Chapter 565 - First Round (3)
Raymon.
Once, he had been recognized as a great knight, respected as a mentor after retirement, and loved as a foster father.
And then.
He was assaulted in unison by the elders of the Bohemirn Magic Tower, losing his right arm and left leg. For years he was subjected to torture under the guise of experiments.
He was even forced into actions against his will, just to shatter his disciple's indomitable spirit, his very death thoroughly exploited...
The Bohemirn Magic Tower trampled on his dignity and bestowed upon him a wretched end.
And yet, was that not enough?
Was it not enough to ravage his life so thoroughly, that even his corpse had to be desecrated and used as a mere experimental subject until the very end?
Kill them.
Crunch.
Each time his forefoot struck with all his strength, the ground sank in. He looked only forward, disregarding everything else.
Every obstacle in his path was smashed aside. The Light Sword gleamed sharply, as if in resonance with his fierce will.
Adrian began to gradually catch up with Sandir's speed.
"A remarkable movement. But to challenge me in a battle of speed… not once, in all of history, has anyone dared such folly."
Sandir raised one corner of his mouth and adjusted his grip on his spear.
"Pity, that I cannot savor this at leisure amidst the interruptions."
Adrian and Sandir charged side by side.
Kaang! Kang! Shiiik──Chyaaaang! Kagagagak!
The spear strikes marked points, the sword strikes drew lines.
Condensed auras clashed, colliding at angles that twisted their trajectories. Sword scars and spear marks were etched across the surroundings in the aftermath.
Sensing an anomaly, Sandir chose to retreat, about nine seconds passing.
Before even a single breath was spent, dozens of exchanges were traded back and forth, in a span where even seconds felt long, their figures blurring.
The auras imbued in their weapons flickered in and out.
Wonyul 溒裂
Ranmu 亂舞
Kagagagagagagagagagagang!
Countless strikes collided and interlocked, afterimages lagging behind. And yet, neither ceased pressing forward.
It was hard to judge superiority.
For the scales had yet to bear a weight to tip them.
Jinryeon, Sandir Paen.
His epithet was born of those godlike, blisteringly fast successive strikes.
"...!"
Chwaaaak!
Forearm, thigh, flank.
Unarmored flesh was cut, blood spraying forth. Adrian's gaze wavered faintly as he was driven back head-on.
Even while maintaining Gukye, he failed to keep up.
And only then did certainty strike him.
'That man is a Transcendent.'
At that moment, Sandir spoke.
"One who devotes himself wholly to a single pursuit is wise indeed. Yet a man with only brute strength is helpless before another who holds even greater brute strength."
A Transcendent who revered speed, and the pinnacle of a warrior.
Sandir Paen was Adrian Chambers superior counterpart.
Craaaash!
The spear shaft slammed down on his head.
The damaged metal mask was driven hard against his skin. Adrian, thrown off balance, was hurled by his own inertia.
───Kwaaaaduduk!
He clawed at the ground to increase friction, then stomped upon it at once.
Whether his opponent was a Transcendent or not did not matter. Even if the man's form had completely vanished, it was no issue.
The disturbed air currents told him everything.
And thus he burst out of the forest.
Ahead, Sandir stood halted, five powerful figures arrayed before him. They too were enthralled by forced magic circles, brainwashed.
Among them was the Grimnax assassin he had faced in Daunt's underground arcade.
Sandir smacked his lips.
"Two fewer. Killed by that monster who wields magic yet brute strength as well? Well, no matter. The time is not yet ripe to fulfill my purpose. Begin."
"Yes."
Fwoooosh.
One of the five, a mage in robes, pressed his hand to the ground, pouring in magic power. A concealed magic circle began to activate.
From the cracks of earth, light of a particular magical branch seeped out.
A spatial teleportation circle.
This was the means of return for Sandir's group, dispatched to Daunt.
"I told you...!!"
Emotion filled his voice.
"I told you I would kill you!!!!"
Gyeokhwa 激化
Adrian became a violet radiance, dashing straight ahead, but at that instant, the brainwashed figures blocked him from afar.
Magic of various branches, along with arrows and daggers, poured forth.
But they did not touch him.
In a burst of acceleration, he shielded himself within a dense barrier of aura.
Adrian's gaze crossed with Sandir's.
"Next time."
Sandir pulled back his spear with his right hand. With his left, he leveled it straight at the onrushing Adrian.
As if fixing upon his target.
"I look forward to seeing you shine brighter than this."
Secret Art.
I-myeong 二鳴
A twist of the wrist sent forth an aura whirlwind. At the same time, Adrian swept his Light Sword upward from below.
───!
Secret Arts collided.
His body seized mid-motion, an immense pressure crushing his entire frame.
'If I yield, I lose him.'
So Adrian clenched trembling [Silendar] tighter, forcing it through, driving back his opponent.
Amid deafening roars, cries erupted.
Rip.
The storm split apart.
But this alone was not enough. Defense was not what he needed, but attack.
Taking on the strain, Adrian maintained both secret arts, then recovered his blade, raising it high overhead before striking it straight down.
Following the vertical arc, clouds adrift in the sky parted.
Yet, he had overlooked something.
Sandir's secret art was not merely the focusing of sharp aura, to release in a beam with rotation.
The air itself resonated.
A second spear strike of hidden aura revealed itself belatedly, rushing forth.
"...!"
Adrian had shattered Sandir's secret art and sought to strike him, but Sandir's had from the start been aimed solely at Adrian.
Naturally, the latter, fixed upon one target, was faster.
And so, as the teleportation circle activated, just as Adrian's sword was in motion, Sandir's strike was about to pierce through Adrian's right chest.
Whooosh.
Verden leapt through space, interposing himself before Adrian.
Caught in the trajectory of the Light Sword, yet he did not evade. Though a dragon-claw-forged blade would surely be deadly.
Instead, he thrust out his right arm.
Kwooooooooom!
With the collision, an intense earthquake shook the ground, only to subside as if it had never been.
Pitch-black flames spread, devouring all aftermath.
A solemn silence descended.
Verden clenched the hand that throbbed with sharp pain. Then he chased the residual traces of the magic circle that had just activated, by sensation.
'...meticulous.'
Before he could even read the spatial coordinates, the traces of the magic circle had vanished completely, leaving no clue to follow.
Speculation, no, certainty, was that they had constructed a volatile teleportation circle based on special magical materials.
That was the very method Verden had once used to shake off Balrog Bessias when escaping from the Bohemirn Magic Tower.
Swiik.
Verden slowly turned his head.
The blade of [Silendar], halted just short of his shoulder, and beyond it... Adrian, blood still at the corner of his eye. Verden asked.
"What happened?"
Adrian stared at the spot where the magic circle had faded, then let his strength go.
Tak.
He tore off the twisted metal mask. His face, unable to erase emotion, bit down on his lips as he summarized the situation.
"Bohemirn, the magic tower."
***
Just as Adrian had once attacked the Midros Autonomous Territory, a group brainwashed by the Bohemirn tower master assaulted Daunt.
To find the Fangs of Gluttony.
By chance, their purpose overlapped with Verden's group... but more than intent, it was the confirmation of the tower's unofficial forces that mattered.
The appearance of an unidentified Transcendent.
'And not merely a supporter of the Bohemirn Magic Tower. Like the others, he bore Coercion etched into his head and torso, meaning he must be one of the unofficial test subjects.'
If so, how had they penetrated the mind of a Transcendent?
Ordinarily, not only brainwashing, but even Coercion could not be applied to such a being. At least, not by forceful means.
Then, only one possibility remained.
'...the Transcendent accepted Balrog's brainwashing of his own will?'
Naturally, Verden could not understand, why a being beyond mortal limits would willingly choose to be a slave.
Still, it remained a possibility.
Some manner of transaction.
The strongest evidence was that the Transcendent had received grafts of another's body parts.
"I should have held him, without fail... it was my mistake."
Adrian lowered his gaze, as if he could not bear to show his face.
His clenched fist trembled in small spasms.
It was only natural.
Having learned that his dead master's corpse had been butchered in malice, used as raw material for transplants, how could he stay calm?
"Mistake, nonsense. While I was absent, you held off a Transcendent, bought time, and reduced casualties. You deserve praise."
"But."
"It is true an unforeseen and mighty foe appeared, but this is not bad. Better that we grasp him now, before he becomes a fatal variable."
Verden placed his hand upon Adrian's shoulder.
"Vengeance will be taken together. Do not seek to shoulder it alone."
Do not be swayed by the hatred before your eyes.
The Bohemirn Magic Tower paying the price is inevitable.
What is needed is patience.
"I will keep it in mind, my lord."
Adrian drew a deep breath, then nodded firmly. It seemed a little strength had returned.
Alpha pressed the momentum with further encouragement.
[Okay.]
"Ah."
[Accidentally touched injured spot. Sorry.]
Patting Adrian's arm, Alpha's tiny hand brushed against a wound.
It was not deep, yet even after consuming an entire high-grade potion, the healing was remarkably slow.
So a few drops of Lysandro's fruit potion were applied, and unlike the potion, blood and flesh quickly regenerated.
'If Lysandro's fruit works externally, then the Transcendent's aura must be influencing the target's interior.'
A spear-wielding warrior-class Transcendent.
Even recalling Dahit's memories, his identity was unclear. At least, he was not one who reigned openly over the current continent.
'Then he must have either acted in the past, or spent a lifetime in hiding.'
Well, something to uncover once they returned.
***
They returned to Daunt.
In the district where the plaza market and the alley market met... a ruined place, Isabella came to meet Verden's group.
"When those brainwashed suddenly retreated, I figured the patriarch had intervened. But that spear-wielding man, what was he?"
"A Transcendent. I do not know who. And they had even prepared a teleportation circle beyond tracking."
"A Transcendent..."
Isabella caught her breath, though she had somewhat expected it.
From the brief clash, it was clear—though the man surely hid much of his strength, he already displayed power difficult to withstand.
She too, through training with Verden, was familiar with Transcendents.
Verden asked.
"And those two, captured?"
In his blue eyes reflected the massive warrior and the black mage, completely subdued and bound by pillars of ice.
"They were brainwashed, so I prioritized capturing them alive. Maybe if we undo the Coercion, they'll regain their consciousness. What about Gluttony?"
"For now, I've sealed it in [Arkeo]."
While recovering Interis, Verden had sealed Beldoran into the artifact. The situation had been too uncertain to interrogate immediately.
And curiously, the creature showed no resistance while being sealed.
In any case.
Verden approached the warrior and mage. He pressed his hand to their foreheads, peering within. But he could not give a favorable answer.
"Already too late."
...the Thought-Bias experiments, as he had learned from Elder Hiram.
These two were the subjects, and had already lost their true reason.
If Coercion were undone, not only would they fail to regain consciousness, they would not even be able to breathe on their own, mere dolls.
Moreover,
Irreversible.
"Patriarch, then let me..."
"No, I will do it myself."
Verden focused magic into his fingertips, and a small beam of annihilation pierced the two heads.
There would have been no pain.
"There were variables, but the objective is achieved. Let us return."
The city had suffered greatly, but restoration was not their concern. Adrian and Isabella had fought hard to minimize casualties, that was enough.
And just as they turned to depart from Daunt.
"Um, excuse me..."
Someone approached.
A young girl.
Her approach had already been sensed, so it was of no concern.
Verden, Adrian, and Isabella all wore their hoods low beneath their robes, so their identities could not be discerned.
They could easily turn her away.
But then.
"You're a mage, aren't you?"
Aisha stared directly at Verden.
Even though he still cloaked himself in [Ainber]'s