Ch.862Realization?

I aimed for a long battle, focusing on evasion for another five minutes.

“…No, isn’t this a bit cowardly?”

I realized something. That this ginseng lion actually had a brain capable of thought.

Like a thick, massive concrete dam collapsing from a single small hole, even a seemingly perfect strategy can crumble easily when faced with unexpected variables.

My grand strategy of aiming for a prolonged battle fell apart just five minutes after I conceived it.

All because of Rotholandus, who seemed to have sold his chivalry somewhere and started fighting dishonorably.

“Grrrr…”

“Why are you suddenly doing things you weren’t doing before? It’s annoying.”

I frowned deeply and launched myself to avoid the black slash that flew toward me in an arc.

The missed slash traveled far before colliding with the remnants of the castle wall and dispersing. The rocks melted with a hissing sound.

Yes. While it appeared he was shooting blades of dark mana, what he actually fired was highly toxic venom. That made it even harder to counter.

“Kyahaha…”

…Ha, now he’s even laughing. This is truly ridiculous.

“Hey, ancestor. Has your sanity returned? I won’t get angry, so tell me honestly. Are you actually perfectly sane but pretending to be crazy because you’re embarrassed?”

“Kuooo…”

“If you have a mouth, use it to speak! Even senile old people can talk just fine, so why are you just making noises!”

No matter how irritated I got, no answer came back. Only toxic slashes continued to crash like waves in response.

At some point, Rotholandus suddenly began actively utilizing his black sword’s abilities, continuously firing venomous slashes. It was practically indiscriminate fire.

“Using equipment so cowardly. And you call yourself one of the Great’s Twelve Knights! If you’re a knight, fight honorably with swordsmanship, with swordsmanship!”

It was a threatening attack. Enough to make me reconsider my original strategy.

The venom swung with superhuman strength could easily split rocks, and since it was fundamentally liquid, the moment it was blocked, it would scatter like spray and cover the entire surrounding area, melting everything.

In other words, I couldn’t carelessly block or deflect it—I had to dodge from a distance. If I got drenched in the venom, even I wouldn’t be safe.

[Wouldn’t it be better to burn it all rather than dodge? At this rate, you’re just reducing your range of movement!]

‘That only works to a certain extent. How can I burn all of that?’

Hersella was advising me to use the fire rune to burn away the venom, but that alone wasn’t enough.

The waves of poison would extinguish the flames much faster than the flames could evaporate the poison.

If I could spew flames continuously like a flamethrower, it might work, but that would tie up my right hand, leaving me with no way to deal with Rotholandus’s fierce attacks if he approached.

Moreover—

‘And if the fire grows too large and spreads elsewhere, that would be troublesome.’

If I were fighting alone, it might be different, but in the central battle at the Imperial Palace, Demian would be engaged in fierce combat, and Joshua and the rest of our party would be holding their ground at the entrance.

So I couldn’t create a massive fire that might burn down the entire palace.

I could withstand being in a pit of fire just fine, but everyone else in our party would be roasted if trapped in flames.

For that reason, my remaining options were either to grit my teeth and keep dodging the venomous blades, or—

“Kyaaaah!”

Just like Rotholandus, who was cowardly firing ranged attacks despite being a swordsman, I too had to counter by firing vacuum blades, consuming my Karma power.

Jeolgong.

An invisible vacuum blade shot from Durandal as I swung it diagonally, colliding with the incoming venom and exploding.

– Pueeeork!

With a sound like a water balloon bursting, fragments of the shattered venom rained down like a downpour.

– Chiiiiik…!

A toxic rainfall incomparably more dangerous than any acid rain in the original world. The ground moaned as holes melted into it everywhere.

“Grrrr-!”

While I briefly looked away, Rotholandus approached like lightning and swung his sword. A trail of venom followed the black sword’s trajectory like a tail.

“Kugh…!”

Blocking with Durandal would only result in being drenched in the venom shower. It was a strike that didn’t allow defense.

I quickly lowered my body to let the slash and venom flow over my face, then kicked up my legs like doing a handstand, striking his lower jaw. With plenty of Karma power behind it.

– Kwaaang!

A thunderous boom. The ginseng lion’s upper body shook violently.

He quickly raised his left arm to guard his chin, but since he chose defense rather than counterattack, there was no space-cutting power in it, so he couldn’t slice my foot and took the hit directly.

“Grruk…!”

With a low groan, Rotholandus staggered back several steps. I turned my body to correct my posture and immediately charged, thrusting Durandal.

A lightning-fast thrust. Rotholandus shook his head left and right like an animal shaking off water and deflected Durandal by drawing a circle with his sword tip.

“Kyaaaah-!”

I released the sword hilt with my left hand and shot it like a bullet toward him. Gwansoo of Seoritbal. My nails, imbued with the cold of the netherworld, rushed toward the ginseng lion’s heart.

“Graaah-!”

Hand against hand, perhaps? Rotholandus also removed one hand from his sword hilt and swung his open hand to meet my fingertips. Still carrying the intact power of space cutting.

“Ah, really!”

I abandoned my attack and twisted my body to let his hand blade flow past me.

His hand blade sliced past my side, and I glared at the space-cutting power contained within it.

…I think I could grasp it after watching a few more times.

From the moment I started fighting him until now, I had been staring intently at him whenever he manifested the Sword of Severance, trying to understand its principles.

To understand, accept, and incorporate it as my own.

It’s nearly impossible to copy someone else’s heroic tale, but the space-cutting slash might be an exception.

Even if I couldn’t perfectly replicate Rotholandus’s “Sword of Severance,” I could at least imitate the ability to cut space.

I was certain of that. Though I couldn’t remember exactly how, I had already used it once before.

So, if I continued observing like this…I might eventually get the hang of it.

“Gyaaah!”

“Would you stop…!”

I jumped to avoid the knee that flew at me next, then extended my foot to kick his exposed chest.

It was a force that would have completely shattered the upper body of an ordinary human, and even a master-level knight would not have survived, but—

“Kyaha…”

The ginseng lion, like me, leaned his upper body back sharply to avoid my foot, then grabbed my ankle and spun me around in the air before hurling me away.

“Uaaaaa—”

The blood rushing to my head slowed my response. I flew through the air like a baseball and crashed into the middle of the city outside the inner wall.

– Kwagwagwang…!

A Ka’har-style mansion collapsed with its walls and pillars shattered, pressing down on my body. Dust from the straw rose like smoke.

“Kuhek, kehek…!”

The impact pressing down on my chest forced the air out of my lungs.

[Are you alright?]

‘What do you take me for? Of course I’m fine!’

I coughed roughly as I twisted my body to shake off the roof debris and stood up.

“What… that wasn’t a catapult but a person…?!”

Perhaps because I had fallen in the middle of the city, irritating noises echoed from all around.

“Wait. This woman is the Patricide Wolf! Abha Knight Haschal is here!”

“Good heavens, of all places…!”

Ka’har men staring at me blankly with surprised eyes. Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be warriors, but I couldn’t understand why they were gathered here.

“Hmm? And who are you?”

I tilted my head slightly as I looked at them, baring my fangs.

“What about the Imperial Palace—”

[Oh my, go back quickly! No, kill them all! Hurry!]

Hersella cut off my words, shouting urgently. With a voice overflowing with agitation and urgency unlike her usual self.

The reason for her panic was obvious. She didn’t want to expose her mother’s naked body to these men.

What a filial daughter she is, indeed.

Well, it wasn’t an unreasonable request, so I aimed my right hand at the warriors who were hastily retreating.

“W-wait! We don’t intend to fight—”

The warriors lowered their weapons and raised both arms urgently.

“Now? If you wanted to surrender, you should have done so earlier.”

They seemed to have already lost their fighting spirit, but that wasn’t reason enough to show mercy.

These men had lost their will to fight only because the difference in power was overwhelming. If I had been weaker than them, far from surrendering, they would have captured me and subjected me to all kinds of humiliation.

Since they had lived their lives considering it virtuous to abuse others as the strong, it was only fitting karma that they be abused by someone stronger than themselves, right?

“Kenaz.”

“No, don’t…!”

With the activation word, a stream of fire surged forth like a wave, engulfing their bodies.

The flames spread across their bodies instantly. The warriors, turned into human torches, screamed and danced like insects.

“Gyaaaak! Hot! It’s hooooot!”

“Gyahweeeeek-!”

“Kahaaak…! Curse, curse you… damn sorcerers aaaah…!”

Well-roasted Ka’har smelled like a mix of squid and pork.

After annihilating them, I turned my gaze from the crispy warriors toward the Imperial Palace from where I had flown.

“Gyaa—aaaaa!”

An echo mingled with the warriors’ screams. A storm-like presence was rapidly approaching me.

“Gyaaaaa!”

…Still making that noise.

Imitating the roasted men even though he wasn’t burned.

Aminmela Rotholandus charging with the echo.

He seemed unwilling to wait even the brief time I took to spew flames at the warriors, and was now rushing down to the city toward me, howling like the roasted Ka’har.

At this rate, quite a few warriors besides the ones I burned would have seen her half-naked body.

[…In that case, we have no choice but to burn this entire city! Burn everything without leaving a single one alive. For my mother’s honor!]

Hersella seemed to have reached the same conclusion and was having a fit.

‘Well, that’s something to think about later… first I need to deal with that.’

Burning the city wouldn’t be too difficult, but first I needed to deal with that woman. And if I could find and kill Meiharin in the process, all the better.

The problem was that it wasn’t an easy task.

Now that he had become a cowardly and dishonorable poison user, I had no choice but to abandon my original plan of a prolonged battle.

If both sides became exhausted and fought with equipment advantage, it would become a spec battle between his poison sword and my armor… which would actually put me at a disadvantage.

For now, I could still somehow avoid and neutralize the poison, but once my Karma power was depleted, even I would have difficulty avoiding being drenched in that venom.

As sturdy as the Winter Armor was, it probably wouldn’t block the deadly poison seeping through the gaps.

[Do you have any options left? At this rate…]

‘I know. I wanted to take the easy way, but… this isn’t easy at all.’

Such is life. When I was weak, it was natural to struggle, but even after becoming stronger, my struggles didn’t seem to decrease.

As I grew stronger, the enemies I had to face also grew increasingly powerful.

In a game, this would be necessary to maintain tension and fun, but experiencing it in reality was nothing short of infuriating.

What was this called again?

Level… level something…

Ah, level scaling? Yes, that was the term. I’m not sure why it was called that.

The scaling I know is a torture method where you grind down a prisoner’s teeth with a small grinder, but what does that have to do with enemies becoming stronger as my level increases?

I don’t know. Does it mean grinding down players by matching enemy levels to theirs?

Even so, it’s an odd name. If it were me, I’d rather…

…Wait a minute.

I suddenly jerked my shoulders.

The moment I recalled the old memory of cleanly erasing a prisoner’s teeth with a grinder, an unidentifiable realization struck my mind like lightning.

Scaling. Teeth. Rotation. Grinder.

A tool that relentlessly cuts through not only teeth but even metal with its high-speed rotating blade.

That sight, the image of a rotating saw blade tearing through metal plates, overlapped with Rotholandus’s slashes that I had been watching for the past several dozen minutes.

“…Ah.”

Could it be this? Was this it?

Thinking about it, the principle was so simple. Yet, because I hadn’t even considered it, I couldn’t realize the principle that was now filling my mind.

[What are you doing standing there blankly! He’s coming!]

Well, what am I doing?

Forgetting the situation around me, I looked down at Durandal’s blade in my right hand and drew up Karma power, pouring it into the blade.

I imagined the form of saw blades moving in opposite directions.

I wrapped those saw blades around the blade—no, the entire sword—and rotated them.

Quickly, endlessly quickly.

Like high-speed saw blades cutting through steel.

– Kiiiiiing!

Though invisible to the eye, the clearly felt power of Karma wrapped around the entire blade like a snake and whirled fiercely.

A storm of saw blades that would tear apart everything they touched. The surrounding air was caught in the rotation and torn apart.

– Kkigigik…!

Durandal’s incredibly sturdy blade trembled as if groaning under the rotational pressure.

[You, what are you… That is…?]

Yes. Now I understood. Now I could be certain.

This was—

“Gyaaaaa-!”

“……”

I swung the groaning Durandal toward Rotholandus’s black sword that was aiming for my nape.

And then.

——————!

The next moment, a thunderous sound like all the glass in the world shattering simultaneously swept through the entire city.

The collision of space-cutting forces tore apart everything that existed in all directions.