Ch.162Golden Thread

“That’s not the swordsmanship of the Sun Tail royal family. And the power imbued in the blade…”

“Are they not even trying to hide it?”

The Blue Wing members watching the knights from various countries clash commented. Indeed, the Sun Tail knights were not using the swordsmanship of their royal family.

The swordsmanship of Sun Tail knights had evolved more for fighting monsters rather than humans. As such, their style emphasized killing with a single strike. They would approach with explosive speed from a distance where attacks couldn’t reach each other and deliver one decisive blow.

If one could just be wary of that single attack, they would inevitably show relative weakness afterward.

However, the current Sun Tail knights were different. Their swordsmanship wasn’t unified, and the energy they emitted varied from person to person. They weren’t using the royal family’s swordsmanship. This meant they were using techniques and internal energy methods passed down from the reincarnators.

Watching this, Karnok spoke.

“Move to lightly assist other knight orders. Don’t directly confront the royal knights. Our mission is solely to eliminate the reincarnators.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Blue Wing began to move. With Karnok at the lead, the elite forces of the Karma Empire started to charge. However, their pace wasn’t particularly fast.

Throughout the advance, Karnok kept shouting:

“Don’t get excited! Theo! Maintain formation!”

It was a battlefield with enemies rushing in from all directions. A hazy fog of blood and dust obscured their vision. In the midst of it all, Blue Wing had to carve a path with their swords.

Arms and legs of reanimated corpses flew through the air, and bizarrely shaped monsters were cut in half, their bodies scattered across the desert floor. The fate of soldiers who approached them was not much different.

“Commander! That one! Shouldn’t we deal with the necromancer…?!”

“Ignore it! Just handle those who approach us!”

To stop the endlessly reviving corpses, one would need to eliminate the necromancer using the magic. However, Karnok absolutely refused to allow his unit’s formation to be disrupted.

‘Dragon King of Death…’

Karnok muttered in a small voice as he clenched his left hand. Simultaneously, a pitch-black death energy flowed from his body, spreading in all directions. The reaction to the death energy release was immediate.

Some of the undead hordes that had been charging toward the Karma Empire changed direction and began attacking Sun Tail’s forces instead.

“Just now, something from the commander’s body…”

“Don’t worry about it! Just a minor technique I recently learned!”

Karnok, now a commander, showed a different side than before. While his overall demeanor hadn’t changed much, the power he wielded had transformed.

His mana, which used to glow blue, now displayed a dual nature—a mixture of pitch-black and pure white light.

“Sei-rin! Enemy mage corps!”

As soon as Karnok’s call ended, Sei-rin rushed forward and drew her Void Cutter sword. As she swung the blade widely, light burst forth, and dozens of swords materialized from thin air, shooting forward.

Swish—!

The dozens of blades flying rapidly pierced through some of the mages who had revealed themselves. The Sun Tail mages, not affiliated with any magic tower, wielded very unique magic.

Fire magic utilizing the hot sunlight, or magic controlling the sand that was abundant everywhere. As Sei-rin’s sword killed more than ten mages, their mana exerted physical force.

Whoosh—!

The violently rising mana created a wave made of golden sand.

While everyone tried to avoid it, one person advanced through the gap. It was Sei-rin. The small girl threw the sword she was holding into the air, then drew a new one from her waist and swung it.

Swish—!

The flash drawn from the scabbard cut through everything in a straight line. The golden wave approaching Blue Wing was no exception. As a massive storm erupted, the golden wave was split in two and collapsed.

Whoosh—!

Blue Wing, following Karnok’s orders, did not directly cross swords with the knights of the Sun Tail Kingdom. They mainly circled the outskirts of the battlefield or penetrated deep to deliver fatal blows, expanding their presence by influencing the overall flow of battle.

It was then that the reincarnators revealed themselves. Violent explosions erupted in some areas, and overwhelming presences surged. This happened simultaneously in multiple locations. Each individual’s skill far exceeded that of an ordinary knight.

Karnok immediately shouted:

“Don’t move separately! Stay together! Reduce the enemy numbers by killing them one by one with certainty! Even if we don’t step in! There are allies who can hold them back for a while!”

If this hadn’t been a battlefield, Karnok would have appropriately distributed his personnel and had them scatter. But not now. He would use everything he could use.

The moment Karnok stomped the ground, his form moved as if folding space. Following the path created by Karnok, the rest of the unit also increased their speed.

It was a speed incomparably faster than before. The flash crossing the battlefield began to eliminate the reincarnators one by one as they revealed their presence.

The first ones they encountered were a reincarnator who appeared to be from the Central Plains martial arts world and a mage. Neither of them had their faces on Blue Wing’s wanted list. But that wasn’t a problem.

A straight line.

Karnok’s sword, advancing without stopping, cut off both arms of the reincarnator who had been slaughtering soldiers. The unit members who arrived right after swung their swords, and it took only a moment to cut his body into pieces.

It was Sei-rin who dealt with the mage. With no way to know what effect the mage’s magic would have, she was the only one who could nullify it.

The dark blade of the mage killer extended and pierced the mage’s heart with certainty. Even after the opponent’s breath stopped, Sei-rin continued to twist her sword. The blade that had pierced through the chest rotated and cut off the opponent’s neck as well.

“Keep moving.”

Blue Wing moved as one. They protected each other’s bodies and, with coordinated chain attacks, took the lives of the reincarnators.

“Huff…”

After dealing with another reincarnator, Sei-rin exhaled roughly and looked around at her comrades. Her rough breathing continued a few times before quickly subsiding.

This was because the mana amplification circle seated in her heart was compensating for her lack of stamina.

But others were not so fortunate. Rough breaths flowed from the mouths of Flora, Theo, and several senior members.

“I can’t see the end of this…”

Karnok said, looking around the battlefield. The difference in military strength between each country was overwhelming. The reason the fight had dragged on so long was because of the reincarnators. They influenced the battlefield in various ways.

Despite Blue Wing’s busy movements to prioritize taking their lives.

It was then. Sei-rin’s gaze caught an unusual movement. The blood spilled by the corpses was flowing in one direction. And this was happening on flat ground, not even a downhill slope. It was absolutely impossible.

“The blood…”

Before she could complete her sentence, a sensation that made her whole body shiver spread. A massive magic circle floating in the air was drawing in flesh and blood from the battlefield.

The gathered flesh quickly grew in size. It was larger than the walls of an ordinary city. But the flesh didn’t stop there. It continued to grow.

The speed was so fast that by the time Sei-rin and Blue Wing realized the situation, it had already reached a size of tens of meters.

In the center of the massive flesh. Sei-rin could spot a familiar figure there. Elder, who had disappeared earlier in the dwarven country of Star Forge, was there.

At that moment. As enormous mana burst from Karnok’s body, his form instantly vanished. Even Sei-rin, who was right beside him, missed his movement for a moment due to the speed.

Karnok reappeared in front of the massive flesh mass. Standing in place, he unleashed a pure white slash.

“Commander!”

The Blue Wing members reacted belatedly. Each moved at their maximum speed toward Karnok’s position. There had been no separate instructions from the commander. The fact that he moved first without giving orders meant he had hurried without even time to issue commands.

It was at that moment. A dark shadow fell heavily under the feet of the advancing Blue Wing members. A peculiar mana wave. It was very familiar. Sei-rin stopped in place and simultaneously drew the mage killer from her waist and stabbed it into the ground.

Kiing—!

It was a sword that cut and absorbed all kinds of abilities. The magic that had tried to distort space shattered, and dark mana scattered in all directions. Sei-rin’s gaze quickly followed the flow of mana.

Not far from where she was.

She could see a man half-emerged from the blood-soaked sandy ground.

“Void Lord…!”

It was the Void Lord.