Chapter 277: Proxy Battle (2)

“I’m extremely curious to see who they’ll put forward as their first representative. Aren’t you?”

“…You’re right.”

The Head of the Yukryeong Family cautiously responded to the Head of the Ibon Family.

“The Sagun Family Head personally selected this representative. No matter who the opponent is, they’ll tear them limb from limb without even giving them time to forfeit.”

“Indeed,”

The Head of the Ibon Family said with a smile.

“I thought the Yukryeong’s representative would take on that role.”

“…”

The Head of Ibon Family glared at the Head of Yukryeong, who had been struck dumb, and continued.

“To increase the workload by failing to even properly choose your family’s representative… let’s discuss this separately once the Fortress Head has been decided.”

It was fortunate that the lives of the family heads were held hostage; if this affair had been brought this far as a mere alliance, the Head of Ibon Family would not have survived.

As the Head of Yukryeong bowed his head, a door on one side of the manor opened and someone appeared.

Thump!

The fortress residents, recognizing him, let out a fervent cheer.

Woooaah!!!

A massive, bulky figure enveloped in thick armor from head to toe. Scarlet light spilled from between the gaps in his helmet. A colossal greatsword in each hand.

At a glance, he was an extraordinary warrior with a sharp aura, but the fortress residents’ cheers were not solely for this warrior’s prowess.

The Sagun Family was responsible for managing, imprisoning, and executing criminals in Palgung Fortress.

The man, well-known as an executioner who carried out death sentences, had most recently executed the former Head of the Oryun Family.

The cheers were for the executioner who had personally punished the Head of the Oryun Family, who had notoriously indulged in luxury and pleasure among the eight family heads of the fortress.

It was only natural for the fortress residents to respond with such enthusiasm.

The Head of the Sagun Family, who had been looking down with a pleased expression, subtly turned his gaze towards Soo-ryun.

“The man who cut off your father’s head stands over there.”

“…”

“It was quite a sight. He wailed to be spared, begged for his family to be spared instead… He was utterly pathetic. So much so that I never imagined a child like you would come from such foul blood.”

The Head of the Sagun Family licked his dry lips, looking at Soo-ryun’s beautiful profile.

“My son is just at the age to find a partner. If you have the wisdom to see the bigger picture…”

“Head of Sagun Family.”

Soo-ryun coldly cut him off.

She looked up at the Sagun Family Head’s face and smiled coldly.

“Did you come here today to play matchmaker?”

“Thi—!!”

“Quiet yourself before your impertinence reaches those below.”

Before the Head of the Sagun Family, trembling with a scarlet face, could speak, Oren, who had been watching the scene from the side, chuckled.

“This side’s coming out too. My nephew is the vanguard.”

“…What did you say?”

At his words, the Head of the Ibon Family belatedly turned her gaze towards the lower part of the manor.

Asui, a scrawny young man, walked feebly towards the center of the manor with his head bowed.

“No, if it’s the Head of the Samyeong Family’s nephew…”

“What is the meaning of this, Head of Samyeong Family?”

The other family heads also looked down with surprised expressions.

As the armored, heavily-built executioner and the seemingly powerless Asui faced each other, even the fortress residents watching fell silent.

The overwhelming size difference between the two naturally made them imagine what would happen next.

In the solemn atmosphere of the manor, the announcer quietly raised a flag.

Only then did the Head of Ibon Family realize the situation and let out a laugh.

“I misjudged the Head of Samyeong Family.”

“…”

“I thought he was an indifferent man, but that he cherished his own blood kin dearly.”

As she spoke, the Head of Ibon Family’s eyes narrowed into long slits.

“I never thought he would throw him away as a mere pawn for such entertainment.”

The shadow sorcerer of the Samyeong Family. The Head of Ibon Family knew well who Asui was.

He possessed excellent magical technique but had little to no talent or aptitude as a warrior.

To pit such a sorcerer against a warrior of that physique in this setting.

It was impossible to explain, victory or otherwise, except that Asui had fallen out of Oren’s favor.

To treat his own kinsman so coldly, making him a spectacle for onlookers.

Though he had maintained a good image by handling the fortress’s outer defenses, perhaps he was fundamentally no different from her.

The Head of Ibon Family felt a faint sense of camaraderie with Oren.

But Oren simply chuckled and retorted.

“Asui also agreed to it. He’ll handle his own affairs well enough.”

“That’s absurd.”

Sagun, sitting beside him, scoffed at the words.

“The time required to declare a forfeit is five minutes. It’s not a long time, but it won’t take long to break through your nephew’s shadow magic.”

Asui had never stepped onto the front lines of battle, being naturally fearful of fighting.

His unusual aversion to combat, despite his exceptional talent, was well-known among the other family heads, wasn’t it?

“…”

Oren, instead of answering, sank into his chair and waited for the moment.

He had indeed offered Asui as the other man said, but he hadn’t expected his nephew to be put forward as the vanguard.

However, if he had decided to use him as a pawn from the beginning, instead of saving a combat-averse sorcerer for last, there must be a reason.

As Oren closed his eyes, the prelude to the proxy battle began, and conversely, the eyes of the other seven people widened.

As the flag dropped and the bell rang, shadows erupted from Asui’s body, which had formed hand seals, and began to densely cover the manor.

[You crazy bastard…]

“Quiet. I need to concentrate.”

[He’s insane… This is insane. How on earth is he doing this?]

Ignoring Manson’s mechanical voice, which sounded utterly exasperated, Lennok carefully moved his hands.

As the mana threads clinging to his fingers subtly writhed, Asui’s hands, which had been drooping, moved with incredible speed.

Simultaneously, shadows extending from his feet instantly unfurled a massive curtain in front, wrapping around the executioner’s greatsword.

Screechhhh…!!

An unnatural grinding sound, like tires skidding in the middle of the road.

The executioner, without panicking, pulled his greatsword free and immediately swung it again towards Asui’s back.

It was a weapon said to be made for cleaving horses, not humans.

There was no need to explain the force contained in a single downward strike from its weight, bulk, and height.

If Asui’s scrawny body were to be caught even slightly by its tip, his limbs would be torn like paper, and blood would splatter.

Whooshhh!!!

“…”

But Asui still didn’t even lift his head, despite the oppressive, heavy murderous aura descending before him.

He continuously formed hand seals without even confirming who his opponent was.

The shadow rising from his feet writhed like a living creature, transforming into dozens of hands that tore at the greatsword’s strike from all directions.

Clang-clang-clang-clang!!

“Ugh…!!”

Slowly, yet undeniably, the executioner, realizing the direction and speed of the blade in his hand were changing, let out a low groan for the first time.

The greatsword, narrowly missing Asui’s shoulder, struck the empty ground.

Crraashh!!

The impact of a heavy iron mass falling diagonally.

But instead of the ground shattering or vibrating from the shockwave, the shadow crouching at Asui’s feet began to pull at the greatsword as if it had been waiting.

The executioner instinctively recoiled from the eerie momentum,

“…!!”

Then flinched as he belatedly realized what he had done.

He had just attempted to create distance from a shadow sorcerer renowned for never having fought a single battle.

The spectator stands fell silent.

It was only natural that this silence felt exquisitely sensitive to the executioner.

“How dare you…!!”

With a heavy roar escaping from between his helmet, the executioner stepped forward again.

And Lennok, watching from behind, also frantically waved his fingers.

Chen, who belatedly grasped the truth of the situation, stammered a question.

“Su-surely Van, you’re… manipulating Asui’s magic…?”

“It would have been impossible if I hadn’t already observed Oren’s shadow magic. I was lucky.”

Lennok replied indifferently.

“Still, he’s fumbling a bit.”

“Insane. He’s not human… How can he do something like this with just mana threads…”

Only then did Chen understand why Manson had reacted that way, and he let out a low sigh.

Lennok was now beyond merely manipulating Asui’s unconscious body; he was indirectly controlling Asui’s mana and magic to participate in the battle.

Asui had no combat experience whatsoever, but his skill itself was second only to Oren among shadow sorcerers.

If he couldn’t fight because he was so terrified he fainted, then why not have Lennok directly manipulate his body and magic to engage in combat?

There was no need for Asui to win here.

The important thing was to buy the five minutes needed for a forfeit, and to lay out Asui’s shadows around the manor in advance for the plan discussed with Oren.

Considering Asui’s natural disposition and to achieve these two goals, Lennok was manipulating Asui’s mana and magic itself.

“Because I knew it wasn’t impossible. If you can recognize it, manifesting it isn’t difficult.”

Over a hundred mana threads bound Asui’s body.

He inserted a portion of them into Asui’s body, indirectly manipulating the flow of mana.

Using that flowing mana as power, he partially observed, learned, and engraved Asui’s Mind Imprint, understood the structure and principles of the ingrained magic, and began to manifest it on the spot.

Remote control that made a person function as a sorcerer.

It was a reckless and absurd attempt that an ordinary wizard couldn’t even imagine, but Lennok already had the answer to that question.

He had directly witnessed Agneta, Pandemonium’s messenger, extending her hand into a human’s mind.

He saw the potential in that scene of her tightrope walking through spatial rifts.

He endlessly expanded the limits of manipulation magic that he had unconsciously been estimating in his mind.

Crackling…!

The current flowing through the mana threads pierced Asui’s body, smoothing the flow of mana and accelerating the movement of the mana threads.

‘The problem isn’t the manifestation of the spell, but its application. This side is definitely not easy.’

A drop of sweat trickled down Lennok’s faintly furrowed face.

Asui’s reflexes and physical abilities, having lived his entire life far from combat, were only slightly better than Lennok’s.

Instead of manipulating such a body to dodge the executioner’s attacks, he thought it would be better to half-abandon physical manipulation and invest all his power into spell manipulation.

However, a certain delay in manipulating shadow magic was unavoidable.

Not only was he inducing and manipulating Asui’s unconscious mana to flow naturally, but assembling and manifesting spells within his body was strictly Asui’s ability.

No matter how quickly Lennok sent signals, it was impossible to reduce the time it took for a spell to complete within Asui’s body.

All Lennok could do was calculate and pre-input the manipulation commands, patterning the delay after sending the command.

This was virtually impossible without reading all of the executioner’s judgments and predicting his next few moves, but somehow, it had succeeded so far.

‘Moreover, judging how far these ploys will work is also an important issue.’

A bracelet made of eight chains.

It seemed like a mere formality, and the mediator said nothing special, but Lennok surmised that this proxy battle was a ritual akin to a spell.

It wasn’t merely about determining superiority among representatives for the sake of transferring the Fortress Head’s authority.

The act of deciding victory or defeat through this battle itself held a magical meaning.

This was probably because the barrier surrounding the ruins accepted ‘the Fortress Head’s authority’ as an explicit concept.

A closed fortress society. A solitary ritual, like an ordeal, where a representative is designated to transfer the right of nomination to the one who ultimately triumphs.

It would be impossible to deduce this far without recognizing the existence of the ruins where space-time flowed slowly and the barrier protecting them.

A grand ritual to maintain the fortress’s barrier, and how much tightrope walking was possible within it.

Finding out that upper limit through Asui here was enough.

“Shall we try a little more?”

As Lennok muttered that, the movement of the mana threads became even more complex.

Immediately after, the shadow that rose from Asui’s feet split into dozens of strands and began to rush towards the executioner all at once.

Fluttering!!

Like scattered raven feathers, the fragments of shadow filled the manor stage, fluttering everywhere, causing not only the spectators but even the family heads to faintly open their mouths.

“It was this much?!”

“Does this mean he didn’t even need to fight?”

Slowly, yet certainly not sluggishly, the feather-like spectacle swiftly enveloped the executioner from all sides.

By manipulating each fragment of the fragmented shadow in unpredictable directions, he instantly occupied the space and blocked escape routes.

No more than five people in this place could gauge the prediction and intuition contained in this single move.

Thump-thump!!

“Ugh…”

As the shadow fragments fluttering in the air stretched out and transformed into sharp spear shafts,

The moment the executioner, intuiting defeat, let out a low groan,

Crack!!

The bracelet on Asui’s right hand shattered into pieces and fell to the ground.

The sound of the chains breaking echoed unusually loudly through the manor.

The referee, holding a flag at the edge of the manor, loudly announced into the microphone.

[Samyeong disqualified. Sagun wins. Next representative, please come forward!]

“…”

“Samyeong… lost?”

“Disqualified?”

It was a conclusion that could be described as anticlimactic. But most of the spectators somewhat understood the meaning of the victory and defeat.

The Sagun Family’s representative. The family’s foremost warrior, who had raised his standing by executing countless criminals.

He had been driven to the brink of defeat against a shadow sorcerer who had never fought a proper battle.

If Asui hadn’t broken the bracelet, it was obvious who would have been lying on the ground, unable even to forfeit.

The atmosphere in the special seats grew cold at the unexpected result from the very beginning of the proxy battle.

“…It seems the Sagun Family’s executioner forgot his duty by beheading criminals.”

The Head of the Ibon Family’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke.

“Or perhaps he has become so merciful that he lets a young sorcerer go unharmed now?”

“…I am truly sorry.”

The Head of the Sagun Family bowed his head deeply.

There was no trace of his earlier composure on his pale face.

“I will undoubtedly bring good results in the next battle.”

After confirming Chen’s appearance, who emerged next, he desperately tried to persuade the Head of the Ibon Family.

His opponent was a swordsman who had defeated the Paldun Family’s representative to earn his qualification as a representative.

Rumor had it he was the Oryun Family Head’s half-sibling.

After defeating and beheading that man, Soo-ryun’s mind and body would naturally crumble.

Using that as leverage, he would only need to beg forgiveness from the Head of the Ibon Family.

There was nothing good to come from falling out of favor with the Head of the Ibon Family, who was at the center of the current internal order reform of the fortress.

While the other family heads also subtly chattered, scheming to divide profits under her, Oren quietly looked down at the manor below.

“…”

It might not be visible to others, but as a fellow shadow sorcerer, he could tell.

Asui had not simply self-destructed by over-aggressively attacking the executioner.

Rather, he had focused on implanting fragments of his shadow throughout the manor during the entire proxy battle.

Even now, with bright sunlight shining over the manor, shadows that didn’t quite match the reflection angles still lingered throughout the manor, harboring mana.

As if waiting for the opportune moment, ready to move at any time.

It was precisely for this arrangement that Lennok took the risk of choosing Asui as the Samyeong Family’s representative and putting him forward as the vanguard of the proxy battle.

From the way things were going, Asui’s self-destruction was probably just a part of Lennok’s plan.

He had decided that since the objective had been achieved, there was no reason to keep a combat-inept sorcerer active any longer.

“What a nasty fellow…”

He let out a soliloquy without realizing it. But even as he said so, Oren felt the corners of his mouth twitch.

Had he thought this far when he said a shadow sorcerer was needed as a representative?

He hadn’t expected the process of flipping the board Lennok mentioned to unfold in such a way.

Even at his age, he never thought he would encounter a talent that defied his expectations and predictions, so Oren couldn’t hide his delight.

He knew a loach was muddying the waters.

And that he, far from observing, was splashing along with it.

How long would it take for the other family heads to realize that fact?

Oren was old enough to enjoy even that brief wait.

“…”

Only the Head of the Ibon Family watched his leisurely closing eyes with a sharp gaze.