Ch.609We Are Useless

– Kuooooo!

The karma flames erupting beneath my feet push against the air, launching my body high into the sky.

An idea inspired by a jet engine with afterburners. By condensing karma flames at a single point and then explosively releasing them, I gained the propulsion to defy gravity and inertia, freely flying through the empty air!

It was a rather excellent result for a makeshift technique, referencing Orhan’s ability to fly using the recoil from his strikes and arranging it in my own way.

Though it consumed a considerable amount of murder karma and maintaining balance was tricky.

I tried to maintain my posture using repulsive force through my feet, like stepping on solid ground… but this method would only allow me to charge while changing directions like Orhan. It seemed impossible to fight while utilizing swordsmanship or martial arts.

Floating in the air using flame propulsion felt less like standing on something solid and more like swimming in deep water with screw-fitted flippers.

To maintain a stable posture while floating and fighting, I would need to continuously emit karma flames not just from my feet, but from my back, waist, hands, elbows, and all over my body to constantly maintain balance.

…It would take some time to get used to this.

It wasn’t something I could master right away.

[Now you’ve gone from jumping to flying. You show new eccentricities with every battle.]

‘It would have been eccentric if I’d failed, but I succeeded spectacularly, didn’t I? That makes it ingenuity, not eccentricity.’

I answered while gradually reducing the flame output to slowly decrease my altitude.

If I went any higher, Orhan and the Blue Banner Army might think I was trying to escape and resume their pursuit of the detachment. To keep them here, I needed to maintain an altitude where I could monitor and immediately respond to their movements.

‘However… I can’t hand over my body to you like this. I’m sorry for breaking my promise, but this time I need to fight directly.’

Hersella couldn’t use karma flames, and even if she could, aerial combat would be too much. Given her combat style based on murder karma, trying to both float and fight would quickly deplete all her strength.

Moreover, it was impossible to help control the murder karma as usual.

Just floating alone was draining my murder karma rapidly, leaving no room for other techniques. And if I entrusted her with controlling the karma flames, even the slightest misstep in our breathing would immediately throw us off balance and send us spinning.

[…I’ll forgive you this time. Do as you please.]

Hersella understood this well, and though she gritted her teeth in disappointment, she gave up on directly fighting Orhan herself.

Just this once.

—-

– Kwaaang!

That was the end of our small talk. Orhan, who had been looking up at me with a bewildered face, stomped on the air as if crushing it and used the recoil to charge toward me.

“First you dabble in evil arts, now you resort to these bizarre antics. Do you plan to keep running away?”

Talking about bizarre antics and running away—his shameless way of speaking was exactly like his daughter’s. If we’re talking about bizarre things, isn’t someone flying by punching the air much more bizarre than what I’m doing?

His complaint about me running away was absurd too. We’re fighting thousands against one, and he’s on the thousands’ side—he has no right to say such things.

Not to mention he has that cheat-like technique that nullifies all attacks.

“How long do you think you can avoid me-!”

The amber-colored crescent blade sliced through the air. The blade, trembling with massive murder karma, drew a clear arc as it flew toward me.

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of avoiding you anymore!”

– Kuooo!

Once again, I compressed and released karma flames, diving toward him like a comet. Durandal, raised high, glowed blue as it absorbed heroic karma.

“Yes, that’s it! Come at me like a warrior, Haschal-!”

“Fall and die-!”

The distance closed in an instant. The air trembled, foretelling the imminent impact. A predatory smile spread across Orhan’s face.

“Kaaaap!”

“Kyaaaah!”

Bestial roars crossed paths. When our bodies came within two steps of each other, I swung Durandal down with all my might. Toward the crescent blade aiming for my neck.

– Kwaaaaaaang!

And so began an aerial battle between heroes that was hard to believe even with one’s own eyes.

======[ Blue Banner Army ]======

Haschal, the traitor to her people who had slaughtered countless warriors and rained blood upon them.

After she flew into the empty air, the warriors of the Blue Banner Army could only stand like dogs who had lost their quarry, blankly staring up at the sky.

– Kwaaaaaaang!

How many times had that explosion sounded now?

Thunderous booms repeatedly tore through the dry sky, scattering crimson flames and shockwaves. Red and blue arcs collided madly, deflecting off each other in brilliant flashes of light.

Ominous dark red flames burst from the strikes and scattered, while missed slashes cut through the air and fell to the ground.

“Good heavens…!”

Though Aishan-Gioro Orhan, the Kagan of the Aishan, was displaying transcendent power like a celestial guardian, the warriors watching didn’t look amazed—they were pale-faced and sweating.

“What is that… what are we even witnessing…?”

The warriors’ faces grew increasingly pale, and instead of awe or admiration, their hearts filled with the kind of fear a child feels when facing the darkness under their bed.

A sense of alienation and rejection at facing beings they couldn’t comprehend with common sense, beings fundamentally different from themselves. The warriors felt goosebumps rising all over their bodies as they shuddered.

What they witnessed could hardly be believed to be a fight between humans—it was more like a natural disaster.

“Not yet-!”

“You damn bastard-!”

With each exchange of growls, roars, curses, and wails, the air exploded and shook the world.

Fragments of torn and ripped armor fell like rain as they burned fiercely, and the air burst from the collisions became gales sweeping across the ground.

– Kwagwagwagwang!

Haschal crashed like a comet, carving a long, deep scar into the earth, then kicked off the ground that was melting from the heat, spewing dark red flames like a volcano as she soared upward.

“Orhaaaaan!”

A monster wrapped in evaporated blood with blue light flickering like will-o’-wisps in her eyes. She no longer even looked human.

Even the Champions who wielded extraordinary power by controlling karma through their will felt as helpless as children before these superhuman beings colliding like comets in the empty air.

“…Lord Parigien, what should we do now?”

One warrior, swallowing dry saliva while looking up at the sky, turned to Champion Parigien and asked. The question implied: Is it alright to just keep watching? Given that he could make a rational judgment despite witnessing such a scene, he must have had one of the strongest nerves among the Blue Banner Army’s warriors.

‘What should we do…?’

Parigien hesitated, unable to find an answer. Though he still had enough rationality left to make normal judgments as a veteran Champion, that didn’t mean he could think of a way to join the fight between those ‘monsters.’

Jump into the air and attack Haschal?

Even with all his might, he couldn’t jump that high, and even if he could, it would be suicide.

Without the ability to fly through the air, he would only be killed in vain like the three Champions who had already perished.

Shoot arrows or throw spears to bring her down? That too was meaningless. The traitor could somehow use a technique similar to Unyielding Flesh.

‘…Though it’s not perfect like the real Unyielding Flesh.’

She seemed unable to perfectly block blunt weapons like maces, staggering whenever hit, and they had been able to exploit that weakness with maces and flails.

On the ground.

But now that she was freely flying through the air, exploiting that weakness was impossible.

Arrows or javelins wouldn’t inflict even a single wound if they hit, and maces or flails weren’t suitable for throwing—they were too slow to have any hope of hitting the target.

In the end, the six thousand—no, now just over four thousand—warriors of the Blue Banner Army had no way to intervene in that battle. At least from Parigien’s perspective, all they could do was wait until a winner emerged.

However, even so, how could a Champion like himself say, “There’s nothing we can do. So bring some wine”?

His pride and dignity as a Champion wouldn’t allow such words to leave his mouth.

“Lord Parigien, are you listening…?”

“……”

Therefore, Parigien ultimately couldn’t give any answer and just pretended not to hear, staring at the sky.

“…Lord Parigien?”

“……”

Even as the warrior’s gaze grew increasingly dubious.

“…Indeed. We can’t just stand here watching.”

What saved Parigien from his predicament was the voice of another Champion, Poisira.

“We may not be able to join that fight, but the traitor seems too preoccupied to pay attention to us. Let’s use this opportunity to reorganize our troops.”

Abandoning impossible tasks without regret and focusing only on what they could do—that was the conclusion reached by Poisira, whose rational thinking had returned now that he was free from the excitement of battle.