novelraw Chapter 198 : Chapter 198
Chapter 198 : Chapter 198
Chapter 198. Bloomed in the Storm
Mei, the head of Viper, had certainly reached the realm of Sword Expert in terms of skill alone.
Although she hadn't reached the extreme, she was a strong warrior who could last a few exchanges with Justia if she fought with her life on the line.
However, Jaina had not yet reached that level.
She had only temporarily produced power close to a Sword Expert by borrowing the power of the wolf god; it was only an explosive burst of power for a moment, not a true state of mastery.
‘But Jack did it, and the others did too. ……What's to say I can't do it!’
In a fleeting glance, she saw her comrades fighting desperately against the imperial army and the knight order.
Those who fought with a resolve greater than just risking their lives had eventually defeated even the Five Swords of Robern’s Knight Order.
Jaina recalled them deep in her heart and felt that simply resolving to throw away her life was not enough.
Something that burned more than life itself, she had to find a power that transcended her own limits.
Just then, a memory came to mind.
The duel between Duke, the dean of Lansed Academy, and Bakan, the absolute ruler of Kandahr.
The miraculous sight that Duke had created by burning his entire life in that battle overlapped with the current situation.
‘Can I really…… do something like that?’
She did not know how to burn everything like Duke.
Even if she did, it was uncertain whether she could execute it.
‘Nevertheless…… I have to find it. Something of my own!’
There was no time given.
Before she and Mei were broken, she had to overcome the wall.
Jaina, having steeled her resolve, gripped the sword in her hand even tighter so as not to lose it.
And she poured out everything she had, the one and only swordsmanship of the Vaberin family that she handled best.
—Tat!
As she kicked off the ground and rotated her entire body, she herself became a storm.
From the basic form of the Bloodstorm to the improved form that scattered the energy flowing at the tip of the sword like turbulence.
Her whole body became a vortex of a storm, rushing as if to swallow the enemy before her.
—Clang clang clang!
However, the sword wielded by Justia was the swordsmanship of a man who was called the strongest not just of his time, but in history.
No matter how renowned the Vaberin family's swordsmanship was, it was nothing more than a miscellaneous technique before Robern's sword.
Her hegemonic and heavy blow scattered the gale Jaina had created like a gentle breeze.
“It's just flashy. How can you cut even a single blade of grass being this light?”
The moment their swords clashed with a metallic sound, Jaina instantly realized that Justia was on a different level from her.
Unlike the twin knights who were defeated after underestimating and toying with their opponents, she was by no means careless.
The weak were just weak, there was no need for mercy.
“You can dance that kind of dance to your heart's content when you're dead.”
The moment Justia's sword was about to strike down like lightning.
—Tuk!
A small bead intervened between them and shattered into pieces as soon as it touched the blade.
Then, a whitish smoke burst out as if exploding.
“Right……. there was that gnat-like woman. I was wondering why she didn't interfere.”
Justia swung her sword and cut through the smoke.
Within it was the figure of Mei, grabbing Jaina and pulling her back.
“There you are.”
Justia immediately charged and thrust her sword.
—Clack clack!
Mei barely held on, continuously parrying the tip of the sword with her two daggers.
However, there was no way those thin daggers could withstand the heavy blows that rained down several times.
—Clang!
Eventually, the two daggers shattered into pieces.
And the tip of the sword that followed pierced straight through Mei’s abdomen.
Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth as Mei’s body staggered.
“Keuk……!”
Mei coughed up blood from her mouth, but she still held on, gripping the blade with both hands to prevent Justia's sword from penetrating deeper.
However, pushed by the force, the blade was slowly digging into her abdomen.
“Does it hurt?”
Justia whispered with a cruel smile.
“……Ptooey!”
Mei spat out a small, needle-like dagger she had hidden in the roof of her mouth.
In an instant, the sharp tip shot out before Justia’s eyes.
“Ugh!”
Justia instinctively twisted her head to avoid a fatal wound, but her cheek was sharply cut, and blood flowed down.
“Using cheap tricks?”
The moment she was about to swing her sword with a shout mixed with anger, Justia’s vision momentarily blurred and distorted.
“Ugh?”
Not missing that opening, Mei squeezed out her remaining strength and forcibly pushed the blade out of her body.
Jaina, who rushed in right after, supported her and quickly retreated.
Justia, shaking her head to clear it, wiped her cheek and laughed lowly.
“Using all sorts of dirty tricks. To think you’d even hide a poison needle in your mouth.”
Mei gasped for breath and retorted.
“Otherwise…… how would I deal with a monster like you.”
She tore off a piece of her clothing with her hand and tried to apply pressure to her abdomen to stop the bleeding.
But her body was already drained of strength, and her legs were trembling, unable to hold her up.
Looking at her pitiful state, Justia clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“Ha! Do you really believe you can beat me?”
“What's to say I can't? You might not know, but…… I'm a contractor.”
She took out a dagger from her clothes.
Justia snorted and swung her sword as if grazing it.
—Pabak!
A sharp sword aura that cut through the ground and approached.
Mei sent her Qi through her dagger to block it.
“Kuk……!”
With a metallic sound, she barely deflected the sword strike, but as she momentarily exerted force, blood started to drip again through the gaps in the hastily wrapped bandage.
Her body was already at its limit, and it was difficult to hold on for much longer.
Seeing that, Jaina’s eyes wavered.
But soon, she gritted her teeth.
‘This won't do. I have to step in! No one has the luxury to help us!’
It was different from when they defeated the twin knights.
The current allied forces were already exhausted from fighting the imperial army, and the knight order was intentionally surrounding Justia in a circle, blocking others from approaching.
There was no one who could help.
In the end, the only one who could break through this predicament and open a path was Jaina herself.
“Haat!”
Jaina spotted what seemed to be an opening in Justia’s stance as she was confronting Mei.
At that moment, she instinctively threw her body, trying to dive into that gap.
“Don't!”
Mei shouted in alarm, but it was already too late.
A vicious smile spread across Justia’s lips.
“If it was a flaw your eyes could see in the first place…… why didn't you think it was a trap?”
Jaina did not stop and extended her sword, but before the tip of the sword could reach, a silver trajectory pierced Jaina’s arm.
—Swish!
A cold sensation brushed past her arm, followed by a terrible pain.
Her arm, which had been holding the sword, spun through the air and rolled on the ground.
“Aaaaaaaah!!!”
Jaina’s scream cut through the battlefield and echoed.
Justia tilted the blood-soaked tip of her sword and aimed it at her neck.
“I'll end you.”
Just as the tip of the sword was about to pierce, Mei threw herself and tackled Jaina, barely getting her out of the way.
Immediately, Mei poured all her strength and rushed at Justia, unleashing a series of attacks before she could swing her sword again.
On the other hand, Jaina collapsed on the ground and stared blankly at her severed arm.
Her breath came in ragged gasps, and her whole body trembled in pain.
‘Why…… why can't I do it……?’
She had resolved to risk her life, yet the moment her arm was cut off, she had flinched in pain.
‘And I had the nerve to talk big about risking my life…….’
As the pain gradually dulled, self-loathing filled the void.
‘What now? What can I do with one arm……. Even if I make it back alive…….’
At that moment, Jaina's mind went blank.
‘No, why…… why am I worrying about the future? The moment my arm was cut off, I was already finished as a knight.’
Emptiness replaced despair, and all distracting thoughts vanished.
Only one thought filled Jaina's heart.
To raise her fallen body and grip the scattered sword on the ground again.
That was the only thing.
Justia, who was confronting Mei, looked at her clinging annoyingly as if shooing a bug, then suddenly reached out her hand and plunged it into Mei’s abdomen.
“Aaaaaaaah!!!!”
At the pain of her internal organs being crushed, Mei's dagger fell to the ground.
Justia's lips curled up as she muttered lowly.
“Do you really have to make me dirty my hands like this?”
She pulled out her blood-soaked hand and slammed her palm into Mei’s face.
—Thump!
Mei, slammed to the ground.
Justia placed her foot on top of her and felt a thrill as she stomped on the wound.
“Heh heh.”
She laughed as if enjoying herself and raised her sword.
The moment she was about to strike down the finishing blow.
“!”
A chilling presence seeped in from behind her.
Justia’s eyes flashed, and when she turned around, she saw an unbelievable sight.
‘She was definitely down…….’
Jaina Vaberin, standing precariously while bleeding from a severed arm.
She muttered with the sword on her shoulder.
“……Let’s die an honorable death……. Die……”
With that voice, the wind sweeping across the battlefield whipped up and began to envelop her body.
Blood was also caught in the wind, swirling into a red whirlwind.
Mei, who was lying on the ground, looked at the scene with her blurry vision and let out a faint smile.
‘Yes……. that's the real Bloodstorm…….’
Having lost an arm, and with her life on the line.
Jaina Vaberin finally realized.
“Let’s die……”
When humans give up on life, they become powerless, but conversely, they become recklessly brave.
“Let’s die…… together!”
Her sword strike whipped up the wind, and the blood flowing from her severed arm combined, literally giving birth to a Bloodstorm.
—Hwooo!
A red storm bloomed like a flower over the battlefield.
It was a red flower, bloomed in full with fresh blood, created by Jaina’s do-or-die fighting spirit.
“Ha! How dare you!”
Feeling a sense of crisis, Justia raised her sword with both hands.
It was the very essence of Robern's swordsmanship, which she prided herself on being the strongest.
The sword aura shot out in a straight line, pouring down as it split Jaina's Bloodstorm head-on.
However, the red storm was not a simple wind.
It was a veil of energy, woven as thinly and densely as thread.
The sword aura was swept up in that red wind and vanished.
“Impossible! Grr!”
Justia gritted her teeth as if in disbelief and charged.
The moment she tried to take a step, as if to cut her down herself, her feet felt rooted to the ground and wouldn't move.
The blood-soaked Mei was gripping her foot with her last ounce of strength.
“You……!”
The moment Justia was about to strike down her sword and finish Mei.
“You looked away, didn't you?”
The scattering red wind blew into her eyes, obscuring her vision.
At this, Justia realized she had made a fatal mistake.
‘Oops……!’
By the time she opened her eyes again, Jaina was already right in front of her.
With flashing eyes, Jaina, with an incomprehensible obsession that made it hard to tell if she was even alive, swung her sword.
But the sword was too far to reach Justia.
‘Stupid fool! It was too short!’
However, it was not a simple sword strike.
The energy that erupted from the tip of the sword soon led a massive Bloodstorm.
The red storm engulfed Justia’s entire body and in an instant, tore her armor and flesh to shreds.
“Kyaaaaaaak!!!”
In the pain of her whole body being torn apart, Justia swung her sword randomly.
However, the raging Bloodstorm did not scatter easily.
As the red storm swallowed Justia, everyone’s gaze was drawn to it.
“Wha- what is that?”
When the bloody storm finally subsided, what remained in its place was Justia, staggering, her entire body covered in blood.
From head to toe, her skin was cut away, leaving her in a hideous state.
However, she was still standing, gripping the sword in her hand.
“Uuuh……”
She glared at Jaina with eyes blazing with anger.
On the other hand, Jaina could only barely look at her in her blurred vision, the tip of the sword in her hand feeling so heavy it touched the ground.
“You crazy bitch…… I'll make sure to kill you!”
Justia gathered her last strength and unleashed a compressed sword aura as if exploding it.
Sensing death, Jaina closed her eyes with a smile.
There was no more fear.
“Jaina!”
Mei also struggled to block it, but her body would no longer move.
It was the moment Jaina’s life was about to be extinguished.
—Thwump!
A black shadow leaped in in an instant and deflected Justia’s sword aura.
Then, a golden spear flew and pierced Justia’s torso, pinning her to the castle wall.
The man with bronze skin, after throwing the spear, gently caught the falling Jaina.
“Hehe, quite the aggressive lady, aren't you. I'm talking about both of you, of course.”
At his light joke, Jaina looked up at his face, dumbfounded.
And immediately, someone shouted.
“It's Ron Witterek of the Seven Stars!”
The allied soldiers on the castle wall and on the battlefield all looked towards the source of the sound, and when they confirmed the person who had actually appeared, a cheer erupted.
“Wooooo!!! Ron is here!”
Amidst the exploding cheers, Ron smiled awkwardly and shrugged his shoulders.
“Haha, the real hero is someone else, though.”
He spoke to Jaina, who was in his arms.
“I was told to find a lady with red hair, thankfully I arrived just in time.”
“……Who are you?”
To Jaina's weak question, the man smiled brightly.
“Ah, my introduction is late. I am Ron Witterek. Just a fisherman who catches fish in the sea.”
“Thank you…… for saving me.”
“There's no need to be thankful. Your friend sent me.”
“A friend……?”
Ron answered calmly.
“I mean Evan Lafard. He is on his way here.”
At that name, Jaina’s heart began to beat violently.
Evan Lafard is coming.
The hope of the Kaien Kingdom, the man who shouldered the future of the continent, was finally heading here.
At that news, Jaina muttered with a smile.
“Took him long enough. That bastard.”