Chapter 1383: Variation (22)
Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast.
As the red-haired female knight revealed her identity, Lennok and Jain froze like statues.
The two, who had been ignoring the knight who had burst onto the battlefield and chanting spells, were so shocked by her answer that they forgot their situation.
Seeing their reactions, the female knight nodded with a satisfied expression.
“It seems you’ve accepted it, seeing as both of you have lost your will to fight. Good. My sword isn’t so cruel to those who repent their sins.”
“…”
“The instigator of this incident, step forward quietly and extend your hands. If you don’t resist, I will handcuff you and escort you safely.”
“No, wait. I need to confirm what I just heard.”
For the first time, Jain asked, his expression devoid of humor.
“So, you’re… Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast?”
“Why are you asking the same question twice?”
“Well… because it’s an absurd answer, wouldn’t you say?”
Jain narrowed his eyes, looking at the confident female knight.
“You are a human, not a spirit beast. You are not some ethereal being born to protect a Domain. Surely, you know what race you are.”
“…”
“I don’t know how you can so confidently claim to be a Guardian Spirit Beast, but you’re spouting nonsense. Or perhaps you’re simply mad enough to mistake yourself for one?”
Jain shook his head, arms crossed.
“You looked normal on the outside, but your inner self is already a festering, rotten Transcendent. It’s difficult to deal with such a madman.”
[That organism. It’s saying everything master needed to say, all by itself?]
“…”
Davi added a comment from his pocket, but Lennok couldn’t answer, a wry smile on his face.
Lennok, too, was replaying just how absurd the female knight’s words had been.
Given that Gateway City is nominally under Cheonbeon’s ownership, it might not be strange for Cheonbeon’s Guardian Spirit Beast to exist here.
But for Lennok, of all people, to not know this fact—was that even possible?
“I see. You’re doubting that I’m a Guardian Spirit Beast.”
Yet, the female knight didn’t get angry at Jain’s words.
Instead, she calmly reined in her surging mana and slowly took a step.
The knight, clad in full plate armor that glowed red like flames, walked towards Jain and nodded.
“I understand. This means you have no intention of repenting your sins or accepting punishment, does it?”
“It’s not that level… rather, I think I need to research you a bit.”
Clank.
Jain’s pupils, as he reversed his grip on his straight sword, narrowed ominously.
“The ‘beginning flame’ that brought down the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors is a very important figure to us, you see.”
“…”
“I will ascertain for myself whether you are truly connected to Cheonbeon.”
Shhhhk…!!
Jain’s presence wavered like a sharp blade, beginning to emit an eerie metallic sound.
An unsettling sensation, as if his very being was overlapping with space, ceaselessly slicing through the air.
The slick killing intent that filled the surroundings twisted its head towards the knight in an instant.
“No, I don’t think that will be necessary.”
But the female knight said calmly, even as she felt the killing intent pouring towards her.
“Can’t I simply demonstrate justice here and now?”
“Huh?”
“I am a being born from Evan Martinez’s will, tasked with guarding Gateway City. I am the gatekeeper, awakened to protect the Gate in his stead.”
The knight, who had taken a slow step, spoke.
“Just as he protected this place from the Gabihaeng and saved many people, I too exist to uphold justice here, following his will!”
“…”
“Even so, if you cannot accept that I am a Guardian Spirit Beast, then it cannot be helped. I apologize, but I am not skilled at explanations.”
Saying that, the female knight abruptly turned towards Jain.
“So, I will show you through action.”
Thwack!!
The moment her words ended, the female knight’s form vanished from the spot.
Acceleration exploded with sharp flames. The female knight’s armored leg plunged into Jain’s abdomen as if sucked in.
Immediately after, she kicked Jain’s body with immense speed, sending him flying towards the far side of the commercial district.
“Justice Enacted.”
CRASH!!!
“…!!!”
Jain’s form, leaving several flaming concentric circles, repeatedly slammed into the ground and bounced away.
Jain’s appearance was instantly battered and disheveled by a single preemptive strike.
But Jain’s face, holding the straight sword, was stiff with shock, not pain.
“My Miniature Universe isn’t working. How…!!!”
It wasn’t that Jain couldn’t react to the female knight’s preemptive strike.
He perceived the attack and tried to counter, but his abilities simply sputtered and couldn’t be used properly.
It felt as if the Miniature Universe itself wasn’t damaged, but rather its power source had been completely burnt out.
Jain, feeling the overflowing heat a moment too late, looked up at the female knight with a shocked expression.
“Could it be, you’re forcibly burning my mana?”
“This city, illuminated by Evan Martinez’s Flame Flower, is practically my Domain.”
The female knight, wielding a greatsword of burning flame, walked towards Jain.
“In this city, my flames burn mana, melt steel, and evaporate will-thought. That is my role, given the mission to protect Gateway City.”
Clank!!
The female knight, pressing the flat of her flaming greatsword against Jain’s shoulder, asked.
“Have you felt the power of justice and decided to surrender?”
“…”
Jain looked up at the female knight with a dazed expression, then gave a wry smile.
“I understand. You’re not just a crazy woman, after all.”
“I am a Guardian Spirit Beast.”
“I’ll correct that: you’re a thoroughly crazy woman…!!”
Swoosh!!!
Jain, gripping his straight sword, rose like lightning, and the female knight, wielding her flaming greatsword, clashed.
In the heart of the ruins, their hands, simultaneously gripping their swords, crossed with invisible speed.
In a fleeting moment, they exchanged hundreds of sword strikes, unleashing shockwaves akin to bombardment.
BOOM!!!!
As the female knight and Jain swung their swords, they split their steps, sliding from their positions.
Jain, kicking off the ground and exploiting gaps, and the female knight’s greatsword pressing down on him from above.
Behind their backs, sword light flashed incessantly, sharp slashes tearing and cutting through the ground and ruins.
Amidst the scattered sword light, the female knight’s eyes gleamed red.
“An opening.”
“Tsk…?!!”
THUD!!!
During their frantic exchange, she pressed her sword flat against his shoulder, knocking Jain down.
Jain, his face contorted in crushing pain in his lower back, was slammed face down onto the ground.
The female knight, standing with one foot on Jain’s shoulder, asked.
“You’re not concentrating on our duel. Are you worried about that man?”
“If you know that, why don’t you go a little easier?”
“I cannot.”
“Haha, I suppose not?”
Jain laughed, still prone.
“Still, this is a bit troublesome. I thought I might not be able to defeat a noble, but I never imagined the city’s guardian would possess such an irritating ability.”
At this point, most of the bombardment spellcraft prepared to incinerate Gateway City had been negated and blocked by the Flame Flower.
He hadn’t even managed to inflict a scratch on Lennok, and the guardian they belatedly encountered possessed an absurd authority that forcibly burned others’ mana.
With the original plan so thoroughly derailed, it was impossible to insist on achieving their objective.
Jain smiled faintly and said.
“So, I’ll have to stop here for today as well.”
CRACK!!
The female knight, noticing something amiss, immediately thrust her greatsword into Jain’s back.
The knight’s sword, severing his spine, instantly snuffed out his life, but it was too late.
The female knight realized that Jain’s corpse had transformed into another raider wearing an eye-patch, and her gaze whipped around.
Jain was seen rapidly fleeing from the far side of the ruined commercial district, taking the surviving raiders with him.
“Where do you think…!!!”
As the indignant female knight surged her mana, someone approached Jain from the side and extended a hand.
Swoosh!!!
Such subtle movement that his presence hadn’t been detected until that very moment.
Jain immediately swung his sword, but the approaching hand coiled around his counterattack like a snake, delving deeper inward.
An artifice, as if reading the trajectory of Jain’s sword, and using its force in reverse to be drawn inward.
“Damn it—”
Only then did Jain, intuitively realizing the opponent’s combat skill was beyond absurd, sharply turn his gaze.
In a fleeting moment, the opponent snatched him by the collar and slammed Jain’s body fiercely into the ground.
CRASH!!!!
“Adamant. I don’t know what all this commotion has been about since earlier.”
Maiya Lonsdale, with an obsidian prosthetic arm on her left, was gripping Jain’s neck with an expressionless face.
“Is this the culprit who caused this situation?”
“Haha, Enforcer…!!!”
Jain’s face, as he looked at Maiya’s face, bore a chilling, ghostly grin.
Ignoring his reaction, Maiya was about to press Jain’s pressure points when Jain’s body instantly swapped with another raider’s.
As the thickness of the neck she was holding changed, Maiya immediately shattered the raider’s neck and stood up.
Dududududu!!!!!
Jain, having swapped bodies with an accompanying raider, sprinted out of the commercial district in an instant.
The female knight, riding on surging flames, gave chase, and Maiya, having discarded the corpse, followed suit.
The forms of the superhumans, running at subsonic speeds across the rooftops of the commercial district, scattered shockwaves.
The female knight, accelerating on flames, drew alongside Maiya and spoke in a resolute tone.
“Woman, he uses his subordinates to switch positions. We need to deal with the others first!!”
“Do not command me unless you are from the Enforcer Agency. And who are you?”
“I’ll explain the situation later, just hold him for a moment.”
As Maiya responded coldly, Lennok extended a hand and spoke.
“His innate ability is extremely specialized for escape and survival. If we let him get away here, it’ll be troublesome.”
The ability Lennok perceived while fighting Jain was a jellyfish-like flexibility and slipperiness, as if his entire body was hollow.
Naturally, it’s an ability as advantageous and specialized for escape and survival as it is difficult to deal with.
Jain’s presence in Gateway City in the first place must have been with this kind of situation in mind.
“One second is enough. If you can stop him for just a moment, I’ll take care of it.”
“Easier said than done.”
Though she had only exchanged blows for a fleeting moment, Maiya also had a rough idea of Jain’s skill.
A monstrous individual who performs impossible movements for a human, based on his innate, invertebrate-like flexibility.
Even when gripping his neck, his entire body was so flexible and slippery that she nearly lost her hold.
Considering that battles among high-level superhumans occur beyond subsonic speeds, holding such an ability user for even one second is extremely difficult.
But Lennok’s words weren’t directed at Maiya, who was chasing Jain across the rooftops.
“My spellcraft adjustment isn’t perfect, but you’re asking for troublesome things.”
Thwack!!
A man, having removed the gloves on his hands, landed next to Jain with invisible speed.
The Conjunction Spell Master, ducking to avoid Jain’s instinctively swinging sword, grazed the ground with a caress.
Before Jain could plunge his sword into the Spell Master’s back, he vanished from the spot.
“However, to directly observe Adamant’s killing techniques, I will gladly cooperate.”
“…?!!”
In the fleeting moment that his sensory perception was pushed to its limit.
Before Jain could even lift his foot from the ground, or pursue the Conjunction Spell Master’s form that appeared and vanished.
Jain’s body, ‘conjoined’ with the ground, tilted forward as if about to topple.
Screeeeech-!!!
“No way…!!!”
“One second.”
Only then did Jain, intuitively realizing the Spell Master’s true nature, gasp in horror, and Lennok, extending his hand, opened his eyes.
“Crush.”
Crunch!
The Demonic Giant, pulling back its clenched hand in the air, squeezed as if crushing someone’s heart.
Simultaneously, an eerie bursting sound echoed from within Jain’s body, his heart being crushed and pulped.
“Oh…!!”
A ruptured heart, crushed without a chance to swap bodies. The Conjunction Spell Master’s rare, excited exclamation.
Due to that shock, Jain’s will-thought, which had flowed like water, was severed in that fleeting moment.
As if waiting, Maiya, who had accelerated from the side, plunged a dagger into his temple.
BANG!!!
Even though it was a sword strike, it sounded like a gunshot being fired.
With a powerful impact, Jain’s head was sharply snapped to the side from its position.
Maiya, pulling out her dagger without hesitation, kicked Jain in the chest and vanished.
“A skill without the slightest flaw.”
The female knight, standing on surging flames that enveloped the sky, opened her eyes.
“In response to your cooperation, I shall establish justice upon this land.”
[Red Dragon Manifestation]
ROOAARRRR!!!!
The female knight, standing atop the flames, melted into them, transforming into a flaming dragon wreathed in red fire.
A flaming dragon, dozens of meters long, traversed the commercial district, accelerating at tremendous speed, scorching the ground.
It descended with immense speed onto Jain’s swaying head, incinerating everything.
[Crimson Sun]
KABOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
The breath of flame, incinerating the ruined debris of the commercial district without a trace, spiraled into a colossal dragon.
The red dragon, spiraling upwards as if chasing its own tail, roared beyond the clouds and ascended.
The immense pillar of fire left behind enveloped even the remaining raiders, burning them completely.
“She’s an incredibly powerful Transcendent.”
Maiya said, approaching Lennok who was silently gazing at the pillar of fire.
“The output and scale of her flame are extraordinary. This is the first time I’ve seen a flame ability user of this caliber since Evan Martinez.”
“Enforcer. I ask that you refrain from speaking of that flame wizard in my presence.”
The Conjunction Spell Master, walking from the opposite side, put on his gloves and spoke.
“It’s not a pleasant feeling to hear praise for the wizard who killed me.”
“That doesn’t seem like my concern.”
“So, who is that woman? I’ve never heard of such a Transcendent existing in Gateway City.”
Maiya, who had only recently arrived in Gateway City, and the Conjunction Spell Master, who had no interest in worldly affairs beyond his spellcraft and experiments.
Neither of them seemed to clearly know what kind of being the guardian of Gateway City was.
“Judging by her recent words and actions, she’s probably the city’s guardian. I’ve heard rumors of such a Transcendent.”
“I did hear rumors about strange things, but was she the one they were talking about? With a personality like that, she’d certainly stand out needlessly anywhere.”
“…”
Lennok didn’t respond to either of them.
He merely looked with a peculiar expression at the female knight, who had emerged from beyond the pillar of fire in human form.
The Conjunction Spell Master ignored Lennok’s reaction and tilted his head, arms crossed.
“So, a new Transcendent has settled in Gateway City recently. Indeed, if such a being were protecting the city—”
“She claims to be Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast.”
“…”
“…”
At Lennok’s answer, Maiya and the Conjunction Spell Master fell silent simultaneously.
Maiya, looking at Lennok’s profile with an expressionless face, twitched her prosthetic arm.
“Adamant.”
Maiya asked.
“Are you trying to joke with me right now?”
“I wish it were a joke, but…”
Lennok replied, looking at the female knight who had descended into the center of the pillar of fire.
“I merely stated her claim as it was.”
“Everyone. You’ve all gone through a lot despite this unexpected situation.”
The female knight, dragging a corpse that had turned to ash, approached Lennok and spoke.
“Even though you are all unfamiliar faces, I thank you for your earnest cooperation in protecting Gateway City.”
“…”
“However, to ascertain the circumstances of this incident, I believe I must accompany you for a while. Is that acceptable?”
“Hold on…”
Only then did the Spell Master and Maiya realize that the female knight intended to take Lennok, and their expressions turned cold.
They understood that this woman, who had been chasing Jain just moments ago, was not even on Lennok’s side.
The Spell Master fidgeted with his gloves, and Maiya placed a hand on her waist.
But the female knight calmly crossed her arms, observing the two.
Clank!!
“I understand your bewilderment. However, I promise no harm will come to you. There are simply things I need to verify.”
“Verify?”
“As I told you, I am the one who protects Gateway City in Cheonbeon’s stead.”
The female knight said.
“Until I return the authority I possess to Cheonbeon, I have a duty to protect this city in his place.”
“…”
“You and I are comrades who fought together to protect this city. I do not wish to use force. Please, I hope you will grant my request.”
“Nonsense—”
“That’s enough.”
Lennok interrupted Maiya, un-summoned his Demonic Giant, and turned around.
Sensing something in his movement, the Spell Master called out to Lennok.
“Adamant.”
“She’s a Transcendent powerful enough to be difficult to dismiss as simply spouting absurdities.”
Lennok, with a wry smile, looked at the female knight and said.
“It seems clear that the guardian knows something.”
“I am a Guardian Spirit Beast.”
“Alright… let’s just go with that for now.”
According to Soryu, Hylaea was moving towards the guardian’s residence to find the location of Paradise Lost.
However, with the guardian appearing and revealing an unimaginable identity, there’s no need to take a roundabout path with the plan.
The reason Gateway City, under Cheonbeon’s dominion, hadn’t been embroiled in war until now.
The existence of the female knight, who introduces herself as Evan Martinez’s Guardian Spirit Beast.
Even the talk of a new authority that must be returned to Lennok.
Above all, it seemed necessary to confirm who she truly was.
“I’ll follow. Lead me to the Gate you claim to protect.”
Lennok took a step.
“I need to find out what exactly is going on here.”