Chapter 198

Dark Arrow.

Dark Orb.

Dark Cutter.

Normally, these attacks would be hidden in the darkness and difficult to see, but with Owl’s Eye activated, my eyes could clearly see them.

Attacks approaching head-on.

Thud!

I kicked off the ground without hesitation and leaped high into the air.

I saw the surprised expressions on the dark mages’ faces.

They seemed to have never expected such a high jump.

“He’s above!”

“Get him!”

The dark mages quickly fired their magic into the air.

But I was half a step ahead.

– Falling Slash Form.

My figure descended rapidly, kicking off the air.

Whoosh!

A powerful downward slash, like the talons of a hawk, struck one of them.

“Gasp?!”

He let out a surprised groan and instinctively tried to dodge, but the blade was already upon him.

Slash!

His body was cleanly severed diagonally, starting from his right shoulder.

Flesh and bone were sliced through like tofu.

It was an incredible display of power.

It wasn’t just due to my improved skills.

The masterpiece sword of a genius craftsman.

The Turtle Sword, sturdy and sharp, maximized the power of the technique.

Gush!

Blood spurted out like a fountain, dyeing everything red.

Including my body.

“H-Heok?!”

“W-What is this?!”

The dark mages froze in shock.

This alone told me.

That they didn’t have much real combat experience.

It was only natural, considering they had been living in hiding.

They couldn’t even compare to me, who had intentionally thrown myself into countless battles.

And this difference was already factored into my plan.

Thud!

I didn’t stop for even a second.

Attack, and attack again.

That was the way to dominate the flow of this battle.

Thud!

Another one down.

Now three.

“Y-You bastard!”

A flurry of Dark Cutters.

My sword cleaved through even those dark blades and descended upon its prey.

Slash!

Another one down.

Now two.

“D-Damn it!”

“L-Let’s go up!”

They gave up fighting and chose to flee.

They were trying to alert their comrades above.

A good decision.

If they could use flight magic like Riviera, it would have been quite troublesome.

But even though Riviera made it look like a basic spell, flight magic was an advanced spell.

They weren’t the Blood Witch, they were just fallen dark mages.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!

They ran with all their might.

Their destination was, of course, the stairs leading to the temple.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

I muttered coldly and ran towards one of them.

A dark mage and me.

There was no need to think about who was faster.

The distance between us closed.

The dark mage glanced back, his face turning pale, and shouted in despair,

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

He hurriedly threw a Dark Orb.

Thwack!

But I easily deflected the Dark Orb.

It was a good sword, after all.

I felt at ease even when clashing my blade against magic without hesitation.

Thud!

My sword pierced his heart from behind.

I pulled out the sword and kicked the lifeless body aside.

In the meantime, the distance between me and the last one had widened a bit.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

He had already reached the stone steps and was about to climb them.

An awkward distance.

Here, I would use…

– Flying Slash Form.

My sword slashed through the empty air.

A sharp gust of wind shot forward.

Sword wind.

The sword wind mercilessly slashed the back of the dark mage who was about to climb the stairs.

Slash, slash, slash!

“K-Kyaaa!”

The sword wind continued forward, tearing through flesh and bone.

And finally.

Pierce!

It completely pierced through his body.

The dark mage’s body was pierced through, leaving a gaping hole.

Thud!

His lifeless body collapsed forward.

With this, I had completely dealt with those below.

And through this fight, I could be sure once again.

‘I’ve become stronger.’

Of course, it wasn’t enough.

To survive.

But I had no intention of stopping.

I would continue to grow stronger.

Rip.

I tore another Invisibility scroll and climbed the stairs.

* * *

“Here it is.”

A hand pressed against the mural.

And soon.

Click!

The sound of a mechanism activating.

The location was.

The floor in the center of the temple.

The spot, which had been an ordinary stone floor just a moment ago, was glowing red.

One of the dark mages approached and pressed against the floor.

Then.

Clank!

The floor slid to one side, revealing hidden stairs.

Stairs leading underground.

It must have been the path to the secret place hidden within the temple.

“There’s no time to waste. Let’s go.”

The dark mages moved.

* * *

The hidden underground space.

It was larger than expected.

And.

“As the Teacher said.”

A giant stone golem stood majestically.

It must be the guardian protecting half of the key.

It looked formidable at first glance.

But they had come prepared with this many people.

It should be enough.

To defeat it.

“Be careful not to collapse the underground!”

“Right!”

The dark mages prepared their magic simultaneously.

Rumble!

The stone golem also moved.

A fierce battle ensued.

* * *

I knew.

That there was a guardian protecting half of the key.

Of course, they knew it too.

That’s why they had come to the temple with this many people.

‘I can’t be late if I want to reap the benefits.’

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

It was a fitting saying for this situation.

Their attention would be focused on the guardian.

If I attacked them from behind at this moment, I could take out at least a few of them effortlessly.

When I entered the temple, the mechanism was naturally open.

I went down the open stairs.

The air was filled with the musty smell unique to underground spaces.

I walked forward carefully, trying not to make any sound.

How long had I walked?

I saw the dark mages and the guardian.

The dark mages were surrounding the guardian and attacking it relentlessly.

They clearly had the upper hand.

But the golem, with its tenacious vitality, seemed to be holding on.

‘Yes, keep holding on a little longer.’

This time, I took out my bow.

The environment was different from the outside, where it was pouring rain.

I needed to use a different method.

‘I can finally try it out in a real battle.’

A fresh technique I had just mastered a month ago.

Explosive Shot.

It was one of Hiresia’s secret techniques, a powerful skill that shone even brighter in one-versus-many situations.

A technique where the arrow exploded upon impact, sweeping away everything around it.

‘They’re all nicely gathered together.’

A mage’s battle was different from a knight’s battle.

Knights dodged attacks, but mages lacked the physical ability to dodge effectively.

It would be a different story if they had flight or teleportation magic, but those were skills that ordinary mages couldn’t use.

Then?

They blocked with magic.

That was how mages fought.

Usually with shield-type magic.

In their case, it was Dark Shield.

How to increase the efficiency of the shield?

Naturally, by staying somewhat close together.

Because it could protect multiple people instead of just one.

So, one person focused on maintaining the shield and casting protective magic at the right time, while the others focused on casting offensive magic.

They were doing the same, divided into three groups.

Three, three, four.

‘Of course, I have to go for the group of four.’

I smirked and nocked an arrow.

Creak.

A good feeling transmitted through my fingertips.

I waited for the right timing.

When the golem’s attack was directed elsewhere, the Dark Shield would be deactivated.

It was the perfect time to unleash a barrage of offensive magic.

That was my chance.

Not yet.

Not yet.

Not yet.

Now!

– Explosive Shot.

Whoosh!

The arrow pierced the air.

The dark mages’ eyes reacted to the sound, but it was too late.

They couldn’t do anything else while they were busy casting offensive magic.

The defender was half a beat late in casting Dark Shield.

Thud!

Boom!

The arrow pierced the back of one of the dark mages, and a large explosion engulfed them.

“K-Keheok!”

“Kyaaa!”

The dark mage who was hit by the arrow was blown to pieces, unrecognizable.

The others were also mangled by the explosion.

Flesh was torn apart and scorched by flames.

The other dark mages were shocked and surprised.

“Wh-Wh-What?!”

“A-Ambush! We’re being ambushed!”

“A t-trap?! Or was there another enemy?!”

The dark mages panicked.

But they didn’t have time to spare.

Rumble!

The golem’s giant hand wouldn’t wait for them.

“Ugh!”

Clang!

The dark mages quickly cast Dark Shield to block the attack.

But perhaps due to their broken concentration, the shield shook violently.

“F-Focus!”

“D-Damn it! The new enemy!”

“Leave him to us!”

“Ugh, alright!”

The dark mages divided their roles.

Yes, that’s what they would do.

Even if the golem was weakened by the magic bombardment, they couldn’t just leave it alone.

‘Why don’t I do this?’

I changed my mind.

I decided to annihilate them along with the golem.

“Don’t deactivate the shield!”

“Right, of course!”

Having learned their lesson from the previous attack, they maintained their shields firmly.

They were focusing on defense while assessing the situation.

And the others were carefully observing the direction the arrow came from, trying to cast detection magic.

I had to fire another shot before the detection magic hit.

‘I’m running out of time.’

I prepared another Explosive Shot.

But this time, I had a different picture in my mind.

Maintaining the shield?

If I could break that…

‘Let’s try it.’

– Explosive Shot.

Whoosh!

The arrow flew again.

But this time, the dark mages were maintaining their shields like an iron wall.

“He’s over there again!”

“Damn you!”

Detection magic flew towards me.

It didn’t matter.

The arrow was already on its way.

Thud!

Boom!

As soon as the arrow hit the shield, another large explosion occurred.

At the same time.

Crack!

I heard the sound of the shield cracking.

“Wh-What?!”

The dark mages were bewildered.

And finally.

Shatter!

The shield shattered into pieces.

“N-No! The Dark Shield!”

The mage next to him quickly tried to cast a replacement shield.

But.

‘Too late.’

I had aimed for the shield at the exact moment the golem was about to attack, exploiting that split-second gap.

Boom!

Crack!

The sound of bones breaking.

One of the dark mages was sent flying, his ribs crushed to powder by the golem’s kick.

Thud!

He crashed against the wall and fell to the ground.

“G-Gah… Ugh…”

He groaned, blood gushing from his mouth, but soon his body convulsed and stopped moving.

He was dead.

Five of them were already dead or incapacitated.

At that moment, the detection magic revealed my location.

“Wh-Who the hell are you?!”

“Damn you! You cowardly Bastard!”

It was ironic for them, who had infiltrated the island like rats and attempted a massacre through surprise attacks, to call me cowardly.

I said coldly,

“You don’t need to know. You’re all going to die anyway.”

“Wh-What?!”

“Die.”

I raised my sword and moved.

* * *

“G-Gah… T-This can’t be… Ugh… Th-The revival of dark magic was right in front of our… eyes…”

“You’re dreaming a sweet, impossible dream. None of you will leave this island alive.”

“Th-That can’t be…”

Slash!

My sword cleanly decapitated the last one remaining.

To be precise, he was the last human remaining.

Because the golem was still there.

Rumble!

It was a persistent creature.

Even though its stone body was damaged in various places from the magic bombardment, it was still holding on.

But it was over now.

“Well, why don’t I use this opportunity to test you out?”

I prepared the fifth form of Baker’s swordsmanship, which I had learned recently.

Swoosh.

I sheathed my sword in its cute turtle scabbard.

Then I lowered my stance and placed my hand on the scabbard.

The stance for drawing the sword.

The fifth form of Baker’s swordsmanship was a drawing technique.

The fastest, most swift drawing technique among the forms.

“Come.”

The golem walked towards me, its heavy steps shaking the ground.

My eyes measured the distance.

And.

‘Now!’

– Speed Slash Form.

Thud!

My figure moved faster than ever before.

At my maximum speed.

I was aiming for the golem’s neck.

It was a dangerous stance, vulnerable to attacks from above.

But it didn’t matter.

I was faster.

Kick!

The blade scraped against the scabbard, gathering friction.

The concentrated friction was released outwards.

Like a flash of light.

My sword drew a clean, single line.

And.

Slash!

The golem’s head was separated from its body.

Thud!

The headless golem’s body collapsed powerlessly.

And I landed gracefully on the ground.

“You’re quite useful, after all.”

I smiled with satisfaction.