Ch.123Chapter 123: Gerungtu’s Skill.

“Kuhaha, good! Since we’re on the subject, shall we test my youngest brother’s skills after all this time?”

This was exactly what Valt wanted.

It would give him a chance to compare and analyze how much stronger he had become compared to Gerungtu’s Great Warrior.

Not just anyone could earn the honorable title of Great Warrior.

Some say that Gerungtu’s Great Warriors are at the level of Sword Masters, but Valt’s assessment puts them slightly below that.

As the atmosphere shifted toward a friendly match between Valt and Luktan, the gathered crowd showed expressions of intense interest.

The warrior hierarchy of Gerungtu is structured as follows:

Common Warrior, Intermediate Warrior, Advanced Warrior, Special Warrior, Royal Guard, and Great Warrior.

Below Common Warriors were those Gerungtu who hadn’t yet become warriors, and only from Common Warrior rank were they considered true Gerungtu.

Considering that a Common Warrior could comfortably handle aura users of the 2nd or 3rd floor, one could see how the aura floors roughly corresponded to warrior ranks.

Among hundreds of thousands of Gerungtu, there were only about 100 Great Warriors.

Of course, Valt’s eldest brother was currently restructuring this system, so its future remained to be seen.

Valt’s sixth brother had risen to become one of the 100 Great Warriors among hundreds of thousands of Gerungtu.

“Sounds good. I’ve been curious about how my skills would fare back home.”

“Puhahaha! Our youngest has grown quite confident while away! Let’s do this!”

As Valt and Luktan prepared for their match.

Grace intervened.

“Be careful, my love. Valt is strong enough to have defeated even me.”

Flinch!

“What? Honey, what are you saying? Valt defeated you? A Master?”

Luktan apparently was hearing this fact for the first time, though Valt had assumed he already knew.

“Yes, and quite thoroughly too, hehe.”

Luktan’s surprised eyes turned to Valt.

“Is this true…?”

Shrug-

Instead of answering, Valt merely moved his shoulders once.

When Grace had visited the south to meet Luktan, she had dueled many people there.

One of them was Luktan Gerungtu.

Grace had been truly astonished.

He didn’t even use aura.

The fact that he could fight at such a level using only his innate strength was marvelous.

In fact, the physical abilities of the Gerungtu were so astonishing that one might as well consider it equivalent to using aura.

Especially that unbelievable strength!

Despite being an 8th floor Spear Master, Grace had invariably lost in direct contests of strength against Luktan’s axe.

If she hadn’t gained insight from her duel with Valt, she would certainly have lost to Luktan Gerungtu.

Actually, she did lose once, but Luktan had shown mercy.

When Grace was about to be sent flying through the air like in her duel with Valt, Luktan had grabbed her wrist firmly and said:

“I cannot turn such a beautiful woman into a star in the sky. Unless it’s the star in my heart.”

Though Luktan Gerungtu only knew such cheesy lines from books about romance, his sincerity was fully conveyed to the woman who crossed swords with him.

In any case, they had fallen for each other, and they had agreed that a match between lovers should end in a draw.

“So it’s true!? It really is! Kuhaha!! All the more reason to test you!! Let’s go!!”

***

A bit away from Beltrick Castle.

It wasn’t where the battle with the orcs had taken place, but they had gone quite far to avoid potential collateral damage.

“Well, I was wondering if you’d properly completed the task Father gave you, and now you’re at 5th circle? Isn’t that amazing?”

“I still have a long way to go. But I’m not weak.”

Luktan laughed heartily at Valt’s confident answer.

“Kuhahaha! That’s right! No need for words, come at me!”

Luktan took out his beloved giant axe, ‘Tunkaio,’ holding it in one hand as he took his stance.

The audience consisted of Grace’s leadership, Valt’s companions, and several high-ranking mercenaries.

Ivan, who had been stationed in Leverik, was watching with great interest.

“Whoa, look at that axe! Goodness, someone like me would fly away just from the wind of that thing!”

“What’s that on Prince Valt’s arm? Some kind of gauntlet? Does Prince Valt use martial arts?”

Since Valt had never used magic gauntlets in Beltrick, quite a few people didn’t recognize them.

“Haha, they say Prince Valt brought down a mountain with those.”

The people of Beltrick looked surprised at those words.

“W-what? A mountain?”

“Why would people who’ve seen meteors falling from the sky be surprised? Oh! They’re starting! Let’s focus!”

Valt took his stance with his magic gauntlets equipped.

He appeared to be in a position to throw a straight punch with his right arm extended backward.

“What’s this? Boxing? Won’t that put you at a disadvantage?”

“Brother, this is magic.”

“Ah, right! Kuhaha, well then, let me see this magic of yours.”

“You’ll be surprised. Here I come! Haap! Blood Wind Fist!”

As Valt shouted his battle cry and extended his right fist, a Blood Wind Fist enhanced by composite magic surged toward Luktan, taking form.

Its majesty was comparable to the fist of a giant.

“Oh! Ooooh!! Ooooooh!! Impressive, little brother!!”

Luktan prepared to swing his axe against the enormous crimson fist rushing at incredible speed.

“But! This much is nothing!”

Kwang!

Luktan swung the flat side of his axe to strike Valt’s magic.

The direction of Valt’s Wind Fist changed, falling to Luktan’s right side and exploding.

Boom!

“Kuk kuk, the power is quite decent! Learning magic wasn’t a waste after all! Now it’s my turn! Cry out! Tunkaio!”

Each child of Kwan possessed weapons that could be called divine treasures.

Since they couldn’t use aura, weapons that could withstand aura were essential.

The 100 divine weapons carefully selected by Kwan and given to Great Warriors were the dream of those aspiring to become Great Warriors.

Tunkaio’s ability was vibration.

His giant axe had the ability to create unique vibrations that increased its destructive power.

“Kuhaaap!”

Luktan jumped into the air and brought down his giant axe vertically.

But Valt wasn’t about to let himself be hit by such an axe strike.

“Kuhahaha, you shouldn’t dodge!!”

THWACK!!

Drrrrrrr!!

The giant axe struck the ground, creating a small crater and causing the surrounding earth to shake with its vibrations.

The spectators were astounded.

“E-earthquake! Is this an earthquake!? Earthquake?!”

The 8th circle magic Earthquake was being realized through physical means rather than magic.

“I-impossible! An earthquake isn’t something you can create just by striking the ground!”

Lisa and Arias Lilith were no longer surprised by such strange sights, having seen so many.

They might even believe it if Valt’s father suddenly appeared and claimed he would split the planet in two.

“And yet it actually happened.”

Everyone resumed watching the battle in silence after hearing Lisa’s cynical remark.

Drrrrrrr-

“Hooh! The shaking ground is quite…”

“Makes it hard to keep your balance, little brother!! Haap!”

KWANG!!

PAKANG!!

Finally, Valt’s arm and Luktan’s axe collided.

Luktan seemed quite surprised when Valt blocked the giant axe with his gauntlet.

“Wow! You blocked my axe with just a magically created weapon? Isn’t that cheating?”

“Your axe is more of a cheat, brother.”

Drrrrrrr-

Tunkaio had the ability to match an object’s natural frequency to destroy it. Even Valt’s magic gauntlets were no exception.

Crumble-

Valt’s magic gauntlet that had blocked Tunkaio crumbled and fell to the ground, and Luktan’s second attack followed.

“Kuhaha! Weapons are also part of skill, little brother! Haap!!”

KWANG!!

Valt’s second magic gauntlet also blocked the axe. It too shattered helplessly, and there was no time to summon another gauntlet immediately.

“You’ve gotten quite strong, little brother, but this is the end!”

The third axe attack. But Valt’s trump card wasn’t exhausted yet.

CLANG!

“Huh?”

“I’m not the only one with a good weapon, brother.”

The bracelet made of Lupenium that Valt had received from the Emperor earlier blocked Tunkaio.

“What? A mere bracelet?”

“Hmm, I’ve got a good read on your attacks now, brother. My turn!”

“It’s not over yet, kid!!”

Grab!

Worried about Valt’s counterattack, Luktan grabbed Valt’s wrist.

“Kuhaha! Once caught, it’s over! That’s Gerungtu combat! Huaaap!!”

WHOOSH!!

The signature person-throwing technique that people thought was Valt’s specialty.

Now it was being executed by fellow Gerungtu Luktan.

THWACK!!

Despite his enormous size, Valt was thrown lightly by Luktan’s hand and sent flying through the air.

“Haha, I never thought I’d be on the receiving end of this. Now I understand how ridiculous it must feel for those who’ve experienced it.”

At the point where Valt was thrown so high that people below looked like dots.

This would be the end for a normal Gerungtu, who would surrender, but not for Valt.

Valt had many options.

He could slow his fall with wind magic or create a pillar with blood magic.

But Valt had no intention of ending things so trivially.

“Let’s see. If I wear my blood magic gauntlets now and use my magical power…”

Whiiing-

Valt, now beginning to fall from midair, finished his calculations.

Actually, it was more like he’d made up his mind rather than calculated.

Valt wasn’t capable of such complex calculations anyway.

“Kuhaha, I’ll just try it! Here I go!”

Meanwhile, Luktan was looking up at his brother in the sky, making a circle with his hands.

“What’s that kid doing? Not surrendering? Huh? What’s that?”

Something metallic-looking covered Valt’s body, then he stretched both fists forward and began diving down toward Luktan.

“W-what is that awesome metal thing!?”

“Kuhahaha, brother, try receiving this! It’s my new technique!”

KUOOOOO!!

Luktan swallowed hard as he prepared to intercept Valt, who was falling with tremendous momentum, charged with magical power.

“W-wait a minute… that’s seriously no joke!”

If Valt had just fallen normally it would be one thing, but at the point when Valt started using magic, his falling energy from midair was converted into magical power by physical magic.

Of course, the power would be less than the meteor he had created before, but for a one-on-one battle, this level of power was more than enough.

The blood magic gauntlets that could withstand attacks from 8th floor aura users, various defensive magics, and the magical power converted by physical magic began to protect Valt’s body, and his speed increased even more.

As we know, Gerungtu have excellent senses.

The same was true for Luktan.

He instantly realized that Valt’s body slam diving from the sky was beyond what he could handle.

“You crazy bastard! I surrender! I surrendeeer!!”

But Valt’s body slam, already in motion, was something even Valt didn’t know how to stop.

“Surrender or whatever, I can’t stop! Just die!”

“Hey! You crazy fool!”

THWAAAACK!!

In the end, Valt’s body slam hit the ground, creating a tremendous explosion.

“…Is that okay?”

“No, I think they’re both dead.”

“Who’s going to defeat the Orc Lord now?”

“I don’t even know anymore.”

Valt’s friends were no longer surprised by such situations.