Chapter 117: Acanthus (6)
Clang!
The swords of Heitz and Harang clashed, and a shockwave rippled across the dry winter plains.
Among the Acanthus mbers, who stood wide-eyed, clutching their fluttering clothes, the Spirit Master Konjinyu stared at the point of impact with a more dramatic expression than the rest.
‘Is this even possible?’
First, the very fact that a clash had occurred was absurd.
Who was Heitz?
A Sword Master.
One of fewer than fifty on the continent, a superhuman among superhumans, capable of making even the royalty of great nations tread carefully.
And yet, soone had managed to follow his strike and force a collision?
To Konjinyu’s common sense, it was utterly incomprehensible. By all rights, Harang’s neck should have been severed in a single blow.
But there were even more astonishing facts.
The fact that Harang’s sword hadn’t shattered despite clashing with Heitz’s ‘Blue Sword.’
And the fact that, after the clash, Harang had displayed stealth so exceptional it deceived even a Master’s eyes.
‘Just what kind of guy is he?’
Fine, let’s say, for the sake of argunt, that the sword didn’t break. Perhaps Harang had stumbled upon so miraculous fortune, acquiring a legendary blade from an ancient kingdom or a mythical artifact capable of withstanding a few exchanges.
But to successfully hide from a Sword Master’s senses? That was a scenario Konjinyu’s mind couldn’t accept.
If this were a dense forest teeming with hiding spots or a crowded city street, he might have thought it possible.
But the battlefield was a plain. A wide-open space with only a few cracks, craters, and rocks created during their fight.
‘He’s a research subject. A research subject!’
In the end, Konjinyu stopped thinking.
Yes, Harang was a being beyond his comprehension.
He had thought Zeb was a peerless genius on the continent, but Harang was on another level entirely.
A talent who would undoubtedly be an asset if recruited into Acanthus!
That made this encounter with Heitz all the more regrettable. No matter how brilliantly Harang perford now, the outco was already decided.
‘…Remarkable.’
At the sa mont, Heitz, having crossed swords with Harang, was also deeply astonished by his opponent.
Since becoming a Master, he had never needed to swing his sword more than twice, except against fellow Masters or 8th-star Magicians.
But now was different. Beyond that, he was even facing a threat to his life.
Of course, the probability was low.
0.1 percent?
0.01 percent?
Perhaps even less. The gap between a Sword Master and a Graduate was that vast and profound.
But the re existence of that possibility, the fact that there was any chance at all, wounded Heitz’s pride. At the sa ti, it ignited his curiosity.
To him, who had always wielded his sword in a cold, detached state, Harang was like a long-forgotten spark.
“Hoo.”
Woooom—
Heitz expanded his senses.
To an ordinary swordsman, it might look like he was rely scattering Aura in a mist-like form, but it was a far more advanced technique.
At this mont, he could see, touch, and hear everything within a 100-ter radius. His sensory cells, so sharp and sensitive, had settled across the ground, making such a description apt.
What was astonishing was that, even so, he couldn’t detect Harang’s presence.
To be precise:
‘He’s using his own energy to interfere with my senses.’
An eerie, sinister energy.
Like wandering through a village piled with corpses under a moonless night sky ravaged by plague, the energy Harang had scattered was damp and foul.
To clear away this ghostly presence, Heitz would either have to scatter his Aura more forcefully or move and swing his sword directly.
He chose the forr.
‘If I chose the latter, there’s a chance, however slim, that I’d expose a weakness.’
Of course, any weakness he revealed would still be a Master’s standard, likely appearing perfect to a re Graduate like Harang. But Heitz didn’t let his guard down.
He would eliminate even the slightest possibility.
Slowly but perfectly, he erased the ominous energy Harang had scattered. The mont Harang’s presence was fully captured by his senses, he would move. That was all.
Woom.
Woooom—
Woom, woom—!
One minute passed, then two, then five.
During that ti, Heitz focused all his nerves, ticulously erasing Harang’s Aura.
Once he adapted, he moved swiftly to carry out the task, and the Acanthus mbers began to feel their movents and breathing ease.
This astonished them once again.
An energy so potent and dense that even powerhouses like them felt restricted in their actions.
It was almost as if…
“It’s akin to the dark energy emitted by Demons.”
“……”
“……”
“Not even a Demon, but a re human capable of this? I never imagined it possible.”
Silenos' testimony.
In the face of a spectacle so absurd that even a Demon couldn’t hide their shock, everyone’s hearts grew cold once more.
Wooooom—!
Suddenly, Heitz drew his Blue Sword with all his might and slamd it into the ground.
Boom!
A trendous roar echoed, and a shockwave swept the surroundings. The Acanthus mbers, once again disheveled, didn’t dare complain. Heitz’s expression looked far from pleased.
‘I need to step in.’
After glancing around, Konjinyu cleared his throat and approached Heitz. Only he and Silenos could handle an enraged Heitz, but Silenos was too shy to step forward in such situations.
He asked,
“What’s got you so riled up all of a sudden?”
“I lost him.”
“…What?”
“No, to be precise… he never intended to fight in the first place.”
“……”
“Likely, at the mont of our clash, he scattered his energy to make it seem like he was preparing an ambush… and then fled imdiately. I didn’t notice.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
“It seems I still have much training to do.”
Shing—
Clank!
After retracting his Aura and sheathing his sword, Heitz began walking sowhere with heavy steps.
Konjinyu started to call out but soon closed his mouth.
He understood.
‘He’s going back into training.’
It made sense.
Having erged into the world thinking he’d achieved sothing, only to be toyed with by soone far beneath him, Heitz must be seething with self-loathing.
But Konjinyu didn’t think this was Heitz’s fault.
Rather…
‘It’s probably because Harang is far too exceptional for his age.’
He shook his head.
He retracted his earlier thought that Harang was a step and a half behind.
No, even claiming the gap was just a step or half a step wouldn’t leave him with much to argue.
“Impressive.”
“Indeed.”
“No denying it.”
“What a sha. It would’ve been great if he’d joined us.”
“He’s a strange one, but… there’s no denying it. That ability is certainly enviable.”
The other Acanthus mbers reacted similarly. As Heitz walked away, they poured out favorable comnts about Harang, tinged with regret. Regardless of their positive feelings, it was clear Harang had already ford a poor impression of Acanthus.
While everyone was discussing Harang,
“……”
Zeb, who once fought alongside him on the sa battlefield, recalled Harang’s words with a heavy gaze.
‘Zeb. Get out of this idiotic place right now.’
‘That guy, and these people who can’t even stop his nonsense… they’re no different from the guys in the village.’
‘If you can’t do either, the next ti we et… we won’t be able to hang out like friends anymore.’
“Am I… doing the right thing?”
A murmur so soft no one could hear.
Only Konjinyu, who commanded the spirits of the wind, noticed his troubles and gave a wry smile.
***
“Hoo, I survived.”
Three hours after the clash with Heitz.
Stopping in a quiet, safe place, I, Harang, let out a sigh of relief.
He was an opponent I absolutely couldn’t defeat.
Well, not absolutely—maybe there was a one-in-a-hundred chance—but I didn’t think it was worth betting my life on that slim possibility. So I fled. As long as I was alive, opportunities would co.
Still, I felt so regret.
The other Acanthus mbers, aside from Heitz, didn’t seem that bad.
Above all, it was a pity I couldn’t gather more information about the village.
But it wasn’t a complete loss.
Learning that the Red Magician, Greg Pellegrino, was behind the Black Hydra was a significant achievent.
However, regarding the village, as soone prone to suspicion, I couldn’t help but acknowledge the gaps in Zeb’s claims.
His logic made sense, of course.
The village and the Black Hydra shared the sa swordsmanship.
Thus, the Black Hydra was connected to the village.
Furthermore, since the Black Hydra was linked to the Red Magician, it followed that the Red Magician was connected to the village.
‘Not a bad deduction.’
Considering there were few beings capable of controlling an organization as powerful as the village, it even briefly seed plausible that a figure like the Red Magician would be the boss.
‘But… can I take this at face value?’
The ‘unknown organization’ that attacked the village nagged at .
The fact that the Red Magician was a magician, not a swordsman, also bothered . It was hard to believe that soone as significant as the ‘Village’s General Manager’ would serve under a magician rather than a swordsman.
‘Of course, my thoughts are pretty subjective too…’
“Hm… I don’t know.”
After pondering for a mont, I flopped onto the ground.
Maybe what mattered right now wasn’t that.
Closing my eyes, I recalled my battle with Konjinyu and my clash with Heitz.
It was a shock.
Konjinyu was one thing, but the strength of a Sword Master was beyond imagination.
‘If it weren’t for the sword Collector Neumann gave … I’d have died there.’
It was true.
Even my perfected Aura Sword, drawn with all my strength, was useless before a Color Sword.
To counter it, I’d need either overwhelmingly superior swordsmanship to subdue him without our blades ever clashing or a sword exceptional enough to withstand a Color Sword.
In my case, it was the latter. Neither my Aura manipulation nor my swordsmanship was a match for Heitz.
‘Even if we fought purely with swordsmanship, without Aura, my head would’ve hit the ground before we exchanged thirty moves.’
A truly disappointing result.
But instead of feeling despair, I used it as fuel for growth.
I had gained a lot.
The Black Magician Vivian.
The Spirit Master Konjinyu.
The Sword Master Heitz.
Having fought a series of diverse powerhouses, my mind was brimming with new inspirations for combat.
If I could digest this well, I had a good chance of reaching a higher realm.
Perhaps, if I faced such trials a few more tis, I might even reach the Master’s realm myself.
Thinking this far, I opened my eyes and looked to the side, specifically at the spot where my sword lay.
A smile crept onto my face.
Standing up, I drew the sword from its sheath and shouted,
“Thank you, sword! For saving my life!”
Yes.
The sword given to by Collector Neumann was the true hero of this journey. Without it, I’d have struggled even against Vivian, and the countless insights and information about the village would likely have slipped away.
But then.
Crack!
“Huh?”
Crack, crack!
Snap!
“What the—?”
A fissure appeared, and the sword shattered limply.
What followed was an unimaginable sight.
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