Chapter 365: Act 124 – The Abyss (Third Update)
In the blink of an eye, Brendel and Veronika had crossed swords ten times.
It seemed as if the lord from Erluin was completely at a disadvantage, yet everyone around, including the centaurs, was dumbfounded.
They could clearly see how terrifying this woman was; even the peaceful barrier flickered under the weight of her power. When Veronika unleashed her sword, her strength finally activated the counterattack of the peaceful barrier. However, the thorns that could easily bind Faina were instantly reduced to ashes before they could get close to the Saint Swordwoman.
Veronika had not even deliberately aimed to attack the vines; those things could not even approach within ten feet of her.
Yet despite this, Brendel was still able to engage her vividly.
Veronika herself began to feel a sense of impatience. The Cruz Empire had entered the Black Forest under the banner of an embassy to contact the Druids, but the true purpose was to investigate the massive magical response from months ago. The wizards had predicted that it was a reaction from a divine artifact, and it could very likely indicate the whereabouts of the long-lost Lionheart Sword of the Empire. Following this, the results of the court astrologer’s divination had confirmed it. The importance of the Lionheart Sword to the Cruz Empire was self-evident; although it had been stolen by Erluin’s former king Eke hundreds of years ago, the Empire had never given up on searching for its whereabouts. This time was no exception, but this was outside of the Empire’s territory, and they usually operated discreetly. However, this time they had blown things out of proportion due to one misjudgment.
If she had earlier used her pressure to subdue the boy, it would have been better to take him down directly at the outset. But now his sword realm and momentum had reached their peak, and even when her aura erupted, she could not suppress him.
Instead, it would provoke a fierce resistance from him.
The female legion commander could not help but feel a bit astonished. Since when had Erluin produced such a genius? At such a young age to have such prowess—Veronika herself came from a family of sword fighters and had been a shining star in Cruz, yet she believed that she could not have fought with someone her age for this long.
For a moment, she contemplated putting down her sword and asking him if he would like to return with her to Cruz, to be her student. Such talent was truly rare; he frequently anticipated her attacking intentions, and considering this was their first encounter, such aptitude was almost unheard of.
However, at this moment, Veronika was already in too deep; she knew that this battle needed to be decided quickly.
Time was not on her side, and she couldn’t hold back her true strength any longer. As for whether she would destroy half the market with a single sword strike, such trivial concerns were no longer on her mind.
After all, the Druids could do nothing to her; at most, they would expel her from the city. As the commander of the Empire’s Azure Sky Legion, she could not be timid over such minor matters.
Determined, the long sword in Veronika’s hand began to glow with a blue light.
“Be careful!” Otales immediately warned.
Brendel also sensed this terrifying power. He knew that if he could dodge this strike, Veronika would have no chance to pursue further, but how could he evade?
He turned his head and saw Antinna and Xi still holding Funiya and standing not far away.
“This crazy woman!”
Brendel was angered.
“In the name of the wind, Sacred Sword—!” He waved his hand, and the azure wings behind him instantly appeared. He pointed the Sword of Earth forward, and the light wings spread to the sides, revealing hundreds of light swords suspended behind him, all aimed at Veronika and the group behind her.
Veronika was about to strike, but upon seeing this scene, she could not help but pause slightly—what was this?
Not just Veronika, but nearly everyone present was taken aback when they saw Brendel’s azure wings unfurl and countless blades suspended in mid-air, all directed at every Cruz Empire soldier present.
“You can give it a try,” Brendel said calmly, looking at Veronika.
“Are you threatening a legion commander of the Empire?” Veronika furrowed her emerald eyebrows slightly. “Do you think these trivial things can hurt me?”
“They might not hurt you, but this is an instant attack exceeding a hundred times the power of silver. Commander Veronika, do you believe you can protect everyone under such a level of assault?” Brendel said nonchalantly.
Veronika’s brow furrowed. Rono was an alchemist and also a knight, the most talented among the royal alchemists, having been received by the Majesty multiple times. Faina’s status was even more special; she could not allow anything to happen to them.
At that moment, the female legion commander was momentarily stunned, not expecting to be caught off guard by the opponent.
“Using a lady’s life as a threat, despicable!” Faina, seeing her admired commander in a dilemma, couldn’t help but feel resentment towards Brendel—if looks could kill, she would have already pierced him with a hundred holes.
“Using more against less, using strength to bully the weak, doesn’t seem very honorable,” Antinna immediately retorted. The two noble ladies showed no signs of retreat in this regard.
She raised her chin. “Commander Veronika, is this how your country’s honor is earned?” Antinna certainly recognized Veronika; even without knowing what she looked like, the azure of the sky would not lie.
Veronika coldly snorted, not responding directly. “Elementalist, alchemist, Sword Saint—add the Kingdom’s divine weapon, since when has Erluin produced such a genius? Aside from the Temple of Wind, has even the Sanctuary intervened?”
She scoffed, “I didn’t expect Erluin to attract so much attention from various forces—”
Brendel nearly spat blood upon hearing this—of course, if there were a screen—he was merely utilizing the effect of the Wind Spirit Spider in conjunction with the Sacred Sword card, and this had nothing to do with the divine military! But when Brendel glanced back at his Sacred Sword Technique, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of frustration—he thought to himself that he hadn’t noticed before how similar this spell was to the divine military.
But wait, these were clearly two different spells.
However, this was not the critical issue; the vital point was that the divine military was one of the signature spells of the Sanctuary’s light system, only usable by priests of the divine rank or higher. Moreover, the Sanctuary and the Temple of Fire were sworn enemies, having fought each other to the brink of death during the Second Holy War.
Brendel had no doubt that if any priest of the Temple of Fire learned he could use the divine military, they would likely invite him for tea at the Sanctuary the very next day.
Brendel dared to oppose Erluin’s nobles, but he didn’t dare to confront the full might of the Temple of Fire. With Martha at its helm, it represented two empires and twelve nations, and with just one order from seven high priests, neither Toniger nor Erluin would stand a chance.
In fact, Erluin had survived to this day purely because the Sanctuary acknowledged this ancient kingdom; otherwise, how could Cruz tolerate this territory that had split from its lands existing to this day?
But how could he explain this?
He couldn’t possibly say—aha, actually, I’m a traveling wizard, right? What is a traveling wizard? Should he tell them that a traveling wizard was actually a professional card player?
Veronika would undoubtedly slap him into the ground otherwise.
Thus, Brendel felt a bit depressed and could only hope that this crazy woman would keep her mouth shut and not speak about this matter carelessly. Fortunately, historically, Veronika had always been taciturn in front of outsiders and was not someone who liked to hold others’ secrets against them.
But Veronika did not linger on this topic; instead, the female legion commander pridefully raised her sword and said coldly, “But young man, do you really think I won’t dare to attack?”
Brendel felt a hitch in his breath, sensing an immense pressure converging upon him.
“She has made up her mind to strike,” Otales warned.
“Crazy!” Brendel cursed inwardly, while his mind raced, calculating how to dodge her upcoming strike.
But just at that moment, a commanding voice came down from the sky.
“Cruzans, why don’t you try attacking?”
This booming voice echoed through the air, shaking everyone’s eardrums as they all fell silent for a moment, watching the green barrier around them flicker. One Druid after another stepped out from it.
As soon as they appeared, they positioned themselves directly in front of Brendel, completely blocking Veronika’s path of attack.
The scene fell silent.
Veronika silently furrowed her brow and lowered her sword.
The Druids had finally arrived. No matter how arrogant she was, she wouldn’t dare to break their rules in front of them. Moreover, if she accidentally hurt a Druid here, considering her unique status, even the Empire would have to provide an explanation.
Despite appearing indifferent to the world, the Druids had not stepped into the realm of mortals for hundreds of years, but Veronika knew full well that if the Sky Ring became enraged, it was no laughing matter.
There were tens of thousands of Black Forests along the entire Vaunte border, and each forest must have traces of Druids. As for how many Druids existed in the world, only Lady Martha could know.
Moreover, the Forest Nation of Erlandta was still their ally.
“Lady Veronika, when your embassy entered, you did guarantee not to trouble this place—you should understand that while the Cruz Empire is powerful, it holds no relevance with the Druids,” the Druids said coldly.
Brendel recognized that the leading Druid elder was indeed one of the seventeen elders from this morning, but the elder’s tough tone made him unable to suppress his surprise; they were clearly showing no respect to these Cruz people.
And the fact that they started by questioning Veronika was particularly unusual; he realized that they were actually favoring him.
It seemed these Druids were quite tempted by his proposal.
Veronika’s expression darkened.
She certainly noticed their unfriendly tone. She had initially hoped to leverage the Cruz embassy status to pressure them, to see if she could detain Brendel from these grass-playing idiots.
After all, in her eyes, Brendel was merely a minor Erluin noble who ventured here, and there was no comparison to the Cruz embassy’s significance. However, she didn’t expect the Druids to be so unyielding, cutting off this possibility right from the start.
The female legion commander couldn’t help but scrutinize the Druids with her emerald green eyes, pondering whether they genuinely had no sense of human sentiment or if it was related to this young man in some way.
But what relationship could a minor Erluin noble have with the Druids?
(PS: This is just a small climax; more excitement is yet to come. What changes will the world undergo at the start of the Year of the Sword?
But another question is whether there will be more updates today. Of course, that’s a little secret—) (To be continued; to find out what happens next, please log in for more chapters and support the author by reading the original!)
