Chapter 116
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 116
While Solif fought his way out of the prison to face the surrounding Baraha mages, Turan remained below, meticulously scouring the area where Solif’s parents had been held. Using a combination of tracking and psychokinesis magic, he began erasing every trace of their presence.
The fundamental principle of tracking magic involves using a medium to designate a specific 'target.' Since it was far easier to use a strand of hair to locate its matching source than to find a person, the cleanup was swift.
Once the prison was cleared, Turan planned to expand his search to the rest of the temple. While Solif sowed chaos outside, Turan would eliminate any remaining biological markers. Given the close ties between the Baraha and the Zahar family, there was a high probability they had collected potential mediums to exploit their power.
Just then, he sensed five powerful mages descending toward the prison.
Splitting the pursuit team? Are they that confident?
He couldn't allow enemies to target those who had already escaped. Remaining under the cover of stealth, Turan moved to intercept. Since both parties were heading toward each other, it took only seconds to close the gap.
Two mid-high rank, two high-rank, and one special-rank... Hm?
His brief flash of respect for their strength vanished the moment he saw the symbols etched into their souls. All five bore the Zahar emblem—an eye peering out from pitch-black darkness.
His confusion didn't last long. Overhearing their conversation, Turan identified the woman leading them. She was Alma Zahar, one of the three candidates for the Zahar succession he had heard about in the trade city of Komad. She was the Family Head’s first cousin once removed, and she was standing right in front of him.
To send a succession candidate here just to bolster security... are the Zahar and Baraha closer than I thought? Or is there something specific they need to communicate?
Before he could settle on an answer, the Zahar mages discovered the tunnel and immediately began their pursuit. Turan followed, ghosting behind them in the darkness. Fortunately, none of them had conjured a light source yet, making it easy to tail them.
Subdue or eliminate... Right, elimination it is.
If one of them was a God’s Vessel for the Zahar, attempting to capture them for interrogation would be a fatal blunder. It would only provide the enemy with information. He had no way to trap a divine soul returning to its source. If he let them live, they would eventually hunt down Meisa’s group.
The conclusion was simple: he had to kill them instantly, leaving them no clue as to who had attacked or how.
Formulating a plan on the fly, Turan scattered Soul of Fire across the ceiling and detonated it. The blast was a distraction, meant to rattle the Zahar nobles. As expected, they dove for the corners and activated their own stealth to assess the threat.
It was the perfect scenario for an assassin.
Turan shifted his relic’s function to the Berserker bloodline, stoking his emotions to draw out its raw power. As his muscles surged, a wave of heat rushed to his head, and a low, guttural growl vibrated in his throat. Without his stealth magic, he would have been exposed instantly.
Gritting his teeth to suppress the violent impulse, Turan crept up behind the stationary Alma. He wrapped a powerful arm around her neck and twisted with everything he had.
Crack!
With a sickening crunch, her neck spun nearly 180 degrees, stretching to twice its original length.
Got her.
The resistance he felt was surprisingly high, suggesting she wore a protective artifact similar to his own. However, most defensive tools were specialized against projectiles or direct strikes; they offered little protection against sustained, brute-force physical contact.
Before Alma’s lifeless body could hit the ground, Turan drove his fist into the back of the second mage's head. It was a strike devoid of calculation, fueled purely by the Berserker’s bloodlust.
The head exploded like a dropped melon. As his stealth broke, blood and brain matter splattered across the stone walls.
"E-Enemy!?"
"What the—!"
"Lady Alma!"
They had been prepared for an ambush after the explosion, but the sudden, gruesome deaths of their comrades left them paralyzed with shock. The Zahar nobles cried out in horror, but their shouts were lost to one another—voices do not carry between those hidden in stealth. Furthermore, because the second death had been so violent, they hadn't even noticed Alma’s corpse slumped in the corner.
When a third person collapsed with a gaping hole in their chest, their form flickering into visibility, the survivors realized their attacker was one of their own kind—and an incredibly powerful noble at that. By then, however, only two remained.
"It’s an ambush! Stealth—no, Light!"
It was a desperate irony. A Zahar noble, who usually treated the darkness as a sanctuary, was forced to summon light just to identify their killer. The moment one of them broke stealth to illuminate the tunnel, his upper body was crushed diagonally by an invisible, crushing blow.
The last survivor turned and fled toward the tunnel exit, wailing silently within his stealth. He prayed the unknown monster wouldn't notice him.
That hope vanished seconds later as an impact shattered his spine.
Panting heavily, Turan only regained his senses after he had repeatedly trampled the last survivor’s body into a pulp. He hurriedly switched the relic’s bloodline and took a deep breath, forcing the surging resentment to subside.
The Berserker bloodline... I felt it before, but it’s truly dangerous. If I draw it out fully, I lose my mind in an instant.
While it granted him the physical strength to tear through nobles like paper, it was a double-edged sword. If he had charged the Great Sea Serpent in such a frenzy, he would have ended up snapped in two, just like Meisa.
After a moment of self-reflection, Turan began absorbing the mana of the fallen Zahar nobles. The subordinates didn't offer much, but someone of Alma’s caliber provided a noticeable boost to his growth.
Next, he stripped them of their magic tools. During his raids on the Underground Labyrinth, he had left such items behind for fear of being tracked, but now he had Meisa. As a skilled Enchanter, she could alter their appearance and signatures while preserving their power.
As he worked, Turan recalled a detail he had glimpsed during his frenzy.
As expected, one of the Zahar nobles was a Possessed Vessel. And it wasn't the leader, but one of the subordinates...
When he had struck the high-ranking noble after killing Alma, he had seen a soul escape the corpse and fly away. It was a stroke of luck that the second person he killed was the Vessel. By smashing the back of their head and killing them instantly, they had died before they could even process the attack. They wouldn't be able to provide the Zahar with any clues about his identity.
It was also a valuable lesson: a Possessed Vessel wasn't particularly special unless they consciously tapped into their divine power. Even those hosting the souls of Great Family heads were vulnerable when caught off guard.
Turan looked down at Alma’s body. Her neck was twisted into a spiral, her form pathetic for a high-ranking noble whose mana had been comparable to Solif’s.
That was the price of allowing a preemptive strike from a Berserker who had pushed their physical limits to the absolute extreme.
*
Having cleared the underground, Turan returned to the surface to check on Solif. Seeing him leading hundreds of mages on a wild chase without any major injuries, Turan figured he could hold out for a few more hours.
However, the enemies could rotate their forces to rest, while Solif had to keep moving. A prolonged battle was a guaranteed loss. They needed to finish their business and escape.
Turan donned the clothes of a fallen Baraha knight and altered his face. Using tracking magic, he began roaming the temple for any remaining traces of Solif's parents. Unlike the underground, the sunlight reflecting off the temple walls interfered with stealth magic, forcing him to rely on his disguise.
Fortunately, the garrison was so preoccupied with Solif that the buildings were mostly empty. The few people he encountered ignored him, assuming he was just another knight on duty.
Before long, Turan found a handful of hair in a locker within a meeting hall and burned it. Confirming no more traces remained, he nodded. He checked for any traces of Solif as well, but it seemed the Baraha hadn't bothered to keep any.
Good, this should be enough... No, just to be safe, I’ll stop by the mansion one more time on the way out.
Normally, one wouldn't need to be this wary of tracking magic. Unless a mage was a high-ranking noble at the level of a Deputy Family Head, they couldn't locate a target over a distance of thousands of meters using only hair.
But with the possibility of the Zahar Family Head himself joining the hunt, he had to account for every variable.
After a final sweep, Turan moved toward his last destination.
Now then... let's see what's inside.
The Baraha Family Head’s residence was located at the innermost sanctum of the Sun Temple. As Turan prepared to enter, he frowned at the presence he felt.
Someone is guarding this place even now?
It wasn't just a sentry; it was a special-rank noble. Every available hand should have been deployed to catch Solif. The fact that a powerful mage remained here meant that whatever was inside was something that absolutely could not be exposed.
Since the building was part of the temple structure, the walls were reinforced, and there were no windows nearby for sniping. Turan hesitated for a moment before deciding on a direct approach.
The sentry noticed him immediately. "Halt. Who goes there?"
The guard was an old man, likely in his sixties—one of the Baraha Elders. Turan bowed his head, feigning a slight stammer.
"E-Elder..."
"Labo?"
Turan’s eyes widened. He was dressed as a lowly knight; he hadn't expected the man to actually know the person he was impersonating. But he didn't panic. His mind raced, instantly spinning a lie.
"Yes, it's Labo. Elder Ason ordered me to quickly retrieve a magic tool from the Family Head’s residence to help capture the traitor..."
"Go on then, be quick about it."
Elder Ason was a name he had heard from Solif. Since this man didn't match the description, Ason was likely the one outside chasing Solif.
Having received permission, Turan bowed politely and began to walk past, then suddenly lunged.
In that instant, a golden spike erupted from behind the Elder, colliding with a spear of pure white light extending from Turan’s hand.
"Tsk."
Turan wasn't surprised. Through the scent of emotions, he had already known the man had identified him as an enemy. The brief conversation had been nothing more than a battle of wits between two killers.
The Elder let out a dry, mocking chuckle.
"I'm sorry, but 'Labo' was just a name I threw out to see your reaction. I figured someone might try to infiltrate us during the chaos. Besides, Ason isn't the type of man to entrust such a task to a mere knight."
"I didn't know that. How clever of you."
Turan felt a flicker of relief. At least word of the 'mimic' who had disrupted Arabion hadn't reached the Baraha yet.
The Elder, sensing the mana vibrating through the golden spike, frowned. "I didn't expect the intruder to be this strong. Where did you come from? I've never seen your face, yet you possess such power..."
Instead of answering, Turan manifested a longsword of light and charged. Although the Elder possessed more raw mana, it was inefficient to engage in a contest of power using ordinary light magic against Turan's Judgment Light. He intended to settle this in close quarters, relying on his superior agility.
The Elder looked incredulous. "You dare use light magic before the Sun Bloodline—"
He cut himself off, his eyes widening as he realized Turan’s speed was far beyond human limits.
In that moment of crisis, Turan saw two additional symbols manifest within the Elder’s soul.
A Possessed Vessel!
The two newly emerged bloodlines were Strength-bearer and Guardian. A spectral fist gripped the handle of a shield, rising to cover the sun. Simultaneously, the Baraha Elder transformed his Judgment Light into twin longswords, parrying Turan’s thrust.
Turan’s face contorted at the sheer force of the impact.
Even for a bloodline ability, this is unnervingly strong...
It wasn't just the synergy of two physical combat bloodlines; there was a deeper technique at play. His hands vibrated from the shock, and a sense of impending danger washed over him. It was a mysterious martial art, similar to what Ymir had displayed.
Turan quickly reshaped his light into a massive greatsword to block the follow-up attack. Within striking distance, there was no room for words.
Golden and white weapons clashed, sending thunderous roars and waves of heat echoing down the corridor. While the Elder had the advantage in physical power and weapon quality, Turan was armed with more potent mana and superior reflexes.
If he revealed his Berserker bloodline here, he could overwhelm the man, but...
I can't let a God’s eye see that I can use multiple bloodlines. How do I finish this without showing my hand?
The Earthkeeper bloodline was useless here with no soil nearby, and the air was too dry for the Carmine bloodline. The Nagin bloodline offered nothing, and using the Zahar or Arabion powers would be a death sentence.
Then, an idea struck him. Turan leaped back to create distance.
Taking advantage of the pause, the Elder opened his mouth to taunt him, but only a gasp of shock came out.
"You... that's...!"
Judgment Light.
As the power that should only belong to the Baraha manifested behind Turan, the Elder’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Furthermore, the deployment of the Halo was as masterful as that of a veteran who had trained for decades.
Turan shaped the Judgment Light into a spear and shouted.
"Tell the Family Head! His son has returned!"
It was an improvised bluff—pretending to be the Family Head’s illegitimate son. Given the strict bloodline management of the Great Families, the lie would eventually be exposed, but it would buy them time through sheer confusion.
However, the Elder appeared far more shaken than Turan had anticipated. He looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"That line... could it be!?"
Before he could finish the thought, a golden javelin packed with immense power screamed toward him.