Hope Given, Then Taken

The Silver Sword Dream had originally been a killing art — a false blade stretching toward the enemy, the true edge hidden behind it, piercing a vital point in a single stroke.

But a convenient death like that didn't suit trash like the Black Water Master and Loctan, so Raon changed the flow of the form.

He split the sword that would have severed a life in one blow into dozens of blades, weaving them into a storm of steel that never ended.

A true rampage. Silver Sword Dream: Chaos was a wicked sword art that carved through every vital point an opponent possessed.

Blue-wreathed steel tore through every gap in the Black Water Master and Loctan's defenses. Blood sprayed from the sword wounds and soaked the ground — and in that same instant, two different energies came screaming in from the left and the right.

Raon swept the Requiem Sword sideways and split both incoming forces at once — one aimed at his heart, the other at his throat.

"Khuk!"

"Haaah…"

The moment the Requiem Sword's weight listed to the side, the Black Water Master and Loctan let out ragged groans and staggered back.

The Poison Man and the short mage who had just loosed that magic and toxic energy moved in beside them.

"Lord Loctan!"

"A-a second later and I'd be dead. That bastard's even more dangerous than the rumors."

Loctan spat the blood pooled in his mouth and forced the bleeding to stop. He chewed his lip until it split, dragging every last drop of toxic energy up from his dantian.

"Are you all right?"

"…I'm fine."

The Black Water Master waved the mage off and straightened. He paid no mind to the blood running from his wounds, wrapping his entire body in a shroud of darkness.

The energy Loctan and the Black Water Master unfurled surged high enough to scrape the night sky. Behind them, the surviving Poison Men and Black Spirits gathered in a knot.

Raon looked past that enormous pressure to the peak beyond. He's holding up well.

Dorian hadn't given the Drake a single step. He was still fighting.

"This is an opportunity for that brat as well."

Wrath squinted up at Dorian, his round face tightening.

"That one always thinks of running first. With nowhere left to flee, his mind will grow another step."

It should. The Drake was underestimating Dorian, holding back its frost breath. As long as Dorian watched for that, this was a fine chance to accumulate real experience. Still. Better ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to be ready, just in case.

He focused the Sense of Frost Flowers on Dorian so he could move at any moment, then walked toward the Black Water Master.

"How rude."

Raon looked at the Poison Man and the Black Tower mage who had saved Loctan and the Black Water Master, and smiled a cold little smile.

"Haven't you ever been told not to stick your nose in a fight between adults?"

"That's not something you should be saying…"

Raon let his presence swell. The Poison Man and the mage swallowed dry and edged backward.

"Take the Explosive Pellets! Raise the Wind Blood Strange Formation!"

At Loctan's order, the Poison Men pulled black pills from their robes and threw them down their throats.

Veins bulged across their foreheads as the toxic energy they held more than doubled in an instant.

The shadows raised their poison as one, and a colossal wind surged up to coil around everything nearby.

It was the Wind Blood Strange Formation, a formation so steeped in malice it had once wiped a village off the map with poison.

"Izgel. Open the Demon Sea."

The Black Water Master called the mage by name and pointed at the ground.

"Yes!"

The mage called Izgel pressed her hands to the earth and began to chant a strange incantation.

Raon snorted a laugh and stamped the ground.

"You really don't take me seriously."

In a fraction of a second he shifted right and crashed toward the mage called Izgel.

"You little—"

Eight black claws rose from the Black Water Master's back like wings and came whipping down.

Raon stepped through earth that crumbled under the Supreme Harmony Footwork and drove forward. As the Black Water Master chained another attack, he unfolded Hundred Flowers: Flower Spirit.

Blossoms of fire opened and shoved the dark energy back, opening a corridor of space to punch through.

He ran a straight line and split Izgel's heart with the Heavenly Sky Sword. A savage volume of blood erupted from her chest.

"Kh…"

"Waiting for your enemy is something that only works in novels."

"I-it doesn't matter. It's already activated."

Her sneer came with the ground turning black.

The Demon Sea. A battlefield where the Black Tower's freaks could unleash their true power began to well up from below.

"Hrm."

Raon spun the Heavenly Sky Sword and clicked his tongue. I knew about the Wind Blood Strange Formation, so I dealt with this side first. What a nuisance.

"That's not a nuisance face."

Wrath frowned, studying Raon's eyes.

"That's the face of a man whose ordered dish has just arrived — the happiness right before the first bite."

And what face is that, exactly?

"It's overflowing with anticipation!"

You've gotten a little better at reading people.

"Hmph! This King has been called a genius of reading the room since his days in the Demon Realm."

I really don't think that's true…

Raon huffed a quiet laugh and reset his grip on the Heavenly Sky Sword and the Requiem Sword. Well. You're not wrong. I've been wanting to cut loose properly.

After absorbing the Ocean Spirit Flower's petals and the Ghost Jellyfish's inner core, he had never once fought at full strength. In the sparring at the merchant guild he hadn't even manifested ganggi. He wanted to bring his real power to bear against a genuinely strong enemy.

Virulent blue toxic energy blazed up from the Wind Blood Strange Formation Loctan and the Poison Men had built. It was so vicious the ground melted black, and the surrounding trees and brush crumbled to powder.

The energy the Black Water Master and the Black Spirits raised was even more ferocious. Darkness so thick it turned the stomach surged to the end of the sky and swallowed the air itself.

"Die."

"Just drop dead already, you monster!"

As if they had rehearsed it, the Black Water Master and Loctan poured out toxic energy and darkness at the same time.

A wave so enormous it made the fingertips tremble rolled in, swallowing heaven and earth.

"Do you know the greatest pain a human can feel?"

Raon curled his mouth in front of that colossal force.

He crushed the earth under his left foot and extended the Requiem Sword. Behind the crimson blade, a pure white shadow bloomed.

A sword that was neither fast, nor strong, nor hard. But a current more vast than anything else gathered the malice-soaked toxic energy and dark mana into its embrace.

White Shadow Flash, having abandoned counterattack to pour everything into defense, fulfilled its role and sank — and a crimson blade surged up in its place.

"Hhk!"

"B-block it!"

"Aaaah…"

"W-what is that fire…"

A wave of flame that erased everything in front of it swallowed the Poison Men and the Black Tower in a single breath.

When the torrent of fire receded, the only things left were the Black Water Master and Loctan, collapsed on the ground, burns covering every inch of them.

"Hhh…"

"This— this insane…"

The Black Water Master and Loctan had spent everything they had. They swayed in place, unable to move. All they could do was leak groans drowned in pain.

"Hah."

Raon looked down at the hands gripping the Heavenly Sky Sword and the Requiem Sword and allowed himself a faint, brief smile. I've gotten stronger.

A heat entirely different from when he had entered the underwater dungeon. Even if those two hadn't lost any of their martial power, this was strength that would never yield to them.

"Khnnn…"

The Black Water Master's jaw trembled as he lifted his gaze. Rage and agony filled his blackened eyes.

"Why would you even… do something like this…"

Loctan bit down on his lip, as if he couldn't understand it.

"Didn't you come looking for me first, to kill me?"

"H-how did you— khhk!"

Loctan toppled backward before he could even finish the question, his breath cut short.

"There are no secrets in this world."

Raon raised the Heavenly Sky Sword to take the Black Water Master's head last — and the man clenched his teeth.

"Y-you. Don't tell me you attacked us using those pieces of trash as a sacrifice?"

"…Trash?"

"They have no reason to exist anyway! You picked a fight with the Black Tower over worms with no power and no intellect — your life is pitiful too."

The Black Water Master bared white teeth in a sneer.

"You will never die cleanly! The Floor Lords of the Black Tower will—"

"The one who won't die cleanly is you."

Raon smiled a cold smile and drove the Requiem Sword into the Black Water Master's shoulder. I'm counting on you.

The Requiem Sword rang as if it understood, shoving a massive lump of demonic energy into the Black Water Master's body. He had done something similar to the White Blood Cult — it seemed even the Requiem Sword had feeling about that.

The demonic energy the Requiem Sword injected shredded the Black Water Master's mana circuits and began to tear through his entire body.

"GAAAAAH!"

For the first time, the Black Water Master screamed, thrashing. Pain enough to forcibly keep a dying life from going out made his pupils shake like a madman's.

"K-kill me. Please kill me…"

"You like pain, don't you? Consider it a parting gift for the long road ahead. Take it with you."

"Ghhhaaaa! P-please…"

"Don't forget that pain even in death."

Raon left the Black Water Master to die wrapped in demonic energy and looked up at the Drake's nest. Looks like he can still handle it?

"Whose subordinate is he? Of course he can!"

Raon had been ready to help the moment it looked impossible — but Dorian hadn't given the Drake an inch, holding like an iron wall.

Raon snorted a laugh and spun the Heavenly Sky Sword.

"Kids grow up so fast."

"You're a kid too…"

Dorian stared at the enormous living thing floating in the air, his jaw trembling. The beat of its wings felt like it was peeling the skin off his body.

"KYAAAAAAK!"

The majestic roar made his heart shrink as if it were being crushed. It was Fear — a technique only high-rank monsters used.

The Drake dropped, bringing a massive claw down. The force felt as overwhelming as a master's sword strike, so Dorian immediately stepped to the right.

The place the Drake's talon struck collapsed, and the people lying there lurched. A little more impact and several of them might have gone over the edge. I-I can't dodge.

If he evaded with footwork the way he always did, the people behind him would die. He had to stand and fight. F-first…

Save them.

Dorian pulled a thick plank from his belly pouch, drove it into the ground so the people wouldn't roll off, and stood.

"KYAAAAH!"

The Drake brought its right claw down. Faster, heavier than the last one.

"Ah, hell!"

Dorian bit his lip and unfolded the Ten Gates Profound Sword.

The form he poured everything into bent as if the blade would snap. He shoved aura into it without any technique at all and barely held.

"Grrrr…"

The Drake's already terrifying eyes gleamed as if they were on fire, angrier than before.

"C-can't we talk this…"

"KYIIIIIING!"

The Drake roared as if telling him to shut up and hammered down claws and talons at random.

Dorian unfolded the Ten Gates Profound Sword to its extreme and defended, but his shoulders and knees creaked as if they would break. He had always been confident in his strength and stamina, but he didn't think he could last much longer. When is the Vice Squad Leader going to— hhk!

The moment he thought of Raon, something long came screaming in at tremendous speed. The Drake's hands and feet were all inside his field of view, which left only one thing. The tail!

A tail as sharp and long as a blade dropped like lightning.

"KRAAAH!"

Dorian stomped a true step and unfolded the Ten Gates Profound Sword's Revolving Profound Finale. A heavy mass of cloud bloomed and collided with the Drake's tail.

The shock was enough that his arms barely lifted; his mind went blank for an instant, but thankfully he didn't go down.

"KREEEEEK!"

The Drake's rage at having its tail attack blocked seemed to hit the ceiling. It roared, spread its wings wide, took to the air, and came down to stamp with its talons.

"Why does a Drake have this many ways to attack?!"

Dorian screamed and raised the Ten Gates Profound Sword's secret art, Azure Blossom Drifting Clouds. Soft fragments of cloud condensed into a solid current.

The Drake's talons and the sword energy of Azure Blossom Drifting Clouds collided. A crack split the center of the peak, and the outer rim shattered. He'd taken internal damage too — his stomach lurched as if he would vomit.

"Grrrr…"

It hadn't expected him to hold even that. The Drake rose into the air again, its expression tight with fury. It drifted back, jaws stretching wide. From the black throat, an enormous cold began to well up.

"F-frost breath?"

Only then did the information he'd heard from Denning Rose surface. It had used frost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠breath near the nest before.

"I-I'm dead!"

Dorian's lips trembled as he watched the gathering cold. How am I supposed to block that!

Whether he could block it or not, the Drake's frost was already fully condensed. Sh-should I run, even now?

He had put on the frost-resistance equipment the moment the Drake appeared, but he couldn't believe he would survive that breath. He wanted to throw everything away and flee.

But the people behind him snagged in his eyes. He couldn't just leave them — people who had been living peacefully until they were attacked.

Dorian clenched his molars until they felt like they would crack and dragged up every last drop of aura. He had come this far. He couldn't fall back. Even if he blacked out, he had to try.

The Drake's maw opened without end, and a blue energy filled his vision. Frost breath. A terrifying cold that looked ready to freeze the entire peak came pouring down.

"AAAAAH! RAON ZIEGHART, YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD!"

Dorian screamed Raon's name like a curse and detonated the aura he had gathered in a single burst. The Ten Gates Profound Sword's final secret art, Grand Ten Profound Cleave, unfolded, and a dense cloud of aura bloomed in the empty air.

The cloud that would originally have spread in a cross-shape folded into a semicircular wall of aura to protect the people.

The colossal current of force pouring from the frost breath made his whole body ache as if it were being crushed. Sensation vanished from his fingers and toes as if they were freezing, and a sweet taste rose in his breath. No — even that breath felt like it was freezing. I want to run…

But he couldn't. He felt all over again how hopeless it was to have no way out.

"AAAAAH!"

Dorian wrung the last of the aura from his dantian and didn't drop the wall until the very end. The aura grew thinner and thinner, on the verge of shattering — and the Drake closed its mouth first. The frost breath stopped.

"Haaah…"

The rebound of spending everything dropped Dorian to his knees before he knew it. He truly didn't have the strength to twitch a finger.

"Grrrr…"

The Drake, though, wrapped itself in an even more savage energy and opened its mouth again. A second frost breath, said to be stronger than the first, kindled a razor-blue light in its throat. Th-this I can't…

He wanted to grab his sword and stand, but there was really nothing left.

"Nngh! Raon, you sea anemone, octopus, sea cucumber, weasel of a man! You'll get divine punish—"

"Weasel I'll grant you, but sea anemone, octopus, and sea cucumber?"

"They're all slimy and slippery and— huh?"

Dorian whipped around just as Raon leapt into the air. He rose as if he were flying and drove his sword down into the head of the Drake that had been about to unleash its frost breath.

A silver blade split hide and bone and buried itself vertically.

"KYAAAAAAK!"

The Drake thrashed even with a sword through its skull, trying to resist, but Raon's brute strength crushed it and it plummeted hard.

An enormous shock burst from the peak directly below, as if an earthquake had hit. Dorian leaned out and looked down. The Drake lay in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the center of the peak with a sword through its head.

"Haaah…"

Dorian's mouth fell open. It dies that easily?

He didn't even think Raon had used ganggi. The Drake was already dead, its breath cut off.

Raon pulled his sword from the Drake's head and came up onto the peak in a single bound.

"W-when did you get here?"

"Around the time that Drake did the tail swipe."

"That was the dangerous part! Why didn't you step in?!"

"Looked fun."

Raon grinned as if he couldn't see what the question was.

"E-even during the breath?"

"That looked even more fun."

"Hah…"

The light went out of Dorian's eyes. Is this thing actually human? Watching Raon grow more demonic by the day, his heart hammered as if it would burst.

"The breath was actually dangerous! It wasn't just me — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the other people almost died too!"

"But you did it."

Raon smiled, looking at the people who hadn't been touched by the frost.

"You can't grow if you only do what's easy."

"Ah…"

The words Raon said so calmly struck something in his chest. He gave me a chance to grow…

He only felt it now, but when he had blocked the breath, his strength had been gone — and the pride of having done it raised goosebumps. If Raon had stepped in for him, he never would have felt this.

On top of that, Raon seemed to have blocked the frost Dorian had let through, so the people wouldn't be hurt. Light and heavy at once. Cold and gentle. He was a man whose insides were truly too hard to read.

But one thing was certain. He had helped him.

"Thank you so much—"

"Ah. Right."

As Dorian bowed his head, Raon flicked his fingers and turned.

"Heartless bastard, sea anemone, octopus, sea cucumber, weasel. That's what you said, isn't it?"

"Ah, th-that's…"

"Once we're back, I'll show you what a reeeeal heartless bastard looks like."

At that savage smile, Dorian's fingertips trembled. The man was already evil. There was no predicting what he would do.

"Look forward to it."

"Khuk!"

Dorian wiped his tears on a frozen sleeve and sniffled. That man is a real demon. That's for sure!

"You just called me a demon in your head, didn't you?"

"Gack!"