Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading

Chapter 163. Counterattack (4)

Roden, having joined forces with the Vanguard Battalion, quickly dealt with the berserkers.

Following Roden, Tobias, Michael, Chevalier, and others also played an active part.

“Do not let your guard down until the end! If you die, our allies are in danger!”

“Do not become prey for the berserkers!”

Once the berserkers were dealt with, the ordinary soldiers lost their will to fight and declared surrender, so a quick cleanup wasn’t difficult.

Since Sarai had been taken care of, the battle here was practically as good as over.

Provided they were careful not to let another berserker absorb power and grow to 6-star.

“Now, let’s go help the Corps Commander and the Transport Battalion!”

Roden, having finished cleaning up, took the lead and moved to where Alexis was.

And he witnessed it.

Alexis, with one leg injured, fighting against Smith who had turned into a berserker.

***

‘Damn it!’

Alexis swore inwardly as he barely blocked Smith’s sword, which held extreme chill, with an aura curtain.

It couldn’t be helped.

Since the fight with Smith began, he had been consistently pushed back.

It wasn’t because of any other reason.

He had seriously injured one leg while fighting Smith.

This made the current one-on-one duel difficult.

‘Luck is terribly not on my side.’

Alexis thought as he recalled the reason he injured one leg.

He got injured while trying to save his direct unit.

Smith, determined to overturn the tide of war by absorbing power from Alexis’s side, went on a mad rampage after turning into a berserker.

Just in time, many 1-star and 2-star knights were gathered near Smith, making it a good environment to rampage.

At the same time, it was good for absorbing power.

Alexis belatedly noticed Smith’s scheme and moved unreasonably.

Since the distance to Smith was quite far, it couldn’t be helped.

And when they finally faced each other, Smith had already surpassed the 7-star level and reached the realm of 8-star.

Considering that simply killing a few 1-star or 2-star knights wasn’t enough to go from 7-star to 8-star, one could gauge how many had died at Smith’s hands.

Furthermore,

Shuuuuk!

Smith didn’t stop there and targeted stronger individuals.

Even now, it was uncertain whether he could stop Smith.

Alexis had to block his path to prevent Smith from becoming even stronger.

Kwa-aaang!

And in this process, the chill he failed to block rendered one of Alexis’s legs useless.

‘It’s fortunate that he’s distracted playing with me, but I don’t know how long this situation will last.’

Moreover, Alexis couldn’t hope for Roden’s rescue like Tobias.

After all, Roden was also just a 7-star knight like himself.

‘In the end, not overcoming the wall holds me back.’

It was an undeniable fact that Alexis was one of the top powerhouses within the Allied Forces.

Even considering the entire continent, Alexis’s strength could be said to be in the top 1%.

However, Alexis wasn’t satisfied with his realm.

It was natural since the person Alexis considered a rival was Albrecht, the head of the Glockner family and considered the strongest on the continent.

Since they knew each other from childhood and later became close friends, the sense of rivalry was even greater.

However, Alexis, who was praised as a possessor of talent rarely seen again along with Albrecht, stopped at the realm of 7-star.

Not 8-star, but 7-star.

This fact gave Alexis great frustration.

He was swept by frustration for a while to the point where he couldn't carry on a proper daily life.

However, the position as the head of the Beutel family and the position as the strongest in the Vaskar Kingdom didn’t let Alexis stay in despair for long.

When he came out of despair like that, this war broke out.

And he dreamed of stepping on the realm of 8-star while facing strong opponents in this war.

But this dream didn’t come true, and once again the realm of 7-star held him back.

‘My challenge ends here.’

As a knight who pursued martial arts all his life, dying on the battlefield was not regrettable.

Rather, it was an honorable thing.

However, dying without stepping on the realm of 8-star until the end inevitably felt bitter.

When Alexis was thinking about the end like that.

A smile drenched in madness hanging on Smith’s lips caught his eye.

“!”

At the same time, Alexis’s thoughts, which were nearing giving up, changed.

The thought occurred that he couldn't lose his life futilely to someone who abandoned even his beliefs, intoxicated by momentary strength.

‘Even if I lose my life to you, the one who wins this battle will be the Allied Forces! Come!’

If he could hold Smith just a little longer, there was a chance of winning.

Soon Roden would come here with Tobias, and if they cleared all Imperial Army forces except Smith, the Allied Forces would eventually win.

Towards Alexis who hardened his thoughts like that, Smith swung his sword containing extreme chill once again.

But this time, Alexis didn’t unfold an aura curtain but rather thrust his body forward.

Then he used the supreme secret technique of the Beutel swordsmanship, ‘Momentary Transcendence’.

Momentary Transcendence was an ability that granted the user tremendous speed temporarily.

Although it was a technique usable only upon reaching the realm of 8-star, Alexis used Momentary Transcendence to buy time somehow.

As a result, Alexis’s whole body was engulfed in brilliance as if he became a supernova.

Alexis advanced towards Smith in this state.

Shuuuuk! Kang! Shuuuuk! Kaang!

Smith was inevitably driven to the defensive, flustered by Alexis’s tremendous speed.

Even in a situation where only instinct remained, he was busy blocking Alexis’s sword with a defense-oriented stance.

However, as it was unreasonably activating a secret technique, the duration of Momentary Transcendence wasn’t very long.

Cracks appearing on Alexis’s body moment by moment like a breaking porcelain doll were the very proof.

‘I won’t be able to last as long as I thought. I wish the Main Battalion Commander and the Vanguard Battalion Commander would come quickly.’

While Alexis was thinking.

Finally, Roden and Tobias approached Alexis leading the troops.

In fact, they had arrived since he was kneeling on one knee, but Alexis discovered them late because he was focused on the fight with Smith.

‘They’re here!’

Anyway, the fact that he discovered them even now was important, and Alexis exerted all his strength to buy even a little more time.

However,

Deopseok.

Suddenly, Smith’s hand shot out and grabbed the hilt of Alexis’s sword.

In that meantime, Smith had adapted to the speed of Momentary Transcendence.

Alexis was flustered because he never thought Smith would grab his sword hilt.

And Smith, as if satisfied with this expression, slowly grabbed the sword with his hand and lifted it.

Finally, while the sword was caught by Smith, it went up to above Alexis’s head.

That meant Alexis’s chest became completely empty.

“Ah.”

Alexis foreboded death and spat out an exclamation without realizing it.

Then Alexis’s gaze naturally headed towards the battlefield.

Because he wanted to check how much the battlefield was cleared while he bought time.

However, what entered Alexis’s eyes was an unexpected sight.

Roden’s face had come surprisingly close to where he turned his head.

“The amount of aura is sufficient to become an 8-star knight. Only its purity is regrettable.”

With this voice, Roden lightly blocked Smith’s sword that was heading for Alexis’s chest.

Even though it was a sword containing 8-star aura.

And seeing that sight, Alexis’s eyes widened roundly.

Because that was the most certain proof that Roden had reached the realm of 8-star.

***

‘Hmm. I didn’t know I would reveal it like this.’

It was a short while ago that Roden reached the realm of 8-star.

Thanks to obtaining various secret methods, for Roden, who could absorb a tremendous amount of aura even with short training and rest, the realm of 8-star was a matter of time.

Above all, Roden had finished one research recently.

About why he didn’t experience difficulties while others faced cases where their realm didn’t rise due to being blocked by a wall.

As a result of the research, this had a great connection with the purity of aura.

The size of the vessel born with differed for each person, and generally, for ordinary people, their realm rose as they absorbed aura fitting this size.

And when the realm rose, naturally the size of the vessel also grew.

However, upon reaching a certain level, a section appeared where the realm no longer rose because the size of the vessel to accept aura wasn’t large enough.

And this was the reason why the realm no longer rose due to being blocked by a wall.

But Roden, whose aura was purer than others, didn’t have this problem occur.

Objectively, the size of the vessel Roden was born with wasn’t that large, but because his aura was pure, he could exert power at the level of 2-star even at 1-star, and the size of the vessel also grew as if he had reached the next realm.

In fact, if Roden’s aura wasn’t pure, he should have been blocked by a wall around 4-star.

But thanks to the pure aura, he could reach 8-star without any problems just by filling the vessel with aura.

‘According to calculation, I should be able to barely step on the realm of 9-star too.’

Anyway, Roden, who could raise his realm just by steadily keeping the routine so far like this, could easily become an 8-star knight.

However, he didn’t know he would showcase his skills this quickly.

Because originally, among the people participating in this war, 8-star experts were countable on one hand.

‘I think anew that the power of the Berserker-type crystal orb is tremendous. But that doesn’t mean touching forbidden magic is forgiven.’

Killing others to absorb power.

Someone might ask what the problem is with this.

But Roden thought strength shouldn’t be pursued simply to conquer others.

However, since the Berserker-type crystal orb was an ability to absorb power by killing not only enemies but also allies, he couldn’t help but be angry.

“First, I’ll kill you and think about how to hold the Penitudo Mage Tower accountable for daring to touch forbidden magic.”

Roden lifted his sword and aimed it at Smith while speaking.

However, Smith just wore a deep smile as if that was ridiculous.