, he could unleash triple blast in a whatever-happens attitude.
It would be almost a lottery shot, but considering Sir Cherni had no info on his techniques, it might deal unexpected heavy damage.
‘So just hold on a bit!’
Tadadak! Tatak!
Under the swaying chandeliers, he crossed the passage.
He turned the corner, descended the stairs in one go.
Meanwhile, the King on his back focused on recovery.
‘Good. A bit more.’
The unique circulation of a Swordmaster.
That mana circulation was still ongoing.
Thanks to it, in the short time piggybacked on Lloyd, her complexion improved beyond recognition.
Color returned to her pale face.
Her fatigued muscles regained vitality.
‘At this rate, about one-third of my normal strength.’
Of course, not fully satisfactory.
But enough to handle at least minimal combat.
Plus, with Haviel, Lloyd, and the guards in the banquet hall joining, they could surely subdue Sir Cherni.
‘Sir Cherni.’
Sad anger rose in her eyes.
Her long-time guard captain and swordsmanship teacher.
A retainer she trusted more than anyone.
Yet tonight, the traitor who held a blade to her throat.
‘Why. Why?’
She couldn’t understand.
Why he betrayed her.
Who orchestrated it from behind.
Even repeated conjectures in bitter rage yielded no clear answer.
All suspicions and facts scattered like fog fragments, remaining vague.
The more so, the more venom filled King Alicia’s eyes.
‘Sir Cherni. I won’t abandon you. I absolutely won’t let you die easily. I will personally uncover your backer and schemes.’
Only then would she cleanly behead him herself.
‘That alone will be my way of bidding farewell to the retainer I cherished.’
Eudduk!
Savage fury.
Cold sense of loss.
Amid it, the King’s shoulders trembled.
At the same time, she prepared for the bloody battle ahead.
At that moment, Lloyd dashing down the corridor turned the final corner.
Taaat!
“Eh?”
Lloyd, about to keep running with momentum, flinched in surprise.
He hurriedly halted the leap without thinking.
Then he looked ahead.
“Haviel?”
His gaze fixed on the corridor exit.
A man stood there, back turned.
The chandeliers brightly illuminating the banquet hall.
Longswords glinting throughout the hall.
Backlit by their glow and cold beams, his figure wasn’t clearly visible.
But he recognized the silhouette alone.
“Haviel? You okay?”
“Yes, Lord Lloyd.”
Haviel turned to him.
He was smirking.
Lloyd was about to snap at him.
How could he smile in this situation?
He meant to chide him.
But Lloyd unwittingly shut his mouth.
He belatedly took in the silhouette of the man dangling limply, grabbed by the scruff in Haviel’s hand.
And that man’s silhouette looked familiar too.
‘No way?’
He wondered if perhaps.
He blinked.
Looking again, it was indeed.
“You caught Sir Cherni, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Lord Lloyd.”
“And you cut off his right arm too?”
“Yes, Lord Lloyd.”
“Then you?”
“Yes?”
“No injuries?”
“Yes. Fortunately.”
“Good. That’s what matters.”
It really was.
That was enough.
Finally, a relieved smirk escaped him.
Feeling belated fatigue, he staggered to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Haviel.
In the meantime, the King on his back dismounted to the floor.
She stood between him and Haviel.
“Hear me, all of you.”
Her solemn, dignified voice.
At her lion-like command, the banquet hall fell deathly silent.
The guards’ sword tips aimed at Haviel drooped downward.
The dozens of encirclement layers around the hall swallowed dryly.
“Tonight, Guard Captain Sir Cherni attempted to assassinate me, and these two who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me braved great peril to save my life.”
Even poisoned.
Even weakened.
She was the indomitable sovereign, Alicia Termina Magentano.
Before her arrogant, unflinching declaration, everyone in the hall knelt.
None dared lift their heads or even glance sideways.
All were inwardly swept by immense shock.
They finally learned the truth.
The trusted Guard Captain Sir Cherni was the traitor.
At that moment, all unwittingly raised their heads.
They saw Lloyd still supporting the King.
Soon, all realized.
Lloyd Frontera.
That man had protected the royal family tonight.
In that moment of realization, an unexpected message appeared before Lloyd’s eyes.
Dingdong.
[Tonight, you have achieved yet another brilliant feat.]
[The immense power of the numerous feats and achievements you have accomplished thus far has fulfilled a hidden condition. Accordingly, a new system is unlocked.]
[[Praise System] has been activated.]