Chapter 165
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: Blood Prison
Ian's Twin-Headed Blood Serpent came uncoiled, thrashing wildly.
No, it wasn't just the two blades.
From Ian's shoulders, his sides, his knees.
Chains rippled through every motion and trajectory of his body as he assaulted Tarik.
This was thanks to the immense aura Ian now possessed after absorbing the Earth Dragon's Dragon Heart—an amount incomparable to before—which allowed him to wield the voraciously aura-hungry Silver Moon Armor with ease.
The sight of the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent and Silver Moon Armor whipping around together was nothing short of a storm of chains, terrifying in its ferocity.
And that spectacle...
"...What the hell?!"
Was more than enough to fill Tarik with shock.
He had seen a martial art of this exact form in the past.
How could he ever forget?
Over twenty years ago, back when Tarik was still a green rookie warrior.
In the great war on the Kairun Plains of northern Krohoka that reshaped the power dynamics of Agena—he had witnessed that wondrous technique.
Chaaaain!
Regardless of Tarik's inner turmoil, Ian's Silver Moon Armor and Twin-Headed Blood Serpent surged toward him like a tidal wave, intent on claiming his life.
As if they were living beings possessed of their own will.
"...Don't make me laugh, as if a punk like you could...!!"
A vicious glint suddenly sharpened the wavering light in Tarik's eyes.
He had been startled for a moment, but the mental fortitude of a Master swordsman didn't crumble so easily.
Or more precisely... Tarik's true feelings bordered on jealousy.
Jealousy born from the fact that someone had inherited the martial art of the man who had etched his name into Agena's history.
That emotion influenced Tarik's next choice.
Kra-kra-crack!
As Tarik poured aura madly into his shamshir, fissures spiderwebbed across its surface, unable to withstand the power.
"Eat this and die!!"
Boooom!
It was Karunas' life-saving technique, Broken Sword Explosion.
With the blast, fragments of the shattered shamshir whirled toward Ian.
Chaaaain!
Perhaps sensing the ominous aura on the blade shards, the chains extending from Ian's body clustered into a dome, blocking Tarik's fragments.
In that split second.
Pop!
Tarik dashed toward the spear that Sosah had kicked away while rolling on the ground, bound as he was.
Thud!
He lightly kicked up the spear shaft with his instep, interlocking the bases of the two short spears.
Click!
Gripping the weapon that had instantly transformed into a long spear, he leaped over Ian, who was still blocking the explosion.
"Let's see you block this with your fancy martial art!!"
Woooosh!
Tarik plummeted toward the ground, drawing up every ounce of aura in his body.
The momentum behind that spear was utterly murderous.
Transformed into a single shooting star, Tarik plummeted straight toward Ian's head.
'Impressive that you've learned that man's art... but you're no match for him!'
No matter how supreme the technique, the practitioner was still just an Expert.
There was no way he could withstand the Meteor Strike fueled by the full might of a Master's cultivated power.
If the man himself stood before him... Tarik would've burst into a puddle of blood in an instant.
He had no intention of losing to some snot-nosed kid barely out of his twenties.
'I'll crush you to dust!!'
Watching Tarik descend rapidly, Ian murmured,
"...It's almost here."
'...?'
Almost here? What?
Tarik's confusion at Ian's cryptic words lasted only a moment.
His emotions swiftly turned to horror.
Vwoooom!
The red aura rising like heat haze from Ian's body began overwhelming the power of Tarik's Meteor Strike in an instant.
After slaying the Earth Dragon, the massive mana clump that had taken root in Ian's body, along with the Earth Dragon's authority, Dragon Eye.
Having successfully integrated those two, Ian had severed the sixth chain of the Solar Meridian Blockage in one go just before heading to the Pang Kingdom.
Thus, his current realm was now on par with the leaders of most squads.
And it didn't stop there—he had even opened the first gate of the Blood Gate, Muladhara.
That power was more than enough to overwhelm Tarik.
"...What?!"
Startled, Tarik's hand faltered.
Even as a direct descendant of the Lichtenauer Clan, who could've guessed he'd hide such overwhelming force at that young age?
"...Guh!!"
Tarik desperately altered the trajectory of his Meteor Strike.
He realized there was no chance of victory facing the onrushing storm of red-aura chains head-on.
His judgment was perfectly timed.
That split-second decision saved his life.
Slaaash!
Tarik's left arm, gripping the base of the spear, was shredded to pieces.
"Gaaahhh!"
Tarik screamed in agony, unbefitting a Master.
He had built resistance to most pains, but this torment was utterly alien even to him.
An energy that gnawed at the wound, amplifying the suffering.
There was only one such vicious martial art across all of Agena.
'It really is... the Blood Demon Iron Chain Art!'
Barely breaking through Ian's chain storm, Tarik tried to flee, leaving Ian behind.
The other Karunas members, the Duke Alvarez retainers—none mattered anymore.
'I must inform His Highness the Grand Duke. That the Lichtenauer Martial Clan... is up to something in the Eastern Continent.'
And that the young punk responsible possessed skills far beyond public knowledge, transcendent in prowess.
The explanation was lengthy, but Tarik's decision was lightning-fast.
Regrettably...
"Where do you think you're going?"
Ian's hand was even quicker.
He never let prey escape when the tide turned against them.
Chaaaain!
Chains encircled Tarik from all eight directions, forming an ellipse.
Blood Demon Iron Chain Art, Third Form. Blood Prison.
This was the moment the late-form technique of the Blood Demon Iron Chain Art—whose true power only a superhuman Master could unleash—finally revealed itself.
The Blood Prison formed by the rotating chains of the Silver Moon Armor and blade shards of the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent soon compressed in an instant.
Spluuurt!
Within it, Karunas' leader Tarik wasn't even able to scream before turning into a puddle of blood amid the chain storm.
Literally a prison of blood.
In that breathless instant when all fell silent at the horrifying sight of the Kahn Empire's powerhouse falling helplessly...
Whoosh!
One of the Karunas members bolted away at unbelievable speed.
A velocity that even the Master Tarik couldn't match in pure swiftness.
The shadows hidden in each Kahn unit.
They stayed concealed in normal times, trained in secret by Kaidu solely for escape when all other paths were blocked.
The moment Tarik fell, the lurking shadow judged the battle hopeless and fled.
"Wh-what! Boss! Dammit! He's running! Chase him quick!"
Ralph stomped in panic at the rapidly vanishing shadow, but Ian calmly turned his back, raising the Twin-Headed Blood Serpent toward the remaining Karunas.
'No need to chase.'
As if Ian, of all people, wouldn't know about the shadows Kaidu had long employed.
Ian had deliberately let the shadow go.
'You watched properly, right, Rien?'
Whether they came in person or sent someone else.
True to his promise to Balteran, Ian had displayed his prowess to the fullest.
Now, it was Ye's turn to respond.
"Huff... huff..."
The Karunas shadow fleeing frantically poured cold sweat but never stopped moving.
Stopping felt like that young Lichtenauer monster would catch up instantly.
"Damn it... Blood Demon Iron Chain Art. What a bastard of a technique."
Even at a safe distance, terror lingered, and the shadow ground his teeth.
'...No wonder the Empire banned that man's art.'
He'd heard rumors, but never imagined such savage, threatening destructive power.
"Just you wait. I'll report every detail to His Highness the Grand Duke and burn everything you have to ash...!"
Kaidu Ballak wasn't the type to forgive a subordinate's failure repeatedly.
With the Alvarez Ducal House and even Karunas wiped out... returning to the imperial capital Kahorin offered no guarantee of survival.
Still, the shadow struggled to return to the Empire.
His mission from the start: ensure information reached the Empire at the final moment.
Finishing that duty, plus his grudge against Pang Kingdom and Ian Lichtenauer for this humiliation, drove him on.
But.
It seemed the heavens had no intention of granting the shadow's grand ambitions.
...Rustle!
As he pushed through the forest, a sound like leaves scattering in the wind reached his ears.
His expression hardened instantly.
Amid the rustling leaves, no chirping of grass insects.
Only one meaning.
The ones who ruled the forests and plains of the Eastern Continent in terror.
If they were in the Western Continent instead of Kahn's East, they could crush Torpenhau, Dharma Kingdom, even the Holy Kingdom—the transcendent massive bandit group.
Ye had appeared.
As if proving the shadow's guess, bandits emerged one by one from the trees.
They didn't shout noisily.
They simply nocked and drew their bowstrings taut, aimed at the shadow.
Front, rear, left, right.
Bandits everywhere.
Completely surrounded.
But the shadow despaired more at his failure to detect them.
'Me... missing the presence of mere bandits?'
Even specialized in escape, even if the archers were distant.
He was still Karunas elite.
Failing to sense the whole group proved their prowess was no joke.
If even Karunas senses missed them...
"No way...!!"
As the shadow realized their identity, eyes wide...
"Whew... Even seeing it with my own eyes, it's hard to believe. Never thought I'd witness the mighty Karunas shadow fleeing like a beaten dog on a hot summer day."
A man with a long spear slung over his shoulder stepped from the encircled bandits, muttering.
The blade curved gently like the moon in the sky, gleaming with razor sharpness.
Seeing the eyepatch covering one eye, the shadow gritted his teeth.
Ye had ordinary bandits, but also elites rivaling imperial forces.
Among them, the fiercest and most skilled.
Ye's third-in-command, Talor of the Blade Unit.
"Well, thanks to you, I got a good show. Watching your pathetic Karunas get smashed. All that swagger with your nose in the air on that level of skill? Please."
"What brings the Blade Unit here? Did you really side with Pang Kingdom?"
Talor just smirked slyly at the edged question.
"Who knows~ Whether we side with Pang or not is for our smart Balteran to decide, not me. Me? I just came for a bite of you flailing Karunas without lifting a finger. Though you look like scraps after the good stuff... oh well."
Whooo!
Talor swung the moon blade lightly off his shoulder, loosening his neck muscles.
"Still, I left a decent bite for myself. Guess that'll have to console you."
The shadow gnashed his teeth at Talor's arrogance, treating him as already dead.
'Damn it, if only I had my weapons...'
Ditching everything for speed had been a fatal mistake.
With a weapon, he wouldn't be this helpless.
"...That's what you're thinking, right? Can't stand the injustice? Ta-da! So we prepared this."
Talor pulled a shamshir from his belt and dangled it playfully.
"Here."
Whish!
He tossed it to the shadow's feet, proving no tricks.
Clang, clang!
"...?!"
As the shadow stared bewildered at the shamshir...
"Think you'll die without a fight and regret it? Come on, man up—do whatever, go out in a blaze! Thirsty? Want some water?"
"...!!"
Growling, the shadow snatched the shamshir amid Talor's smugness.
"...You'll regret this."
"Regret my ass. I asked if you want water—why change the subject? Why would I regret?"
Pop!
The shadow lunged in a desperate ambush, squeezing every last drop of strength.
'He's Ye's strongest warrior. Even our leader might not handle him confidently, and I have no chance now.'
So, max power strike for an opening, then flee.
Booom!
Aiming for Talor's blind spot under the eyepatch, the shadow thrust the shamshir. Talor sighed and clicked his tongue softly.
"Sigh, tsk tsk... Why do you all think alike?"
Swish!
With a steaming expression, Talor swung his moon blade—and...
"...Huh?"
The shadow's pupils dilated.
It was supposed to be a blind spot, yet the spear's arc came precisely at him.
Slash!
Confirming the shadow's corpse split vertically and tumbling, Talor lifted his eyepatch.
Slide!
"See? My eye's fine."
Beneath, Talor's eyeball gleamed vividly clear.