Chapter 145
Chapter 145
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Reunion
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“Wh-what the!”
The man seemed just as surprised, unable to hide the tremor in his eyes.
Seriously, what am I supposed to do if the intruder is more flustered than I am?
‘Still, how in the world did he get in?’
I narrowed my eyes, scanning the spot where the mysterious figure had entered.
Surprisingly, the tunnel was quite neat.
The walls were too smooth to have been made with a pickaxe.
It seemed some special method had been used.
In any case, the method of entry wasn't what was important.
‘The important thing is that this intruder interrupted my meal.’
I gently set down my watermelon-sized sandwich and took slow steps toward the tunnel.
The man's eyes began to flicker with anxiety.
It seemed he recognized my face.
I guess that was to be expected.
There was likely no one in the enemy camp who didn't know me by now.
“Ugh! Since it's come to this, we'll commence the operation immediately. Charge!”
After standing there awkwardly for a moment, the intruder turned and shouted to those behind him.
“Kill them all!”
“Hraaaah!”
*Rumble, rumble, rumble!*
Then, dozens of soldiers poured out of the hole in the storeroom wall.
“Huh? Where in the world did these guys come from?”
I hadn't sensed a single presence other than the man in the lead.
It was only for a moment, but to think their stealth was good enough to fool my senses!
The only ones capable of such a feat were…
“The Gray Magic Tower. It must be their handiwork.”
Didn't they hide hundreds of knights in the mist?
Secretly boring a hole into the fortress wouldn't be impossible for them.
They hadn't shown their faces since the siege began; it seems they were busy preparing for this infiltration.
Either way, it would be a headache if these guys got out of here and started roaming the fortress.
The meaning was slightly different here, but there was nothing more frightening than an enemy within.
‘Please be safe, my lovely sandwich!’
The fragrant scent of smoked meat and bread briefly brushed past my nose.
But, fighting back tears, I pushed the plate to a corner.
Then I rushed toward the enemy soldiers pouring out of the hole.
*Swish! Shunk!*
“Keuk!”
“Gahhh!”
The intruders fell like dominoes before my disjointed sword forms.
Now that my level had risen, the power of the Imperial Sound Lock Sword seemed to have increased dramatically as well.
Most of them had their throats pierced the moment our swords met.
It seemed they couldn't even follow the trajectory of my blade with their eyes.
That's how extreme and fast the changes in my sword strikes were.
“Th-this is insane!”
“Break through, no matter what!”
The enemy soldiers screamed, rushing forward like moths to a flame.
But why would I be afraid of a few dozen chicks charging at me?
Well, I might worry about accidentally squashing them.
In any case, the bastards couldn't take a single step out of the storeroom.
I was blocking the narrow space, slaughtering them as they came.
“Dammit! Of all the people to run into, it had to be that monster…!”
The commander at the front, who was urging his soldiers on, muttered.
It seemed the Second Prince's army had taken to calling me 'the monster'.
Well, a greenhorn like me had thrashed Corinth's top swordsman in front of tens of thousands of people.
A reaction like that wasn't unreasonable.
Still, I had to correct him where he was wrong.
“Hey! What part of me looks like a monster? Please correct that to 'a guy with moderately average looks'.”
“One thing's for sure, he's crazy. Keep attacking!”
“Seriously, there's no talking to you!”
Pissed off by the commander's shout, I felt my temper rising.
Wow! My blood pressure almost made me explode.
‘This bastard is unleashing the beast within me?’
*Tsssss!*
Streaks of grayish-white energy were already extending from the Black Dragon Sword.
It was the result of the Demonic Soul sensing my anger and providing an excess of aura.
You're the only one who understands my need to hide my true nature.
Alright. Let's go on a rampage together.
“This is a disaster of your own making. Die!”
*Fwoom—!*
As I thrust the Black Dragon Sword hard into the air, something ash-colored shot forward.
It was translucent, emitted almost no light, and even the sound of it tearing through the air was faint.
The sphere flew without a trace and exploded in front of the hole the enemy had made.
*P-p-p-pow!*
There was no sound of an explosion.
Only the sound of flesh being torn apart by hundreds of aura fragments.
Soon, the enemy soldiers who realized they'd been hit by an unknown technique let out screams.
That is, only the ones lucky enough to survive.
“Ugh! S-save me…”
“Kraaaah!”
I scanned the sprawled-out men with a dry, emotionless gaze.
“If you dare to interrupt my meal, you have to pay the price. Right?”
Despite the groans and screams erupting all around, my voice was delivered clearly.
That was because I was exuding the most powerful presence in the room.
Then, the blood-soaked commander shouted in a baffled voice.
“The reason for all this… was just that?”
“Ah, I dealt with you because you're the enemy. Do you think I'm some guy who kills anyone for interrupting my meal?”
“You certainly look like it.”
“This crazy bastard keeps provoking me. Who the hell are you?”
“I'm your classmate, you son of a bitch!”
“Huh?”
At his shout, I momentarily tilted my head.
I couldn't recognize his face because of the helmet, but his voice was definitely familiar.
“This is definitely the voice of some pig-like bastard who's ugly as sin and always does stupid shit.”
“…”
It seemed I'd hit the nail on the head, as the man said nothing.
‘Oho! I see I've struck a nerve.’
I gave a meaningful smile, my eyes gleaming as I looked down at him.
“Hey, you're Bizolt, aren't you?”
“…”
“Hey! Not answering? You're making me stain my hands with the blood of a classmate.”
“Fine. It is! So stop asking!”
Under my repeated questioning, the man finally confessed his identity.
At a flick of my finger, he quickly removed his helmet to confirm his face.
‘Maybe because I've spent so much time as Frantz's hound, I'm strangely good at sensing these things.’
Anyway, no wonder I wanted to beat him up the moment I saw him.
My intuition was spot on, as always.
“Haha! To think I'd meet you on the battlefield. This… is quite a stroke of luck, isn't it?”
Bizolt flinched at my continuous laughter.
He got his ass handed to him back at Venderford, and the outcome would be no different now.
The guy's eyes darted around, scanning every corner of the storeroom.
His gaze was clearly searching for a way out.
‘The bastard's still so obvious when he's trying to be clever.’
They say people don't change, but to be like this even after experiencing war…
It was truly pathetic.
“Sigh! To think I have to postpone a feast I haven't had in days because of a guy like him.”
A lament escaped my lips on its own.
Of course, Bizolt wasn't the one who created this situation, but what did it matter?
I'm a righteous man who thrives on instigation and fabrication, after all.
“So, are you just going to stand there?”
“Wh-what?”
“Aren't you coming in? No matter how slapdash your plan is, you must have a schedule to keep, right?”
“We do, but… you damn bastard. How are we supposed to get in when you're standing there?”
“You have to charge like your life depends on it. Are you going to achieve any military merit acting like that?”
“Urrrrgh!”
Bizolt groaned in anger but didn't fall for my taunt.
It wasn't that he had the self-control to make the right decision; it seemed this outcome was simply a result of fear.
“Lucky bastard. If you won't come, I have no choice. I'll have to go to you.”
“D-don't come!”
“No can do. I need to finish this quickly and eat my sandwich.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?!”
He screamed his head off, but I didn't stop walking.
But just as I was about to slice Bizolt to pieces, the Black Dragon Sword came to a dead stop in mid-air.
Needless to say, I hadn't stopped the strike of my own volition.
My body had been forcibly halted by an immense, formless pressure.
‘This is…?’
My brow furrowed as I glared at the other side of the hole Bizolt had emerged from.
Soon, a figure with piercing eyes popped out from it.
*Thump! Thump!*
They were light steps, but a heavy vibration traveled through the ground.
It was proof that he was wielding a massive amount of aura as easily as breathing.
‘He's strong.’
I could gauge his level just by hearing his footsteps.
A powerful warrior, incomparable to the likes of Bizolt, had appeared.
*Step!*
A moment later, a man with a rather familiar appearance emerged from the darkness of the tunnel.
Casually worn, graying hair and a massive build.
A being who could materialize his killing intent and wield it like a weapon.
A man who had once been so famous he was called the Emperor's Sawtooth Sword.
He was Hol Shivas, the former vice-headmaster of Venderford.
A terrifying pressure pressed down on the entire room.
“It's been a while, hasn't it?”
But I tossed out the words in a calm voice, as if I were out for a stroll.
The vice-headmaster's face contorted.
His large scar twisted, making it look like a frown, but it was clearly a smile.
I was probably the only one who would act so nonchalantly in front of him when he had come prepared for battle.
Sure enough, Hol Shivas commented on my attitude.
“I've never seen anyone act like that while facing me as an enemy.”
“I guess I'm just special.”
“No, it's because all the ones who ran their mouths like that are dead.”
“Oh? Then the first survivor will be born. See? That makes me even more special, doesn't it?”
“Hah! I knew it back at Venderford, but… you really are one crazy bastard.”
A strange light had appeared in the vice-headmaster's eyes.
He then glanced back and forth between Bizolt and me.
“You're a far more useful talent than this piece of trash with his flashy background.”
“Then you should have tried to recruit me.”
“That is for His Highness the Prince to decide. A sword is merely to be swung. It should not have a will of its own.”
“Just as I thought, a dog's life… ahem!”
I was about to make a cynical remark but quickly shut my mouth.
No matter how much his last statement sounded like a well-behaved puppy without a backbone, huh?
He was once the vice-headmaster of my school; I shouldn't speak so harshly.
‘I really am a person of complete moral character.’
As I nodded to myself in satisfaction, Hol Shivas let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“Heh heh! The life of a knight begins and ends with loyalty. Didn't you enter Venderford because you admired that?”
“No.”
“That's what you wrote on your application.”
What? I don't remember writing anything like that.
In the first place, I didn't even apply…
‘Ah, the family must have just written something and submitted it.’
In any case, it was true that I didn't admire knights.
I hate living like a puppet, controlled by another's will.
Besides, I've already been doing that nauseating song and dance for over twenty years.
I'm trying so hard to shatter this deplorable reality.
“How can people ever understand each other? We can't become the other person.”
“Well said.”
“Let's put aside dusty old philosophies like the knight's code and get to the point, shall we?”
It was a light taunt.
Meaning, since you came here to fight, you might as well hurry up and attack.
Hol Shivas grinned, drawing a long and a short sword from his waist.
“It seems you've grown arrogant after defeating Kroll Karim. Shall we see the skills of the student council president?”
*Rumble, rumble, rumble!*
As his chilling voice echoed, the walls of the storeroom began to vibrate.
No, this was the sound of the building itself swaying.
‘A person's aura can…’
…shake the entire fortress?