Chapter 165

Chapter 166. Can You Feel the Difference in Power? (5)

The monster symbolizing a Necromancer, the Undead.

Its appearance was never something to be taken lightly.

Basically, the Undead possess immortality. There is no concept of a vital spot, and no matter how many times you kill them, they resurrect.

These Undead were not something you could easily encounter. Although classified as monsters, they are not created through reproduction but solely by Dark Mages.

Due to centuries of oppression and extermination, Dark Mages are now hard to find, and the appearance of a Necromancer, the most dangerous among them, was undoubtedly an unbelievable story.

“Undead… Are there any witnesses?”

At Mail’s question, Catherine nodded.

“There are quite a few witnesses who claim to have seen Skeleton Soldiers. Not just one or two, but among the witnesses, there are even knights and nobles.”

“If they saw Skeleton Soldiers so clearly, isn’t that strange? Shouldn’t the tournament be stopped immediately and the city searched to capture the Necromancer?”

“It’s not over yet. Another incident has occurred.”

Catherine pointed in a certain direction with her finger. It was towards the nobles’ seating area.

“Your Highness. Do you see the occasional empty seats?”

“Hmm…”

Mail’s eyes narrowed.

As Catherine mentioned, there were empty seats. It was a gap he wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t pointed it out. After all, he wasn’t interested in the nobles to begin with.

“This is also a rumor, but some nobles have gone missing.”

“Missing?”

“Yes. With the appearance of the Undead and this incident overlapping, there are ominous rumors that the Dark Mage is kidnapping people and turning them into Undead.”

“If all of this is true, it’s understandable why the nobles are on edge. It’s understandable, but…”

Mail, feeling a headache coming on, pressed his temples and muttered.

“This shouldn’t just end with them being on edge. Undead are appearing in the city, and nobles are disappearing. The city should be closed immediately, and the culprit should be apprehended as a priority, shouldn’t it?”

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to find out anything about that yet.”

Catherine openly asked the soldiers and knights in charge of security. With such incidents occurring, why aren’t people being informed or controlled?

The answer was always the same.

“I don’t know. I just do as I’m told.”

They had figured out why the nobles were restless, but it only made Mail equally restless.

“Should we really be sitting here doing nothing?”

He didn’t feel directly threatened. But the uneasy atmosphere in the city was something Mail belatedly felt in his bones.

It was like a precursor. A feeling that something big was about to happen.

However, standing out by taking action while everyone else remained silent was by no means an easy task.

Catherine and Mail, who lived by rational thinking, couldn’t understand the nobles’ attitude but also couldn’t easily step forward.

That was normal.

If they were alone, they would naturally do what needed to be done, but in a place with many people, humans are greatly influenced by others’ attitudes. Even if they know something is wrong, everyone remains silent.

The complacency that nothing would happen in a territory ruled by a lord. The conservative attitude of waiting for others to act first, fearing the consequences if things go wrong.

Mail, lacking knowledge and experience in such crowd psychology, felt a strange sense of detachment but couldn’t act proactively.

KAAAAANG!

Amidst this, a stimulating sound echoed in his ears. The battle between Rajis and Henya was reaching its climax.

The match unfolded with Henya pushing forward and Rajis countering.

The dual swordsmanship, sharpened and perfected with advice from Keter, pushed Rajis to his limits.

Rajis’s response was also impeccably clean. He didn’t force himself to dodge or counterattack but simply defended silently.

Then, Henya, who had grown impatient, made a bold move, and Rajis countered as if he had been waiting for it. Rajis won the battle of endurance.

From then on, Rajis’s counterattack began. Rajis’s swordsmanship, “Thousand Blades Unsealed,” lived up to its name, exuding perfection.

Fast, heavy, sharp, and unconventional.

A swordsmanship that took only the strengths of all swordsmanship, with no weaknesses.

Especially, Rajis was exceptionally good at feints. Henya, deceived by these feints, repeatedly lost her flow and couldn’t escape the defensive position.

Realizing that dual swordsmanship couldn’t defeat Rajis, Henya began using the Light Movement Technique and Flash Step.

SHOOOSH!

Henya’s attacks, darting around the wide ring to target Rajis from all sides, were indeed fast, but the reason swordsmen didn’t learn the Light Movement Technique became evident.

“Your feet have become faster, but your sword has slowed down.”

Rajis coldly evaluated Henya’s Flash Step.

“I can’t keep up with that speed, but there’s no need to try.”

Rajis didn’t bother chasing Henya, who was darting in and out. Eventually, Henya had to close in to attack, and that’s when Rajis focused on blocking. Knowing the direction made blocking easy.

Unlike Rajis, who held his ground, Henya’s stamina and aura were depleting faster as she continued to move at high speed.

“Huff, huff…”

Soon, Henya’s sprint ended. Her disheveled hair showed just how exhausted she was. Rajis slowly raised his sword and spoke.

“Lady Henya. Don’t be disheartened. I think your dual swordsmanship and Light Movement Technique are on par with my Thousand Blades Unsealed. It’s just that in a limited space, my Thousand Blades Unsealed had the advantage. On a battlefield, the outcome would have been different.”

“Don’t act like the winner. The match isn’t over yet.”

“I’ll end it now.”

Rajis’s raised sword then struck the sky. An immense pressure pierced through the ring’s shield and began to press down on the entire arena.

Thousand Blades Unsealed? Blunt Sword.

The slowest but unavoidable absolute domain sword descended towards Henya.

Henya, looking up at the sky, had a myriad of emotions crossing her face.

‘I can’t block it, nor can I dodge it.’

She didn’t want to admit it, but her genius talent was telling her. Defeat was certain.

If she lost here, she would enter the losers’ bracket of the semifinals and have to fight one more match. Winning there would secure third place, losing would mean fourth.

‘It’s pointless. If I don’t secure second place in the team tournament, even if I defeat Keter in the individual tournament and take first place, I won’t win.’

If Keter or Rajis only secured third place in the individual tournament, Henya wouldn’t win regardless of her ranking.

‘In the end, I won’t become the Southern Sword.’

She fought without regret. She did her best.

But she felt like crying.

She wasn’t losing anything immediately. But the fear of not being able to protect Wid by not becoming the Southern Sword was overwhelming.

‘But I won’t give up. The tournament, protecting Wid…!’

Even knowing she couldn’t block it, Henya poured all her strength into striking Rajis’s Blunt Sword with her dual swords.

* * *

Henya, who had resisted the Blunt Sword, eventually collapsed with severe injuries.

Enraged, her teammates rushed at the exhausted Rajis, but Rajis wasn’t alone.

His teammates protected him, and Rajis, regaining his strength, swiftly subdued three of them, advancing to the finals.

Thus, the final two teams were decided. Keter and Rajis would face each other in the finals, the result the audience had been eagerly waiting for.

The opinions of the knights from Group A, who had finished their matches, and those from Group B, who would compete the next day, generally leaned towards Rajis.

“In terms of destructive power, Sir Keter is superior, but in terms of technical perfection, Sir Rajis’s Thousand Blades Unsealed is unmatched.”

“The Sword Witch and the Red Wolf’s swordsmanship lack weight. That’s why they couldn’t respond to Keter’s powerful arrows. But the Sword Dragon has a strong sword that they lack, so he should be able to pierce through the arrows.”

“I also think Sir Rajis will win if he can just close the distance.”

Of course, not all knights predicted Rajis’s victory.

“You don’t know anything. Keter isn’t just excellent in archery. Have you forgotten that he deflected all of the Sword Witch’s dual swordsmanship in close combat?”

“Moreover, he uses techniques akin to magic. In terms of unpredictability, no one can match Sir Keter.”

“Hmm, indeed, Sir Rajis’s combat style is more about solid defense and attack rather than unpredictability and variables. Can Sir Keter’s unpredictability break through that? I think it’s possible.”

Meanwhile, the nobles watching the match viewed the finals from a different perspective.

“Whoever wins the finals, barring any major variables, will likely place within the top three in the individual tournament. One of them will become the Southern Sword.”

“If Keter becomes the Southern Sword, the situation in Sephira will change.”

“He won’t be called the Southern Sword but the Southern Bow.”

“Hmm, as a swordsman, I’d want to prevent that.”

The nobles allied with Galahind were equally anxious.

“Damn it! Nothing’s working!”

They tried giving him a poisoned Elixir, but he noticed, and even though they had a 3-star assassin埋伏 in the waiting room, they failed miserably.

Moreover, even Regan, whom they trusted, couldn’t block a single arrow from Keter and lost, so Galahind’s patience had already run out.

“Pasian is our last hope. Ugh, Keter, you’re really testing my patience!”

Galahind handed Pasian a potion that surpassed the Rage Potion.

The Rage Elixir!

It was said that if a 3-star knight consumed it, they would exude the majesty of a 5-star master, and if a 5-star knight consumed it, they could unleash the power of a 6-star grandmaster, according to the confident words of its creator.

Of course, the side effects were equally severe. Pasian initially refused with a stern expression.

“My relationship with you, Marquis, is not built on loyalty. I can’t risk my future for this tournament.”

It was a firm refusal, but Galahind had no one else to trust, and he couldn’t back down after being defeated by Keter.

“That future. I will take full responsibility. Even if you lose, I will take responsibility for your descendants’ descendants. Isn’t that a fair condition?”

“Hmm…”

“Let’s do this. I’ll give you my silver mine. That should make it more certain, right?”

“A silver mine…!”

Not as valuable as gold, but silver was still highly valuable. Especially in alchemy, it was almost indispensable, making it a highly sought-after resource even after centuries.

“If you sign the Infinite Bank contract, I will gladly drink the Rage Elixir.”

“Good, good. But you must also do your best. Use that Muryeong to its fullest to defeat Keter.”

“That was my intention anyway.”

Both Galahind and Pasian thought this was sufficient. The power of the Rage Elixir. Combined with the effects of Muryeong.

Especially, the effects of Muryeong became more powerful the more detailed and lengthy the declaration. Yet, Pasian didn’t care.

If Pasian faced Keter in the third round of the individual tournament, he was determined to use Muryeong, staking his life as a swordsman.

‘If that happens, I won’t be able to wield a sword again… But with the silver mine, I can live without fighting.’

He could pass down his aura training, Muryeong, and swordsmanship to his children.

But the noble status and vast wealth. That was a life Pasian couldn’t easily obtain, no matter what.

‘If I lay the foundation and pass it down through generations… I might even take over the Galahind family.’

Pasian trained solely for ambition and participated in this tournament. Although he didn’t come determined that this tournament would be his final destination, his resolve was firm.

‘I will stake everything and kill Keter.’

As Pasian solidified his resolve, the finals of Group A were about to begin.

“It’s Rajis!”

“Sir Rajis! You’re not… handsome, but you’re cool!”

“At least wear a helmet!”

The audience cheered for Team Rajis as they stepped onto the ring.

Next, Team Keter stepped onto the ring, but-

Something was off.

“Wow! Keter! Keter… isn’t here?”

“Why are there only three?”

Only three members stepped onto the ring.

It was Team Keter, but Keter was missing.

“He’s probably just running late.”

“Please wait a little longer.”

Keter’s teammates, unaware of why he was late, tried to calm the audience with noncommittal words.

Five minutes, then ten minutes passed.

“……”

As Keter still didn’t show up, the referee finally stepped in.

“According to the rules, the maximum waiting time is ten minutes. Please bring Sir Keter from the waiting room immediately.”

“Understood.”

Keter’s teammates headed to his private waiting room.

It took less than three minutes for one teammate to return.

“What’s going on, why are you alone?”

“When will the match start!”

The audience’s impatient voices echoed through the arena. The teammate, looking flustered, spoke.

“Sir Keter wasn’t in the waiting room, and there was a note left…”

“A note? What do you mean he left a note and disappeared?”

“Show it to me.”

The referee took the note.

It was a small note. Not many words written.

The note was written in elegant handwriting, and the referee read it aloud.

“Have the finals among yourselves…?”

At the absurd content, everyone looked at each other, blinking in confusion.