Book 18 Chapter 25
Chapter 141
Infiltration Operation into the Kin Society!
To deceive the enemy, first deceive your own allies (3)
"We meet for the first time, Brave One."
Repatra surprisingly and politely greeted Lista Alter Schirping! And in human language at that!
"I am Repatra Valpar."
More noble and perfect diction and pronunciation than any human! This is the pathological perfectionism of the Kin.
"The eternal servant of His Majesty Anridal, the Exalted Lord of Time."
The Kin originally despise humans, but it is recorded in historical texts that they acknowledge the Brave Ones and Paladins as having a similar inherent dignity to themselves, and thus offer such greetings.
"It seems that offering your filthy blood before His altar is the mission bestowed upon me in this time called today."
Lista charges forward, as if to lightly dismiss Repatra's arrogant greeting!
But what is this!
Repatra's body scatters into a swarm of bats again, lightly evading the slash! The 'Pale Baronet's' mutation speed, which makes one's eyes pop open!
"Oh ho! Your skill is certain, but you lack dignity. For beauty, corresponding dignity is indispensable."
Even as Repatra babbles, Lista's slashes continue! Dozens out of hundreds of bats are shot down with a single slash!
However!
Repatra's body had merely transformed into a swarm of bats; she had not taken any evasive maneuvers. Her body was fixed, yet any action was possible!
"!"
Lista completely arched her back to evade the blood drops that came rushing at her face! A master! As soon as the blood drops impacted the inner wall, they brutally exploded!
However!
Lista sliced that moment of evasion into 12 fragments! The time required from that evasive action to a counterattack was but an instant!
"Ugh!"
Repatra, deeply cut across her upper body, spewed congested blood and flinched back.
'Blood coagulating and regenerating…! In this continent, it would be strange if demons didn't possess [King's Flesh].'
As Lista recovered her posture from the physical recoil caused by the sudden attack, Repatra opened her mouth.
"The fact that you've pinpointed my location means that information about what we're trying to do has leaked."
What we're trying to do?
The context of the conversation was unreadable, but she couldn't ask what it was in the current situation.
"Yes, now give up everything!"
"I cannot. For a mission originally means 'a task that must be accomplished somehow'! I will kill you here and complete my mission!"
Just when it seemed she would counterattack, Repatra merely transformed her body into a swarm of bats again.
"I acknowledge your skill. It will certainly be a disadvantage, at least in close combat!"
Then, wasn't she escaping through the window that Lista had broken to enter?!
[Lista, you mustn't let the 'Pale Baronet' get away! If we let him go like this, it'll be discovered that we're chasing the Kin!]
When Friede urgently shouted, Lista had already smashed through the window and was throwing herself outside.
'Where is he?'
Repatra had already entered among the swarm of Kin Servants.
"The head of the Valpar family, my alias is Repatra the Blood Explosion Noble (血爆貴)."
Violent steam began to be expelled from the bodies of the Kin Servants. The luminosity of their glowing blue eyes reached its peak!
"Befitting the Kin culture of setting aliases according to the characteristics of their power, the power of sorcery I wield is 'explosion by blood'."
The Kin Servants charged at Lista, letting out grotesque shouts!
"Heat energy exists in blood, and by increasing this blood's thermal capacity, overall motor performance is increased."
At that moment, Lista, being a Brave One!
Could not help but hesitate for a moment to cut down those poor departed souls!
Are these truly enemies? From children to the elderly, if you only look at their appearance…
"When blood flow becomes overloaded, the body can also use superhuman strength; that's the principle."
That single moment of hesitation turned into a fatal cause of defeat!
The bodies of the Kin Servants!
More precisely, the blood within their bodies!
Exploded with extreme heat the moment they approached Lista!
"!!!!!!!"
If merely exploding blood drops were all there was to it, this battle would have been a little simpler.
"Of course, in return, the blood flow itself goes berserk, and a human heart cannot withstand that overload and bursts… but it endures long enough for impact with you."
But Repatra!
This 'Pale Baronet'!
"The Kin Servants here, including my direct Kin Servants and those commanded by my lieutenants, number a whopping 100,000!"
True to her nature as a being utterly devoid of humanity, she was using the Kin Servants as a medium for explosion!
"There are 100,000 bombs, Brave One! Can you endure these 100,000 bombs? Indeed!"
Ruthless! Cruel!
Such a being was one of the five Kin lords, the 'Pale Barons,' whom Lista's party first encountered!
[Li, Lista!]
A moment later, Lista emerged from the vortex of explosions.
"…How can you do such a thing?"
Her armor was half-melted, and her combat uniform was on the verge of tearing into rags.
"A single life, a single, a single! Dignified life…!"
Lista let out a near-scream roar and tried to charge at Repatra, but hundreds of Kin Servants blocked her path!
"My lieutenants were killed in an instant without even a scream. Do you, who committed such an act, truly believe you have the right to speak of life?"
Until now, Lista had always believed she could naturally cut down all enemies until the end of her journey.
No matter what formidable foe she encountered…
Even if the <Forgotten Kings> were her opponents, she believed that with her comrades, she could fulfill her sworn duty with her sword.
'But this…'
Now, these rushing towards her… could she cut them down?
Is it right to cut them down?
Shouldn't it be herself who should be cut down, she who failed to save them, she who is no different from having abandoned these poor souls to become like this…?
[Lista, stop thinking strange thoughts and just cut them all down!]
Friede, who had discerned Lista's current situation merely from the sound through the transceiver, urgently shouted.
[Use 'Time-Space Island' to blow them all away with that guy! The Kin Servants are already dead! They're the departed! In fact, releasing them from that state is mercy! They're different from the Kin Servants we met last time!]
However, it was already too late!
Nearly five hundred Kin Servants had already surrounded Lista; would even the last Brave One be consumed in that cruel explosion now?
No, it wouldn't!
Suddenly soaring up to protect the despairing Brave One was a golden pyramid (金字塔) of frozen blood!
"!"
At first glance, it appeared to be sorcery made of blood, but upon closer inspection of its structure, one could recognize that its power usage was completely different from Kin sorcery.
This was the power of light.
The light that the Black Sun Kalenden created by interpreting the Genesis Psalms and that the Great Sage Emmitsa Page transmitted to this land, truly the power of magic!
"Oh, come on. If you're going to whine so much, why are you just taking someone else's prey whenever you feel like it?"
The power, which had originally manifested as a defensive property, expanded into dozens of thorns in the next moment, piercing the lower bodies of the Kin Servants! It sealed their movements!
Rune Engraving Alteration!
A truly absurd technique, like instantly changing the foundation of an entire building! A master, a crazy master!
"Tsk, I wanted to eat it all by myself… but if I can't eat it all, it's better to take a big bite."
The mages who could freely wield Rune Engraving Alteration, that insane technique, were a rare few, fewer than three even across a long history… but there was only one founder!
Now, this very moment!
The boy who appeared at the corner of Lista's vision, the mage of the Brave One party, Lyn!
"How long are you going to sit there? That's not like you."
After taking a light deep breath, Lyn stood glaring at Repatra with an utterly satisfied expression.
"En talkas Bludy, Ber Gyun Ralor. When the stars burn red, my mission begins."
There was no profound reason why he covered half his face with his left hand while reciting that line.
It was simply because it was cool!
Because the [Strongest Mage] must always be cool, no matter the situation! That's why.
"These cruel humans…"
However, for Repatra, who cherished her lieutenants more than anyone among the 'Pale Barons,' the meaning was interpreted completely differently.
'He's struggling to break free from the brainwashing… that young one.'
She perceived Lyn as clutching his face and groaning in pain! What a crazy misunderstanding!
'Even if a blood pact hasn't been made yet, he is my lieutenant. He is Repatra's servant!'
I must take responsibility until the very end.
Even if I die fighting here, I must open the way for that child to go to the future, to where His Holiness is.
"Take your filthy hands off my lieutenant…!"
At the 'Pale Baronet's' roar (怒號), thousands of Kin Servants leaped in unison!
Their trajectory completely ignored Lyn, who stood out front, and his barrier, aiming only for Lista!
No matter how brave, if caught in those thousands of bio-explosions, it would mean instant death! Super-fast regeneration is only possible if one's life is still intact, isn't it?
"HugabuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAA!"
The swarm of Kin Servants charging with a grotesque roar, just as Lista was about to be buried in that living wall!
"Is everything the 'Pale Barons' do so filthy and disgusting?"
A wave (波狀) of sunlight brilliantly swept across the ground, and then… what happened! The lower bodies of the Kin Servants began to melt away!
"I'll show you. The martial art of my style, the Iryang Seonpa (泆陽腺派)! I have completely revamped it. Optimized specifically for dealing with you Kin and Trolls!"
At the center of that light, the being who rotated their entire body to create a vortex of light was none other than… Muchen Ruminique!
"The natural enemy of the Kin and Trolls is the sun! And the power our Iryang style wields is the sun! By combining the Yang energy (陽氣) stored throughout my body with magic, I can embody the power of the sun."
At the light of the sun, Repatra's eyes showed a mix of revulsion and fear.
"A reaction befitting a departed soul who sold their soul to the stars. Kin lose all their power when exposed to sunlight! It's no different for those Kin Servants. Now, receive the continuing power of the sun! Plenty enough to completely melt you! Secret Technique, Iryang Seonryun (泆陽線輪)!"
With the exception of demons, the Kin, who individually among the greater demons received the greatest authority, have a weakness: their power diminishes under sunlight.
That weakness!
It was no different for Kin Servants controlled by Kin blood. Repatra's blood, which created the Kin Servants as bio-bombs, was being neutralized by martial arts possessing properties similar to sunlight!
"…"
The expressions of the melting Kin Servants were clearly like those of individuals laying down a heavy burden and being liberated… they wore such smiles.
"I'm sorry…"
Therefore, Lista renewed her resolve. She pushed off the ground with the tip of Schirping's sword and stood up.
"I… I'm not ready yet to cut down the people who became Kin Servants. So, can the two of you free the Kin Servants? While clearing the way. Then, I'll finish everything."
Since she was speaking to both Ruminique and Lyn, the mixed use of polite and informal language was unavoidable.
"So, you're going to hog all the good stuff again? Tsk, if you promise not to interfere next time, I guess I can do it."
"Lyn, is this really the time for jokes?"
"You can do it too, Ruminique, if you promise to enroll in my special martial arts lecture. By the way, with a friend discount, I can do it for 500 gold coins."
"Absolutely not."
"That's harsh."
Despite exchanging playful banter, the atmosphere surrounding the three was sharply twisted.
Killing intent (殺氣).
Repatra was not one to miss that. She was one of the five leaders of the Kin, a Pale Baronet, after all. It was natural that she possessed immense insight from her long life.
'Gijas… that one was also a human in disguise. Is the main body already dead, I wonder.'
If so, that young one…
Did he not know that Gijas had been captured and was being used, and now was even brainwashed by the priestess who wasn't showing herself?
Unacceptable and unforgivable.
'Bear with it a little longer, my young blood-son. I, Repatra, will surely free you from that fiendish grasp…!'
Without betraying any of her inner turmoil, Repatra instead extended both hands as if conceding.
A display of composure, carelessly shown when the situation called for none.
This was a time-honored method used by the highest authority among the Kin to toy with their opponents!
"Whatever you scheme, the outcome will not change. I shall carve into your lowly body what the difference in class truly is."