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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 21
As I muttered absentmindedly, the knights looked at me with puzzled expressions.
"Young Master?"
"Do you see that?"
"Excuse me? Is there something in the sky?"
It seemed that none of the knights, except me, could see the sky that had turned crimson.
[The phenomenon of the red moon can only be observed by you.]
[If the red moon does not disappear, everything on the land, in the atmosphere, and within the domain will be eroded.]
Damn it.
No matter what it is, the red moon triggers a deep-seated trauma for me.
The sky over Labyrinthos also had a red moon like that.
Of course, since it was merely a hallucination-like form, slicing the sky with a sword had no real effect.
But what would happen if this red moon materialized?
That was when the thought crossed my mind.
Suddenly, a hallucination appeared before my eyes.
It was...
Melissa, covered in blood and on the verge of death, being grasped by a massive hand while a terrifyingly enormous shadow opened its gaping maw.
"Brother..."
Her weak voice called out to me, and immediately after, the monstrous shadow swallowed her whole, cutting off the hallucination.
"Gasp?!"
The chilling scene startled me, making me flinch.
What on earth did I just see?
[What you just saw is not a hallucination.]
What?
Are you kidding me?
Then, what I just saw was…
[However, it is not reality either. It is the future—a future that will soon unfold. If you wish to prevent it, I recommend you act quickly.]
The future?
So what I just saw is the future involving Melissa and me?
Who gave permission for that?
Sure, she's an annoying little sister who gets on my nerves, but I’ve never wished for her death.
If she's to be teased, it’ll be by me.
If she's to be bullied, I’ll do it myself.
Who gave anyone else the right to interfere?
No sense of decency at all.
As the librarian’s explanation ended, I instinctively stood up.
I grabbed a knight’s sword as if snatching it and handed him my broken black sword, Blacknight No. 1.
"Y-Young Master?!"
"I’m borrowing this sword. Take this to Verus Armory. Also, take responsibility for these captives and escort them back to the mansion."
The sword in my hand was a clean, silver blade.
From now on, your name is Blacknight No. 2.
Even though it was silver and had no connection to black, that didn’t matter.
"Y-Young Master?!"
His words never reached my ears.
Because I had already kicked off the ground with an explosive burst of strength, racing at full speed toward where Melissa had been.
The distance was far, but I didn’t have time to complain.
* * *
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!
With a ghastly scream, an amorphous monster darted swiftly through the dark sewers, pursued by knights running at full speed.
The stench of the sewers stung their noses, but none of them stopped.
Though it looked like nothing special, the monster they were chasing, Demon Slime, was an incredibly dangerous creature that should never have entered a human-inhabited area.
A demon beast that resided only in the Demonic Realm, the Demon Slime.
The name might sound questionable—is it really that dangerous?
But the moment a slime, typically a low-tier creature, has the name "Demon" attached to it, there’s no doubt about its peril.
Despite its small size, it contained deadly toxicity and screamed like a demon.
If this thing released its poison into the water supply, hell would break loose.
Fortunately, though it carried immense risks, it wasn’t hard to exterminate once its location was pinpointed.
"Lady Melissa! It went that way!"
"Got it!"
In an instant, Melissa's sword struck with precision, its blade gleaming smoothly.
She lunged forward like a flash, cutting through the Demon Slime’s amorphous body and destroying the solid core inside it.
Screeeeeeech…
With a despairing scream, the creature collapsed.
Melissa wiped the sweat off her brow as she watched.
"Well done, my lady. That was the last one."
"We need to finish wrapping up. Any injuries?"
"Luckily, no one has been poisoned."
While dealing with this, Melissa worried about Leon possibly causing trouble.
Leon, who had changed overnight, now acted like a runaway carriage without brakes.
She couldn’t help but worry.
They had exterminated seven Demon Slimes in total.
"I’m not sure if leaving Leon alone is the right call."
"If we had let these creatures loose, there would have been a catastrophe. Your judgment was correct, my lady. And besides, you did send some of the troops, didn’t you?"
BOOOOOOOM!
No sooner had they exited the sewers than an enormous explosion rang out.
"What was that noise?"
"It seems to be coming from the Tyvel Cascadia estate…"
"What?! He couldn’t even wait and caused a mess already?!"
Melissa couldn’t comprehend the situation—a full-on attack without knowing what the enemy was hiding.
"There’s no time! All troops, move quickly to the Tyvel Cascadia estate…"
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Slice!
It happened then.
With a sickening slicing sound, the head of a nearby Aura User-level knight went flying through the air.
"What?"
The knights, all dumbfounded, turned their gazes toward their now headless comrade.
And then…
A massive black hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Melissa's body entirely, followed by an unimaginably powerful shockwave.
Caught off guard, the knights were helplessly flung aside.
"Gah?!"
"Arghhh!"
Even the Expert-level knights couldn’t withstand the immense repulsion force.
Swept up by the enormous shockwave, the knights were exposed to the surrounding black currents, which quickly sapped their consciousness and left them collapsed.
The situation had escalated far too quickly.
“Grr… Ugh… Aaaagh!”
Melissa, on the other hand, wasn’t flung away.
The massive hand had grabbed hold of her.
Naturally, she couldn’t help but scream under the crushing pressure.
Even her extraordinary physical abilities, honed to Expert level, couldn’t break free from the monster’s grip.
“What the hell is that…?”
The creature bore a shape and size roughly similar to a human.
However, its entire body shimmered like a swirling black mist, and its hands were grotesquely oversized compared to the rest of its body.
Its face was horrifying beyond words.
Instead of lips, it had sharp, 10-centimeter-long teeth perfectly interlocked, and its other facial features were dominated by eerie red eyes that darted around chaotically, inducing an overwhelming sense of confusion.
Boom!
The creature finally flung Melissa lightly into the air.
She tightened her grip on the sword in her hand, ready to slice it apart as she summoned her aura.
The monster moved its enormous frame sluggishly, as though it were merely observing, offering no significant resistance.
“Haaah!”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Melissa seized the opportunity, driving her sword forward.
But her blade failed to pierce the creature’s body.
Her attack didn’t leave so much as a scratch.
“What… is this?!”
Boom!
Once again larger than her entire body, the monster's hand came crashing down like a flyswatter, sending her flying.
Momentarily unconscious from the impact, Melissa’s body refused to obey her will as her senses returned.
Power, speed, durability.
In every way, it was a hopeless mismatch.
Where had such a monster even come from?
She looked around to see that nearby houses had already been reduced to rubble from the shockwaves.
How many had died here?
While knights of Aura User level or higher survived, many of the regular soldiers had perished.
Of those still able to fight, Melissa was the only one left.
But even she had been subjected to excruciating pain from that earlier blow.
“Guh… Cough… Ugh…”
A painful fit of coughing forced blood to spew from her mouth.
The horrifying black monster silently stared at her before opening its massive, tooth-filled maw.
Hundreds of sharp teeth filled the gaping mouth.
The first emotion she felt upon seeing it was pure terror.
Yet, even so, she refused to crumble.
Though the evacuation was underway, if she were to die now, the monster would devour the unconscious knights and soldiers nearby, and then the entire county.
As the Count’s acting representative tasked with protecting this land, she couldn’t let that happen.
Summoning every ounce of strength, she drew upon the last reserves of her aura.
Boom!
“Gah!”
But the monster was a step ahead.
It slammed her into the ground without hesitation, doing so two more times for good measure.
“Urgh…”
Bloodied and battered, Melissa’s consciousness began to fade.
Only after she lay still did the monster slowly lift her up, opening its mouth wide to tear into her.
That was when it happened.
Whizz! Bang!
A well-forged steel sword flew in from somewhere, striking the creature’s body and sending it tumbling backward.
It was the first time the monster had reacted to an attack—something even Melissa’s aura-infused sword couldn’t achieve.
“Hey, put her down. You may look as vicious as a tyrannosaurus, but that’s my sister you’ve got there.”
As her consciousness flickered, Melissa slowly turned her head.
She managed to glimpse the figure of someone walking toward them in the distance.
“Ah… Leon.”
The most infuriating person she knew.
Yet, in this moment, his presence brought tears to her eyes.
Still, she had to force out her voice, no matter how weak.
“You… you idiot… run… That monster is immune to aura…”
Ignoring her plea, Leon casually picked up another sword from a fallen knight.
“This is Black Night Sword No. 3… No, wait. I only got No. 2 recently, and now I’m already two-timing it.”
At the same time, an explosive surge of aura erupted from his body.
The chaotic energy, initially unrefined, began to stabilize and take on a clear, polished form.
Zap!
Name: Leon Cascadia
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Abilities:
(Hall of Swords)
Sword Expert (Top-tier) – Acquired techniques available for review.
The pinnacle [Aura] remains preserved.
(Hall of Martial Arts)
Fist Expert (Top-tier)
A ferocious [Aura] remains preserved.
The information, visible only to Leon, confirmed the sudden changes.
From Sword User to Sword Expert, and simultaneously from Aura User to Fist Expert.
“I was going to wait a bit longer, but I guess it can’t be helped. Let’s break through first.”
The awakening of a Sword Expert.
Melissa, despite her fading strength, couldn’t fail to recognize the phenomenon.
“What the…”
Her dazed expression made it clear she could only watch in stunned silence.
Leon, however, calmly advanced toward the monster.
“That thing, Void Gluttony, right?”
[Entity confirmed. Void Gluttony species identified.]
The Librarian’s voice further solidified the confirmation.
Grrrr…
The monster flung Melissa aside with a flick of its hand and unleashed a chilling aura, focusing entirely on Leon.
The suffocating pressure emanating from the creature weighed down on Leon’s entire body.
There wasn’t even the slightest sign of defeat in the creature’s demeanor.
After all, it hadn’t sustained even a scratch from Melissa’s aura-infused strikes.
[Void Gluttony has immunity to aura below Sword Aura level. The probability of victory in the current situation is extremely low.]
“I know. Do you know how many times I died to kill this thing?”
Void Gluttony.
By the standards of monsters emerging from the Hall of Swords, it wasn’t particularly strong.
But for those who wielded aura, it was nearly impossible to defeat without reaching the level of Sword Aura.
Like trying to cut water with a blade.
Step… Step…
With aura-infused sword in hand, Leon steadily advanced.
Then, in an instant, he stomped down hard on the ground.
A powerful shockwave erupted from the impact, propelling Leon forward like a flash of light, leaving afterimages in his wake.
Boom!
The sheer speed of his movement was almost impossible to track with the naked eye.
Yet, Void Gluttony moved all the eyes on its face simultaneously, easily keeping up with him.
Chomp!
Its jaws, suddenly enlarged, snapped shut in an instant, and both hands morphed into massive, tooth-filled maws, crushing the space around them with terrifying force.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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