novelraw Chapter 202 : Cruel Touch (2)
Chapter 202 : Cruel Touch (2)
Chapter 202: Cruel Touch (2)
Kamio whipped his black fur as he let out another monstrous roar.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
The air trembled, and a pure white chill mixed with a crimson hue surged forward like a wave.
In an instant, it froze along Raion’s arms and legs.
‘It’s better than I expected.’
Raion exerted force without even looking at the parts that had turned cold.
Crack!
As the ice shattered, Kamio closed the distance to right in front of him.
Shuaaaaak! Bang!
A massive palm struck Raion and sent him flying again, just like before.
“So it comes to this in the end!”
Kamio laughed roughly.
It was the joy of having repaid the humiliation he had suffered moments ago.
Bang! Kwa-bang!
That terrifying assault continued relentlessly.
Explosive cold and razor-sharp shards of ice raged from all directions, filling the air with deafening roars.
.
.
.
“Shouldn’t we step in too?”
Jade, who had cleanly severed the neck of a Twin Head Ogre in a single strike, looked around at the now-cleared surroundings.
Beyond the space enveloped in white lightning, Raion was being knocked around repeatedly.
Patrick approached while shaking off the monster blood clinging to his dagger.
“We can’t cross over there. And even if we worry about the Master, it won’t change anything, will it?”
“Well… that’s true too.”
Worry that served no purpose. More pressing was the remaining force of Dior and Moratz.
The troops that had come up from Neju Castle had joined in, pushing them back to a fair extent.
Since most of Raion’s forces were Swordmasters, the imperial army had no choice but to be overwhelmed.
“Let’s press forward like this.”
“That was my intention from the start.”
Patrick’s gaze once again turned to Negis, who was in command.
With the widest field of vision among them, Negis was perfectly suited for command.
Shuaaaaaaak! Pak!
Even now, Negis was piercing the heads of enemy commanders with his arrows.
One arrow, one man.
Despite soldiers falling one after another, the enemies were utterly helpless.
“The Master said it wouldn’t take long. So let’s finish this quickly.”
“Understood, Commander!”
“Ah… it’s incredibly cold.”
Kamio’s cold continued to surge through the barrier Raion had created.
Even the corpses piled below were coated in pure white frost.
After saying that, Jade moved together with his ten-man personal guard.
Papapapapak!
Everyone infused their swords with blue aura. Like Negis, it was more than enough to fell one man per strike.
“Re-retreat! Retreat—!”
Chwaaak!
A noble shouted urgently, only for the top half of his head to vanish as it was smashed by a mace.
It was Count Drak, the vice-commander of the Dior Empire. He was a formidable expert who had reached the ranks of a Swordmaster, with an aggressively combative nature.
“How dare you shout for retreat in the name of the Empire! No one is to think of fleeing! Fight here with the resolve to die!”
Count Drak had been in charge of the northern gate of Neju Castle and had just arrived moments ago.
Faced with this unexpected situation, he charged in with fury.
“Which bastards dare to challenge our Empire!”
Seething with rage, Count Drak saw a group advancing from the front, cutting through the underbrush as if mowing it down.
It was Raion’s personal guard, led by Jade.
Papapapap! Papapapapak!
The soldiers of the Dior Empire were cut down continuously. Even when they thrust out their weapons, they were cleanly split in two and fell.
“You will not pass by me so easily!”
Blue aura gathered atop Count Drak’s mace as he swung it fiercely.
Huuuuung! Bang—!
The mace slammed into the ground, creating cracks that spread toward Jade and the personal guard.
It was difficult even to keep one’s footing.
In response, Jade and the guards leapt straight into the air.
“Got you!”
A method that was extremely simple, yet difficult.
Before anyone realized it, Count Drak had also leapt up, his mace aimed at Jade.
Kka-kang—!
Jade struck the mace upward with his sword and counterattacked.
“So you can even block my attack with a sword?”
“It’s pretty heavy, but not something I can’t block.”
“Let’s see how long that arrogant tone lasts!”
Huuung! Thud!
The moment Count Drak landed, he attacked Jade again.
It was a simple downward swing from above, but its power was immense.
Bang! Kwa-bang! Bang!
“Kuhahaha! Let’s see you endure even this!”
The long chain of the mace spun rapidly through the air. Aura gathered at the mace head at the end of the chain, growing enormous.
It was a secret technique passed down in the Drak family.
Chwarrrrrr!
Even wrapping aura around the flat of a sword required tremendous concentration. In that sense, the aura concentrated at the end of the mace was overwhelming.
Bang—!
The mace came crashing down toward Jade.
The impact scattered dirt and icy shards in all directions, obscuring vision.
“Kukukuku…… now it’s your turn.”
Until now, no one had ever come out unscathed after being struck by his family’s secret technique.
Count Drak was certain that Jade had been completely flattened.
He turned his gaze toward the personal guard who had charged alongside Jade.
The guards had already cut down most of the soldiers from the Drak family nearby.
“When did they….”
They were not merely ten ordinary Swordmasters. They moved colder and more methodically than anyone else.
There wasn’t the slightest opening mixed into any of their actions.
“Just what are you people?”
Everyone wore a snake-like emblem on their chests.
It was a pattern that did not belong to any kingdom or noble house.
“…….”
“So even after your leader has died, you won’t even answer?”
“…….”
The personal guard continued to stand in silence, then their gazes shifted toward the frost haze drifting faintly through the air.
A momentary surge of killing intent. Count Drak felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly lowered his head.
Shuaaaaak!
His golden hair was severed and scattered into the air.
If he had been even a little slower, it wouldn’t have been his hair but his neck that was cut.
“Don’t just kill people however you like.”
“So you weren’t dead?”
As the frost haze dispersed from the aura that had just flown, Jade’s figure was revealed.
It seemed the aura-laden mace attack had carried some impact; blood was flowing down from his head.
“If the Master finds out about this, I’ll probably get scolded.”
“You’ll probably get scolded a lot.”
“Indeed.”
When the previously silent personal guard spoke up, Jade bristled.
“You lot, shut up. More importantly, I need to finish that guy first. You handle the rest.”
“Understood.”
The personal guard moved again.
In the meantime, Jade flicked his sword once and moved swiftly.
Tat-tak! Tak!
True Martial Art Absolute Step Shrinking Ground
True Martial Art Tremor Step Dragon Kick
In an instant, Jade arrived right in front of Count Drak, drew his sword back, and unleashed a kick.
The upward strike aimed at the jaw did not miss.
Puk—!
“Kugh!”
True Martial Art White Strike Emission Force
Pressing in close, Jade followed up immediately, flowing from his back and elbow into a punch.
Puh-eok!
“Kuh-uk!”
Count Drak was struck by the impact without even a chance to block and was shoved backward.
Internal injuries followed, and blood poured from his mouth.
“What kind of attack is this…….”
It was a form of combat technique he had never encountered in any kingdom.
Having suffered severe injuries, Count Drak could no longer move his legs easily.
Naturally, Jade did not miss that opening.
“You’re going to collapse from just that?”
“I am a noble of the Empire! I will surrender, so treat me according to the laws of the continent!”
He was invoking the noble protection laws commonly recognized across the continent.
But Jade merely wore an indifferent expression.
“You’re spouting some ridiculous nonsense.”
“How dare a mere knight mock a noble who should be revered!”
“I was ordered to kill everyone, you see.”
A chilling edge seeped out from his playful tone.
Drak broke out in a heavier cold sweat, sensing that it was not a lie.
“Who could ever defeat the Empire! No one can lay a hand on it! You—!”
Before he could finish speaking, Count Drak’s head flew off.
Jade frowned, as if his ears had been sullied.
“Heard something I shouldn’t have.”
Step. Step.
The personal guard approached from the side, their eyes waiting for orders.
“What are you doing? Move quickly.”
Meanwhile, from the rear, Caldein Flavan’s fire magic flew toward the remaining swarm of monsters.
Hwaaaaaak!
With the wide-open grasslands, there was nothing to obstruct the attack.
Kyaaaaak!
Kraaaaak!
The screams of monsters replaced the grass that had once filled the plains.
---
Kwa-bang—!
Kamio relentlessly swung Raion around.
It was to deny him even the slightest opening to move.
“Kuhahaha! You won’t be able to move at all! How could you possibly oppose me!”
Fists thickly covered in pitch-black fur continued to lash out toward Raion.
Bang! Kwa-bang!
Only the brutal thunder of blows hammering the ground echoed endlessly.
At the same time, waves of explosive cold continued to surge forth.
It seemed meant to completely seal off all movement. Only after quite some time did Kamio finally withdraw and mutter.
“Benedictiones timidae gloriae, ineffabilis gratia, sacrificia dura(Boons of cowardly glory, unutterable grace, cruel sacrifice). Nigrum loculum(Pitch-black coffin).”
The color of the frost light gathering in the air shifted to pitch-black.
Thousands of extremely thin spears, almost invisible from afar.
They reflected faintly here and there in the light of the setting sun.
“Glory to the Demon King……!”
The thin, pitch-black spears plunged into the dust-filled area.
There, Kamio sensed Raion’s presence.
Pak—! Papapapapak! Papapapap!
After the spears embedded themselves into the ground, they stood densely packed like reeds on the plains, and pitch-black frost spread out, filling the space.
Jjeojeojeojeok—!
This attack was so cruel that even Kamio himself would not survive if caught in it.
“Kukukuk. This is the price for mocking me.”
A smile of certainty slowly formed at the corners of Kamio’s mouth.
Meanwhile, the pitch-black frost that had been devouring the space took the shape of a massive rectangular prism.
Like a coffin…….
From within it flowed a cold that could not be compared to anywhere else.
Naturally, it seemed impossible for anything inside to survive.
Jjeojeojeojeok…….
“W-what—!”
Suddenly, cracks spread across the surface of the pitch-black coffin, as if someone had thrown a stone at ice.
Startled, Kamio stumbled backward, even stuttering over his words.
What in the world was happening? Chaotic thoughts raced through his mind.
‘Don’t tell me he survived even inside the pitch-black coffin!’
Worry gave birth to fear, which crept toward Kamio.
Then, as the entire smooth surface of the pitch-black coffin became densely filled with cracks, Kamio’s face completely stiffened.