〈 Chapter 277 〉 The Immortal Human (3)
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The sword of Karioth was originally a blessing.
Seeing Karioth return battered and bruised repeatedly, she had placed a blessing on Karioth’s sword, but it originally had very little effect.
At best, it could heal minor scratches—a not particularly useful blessing, and Karioth didn’t pay it much mind.
However, that blessing had become corrupted.
“Karioth, there is no god anywhere.”
A village burning, the corpses of dead children.
“There is no salvation at all. A life that hoped for what never existed was utterly worthless and meaningless.”
She screamed as she dragged the charred human corpses. Once a devout believer, she chose the path of apostasy in her final moments.
“Deloheim, the inept Deloheim. A cruel god who desires nobody’s salvation.”
“Aah, Karioth. Were you the heretical judge? Are you going to judge me with that sword?”
In the burning village, death, the corruption of the soul.
What pierced the heart of the woman who had clawed at the world while cursing the god in her dying moments was ironically the cross sword she had gifted to her husband.
The pure white sword was stained red.
The platinum blessing was turned into a blood-red curse.
“You cannot die, forever.”
“You are only searching for a non-existent salvation.”
The cursed sword was proof of her apostasy and an object that fell outside the divine providence that mocked the teachings of Deloheim. However, Karioth never abandoned the sword. To keep a promise she once shared with him.
To find the will of a nonexistent god.
“Sorry, Kuntel.”
Karioth endured the curse.
“I can’t die without my wife’s permission.”
The curse embedded in the sword was immortality (死).
Karioth was denied the right to be free from life through death. No matter how torn her body was, or how her head was crushed, after 37 hours, her flesh would return to its original form.
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Slash!
Kuntel’s sword sliced through Karioth’s body once again.
In an instant, dozens of strikes mutilated Karioth’s whole body. Blood splattered, and flesh was scattered everywhere.
However, Karioth did not die.
Her torn body regained its form in an instant. The spilled blood returned to Karioth’s body as if time were rewinding.
‘35 seconds.’
Karioth counted the seconds in her mind.
During the 37 seconds enveloped by the curse, the process of “resurrection” took place at an absurdly fast pace. After 37 seconds, she would have to endure the side effects, but… there was no room to think about that now.
With her body being hacked apart, Karioth raised her hand.
Her finger pointed at Galahal and Raniel, beyond Kuntel. While being shredded by Kuntel’s sword, Karioth smiled. Her neck was torn, and no sound came forth, but she mouthed a message.
It’s an opportunity, you guys.
Pushing forward against the storm of vicious strikes, Karioth took a step forward. An immortal has its own way of fighting.
*
Rushing forward with blood and guts splattered around, Karioth’s figure was unsettling even to her allies. In the North, warriors who fear no death were called berserkers, right?
Even the fearless warriors of the North felt fear before a berserker. A human who thrust their neck into the face of death was already something beyond human.
As the knights held their breath, Saint Sara furrowed her brow and stepped forward.
“Sa-Saintess!”
The knights recognizing her stepped back.
As the knights retreated, Sara rolled up her sleeves. She clasped her hands in prayer to the god.
‘The situation is annoying.’
The fact that she was caught up in this and had to help the apostate was frustrating, but… she couldn’t just do nothing.
For now, she was a saint.
Sara felt a responsibility as a figure representing the Church Order. In her voice, which she exhaled briefly, divinity was infused.
“God, grant them blessings.”
The star answered Sara’s call.
“God’s grace will be with them.”
A brilliant radiance erupted around Sara.
2.
A pillar of light descended from the sky. Karioth and Galahal were oblivious to its nature, but Raniel knew.
‘Blessing.’
The light bursting forth was the trace of a top-tier blessing.
Originally, it would require several high priests to bestow such a blessing, yet dozens were pouring down at once. Only one person could do such a thing, and Raniel knew who it was.
Saint Sara.
A saint blessed by God.
Putting aside her tangled emotions, she undeniably wielded divine magic as a saint. Indeed, the effect was nothing short of miraculous. The body, which had been drenched in blood, began to recover in an instant.
‘…Blessing, Karioth’s immortality, and Galahal.’
Raniel calculated what was available to her.
She determined what she could do.
‘Mediocre body techniques are useless.’
The one who taught her the body techniques was Kuntel.
‘Spells are blocked. All defensive spells and area-of-effect spells are cut down.’
Swordsmanship that has reached the extreme can sever even spells.
Raniel eliminated the useless ones one by one. Meanwhile, she continued to move her body and engage in combat. During this, something entered Raniel’s view.
Thud!
Using her immortal body, Karioth took Kuntel’s strike. Although her body was torn by the sword, she finally reached out and grabbed Kuntel’s wrist. Even that was mercilessly cut away by Kuntel in an instant, but in that fleeting moment, a gap appeared.
An idea sparked in Raniel’s mind.
“Galahal.”
Dodging the sword, Raniel stepped back.
She nodded at Galahal as a signal to prepare for something. Recognizing that, Galahal switched places with Raniel.
A brief moment of respite was created.
Raniel immediately flicked her fingers.
“Balance.”
A balance appeared in front of her.
The balance, which achieved equilibrium, contained two concepts. One was the burden on the body, and the other was the vast amount of mana that Raniel possessed.
The ultimate of battle mages.
Replacing the physical burden on the body with the consumption of mana through enhancement spells. Raniel placed her hand on the perfectly balanced scale.
The balance tilted toward mana.
A massive amount of mana shattered the balance. In the disrupted equilibrium, Raniel placed her hand on her heart.
Acceleration.
All the stored circuits transformed into a single spell.
‘After all, there’s no point in defensive spells.’
Instead, she would blow them all away.
Dozens of circuits transformed by Acceleration heated Raniel’s body. The previously tilted balance suddenly leveled down and then began to tilt in the opposite direction.
The burden was starting to weigh down on her body.
Steam rose from Raniel’s body, and blood vessels colored her eyes. Blood began to drip from her eyes and nose. A massive amount of mana burned wildly.
Fwoosh!
Ashes burst forth from her body.
In the midst of the ashes enveloping the area, Raniel took a step forward.
Boom!
Under normal circumstances, she would have collapsed under the burden, but Sara’s blessing granted Raniel a brief moment.
Dragging the ashes, Raniel charged forward.
3.
Clang!
Each time she blocked a sword, her stance wavered.
The sword was heavy. So very heavy. Galahal was sweating profusely as he swung his spear at Kuntel’s attacking strikes. Clang, the sword in Kuntel’s hand broke.
But there was no time to catch his breath.
With a light leap to the side, Kuntel grabbed the fallen knight’s sword. Gradually shifting positions, he continued to seize new swords. All of those movements were impeccably smooth.
As Kuntel wielded a new sword, his arm moved, leaving afterimages. The sound of air exploding echoed repeatedly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With successive thrusts, the body of Karioth, who had rushed at Kuntel, exploded apart. Although she recovered quickly, the following sweeping strike sent Karioth’s body flying.
“… Gah!”
Eventually, Kuntel lunged towards Galahal.
Clang! The spear held by Galahal trembled. Galahal’s fingers snapped.
He’s strong.
So strong it defies belief.
The Sword Master, Kuntel.
The swordsmanship he perfected throughout his life had undoubtedly reached the pinnacle. With a single sword in hand, the techniques he displayed transcended the very notion of a blade.
Having undergone rigorous training, he even touched upon the Death’s Blade.
Now, those techniques unfolded in perfect form.
Not the aging body of Kuntel but rather techniques unfolding in a body exceeding his prime… Every encounter meant risking his life.
Crack!
Galahal’s finger broke. The spear tilted, the blade grazed Galahal’s collarbone. Blood sprayed from him as he dropped the spear.
Yet Kuntel’s sword also shattered.
“Huff!”
As Galahal caught his breath, he saw Kuntel leap to the side. What he leaped toward was what Raniel had launched away during the combat, the very sword Kuntel had originally held.
Gradually moving to the side, Kuntel reached that position. He extended his hand to pick up the sword lodged in the ground. A rare metal sword, originally Kuntel’s.
“…!”
Galahal hastily thrust his spear, but Kuntel easily dodged the spear tip. Evading, he readjusted his grip on the sword.
In an instant, the air shifted.
The indestructible sword, a famous sword able to withstand Kuntel’s technique completely. The moment Kuntel gripped it, the surroundings turned stark white. Galahal involuntarily gulped.
The sword path (？？).
The path of the sword became clear in Galahal’s eyes.
The instinct of the hero, sensing death, tolls the bell of alarm and temporarily predicts the future. Consequently, the future he sees is utterly despairing.
The entire area bathed in white was the sword path.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of paths all targeted Galahal’s neck. However, there was only one sword. It was impossible to draw thousands of paths with just one sword. Then, what are all these paths appearing in his sight?
Kuntel provided the answer.
Thousands of paths merged into one.
The merged path appeared like a pure white flash. Following the flash, Kuntel’s sword moved.
Tick, tick, tick!
The points of contact vanished. The air split, and space itself began to twist. A vacuum formed along the trajectory of the sword. Galahal’s instincts screamed for warning.
The trajectory the sword drew as well.
Where it would target and how it would be swung.
Even if he knew all of that, he couldn’t block or avoid it. Thus, it must be the sword of a superhuman. Galahal felt death closing in more than ever.
At that moment,
Thud!, Karioth threw herself into the trajectory of Kuntel’s sword, pushing her body in front of Galahal. Kuntel’s blade split Karioth’s body and continued its path unimpeded. Even after slashing through Karioth’s body, the sword’s speed did not slow down.
The blade of blood pursued Galahal.
However, that sword would not reach Galahal.
Boom!
A momentary explosion of ashes erupted between Galahal and Kuntel’s line of sight. The rapidly swirling ash briefly obscured Kuntel’s vision.
No matter how acute his senses, if visibility was obscured, he could not predict the future.
With a narrowed field of view, Kuntel belatedly spotted Raniel rushing through the ashes. His response was delayed by a beat. Kuntel immediately aimed for the trajectory of Raniel’s approach, but her movement was even faster.
In a flash, Raniel put everything on the line.
Boom!
She took a step forward and absorbed Kuntel’s descending blade with her shoulder. Simultaneously, she reached out and grabbed Kuntel’s arm, swinging the sword.
The sword wedged in her shoulder could advance no further.
The first stalemate created since the battle began.
However, the balance was immediately shattered. Even while Raniel’s wrist was caught, Kuntel thrust the sword deeper.
And then he twisted it.
At that moment, a pure white sword energy erupted from the tip. Just as the energy was about to engulf Raniel’s shoulder, Chaeng!, something interjected between them.
“Quickly!”
It was Galahal’s holy spear.
A spear thrust diagonally downwards thwarted the impending sword energy. Seizing the created gap, Raniel moved her remaining hand.
The ash piled around converged in one location.
With an explosive surge of ash, Raniel swung her fist. No matter how much of a superhuman her opponent was in severing spells, he couldn’t respond to magic while his arm was held.
Ashes to Ashes.
The gathered ash spewed forth flames. Fiery currents overflowed from Raniel’s fingers. Kuntel hastily tried to wrench free from Raniel’s grasp and leap backward, but something clamped onto his ankle.
Snap!
A half-revived Karioth, with her half-destroyed face, was biting into Kuntel’s ankle. Thus, Kuntel’s escape came just a moment too late.
BOOM!
With a thunderous roar, the flash engulfed Kuntel.
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