Awakening the Great Chapter 60

Chapter 60: Spring Stained with Blood

A month later, in a small village in the northeastern region of the Astria Kingdom.

Winter retreats and the snow lts.

The spring sunlight seeping beyond the village entrance gently enveloped the rooftops covered with thin ice, and wildflowers had grown about a span's length at the edges of the fields. A few cherry blossoms blood on bare branch tips, announcing the beginning of spring. On the path where warm winds blew, the sky was blue and the air held softness.

However, the season inside the fence was still winter.

Between the broken walls, snapped pillars jutted out sharply, and dried bloodstains were scattered over the brick debris. Moreover, inside the half-collapsed houses, people crouched. Not one person cried or made a sound. Instead of words, only quiet sobs flowed out.

"You bitch, where do you think you're going?"

Tak—

Village outskirts.

While one house stood precariously as if it would collapse at any mont, a woman who tried to run outside had her hair grabbed. Her clothes torn like rags. She couldn't even scream and collapsed.

Soon, a soldier wearing the military uniform of the Niboria Empire placed his hand on her thigh. Around them, several fellow Empire soldiers were loitering and laughing.

The village n standing at a distance lowered their eyes. Though they didn't say it aloud, everyone knew that resistance was aningless.

"Is this all there is?"

"See, I told you. They've already been stripped clean."

anwhile, near the food warehouse, two soldiers shook their heads. The spoils of plunder amounted to nothing more than one chunk of dried at and two sacks of wheat.

"We ca for nothing. At this rate, let's just deal with them all."

"Kill them all?"

"They won't listen anyway—"

Puk.

And at that mont, the fellow soldier's words were cut off.

"Why did you stop talking?"

As the Empire soldier raised his head, his words likewise ceased. Before his eyes stood an unfamiliar group.

"Enemy!"

The reaction was quick, but the blade instantly took his life. A deep silence spread from the village entrance. They approached in silence, without rallying cries or shouts.

They were the Mountain Rabbits.

***

Puuuuuu—!

The sound of a horn flute echoed throughout the village. The Niboria Empire army's reaction was very swift.

"Battle stations! Attack from the outskirts!"

The centurion leading the troops shouted at the top of his lungs. A short but compressed vocalization. By the ti the Mountain Rabbits attacked toward the village center, half of them had already ford ranks and gathered together.

Calix was inwardly impressed.

They were on a different level from the Astria Kingdom's soldiers. The process of restoring order was very clean. The enemies scattered across dozens of locations quickly gathered.

'This is movent that cos from long training.'

At the sa ti, Volga's voice flowed into his ear.

"Let's split into two groups! Three to the left, five to the right!"

The young man gripping a heavy iron club rushed forward. Wheatley and Romance supported him from behind. Though each had different assigned roles, they moved as one.

Hwik!

A soldier's spearpoint flew toward Volga's vital point, but he held out his club like a shield and deflected its trajectory. Next naturally connected to close combat. Since he wasn't inferior to anyone in physical strength, he pressed down on his opponent with power.

"You bastard!"

Taang!

When another soldier suddenly charged from the left, Romance thrust out his shield and deflected it at an angle. Though he couldn't completely deflect it, it wasn't a big problem.

Wheatley rushed in, thrusting his sword tip.

Puuk!

Calix watched his comrades' clean coordinated attack. All three wore lowest-grade Neural Accelerators. The color was still gray. But it was different from before. Their internal mana shed completely, drawing out the abilities of their true selves to the limit.

Right, he wasn't the only one who had grown.

The Mountain Rabbits were changing too.

However, in the world, there also exist gaps that fundantally cannot be filled. Such was Calix's case. Unlike mid-level rcenaries, he didn't easily swing his sword.

[Reality Acceleration 2.6x]

Pyeong!

Every ti he stamped his feet, the ground deeply caved in. And soon, as he penetrated between the Niboria Empire's soldiers, blades flying from all directions threatened his life.

In an instant, his intuition at its extre classified the enemy's attacks. It divided and inford its master of weapons that could actually inflict wounds, those not so dangerous, and those that could be ignored.

Calix focused on one of them.

There was a soldier emitting the sharpest aura. The Neural Accelerator's color was actually blue. Though not as vivid as a knight's, it was an extrely high level to be dismissed as just a soldier.

'I have to handle him. But before that... I'll clean up the surroundings first.'

Among those surrounding the target were two greens and two grays. He first charged right up to the opponent emitting green light.

Ssssseueueueuk.

The enemy's reaction was both imdiate and slow. He deployed swordsmanship very similar to the 'Dance of the Wilderness' that Gregor had taught, but he was in a different ti zone from Calix.

Chagagak!

Soon, he thrust out the entire scabbard to deflect the opponent's blade and penetrated into his embrace. The attack was accomplished in the blink of an eye.

Pyeok!

He ramd with his shoulder to destroy the opponent's body balance, while simultaneously bringing the scabbard to the relatively vulnerable armpit area.

The tool for taking life revealed itself outside the scabbard. There was no need to fully draw the blade. Exactly one-third. The motion of drawing was the sa as slashing.

Seureureung, sseugak!

Subsequently, using the blade as a lever, he lifted the enemy's right shoulder. As he stepped to the left, his posture naturally switched. The opponent's body center completely collapsed.

Therefore, he rotated his upper body and once again scraped the enemy's nape.

Cheolkeok, seogeok!

Truly a clean finish.

For the Niboria Empire army, it was a quite bewildering sight. Due to the difference in speed, it looked as if blood spurted from their ally's nape in one instant. However, Calix was already moving toward the next opponent even before the stream of blood exploded out.

The key was to cut efficiently without waste.

Calix pressed his weapon close to his waist. As the first victim appeared, two soldiers charged from left and right simultaneously.

'One is green, the other is gray.'

Ssaeaeaek!

From the right, a spearpoint flew toward his lower body, and from the left, a sword stabbed in. The coordinated attack was quite sharp, but Calix also responded flexibly with movents split in two.

He switched the grip to his left hand and imdiately separated the sword and scabbard. A smooth slashing. However, the key to the counterattack was his right hand.

He struck down hard with the end of the scabbard, forcefully breaking the wooden shaft right behind the enemy's spearhead.

Kwajijik!

Though a shocked emotion rose on the person's face, even that didn't last long. The blade had already traced a curve and cut through human flesh. No, rather it was closer to traversing space.

From the side to the shoulder, the diagonal trajectory advanced unobstructed and soared toward the sky.

Hwirireuk—

Then, Calix rotated his body while preserving that montum. There was no reason to forcefully pull his arm back. As his waist turned and his shoulder joints followed, his blade also rotated, drawing a semicircle.

Puchwaaaaak!

With one slash, he killed two.

It was skill worthy of admiration even by Calix himself. This much despite his body not being in perfect condition. His senses didn't miss a single thing around him, and with mana backing him, his hands and feet moved as intended.

Of course, the real opponent was separate.

Blue.

The Niboria Empire's centurion twitched his thick eyebrows. Even as his subordinates died in an instant, he didn't rashly charge forward. Rather than acting emotionally, he assessed reality coldly.

'That bastard is an upper-rank knight. His outfit looks like a rcenary's, but he might be a special unit of the Astria Kingdom. In any case... Surviving will be difficult.'

He was the one leading the Niboria Empire's scouting party. As he was responsible for the lives of subordinates numbering a hundred, he didn't refuse the place where he must die.

Thus, the one who hadn't moved until now took a step forward.

"Your na... I won't ask."

Calix also sensed him through the signal his intuition conveyed. The scent of a swordsman was strong. It wasn't speaking of experience as a soldier, combat proficiency, or accelerator grade and such.

'Surely, an opponent who knows how to fight with his life on the line.'

Therefore, he willingly offered his three-character na.

"Calix."

"...Artinger."

Further conversation was unnecessary.

Tung.

The scabbard fell to the dirt ground. Soon, he gripped the sword with both hands and assud his stance.

Tsseutsseutsseu—

His body trembled finely for a mont.

Kwaang!

Two swordsn collided and a huge explosive sound spread.

'The blade was damaged in one clash.'

Calix accurately gauged his opponent's level as soon as they exchanged the first move. His grip trembled finely, offsetting the impact.

Right, the swordsman before his eyes knew how to use Wind’s Scar.

It wasn't simply force thrust out with mana. A matured realm. Sure enough, the wind that flew along the blade successively split into several strands.

Swik—

The Wind’s Scar the opponent fired was clean, accurate, and above all... Familiar. It felt like facing his past self.

At that mont, his Neural Accelerator displayed a ssage.

[You have witnessed Niboria-style 'Wilderness Swordsmanship']

[Bloodline ability change detected]

[Ashapel's Instinct/Warlord's Avatar rose by '1%', currently '25%']

[Collect additional Niboria Fragnts]

'No wonder it felt similar yet subtly different from the Dance of the Wilderness.'

Presumably, there was a separate classification called 'Wilderness Swordsmanship'.

If it were up to his heart, he wanted to fight a bit longer. He wanted to observe the opponent's fighting style and dissect it thoroughly.

'But a prolonged battle is troubleso. The weapon's quality isn't good. I can't fight long.'

While equally eting the enemy's attack with Wind’s Scar, Calix clearly recognized the limitations of the weapon he was holding.

In fact, the weapon he had been carrying until now had beco completely unusable while going through the Storm Forest. The new sword was also obtained from an appropriately sized village. Borrowing Dwarf Basim's explanation, it would be 'a lump of sugar good to lt in water anyti'.

Therefore, he had to end it quickly. It wasn't particularly about sparing the sword, but simply about deciding victory or defeat before its durability was exhausted.

'I have to use Falling Flower.'

***

From a certain mont, the Mountain Rabbits appropriately controlled the montum that had been pressing the enemy. The Empire army and even the village residents were only looking at one place.

Everyone knew.

'That the outco of the battle will be divided by one victory or defeat.'

And then, Calix's sword trembled faintly. The strength in his wrist loosened, and his breathing was divided finely as if pressed by sothing.

Wind brushed past.

Between his hair, through the gaps in his collar, it slipped in and penetrated, burrowing through his skin. The sensation that tickled his spine gathered at his fingertips. The object called a sword expanded beyond his grip, beyond his fingertips, as if it were part of his body.

Only then did Calix move.

As his toes pushed away the dust and rose, the 'sharp wind' that had been targeting his ankles lost its target.

Seureurereung—tuk.

Simultaneously with evasion, he took his first step. The sword tip was lowered as if it would touch the ground, soon beginning to trace a trajectory. The slashing motion was also clean, but more than that, the overwhelming speed captivated everyone's gaze.

Sswaeaeaeaeaek!

The cheap weapon was filled with Calix's mana. With appropriate speed added here, sparks flew up due to friction between particles.

At first, only an extrely small number seed to fall, then quickly multiplied to hundreds and thousands, and ultimately clumped into one mass, dyeing all directions red.

Falling Flower.

The appearance was perfect. It was incomparably splendid. The result was also excellent. The wind created by the centurion was futilely cut. The fierce flas didn't stop at driving away the wind but ruthlessly carved through even the weapon forged from iron.

Brilliant red flas fell through the air like spring's last leaf.

Kwajijijik!

The opponent's sword was cut and tuk—fell to the ground. Additionally, Calix's blade penetrated the enemy's shoulder, the collarbone area, and split the body in two. Since it was seared by fierce flas simultaneously with being cut, almost no blood flowed out.

Even veteran rcenaries let out small groans, and the Empire army soldiers froze in place, unable to move.

However—

'I aid for the neck, but the trajectory twisted at the last mont.'

Calix keenly felt his own inadequacy.

Flas scattered but weren't condensed.

Strength was applied but the center was empty.

It wasn't that he filled the weapon with flas. Rather, he was swept away by the flas. This was his current level.

He slowly lowered his sword. The blade had already lted halfway and flowed down, so it wouldn't have much aning, but he silently looked down at it as if seeking an answer.

The sword slowly cooled, and the sparks also subsided as if nothing had happened. His heart inford him that a new task had been given.

His Falling Flower was not yet complete.