The Warriors of the North were irreplaceable friends and mentors to Lac. Among them, the elite soldiers known as the Thirteen Warriors under the Duke were especially dear.
They were like family to Lac.
The Thirteen Warriors residing in White Night Castle had supported, taught, and sometimes hunted with Lac since he was a child. Thus, they were brothers, family, and the closest of friends.
Lac’s eyes trembled with shudder.
The ones who rushed upon seeing the signal flare were, of course, the elite soldiers of the North. Lac saw the corpses of the proud warriors. Slowly chewing over their names, Lac stepped forward steadily.
“······.”
Lac stopped in front of Oyakal’s corpse.
Third Stone, Eagle Eye, Oyakal.
Young among the warriors, he was the mentor and brother who selected weapons for Lac. Whenever Lac faced dilemmas, he would consult Oyakal, who would always provide thoughtful and helpful advice.
He was a wise warrior.
A warrior who took pride in his eyes, known as Eagle Eye.
However, as Lac looked at Oyakal, covered in dark red blood and entrails, buried in the snow, he felt no recurring emotions of the past. What lay there was merely a corpse. Lac reached out his trembling hand and covered Oyakal’s glaring eyes.
“Thank you for your efforts. Oyakal.”
Lac closed Oyakal’s eyes.
“What weapon would you prefer, young master?”
“Do you like that one?”
“It’s a good weapon. It seems to fit you perfectly, young master. Now, please stand straight here.”
I will teach you how to wield an axe.
The smiling face of Oyakal flickered before Lac’s eyes. The recollection didn’t last long. Lac slowly got to his feet. With the corpses of the warriors before him, Lac gritted his teeth.
His eyes were bloodshot.
Crack, echoed a distinguishable sound.
Lac reached for his waist and roughly pulled out his axe. The clash of metal rang out as a beast, hungry for human flesh, slowly turned its head.
“······.”
The beast stared at Lac.
From its gaping maw, remnants of human blood and flesh dripped down. With a crunch, the beast chewed and swallowed the flesh, its gaze like a crescent moon.
The beast straightened its knees.
Recognizing Lac, who radiated an ominous aura, as an enemy, the beast glared at him. Just then, Lac lightly tapped his own heart with the axe handle.
Heating.
Boom. Lac began to pound his heart as if to shatter it. New spells began to overlay upon the existing one.
Heating, heating, heating, heating, heating.
The spells that hung on the axe handle were all sucked into Lac’s heart. Thump thump thump, the heartbeat intensified. Lac’s eyes turned red, and his body, unable to withstand the amplification, was on the verge of tearing apart.
Balance.
In a moment, time seemed to freeze.
Amidst the halted snowflakes hung a shimmering platinum balance. This was a unique balance, established with constraints for a singular deal.
Only one deal.
What Lac had polished over the last three years.
Needless to say, it was a concept dubbed as the pinnacle of battle mages. Lac proposed the terms of the deal, and the Star accepted.
【The deal has been established.】
The moment the deal was made, time resumed its pace. The snowflakes that had been falling from the sky began to crash back to the ground. However, the snowflakes never reached the earth.
Whoosh!
A blizzard swirled around Lac.
The raging snowstorm was artificial. Lac’s mana scattered like snowflakes in a tempest. Within the turbulent blizzards, Lac’s eyes glowed red.
Thud, with Lac striking the ground.
In that brief moment, the beast lost track of Lac’s movement.
2.
Lac was a warrior who handled axes and swords.
Born with talent and sturdy bones.
Lac was equipped with ideal conditions to ascend as a warrior. Yet, the Duke of the North did not nurture Lac to be merely a warrior. Lac possessed other talents.
An immense amount of mana.
Top-tier mages, including the Master of the White Tower, discovered Lac’s exceptional mana. The raw mana he had was comparable to that of top-tier mages.
Raniel verified this as well.
Thus, Raniel taught Lac how to utilize mana. While he could use it if he wished, complex and delicate spells didn’t suit Lac’s raw mana. The most fitting were raw spells.
Body enhancement starting with Heating.
Raniel taught him to utilize it to the extreme, and Lac had consistently practiced the techniques Raniel showed him for the past three years. Proving that effort was not in vain, Lac struck the ground.
As he stepped forward, the scenery shifted.
In an instant, the distance closed, and his body moved twice as fast as usual. Blood vessels bulged in Lac’s eyes. A blurred vision unfolded before him.
Super Sensation.
Although still incomplete, within the hazy view, Lac saw the future movements of the beast. Holding onto that projection, Lac gripped the axe tightly.
Spin.
The beast’s eyes, which had missed Lac’s movement, rapidly shook. The previously trembling azure eyes found Lac’s position, and the beast’s shoulder made a snap sound as it lunged. Its elongated claws tore through the air aiming for Lac… But Lac had seen it all before.
GRAAAAH!
The axe and claw collided.
The beast was the one pushed back. Having filled the void with a makeshift beast’s limb, it lacked sufficient power with its improvised arm.
In that fleeting moment of vulnerability.
Lac stepped forward from the swinging axe WHAM. Snowflakes erupted around Lac as he charged. A moment of acceleration, and the axis of force propelled him forward.
With each step, it maintained balance.
His pounding heart and boiling blood accelerated.
Lac’s already superhuman body was amplified beyond its limits. The movements displayed by a body that surpassed those limits were unfathomable.
SLICE!
The axe blade traced a silvery-white arc.
The swung axe struck the beast’s side. The beast’s body swayed for a moment, and as it braced to retaliate, Lac’s violent momentum pressed forward.
KEYYAAAAAAA!
The axe embedded itself in the beast’s side. Its eyes widened in astonishment. Lac thrust the vibrating axe deeper while twisting his wrist.
Grace’s second style, Explosion.
Boom! The beast’s body shook violently.
The shockwave erupted from the buried axe, tearing through the beast’s flesh, causing dark red ichor to spurt from the connections of the improvised beastly limbs.
The beast was forced to stagger sideways.
Lac immediately chased after the faltering beast. Twisting the axe that dripped with flesh, Lac strained to keep the silvery-white trail connected. As he CRACK swung the axe, he pursued the retreating beast.
Lac’s head flared with heat.
His thoughts cohered poorly.
Bloodshot eyes, a heated body, boiling blood. Lac’s body began to speed up gradually. The beast swayed to and fro, pooling blood falling onto the snow. With a singular drive to kill the beast before him, Lac lunged forward.
Aimed at the swaying beast’s knee.
Climbing onto the hunched beast’s neck, Lac swung the axe frantically. Rather than technique, it was sheer force.
CRACK, CRUNCH!
The axe blade sank into the beast’s skull.
As Lac struck the embedded axe with another axe, it was as if he were driving a nail in. With each strike, a shockwave burst forth, and the axe penetrated a little deeper.
But…
It never reached the skull to touch the brain.
In the midst of swinging the axe, Lac suddenly sensed something amiss. The beast had been making odd noises for a while.
“Gragh, grrrah.”
A sound reminiscent of bubbling blood.
Yet, it could be interpreted as laughter.
Immediately after, the beast swung its right arm, targeting Lac, who was perched atop its head. Lac kicked the beast’s neck, evading its grasp. CRACK, the beast clawed at its own head with its own claws.
Red blood flowed from its torn skin.
But the beast laughed, mouth agape. Its azure eyes glowed with delight, as if it relished the situation. Finally, the beast opened its jaws wide.
GAAAH, GUGAAAH!
With its mouth agape, the beast lunged at Lac. With its maw, mixed with saliva and human blood, the beast sought to devour Lac. Dodging the jaws with a swift motion, Lac moved rapidly. The beast chased after Lac.
Everything the beast had was a weapon.
Sharp claws, sharp teeth, and overwhelming might that no human could even mimic. Using its innate gifts, the beast pressed Lac hard. Compared to before, the beast’s movements were sharper, rougher.
It tore through the air with its jaws.
Swiping its claws wildly around.
A fierce battle scattered with no nobility was at hand.
Before the beast, which revealed its bestiality, Lac gripped the axe tightly, his eyes wide open. The blizzards emanating from Lac spiraled ferociously around the axe. Like when Rania gathered ashes.
Enveloping the swirling blizzard around the axe, Lac dashed toward the charging beast.
Accelerating further, Lac unleashed techniques in succession with the axe. These were the techniques he had honed over the past few years. Techniques imparted directly by his ancestors, which Lac now adopted to slay the beast. The first strike was, Super Strike.
Grace’s first style, Super Strike.
A lightning-fast strike, so swift it was hard to follow, smashed into the beast’s mouth. The beast’s head jolted backward, and as the burst echoed, the beast’s body shook. This created an opening.
Grace’s second style, Explosion.
As its head tilted back, the beast swung its right arm. Lac swung down with the axe. The embedded axe in the beast’s arm vibrated KIYING, and moments later, the beast’s arm burst apart.
Thud fell flesh.
Charging toward the beast, Lac executed a series of techniques. With each successive style, the third, fourth, and fifth of Grace’s techniques unleashed a fiercer blizzard around Lac’s axe. When it grew sufficiently large,
Lac hurled his axe toward the beast.
CRACK, the axe embedded in the beast’s chest erupted a blizzard. The frenzied storm tore through the beast’s flesh, shredding it and clouding the vision. Then Lac reached into the air.
“Gragh, grrrah!”
The moment the beast chuckled and tore through the blizzard, it emerged. The beast’s pupils expanded in alarm. The wide-open eyes fixated upon the sword in Lac’s grasp.
WHOOSH.
Lac wielded a great sword.
Just before that moment, what Lac drew was his most powerful weapon. The legendary Holy Sword of the First Hero. Before the Holy Sword, the beast trembled. Lac suspected it was fear, but that assumption was incorrect.
The beast was ecstatic.
Overjoyed, the beast raised its left arm.
It had not been used a single time since the battle commenced.
At that moment, the surrounding atmosphere surrounding the beast shifted dramatically.
3.
The beast sensed the killing intent directed at it.
A blatant determination was palpably apparent.
‘Something, that I’ve lost.’
In the human standing before it, the beast recalled what it had once lost long ago. The more they collided, the stronger that memory stimulated it. Thus, the beast wished for this fight to prolong.
Hence, it did not utilize its left arm.
Fighting like a beast, chasing like a beast, it solely employed the new abilities it had acquired. Without using the left arm it had originally possessed, the beast persisted in its contact with the human.
The more they clashed, the more something resurfaced.
Through the techniques the human unleashed, the beast felt something. A technique it had once known. A technique learned long ago but now forgotten. The beast hoped desperately for the human to showcase even more.
So, it pressed the human.
The more it pressed, the more the human revealed. As it was cornered, the human began to bring forth everything they had. The beast was burdened by this yet wished for the human to unveil their final card.
For humans are such beings.
They must have something they safeguard until the very end.
Finally, the human revealed that card.
Before the card, the beast did not respond as it had moments ago. With wide eyes, the beast gazed at the sword held by the human. The posture assumed by the human.
The sword of Ganikalt van Galatrick.
The very sword that severed its life.
The radiant light seen just before its demise appeared once more before its eyes. The being holding the light stood in a posture resembling Ganikalt. The beast felt joy. It yearned. What it longed for was right before it. It instinctively realized that it could not withstand that light without using its left arm.
A brilliant radiance.
That moment, the same radiance as back then.
Upon facing the brilliance, the beast recalled.
Fragmented memories seized the beast’s body. Incomplete memories propelled the beast’s movements. The inflated form of the beast shrank. With a crunch, crackling, its body reduced. The beast stretched out its left arm. That arm was as straight as a sword.
For an elite swordsman, their body was akin to a blade.
Grasping the sword, the swordsman assumed their stance.
…It was but a fleeting moment.
A moment not even lasting a second. A time so brief that it felt like picking up just a shard from a shattered second. Yet, even if it were merely a moment,
In that moment, the beast became a king.
The proud king of beasts.
Moments later, swords clashed against swords.
