novelraw Chapter 88 : Revenge
Chapter 88 : Revenge
Chapter 88: Revenge
“Did he finally complete it.”
Paul’s murmur lodged itself in the ears of those watching.
Paul was the colleague here who had known Calimacos the longest and was on the most familiar terms with him.
They usually sparred and filled in each other’s shortcomings, but even so, Paul had never been able to see all of the swordsmanship Calimacos had honed.
If everything was revealed, someone had to die for it to end.
Grk. Grgrk.
Calimacos’s sword hardened as if it had put on armor.
It looked as though blood had pooled, rotted, and turned black.
Rather than sharp, it gave off a blunt impression.
It did not seem like blood would come out even if one were cut by that sword.
It was different from killing intent.
If one had to put it into words…….
‘It’s killing intent and fighting spirit combined.’
It was a realm Robin had never reached.
Killing intent was a double-edged sword that gnawed at the mind, but raising fighting spirit to that degree was something he had only seen in Theodric before.
It was so distinct that it felt like the creation of a single substance beyond mere materialization.
He could not dare imagine just how great its power might be.
Perhaps judging it dangerous as well, Verman did not continue with the same momentum as before.
He widened the distance slightly and watched Calimacos, who was panting, as if observing him.
“Flailing about with a dying body.”
“I’m not dying, so don’t worry. We should start the real game, right?”
The sword that had been spinning around suddenly rose upward.
Sensing danger, Verman lifted his longsword horizontally and poured aura into it.
Kaang!
“…I’m being pushed back?”
From the spot where Verman had been standing, scrape marks were carved into the ground all the way to a distance of three steps.
As he heightened his tension, Calimacos sprang into the air.
Leaping up to the height of a five-story building, he rotated his body and drove down toward Verman.
Kuoong!
The ground rippled like crashing waves.
Across Verman’s chest, which had lost its balance from the spreading shockwave, a long line was drawn.
The plate armor was sliced as if raked by sharp claws.
Paang!
With the follow-up kick, Verman’s armor crumpled and was knocked away.
Calimacos walked slowly, humming something that was neither poem nor song.
“One who has lived a life worse than a pebble on the street. Enduring scornful gazes, he completed his rage.”
Verman had not properly seen that attack just now.
Something had flown at him, and he had instinctively Paulled back, but he had not been able to completely deflect it.
He did not even have the leeway to care what Calimacos was humming.
If he got excited, he would lose even a battle he could win.
He took a deep breath and stared at the one-eyed mercenary approaching.
“Floundering in despair, he faced the malice that burrowed in and made it his nourishment.”
“…What the hell are you babbling about.”
Thud.
Calimacos stamped his foot on the ground.
A dull sound like a drumbeat tormented Verman’s ears.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
With every step he took, footsteps like beating drums continued.
Even though the ground was solid, it sank in deeply by the length of a finger joint.
Thud.
Calimacos slowly let the swords in both hands droop.
Robin recalled the mural he had discovered seven years ago.
The writing that had been there along with the crude drawings.
He instinctively realized that what Calimacos was humming was the very text he had seen back then.
Kiiiiiiing.
‘The sword is changing?’
The dark crimson form covering Calimacos’s blade wriggled and then took on a different shape.
It was wider than the original sword and slightly longer in length.
The next moment, Verman’s hands moved in a blur.
Calimacos’s sword fell onto the longsword wrapped in aura compressed to its limit.
Now even Robin’s eyes could not follow that speed.
The exploding roar left his ears ringing, and flashes burst forth incessantly like lightning.
“Calimacos is incredible, but Verman… he’s taking that insane attack head-on.”
“You can see that, Paul?”
“No. I can only barely sense it.”
“Who do you think will win.”
“Neither of them has used their final move yet. The outcome will be decided there.”
‘The captain seems to have the upper hand, but an evenly matched standoff continues.’
If the fiercely pressing Calimacos was like a starving beast, Verman was as firm as an iron fortress.
A clash of spear and shield.
Deep down, he had thought Calimacos would overwhelm him, but that was not the case.
Not just anyone could be both the shield and sword that protected the emperor.
It would be a lie to say he was not flustered by the terrifying fighting spirit and the strange song that amplified strength.
But Verman was a knight of talent sifted and resifted by the empire, and one who did not neglect effort.
If there was hardship, he overcame it, and before a towering wall, he never knew how to give up.
The only thing in the world that could stop him was the emperor.
Verman gradually adapted to the speed of the two swords that lashed out from postures a human should not be able to take.
Once one adapted, leeway was gained, and with leeway came the ability to devise countermeasures.
If Calimacos excelled at irregular improvisation, Verman was like a textbook that pursued orthodox methods.
That did not mean he was a stubborn man who clung to a single approach.
He too had been praised as a genius, and if necessary, he could add variations.
Taeng!
Verman, who had been busy merely defending, tilted his sword at an angle.
It was to deal with Calimacos’s ghostlike blade rather than a knight’s swordsmanship.
With exquisitely aligned points of contact and aura control, Calimacos’s left side opened up.
Shiiiik.
The right-hand sword aimed for Verman’s shoulder.
The decision was made in an instant.
Give flesh and take bone.
Driving his shoulder in even further, Verman thrust his sword forward.
Huuwoong!
“I thought you’d lost your reason and were just rampaging, but you’ve still got a head to think with.”
Both of their swords merely cut through empty air and failed to touch flesh.
That alone was to Verman’s advantage.
Leaving dozens of afterimages behind, his onslaught finally lost some of its force.
Ten steps.
That was the distance between Verman and Calimacos.
Both men realized that the next exchange would be the last.
Calimacos continued, smiling bitterly.
“Struggle. Seize. Condemn.”
Ominously dense killing intent and a fighting spirit that seemed capable of grinding anything down gathered together.
Brilliant aura condensed around Verman’s sword as well.
Victory or defeat would be decided in the next clash.
Verman poured out every last bit of aura he could unleash.
It went beyond merely covering the blade, transforming it into something like a greatsword easily twice a man’s height.
The secret art of Imperial Knight Commander Verman.
“Severing the Ocean.”
A sword strike fell with the momentum to cleave even a vast sea.
A colossal wave, a tsunami capable of tearing a city in half, surged forth.
Calimacos crossed both arms, his eyes gleaming with a blood-red sheen.
“To the shadow of the past, ruthlessness. To unyielding fighting will, fervor.”
Theodric’s teachings flashed through Robin’s mind.
-To uphold another person’s will. To recite and reenact a hero’s task.
To think those words would truly be so.
In Calimacos’s stance, another person seemed to overlap.
A man he had only heard of, never seen.
A great figure who had spread the epithet Mercenary King.
If that man were still alive, would he not look just like that?
Those watching widened their eyes, wondering if only Robin could see the flickering silhouette like an illusion.
‘More importantly, if those two collide…….’
Could this land truly withstand the shock?
Robin was not the only one who feared it.
The first to step forward was Paul.
Next came Torgen, Mirian, Brandok, and Felix, all raising their fighting spirit with weapons in hand.
Soon, the swords of the mercenary captain and the knight commander collided.
Kkwaaaaaaaaah!
With searingly blinding light, the shockwave swallowed the surroundings.
Tadak tadak.
From the village engulfed in roaring flames, black smoke billowed violently upward.
Riding the wind, the acrid stench spread far and wide.
It was not a signal fire being lit, yet its scale was so great it could be seen even from a distant city.
Dagadak dagadak.
A young knight who looked to be in his twenties spurred his horse on, dull blond hair whipping behind him.
“Damn it, what the hell is this in the middle of a mission……!”
He had been assigned to escort an investigation team researching the plague gnawing away at the empire, but he ignored orders and rode on.
His hometown where he was born and raised, the home of his family and friends, was burning.
Had a large monster appeared?
Had the remnants of the Demon Tribe, never fully uprooted, attacked?
Calimacos prayed desperately that he was not too late.
“Halt! This area is under investigation by order of His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Shut up.”
He drew his sword and fired aura, and the examiner controlling the village entrance recoiled in fright and retreated.
Breaking straight through and entering, scorching heat rushed at him.
“Emma! If you can hear me, answer!”
The closer he got to the center, the thicker the hot smoke became.
When his horse finally refused to go any farther, he plunged alone into the sea of flames.
“Tom! Andy! You brats, is anyone there!”
There was no reply.
All that filled the air was the sound of wooden houses, street stalls lining the roads, and tents burning down.
When he reached the square on the way to his home.
Color returned to Calimacos’s face.
Verman was there, leading his subordinates and busily carrying something.
“Verman!”
“…Calimacos?”
“Yeah, it’s me! What the hell happened here!”
“Calimacos, stop right there.”
Verman stepped in front of him, blocking him from coming any closer.
He wore a cloth covering his mouth and nose.
Looking closer, all of his subordinates were dressed the same way.
Their airways were covered, gloves worn, and their entire bodies tightly wrapped.
That outfit was identical to the investigators’.
Protective gear to prevent infection from the plague.
“Did you see Emma? A perfectly fine village suddenly on fire—are you even putting it out?”
“…The situation is under our control. We’ve taken charge here, so you should go back.”
Behind Verman, apprentice knights were carrying something covered in cloth.
‘What…….’
From afar he could not tell, but the closer he got, the clearer its shape became.
What they carried in pairs had the form of a human body.
Though tightly wrapped in cloth, even that could not hide its outline.
A foreboding premonition took hold of Calimacos’s mind.
Step.
Verman said something, but Calimacos ignored him.
With each step closer, what they were doing became unmistakable.
They were gathering corpses in one place and burning them.
Thud.
A hand came down on Calimacos’s trembling shoulder.
Verman clenched his grip tightly and spoke.
“This is official duty. This is not where you should be, is it?”
“What… what are you doing…….”
“I’ll say it again. We are carrying out orders. Return to where you belong.”
“Emma… what about Emma……?”
“How would I know that.”
Despite Verman’s restraint, Calimacos ran toward his house.
What those madmen were doing was shocking, but there was something he had to confirm first.
Finding the house where she should be was not difficult, but by the time he arrived it was already burning.
His whole body ached numb, but Calimacos paid it no mind and flung the door open.
Fortunately, the flames had not reached the interior.
“Emma! It’s me! Where are you!”
“…Cal?”