Family (1)
Chapter 36
The sudden battle between the underlings of Locust and Saria came to a lull as the overconfident man retreated after having his shoulder joint cut by Saria.
Ray stepped back and observed the cooling battlefield.
Saria’s artifact, called Halo, had stopped moving and was emitting smoke, likely due to overheating.
The dark wizards who had been hit by the Halo’s bombardment had their robes mostly burned away, revealing their faces, but none seemed to have suffered fatal damage.
Ultimately, the only achievement of this battle appeared to be Saria slicing the man’s shoulder, but with the artifact’s performance now exposed, it was hard to consider it a one-sided gain for Saria.
Ray looked around carefully.
Except for the manor to the south, the surroundings were wide open fields.
Given the continuous explosions and flames, most nearby people would have fled, but there was always the possibility that some reckless child might have sneaked close and hidden.
Saria introduced herself as Ray’s aunt, but from Ray’s perspective, this was an unsubstantiated claim. Even if true, he knew nothing about her character or background.
‘I shouldn’t intervene now…’
When entering Dinor, Ray had established rules of engagement: use sword aura only in situations where all witnesses could be completely eliminated; otherwise, retreat.
Drawing out his sword aura here would directly contradict those initial rules.
His head grew complicated.
Dinor was currently enemy territory. As soon as they killed Simone, enemies arrived.
With no certainty on when reinforcements would come, avoiding combat or ending it swiftly was necessary.
If possible, retreating would be the wiser choice.
‘But if Graduates join forces with Locust, even mobilizing all the forces of the baron and count territories wouldn’t stop their escape.’
Even if the count’s forces united for a direct confrontation, more than half the knights would die.
Unless Count Philips harbored extreme animosity towards Locust, he wouldn’t risk such sacrifices to launch a preemptive attack.
Locust wouldn’t want to unnecessarily antagonize nobles either, which could lead to relentless pursuit by the Empire. Once identified, they’d likely flee quietly.
‘If neither side provokes first, they’ll probably ignore each other. In such a situation, the count wouldn’t spare thought for the orphanage children.’
Even if Locust abducted a few parentless children during their escape, the knight order wouldn’t act.
This was an unavoidable reality.
But.
If the Graduates and dark wizards under Locust were eliminated here…
Count Philips could be persuaded that hunting Locust is worthwhile.
‘Especially considering the conversation between Saria and Pietro, and the content of the letter received by the count… Everyone here seems to be trying to recover “Titi” taken by Locust.’
The existence of Titi connects the count’s family, the baron’s family, and Saria.
If things are set up favorably, they will unite against Locust.
Exposing hidden skills to Saria was undoubtedly unsettling.
However, allowing Locust’s forces to return unscathed and regroup was far more dangerous.
Ray made his decision.
‘I’ll also participate. We need to eliminate them individually here.’
Often, life requires choosing the lesser evil over the best option.
Ray decided to trust the aunt he’d just met minutes ago.
‘The enemy consists of one Graduate and three dark wizards whose power appears to be between 3rd and 5th Circle. Neither side is easy to handle.’
Though tied up dealing with Saria’s artifact, the dark wizards benefited from the element of surprise.
They won’t be so easily neutralized again.
‘For a quick resolution, I need to temporarily hold either the group of dark wizards or the Graduate.’
Graduates are overwhelmingly stronger in raw power.
But inexperienced Ray found black mages using unconventional magic harder to counter.
‘Despite the difficulty, I’ll take on the Graduate.’
Just a few seconds of distraction will suffice.
If Saria charges in with multiple artifacts creating chaos, the dark wizards will have no choice but to surrender.
At most, it will take ten seconds to annihilate them.
Having reached a conclusion, Ray stepped forward and voiced his opinion.
To others, it sounded like nonsense, but Saria swung a potion bottle without hesitation.
Clang!
“Phew?!”
A single clang restored his narrowed vision.
Caught up in his thoughts, Ray had momentarily forgotten the sequence of actions.
Naturally, persuading Saria should come first for a coordinated attack.
Ray activated his core, releasing mana.
Explaining verbally wouldn’t convince her, so showing her was quicker.
“Aunt, it seems you also possess a certain talent.”
As Ray’s eyes began to glow blue, Saria, at the level of a Graduate, accurately perceived the flow of mana emanating from his heart.
Her eyes narrowed in confusion.
“…?!”
“Looks like my nephew has surpassed me a bit.”
Ray slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
“While I hold the Graduate, could you deal with the dark wizards? Five seconds should be enough, right?”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“Delaying makes it even more dangerous.”
After a brief deliberation, Saria handed Ray an octahedron-shaped artifact and asked,
“Can you run? Faster than me? If yes, I’ll allow it. Otherwise, retreat immediately.”
Ray silently pointed at the man.
BOOM!
Ray and Saria simultaneously pushed off the ground.
The man, who was staunching his shoulder wound, burst into laughter at their sudden charge.
“Must we see this through…?”
He initially thought the child was coming to fight alongside Saria. It wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
But when Ray, who had been slightly behind, surged ahead with another acceleration, the man sighed.
Visible only to a Graduate, Ray was surpassing Saria purely through his own physical capabilities, without any external assistance.
“…It would be quite regrettable to die today. And not being able to use this scene as a drinking story before dying is even worse.”
A blade of sword energy erupted from the man’s sword.
In excruciating pain as his joints nearly shattered, Ray unleashed his sword aura.
Overdrive can only keep up with speed.
And even that speed advantage stems from a lighter body weight; the actual momentum difference is several times greater.
If he clashes swords improperly, he’ll be sent flying far away.
Ray needed to hold the man.
He gripped his sword differently.
The initial slash aimed upward from below.
Thud!
Planted firmly into the ground, Ray swung his sword.
In an instant, the sword energy enveloping the blade compressed thinly along the edge.
Interest flickered in the man’s eyes.
Though incredible given his appearance, it was still impossible to block a blade of sword energy with merely compressed sword energy, no matter how well done.
Even deflecting it perfectly would shatter the sword encased in sword energy.
The man slashed down straightforwardly, as if daring him to resist.
The blade of sword energy collided with Ray’s sword energy.
ZING!!!
With a deafening sound, blood spurted from Ray’s joints.
His shoulder twisted, destabilizing his stance. The burden on his waist caused him to lose balance.
The sword stripped of its energy was exposed to the blade of sword energy, developing cracks.
Yet, he held on.
Ray explosively released mana between his joints once more, performing an unnatural movement to disperse the impact.
The man muttered,
“Fantastic.”
An unusual sword energy.
It partially dispersed the force of the blade of sword energy.
Even though he witnessed the phenomenon, he couldn’t comprehend it.
The man noticed Saria turning towards the wizards.
‘A coordinated attack, or targeting the wizards?’
Does this child really think he can hold me?
In a situation where humiliation would be expected, the man felt exhilaration instead.
A mix of admiration for the potential this child might reach someday and the desire to tear apart this unparalleled genius with his own hands swirled together.
The man’s focus narrowed entirely onto Ray.
“Alright, let’s see how long you can hold on.”
The man’s sword scraped the ground, accelerating diagonally towards Ray’s waist.
Ray paused briefly.
To dissipate the shock, he needed to jump.
But if he jumps and takes the blade of sword energy head-on, he’ll surely fly dozens of meters away.
Not only will he be completely defenseless for the next attack, but he won’t be able to hold the man either.
CHUNK!
Bending his left knee while extending his right foot sideways, Ray lowered his posture dramatically, tilting his upper body to the left.
Placing his left elbow on the ground, Ray angled his sword.
KRAKRAKRAK!!!
Using this extreme posture, he deflected the man’s downward strike towards the sky.
The rebound force from the collision buried his left elbow into the ground.
While stabilizing his nearly buckling wrist with his forehead, Ray twisted his waist.
The sword energies clashed again.
PARKRKRK!!
Using the rebound force to his advantage, Ray retreated.
The man slid his right hand down the hilt and re-gripped the sword with his left in reverse.
BOOM!
The ground split as the man’s afterimage stretched long.
Before Ray could stabilize himself, a thrust came straight from the front.
Could he deflect this?
Gripping the sword with his left hand in reverse was less about technique and more about overpowering it with sheer strength.
‘This can’t be resisted in place.’
Ray relaxed the strength in his legs.
Planning to roll backward and try to disperse the force of the blade of sword energy.
KRAK!
As the sword energies touched, sparks flew.
No, these weren’t sparks.
Each glowing light dispersing was compressed sword energy.
Due to the man loosening control of the blade of sword energy intentionally, the energy composing it scattered in all directions.
Ray’s vision filled with sharp beams of light.
‘This could really kill me if mishandled.’
Completely trapped within the net of sword energy.
Breaking through by brute force was impossible with Ray’s current mana reserves.
At this critical moment, Harshia’s techniques ingrained in his mind illuminated his consciousness.
Trusting his instincts, Ray drew his second sword.
As clusters of sword energy rained down to shred his body—
The two swords met.
HUMM-!
The sword energy distorting space overlapped and resonated with each other.
The distortion spread like ripples, creating a vast warping field centered on the two swords for a moment.
The blade of sword energy heading towards Ray altered its direction slightly due to the influence of the warping field.
CHICKCHICKCHICK!
The blade of sword energy that grazed Ray scattered across the ground.
The man adjusted his grip on the sword and muttered,
“What kind of crazy technique is this?”
Ray had no time to respond.
Using a technique he only understood theoretically for the first time consumed far more mana than expected.
His joints and muscles were breaking down in real-time, causing his vision to flash uncontrollably.
Had the potion Saria struck him with earlier not absorbed belatedly, he might have fainted.
The man ruthlessly delivered the next blow towards the staggering Ray.
CRUNCH!
The sword Ray swung to defend with shattered completely.
Both stamina and mana were depleted.
‘This is the limit.’
“Where do you think you’re going?”
The man expertly read Ray’s timing for retreating.
The blade of sword energy ascended along the sword.
Just as the man was about to unleash it—
A defensive artifact in Ray’s possession activated, forming a barrier of light.
CRACKCRACKCRACK!!
The shield taking the full frontal impact of the blade of sword energy cracked.
Ray glanced at Saria.
Having pierced the last wizard’s heart, Saria accelerated towards Ray.
Ray instinctively knew he had to withstand the man’s sword one more time.
Perhaps because the shield had broken once already, the intensity of the second shield formed by the artifact wasn’t very strong.
Ray gripped his remaining sword with both hands.
Nevertheless, the man, despite clearly being able to pierce the shield instantly, shrugged and took a step back.
“Really holding out, huh? All the wizards are dead, and it seems wrong to run away from Lady Saria’s artifacts. I concede.”
PUK!
From the ground where the man had stood, a single black spear suddenly sprouted and disappeared.
That too was one of Saria’s artifacts.
“This is scary. How many artifacts do you have?”
As the man marveled, Saria stood beside Ray.
The outcome was decided.
Looking at the sky, the man exhaled deeply and articulated clearly while pointing at his face.
“Listen well, kid. My name is Dan. The expelled third son of the Mirter family, Dan.”
“What’s with the introduction? Are you repenting now?”
“Repentance? What for.”
Dan, puffing his chest out while spreading his arms wide, laughed heartily.
“Kid, make sure to include this line in your epic saga that will be written later. That almost got killed by a young hero who hadn’t even blossomed yet, right here by this Mirter family’s Dan.”
Ray chuckled.
“Soon-to-die guy, asking for something strange.”
“Kid, people die anyway.”
Laughing freely as he saw Saria approaching with five artifacts deployed, Dan continued.
In the short span of human life, rather than desperately clinging to live a few more years, isn’t finding a good place to die and lying down important?
This spot wasn’t bad to die.
After all, the opportunity to leave one’s name in the first chapter of an unprecedented genius’s epic tale doesn’t come often.
As Dan prepared to block Saria’s sword, he instructed Ray.
“Make sure not to die prematurely. Grow well and become a great hero or villain. Only then will my name be remembered for a long time.”
“Mr. Smith of Montblanc, stop the compliments and curse me instead.”
The man frowned.
“My name is Dan, alright? Are you deliberately doing this, brat?”
Saria and the man clashed.
KWAKWAKWAK!!
Saria effortlessly killed Dan.
Because Dan resisted until the end, she couldn’t capture him alive.
Regardless, it would be a very damaging blow to Locust.
Saria approached Ray with a potion. Ray instinctively shielded his scalp.
As Saria handed over the potion, narrowing her eyes and looking into the distance.
While discussing with Ray about escaping to the barony with Pietro, he noticed the ground shaking a moment too late.
Ray quickly turned his head.
“Knight…?”
Armored knights were charging towards them, fully prepared in formation.
The emblem engraved on the armor was very familiar.
They were the knights of the Philips family.
Seemingly hearing the noise from the previous battle, they charged forth, releasing streams of sword energy, but soon slowed down.
It seemed they recognized Ray and Pietro from afar.
Although partly a joke, Ray didn’t expect the Philips count, upon receiving the letter, to respond so swiftly.
Thinking they had only sent knights, surprisingly, the Philips count himself had accompanied them, armed and ready.
They had gathered most of the knight-level forces within the territory.
The count, the knights, Pietro, Saria, and Ray gathered in one place.
Carrying the bodies inside the manor, everyone shared information about the current situation as dryly as possible, excluding unnecessary talk.
As the story was nearing its end, Ray suddenly realized what he had overlooked and asked urgently.
“Where is Knight Didier?”
“He stayed behind at the orphanage with Jimmy.”
Ray let out a sigh of relief.
The count wouldn’t have left Didier behind out of mere goodwill.
Ray understood that the count was aware of Luna’s situation, but that wasn’t the pressing issue at the moment.
Right after the crucial discussion ended, Ray proposed.
“We must raid their hideout before the dark wizards escape.”
Jenkins softly expressed his anger.
“What position do you think you have to speak?”
“I delivered the letter, identified the main culprit, rescued Pietro, and located the dark wizards’ hideout—all done by me. Do I not have the right to speak?”
“Is that your accomplishment? You’re already making false claims at such a young age…!”
“That’s enough.”
The count surveyed the knights and spoke.
“There’s no time to hesitate. Before the dark wizards flee, we must raid their hideout, rescue Titi, and annihilate our enemies within the limits of our capabilities. Any objections?”
“…”
“Let’s depart immediately.”
“I shall follow your orders.”
The knights moved swiftly.
Matthew handed Ray a sword as he followed the knights.
“You look terrible.”
“At least my head’s still attached.”
Receiving the sword stamped with the Philips family crest, Ray took a deep breath.
It was said that Locust usually moved with fewer than ten subordinates.
If there were no unexpected changes, the number of Locust’s subordinates in the hideout would be at most five, whereas their side had eleven experts above the Expert Level.
Though Locust’s personal strength was a variable, with Saria accompanying them, it was certainly worth attempting.
Thanks to the count’s decisiveness far exceeding Ray’s expectations, they seized the opportunity to conclude the matter.
Ray hoped Locust would remain peacefully locked inside the hideout.
This had to be the final battle.
“Thank you.”
Jimmy, guarding the entrance of the orphanage, suddenly spoke to Didier.
“I was wondering how to explain things to the count, but I didn’t expect you to step forward first.”
If it weren’t for Didier, the orphanage might have been left unprotected.
As Jimmy repeatedly expressed gratitude, Didier shook his head.
“You should thank the count’s generosity, not me.”
“You’re absolutely right. During my long career as a mercenary, I’ve seen many noble figures, but few as generous and wise as the count.”
While continuing the conversation, both remained highly alert.
There was no telling when the dark wizards might appear at the orphanage.
However, hours later, what Jimmy and Didier faced was someone entirely unexpected.
“What?”
Frowning, Jimmy repeated his question as the gaunt man pounded his chest and shouted.
“I’ve come to reclaim my daughter. I heard someone related to this orphanage took her away arbitrarily. Please return her quickly.”
“What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Luna. Her name is Luna.”
