Chapter 619: Act 362 – Requiem XII
As Brendel dealt with the first Hellhound, the second Hellhound had just arrived. The clean and decisive strike that had taken down its kind shocked it. Though Hellhounds aren’t particularly intelligent, they are still smarter than Lesser Demons. Seeing Brendel approach with a blood-soaked sword, it quickly recoiled in fear.
Unfortunately for it, Brendel did not give it the chance. He leaped forward, launching a powerful strike at its forehead. This blow triggered Brendel’s charging skill, leaving the Hellhound with no room to evade. With its will to retreat already blossoming, turning back was no longer an option. Trapped between advance and retreat, it was struck dead by Brendel’s blade.
A sharp sound echoed as Brendel’s strike, filled with charging momentum, slammed the Hellhound’s half body to the ground. The terrifying power emanating from the manifestation of the Golden Peak Element tore its body apart in an instant, scattering flesh and bones everywhere.
The Hellhound died in a baffled manner. As Brendel landed, he took a deep breath. Although he could assert that his Golden Peak power surpassed that of the Hellhounds, it was still a challenging task to deal with these creatures without using magic and while conserving energy.
Ultimately, he could only leverage his experience to gain the upper hand.
He turned around to see that Nicolas and the Knights of the Temple of Fire had just each killed a Hellhound. With the number of Hellhounds already low, they had now lost more than half. However, this did not mean their pressure had lessened; the remaining knights struggled just to deal with the Hellhounds, let alone the Hellhounds joined by the Hellhounds.
In fact, they were already overwhelmed by the Lesser Demons encircling them, and with the Hellhounds attacking, Lantonrand’s knights suffered heavy casualties.
Four or five knights were dragged off their steeds by the sudden invasion of the Hellhounds, and the others, preoccupied with their own battles, had no chance to rescue them. Their fate was all too predictable.
The remaining knights had no choice but to huddle together around Dierphir and the Princess. If it weren’t for Raerde looking after them, they would have been submerged by the Lesser Demons in no time.
At this rate, they could not advance at all.
Brendel could not help but furrow his brow as he lifted his head. The current situation exceeded his expectations—how could the demons react so quickly? These monsters were nothing like the Jotungrund he remembered. He glanced at the distant teleportation portal, still over two hundred meters away.
But that two hundred meters felt like an insurmountable chasm to them.
“Mister Brendel, we need to figure out a way to carve a path through,” Nicolas shouted, clearly noticing the same problem.
Yes, but what should they do now? Brendel surveyed his surroundings; all he saw were enemies, and screams drowned out their voices. His heart raced faster than ever, and his blood pumped quickly to clear his mind.
They had to find a way out of this deadlock.
He first considered Gherlok but quickly shook his head. Although a high-level Law Wizard like him could connect with the laws of space, space spells required enormous power to sustain. He preferred to save Gherlok for last.
“Lady Wind!”
“Hmm?” Saint Ausoor seemed to sense his predicament and responded immediately. Although she had said she wouldn’t help him anymore, when push came to shove, she still couldn’t ignore him—this was the second time.
“Do you have any skills with displacement effects?”
“Skills? Displacement?”
Brendel realized he had misspoken in his panic and quickly remedied, “I mean, are there any sword techniques that can help me reach the portal? I know some have effects similar to a knight’s charge!”
“That’s a technique from later times,” Wind replied, slightly taken aback. “I’ve never heard of such a sword technique.”
“Nothing similar at all?”
“Nothing similar at all.”
“Then are there any spells that can do something like that?”
“Such spells are space spells. Given your disorganized level as an Elementalist, I suggest you don’t think too much about them,” Saint Ausoor sighed.
This was calamity! Brendel couldn’t help but curse silently. But suddenly, he remembered something and exclaimed, “No, I just thought of it! There is indeed one sword technique!”
“Hmm?”
“The Flash Sword of King Gilt! Isn’t there?”
“You’re insane,” Wind gasped, startled. “You don’t mean you want to learn that guy’s sword technique, right? Just so you know, I can’t teach you that sword technique!”
“I know,” Brendel’s gaze fell on the Knights of the Temple of Fire: “As long as someone can, it’s fine.” He couldn’t help but lower his head. “But will it be okay? Can I learn the Flash Sword simultaneously?”
“I’m not that kind of old stickler,” Wind sighed. “But I must remind you in advance, aside from my Nine Luminaries of Wind, the Flash Sword of Gilt and the Sound of Mountain and Earth from Erlandta each stem from a dragon clan and a the mountain giant of the Golden Race; they are both authentic ancient sword techniques. No one has ever learned all three sword techniques at once.”
“Don’t worry, I just want to learn a bit of it.”
“Getting started is the hardest part,” but the elf Senior Sister seemed to suddenly recall Brendel’s scenario when he was learning the Nine Luminaries of Wind and abruptly stopped speaking. “You’re not thinking of starting right now, are you?” she asked in disbelief.
“I want to use it now!”
Brendel had no time to explain. He slashed down the Hellhound blocking his path. Pulling Antinna towards the Temple of Fire’s knight, he shouted, “Mister Stephen!”
That knight had not spoken much since joining their group, but he hadn’t reacted when Charles joked about the Temple of Fire earlier. Overall, he left a good impression on Brendel. Moreover, as a Crusian, his fight for Erluin at this time showed admirable qualities, even if there was a sense of atonement for the Temple of Fire involved.
Brendel knew that unlike him, this knight genuinely pursued faith and ideals.
Thus, his tone became much more polite, even though he held no good feelings towards the Crusian.
The knight was just finishing off a Hellhound when he turned back to look at Brendel, momentarily taken aback. He had no particularly bad impression of this young lord, at least Brendel’s knightly conduct had garnered some goodwill from him. The key was that he hadn’t participated in Williams’s attack on the Princess, otherwise being captured by Brendel would have fostered some resentment.
Curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn’t help but watch the young man, saying nothing, but his pale blue eyes conveyed enough of a clear message:
What’s the matter?
“You saw it too; we’re trying to carve a path to the portal, but it’s proving to be extremely difficult. Mr. Gherlok must be saved for last, so I need your help.” Brendel wasted no time with pleasantries and got straight to the point.
The knight nodded, signaling—go ahead.
At that moment, more demons surged forward, forcing Brendel to fight alongside the knight. He yelled loudly to drown out the cursed screams of the Lesser Demons, “I remember that anyone who becomes a knight in the Temple of Fire is taught the basics of the Flash Sword, right? That’s King Gilt’s sword technique.”
The knight halted, almost undergoing injury from surprise, but he took a step back, warily looking at Brendel.
“Don’t get me wrong; I hope you can teach me this sword technique.”
Antinna, who had been holding onto Brendel tightly, gasped at his words. She, of course, knew what the Flash Sword was, but for Brendel to make such a request at this moment and then ask the knight to not misunderstand—it was unbelievable.
In that moment, even she stared at Brendel in a peculiar fashion, thinking that if he weren’t her lord and they weren’t in front of others, she would have been the first to clarify what this meant.
But the knight didn’t seem surprised; he struck through the heart of a Lesser Demon lunging at him. Stepping back, he spoke for the first time in a somewhat indifferent tone: “It seems that the lord understands the secret of the Flash Sword, but you want to use the Flash Sword to reach the portal?”
Brendel nodded.
The knight paused slightly, looking at him as if he were insane: “But lord, have you not considered that the Flash Sword isn’t easy to learn? Moreover, we do not have the time to learn a sword technique anew.”
It was indeed a reasonable assertion.
Brendel couldn’t help but scratch his head. If he could, he wouldn’t be acting like a madman in front of normal people at all. But the problem was that he didn’t seem to have a choice. Compared to being a cold corpse, being a madman was still preferable.
“It’s fine… Mister Stephen, you see, I’ve always had quite the talent in swordsmanship since I was young. How about sharing the key points of the Flash Sword with me, just to satisfy my final curiosity?” Brendel couldn’t help but sigh.
This request sounded preposterous, yet somehow the knight believed him. He suddenly recalled Brendel’s identity—the grandson of Sword Saint Darus. The name of Sword Saint Darus wasn’t just famous in the small kingdom of Erluin; once a general in the coalition forces of the Temple of Fire, many in Crusian recognized the Earth Sword Saint as well.
But that was during the honeymoon period between Crusian and Erluin. Their relationship cooled afterward, leading the Earth Sword Saint to mysteriously retreat. For ordinary people, this was merely fluctuating politics, but as a high-ranking member of the Temple, he understood some of the ins and outs.
Considering that he was a descendant of the Earth Sword Saint, it was natural for Brendel to be curious about the Flash Sword. Also, as a swordsman himself, he understood this feeling. In his view, Brendel’s request was genuinely the last resort.
Moreover, he completely disbelieved Brendel’s claim of exceptional swordsmanship. It might be understandable that the descendant of the Earth Sword Saint had some talent, but to say he could learn the Flash Sword—Stephen found that joke far more amusing than Brendel claiming he was King Gilt himself.
“So do you agree?” Brendel asked hastily as he noticed the knight’s hesitation.
In truth, Stephen did not realize that Brendel didn’t even need him to explain any key points; all he needed was for the knight to say, “I consent to teach you the Flash Sword.”
Unfortunately, he also felt that this thing was nothing short of a bug.
The knight finally nodded.
“Alright.”
In that moment, Brendel heard a prompt that sounded like heavenly music.
…
(PS: With a heavenly prompt: Hello, the new month has arrived; please cast your votes, thank you for your cooperation. The promised two updates are slightly late, so sorry! I’ll update earlier tomorrow~) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider casting recommendation votes or monthly votes on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
