Chapter 190

Ghost Sword.

Before it strikes, you can’t even sense its existence, and when you try to counter, it vanishes without a trace.

Truly, it was a movement as ghostly as the name suggests.

About ten seconds after Valenstein started using his ridiculously sneaky swordsmanship.

The armor, torn in various places, was already soaked red with blood.

If I could land just one solid hit, I might have a chance, but Valenstein, once vanished, never reappeared in front of my sword.

I felt like a training dummy, desperately trying to figure out his abilities.

Since my anti-magic didn’t react, it wasn’t magic or demonic energy.

And since no holy light was emitted, it wasn’t a divine blessing either.

The conclusion I reached through elimination was chilling.

There was only one possible explanation.

EPOS

【Heroic Epic】

A power beyond reason, granted to those who surpass the realm of masters and reach the level of heroes.

If it wasn’t that, there was no way to explain this ability.

—-

“Someone… has crossed the wall of mastery…?”

At this point?

Shock and doubt flashed through my mind.

No, that can’t be.

If the gap was that wide, a contest of strength wouldn’t even have been possible.

But, to pull off something like this, it has to be that power…!

“Hoh. So you even know about that. I didn’t think the Princess had reached the point of glimpsing the ‘wall’… Did Or-han teach you?”

Valenstein’s voice carried a faint surprise and a hint of anger.

Anger…?

It was a hard reaction to understand.

Even when Prince Leopold insulted him to his face, the old man didn’t seem that angry. Why now?

There was no time to ponder.

As if he had been playing around until now, Valenstein’s sword began to fly in earnest.

The Marquis’ attacks, which had only grazed the surface before, now came with the intent to sever flesh and bone.

– *Crunch!*

The skirt’s fasteners shattered all at once.

Silver fragments scattered into the air.

If it had been simple steel armor like before, my leg would have been cut off.

“The Princess doesn’t know yet… but crossing the wall is impossible. Truly a frustrating thing.”

Valenstein whispered softly.

As the old man’s breath brushed my ear, a chilling shiver and a disgusting discomfort surged up.

“You… mosquito of an old man!”

I swung my left arm wildly, but it only grazed his clothes.

A torn piece of fabric clung to my fingertips, but not a single drop of blood was on it.

“All I could do was glimpse beyond the wall. Or-han was the same.”

– *Swish!*

A sharp blade grazed my cheek.

A burning heat rose from the cut on my face.

If I hadn’t reflexively turned my head the moment the sword tip touched me, it would have pierced through my skull.

“In the past, I thought it was just my lack of training, that I could cross it someday… but even after decades, nothing changed.”

His suppressed voice was filled with frustration, betrayal, and hatred directed at who knows what.

So, he wasn’t at the level of a hero, but stuck at the first step.

If it were a perfected technique, there would have been no way to oppose it.

If that were the case, I probably wouldn’t even be able to see him even if he were right in front of me.

“Do you know? The despair of realizing that all the effort, all the bone-grinding training, was nothing but meaningless toil? The betrayal when you find out the reason!”

He gritted his teeth and raised his knee.

A swirling life force wrapped around his leg.

“I don’t know. If it’s so frustrating, why don’t you just try harder!”

Like crushing a bug, I stomped my right foot into the ground.

The life force’s shockwave spiraled, tearing through the earth.

– *Boom!*

A deafening explosion, as if a cannon had been fired.

Like a small meteor falling, the ground beneath my feet shattered into pieces.

Dust rose like a wave, and broken fragments swept in all directions.

“Ugh!”

“Ahhh!”

Nearby knights were hit by flying debris and collapsed.

They were in full armor, so they probably wouldn’t die.

Next, I raised my left foot and stomped again.

– *Boom!*

Once more, the ground shattered.

And then again, with my right foot.

The relentless shocks made the earth scream in agony.

Continuous shockwaves in all directions. That was my solution.

Even if I couldn’t find his traces, he wouldn’t be able to dodge this…!

“Really, everything you do is just like your father. Did Or-han give birth to you alone?”

Above.

The moment I hastily looked up,

– *Thud!*

Jin’s sword plunged vertically downward.

—-

The first thing I felt was the coldness unique to metal.

A chill that swept from my collarbone to my abdomen… and in the next moment, turned into burning agony.

Blood gushed out like a fountain.

“Ah, ahhh…! AHHHHHH!!”

A scream-like wail burst out.

The excruciating pain felt like my body was being torn in two.

I couldn’t even guess where or how I had been cut.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts…!

My back bent on its own, and my body trembled violently.

My vision began to blur instantly.

“I avoided the heart… so Or-han’s bloodline won’t die that easily. Keep her alive and prepare for transport.”

Valenstein’s voice, giving orders to the knights, sounded distant.

– *Thud!*

My knees, devoid of strength, buckled.

I barely managed to support my collapsing body with my right arm.

In a posture like a criminal kneeling and prostrating,

a pool of blood, enough to fill a bowl, spilled over the torn ground.

My torn top and exposed chest were slashed vertically, dyed crimson.

“Sir Median!”

“Princess Ai-shan Gi-or!”

The horrified voices of Persval and Leopold echoed like a reverberation.

A sword wound cutting across my entire torso, coupled with massive bleeding.

It wasn’t something I could suppress with sheer willpower.

A chilling cold swept over me.

While my entire body grew cold, only the slashed wound felt scorching hot.

– *Splat!*

My trembling elbow gave out, and my face plunged into the pool of blood.

Splattered blood soaked my face.

Defeat.

Those two words were branded into my chest like a scar.

My consciousness is fading away.

No. If I lose consciousness here, everything will…!

I desperately tried to get up, but my body no longer obeyed.

A sense of despair pressed down on my mind.

My vision slowly turned black, like a game-over screen.

Please, I’m not done yet…!

……!

…….

….

.

–

My consciousness was cut off.

—————

.

A voice is heard.

“…Don’t…mess with…! Die…!”

“……!”

“Bring…the…body…”

The echoes are screaming.

They keep resonating, gradually getting closer.

Like the faint sound of small waves on a quiet shore.

The voices I had been consciously ignoring crept through the cracks of my scattered mind…getting closer and closer.

And then, finally, a roar like thunder.

“…Get out of my body, now—!!”

A rage filled with hatred and resentment shook the entire world.

A voice identical to mine pointed a blade of resentment at me.

My powerless mind sank into the abyss.

And then.

====[Princess Ha-shal-leur Ai-shan Gi-or]====

“AAAAAH—!!”

The beginning of the anomaly was marked by a blood-curdling scream.

The gazes of the people gathered in front of the palace all turned in one direction.

Valenstein, who had been casually cleaning his sword, the knights approaching Prince Leopold, Persval blocking the senior knights’ swords to protect the prince, and even Leopold himself, gritting his teeth with his sword drawn.

“Uh…uhh…?!”

Everyone was speechless.

They had witnessed a horrifying scene.

The Royal Guard, who had been binding the unconscious Princess Ai-shan Gi-or and tending to her wounds to keep her alive.

A person who had been fine just moments ago now had their limbs torn off and was being devoured.

A woman drenched in blood was biting into human flesh.

She drank the spurting blood and chewed the torn flesh.

Like a hungry wolf tearing into its prey.

“AAAAH! Stop! Please, stooop! Save me!!”

Every time her teeth sank in, the knight, still alive, trembled and screamed.

It was a scene straight out of a nightmare.

“A beastman…predator…!”

But it wasn’t just beastmen she was devouring.

A primal fear rose in the hearts of the knights.

They had seen people die before.

They were familiar with the sight of beastmen and monsters devouring humans, disgusting as it was.

But this horrifying scene of a human devouring another human alive was something they had never even dreamed of.

“Ugh…!”

Leopold bent over, retching.

It was fortunate that the princess had regained consciousness, but the princess who woke up no longer looked human.

The prince’s reason told him that this woman was on his side, but his instincts screamed at him to run away immediately.

– Crunch!

With every piece of the knight’s flesh that disappeared, a crimson aura rose from the woman’s body, growing thicker and darker.

Her half-dead body was regaining its strength.

But the knights, gripped by fear, couldn’t move.

Even as their comrade screamed and was devoured.

Only one person snapped out of the shock—the empire’s strongest knight.

Valenstein threw down the cloth he had been using to clean his sword and charged at the revived monster.

“Haaaah…!”

The blood-soaked beast raised her head, a mad grin on her face.

The flowing blood had already stopped.

—-

‘Not enough.’

Princess Ha-shal-leur Ai-shan Gi-or.

The awakened berserker of the Ka`har tribe suppressed her hunger and glared at her enemy.

The Ghost Sword, Werner von Valenstein.

A name she had heard from Or-han, a man of the empire.

If she got another chance to fight, she would send him to his grave.

‘What did he say back then…?’

Ha-shal-leur rummaged through her memories, trying to recall the method Or-han had told her to counter the Ghost Sword.

Though she had acted like a madwoman upon waking, it wasn’t something she had done in a fit of insanity.

In fact, her mind was colder than ever.

The rage that had driven her to the brink had transformed into icy hatred.

She hadn’t devoured humans because she liked human flesh.

It was to fill her stomach, replenish her lost energy, and suppress the enemy’s movements with fear.

Because without that, her chances of winning were slim.

‘Damn it. Even with this power, to reduce someone’s body to this state…!’

Her anger wasn’t directed at the enemy, but at the one who had stolen her body.

From her collarbone to her ribs, the bones in the front of her torso had all been severed.

It was a miracle her organs were intact.

And her limbs were as cold as if frozen.

Her swollen muscles and solidified life force pressed against the wounds to stop the bleeding, but she had already lost too much blood.

She had regained some energy, but she probably wouldn’t last long in a fight.

To win in this state…she had to weaken the enemy.

Yes. Fear makes people weak.