Ch.171170. Journey? (12)

# 170. Journey? (12)

While at it, I also activated [Final Reckoning of Mortals].

-Woong!!-

I felt there was no need to hide my skills anymore.

Because if I did, I might lose.

Reina, who was no longer particularly surprised by the pressure, asked me.

“No holding back… I see?”

“Of course. It would be the same if it were someone else, not you.”

“What if it were the Princess?”

“Then she would be the one holding back, I guess?”

Of course, she was an exception, and if the skill gap had been as advantageous to me as it was with Reina, I would have gone easy on her, but reality wasn’t like that.

“You’d better give it your all, at least I will.”

The truth is, the days of going easy are now behind me.

And given the current situation, I really can’t afford to hold back.

“I have no choice then…”

Reina left just those words before immediately using [Stealth] to hide herself.

It was always a troublesome skill to deal with.

‘I won’t need my sight.’

In this situation, vision gave me no information whatsoever.

So I closed my eyes.

Letting my body react on its own.

Then I slowly moved forward, cutting through the empty air where nothing existed.

-Swish! Swoosh!-

As expected, my sword cut nothing.

But I wasn’t gaining nothing—at least I knew Reina wasn’t there.

So for a while, I kept swinging my sword at empty air like before.

For 1 minute… 5 minutes… 10 minutes… continuously…

‘Where is she…?’

It seemed like she planned to keep hiding and wear me out, since she could change positions anyway.

What a petty strategy.

But I couldn’t blame Reina for it.

Considering the current skill gap, it was an inevitable choice from her perspective.

‘Even so… this is a bit… I want to just slash through with the Abyss… Oh?’

The Abyss.

Thinking about it, a question came to mind.

‘Would [Stealth] work on it too?’

[Stealth] is a skill that works not just on humans but on animals as well.

But the Abyss is neither human nor animal.

It’s not even a living being to begin with.

It’s a monster that only pursues magical power and life force.

‘Then even if she used [Stealth], wouldn’t it be able to find her?’

The thought crossed my mind.

To answer that question, I infused the Abyss into my sword.

A monster that had been starving for about three days.

And as soon as it revealed itself, the monster made a strange sound.

-Grrrk…!-

It was the first time it had made such a sound.

But I could understand what it was saying.

“You’re hungry?”

It was trying to move in one direction.

I was barely holding back the monster that seemed like it would fly madly in that direction if I just let it go.

Then I slowly approached the direction it indicated.

Suddenly, the Abyss changed the direction it wanted to go.

‘This works…’

From this change, I could determine two things.

First, the direction the Abyss was looking was where Reina was, and second, Reina had just changed her position.

I smiled as I looked in the direction the Abyss was facing—the direction where Reina was.

‘This is seriously overpowered.’

Then I immediately charged in that direction with [Swift] activated.

Of course, that direction tried to flee from me.

But I was much faster and eventually caught up.

At that moment, Reina revealed herself. And she was ready.

Reina’s sword, which had gained extreme speed and lethality thanks to [Lightning Strike], came at me.

-Crackle!!-

At that moment, with a small lightning flash, the two swords collided, and the impact sound filled the entire Colosseum.

-Clang!!!-

The power of that sword transmitted directly to my hand was so powerful it reminded me of the Emperor’s sword.

But just like then, it was quite manageable.

Having received that power with just one hand, I deflected Reina’s sword and bid her farewell.

“Goodbye.”

Then I aimed the tip of my still-trembling sword at Reina’s neck.

Yet the referee’s whistle didn’t sound.

It seemed like I shouldn’t end it with just this.

‘It was fine earlier though…’

So I drove Reina to the edge of the arena.

Reina looked at me with a face like an abandoned puppy, on the verge of falling.

But this is the world of competition.

And in the Colosseum, where in the old days the loser would have to forfeit even their life.

“It would be better to accept this.”

After that warning, I kicked Reina hard in the abdomen.

The moment the referee confirmed Reina had fallen outside the arena due to the impact.

The whistle signaling the end of the match sounded.

***

“Wow… that must hurt…”

“That’s really unfair…”

Riel and Aelin were grimacing as they watched Reina who had fallen outside the arena.

But she had been staring intently at his sword the whole time.

“What is it?”

“Did you see that black aura on Albert’s sword just now?”

“Yes… what about it?”

“He used that to find her position.”

“Is that even possible? It’s [Stealth] we’re talking about!”

Until now, there had been no way to locate someone using [Stealth].

But Albert had just found a method.

Of course, it was a method only he could use.

“That’s why I’m saying it’s unfair. Normally you’d have to guess and hit randomly, which is what he seemed about to do… but he used it like that.”

“So, are you jealous?”

“Isn’t that obvious!?”

Albert’s [Sword of the Distant Abyss] was a skill coveted even by her, who wasn’t a swordsman.

“If I had a skill like that, I might just abandon magic altogether…”

“That’s not going to happen anyway.”

“Well, that’s true…”

“Oh? The next match is starting.”

The eleventh match began almost simultaneously with the end of that match.

Already the eleventh, but Albert showed no signs of fatigue.

“His stamina… is insane.”

“I have to agree with that…”

“Why is your face getting red?”

“Me..!? That’s just your imagination…”

“This one ended rather anticlimactically.”

After the match with Reina, most matches ended quickly, not even lasting 10 minutes, and the results were, of course, Albert’s victories.

This pattern continued through the fifteenth match.

“I think he’ll just keep winning.”

“His breathing still seems stable…”

“Is he always like this?”

When Aelin, who didn’t usually follow Colosseum matches, asked that question, Riel firmly denied it.

“No, he’s not normally like this. He’s the strange one.”

“I wonder if we’ll see him lose today? It’s been about two hours… and he doesn’t seem to have any intention of losing.”

Aelin seemed to want to see Albert lose.

As if her wish had reached the heavens, Albert’s sixteenth opponent was a powerful fighter no one had anticipated.

Riel shouted as she saw Marco appearing out of nowhere.

“What is he doing there!?”

“Oh… now he’ll lose…”

“Looks like he went straight there after the exam.”

Everyone was surprised by the appearance of the Hero, Marco—Albert standing in the arena, the spectators there, and the viewers watching the broadcast.

Among them, the most surprised person would be Albert himself.

“He must be really shocked, with the Hero suddenly popping up like that.”

“I’m a bit curious who will win.”

More surprised by her words than Marco’s appearance, Riel said to her.

“Obviously Sir Hero will win, right? No matter how good Albert is, he’s not there yet.”

“He could do like last time.”

“Last time?”

“Yes, not using his exclusive weapon and skills… I think that’s what he’ll do.”

Indeed, Marco, just like during the graduation exam, was holding a mass-produced sword rather than his exclusive weapon.

Moreover, like Albert, he wasn’t wearing any additional protective gear.

“Wouldn’t Albert win in that case?”

“The Princess lost, didn’t she?”

“Albert and I are different.”

“But didn’t you say before that you didn’t want him to win because he’d act all smug? You’re saying something different now.”

“Still… it would be nice if he won…”

Riel looked at the two people having this conversation and said.

“Still, Albert should win for now, right? No matter if he doesn’t use skills, there’s still the basic difference in stats.”

“I think Albert will win. What about you, Aelin?”

“I’d prefer if he lost, actually.”

“Who?”

Given that she had been hoping for Albert to lose all along, it was a natural response.

But even that response changed with just one look from her.

“Um… either of them…”

Still unable to say she wanted Albert to win, Aelin answered “either of them” even under that gaze.

Riel, feeling sorry for Aelin, scolded her.

“Don’t be like that to her.”

“Fine… she’s free to support whoever she wants.”

“Even if Leo were there, you wouldn’t support him, right?”

“I think I at least wouldn’t support Marco…”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Anyway! I hope Albert wins. I want him to get revenge for me.”