Ch.163Golden Thread

“Support Commander Karnok!”

Seorin instinctively knew. In this situation, she was the only one who could face the Void Lord. He was a reincarnator who had mastered spatial magic, creating his own subspace to live in. No ordinary knight could possibly handle him.

As she charged forward, Seorin’s gaze swept through the air. She had detected the flow of mana—one of the precursors to spell activation. Without hesitation, she swung her sword toward it.

Seorin had mastered the art of extreme swordsmanship. Her slash, executed before the spell could be completed, cut through the mana gathering in the air. The Mage Killer blade vibrated momentarily as it absorbed all the scattered mana.

The Mage Killer was a truly unique sword. It boasted tremendous durability and possessed the power to reject all supernatural abilities in this world. It absorbed the power of abilities it cut through, using them to restore its own durability.

Normally, any excess power would naturally dissipate. But now, there wasn’t enough time for that. With all kinds of power flowing into the dark blade from every direction, it had reached a state of temporary oversaturation.

Seorin resolved this phenomenon with an incredibly simple method. She rotated the mana amplification circle in her heart. Simultaneously, she caused two opposing attributes to collide, channeling that explosive power into the Mage Killer.

The oversaturated Mage Killer couldn’t contain the transferred power and violently expelled both the power it had stored and the power Seorin had channeled into it.

KWAAAA-!

Pure energy shot from the sword, sweeping away everything in its path. The ground was overturned, and Sun Tail soldiers mixed among the monsters scattered like dust.

“Huff…”

One breath. That was all the time it took for Seorin to recover enough to run again. The small girl took a moment to catch her breath, then kicked off the ground once more. Each time her figure momentarily disappeared, another spatial magic spell that was about to activate was invariably shattered.

“Tch…!”

The Void Lord, who had been attempting spell after spell, clicked his tongue and retreated. He didn’t move in the conventional way. He leaped between spaces, appearing in unexpected locations.

When he moved right, he fell from midair; when he went underground, he emerged from the opposite side of Seorin.

BWOONG-!

Seorin’s straight punch struck the Void Lord’s arm. Simultaneously with the heavy impact sound, Seorin’s body rotated half a turn as she swung the dark blade in her hand.

JJEONG-!

Seorin frowned. Despite the sword striking the arm, it didn’t cut through. Instead, she felt a strong repulsive force as the blade was deflected. This was the Mage Killer, a sword that cut through all supernatural abilities. If it had been a mana barrier or protective ward, the blade would have sliced through it like tofu and cut into flesh.

In that moment, the Void Lord’s skin, hidden beneath his clothes, was revealed. His arm was covered in pitch-black scales.

“Haha…!”

The Void Lord’s laughter scattered through the air. In that instant, his arm swung rapidly, lightly grazing Seorin’s face. Thanks to the Sun Force she constantly maintained, she wasn’t wounded, but she had allowed an attack to land.

Seorin immediately stomped her foot.

KWANG-!

Starlight mana originating from her heart traveled through her blood vessels and escaped through her foot. This was the true stance for wielding her sword. The mana spreading beneath her feet flattened the surrounding terrain. Even the winds blowing from all directions disappeared.

There could be no better environment for swinging a sword.

KIING-!

A spinning sound that only Seorin could hear erupted. Immediately after, she swung her blade toward the Void Lord. Due to the sword’s nature, she couldn’t coat it with mana, but its overwhelming speed created friction with the air, momentarily igniting sparks.

The sound lagged behind. Only after Seorin had swung her sword did a powerful sonic boom spread across the battlefield.

KWAANG-!

The sensation at her fingertips was distinct. Seorin’s gaze swept through the air. Amid the blood mist that belatedly sprayed out, the Void Lord’s black-scaled arm spun through the air.

Through the cleanly cut cross-section, she caught the Void Lord’s shocked expression. Seorin didn’t miss the opportunity. Stepping forward, she prepared a decisive strike to finish him off.

Her target was his heart. The pounding heartbeat stimulated Seorin’s ears. As she entered a state of extreme concentration, all surrounding sounds disappeared, and eventually even the background faded away.

It felt as if only the two of them remained in the world. It wasn’t far from the truth. As Seorin’s legs sprang powerfully, her entire body’s muscles expanded, and a lightning-fast thrust shot from her hand.

PAHT-!

In that instant, the Void Lord reacted to the attack. Twisting his body, the thrust that had been aimed at his chest tore through his shoulder instead.

KWAJIK-!

There was no scream. Seorin’s gaze examined the Void Lord’s expression. Though surprised, there was no fear of death. It meant he had a final means to preserve his life.

Indeed, the Void Lord’s body was becoming blurry. Magic was being cast—spatial magic targeting none other than himself.

“Tsk…!”

The interval between attacks felt excruciatingly long. Just as Seorin’s foot slid across the ground and she unleashed another slash, the Void Lord’s body completely vanished.

Must she let him escape like this?

As Seorin frowned, the shadow beneath her feet moved of its own accord, regardless of the sun’s angle, growing larger. It reached the place where the Void Lord’s severed arm lay.

“Seiran…?”

Seorin knew. The one moving the shadow was her only sibling, Seiran. The shadow—Seiran—swallowed the Void Lord’s arm and spoke to her.

[Get ready. I’m going there.]

No detailed explanation was necessary. Seorin understood exactly what her sibling meant. The effect of the spell briefly transmitted to Seorin’s mind.

Soon, following the shadow, the blood flowing across the battlefield swirled beneath Seorin’s feet. In the White Frost tribe, a whirlpool symbolized flow. It would follow the mark left behind earlier. As the spell was completed, Seorin stomped her foot once.

KUNG-!

The faint force that spread out activated the spell completed on the ground. Immediately after, Seorin’s body melted into darkness.

The bright daytime scenery vanished without a trace. The blue sky turned pitch black, and instead of the golden glittering desert, a forest shrouded in darkness spread out.

As soon as Seorin arrived at the familiar place, she heard the Void Lord’s scream-mixed voice.

“H-how did you get here…!”

“I’m sick and tired of those who run away.”

Seorin showed a self-deprecating smile as she charged forward. In that moment, the Void Lord, who had leaped through space to create distance, looked up at the sky and howled.

“G-gather all of you! Kill this one!”

Seorin could easily recall her previous memories. The Void Lord bred monsters in his subspace. Indeed, Seorin could now detect the presence of monsters rapidly approaching.

Seorin’s body, which had been charging forward, quickly rotated as she threw the Mage Killer in her hand. The straight beam of light simultaneously embedded itself in the Void Lord’s abdomen.

A wave of monsters rushed in from the forest.

Seorin calmly faced it all. And then, she drew a new sword from her waist. As the rune characters on the blade emitted a clear light, a wave of swords poured out from behind Seorin.

KWAGAGAGAK-!

Seorin didn’t move at all. She poured out swords stored in subspace, slaughtering monsters through her Formless Flying Sword technique. She wasn’t concerned about the Void Lord’s escape either. The Mage Killer, having pierced his abdomen, continuously dispersed the mana he tried to use.

With both arms severed, he couldn’t pull out the sword embedded in his body and could only kneel on the ground, vomiting blood.

The wave of monsters that had seemed endless began to subside. Seorin turned around, stepping through the river of blood. The body of the last charging monster became a honeycomb from swords flying in from all directions.

KWAJIK-

“It’s not here.”

“Ku, kugh… kuluk…”

“Where is it?”

Seorin asked with a frown. The artificially created fake dragon was nowhere to be seen. Though it had suffered tremendous damage from her sibling, it clearly hadn’t been completely destroyed and remained somewhere.

The Void Lord wouldn’t have just left it alone.

“K-kehek…”

The Void Lord merely laughed while spitting blood. Even facing death. As if he had no worries.

It didn’t seem like she could extract information from him. After a moment’s consideration, Seorin swung the sword in her hand.

CHWAK-!

A pure white slash cut off the Void Lord’s head. Immediately after, the collapsing corpse melted into Seorin’s shadow.

“Why… are you eating that…?”

[I have my reasons, brother.]

Seorin made a sour expression at her sibling’s answer.