Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: The Starting Point of the Wave
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A confrontation between a knight forged by legendary swordsmanship passed down through myths and a mage born of magic from ancient legends.
Their battle raged from moonset until sunrise.
Several hours had passed, yet no clear answer emerged as to which was stronger.
It was such an awe-inspiring duel that none of the onlookers could predict the victor.
A situation where either side prevailing would come as no surprise.
In some ruins nestled in a forest not far from Glazer Castle.
Atop its summit, a bald middle-aged man—Meyer of the Rothschild family—watched Berddin and Hagen's fight while scratching his head.
"This is tricky. Lord Asabragg told me to leave Berddin alone since he'd handle him personally. But if Hagen ends up like that, I have no choice but to step in..."
He smacked his lips bitterly.
He had been given two missions by his family.
One was to provoke the Strange and Glazer families into a major conflict. The other was to prepare a plan to eliminate both, no matter which crumbled first, once war broke out.
"Without killing Berddin, toppling the Strange Family is impossible. Even if it means earning Lord Asabragg's ire, it looks like I need to take him out now."
He muttered confidently to himself but harbored worries deep down.
The Berddin and Hagen in his view were undoubtedly stronger than him. Honestly, jumping into that fight could mean death without surprise. What could an eagle accomplish wedged between a tiger and a dragon?
He might land a fatal blow exploiting a gap, but losing his life for that alone would be utterly futile.
"Haa—No helping it. At this point, I have no choice but to borrow a bit of divine power."
Meyer pulled a syringe from his pocket.
With a terrified expression, he muttered something before gazing at a distant tower and offering a brief prayer.
"Father, I pray earnestly that you forgive me for using the power of the devil to follow your will."
With those words, Meyer jabbed the syringe into his forearm.
As the unidentified liquid coursed through his body, his eyes shifted to gold, and aura erupted from his entire form like an explosion.
Sssshhh!
"This should do it."
He flexed his joints one by one to check his condition.
"Haa, this is incredible. I feel amazing, and power I've never experienced before is overflowing... That guy's stuff really is something else!"
Meyer clenched and unclenched his fists before letting out a vile laugh.
"Kuhahaha!"
Not only that—he beckoned to his Guardian Spirit hovering above his head, and two white wings sprouted from his back, granting him flight. It resembled how Valentine had descended using her Guardian Spirit.
Flutter!
"...Berddin, it seems the gods won't forgive you."
Since they've given me power like this.
Whoosh!
Meyer took to the air.
Emboldened by his explosive newfound strength, he flew toward Glazer Castle with a smug expression.
However, too focused on keeping Berddin and Hagen in check, he hadn't surveyed his surroundings.
Thud, thud, thud.
From behind a massive boulder near where he had launched, Rox—still hidden—whispered softly to the bug on his shoulder.
"Berddin, a bald guy's heading your way right now."
Berddin's ears perked up.
His weary face from the long fight suddenly brightened, a smile curling at his lips.
"For real?"
He muttered a few words as if conversing with an unseen someone, then recalled Griddori—who had been handling the chains—from the fray with Hagen and withdrew from the fight.
This was a battle whose outcome remained uncertain, yet Berddin seemed utterly convinced of victory, waiting for something.
"Kraaaah!"
Hagen roared like a beast.
At some point, spiderweb-like mana enveloping his body had begun slowly spreading outward, enshrouding the entire castle. Berddin, too preoccupied with the fight to notice, now focused his eyes and read the mana flow.
'I see.'
While clashing with him, Berddin had sensed something off.
Hagen's mana clearly had limits, yet from the battle's start to now, his momentum hadn't waned even slightly.
'His power must be coming from somewhere else.'
Berddin had been probing the source of that power.
And after time passed and they briefly halted the fight, he finally pinpointed it.
Hagen's strength wasn't just from his own body—he was converting the energy of the eastern lands into his own power.
'Interesting.'
Boom!
As Berddin and Griddori stepped back, the eight chains under Hagen's control went even more berserk.
They had grown thicker and longer than before, whipping up and down without slowing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Left unchecked, they would devour the entire area.
And as time passed, his growing power could endanger the entire eastern region.
'In that case.'
The only one who could stop him was Berddin himself, and the moment of opportunity would come when Meyer arrived.
'I'll cut them both down at once.'
No sooner had Berddin resolved this than a massive aura-bearing presence hurtled toward Glazer Castle.
Its momentum was so immense that any aura user would recognize it instantly—comparable to none he'd faced so far, impossible to ignore.
Flap, flap, flap.
Thud!
The figure landed naturally not far from Berddin.
"Greetings, Sir Berddin."
They knew each other without introductions.
And whether ally or foe was clear at a glance.
With Meyer's greeting ended, they entered combat stances without further words.
"Griddori."
Berddin smacked Griddori's rear with his palm—smack!—sending the griffon soaring high, vanishing into the clouds.
"So that's the legendary divine beast griffon I've only heard of. The only living divine beast I've seen myself was a wolf named Fenrir, so it's an honor to glimpse a griffon like this."
Meyer waved cheerfully at the departing griffon.
Berddin, displeased by his reaction, parried one of Hagen's incoming chains with his sword, redirecting it.
Clang!
The chain's tip twisted, flying toward Meyer.
Boom!
Meyer watched the chain graze past his forehead by a hair's breadth.
His smiling face hardened as he licked the trickling blood, then sighed deeply at Berddin.
"I just don't get why you Stranges are so unreasonable."
"What do you mean by that?"
"From past to present, you never try talking with us—just come at us like barbarians."
"You want to talk with me?"
"Yes."
"About what?"
"Just... if your power were used where it could steer this continent toward a better future—"
Shing—
Berddin aimed his sword.
"Why should I care about the continent's future?"
"Because you're basically the masters of this land."
"And yet the one thinking that orchestrated quite the entertaining scheme to finish us off."
"Me? No way! I've never done such a thing. I just wanted to see which was stronger between Strange and Glazer."
"So, which looks stronger?"
"...Strange."
"Why do you think that?"
Meyer shrugged.
"Glazer's power can't reach the gods, but I judged Strange could."
Berddin smirked.
"Good answer. As a reward, I'll kill you as painfully as possible. I'll drag you back to the castle and show you exactly what happens to those who tarnish the Strange name."
Meyer shrugged again.
"Me?"
"Yeah. Looks like I need to repay my sister's debt myself."
"Impossible. Can't you feel the power flowing through me, Sir Berddin? It's nothing compared to yours, of course. But if Lord Hagen and I combine forces, killing you would be child's play."
"Ah—yeah, even I think you two together might be stronger than me."
"Then why show such confidence?"
"Because this fight is as good as ours."
"Ours?"
"Yeah, sure, the duel of sword and magic didn't have a clear winner. But I know how to definitely win this battle."
"...What is it?"
Berddin smirked.
"Lightning."
"Lightning?"
"Do you know what happens when aura and mana collide?"
"...They explode, or the weaker one gets pushed back."
"What if they fuse instead?"
"Fuse?"
"Yeah, fuse. That guy's mana behind you and my aura combined—that's how I'll beat you."
"?!"
Meyer whipped his head around.
There, Griddori had silently taken position, mouth agape.
'When did it get there? I didn't sense a thing.'
Before he could finish the thought, a condensed mana beam shot from Griddori's beak.
Boom!
This was mana from the chains Hagen had wielded, compressed within Griddori's body.
It rivaled a 10th-circle spell in power.
Whoosh.
The long blue beam from Griddori's beak pierced Meyer's abdomen.
"Gahk!"
Meyer's overconfidence-born lapse, exploited by Berddin's strike.
No time to dodge or block—it subdued him in an instant. Berddin then caught the piercing mana with both hands.
Fwoosh!
The mana from Griddori's mouth collided with the aura in Berddin's grasp.
No—it wasn't mere contact like water and oil repelling each other.
Like blood and water, they merged seamlessly as if one from the start.
Hiss.
"Lightning Blade."
A sword of unmatched power, surpassing any ability he'd created before, was complete.
Crackle.
Mistilteinn's violet blade, infused with lightning, flashed as if devoured by bolts.
"Hagen, I know you deliberately dragged this out to lure that guy here."
Crunch.
The golden aura cloaking Berddin made even the power of one called god's child pale in comparison.
"Since you kept your promise first, I'll honor mine with you."
Rumble.
The moment Berddin's lava-boiling aura met Hagen's wave-like cascading mana.
Crack!
The strike that would decide their prolonged battle flew forth.
Shing!