Chapter 173: Gift (3)
“Push forward!”
“Together!”
In an instant, the number of knights was reduced by half from six to three, but the attacks of the remaining knights became even more fierce. It was only natural.
The knights who had not seen or felt Russell’s quick swordsmanship or fists were the first to die.
The three survivors had more mana than the knights who had died before them, were more agile, and their swordsmanship was solid.
Clang, clang, clang!
As the four large men swung their swords, they created chaos, leaving no intact spot in the interior of the inn.
The wooden pillars supporting the second floor were cut down by the swords imbued with sword energy, and the floor and ceiling cracked due to the shockwaves caused by the mana, causing dust and wood chips to fall.
The first-floor dining room of the inn, now occupied by darkness, was dimly lit by the sparks and mana blades from the clashing swords of Russell and the knights, making it difficult to see the outlines of objects other than the glaring blades and eyes.
Russell stood in place, deflecting the sword aimed at his leg with the minimum amount of movement, the sword thrusting at his abdomen, and the one targeting his neck.
He still couldn’t use mana freely, and his vision was limited. In addition, despite the fact that the number of people had decreased from 1 vs. 6 to 1 vs. 3, the combined attack did not become dull but rather sharper.
Nevertheless, the knights must have felt creepy.
“Damn it, how the hell. . .!”
“Why won’t he die. . .?!”
The two knights who were the first to become agitated uttered weak sounds without realizing it.
Even while holding their breath and swinging their arms and stabbing with their swords, Russell deflected all the attacks coming from all four sides as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
Not only did he deflect them, but he also made the blades of the swords intertwine in a tangled mess and cut the hands and wrists beyond the crosshairs, which was even more surprising.
As the knights watched his incredible swordsmanship and the black greatsword imbued with sword energy that did not lose a single tooth even when cut, they began to think more and more that they had chosen the wrong opponent.
As the two knights gradually lost their fighting spirit, the remaining knight noticed his dwindling mana and tiring arm strength with a terribly hardened expression. He said.
“Tenon, Keldon. Go out and sound the horn. Bring in the reinforcements.”
“What? Atreo, what are you. . .? Huh?”
Tenon, who had been speaking, hardened his face after hearing the subtle mana transmission in his ear.
“. . . . . .Okay. I’ll come as soon as possible, so don’t die.”
“Just go.”
Russell, who had been holding Nahilnir with bated breath, narrowed his eyes as he watched the thin mana stem extending from the knight named Ateulio. It seemed that he had conveyed something to the other two knights with mana, not with his voice.
At that moment, the bodies of Tenon and Keldon moved toward one side at the same time. Russell, who thought they were trying to escape, was about to exert strength in his legs to chase after the two.
In one corner of his vision, Ateulio reached into his bosom and pulled something out. It was just a moment, but it caught Russell’s eye. It was a small glass bottle containing a red liquid. Ateulio threw it into his mouth without even uncorking it and shattered it with his teeth.
The broken glass shards scratched the roof of his mouth, the inside of his cheeks, and the floor of his mouth, causing wounds. However, Ateulio ignored the pain and swallowed both the glass shards and the red liquid inside them at once.
“Ugh!”
A gruesome aura suddenly rose like a whirlwind from Ateulio, who uttered a suppressed groan. He gritted his teeth with a clattering sound.
“You’re even taking medicine.”
“Shut up!”
Ateulio’s pupils, who had been screaming wildly, were bloodshot and his whites were black, probably due to the effects of the drug. The blood vessels near his face were bulging, making him look hideous.
Russell narrowed his eyebrows as he felt the mana gushing out of the knight’s body increase abnormally. Since his mana was not yet fully restored, the flow of mana was not clear, but it was certain that this state was not normal.
‘I’ve seen this before.’
It was a similar aura to what he had felt a few months ago when he had first left Errandis territory. It was a similar aura to what he had felt from the bandits who were raiding on horseback in the plain area, where there were only low hills and mounds.
However, the difference was that the flow of mana was strangely stable compared to that time, and that it was the same as ordinary mana until he drank the red liquid in the glass bottle.
He knew from before that by combining dark magic with human life and blood, it was possible to make an ordinary person into a magic user by causing their magical energy to surge.
He didn’t know how something created based on that experience ended up in the hands of a knight who had taken over this remote village, but Russell shook his head internally. It wouldn’t be too late to find out after the battle was over. It was certain that it was connected to the warlock he had killed before.
In less than 0.1 seconds, Russell focused entirely on Ateulio after organizing his thoughts.
In front of his eyes, Ateulio’s body disappeared as if by teleportation.
“. . . . . .!”
It was an instant acceleration that could even surpass Russell’s eyes.
Russell immediately stopped chasing the knight who was trying to escape and twisted his waist to lift Nahilnir, which he held in both hands.
In an instant, Ateulio’s sword body flew toward Russell’s waist at a speed that repeated instant after instant.
With a loud noise, Ateulio’s blade pushed the greatsword and was instead repelled by force. For a moment, Russell was pushed back by force.
The knight quickly turned his body around with his extended left leg as the axis. The long sword, which covered a wide radius as it made a large circle, drew an arc.
Russell grabbed the greatsword that had been repelled with force and swung it toward his left side to meet Ateulio’s sword, which was swinging toward him.
Ateulio’s body was getting faster and faster. It seemed that he could not control the mana that had surged.
Nevertheless, his body tried hard to maintain the swordsmanship framework that he had learned since the old days, when he was a squire.
As a result, a strange movement was born from the conflict between Ateulio’s will to control the overflowing mana and the power of his gradually changing body.
The sword in Ateulio’s hand, which had made a large circle, turned three times in an instant. Two sword strikes passed Russell by, and the last attack soared upward as if to split him in two.
Russell’s eyes narrowed. Ateulio’s sword was crackling with mana.
Zzzzaaaaang-!
A deafening roar and explosion. Unable to withstand the shock, the second floor of the inn collapsed. The pillars that had been cut or broken diagonally in the fight between Russell and the knights could no longer support the weight.
The heavy timber, rafters, pillars, and broken walls collapsed, causing the inn to collapse.
“Huff, huff. . .”
The innkeeper sat on the floor, panting heavily. He gasped as if to compensate for the fact that he had not been able to catch his breath properly for the past week, but the reality that unfolded was far from compensation. It was the sight of his inn and home, which he had been cultivating for over 10 years, collapsing. The innkeeper, Parel, clutched his heaving chest. His heart was pounding like crazy.
“Are you okay?”
“Huh?!”
Parel flinched at the beautiful voice that suddenly came from right next to him. The one who spoke to him was a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman with crimson eyes and snow-white skin and crimson hair was sitting on an intact chair and looking down at him.
Parel suddenly realized that a radius of about 3 meters around her was intact. He had been able to remain unharmed in the midst of the collapsed building and its debris thanks to the hemispherical red barrier.
“You, you saved me?”
“Because you gave me a good dinner.”
The innkeeper, Parel, gulped. What a good dinner, he had drugged the mug of beer that was not even included in the meal and handed it to them.
Although he had done so under the threat of being killed if he did not, the fact that he had drugged them was undeniable.
“There’s no need to shake your head like that. Those guys were going to kill you, weren’t they?”
Calia rested her chin on the table and then looked up slightly. As if the clear sky during the day had been a lie, the night sky was covered with dark clouds.
Her eyes narrowed at the thunderclouds and the smell of blood in the air.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Bang! Clang, clang, clang!
Ateulio dug into Russell’s interior at a speed that could not be compared to before.
The knight who had entered the inner range of the black greatsword stomped hard on the ground. There was a thud, and the heavy footsteps filled with mana caused the ground to cave in.
Ateulio’s gaze moved busily up, down, left, and right, searching for Russell’s opening. The sword held in both hands protruded from Ateulio’s waist and drew dozens of rays of light.
In response, Russell also pulled Nahilnir towards him, assuming a fighting stance. The swords clashed again.
“Hrrrrrr-!”
Ateulio swung his sword with a strange scream. His face was already covered with blood vessels that had turned black, covering his eyes, cheeks, and temples, making him look hideous.
“Kaaaack!”
Ateulio’s increased speed and strength caused Russell to take a few steps back. Ateulio, thinking that he had gained the upper hand, began to press Russell even more fiercely.
Kwaaaaddddd!
A sound like a downpour could be heard. Dozens, hundreds of sword strikes from Ateulio rained down on Russell.
He threw his body as if he himself were a living sword.
Russell’s vision was filled with the afterimages of the sword. He did not deflect every afterimage, but only deflected or dodged the attacks that were aimed at areas not protected by his coat, such as his forehead, eyes, face, or neck.
The attacks that Ateulio poured out were like the fierce attacks of a beast that was constantly biting and tearing at flesh and blood.
Attacks that were the culmination of experience accumulated through long years of war and battle, and a survival instinct that was like a flame burning from within. The path he stood on and the surroundings were turned into a mess because of his merciless movements and the mana that gushed out of Ateulio.
However, at one point, Russell stopped retreating.
Kwaang-!
His Nahilnir and Ateulio’s blade, which was rippling with red sword energy, clashed. The wreckage of the collapsed building was once again pushed out in a circle due to the shock and noise, and it clattered loudly.
Kwaang!
In the midst of the intertwined crosshairs of the greatsword and the longsword, Russell and Ateulio came closer than ever before.
Russell could see Ateulio’s face, which was close enough to feel his breath. His eyes, which had glowed with blue light, were now bloodshot.
The ominous aura that could only be felt in the eyes of demon beasts with ferocious instincts and emotions flickered in his eyes. The glowing red eyes and the beast-like cries coming from the back of his throat showed Ateulio’s excitement.
“Ugh. . . . . .!”
Ateulio gritted his teeth and poured out his mana. Nevertheless, Russell stood firm like a rock pillar, as if his previous retreat had been a lie.
In the next moment, a high-pitched, sharp sound rang out.
“. . . . . .!”
Atreo’s monstrous eyes flickered. His arms rose up, and his sword flew outward, seemingly unaffected by the magical energy he had poured into it.
He did not let go of the sword’s handle, but his palms were hot, as if his grip had been torn. Ateulio still sent the overflowing mana throughout his body. It was to pull back the deflected sword.
And for a moment, Ateulio witnessed something incomprehensible. Thanks to his heightened cognitive abilities, the scene was unfolding as if time was flowing slowly.
He could feel the debris, stones, and wood chips of the building caught in their battle being pushed away and falling like feathers. However, despite his heightened cognitive abilities, Ateulio’s body could not move as he wished, as if he were submerged in deep water.
The same must have been true for the man in front of him. However, he swung his arm as if he were in a different space from Ateulio. It was definitely faster than Ateulio.
A hazy shadow covered his vision, and Ateulio realized that his right arm had been blown off at the shoulder.
“Kyaaaak. . . . . .!”
Ateulio’s scream sounded strange to his own ears. Even then, Russell did not stop, and swung his greatsword widely, grazing Ateulio’s left shoulder and thigh.
Ateulio, who had lost his strength, fell to his knees.
“This. . . . . . is ridiculous. . . . . . .”
“Answer only the questions I ask you. You━”
At that moment, an alarm bell rang in Russell’s senses. He quickly raised his head and saw that the dark clouds had filled the sky in the meantime. Yellow lightning and thunderclouds could be seen within them.
Yellow lightning bolts shaped like gnarled branches crawled through the dark clouds like earthworms. At one point, the lightning bolts that had been splitting the clouds merged into one and shot straight down to the ground.
The afterimage of that moment was imprinted on Russell’s retina. It was a lightning bolt that had gathered the lightning energy from all over the cloud and shot it down like a beam, as if it were performing an orbital bombardment.
A giant yellow lightning bolt like a tree trunk that had grown from the roots filled Russell’s vision and poured down like a waterfall. A deep blue light shone brightly in Russell’s eyes.
Russell’s body disappeared from sight in an instant, engulfed by the flash of light.
━!
An indescribable roar consumed all the remaining building debris. What remained in the center was a large crater and the remnants of the lightning that had not yet dissipated.
Far from the scene of destruction, Ateulio emerged from the ground. Right next to him were the giant with both hands on the ground and Tenon and Keldon, who had escaped from the inn.
“Ateulio!”
“Oh, he took the potion.”
Ateulio twitched on the ground as if he could not hear the voice calling him.
His condition was not good at first glance. Both of his arms had been cut off at the shoulders, and his legs were dangling so strangely that it was a wonder they had not fallen off yet.
However, thanks to the red potion he had drunk, the mana that had surged was forcibly beating Ateulio’s heart and keeping him alive.
Tenon noticed the giant looking at Ateulio’s splitting skin and the black aura seeping out from the cracks.
“Why, why is this happening?!”
“It’s the effect of the potion. The mutation has begun. That’s why I wanted to take a little more time and collect the materials.”
“Rictus, speak clearly! Is there a way for Ateulio to survive?!”
“I don’t know. It was meant to be taken when he thought he was going to die, but I’ve never actually tested it clinically, so I don’t know what side effects it has.”
“Why such a dangerous potion. . .!”
“If he was going to die anyway, I thought he might as well take those who wanted to kill him with him. Don’t humans like that kind of thing? But. . . . . . .”
The giant raised his head. At that moment, a raindrop fell. The raindrop that started as one soon became countless raindrops.
Shwaaaaa-
“It seems like it’s not going to work after all.”
“What?”
Crackle, crackle-
The yellow lightning that had been echoing in the void converged in one place.
The sound of footsteps could be heard. The hem of the black coat fluttered in time with the footsteps.
“This is the second time I’ve been struck by lightning. It’s not a pleasant experience.”
Russell walked out of the crater with an intact expression. In his left hand was a lump of lightning that had gathered all the electricity in the atmosphere. A cluster of blue lightning, different from the yellow lightning, shone dazzlingly.
“You had the attribute of electricity. That’s a rare attribute for a human.”
The giant’s pupils, which were looking at Russell, suddenly became elongated vertically like the pupils of a reptile and then became round again.
“. . . . . . .”
Their gazes met. The mana surrounding the two of them swirled like a whirlpool, and the hands of Russell and Rictus swung simultaneously.
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