Chapter 54
The battlefield didn't stay still for long.
The army moved.
The thralls screamed.
Hundreds of kobold-like creatures surged forward at once, their claws scraping against broken stone, their bodies twisting unnaturally fast as they rushed him from every direction.
Behind them, the giants shifted.
Watching.
Waiting.
Lugh stepped forward.
No hesitation. Just movement.
The emerald blade burned brighter.
Then he dashed.
The ground shattered beneath his step as he cut straight into the swarm.
The first wave reached him.
Claws tore through the air. Blades swung wildly.
One leapt directly at him, its claws aimed for his throat.
Lugh didn't dodge. He stepped in.
Blade rising.
And then something felt wrong.
The creature's body shifted mid-air.
Bones cracked. Flesh twisted.
Its form stretched unnaturally, as if something inside it was forcing itself outward.
Lugh's eyes narrowed.
The blade was about to connect.
But he stopped.
For the briefest fraction of a second, too fast for anyone else to notice, he saw it.
Black hair.
The claws shrank. The hunched back straightened. The monstrous face softened.
Blue eyes.
Lugh's pupils shrank.
Aria.
His arm halted mid-swing.
The blade stopped inches away from the transforming figure.
The creature's form continued shifting.
Skin smoothing. Limbs reshaping.
A human silhouette began to emerge.
Lugh closed his eyes.
In the next instant, he vanished.
A burst of force cracked the ground as he leapt backward, creating distance before the transformation could complete.
The creature froze.
Half-formed.
Its body was stuck between shapes, a distorted mixture of kobold and human.
The transformation halted at the neck.
Silence fell.
"…What was that?" Alexi's voice trembled.
The swarm didn't advance. They stood still, watching.
Denovan's voice echoed across the battlefield, calm.
"…So that is your weakness."
Lugh stood still, eyes closed. The emerald blade flickered slightly in his hand.
Denovan stepped forward slowly. His gaze moved to the half-formed creature, then back to Lugh.
"The fiancée," the Pope said quietly.
Alexi's head snapped toward him.
Denovan's lips curved faintly, not in amusement, but in understanding.
"You are the one," he continued, "for whom Aria rejected the Hero."
The words landed heavily.
Alexi stiffened.
Denovan glanced at him briefly, then returned his focus to Lugh.
"…Even after seeing Lillia," he added, his tone almost curious, "a woman praised across nations for her beauty…"
His gaze sharpened.
"The only one in your heart…"
"…was Aria."
The thralls began to move again.
Slowly.
---
Lugh didn't open his eyes.
For a moment, he stood completely still.
Then he reached up and tore a strip of cloth from his shoulder.
He wrapped it once.
Twice.
Then pulled it tight across his eyes.
A blindfold.
The emerald blade flickered softly in his hand.
The battlefield went quiet.
Alexi stared in disbelief.
"…What is he doing…?"
The thralls didn't advance.
Even they hesitated.
Denovan watched.
Then he laughed softly.
"…Ah."
His lips curved slightly.
"So that is how you choose to respond."
His gaze shifted to the half-formed creature, then back to Lugh.
"They are not illusions," Denovan said calmly. "Nor simple shapeshifters."
"They read," he continued, voice smooth and deliberate, "not just memory, but intent."
Alexi's breath caught.
"They do not become what you love…"
A pause.
"They become what will make you stop."
The words sank into the battlefield.
As if in response, the thralls moved again.
This time faster.
One leapt, claws extended.
Mid-air, its body twisted violently.
Bones cracked.
Lugh moved.
He lifted the blade and swung.
A single horizontal arc.
The emerald flame stretched with it, not as fire, but as something sharper, thinner.
It extended.
The slash passed through the battlefield.
Through the charging thralls.
Through the shifting mimics.
Through everything in its path.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then every body stopped.
Hundreds of forms froze mid-motion.
Claws raised. Teeth bared.
Half-transformed faces locked in place.
Then they separated.
Cleanly.
Heads slid from bodies.
Forms split apart without resistance.
Blood flowed across the ground.
Bodies fell heavily, thudding against stone.
The entire wave was gone.
The emerald line faded.
Lugh lowered the blade.
Silence returned.
Heavier this time.
Alexi didn't move.
His eyes remained fixed on the empty battlefield.
That…
His thoughts trembled.
That was Slashbreak.
The realization hit harder than the attack itself.
A basic C-rank sword skill.
Taught to novices for controlled cuts.
Designed for precision, for targets measured in centimeters
And he used it like that.
---
Denovan remained silent for a moment.
He simply watched.
His eyes traced the aftermath.
The precision.
The absence of excess.
Then a quiet breath escaped him.
"…So even your fundamentals have been distorted."
His lips curved slightly.
"What you used is a C-rank sword skill… refined to the point where classification itself becomes meaningless."
His gaze sharpened.
"You didn't enhance the technique. You removed its limitations."
The air shifted.
"…How inconvenient."
The two giants beside him stepped forward, tightening their grip on their massive runed pillars.
One glowed with pale blue light.
The other pulsed with deep purple.
"My Legion Commanders. Crush him."
At the command, the two titans charged.
Lugh, still blindfolded, moved to meet them.
The ice titan surged ahead, lifting its massive pillar and bringing it down with crushing force.
The ground shattered on impact.
Cracks spread outward.
The force sent a tremor through the battlefield.
Stone collapsed inward as debris scattered.
Lugh disappeared beneath the strike.
Then he moved.
A blur.
The pillar struck nothing but broken earth.
Lugh had already slipped past it.
He stepped onto the titan's arm mid-motion and surged upward.
Too fast.
Too precise.
The frost titan reacted too late.
Lugh closed the distance instantly.
His body twisted.
He drove his knee into its neck.
A sharp crack echoed across the battlefield.
The titan's neck caved inward.
Runes flickered violently.
Its massive body froze.
Then slowly, it began to fall.
The ground trembled as it collapsed.
Dust rose.
Silence followed.
Lugh landed lightly.
As if nothing had happened.
---
Alexi stared.
"…He…"
His voice failed him.
"That was a Legion Commander…"
His grip tightened.
"…and he just…"
The words wouldn't come.
---
Behind him, Alcoum staggered back.
"N… no…"
His voice trembled.
"That thing… it was a Commander… right?"
His eyes darted between the corpse and Lugh.
"There's no way…"
He took another step back.
"There's no way someone kills it that easily…"
His breathing grew uneven.
---
Denovan didn't move.
He simply watched.
His gaze rested briefly on the fallen titan, then returned to Lugh.
---
Something changed.
Lugh paused.
The second presence was gone.
He scanned the battlefield.
Nothing.
No movement.
No sound.
Then realization struck.
He turned.
Too late.
Space behind him warped.
It folded inward as the red titan emerged from the distortion.
Purple runes blazed across its pillar.
It swung.
There was no time to evade.
The pillar crashed down.
Lugh raised his left arm.
The impact shook the battlefield.
A shockwave burst outward.
Stone shattered.
The ground sank beneath his feet.
His arm trembled slightly.
But it held.
This one was heavier.
The red titan vanished again.
Space warped behind him.
It reappeared, already mid-swing.
This time, Lugh moved first.
His left hand opened.
Mana gathered.
A spear-like construct formed, dark in body with a condensed sphere at its tip.
Aphrode .
His right hand still gripped Venidia.
The pillar descended.
Lugh drove the staff into the ground.
A tight shockwave burst outward.
Concentrated. Violent.
The force collided upward against the titan's strike.
For a moment, the massive frame halted.
Then it was forced back.
Dragged away.
The ground beneath Lugh cracked further.
But he remained standing.
Calm. Blindfolded.
Both weapons vanished.
Lugh moved.
An axe lay embedded in the fractured ground.
He kicked it up and caught it mid-motion without slowing.
The red titan was still recovering, kneeling, its pillar beside it.
That was enough.
Lugh closed the distance instantly.
He jumped and drove his shoulder into the titan's chin.
The impact snapped its head upward.
Its posture broke completely.
Lugh didn't stop.
He jumped again.
Higher.
Closer.
His hand grabbed one of its horns.
He pulled hard.
The force twisted its neck violently, forcing its gaze toward the sky.
Its balance was gone.
Its body no longer under its control.
Lugh moved.
The axe came down.
First strike.
The eye.
Steel sank deep.
Blood burst out, spilling down its face.
A distorted scream tore from its throat.
Second strike.
The mouth.
The blade of the axe crashed through.
Blood filled its jaws and spilled outward.
The scream choked and died.
Third strike.
The neck.
This time he put everything into it.
The axe tore deep.
Blood surged out in heavy streams, falling like rain.
Lugh released his grip and dropped back to the ground.
The titan swayed.
For a moment, it remained standing.
Broken.
Bleeding.
Then it collapsed.
The impact echoed across the battlefield.
---
Dust settled slowly.
Blood spread across the shattered stone.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Alcoum staggered backward.
"N… no…"
"…Both of them…"
His breathing shook.
"They were Legion Commanders…"
A hollow sound escaped him.
"They were supposed to be monsters…"
His gaze shifted to Lugh.
Standing alone.
Blindfolded.
Unharmed.
"…Then what is he…?"
---
Alexi remained silent.
His eyes never left Lugh.
"That shouldn't be possible…"
---
Denovan spoke quietly.
"…So this is the result."
"…You exceed expectation."
Then his gaze shifted.
"…Alcium."
Alcium froze.
"…Y-Yes…?"
"Go. Kill him."
Silence.
Alcium slowly turned toward Lugh.
The air around him felt heavy.
Oppressive.
Alcium gulped.
"…About that…"
"I would love to… truly…"
"…but I don't have my weapon, so it would be a bit unfair…"
Thud.
A long axe dropped in front of him.
Denovan spoke calmly.
"This is my Domain Expansion. I can conjure whatever I desire."
Alcium stared at the axe.
"…Right."
"…Any chance you can also conjure a replacement for me?"
Denovan's gaze sharpened.
Alcium froze.
"…Ah."
He immediately picked up the axe.
"N-No problem."
Flames ignited along the blade.
His expression changed.
Still afraid.
But focused.
He forced more mana into it.
The heat rose rapidly.
The air distorted.
Alexi broke into a sweat.
"…This is bad…"
Lugh turned slightly.
He felt it.
"Alexi. Get back. Now."
Alexi moved immediately, rushing toward his sister's ice cocoon.
But it was too late.
Alcium had already leapt.
High into the air.
The axe overflowed with fire.
Lugh clicked his tongue.
Dodging wouldn't work.
This was an area attack.
Alcium descended.
Then he slammed the axe down.
Fire erupted.
A massive pillar of flame shot into the sky.
The battlefield was consumed.
Flames spread like a tidal wave.
Alexi ran.
He dragged his sister behind a large slab of stone just as the flames reached them.
Heat engulfed everything.
Then slowly, the flames subsided.
White smoke filled the battlefield.
Denovan laughed.
A triumphant laugh.
"WHERE IS YOUR SAVIOR HERO?"
His voice echoed.
Alexi peeked out.
His eyes widened in terror.
The battlefield was gone.
Burned.
Destroyed.
But Alcium frowned.
He felt something.
The axe… hadn't struck flesh.
It had struck something else.
Something harder.
His eyes widened.
The axe was suddenly knocked away.
He was sent flying.
The metallic impact cut through everything.
The shockwave cleared the smoke.
Revealing Lugh.
Unscathed.
In his hand was a massive shield.
Black, veined with red, centered around a dark crimson core.
Denovan's eyes widened.
Fury replaced amusement.
"WHERE DID YOU GET…"
His voice cracked the battlefield.
"THE SIN OF GLUTTONY?!"