Kail stopped swinging his sword and stared down at the thug. The thug grinned as if he had already given up, provoking Kail, but Kail paid no mind.
‘Something’s off.’
No matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t add up. Kail tilted his head quizzically and looked down at the thug.
“Hmm…”
“What’s wrong? Given up?”
“Shut up.”
Crack─! Kail crushed the thug’s head once again, unable to believe that someone like this girl had defeated Myeongwol.
Isn’t she an Aura Master? A being with resistance so strong that even normal magic or Force abilities barely work on her.
If she pulled something on an Aura Master, it meant she had some serious power…
“I get it.”
“Huh?”
“You’re someone I shouldn’t kill, right?”
“Hahaha? Nope!”
The thug burst out laughing at Kail’s words.
But Kail calmly sheathed his sword, ignoring the thug’s laughter.
A being that keeps resurrecting—no need to waste energy killing them over and over.
‘There were piles of corpses near Myeongwol. Corpses he had cut down. And those corpses bore no signs of resistance.’
Just moments ago, around the fallen Myeongwol, a mountain of corpses from the thugs he had already cut down lay piled up.
Even though the opponent was a Master, none of the corpses showed any signs of resistance. If there had been traces of them trying to escape, maybe it would make sense—but instead, they charged in like they were throwing their lives away.
To others, it might have just seemed like madness, but Kail knew about beings who used divine powers while sacrificing their lives.
‘I don’t remember the name… but there were those annoying guys who kept using self-destruct techniques.’
Fanatics who believed in Evil Gods. Unlike the Saintess who had branded him with stigmata, these were trash who treated their lives as lightly as flies.
Of course, their disregard for life wasn’t simply due to undervaluing it. The followers of the Evil God could use divine powers in exchange for their lives.
If even an Aura Master could be manipulated by such an ability, only the power of a god came to mind.
“What should I do with this guy?”
Plop- To ensure the thug couldn’t resurrect, Kail stabbed a blade straight into their skull and embedded it into the ground. He sighed deeply as he watched the thug’s eyes roll around aimlessly.
Who knows how long they’d keep resurrecting? And what if he ended up falling victim to a divine power fueled by sacrifice, like Myeongwol?
Unlike Myeongwol, there was no one nearby to save him. With no idea what kind of divine power the thug possessed, he might end up falling victim to some absurd attack!
‘Back when it was a game, things were better.’
In the game, he could instantly see what abilities opponents had, their weaknesses, and which attacks wouldn’t work.
Now, in reality, none of that was visible. Though Sera and Izuna seemed capable of seeing UIs.
‘Can’t bring those two here either.’
Scratching his head, Kail slowly stood up and peered intently into the forest. Moments later, the air rippled, and a pitch-black dimensional rift began to open.
Leaping through space appeared a gaunt man. His body devoid of any muscle, looking so frail that a light tap might break him.
“And who are you?”
“Arrogance.”
“What?”
Hearing the man’s response, Kail swung his Aura Blade without hesitation. He intended to test whether this newcomer possessed the same abilities as the thug.
However, upon seeing the Aura Blade the man unleashed from his hand, Kail let out a baffled laugh.
What the man wielded was an Aura Blade identical to—and slightly more majestic than—Kail’s own.
“So you can use this too?”
“I can do anything others can.”
Calling himself “Arrogance,” the man gave a fittingly arrogant reply before hurling his Aura Blade toward Kail.
Knowing exactly what the Aura Blade could do, Kail stepped back instead of clashing swords directly.
But the Aura Blade the man threw didn’t target Kail at all—it bypassed him, slicing through the blade pinning down the thug before continuing onward.
“Damn it─.”
Before Kail could react, the thug grabbed their head and bolted away.
As Kail moved to chase after her, the man unleashed another Aura Blade, blocking his advance.
The Apostle: Trapped by Arrogance, unable to move, Kail watched as the fleeing thug’s head turned back with a bright smile and called out:
“Big brooo! Let’s meet again sometime! Oh, my name’s Agni!”
The moment the thug reached the man, he used the same spatial movement ability he’d arrived with to escape.
0.1 seconds—a blink of an eye—and the two were gone. Watching them flee, Kail cursed under his breath.
“Such bullshit, seriously.”
Kail immediately realized the nature of the fleeing man’s ability because he’d seen it once in the game.
In the game, Arrogance’s ability copied every stat and skill of other characters.
Meaning, it made him absolutely stronger than his opponent.
“Damn, in the game, we managed to beat him with gear, but…”
An ability he thought had a counter in the game now felt utterly unbeatable in reality.
Realizing how much tougher his opponents had become in this real world, Kail returned to where Myeongwol had been.
There, he saw Myeongwol, who had been knocked unconscious earlier, staring blankly at the sky with wide-open eyes.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
“…What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“Embarrassingly, no.”
Hearing that Myeongwol remembered nothing, Kail smirked like he’d hit the jackpot and explained everything that had happened.
How some strange woman thug had nearly killed him, and how Kail had saved his life.
After hearing the entire story, Myeongwol stared at Kail with disbelief.
“No, I remember fighting you… but I don’t recall anything after that.”
“Tch, so you do remember everything.”
“You bastard. In that short time, you tried to deceive me—cough!”
Seeing Myeongwol cough up blood, Kail sighed deeply and hoisted him onto his shoulder. Though Myeongwol groaned in pain from his internal injuries, he didn’t protest much since he knew he was at fault.
Carrying the injured Myeongwol, Kail returned to the medical station, where the hospital ward overflowed with casualties, reminding him that this place had just been a battlefield.
“Ha…”
Unfortunately, there weren’t enough priests to immediately treat the wounded Myeongwol. As a result, he was left untreated until the priests regained their strength.
In a way, it was karma, so Kail didn’t feel pity for him.
***
The Apostle of Wrath, Agni, returned alongside the Apostle of Arrogance, who immediately smacked her shin upon seeing her grinning face.
“Ouch!”
Watching Agni clutch her shin in pain, Arrogance began scolding her with a stoic expression.
“Ow, why!? Again!?”
“Do you find this funny?”
“Well, yeah? Is smiling a crime now?”
“Because of you, dozens of our followers died. Another hundred died trying to save you.”
Hearing Arrogance’s words, Agni flinched and stared at him. The fight between Arrogance and Kail had lasted mere seconds—less than ten seconds.
And in that short time, by merely copying Kail’s abilities, over a hundred followers had perished?
“Is that really true…?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, we’ve got mountains of replacements to recruit.”
“But I didn’t think so many would die…”
Arrogance’s ability—to copy all of an opponent’s powers—came with a cost proportional to its strength. The greater the power, the more lives it consumed.
The bigger the force exerted, the more life energy required. In the brief moment Arrogance swung the Aura Blade, the amount of life energy he burned equaled that of a hundred ordinary people.
“He’s no ordinary Master. Much stronger than a typical one.”
And unlike other Masters who merely swung weapons, Kail actively utilized Aura, amplifying his strength—but of course, the Apostles, unfamiliar with Masters, couldn’t know such details.
They simply assumed Kail was extraordinarily powerful. Which, admittedly, wasn’t entirely wrong.
“More importantly—why did you tell him your name?”
“Huh? My name? Did I?”
“Don’t reveal your real name. What if he curses you…?”
“Pfft, come on. It’s not like an Aura Master can curse anyone.”
Agni waved her hands dismissively, clearly doubting Kail could pull off such a feat.
Arrogance had only scolded her to vent; he didn’t actually believe Kail could curse her either.
To curse someone by name alone required mastery from a Black Mage, at least five-star rank, and no such master existed on the continent anymore.
Not for hundreds of years. So, there was no need to worry.
***
“Damn, really screwed now.”
Thinking of Agni, who had revealed her name to him, Kail pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket. It was a talisman gifted to him by the great witch he had saved in the Witch’s Forest.
Specifically, it allowed him to summon her aid whenever needed.
Infusing the talisman with Aura, Kail soon felt the air distort. Similar to Arrogance’s spatial movement but different.
Moments later, the distorted space spat out a woman with fluttering purple hair.
“It’s been a while, child.”
The ancient witch, Rizelotte, who had lived for hundreds of years, had arrived.
