Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: Deconstruction of an Aura
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The Dark Priest could see neither Loan's mindset nor the fact that he had completely dominated the mana within the tunnel, wielding it as his own.
To him, Loan simply appeared to be standing still with an incredibly calm posture.
The Dark Priest couldn't help but tilt his head.
It was truly baffling.
"What... is with that arrogant stance? Are you perhaps trying to imitate me..."
Loan did not answer. It wasn't worth the effort.
Growing irritated, the Dark Priest spoke again.
"Childish. So childish. I heard you could cast without incantations, but to be this arrogant... One should always show their opponent..."
"No."
Loan suddenly cut him off.
"You talk too much. Get on with it. Whatever it is."
"..."
Had he ever been so openly rebuked and ignored?
The Dark Priest took a deep breath, briefly reflecting on his past.
Though he appeared calm, the veins popping on his forehead suggested he was quite enraged.
Channeling that rage.
The Dark Priest snapped the thumb and middle finger of his lowered right hand, making a sharp *click*.
Instantly, a tremor ran through his priestly robes, from which not a hint of special magic had been felt before.
There was no flow of mana, no change in its properties, but...
...in an instant, the malice and killing intent emanating from the priest changed.
Dozens of strands multiplied into hundreds, their thickness expanding significantly.
It finally felt as if his battle preparations were complete.
But what Loan found peculiar was something else.
As the magic the priest was emitting amplified exponentially, it suddenly felt as if it took on a certain shape.
*'A bird... is it?'*
The aura surrounding the Dark Priest, like rising black flames, looked like a 'dove'.
His robes seemed to be enveloped by large wings, and the bird's lowered right hand appeared to hold sharp talons, while its left held a large sword.
It wasn't something that actually existed—
—it was his aura, the magic extending from him, the halo of black mana, that appeared that way.
Loan couldn't hide his curiosity.
"You, are you possessed by a demon?"
For a moment, a strange light flickered in the Dark Priest's eyes.
"You must have sensed something. Your intuition is certainly sharp. But it's not possession. I'll teach you myself."
As he finished speaking.
The Dark Priest moved.
No, he was still standing perfectly still.
What moved was the dove's aura that embraced and surrounded him.
*Swoooosh—*
By spreading its formless wings wide and giving them a great shake, the Dark Priest closed the distance to Loan in an instant.
Along with that, a sword with a flowing shape shot upward.
It was just a pitch-black halo of light with no visible blade, but Loan surmised it held considerable power.
However, because the man's killing intent and malice reached him first, Loan was able to calmly observe both his opponent's and his own condition.
To the point where he thought, *'Shall I gauge my opponent first?'*—
—he fired Convection in the shape of a sword toward the empty space where the halo of light was arcing down.
In the next moment, the formless sword and the sword of Convection clashed at a single point.
*Craaaash—*
The collision scattered a shockwave and a roar powerful enough to shake the tunnel.
It was only natural for astonishment and doubt to cross the priest's face. But he didn't stop his next attack.
The widespread wings flapped again, and the deflected sword once more shot toward Loan.
Loan expanded his Domain to obstruct the flapping wings, unleashing Sheville and Convection together through a gap in the wind.
This attack wasn't aimed at the priest's body but at the black aura itself.
*Fwoosh—*
While Sheville passed through the empty air without much effect...
...Convection pierced the base of the wing, halting its movement. Loan understood that it had an effect because it was an attack of pure mana.
Thanks to that, the priest, who had been about to swing his sword down, recoiled, his face wrinkling deeply.
He was even more astonished.
"No matter how good your senses are, how can you possibly... with something you can't even see..."
It seemed the Dark Priest couldn't see his own attacks with his eyes.
He was doing it through intent alone, so since the method of attack was not visible to the 'eye', such a question naturally arose.
For that reason, Loan's own questions were of a different nature than the priest's.
He, who could see mana, was simply curious about the black bird's aura the priest was emitting.
He said it wasn't possession, so how could it produce such power and movement?
Why did it feel separate despite being together, and yet, why did it also feel subordinate?
*'It's different from when Mario wore the demon-turned-clothes.'*
If you're curious, you have to find out.
Wishing to examine it more closely, Loan suddenly approached him.
The Dark Priest flinched and took a step back.
The wings, the pierced part now healed, flapped powerfully, trying to push Loan back with wind pressure.
But Loan delicately parted the currents of wind, maintaining his direction and speed—
"Wha-!"
By the time the man let out a surprised yelp, Loan was already upon him, pressing down on the sword that had been about to rise.
At the same time, Loan extended his palm and, for a fleeting moment, carefully examined the bird's aura.
His gaze turned a mystical ocean blue.
Just as he realized something.
*Click—!*
Suddenly, another snap of fingers came from the Dark Priest's free left hand.
*Vwooom—*
A great, concentric storm of magic abruptly erupted, centered on the priest.
Witnessing the man's killing intent multiply and expand right before his eyes, Loan sensed something was amiss and instantly widened the distance between them again.
They returned to their initial standoff distance, more than enough space between them.
A hollow sound, almost a sigh, escaped the priest's lips.
"I didn't think you'd push me this far..."
The Dark Priest trailed off, grinding his teeth.
Loan, observing him, parted his lips slightly, impressed that his opponent had undergone yet another transformation.
While maintaining the dove's aura, he had added another layer.
This time, it was the form of a headless swordsman riding the dove like a steed.
The figure held a sword in its right hand and a large scythe in its left. The scythe was so long that it dragged on the floor.
"Whoa..."
An exclamation of awe escaped Loan's lips.
It was like a demon riding on top of another demon.
It looked somewhat ridiculous, but the formidable magic the opponent possessed was no laughing matter.
As Loan tilted his head up to examine the black aura...
...the Dark Priest, noticing the direction of Loan's raised gaze, spoke in a bitter tone.
"You really can see it. You can see it. That's why you..."
"What are you talking about?"
The dwarves were standing still, completely dazed, but they still had ears to hear.
Loan casually denied it with a nonchalant expression.
He then organized what he had learned through contact with the man, what he had seen with his eyes, and what he had confirmed with his mana-seeing eyes.
The man hadn't summoned a powerful being, nor was he possessed. He was momentarily calling upon and using the power of a demon that was embedded within him like an authority.
*'So that was his ace in the hole. That's why even the demons didn't look down on him.'*
Now, what he wanted to know was how the priest had managed to draw out only the demon's power, its very spirituality, and make it his own.
*Ssk—*
Without hesitation, Loan extended the Narrow Path toward him.
It was incredibly smooth.
He was standing still, yet the distance between them simply closed.
The priest couldn't react, but the headless swordsman positioned above him did.
*Vwoong—*
The swordsman's arm swung wide, and the large scythe aimed for Loan's neck.
Loan didn't dodge; he advanced, extending Convection. He had already read the man's killing intent and predicted the incoming attack.
When the large scythe stopped before it could even get near his neck, the figure thrust with the sword in its other hand.
This, too, Loan twisted with his Domain and bound tightly with Convection.
Just then.
*Swoosh—*
The dove swung its sword.
As he was already staring intently at the man's two different types of killing intent, Loan easily suppressed the sword strike that came in an instant.
The reason he sliced off both the dove's arms and its cumbersome-looking wings with Convection was because he had that much leeway.
"Aargh!"
He had only cut the black aura, but it seemed to have damaged the Dark Priest as well.
The moment the priest's eyes widened, Loan was right in front of him again.
Everything he did was blocked.
Despair was mixed with astonishment in his eyes.
Separate from that, the killing intent and malice emanating from the demonic spirituality surged even more violently.
In response, his four circles spun. The energy surrounding Loan generated a powerful repulsive force.
*Vwoooooom—*
Everything that touched Convection was rendered useless.
Despite this, Loan's gaze remained calm.
He held a position of perfect superiority. His opponent was merely an object of study, a powerless enemy simply awaiting his coming revenge.
Loan spoke to the immobilized priest.
"Let me see your fingers."
The moment the words left his lips, the priest's wrists were severed.
The man had no idea how it was done.
Unable to do anything about his bleeding wrists, he could only scream and watch as his own hands floated into the air.
He could only watch helplessly as his tightly clenched fists were forced open, finger by finger.
"Aaaaaargh!"
And as if by magic, the more the man screamed, the more the black aura bound by Convection began to fade.
A failure to meet the conditions. Or perhaps the caster's will wasn't strong enough.
Loan paid it no mind and silently proceeded with what he intended to do.
The hands floated between their faces.
He carefully examined the two fingers that had snapped together to make the *click*.
The fingertips looked somewhat special. As if a magical artifact had been shaved paper-thin and grafted onto them.
Where had he seen this before?
Racking his brain, Loan suddenly felt his heart sink.
He had seen it once, a long time ago.
Back when his mana was being drawn into the human tree, but it had stopped before they could achieve their desired result.
The withered fruit that had been formed into a crystal.
This bore a striking resemblance to its properties.
But it couldn't have been extracted from a human. The act of snapping his fingers and the resulting effect didn't align with Loan's understanding.
There was only one possible conclusion.
"This was extracted from a demon."
At Loan's words, the priest's pale face turned ashen.
His reaction was answer enough.
"I doubt you could have subdued demons of this caliber with your own power. And if one could use their power like this, it's unlikely someone would capture them just to give them to you. Nor would the demons have allowed this to happen of their own free will."
"..."
The opponent remained silent.
Loan considered calling Aul, but another thought occurred to him, and he asked again.
"Is it the Stone of Goetia?"
Whether from the pain or shock, the man's brow twitched again.
"I see. So it not only awakens them, but it can also extract their spirituality. Quite a talent... Then again, you kept emphasizing your age, so I suppose you would have had your share of such realizations."
Loan nodded slightly, then severed just the four fingertips and left them floating in the air.
They were far too unsettling to put in his pocket.
Then he spoke to his opponent, who had lost all his magic and fighting spirit.
"I'm not going to kill you. You still have a lot to tell me. You like to talk, don't you?"
After gently pressing on the man's airway with Convection to knock him unconscious...
...Loan lifted his body into the air as well.