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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 92
Instead, he thrust his leg forward and shoved it directly into the Duel Flame!
More precisely, he shoved in the leg guard protecting his knee.
Clang!
The guard was sliced off, and blood splattered from his leg. But it was only a light wound.
‘Crazy.’
Chris frowned.
If the guy had dodged or tried to block in another way, his leg definitely would’ve been cut off.
But in that split second, he realized dodging or blocking was impossible—and so, he shoved his leg in.
He had seen through the fact that Duel Flame is weakest right at the ignition point.
‘This guy isn’t a normal shadow.’
Chris clenched his fist tightly.
He looked at the man's face.
Though he was wearing an artifact face mask that distorted his features, so his identity couldn’t be confirmed.
‘This guy's a genius too.’
Of course, that didn’t mean the man had talent on par with Chris.
But among the general class of geniuses, his talent was clearly at the very top.
That meant he was a far more difficult opponent than the average 4-star.
Just like Chris was displaying strength beyond his natural ability, this guy likely was too.
‘Troublesome. I can’t use the power of the Alliance either.’
According to Chris’s plan, there couldn’t be any trace of the Alliance’s power on the enemy’s corpse.
It had to appear as if the man killed Mysak and the others, and that Chris took him down to claim merit.
‘No helping it. Originally, I was going to capture him first for a clean resolution, but that’s impossible. I’ll have to kill him here.’
The reason Chris originally planned to capture the shadow first and eliminate him later was because of the timeline.
If Mysak and the others died, their bodies would be examined.
And if it was determined that the shadow died before Mysak and the others, suspicion could arise—so he had postponed the kill.
‘No choice. He’s not someone I can subdue without killing.’
Chris calmed his gaze.
Did the opponent sense the shift in intent?
His presence lowered as well.
For a moment, the two stared at each other.
Then the man struck with his sword.
Fwoosh!
Again, it was a direct, powerful strike.
Precisely because it was straightforward, it was all the more difficult to deal with.
‘There’s no opening to exploit. No, there are no openings at all.’
Chris clicked his tongue.
The man himself was like a perfect blade.
Just how much had he trained?
It was a single slash, but it carried the weight of endless bloody refinement.
On top of that, talent even Chris had to acknowledge.
A tough opponent.
It was almost insulting to compare him to a greenhorn like Mysak.
However—
‘He’s not on my level.’
Chris moved.
He focused power into his core and stepped forward.
Just like his opponent.
The same kind of powerful sword strike.
And then—
Chris’s Black Sword was imbued with will.
“!!”
Sensing the overwhelming force of the Black Sword, far beyond common sense, the man’s eyes widened in shock.
Clang!!
But astonishingly, the man blocked Chris’s sword.
In that fleeting moment, he performed incredible acrobatics and managed to deflect the Black Sword’s force.
‘Hah, now that it’s done to me, it’s absurd. I expected he’d try to deflect it, but to actually pull it off?’
Chris let out a hollow laugh.
But it didn’t matter.
He had assumed from the start it would be deflected.
Chris locked eyes on the tiny gap in the man’s stance—created from deflecting a sword imbued with will.
A minute flaw that, under normal circumstances, Chris wouldn’t be able to target.
Vmm!
The Vampiric Ring on his finger vibrated.
He had originally saved this move to face opponents like Mysak, since it required radiant mana, but this wasn’t the time to hold back.
Radiant mana converted into dark demonic energy, and instantly surged through his limbs.
In a flash, his physical ability skyrocketed.
The man’s eyes wavered.
But even then, he reacted with astonishing speed.
Sensing that defending was impossible, he instead launched a deadly counterattack.
His sword shot out, straight for Chris’s throat.
Delayed initiative.
It was a late counter, and while Chris’s momentary body speed was much faster, the man’s sword would reach Chris first.
It was a brilliant move, possible only because of the man’s deep mastery over the blade.
If Chris didn’t dodge, his neck would be pierced.
But instead, Chris made the exact opposite choice.
Rather than evade, he thrust his sword straight at the man’s chest.
The man’s eyes flickered in confusion.
He didn’t understand Chris’s decision.
He poured even more force into his blade.
His sword accelerated with even more power.
A dazzling mana blade, as if he meant to finish it for good.
A single radiant slash that cut through the sea of death—Death Sea Flash.
But then, in that very moment—
An utterly incomprehensible phenomenon occurred.
Fwoosh!
The man's mana blade suddenly wavered for a moment!
“?!”
Of course, this was all Chris's doing.
‘I aimed for the blind spot that appears when Death Sea Flash accelerates.’
An incomprehensible move.
Naturally, Chris knew the weakness of Death Sea Flash, the secret technique of the swordsmanship clan.
He had watched Hero Evan use it countless times. But even so, that blind spot wasn’t something that could be targeted so easily.
If anyone could neutralize it this easily, it wouldn’t be called a secret technique of a prestigious swordsmanship family.
This was only possible because it was Chris.
‘I predicted he’d accelerate into Death Sea Flash and laid the trap in advance.’
To be exact, he manipulated the flow of the fight to force the man into using Death Sea Flash.
Even the Black Sword imbued with will from earlier—
Even using the Vampiric Ring to push him into a corner—was all to set up this situation.
The final touch was a minuscule Black Sword transformation detonated midair.
It had no killing power and was faint, but for an instant, it disrupted the flow of the mana blade.
A crazy move that only Chris could pull off.
A sequence of steps that proved Chris was a monster unlike any other genius.
“!!”
The man hastily pulled back his sword.
Fwoosh!
The mana blade floated in front of his chest like a shield.
It was the manifestation of a Radiant 4-star technique—Mana Conversion.
“It’s useless.”
Slash.
Chris’s Black Sword, imbued with will, cleaved through the mana shield.
Thrust!
It pierced straight through the man’s chest.
His body convulsed once, then he vomited blood and collapsed to the floor.
‘Phew.’
Chris let out a deep sigh.
‘That wasn’t easy.’
He won, but the man was truly formidable.
If he hadn’t experienced rapid growth recently, he wouldn’t have been able to win.
‘Who the hell was he? For someone like this to be in the Dark Ghost Unit? He’s like Evan.’
In that instant, Chris’s expression hardened.
A realization struck—too late.
‘W-Wait. No way. That can’t be.’
With trembling hands, Chris removed the man’s artifact mask.
And then—
He froze like a corpse.
“N-No… This has to be a joke, right?”
A strikingly bold face came into view.
A face sculpted like a hero from legend.
It was a familiar face.
It was Hero Evan.
* * *
“W-What? No way? That can’t be? Why? Why is this guy here?”
Chris was rambling unusually.
The most confusing situation since his return.
“He’s from the swordsmanship clan, so there’s no way he’s Evan’s brother who looks similar… right?”
Chris’s face went pale.
This guy was definitely Evan.
There was no doubt.
‘Aah! Why did Evan come to the Dark Magus House?! He said he never came to the Magus Empire before becoming a hero!’
There were several reasons Chris hadn’t recognized Evan.
First, the fight was too urgent to analyze anything carefully, and more importantly, Evan had said he never came to the Magus Empire during his time in the shadows. So Chris never considered the possibility.
Also, the biggest reason was the style of swordsmanship.
Chris first met Evan and joined the hero party in the later part of the Age of Ruins.
By then, Evan had already reached Radiant 8-star, Absolute Realm.
At that time, Evan’s sword and the sword he just saw shared nothing in common except their rigidity, so Chris couldn’t recognize him.
‘Anyway, I have to save him!’
By some miracle, Evan was still alive.
Like a hero with tenacious vitality, he twisted his body when the sword pierced him, avoiding his heart.
‘But he won’t last long. He can’t hold on much longer.’
Chris hurriedly pulled out a pill from his pocket.
It was a first aid pill called Refutation Pill from the Venomous clan, made for him to take in emergencies just like this.
He quickly shoved it into his mouth and used magic to help it go down his esophagus.
‘Damn, this isn’t nearly enough.’
Despite being a powerful first aid pill true to its name—defying death—the wounds were too severe.
Chris gritted his teeth and stretched out his hand.
The energy flowing through his blood vessels shifted, and the Radiant Mana of his inner core surged forward.
Fwoosh!!
A brilliant aura burst forth.
Venomous Energy Manipulation.
The power that made the disciples of the Venomous clan into saints.
Since receiving the Venomous clan’s secret mid-level manual from Duke Huam of the Venomous Demonic House, Chris had secretly been practicing Venomous Energy Manipulation.
Fortunately, it had an effect.
The Venomous Energy Manipulation worked in synergy with the Refutation Pill, stabilizing Evan’s breathing noticeably.
But Chris’s expression did not improve.
‘It’s only a temporary fix. At this rate, Evan will die.’
Thanks to his knowledge as one of the continent’s top medical experts in the past, Chris could accurately assess Evan’s condition.
‘This kind of emergency treatment isn’t enough. He needs to be transported and properly treated.’
The problem was time.
He couldn’t even move him anywhere—Evan wouldn’t last even a few more minutes.
At that moment, Evan suddenly coughed up blood again and trembled with convulsions.
Chris hurriedly checked his pulse—it was faint.
His heart was stopping.
“No! I have to save him no matter what!”
Chris’s vision darkened.
Originally, while he conquered the Magus Empire from within, he had planned to use the hero to reorganize the coalition forces.
But if the hero died, the plan he built would be seriously ruined.
“The coalition needs to get stronger to prevent the war from happening.”
And beyond that reason,
Chris gritted his teeth.
—Not me, Chris, you were supposed to be the hero.
Always.
He was an infuriatingly frustrating guy.
He had promised himself that if they met again, he would hit him once for no reason.
But this guy was his comrade.
He could never watch him die like this.
“I still haven’t properly beaten you up! Get up and suffer with me!!”
Fwoooosh!!!!
A bursting radiance shot out.
The mana in his inner core was instantly depleted.
But it was still no use.
The pulse returned briefly, but it was only temporary. Soon, things would get worse again.
“What should I do?”
Chris bit his lip hard.
“Think of a way.”
But Chris knew.
The reason Venomous Energy Manipulation wasn’t working now was simple.
Evan’s condition had already passed the limit.
What Chris was doing now was a meaningless act of forcibly holding onto a life whose candle had already been extinguished.
“Even Venomous Energy Manipulation can’t save someone on the brink of death.”
“Damn it!”
Chris slammed the floor in frustration.
Blood dripped down, but he couldn’t even feel the pain.
Then, at that moment,
Seeing the blood dripping from his own fist,
A lightning-fast realization struck Chris’s mind.
“It’s impossible to save someone on the brink of death with Venomous Energy Manipulation. But...”
Chris swallowed hard.
“It’s possible with Black Magic!”
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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