< 113. Great Warrior Kaharefer (2) >
*
Fernandez slowly watched Kaharefer raise his curved sword. The guy was wary of him and didn’t approach recklessly, but even so, there were no gaps in his defense.
– Did you gain something?
‘Overcoming the fear of death?’
– That’s funny. Was there ever such a thing?
At Fernandez’s joke, Faijashi chuckled. Of course, death isn’t something to fear. Fernandez gripped the King’s Greatsword with both hands and steadied his stance.
It’s not death he fears, but failure. And Kaharefer is someone who can kill him, but not make him fail.
A being he doesn’t need to fear. Fernandez’s eyes glowed blue. He aimed the greatsword at the Pharaoh’s Great Warrior.
[Look at this land. Mumto.]
“···?”
Kaharefer opened his mouth as he watched Fernandez steady his stance.
‘I didn’t expect you to try to talk.’
– Just listen for now.
[Look at this land. This desolate wasteland. Once a field of life, now destroyed by your sorcery, and we are forever enslaved to you.]
“Mumto would have a lot to reflect on if he heard that, huh?”
[It’s not about reflection.]
– Hooong…
Kaharefer swung his curved sword, creating a gust of wind. His dark green eyes glowed ominously. Beneath his gaze, a massive rage was stirring.
[Reflection isn’t enough.]
– Crack, crackle.
The protective charms and ornaments surrounding Kaharefer’s body began to shatter one by one. The protective charms that had been broken by Faijashi’s magic scattered across the ground.
– Did you give up on protective spells?
‘No. He’s releasing the seals.’
– Hooong…
Jade-colored magical runes flickered along his skeletal frame. Despite being nothing but bones, draped in tattered cloth, his presence began to grow larger and larger.
The wind blows. Through his bones and joints. Magical runes along his skeleton glowed and burned.
[Reflection. No. That’s not enough. Mumto. You’re hearing the reason for your execution.]
“Go ahead. This should be fun.”
– Crack!
A crack formed at his feet. At the same time—
– Kwaddeuk!
In an instant, his curved sword lunged toward Fernandez’s throat. A speed so fast it could be missed in a blink! Fernandez quickly raised his greatsword to block.
– Kwadeuk!
The greatsword slid along the curved blade. And in that gap, the curved sword flowed upward like water.
“Tch!”
– Chang!
The crossguard blocked the upward slash, and the blade was pushed upward. Kaharefer leaped back as if he had predicted it, dodging the attack. At the same time, magical runes flashed on his arm!
– Kwaaaang!
Jade flames burst from his elbow, and his forearm shot forward like a spear. Almost at the speed of a javelin! Fernandez took the hit and rolled five times before sliding across the ground.
– Chiiik!
“This is cheating.”
He planted the greatsword into the ground to absorb the impact and wiped the blood trickling from his lips. His black hair fell messily. The shock shook his stomach, causing blood and sour stomach acid to rise.
Good. I learned something. Despite the terrible pain and the shock that nearly made his legs give out, he smiled and stood up.
– No protective charms. You need to use spells.
‘No. I won’t do that.’
– …What?
‘What we need isn’t victory, but growth. Faijashi. Winning with magic is too simple and meaningless. We’ll use him as our stepping stone.’
Fernandez steadied his stance as he watched Kaharefer’s slender body approach. His stomach churned, and his vision blurred slightly. The tattered linen bandages fluttering around Kaharefer’s body made him seem larger and larger.
[Why aren’t you using magic?]
The image of the great warrior who once commanded the Great Wilderness loomed over Fernandez’s blurred vision. Solid muscles and a large frame. Sharp, bold eyes. Even his brown skin.
He glared fiercely at Fernandez. His lips twisted, revealing his teeth.
[Do I look ridiculous to you, Mumto? Your puppet struggling?]
“No. Never.”
[Your arrogance will be your epitaph.]
“Good.”
That’s almost what my epitaph would’ve been. Betrayal and arrogance. Fernandez grinned savagely as he gripped the greatsword. His weapon is a curved sword, its attack direction and trajectory unpredictable, and the follow-up strikes after a clash are hard to comprehend within common sense.
In the brief clash, he felt like he was fighting against the wind, against a wave. The greatsword in his hand felt like a thin branch resisting a massive current.
No. Fernandez slowly relaxed his grip on the hilt and thought. Greatsword techniques aren’t like that.
True greatsword techniques aren’t about strength, but flow. Rotational force, rebound, and centrifugal force.
It was a technique specialized in using the opponent’s strength against them and striking back.
So if the opponent is the wind, if the opponent is like a wave. That’s even better.
[For a mage, your stance is quite good.]
The Great Warrior’s eyes narrowed. It was a sharp expression, like that of a feline predator just before the hunt. Fernandez faced him and slowly exhaled.
“Do your best, Great Warrior. Arrogance might just be your epitaph.”
[How dare you…!]
His body momentarily twitched in anger. And soon, his body shot forward like an arrow. The curved sword traced a bizarre trajectory as it poured toward him.
Good. The essence of greatsword technique lies in counterattacks. Fernandez crossed his wrists and swung the greatsword in a wide arc, spinning halfway.
-Clang!
And once more! When the enemy’s sword scraped roughly against his greatsword, he crossed his wrists again, left to right. Hard!
-Crack!
The old curved sword was seen being split by the blade of the greatsword. It was a weapon forged with exceptional craftsmanship, but the King’s Greatsword was a sword that could cleave through space. It would never break from mere physical impact!
-Kaang!
Skillfully wrapping the rebound, the enemy ducked down. Fernandez also shifted his stance. High stance, the eagle’s posture. The most honest sword technique, capable of delivering a powerful downward strike!
-Whoosh…!!
Kaharefer’s linen bandages floated into the air. Magic flowed through his bones, flickering, and azure runes flashed with light. In this moment, Kaharefer’s cold, lifeless body approached the vitality of his former self.
-Crack!
Fernandez’s hand dropped. The only sword technique of the King he could unleash. Though it was but a poor imitation of his greatsword that could cleave through space, the destructive power of that strike was no less than his own—
-Whirl!
The wind howled. The winter wind that roamed the wilderness of the night. Once, twice. Countless times!
-Crack! Crack!
The greatsword, which had been cleaving through space, began to slow. The strength, the speed, and even the technique and essence of the greatsword were lost as it slowly met the resistance of space.
[Is this the end?]
The Great Warrior’s eyes shone like a lion’s. He glared fiercely at Fernandez. Contrary to Fernandez’s greatsword losing speed, his sword began to accelerate, gradually, more and more.
-Slice!
There’s a limit to defense. Fernandez swung his greatsword to block the Great Warrior’s sword, but in the end, his side was slashed open. Blood gushed out. The curved sword pressed into his flesh, tearing through to his organs!
“Ugh!”
Pain surged through his spine like an electric current. Fernandez bit his lip, twisted his greatsword to block the Great Warrior’s attack, and was flung backward. Before he could regain his posture, azure runes flickered at the Great Warrior’s feet!
-Kaang!
He kicked off the ground, and in an instant, he was right in front of Fernandez’s nose! Fernandez’s sword strike deflected Kaharefer’s sword, which was rushing like a fierce wind.
It was a tremendous force. Enough to make even Diemonica’s muscles and ligaments tremble! Fernandez twisted his sword, deflecting the curved blade, and took a step forward.
-Kaang!
The end of the sword strike wavered. Kaharefer’s sword, his sword. Both aimed for each other’s throats—
‘Take the bones—’
-Crack!!
Did he never think he wouldn’t defend at all? Kaharefer’s eyes widened. His sword had already deeply slashed Fernandez’s throat. Sharp pain and a fierce survival instinct struck the back of Fernandez’s head!
-Slice!
But he didn’t release his crossed arms. In an instant, Fernandez felt his vision fading, the familiar sensation of his fingertips growing cold, and he thrust his greatsword straight toward Kaharefer’s body.
-Thud!
At the very last moment, Kaharefer instinctively twisted his body. Fernandez’s greatsword struck the air, narrowly missing his throat and only managing to slash his shoulder. Both warriors’ stances crumbled, and they staggered, losing balance.
Kaharefer had only lost a shoulder, but Fernandez had lost his neck. The Great Warrior looked down at him with a puzzled expression. Slowly, his body staggered and collapsed.
[What is this…?]
“Take the bones.”
-Screech!
Suddenly, Fernandez was holding the greatsword with one hand. His other hand naturally dropped, resting on the sword hilt hanging at his waist.
A sword hilt adorned with intricate patterns. A greatsword of a completely different style from the King’s sword. The pure white blade was gripped in his hand, and at the same time, the divinity spreading through his entire body began to rage.
-Thud, thud, thud, thud!
His heart, which had been stopping, regained its function, and the blood that had lost its flow boiled with divinity. An intense euphoria.
In that moment, time flowed infinitely slowly for Fernandez. The sand and dust of the wasteland, kicked up by the rough movements, were visible strand by strand in his vision. An intense euphoria!
The sword technique Daryan displayed in meditation was not his actual sword technique. It was merely a manifestation of the techniques that the ‘strongest in the Material World’ in his mind could unleash, based on his memories.
In other words, the movements he showed were the essence of the martial arts he could imagine. Not something real, but a depiction of his own transcendence!
Thus, Daryan in meditation was both the answer to the path he wished to walk and the pinnacle of martial arts his spirit had achieved.
Following that path, he took one more step. Following that brilliant flash, that trajectory, he drew his sword and swung it.
-Swish…
Kaharefer’s eyes widened. The greatsword in one hand shattered his shoulder and dug deeper—
The other greatsword, silently drawn. The holy sword of Vaitas, held in the other hand, became a flash of light,
-Slice.
The sound was, in fact, smaller than the action.
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