Chapter 326
Chapter 326
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 326
Chapter Title: Hawk, Wolf, and Sea Serpent (3)
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Blades danced through the air. In the brief gaps between the swings of the murky silver greatsword, the wolf and the priest exchanged no more words.
-Clang!
A clear metallic ring echoed out. The beast's weapons were its claws and fangs, but having received the devil's benediction and become its apostle, every strike carried weight and force beyond the ordinary.
-Crack!
The blade locked into the crooked, talon-like grasp, producing a horrific grinding noise. It might have come from his wrist. Or perhaps the beast's. Fernandez bit his lip as he absorbed the heavy impact through his entire body, enough to send him rebounding away.
-Whoosh!
Suddenly, black flames erupted behind his head. With his empty left hand, he deftly formed a hand seal. He couldn't cast complex grand spells. The ley lines and atmosphere of this land were rejecting his mana right now.
It felt as if the entire world was relentlessly driving mana wedges into him. Of course, he was familiar with that kind of magical warfare. But the sheer volume here was extraordinary. Calculating every distortion in real time and tying off spells accordingly would be a challenge even for Feizashi Wildcast in his prime.
So, he formed simple spells. One at a time. The pattern traced by his finger in the air was [Three].
-Clang!
He smacked aside the frenzied incoming arm, devoting himself almost entirely to defense while continuously forming spells. Anyone watching would call it impossible.
Contrary to popular belief, mages were adept at close combat. The most refined magical warfare neutralized the opponent before their spell could complete. Wildcast spellbattles began with thrown daggers and ambushes.
But once spells truly started clashing, no one mixed physical techniques mid-cast. Weaving hand seals to knot mana was a delicate art, like a surgeon's incision. Even a minor mistake could trigger a fatal backlash.
In such cases, heads or organs bursting from spell failure was commonplace. Thus, the title of "magic swordsman" existed only in fairy tales or for swordsmen wielding powerful artifacts.
However, for a Wildcast who had matured to the point of forming perfect seals at any moment—someone who had spent half a lifetime wandering foreign lands in his later years—
-Claaang!!
A twenty-year-old body. One inhabited by a Demonica's flesh, surpassing human limits in cognition, body control, and reflexes. And honed to the pinnacle of swordsmanship on top of that.
If someone had evenly stacked accomplishments in the opposing disciplines of physical combat and magecraft to a certain level. If such a miracle—or delusion—truly existed.
-Whoosh!
Fifteen sword strikes came and went while he formed three hand seals. Fernandez lured Karadskar's blow toward his chest and smacked it away hard.
With a crunch, his right hand twisted in an unnatural direction. He had softened the impact as much as possible to rebound, but the beast's attack now rivaled a battering ram's. Even with Demonica durability, it couldn't emerge unscathed.
But it bought him distance. Fernandez slammed into the ground, rebounding and rolling away. Before he could regain his footing, Karadskar's massive frame leaped skyward, plummeting toward him.
A matter of seconds. Or rather, fractions thereof. He had rebounded from the chest-lured attack to create space, only for the beast's leg strength to pursue his flying body.
Against the full moon backdrop, its vast shadow descended. Its claws targeted his head and chest once more. Time seemed to slow. The beast's fangs gleamed. It grinned, savoring victory.
-Whoosh.
Lying on the ground, Fernandez extended his left arm toward the charging beast. A mere three seals. Their meaning: three, construct, wings. The completed spell's name was Three Heads, Six Arms.
One by one, like wings unfurling. Withered hands materialized behind his back. Simultaneously, distorted old men's heads faintly projected over both shoulders. The wolf seemed to tilt its head at the sight.
But the wolf knew it was too late, whatever Fernandez intended. Its claws would shred the frail human flesh and claim its blood. It planned to devour the heart while it still beat.
Or so it thought....
-Shiiiing!!
Abruptly, black iron chains shot skyward. In that instant, perception lagged behind reality. The wolf panicked in earnest, trying to yank its arm free. But a sturdy chain had already coiled around its right arm.
“Kazad's Black Manacles.”
Fernandez whispered softly, one arm outstretched. The wolf bared its fangs with a growl, swinging its left arm. The leap's momentum was gone, but the distance was close enough, and one arm sufficed to bisect a man.
-Kaboom!
Fernandez quickly rebounded, evading the spot. Even as he dodged, the wolf tracked his movement. Crunch—the right arm swelled as if to burst. Fernandez retreated while twisting the seal in reverse.
At the same time, the other hands sprouting from his back began forming their own seals. In a situation where grand magic was impossible, Three Heads, Six Arms was nearly wasteful as a support spell. But in spellbattle, a different perspective applied.
Six arms meant each could cast independently—equivalent to six mages unleashing minor spells simultaneously.
“腐敗.”※
Not even a signature spell, but something from a basic academy grimoire. A 'lowly cantrip' that failed to fully embody its concept, its mana unable to fully manifest the phenomenon.
-Snap!
“Flint Spark.”
A finger flicked, sparking a tiny flash. In truth, a trivial glow incapable of igniting anything.
-Clang!
“Razor Wind.”
Even sharply honed, its gust could barely slice a sheet of human skin. It couldn't scratch demonic hide, let alone draw blood.
Yet they continued. Endlessly, like the steam-belching internal combustion engines of an imperial factory, gears meshing. Six arms knotting in opposing directions and forms created a bizarre symphony.
“Corruption.”
“Anvil.”
“Dark Arrow.”
“Sacrifice.”
“Etherealize.”
“Minor Banish.”
Spells chained like word games, links in a sequence. Each trivial. Utterly ineffective.
A year ago, pursuing Mumto, he had used spells on Ptahha's Tudan Gartep. 'Lowly cantrips' hammered in, then detonated at once. 'Feizashi's Malicious Ring.' But what Fernandez used now was fundamentally different in mechanism and principle.
Truly meaningless. Arrays of minor spells that dispersed harmlessly on contact with flesh or spirit. Nothing more.
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
Thus, the wolf ignored Fernandez's spells. Flashy but crude. They shattered on contact, scattering as mana shards.
So, the only concern was the chain binding his right arm. Unlike those feeble spells, this was real magic. A signature spell focused solely on restraining foes, with no extraneous functions.
He could break it with time, but the wolf's temper wouldn't allow it. It bared fangs and bit its own shoulder. Crunch, crack. A grotesque tearing sound, and the shoulder dangled loose.
-Awooooooo!!
The wolf howled at the moon. Pain from the lost arm, fury therefrom. The pent-up humiliation and savagery of being bound, even briefly, erupted.
-Chomp!
The barrage of spells enveloping its body shattered in unison at the howl, dissolving into mana fragments.
[Clever trick! It's over!!]
The wolf slurred its shout. Its madness-swallowed mind couldn't form complex words. It twisted and lunged at Fernandez.
-Clang!
Fernandez thrust his sword again, blocking. He rebounded halfway, retreating. But this time, no time remained. The wolf charged relentlessly, denying even a moment to cast, claws slashing, fangs snapping.
-Clang! Clang! Graaah!
“Collapse.”
“Detonate.”
“Accelerate.”
-Claaang!
Gripping his dangling right hand with his left, Fernandez swung the sword two-handed to parry the wolf's assaults. The hands from his back relentlessly poured out meaningless spells.
With every claw swing and every sword clash in response. His spells crumbled and scattered. Like dust, mingling with raindrops and wind, fading faintly.
[Pointless—!!]
“Wedge.”
-Crackle!
Sparks grazed the wolf. It scoffed, extending an arm. They couldn't even touch now. The petty spellcaster was weakening. Saliva dripped as it gazed at the wounded prey.
It craved the heart—.
“Fernandez's—”
-Crackle! Crackle! Craaaackle!
Sparks grazing the wolf stretched like currents in all directions. Dim, tiny, utterly worthless spell fragments. No, mere mana eddies, not even forming concepts.
-Craaaackle!!
Toward the scattered mana shards. Riding the broken, dust-like dissipations that no longer held magical form. Like wildfire over oil, lightning embroidering the sky!
-Crack...!
The wolf's arm, lunging for his heart like a bolt, halted abruptly. The full moon above, scattering frenzy. The whirlwind below, even the raindrops.
Frozen, as if taxidermied.
“Fragment Knot.”
Shattered spells, fragmented incantations, mana shards scattering as they faded.
A single simple wedge spell crossed between them, becoming the trigger.
In that instant, it imposed directionality across the sky.
With ground mana flows too tangled for spells. An artificial mana current created in the air rippled briefly like a vortex.
The reason grand magic failed was the relentless mana wedges from distorted ley lines pounding into spell knots—
-That's right. If I lose a spellbattle, the Crimson Tower's name rings hollow. Ha, hahaha!
Conversely, if merely interpreting phenomena. Mana wedges signified spellbattle—grand, unreasonable spellbattle.
In this moment, the world waged spellbattle against him. But for that single instant. While his mana flowed like current....
“Be bold.”
Though the world bring tribulation, be bold. For I have overcome the world.
Whispering a verse from Beitasser's scriptures, Fernandez sneered through bloodied lips. A black mage's joke.
-Thud!
Toward the powerless, crumbling Karadskar, Fernandez staggered—absorbing spell backlash through his body—and slowly approached.
The fulfilled, shattered spells scattered like dust once more. The bronze throne, unable to withstand overload, snapped from his wrist. Unfixable now. Fernandez chuckled dryly.
Chapter 328