Ch.174Answer (5)

Answer (5)

A red line slashed across First’s chest. However, the wound wasn’t severe.

It was merely a scratch. Just enough to draw a little blood.

But a wound is still a wound.

“……”

Swish.

First wiped away the blood trickling down with his finger.

How many years had it been since he last bled?

More than the fact that he was bleeding, it was the realization that the one who caused it—the hero Esmeralda, whom he hadn’t even bothered to acknowledge—that disturbed him.

“How… amusing.”

More than anything else, his current state was utterly ridiculous to him.

He couldn’t forgive the fact that he had been wounded not by Robeno or Lacrima, but by a mere insect that clung to him like a nuisance.

“Indeed.”

First understood.

This emotion he was feeling now was what he had forgotten.

Until now, he hadn’t cared what his prey said.

It greatly displeased him that a mere beast, nothing more than food, would dare to challenge him.

“Hero, Esmeralda.”

The air rippled.

The world turned red. The blood flowing from First’s wrist began to blend into the world.

He had already expended the powerful authority of Blood Sky.

For First, who used his own blood, such an action now was no different from cutting into his own flesh.

That’s how intense his emotions were.

“I shall take your blood.”

First’s own declaration of war.

A declaration to definitively kill Esmeralda, whom he had consistently treated as an afterthought. With that declaration, the blood that had escaped his body began to take form.

The blood coalesced into massive bat wings, and the incomplete sword in his hand transformed into a saw-like shape meant to torture his opponent. Not to kill, but to inflict pain.

Facing this blatant display, Esmeralda swallowed dryly while reattaching the holy sword in her hand.

The holy sword’s self-repair function.

But she had merely put it back together; if she tried to swing it, it would obviously break apart again.

So now she had to endure using other means.

“I don’t intend to leave anything behind anymore. So I’ll pour everything I have into bringing you down.”

“How incredibly impudent.”

The method Esmeralda chose was one of her specialties: sword magic.

She hadn’t been able to use it recently because her sword’s durability couldn’t withstand the opponent’s attacks, but now she had no choice.

“I was planning to pour everything into fighting the Demon Lord, but I guess I was arrogant too.”

Clearly, sword magic would be consumable against powerful opponents like First.

Once used, it couldn’t be recovered.

She had to win now, even if it meant pouring out all her precious swords.

“I’ll use your will here, Lord Fellheim Senova.”

Esmeralda put the broken, self-repairing holy sword back in its scabbard and took up the rapier left behind by Fellheim Senova.

The moment she changed swords, not only her stance but also her entire aura changed.

Around her, swords and other polearms began to float, moving as if threatening First.

“Hup!”

A critical thrust.

The straight path pioneered with blood by the old man she had seen below the castle walls that day.

Piercing through. Targeting a single point to break through the opponent’s defense.

Yes, that was…

“How…?”

It pierced even the blood curtain First had created through blood manipulation.

It was a curtain set up based on Esmeralda’s power. That’s why it was easily pierced by a concentrated attack through a point rather than a line.

“Tsk.”

First swept away Esmeralda’s rapier with his saw.

This situation was unwelcome to him, as he had originally planned to block the rapier with his curtain and then drive the saw blade into Esmeralda’s body.

But it didn’t matter.

Clang!

Even the holy sword couldn’t withstand First’s blade. Let alone a rapier, which could be easily countered by striking its side.

With a completed saw blade rather than an incomplete sword, it was even simpler.

First broke Esmeralda’s weapon once again.

Fellheim Senova, the old warrior who had guarded humanity’s frontline.

She had walked the path of blood paved by her comrades and had thrown herself into strengthening that path.

Her sword was the same.

“Your swordsmanship is terrible, First.”

Esmeralda released the handle of the rapier she had been holding.

The path Fellheim Senova had connected.

To advance on that path, she grasped a new sword.

“I suppose having such powerful authority made you neglect your training?”

This time, she held an ice magic sword forged by the Glachies Magic Tower.

A strategic weapon created with great effort to counter Garnet from his time as the Fifth Legion Commander.

The opponent doesn’t use flames.

But…

“Even blood freezes eventually.”

It was a sword that condensed cold energy to counteract even hellfire.

Freezing blood was hardly a problem in comparison.

Crash!

The blood curtain spread by First. She thrust the ice sword through the hole that had been pierced and drew it diagonally.

Cold energy infiltrated through the already punctured curtain, freezing and shattering the remaining barrier.

A choice made to chip away at First’s means rather than First himself.

First could easily spread such a curtain again, but it would consume blood.

Having already expended the powerful Blood Sky, the penalties associated with a vampire’s unique powerful authority would inevitably become more pronounced.

Knowing this, Esmeralda decided to target the entire curtain.

The hole she had pierced could be filled with a single drop of blood.

So she decided to destroy the entire blood curtain.

Crack!

The masterpiece of Glachies Magic Tower, which had poured out its freezing ability to the limit, cracked. Not because it was hit by the opponent’s attack, but because it had reached the end of its lifespan.

But it had served its worth.

Thud!

Esmeralda immediately grabbed another weapon while dropping the Glachies magic sword that had stuck to her hand, which she had also frozen.

“You laugh at just that much?”

“It’s not just that much.”

What Esmeralda had done was merely remove one of First’s curtains.

First could immediately restore the curtain and could grind Esmeralda to dust with a single hit.

She had already consumed two weapons to target First’s curtain and had spent that much time.

So the opportunity passed to him.

First’s saw blade flew toward Esmeralda’s nape as she was removing the magic sword stuck to her hand.

Like a beast trying to bite into the nape.

“Dharma Wheel Seal.”

But what was heard at that moment was not the sound of flesh being torn, but a resolute voice and the scattering of a clear fragrance.

The sacred domain of Saintess Eirene devoured First’s blood manipulation.

“What?!”

At that moment, the saw blade that was about to bite into Esmeralda’s neck scattered into ordinary drops of blood.

The saint’s miracle that prevented all changes in the surrounding area.

First, recalling Eirene who should have died long ago, hurriedly turned his head to glare at her.

It was that shocking.

And he was strong enough that such an action didn’t matter.

“Was the timing okay?”

“It was perfect, Eirene.”

Empty eyes covered in blood.

She wasn’t looking in the direction of First and Esmeralda.

It had been impossible to block First’s attack from the beginning. To make that impossible possible, she had to pay a considerable price.

“Then this is as far as I go.”

“Yes! Just trust me now!”

Eirene had lost her sight as the price for drawing too much light.

The price for trying to use more holy power than she possessed.

As a result, she went blind.

She wasn’t the type to sacrifice herself for others, but she was someone who could see situations more objectively than anyone. If Esmeralda didn’t win here, everyone would die.

Not just everyone on this battlefield, but everyone including the human realm.

So she naturally performed a miracle at the cost of her eyes.

And what she received in return for that miracle was another chance.

“Hup!”

In Esmeralda’s hand was a single sword in its scabbard.

It wasn’t anything special, but it was also a symbol that had shown something special.

Whoosh!

As the blade was slightly drawn from its scabbard, an ominous flame blazed up.

The first wall Esmeralda had faced, and the one who had left an indelible scar deep in her soul.

“I’ll take you to the place you wanted to reach in your stead.”

The life trajectory drawn by a warrior who sought proof so desperately that he even ignored the orders of the Demon Lord he had served so loyally.

The essence of swordsmanship demonstrated by the Eleventh Legion Commander just before his death.

The ominous energy fully revealed from the scabbard flew toward First.

Did he recognize the power contained within? First also changed his expression and spread his curtain again.

An attack that must be blocked even if it consumed a large amount of blood.

That’s what he thought and acted upon.

But he didn’t know.

The life that the Eleventh Legion Commander had walked was one of admiration for the strong, a will to struggle.

The wish of an aging old man who had to strain with all his might to reach a sky that could never be reached.

Slash!

I want to reach a place that cannot be reached.

That single-minded determination penetrated through the curtain First had spread.

Belatedly trying to avoid through mist transformation, First didn’t know.

That the attack could pass through any means and strike his true body.

“Kuk!”

This time, it was a definite hit.

It carved a wound that reached a fatal level.

First frowned deeply and retreated far back.

Clatter.

Simultaneously, the sword in Esmeralda’s hand completely shattered and fell to the ground.

The Eleventh’s sword energy couldn’t be sustained by an ordinary weapon. She was satisfied that she could unleash it even once.

Esmeralda immediately grasped another weapon and continued to pressure First with her remaining weapons.

“Haha…”

First burst into hollow laughter.

How pathetic a state this was.

He couldn’t believe he was being pushed this far by a mere hero.

If he had been his usual self, he could have torn her to death immediately.

The consumption had been too great.

He had to unleash Blood Sky in the fight with Shiva, and had to maintain its power against Robeno’s desperate struggle.

Eventually, having no way to deal with Lacrima’s illusions, he had blown away the entire surrounding area.

Everything had demanded intense consumption from him, and now he was being pushed back by someone like Esmeralda.

That fact was laughable.

He had never faced such troublesome enemies fighting together.

Yes, he suddenly felt that he was alone. There was no one around him.

“The struggles of the weak.”

Yet he refused to acknowledge it.

He disparaged their fighting spirit and cooperation as mere cowardice of the weak.

He couldn’t understand. It was incomprehensible. He didn’t want to understand.

Though First had revealed the emotion of anger, he still found it impossible to understand their hearts.

And he hated that. It irritated him.

“In the end, they’re all just meals.”

Emotions became clearer as he fought, but he still couldn’t understand.

Accepting that fact, he chose not to understand.