Chapter 85
Chapter 85
“…What?”
Darius’s words reached me with a strange resonance.
And at the same time, deafening explosions and vibrations that shook the ground echoed from all directions.
As people murmured in surprise at the sudden disturbance, multiple banners and flags bearing a single emblem began to be raised everywhere.
“Th, the Anti-Imperial Faction!”
An insignia depicting two crossed swords with a halved sun hanging between them.
There was no one who did not know that it was the emblem symbolizing the Anti-Imperial Faction.
They were also citizens of the Kingdom of Demedrio, but terrorists were not treated the same.
And so people hurriedly rose from their seats, and when that number reached the tens of thousands, a massive panic broke out.
“Everyone, remain calm! This place is under the protection of the kingdom’s knights and mages!”
A knight shouted loudly, even flaring up his mana, but in the face of tens of thousands of people screaming, it amounted to nothing more than the ripples made by throwing a small stone onto the surface of a vast lake.
“……!”
I paid no attention at all to Darius in front of me.
I hastily turned my gaze to the VIP seats and swept over the faces, trying to find Isaac, but he had already vanished to the point where not even a single strand of hair could be seen.
‘…Why now of all times?’
That question nagged at me.
There were few key figures present here right now.
Judging by both the results and the impact, wouldn’t it be more effective to carry out a terror attack at tomorrow’s closing ceremony?
Nobles from each country had gathered, but they were all ambiguous figures.
There would be diplomatic issues, but it wouldn’t cause that great of a ripple.
But the fact that Isaac was nowhere to be seen bothered me.
“Tsk, a face I didn’t like until the very end. Well, thanks to your stupidity, things went smoothly.”
At the voice coming from right in front of me, I turned my head and looked at Darius with narrowed eyes.
Darius of Iron Blood.
Later, he would earn great merit in the fight against the demon realm’s armies, but blinded by his desire for his elder brother’s throne, he would plot a rebellion and be quietly eliminated without a trace.
Even that would be covered up as the work of the demon race—a mass of misfortune and greed.
Darius had never joined hands with other factions.
But judging by his current attitude, it seemed there was little doubt that he had plotted this together with the Anti-Imperial Faction.
Why, exactly? I neatly folded that question away for the moment.
If it was simply terrorists barging into the venue, it wasn’t that big of a problem.
If a Majin were to reveal themselves right now and leave behind even a trace, it would draw the attention of the Holy Kingdom, so they wouldn’t come out to the forefront.
In fact, the terrorists who had rushed in were being steadily repelled by the knights and mages.
“You made a foolish choice.”
“Do you think a maggot like you could dare to fathom my intentions? The very notion that this petty chaos is my goal proves just how hopeless you are.”
“…What?”
The moment Darius finished speaking, a dazzling light formed beneath my feet.
I tried to throw my body away in a hurry, but even before that, the light had already reached its peak.
I realized that the pattern engraved on the stage was teleportation magic only after I faced the utterly incongruous scene that unfolded before my eyes immediately afterward.
A quick glance around suggested it was some kind of forest.
Separate from that, the place where I was standing was a wide, open clearing.
Centered on this spot, flat land stretched out with not a single tree in sight.
“…This isn’t good.”
At the killing intent pricking at my entire body, I let out a sigh and tightened my grip on the sword in my hand.
‘Was I the target.’
It was a bitter miscalculation, but before the situation worsened any further, I calmly organized my thoughts.
First, I had been too swayed by Isaac’s words.
He had had ample opportunity to capture me.
But because he had withdrawn so readily at the Ganyeorin Orc, I had assumed he had truly changed his course.
Second, I had underestimated the other brothers too much.
The fact that I could move like this meant that Carius or Darius could also exert similar or even greater influence.
Thinking about it coldly, from Isaac’s standpoint, joining hands with Darius, the second brother, rather than with me, would have been more efficient.
And the result of that was the group now slowly walking out into the clearing, leveling spears and swords at me.
“Elite troops, huh.”
They wore armor with no distinguishing features, but judging by their steps and the pressure they exuded, they were clearly well-trained soldiers.
Even for a capable knight, escaping from the midst of elite soldiers who had formed ranks would be a grueling task.
But I swept my surroundings with sharp eyes.
If it was just soldiers, that would be fortunate.
I didn’t know where this place was, but it couldn’t be very far.
Teleportation magic required great power, and in order to conceal the preparation and activation from the notice of other mages, at best it would be a forest near the capital.
If it was only soldiers, I could defeat them on my own and return.
“…Well, there’s no way that would be the case.”
From among the soldiers, a man with an outstanding presence slowly walked toward me.
He possessed an upright aura without any trace of scheming or bluster mixed in.
The realm of a master who had reached completion and perfection.
“…I pay my respects to the Third Prince.”
He lightly bowed his head to me, seeming to be a figure from the Empire.
Indeed, there was only one Sword Master in the Kingdom of Demedrio—Isaac.
If he were to step in personally and give someone an excuse to seize upon, it could become troublesome, so they must have used someone else.
“Darius’s confidant?”
“My name is Gashnel.”
Light green hair and deep gray eyes.
Seeing his fine facial lines, he seemed to be the son of some noble family.
But there were many Sword Masters in the Empire.
The name Gashnel was unfamiliar, so when I slightly furrowed my brow, he said that since he hadn’t often stepped forward, it was natural that I hadn’t heard his name.
‘The most troublesome type.’
If he were the kind who liked to stand out or was driven by a desire for fame, I could have tried to talk my way through the situation somehow.
But that type, whether he had devoted his loyalty to Darius or been held by some leverage, would simply carry out his task in silence.
“As one who is loyal to the Empire, it pains me to point my sword at Your Highness, but if you submit peacefully, I swear upon my sword that I will ensure no harm comes to you.”
It was a vow a Sword Master made upon his own blade.
It was practically the same as a spoken command of power, but I shook my head.
“I know well the weight of the sword you carry, but I am not foolish enough to entrust my body to something that could be broken by a single order from its master.”
Gashnel gave a thin smile at that.
After letting out a sigh, I took a signal flare from my chest and fired it up into the sky.
“…….”
Gashnel could have easily stopped it, but for some reason he did not move an inch.
And I soon learned why.
Hwaaaak!
Before the signal flare could even shine, it was swallowed by the darkness and vanished.
Watching that, Gashnel opened his mouth with a regretful expression.
“A mage has already taken control of this entire area.”
So this was what they called being cornered with no escape.
“No matter how many times you say it, I have no intention of being captured quietly.”
“Is that so.”
Only then did Gashnel draw his sword.
He raised his hand toward the soldiers behind him, and they retreated far back, forming an encirclement.
“Then please forgive my rudeness.”
“……!”
In an instant, his figure vanished from before my eyes.
As if to declare that this was the power of a Sword Master who had reached true mastery, a fierce momentum like a charging wild boar slammed into my entire body.
Kwaang-!
“…Ghk!”
With just a single blow, my body was pushed back, and the hand gripping my sword spasmed as if it were about to burst.
I had barely managed to block it, but Gashnel stopped in front of me and looked at me with a surprised expression.
“…I had heard you were the successor of the Sword Saint, but you truly exceed expectations.
To think you had reached such a level.”
“Isn’t it a waste? If you let me go here, you’d be able to see the youngest Sword Master in the Empire emerge.”
I said it mockingly, but he shook his head with a genuinely regretful look.
“I would like to do so. But it is truly regrettable.”
Saying that orders were absolute, he launched another attack.
I could only barely track his strikes with my eyes.
It was only because his intent was suppression rather than killing.
If he had truly come at me with full force, I would have been taken down in the very first exchange.
And that meant—
‘That I still have one chance.’
Strands of aura blade, the exclusive hallmark of a Sword Master, layered themselves over Gashnel’s sword.
I could imitate it in a similar fashion, but being inferior to the original, I had to swing three times just to nullify a single strike of his.
‘An instant. Just a momentary opening.’
A Sword Master was indeed formidable.
As if to show what it meant to reach the extreme, he pressured me with fierce and dazzling movements.
If I were to replay this battle later, I would be able to draw even closer to becoming a Sword Master myself.
“Ghk……!”
Dodging Gashnel’s sword, I rolled across the ground and crashed into a tree.
I was covered in dirt from head to toe, battered and unsightly, but even so, I endured to the very end.
“I will end this now.”
Gashnel kindly declared the finale of the battle.
The aura blade covering his sword emitted an even steadier light, and it began to encroach upon my own blade.
Grgrgrk-.
The aura blade I had manifested shattered powerlessly.
And pushing past that, even the blade itself was easily cut apart, as if slicing tofu.
“…….”
Gashnel reined in his momentum and raised his hand, perhaps to call the soldiers over—but that was precisely the fleeting opening I had been waiting for.
“Come forth, Excalibur-!”
The supreme holy sword emitted a resplendent radiance as it was gripped in my hand.
As if aware of its master’s peril, it shone with an even stronger light than ever before and slashed toward Gashbel.
“Ugh?!”
As if it were a completely unexpected attack, he let out a gasp of air and hurriedly leapt back.
But the all-out slash of Excalibur carved into his waist.
‘Too shallow.’
It would have been nice if that had finished him, but unfortunately, the title of Sword Master was not something so easily overcome.
“…You bastard.”
Still, it was not without effect.
His neatly kept hair was now in disarray, and his clothes, like mine, were torn in several places, blood pouring freely from the wounds.
Then the face of Gashnel, which had been calm just moments ago, twisted into something demonic as he spewed his rage toward me.
“How dare you-!”
“Yeah, so this is your true nature. I can understand why Darius kept you hidden.”
Kwaaaaang-!
From his sword, countless streaks of blue aura blade light surged upward.
It was as if he had forgotten about subduing me altogether, the pressure stabbing into my entire body to the point where it was hard even to breathe.
Spit.
In response, I spat out blood-tinged saliva.
My insides had been thoroughly shaken during the fierce battle, but I couldn’t afford to miss the opportunity I had finally seized over such trivial pain.
“Right, awakenings always come in moments of crisis.”
Watching Gashnel charge at me in a frenzy, I formed a small smile and steadied my grip on Excalibur.
Then I raised it high and shouted.
“I, here and now, shall reenact the glory of the past!”
[SYSTEM: Would you like to unlock the hidden attribute of the Holy Sword Excalibur? Y / N]
A line I had seen before appeared before my eyes.
I answered without hesitation.
“Unlock attribute.”
[SYSTEM: The hidden attribute of the Holy Sword Excalibur is being unlocked.]
[SYSTEM: The potential of user ‘Leios von Ribera’ is awakening.]
Countless status windows announced the change within me.
And at the very end, upon seeing the message I had so long desired and hoped for, a smile naturally spread across my face.
[SYSTEM: User ‘Leios von Ribera’ has reached the realm of Sword Master.]