Chapter 229 : Chapter 229
Chapter 229
Tail, a 4th-circle mage of the Underground Magic Tower, had been lucky.
Because the first slash had taken his right arm.
He was a mage who cast through mudras, so with his arm gone he could do nothing but lie on the ground and groan.
Losing one arm beat losing his life.
And so he was able to watch.
'This is insane...... that—that's not human......'
What kind of swordsman could fell a forest with a single swing?
What kind of swordsman could split the sky and sever lightning with a single swing?
That was a miracle beyond even what mages could accomplish.
A 5th-circle—no, even a 6th-circle mage would struggle to perform feats on that scale.
All they could do was make magic bigger, stronger.
That kind of absurdity—defying nature itself—was impossible for them.
'That's not...... human.'
And every time he swung that sword, a bizarre energy flickered to life.
The swordsman himself probably couldn't see it.
With every swing, a black, flame-like energy surged upward and blanketed the surroundings.
That energy clung to the swordsman's body like a beast.
As if trying to protect him—or trying to devour him.
Tail could tell because he worked with Demonic Energy himself.
That was a demon.
And not just any demon—something far worse than ordinary ones.
'Even the demon—even the High Priest's demon......'
Moments ago, the hatred and lingering resentment of every mage and corpse on this field had been collected to summon a demon.
It was a demon forced into existence without a proper "concept," but that didn't diminish its power.
A demon summoned with a properly established concept and calibrated counter-value gained enhanced traits.
Like Giant-Block or Ocean Hall.
But even a demon without such refinement, summoned by mages of this caliber, should have displayed formidable strength.
At minimum, it should have bought them enough time to flee.
'A single slash......'
The man had annihilated both the 5th-circle High Priest and the demon in one stroke.
'In-insane...... I need to...... run......'
Dragging his remaining arm and his useless legs, he was trying to crawl to safety.
"Hm."
With that characteristic exhalation, his vision went dark.
His life ended there.
***
I cleaned up the surviving mages and the corpses with Aura.
'I want to clear away all the bodies.'
That wish alone was enough.
The Ocean Hall and Sacer Fantasies resonated inside me, gathering the corpses together and purifying them with Holy Power.
A brilliant white light blazed near the bodies, and then they were simply gone.
Purified.
Normally I wouldn't have been this thorough with the aftermath.
There was respect owed to the dead, after all.
But.
— Ngh, uh, uh, uh, uh......
The enemies I'd just fought were only the first wave.
Far off, a second wave was bearing down on this forest.
Triple the strength of the first.
— KAAAAAK—!
And this time, properly summoned demons were mixed in—two or three of them.
From gargoyle-like creatures to things that skittered across the ground on seven legs.
'Were there really this many corpses in the Belmein Kingdom?'
I worried about the ecosystem across the kingdom.
Surely the students weren't having problems.
'No. The mentors are with them. I'll trust them.'
I'd sent out the Firestorm mercenaries and Expert-level students precisely for situations like this.
If things truly went south, I'd told them to run rather than fight to the last.
No exam was worth dying over.
I shook the blade clean and expanded my senses.
Closing my eyes, I strained to feel the atmosphere in every direction.
Filtering out sound, breathing in the scents more deeply, sorting the faint sensations against my skin.
The result.
'A familiar feeling.'
I caught a presence I recognized.
Fairly far from here, but if I ran, it wouldn't take long.
I launched myself toward it.
CHWAAAAK!
The moment I moved, I swung the sword.
Abominations, ghouls, zombies—corpse creatures in every direction exploded.
The ground that had been squelching and threatening to swallow me hardened instantly.
The solid patch was barely wide enough for one footfall, but that was enough.
When there wasn't even that much space, I stepped on the remains of dying corpses and ran.
[STOOOOOP HIIIIIM!]
A colossal voice echoed.
It sounded like the one commanding all these monsters and demons.
A tide of corpses—from a distance it would look like a wave—surged toward me.
The first to charge was a demon.
It spread massive wings and glided in, targeting my airborne body.
The attack resembled the General's wings.
'Still weaker than the General.'
That was a demon I'd handled before I'd even reached Master.
I raised my sword and cut through it, wings and all.
— KIEEEEEK!
I slashed its rainbow-ichor-dripping face, neck, belly, and arms simultaneously.
The demon, still convulsing in midair, instantly crystallized into a mana stone and fell.
I ran on, clearing corpses and mana stones along the way.
I lost count of how many times I'd swung, how many demons I'd cut.
I just moved as my body allowed.
"Avril."
And there, I found him.
"......Teacher."
In the span of a year, Avril had aged terribly.
His hair had faded almost white, and his cheeks were so sunken from malnourishment that his cheekbones jutted sharply.
His eyes were dark, and that characteristically cold, mineral gaze now carried a redoubled air of gloom.
I swept my sword far to the left with my right hand, then swung horizontally.
Cassian's Swordsmanship, horizontal slash.
A ring-shaped Aura swept across the entire field and vanished.
The charging demons and monsters were blasted outward from my position.
In the brief opening that created.
Our eyes met.
"You've gotten stronger......"
Avril looked stronger too.
My slash hadn't left a scratch on him.
But.
"You've given up on being human."
"Well, it's one approach."
To be precise, the attack had connected—it simply dealt no damage.
Through the torn fabric, Avril's body was studded with grotesque ore and vein-like biological growths that pulsed and throbbed.
"Do you know what a lich is?"
"A monster name I've been hearing a lot lately."
"When a mage of 5th-circle or higher sacrifices their death in pursuit of truth, they become a lich."
Avril's shadow was growing.
From his body, massive gold coins, gold, and crystal ores sprouted, twisting him into a grotesque form.
It looked less like a person and more like some kind of golem.
"So what does an Aura swordsman become when they sacrifice their death?"
"You've given up on being human?"
"We always gave up our humanity to fight the demons."
I thought back to the people I'd met in Rozalin's memories.
I couldn't clearly recall what Avril had looked like.
Had he avoided the fighting?
Or.
"Geis, Necromancy, shamanic curses. Every one of those elements pushed people to abandon their humanity. The fact that we fight while staying human right now is the real miracle."
"So you borrow demonic power to kill demons? A vicious irony."
A familiar Demonic Energy was leaking from Avril's body.
The High Priest who'd summoned the demon earlier.
The energy flowing from that man had been virtually identical.
Avril spread his now-massive arms wide, as if to say so what.
From one fingertip to the other, the span must have been four meters.
"Don't you use Fantasies to kill demons too? Not much difference, is there?"
Avril's jaw dropped open wide.
"In the end, I lost everything I invested. All that's left is the conviction that I must defeat the demons. And my r-r-resentment toward the world."
His words buzzed and broke apart.
Like a malfunctioning Magitech device, the same syllables stuttered and repeated.
"A-and, Ca-Cassian. To y-y-you, I—"
Energy erupted from his body.
His arm hammered down toward me with the force of a spell being fired.
A CRASH followed an instant later, booming outward.
"Y-you d-dodged?"
I hadn't dodged.
I'd deflected.
Realizing his attack had no effect, Avril lashed out with arms and legs in rapid succession.
Countless limbs, muscles, blood vessels—pillars of who-knew-what—drove down at me.
The movements were whip-like, but nothing I couldn't handle.
"Wh-y-y-y?"
Avril asked, genuinely unable to comprehend.
Of course.
'Because I'd seen it all.'
No matter how much Avril had changed, he was still Avril.
And I'd watched Avril endlessly at Akarind Academy.
His assassination techniques, his swordsmanship, his Sword Intent.
Unless he'd crossed into Sword Master territory and fully refined his Sword Intent.
His range of action and approach were well within my predictions.
Even if the scale had grown larger.
Avril's attacks certainly had long range and near-impossible speed.
'All I need to know is the mechanism by which his mana—no, his Demonic Energy—moves and his muscles contract.'
That alone was enough to evade everything.
No.
— SHAAAAK!
To cut him.
Avril's arm split down the middle like a tree trunk cleaving in two.
Ore showered out of the fissure like drops of blood.
"AAAA—AAAA—AAAGH!"
I crossed the cut once more and took another step forward.
I cut a shoulder and then a leg.
Now his body, once five meters tall, buckled to its knees and sank.
I cut above the knees, then the thighs.
I cut the torso and pierced the heart.
Where the heart should have been, a grotesquely twisted eye dangled.
The eyeball burst and a crystal that looked like a Fantasy popped out.
When it hit the ground with a small clink, Avril's body began to shrink.
Even after all that cutting, his diminished form wasn't so different from the Avril I'd first met.
"......Ha. Ha."
Naked, Avril lay on the ground, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
The first time I'd seen him, he'd appeared in the most extravagant attire of anyone present.
To see that man reduced to this hollow shell.
"It's cold......"
Avril drew a breath.
And stopped.
With a slow hiss, the last spark of life vanished from his eyes.
"......"
What path he'd walked in the interim, whom he'd met, how he'd ended up like this.
I'd had much to say, but I heard none of his story.
I flicked the blade clean and surveyed the area.
— Ooooooooh!
I'd only dealt with Avril.
Corpse-type monsters still swarmed in every direction.
Figures who appeared to be Underground Magic Tower mages were still at large.
"You're late."
But I wasn't alone.
"In the name of God!"
A tremendous shout accompanied a pillar of light crashing down from the sky.
In an instant, Holy Power flooded the entire area.
Corpses and Underground Tower members alike vanished.
"Late, he says. I rushed here as fast as I could."
Saintess Ganemia blew a dismissive snort.
"You've already beaten all the major demons before I got here."
"Of course. Fighting demons matters, but for us, the Underground Magic Tower is the bigger priority."
I'd sent every student away, yes.
And I'd moved alone to serve as bait.
But that didn't mean I intended to fight alone.
From the moment I'd begun planning the Aislard expedition, I'd intended to cooperate with the Holy Kingdom.
The Holy Kingdom—the one that had suffered a humiliating retreat from the Underground Magic Tower without gaining a thing.
They'd been grinding their teeth ever since.
"So what do you need me to do?"
"Clean this place up, if you would."
"Okay."
Ganemia agreed without hesitation.
Behind her, hundreds of Griffons took to the sky.