novelraw Chapter 178 : Chapter 178
Chapter 178 : Chapter 178
Chapter 178: King (1)
On days when the wind blows strongly.
One might think the rain is falling from the front.
Now was like that.
There was no wind, but meteorites of various sizes rained down from the front.
It happened as soon as Kandenkel’s finger twitched.
Matching that movement, the black sun projected above pulsed and generated wind.
The solar wind pressed down on the shot meteorites as if to crush them, slowing their speed.
Only then did the swarm of meteorites become visible to Harad’s eyes.
Just visible; there was no way to dodge.
It wasn't because Manoa was kneeling behind Harad.
Trying to respond with magic would only deplete magic power in an instant.
Endurance is the share of the needy. Harad had to endure with his body, not magic power.
‘It’s always this situation.’
The magic power infused into the steel ring on his little finger transformed and spread throughout his body.
The swarm of meteorites battered Harad’s body, which had transformed like steel.
It was a terrible pain, like being flogged not with stones but with iron balls.
Meteorites. They look like stones at a glance, but inside they are solid with metal.
‘The composition seems the same.’
Heavier than expected.
It was a sentiment he felt in his past life too.
‘Rather than meteorites…….’
It felt like someone was slinging stones, no, metal.
Only, the hands throwing were countless, and the power was unimaginably great.
‘The balance sheet doesn’t match.’
Harad shed bloody tears and smiled bitterly.
Kandenkel is probing.
That is why the steel ring doesn't break.
But Harad had to do his best to counter that probe.
Psina of the Ivory Tower came to mind.
Harad had become stronger than back then, but the opponent was a Mage to whom Psina would feel trivial.
“Pathetic petty tricks.”
Kandenkel, checking Harad with a sidelong glance, sneered.
The steel ring, which he hid from Psina until the end, was exposed from the beginning.
Balbebron, who was striking down with his sword in front of him, was hit by a meteorite the size of a torso and flew far away.
In the meantime, Ellen, who cut through the meteorites and closed the distance with a low posture, slashed at Kandenkel’s knee.
It couldn't reach.
Meteorite. It was blocked by a hand soaring from that manifested giant Origin.
A small scratch was made on that hand.
Seeing the Aura and the scratch, Kandenkel’s eyes widened.
“Wench, you were Serzila.”
Jet-black. The guy recognized Ellen’s Aura at once.
The meteorite hand clung to Kandenkel’s shin like a greave.
At its kick, Ellen flew toward Harad.
“What kind of stone is…….”
If there was any fortune, Ellen looked fine.
She was indeed worthy of a body imbued with Innate Strength.
“It is meteorite.”
Harad spoke quietly.
“Still, slower than I thought.”
“That?”
“Originally, it was faster. Stronger too.”
“Originally?”
Ellen frowned.
“It is a secret.”
Balbebron, who had flown far, walked back shaking his head.
“What should we do?”
Ellen asked.
Balbebron had the same expression. Their pride was terribly hurt.
Even though they gathered like this, Kandenkel was just sitting back and watching this side.
A careful probe, and justified arrogance.
He was tasting the feast laid before his eyes one by one, savoring which one to finish off first.
Psina was defeated due to lack of experience.
Avery Aquins died due to carelessness.
Tower Master of Meteoric Iron Kandenkel was a Mage active in the Boundary even before Grand Duke Aratus's sabbatical year.
A Mage to whom Avery Aquins would look like a novice.
‘Future 6th Rank.’
In other words, it means a mature 5th Rank soon facing the 6th Rank.
He is more than qualified to be arrogant.
“What to do.”
Pride feeds nothing.
Harad leaned on Kandenkel’s arrogance.
Conversation was needed. A firing line for Ellen.
“Did you want to cut him?”
The meteorite was scratched.
It wasn't simple magic but manifested Origin.
“Yes.”
Ellen nodded.
“Did you want to kill him?”
Of course, she would want to kill him.
Harad wasn't asking about Ellen’s intent.
He was asking if she saw the possibility that she could kill him.
Ellen realized her Innate Strength. But she couldn't handle it freely like in her past life.
Because she hadn't realized her essence yet.
“……I don't know.”
“Then try until you know.”
The firing line teaches the way to the essence.
“Mages and Knights are different.”
Battles between Mages are duller and shabbier than thought.
The greater the gap, the more banal the conclusion.
Knights are advantageous in creating variables.
High survivability was the reason.
Ellen and Balbebron are sturdier and faster than Harad.
Even if they can't kill Kandenkel, they can survive. And variables are created in life.
“Treat me as someone who doesn't exist.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean don't invest in me. I will survive on my own.”
Ellen frowned.
“I will probably be on the back burner.”
Harad was certain while looking at the sun projected in the sky.
Kandenkel didn't aim for that.
‘It means it's not a big hindrance.’
Since it's a mere projection.
Like this, Kandenkel’s probe is already over.
He considers Ellen and Balbebron more threatening than Harad.
“What about the Embers.”
“I don't want to.”
Harad refused firmly.
“It's simple. Ellen, no, if you guys cut him, we win. If you can't, I die.”
Ellen and Balbebron can live.
Sword Masters are such beings. Ellen too.
“Well, I might survive even if not.”
“…….”
“I will trust you.”
Harad gestured to Kandenkel.
“It's done.”
“Excellent. A judgment unbecoming of fire.”
Kandenkel, sitting on his Origin, chuckled and stood up.
“It was fun back then.”
Kandenkel grinned looking at Balbebron and Ellen.
He seemed to be reminiscing about the Boundary, which was chaos before Grand Duke Aratus faced his sabbatical year.
“I eat delicious things later.”
Kandenkel pointed at Harad.
Regardless of rank, the Sun would be a delicacy unparalleled in the world.
“Serzila.”
He then pointed at Ellen.
“A special meal I haven't tasted in a while.”
Kandenkel pointed at Balbebron lastly.
“Sword Master.”
That voice was heard by Balbebron’s ear.
“Die first.”
Kandenkel was sitting on Balbebron’s shoulders as if riding piggyback.
He tightened his thighs around the neck, and his hands grabbed Balbebron’s head and twisted.
……CRACK!
* * *
He died.
Balbebron caressed his own neck, terrified.
“Blargh!”
……If it weren't for Manoa vomiting blood behind Harad, he would have died.
While swallowing the recoil of half the Manifestation breaking, Manoa turned Balbebron’s death into a dream.
As soon as Balbebron realized how he survived, he rushed at Kandenkel.
Ellen was engaging him.
“……Stop. Run away.”
Manoa, having vomited blood several times, looked up at Harad and said.
“Nonsense.”
Harad cut her off firmly.
“I must kill him now.”
“Greed…….”
“Running away is greed.”
Must kill him now.
Now when Kandenkel is weakest.
“Hide. That much should be possible.”
At Harad’s gaze looking down, Manoa trembled unwittingly.
The gaze was cold yet infinitely hot.
Harad was being greedy to kill Kandenkel right here.
“You said the Divine Beast’s lifespan is close to eternal. Is that only the Divine Beast?”
At the same time, he was rational.
Manoa realized Harad was standing on the boundary between restraint and excitement.
“Excluding the prophecy.”
“……Then no.”
The reason the Sun’s Divine Beast is close to eternal is that the Sun is close to eternal.
“Then it's fine.”
Harad nodded as if expected.
“Go to the forest.”
Dream.
Half of the Origin manifested by Manoa still remained.
It is in the forest, putting the Mages of Meteoric Iron into a dream.
“Protect the villagers.”
Manoa didn't understand those words.
The Mages of Meteoric Iron are not a threat yet.
As long as Ellen and Balbebron are holding Kandenkel.
Harad didn't seem intended to explain further.
No, not intended, but had no leeway.
Meteorites were pouring down. THUD, THUD!
Terrible roaring sounds resonated from Harad’s body covered with the steel Magical Item.
“…….”
She's just a hindrance.
Manoa bit her lip and disappeared.
She must have gone to the forest.
Only then could Harad move.
Actually, it doesn't mean much though.
‘Can't dodge.’
Slowing down with solar wind and receiving with the steel ring was all he could do.
At least for now. He must conserve magic power as much as possible.
‘This is keeping in check.’
In terms of human gestures, it would be close to a hand gesture shooing away a bug.
Kandenkel was the human, and Harad was the bug.
If hit directly even by mistake, he dies. It was such a gap.
CRASH—! A roar resonated.
It was the sound of Balbebron’s sword clashing with Kandenkel’s left arm.
Ellen created a smaller roar than that.
Cracks went CRACKLE on Kandenkel’s both arms.
‘Both of them are making scratches. Good news.’
It is meaningful.
That thing covering Kandenkel’s entire body like armor was not simple magic but part of Manifestation.
Every time Ellen and Balbebron moved, a roar rang out, and the earth shook.
More meteorites derived from Kandenkel’s entire body.
Small debris bouncing off his body smashed the village.
The empty air crumpled at the missed fist.
Harad couldn't catch up with that speed even with his eyes.
It was a realm not yet permitted to him.
A Mage’s body movement is no less than a warrior’s.
That is a saying started from iron.
The Mages of the Tower of Meteoric Iron know how to make their bodies into iron.
Just as Harad strengthens his body with the steel ring, Kandenkel wore meteorites on his body.
Like that, he overlaid that power and speed.
BANG! Clasped meteorite hands struck the empty air.
Just the shock created a crater on the ground.
Kandenkel clung to Balbebron, who was pushed back by the wave.
There is no starting point for that speed.
The Origin is a falling meteorite, but it is ultimately vague.
A terrifying power was contained in the fist shot from a distance where they were practically sticking together.
CRUNCH! All of Balbebron’s ribs shattered.
It ended lightly.
If the White Flames rising in between hadn't melted the meteorite on the fist, his torso would have been pierced.
‘It does melt.’
Almost melted slightly.
Indeed, those words weren't entirely wrong.
Kandenkel stared at Harad for a moment, then kicked off Balbebron and widened the distance.
Ellen, who slashed a step late between Kandenkel and Balbebron, followed.
CLANG! The jet-black Aura blooming on the sword shaved off the meteorite dwelling on Kandenkel’s shoulder.
‘Treating me like a gnat.’
Harad felt helplessness.
It was a welcome helplessness.
The more Kandenkel excludes Harad, the bigger the opening becomes.
Ellen bounced far away. BOOM!
At the same time, Balbebron struck Kandenkel’s neck.
Kandenkel only lowered his gaze and looked down at the blade imbued with Aura.
The meteorite protecting his neck was slightly dented.
“Annoying.”
Kandenkel’s hand soared like a meteorite.
Balbebron managed to react and pulled out his sword.
When the hand grabbed the empty air, Balbebron rotated greatly and ducked his head deeply.
Ellen, who had rushed in at some point, struck down Kandenkel’s neck.
The sword dug precisely into the mark Balbebron had just made.
“……Annoying.”
Harad felt it touched the flesh.
Because Ellen was grinning.
“It works?”
Like a born warmonger, Ellen was immersed.
“How dare you.”
The meteorite clinging to Kandenkel’s entire body burst out explosively.
* * *
When exchanging swords with Knights.
Ellen sees the line drawn by that sword.
No, she feels it.
The hand gripping the sword, the muscles of the forearm and shoulder, the trajectory set by the upper body, the aim held by the lower body are clearly visible.
Mages are not. No, not in the Boundary.
Everything here was unknown to Ellen.
There is nothing more to learn about the sword, but she is ignorant about magic.
Every moment is close to a firing line.
And now, Ellen is standing on the most dangerous firing line.
How long has it been since a firing line?
Star of the Deep Sea. Avery Aquins.
Back then, she was in a dream and half hazy.
Looking back, she might have been swayed.
And she cut him.
Not a tattered Magical Beast.
It was the first defeat. Ellen couldn't cut him.
King of Meteoric Iron.
Kandenkel makes her recall that Magical Beast. Fast, and strong. Looked similar too.
Those similarities made Ellen more immersed.
Crucially, Harad’s life depended on it.
‘No.’
Harad is getting hurt in real time.
Blood that only flowed from his eyes was now flowing out through his mouth too.
Veins prominent on his skin were squirming as if they would burst soon.
Ellen’s skin was dry. Her parched lips cracked and bled.
It was because of Harad’s projection rising in the sky.
That black sun constantly spews wind and scatters fire in all directions.
The fire spreading like wildfire everywhere is not for Harad but to help Ellen and Balbebron.
The white fire glimpsed sporadically is putting constraints on Kandenkel’s movement.
Solar wind is slowing down the limited movements.
All are magic straining Harad.
‘No.’
She shouldn't think about Harad.
As he said, she had to treat him as someone who doesn't exist.
She must focus on what is in front of her eyes.
How many times she swung the sword, how many times she was pushed back, how much she was hit, how much was blocked and missed.
Ellen forgot everything. It was in the past.
It's time to draw the sword anew, get hit anew, and strike anew.
Like that, her vision gradually narrowed.
The sword became lighter the more she swung it.
Ellen was in the fog she once walked.
Advancing through that unknown, she is catching up little by little.
It is visible, and getting faster.
The more she did, the more momentum she gained. Quickly becoming equal.
That sense of accomplishment made Ellen intoxicated.
It was joy. Unsurpassable pleasure was massaging her brain.
‘It works.’
The meteorite wrapping Kandenkel’s entire body exploded and scattered.
Being hit by those fragments, Ellen sensed again.
Although pushed back, holes drilled in her arm, thigh, and collarbone, and severe pain arose all over her body, Ellen laughed.
The largest chunk was caught in her hand.
Meaning, she finally reacted.
To a meteorite not interfered with by the solar wind Harad raised.
The hand that caught the meteorite barely opened. The bones shattered.
It was a trivial injury.
Ellen grasped the broken hand together with the sword hilt with her opposite hand.
The broken hand clung tightly to the hilt.
That sword tip aimed straight ahead. A naked old man stood there.
She felt Balbebron walking from behind.
“Balbebron.”
“I’m…… fine.”
Balbebron, like Ellen, had holes all over his body pouring blood.
“Don’t.”
He is a Sword Master.
But that doesn't mean his life is tough.
“What…….”
“He’s mine.”
What is tough is Innate Strength. Ellen rushed in.
Is he following? Ellen didn't feel it.
Only one thing was caught in her vision.
“How dare you!”
Kandenkel, who became naked, roared.
It was a roar as if a meteorite was falling.
Ellen listened carefully. It was the sound of the Origin moving.
Behind Kandenkel’s back, a loftily manifested giant meteorite pulsed.
That appearance was like a beehive.
As a beehive spits out bees, the meteorite fired small fragments.
The trajectory was infinitely chaotic.
But Ellen read it. No, she felt it. Like when dealing with Knights.
‘It works.’
Balbebron shouted something from behind.
It was heard by her ears, but not in Ellen’s mind.
Only the piercing sound of raining meteorites, the sound of the sword cutting, and the sound of her body getting hit were heard.
“Aratus!”
However, that roar was heard clearly.
Kandenkel associated Grand Duke Aratus from Ellen’s jet-black Aura.
Ellen smiled brightly.
In Ellen’s eyes curved beautifully, Kandenkel was swallowed by the giant meteorite.
Ellen intuitively sensed that was the true Manifestation of the Mage named Kandenkel.
When she escaped the swarm of meteorites, a meteorite giant stood before her eyes.
It was a giant the size of a hill.
Kandenkel was buried in the giant’s face like facial features.
The giant swung its left arm like a whip.
The right arm extended long like a meteor.
That speed, now familiar to her eyes. No reason to delay.
Ellen ran along the extended right arm as a path.
And finally sensed.
“Got him.”
Kandenkel was glaring with both eyes.
Jet-black. That Aura squeezed out until the last moment was sharply forged on Ellen’s sword.
The tip pierced Kandenkel’s glabella, which she hated to look at.
Blood flowed.
……Only a single line of blood.
“Foolish Serzila.”
Kandenkel’s both eyes, with that thin line of blood in between, curved grossly.
It was mockery.
Only the skin. No, just a scratch.
Because Kandenkel and the Origin fused into one.
“I said I got him.”
No.
Because the opponent is a Mage.
To Ellen, still a Mage close to the unknown.
“Who?”
Scratched. Saw the flesh. Caught the meteorite, cut, and touched.
Those joys are not Ellen’s.
“Bug that couldn't even evolve.”
They are Kandenkel’s.
Everything, induced by him.
“Ah.”
Why?
There is no big reason for mockery.
Because it is possible.
Because he can kill anytime.
“That face is delightful.”
Kandenkel chuckled.
One pupil turned into a meteorite.
That…… will be shot.
Can I react?
‘No.’
Ellen sensed as she fell.
Kandenkel was looking down at her. Getting farther away.
There was that much gap.
“It was decent entertainment.”
The pupil turned into a meteorite was shot.
Ellen saw its trajectory. But she couldn't react.
It was a speed on a different level from what she had cut so far.
……The meteorite touched Ellen’s glabella.
“Don’t kill her.”
It was then that a clumsy voice was suddenly heard.
“I’ll share my heart.”
SPLASH.