Chapter 278: Proxy Battle (3)

It didn’t take long for Asui, waking from his coma, to realize he was alive.

“I, I did it!”

He was, in fact, so excited to have fought Sagun’s representative and returned alive and well that he started gushing words.

“Perhaps there was a latent instinct for a great warrior like my uncle within me. Truly, if it wasn’t for a beast-like nature, suppressed by my magical abilities, awakening through this incident, how else could I have returned unharmed amidst such formidable representatives…”

“This guy, he became incredibly annoying after surviving.”

Manson muttered in exasperation, and Lennok shook his head.

“Leave him be. Asui’s real role isn’t the Proxy Battle anyway. It’s better for his spirit to be uplifted by the joy of victory.”

“No, he didn’t even win, did he?”

“Ah, right.”

Lennok chuckled, momentarily confused by Chen’s words.

“But does it matter?”

No one present considered Asui’s defeat a loss.

From the moment he successfully withdrew, perfectly intact, and played a trick on Sagun’s representative, the audience’s attention was fixed on them.

Now, all that was needed was to show others which way the scales of the Proxy Battle were tipping.

“We’ll start right away. You can handle it, right?”

“Of course.”

Chen replied, stretching lightly.

“We’ve been practicing for this day, after all.”

He caressed the curved blade at his hip, pushed aside the curtain, and stepped into the arena.

WHOOSH!!

A deafening roar, as if on cue.

Amidst the grand cheers that made the ground slightly tremble, the Executioner awaited him.

Despite having been rattled by Asui’s survival, the Executioner’s breathing was steady, as if he had already composed himself.

The gleam in his eyes, visible through the helmet, calmly looked down at Chen.

Chen silently drew his curved blade and slowly checked his body.

The sensation of the mana threads wrapped around his entire body was already familiar enough.

The important thing wasn’t blindly following Lennok’s manipulations, but understanding his combat logic and preparing for actions in advance, reacting accordingly.

Just by doing that, Chen felt his senses sharpening considerably.

The Executioner looked down at him with a heavy gaze, then let out a low voice from inside his helmet.

“Oryun Family’s illegitimate son. I’ve heard the stories.”

“…”

“I never thought I’d lay hands on the son with the same hand that cut down his father. Among Executioners, touching kin is considered taboo, but…”

THUMP!!

The Executioner lowered his stance, his heavy halberd resting on his shoulder.

“On a day like today, even the spirits would show leniency.”

WHOOSH…!!

The Executioner raised his mana without hesitation.

There wasn’t a trace of carelessness in his words or actions.

Having been disgraced in his previous encounter with Asui, he was resolved not to suffer the same fate twice.

Facing that murderous aura, Chen slowly took his stance.

At the same time, the mana threads inserted by Lennok reacted, sharply refining the mana flowing through Chen’s body.

ZZZZZT…!!

As he felt his entire body’s senses stand on end like blades, Lennok’s voice echoed in his mind.

[It’ll be quick.]

“What?”

Ignoring Chen’s hesitation as he raised his curved blade, Lennok continued.

[I got a rough feel for it when I handled Asui earlier. Thanks to that, I think I can do something fun.]

“No, I’m sorry, but in this kind of situation, you should refrain from experimenting and stick to what we practiced… Ugh…!!”

There was no reply.

As soon as the bell rang, Chen’s limbs shook, and he immediately dashed across the arena.

Lowering his upper body and leaning forward, he moved his legs, instantly balancing himself and accelerating.

The surrounding scenery quickly blurred, but despite the immense acceleration, Chen’s expression wasn’t very good.

‘It’s too simple…!’

While Lennok was manipulating Chen’s body to experiment with various combat logics, Chen wasn’t just idly standing by.

By nature a businessman, and someone who naturally valued intellectual thought, he had been considerably impressed by Lennok’s way of thinking.

Even in fierce combat, Lennok didn’t hesitate to set clear priorities and engage in tactical and psychological warfare at every moment.

He would boldly take reckless or aggressive actions, but even those were part of a psychological ploy to seize timing and initiative.

He observed combat as if looking down from a grand perspective, and even if it meant giving up the first strike in certain moments, he’d secure more options than his opponent in the overall exchange of blows.

An extremely arrogant confidence that, given the chance to choose, he would invariably select the optimal judgment.

Without such an opportunity, Chen would have never been able to guess how Lennok thought and acted.

Just as Lennok’s manipulative abilities grew, it was natural for the synergy to increase as Chen understood Lennok’s combat logic.

Conversely, it meant that the moment Lennok manipulated Chen’s body, Chen could also somewhat infer Lennok’s intentions.

The charge was made at full speed. At first glance, it looked impressive, but it wasn’t a good move against an enemy with such a significant size difference.

The only reasonable outcome one could hope for from such a charge was to disrupt the opponent’s balance immediately after the clash, narrowing their choices, and conversely, increasing one’s own options.

Establishing an absolute psychological advantage in that process was Lennok’s method as Chen had experienced it so far, but now the situation was different.

Considering the Executioner’s broad build and thick armor, the possibility of the opponent losing balance, no matter how much mana Chen poured in, was slim.

In short, it was a reckless first strike.

CLANG!!

Chen’s curved blade quickly penetrated the Executioner’s inner armor, stabbing deep.

As if waiting, the Executioner took a large step back and violently swung his halberd.

While there was certainly an impact from receiving the sharp charge, he did not lose balance due to the armor’s sturdiness and the force of his weight.

He even expertly stepped back and raised his halberd as if he had anticipated the situation.

This would have been impossible if he hadn’t prepared by pulling his body’s balance backward from the start.

SWISH!

As the Executioner distanced himself, a gap opened between the two.

A reach that Chen’s curved blade couldn’t reach, but the Executioner’s halberd could easily cover and then some.

At this rate, Chen’s body would have no future other than being cleanly split from head to crotch.

“Farewell.”

The voice echoing from within the helmet was already certain of victory.

Unlike the shadow sorcerer, whose moves he couldn’t predict, the Executioner had a certain proficiency in the tactical combat of a warrior.

‘Damn it…!’

Just as Chen bit his lip and instinctively tried to raise his arms, the mana flowing within his body spontaneously rotated, conjuring an unknown spell.

A collection of principles and configurations impossible for him to comprehend or even recognize with his current magical capabilities.

Along with a peculiar sensation, as if a puzzle was assembling itself within his body, ‘will’ instantly accumulated, embodying mana and manifesting as a single meaning.

WHOOSH!!

A formless wave spread in all directions.

Immediately after, the shadow that appeared behind him clung to Chen’s back and flapped its wings.

SHWINGG!!

The distance between the two was about three steps.

THUD!!

“Ugh…!!”

Chen’s body, having leaped over that exquisitely neither far nor short gap, bounced directly behind the Executioner.

SLASH!!

The Executioner’s head, still encased in his helmet, soared into the sky above the arena, severed from behind Chen.

Thousands of people gathered there witnessed the Executioner’s head, scattering faint traces of blood, tumbling to the ground.

As the other family heads watched, their eyes widened, and the spectators let out a cheer.

WAHHHHHH!!!

Who won, or who should have won, didn’t matter much from their perspective.

What mattered was providing a spectacular show fitting for the gathered fortress residents.

In that regard, though the clash between Chen and the Executioner was momentary, the background of the two was thrilling enough for the viewers.

The showdown between an Executioner who killed the father and his grown son.

Whatever the reason, it was enough to appear as a plausible revenge drama.

The fact that Chen won a fleeting duel using strength and speed as weapons was also more than enough to be seen as a dramatic victory.

“Damn it… If you’re going to do this, tell me in advance.”

Chen grumbled but struggled to his feet.

He picked up the curved blade that had fallen after beheading the Executioner and raised his arm forcefully. Simultaneously, the cheers echoing through the arena grew even louder.

OHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Receiving the cheers of thousands with his entire body, Chen’s gaze was fixed on the curtain behind the arena stage.

Lennok, who was rubbing his wrist behind the stage, noticed the gaze and smiled.

‘So far, it’s according to plan.’

Although the process changed slightly, the outcome was satisfactory from Lennok’s perspective.

The first move was sending Asui forward, having already placed shadows throughout the arena.

The second move was sending Chen as the vanguard, achieving victory in the Proxy Battle and rebalancing the scales.

Replicating Asui’s spell with Chen’s body during that process was half-improvised, but the effect was certainly profound.

Weren’t even the other family heads, who had been observing Chen with indifference, now looking at him with intense, focused gazes?

Though he manifested shadow magic through Chen’s body, which had no aptitude for such spells, it would certainly appear to the other family heads, who didn’t know the inside story, as if Chen had been hiding his true abilities.

“Sagun Family’s Executioner…”

“His head was taken off in one blow. An unbelievable result.”

“He accelerated again in an unbelievable way immediately after the clash. I even missed the second acceleration for a moment.”

“Either way, the fact that the Executioner couldn’t even react can’t be a coincidence. There was a reason he took over the Paldun’s representative status.”

“…”

Despite the murmuring of the other family heads, Paldun’s Fortress Head simply bowed his head, unable to offer any retort.

It was obvious how Paldun, who hadn’t even joined the alliance of five families and had lost his representative status, would be treated.

Perhaps it was fortunate that Chen’s activity made the loss of their representative status seem more justifiable.

Lennok sharply observed the family heads through the curtain.

Their agitation was natural.

He had been moving by selecting only results that broke the mold and twisted the situation, while maintaining the intended plan as much as possible.

Even though only one representative from each side had lost, it would be enough for the other family heads to feel that things weren’t going well.

If someone felt that the situation was strangely shifting, they would surely take different action.

Lennok’s reason for not stepping forward himself but sitting as the commander, observing the situation, was precisely to gauge the family heads’ reactions as the Proxy Battle progressed.

Guido Cult.

If they were truly deeply involved in this fortress’s Proxy Battle, they wouldn’t fail to take additional action in this situation.

‘Large-scale spells that sacrifice life… If the cult’s aim is truly that, then one of the family heads must be helping them. I need to find the accomplice before the Proxy Battle ends.’

He generally knew what Walter Martinez, the Bishop and Missionary, aimed for by infiltrating Palgung Fortress.

If it was to retrieve the secrets contained within the spatial rift ruins inside the fortress, it wouldn’t be strange for them to reach out not only to Ibon but also to other family heads.

It was for this very moment that he had recruited Oren and made Soo-ryun the Fortress Head of the Oryun Family, placing her in that position.

With their keen insight, they would undoubtedly be able to clearly identify which family head was most closely allied with Ibon among the others.

All that remained was to continue altering the course of the Proxy Battle in unexpected ways and observe the family heads’ reactions.

While he was lost in thought, the Proxy Battle continued.

The duel between Chen, who had mostly preserved his stamina, and the opponent’s second representative.

The figure who appeared on the other side of the stage was a slender martial artist.

Lennok already vaguely knew who he was through the Samyeong Family’s information.

Adam Brobeck. Chilhyun’s representative, and a famous former mercenary.

He was a highly skilled martial artist and grappler, a member of the Platon Office, a mercenary group in the megacity comparable to Antares.

Chilhyun was one of the families that hired outside personnel as representatives, like Yukryeong who hired Mad Manson.

As Lennok recalled the information in his mind, his eyes grew cold.

‘Platon… It’s been quite a while since we’ve encountered them again.’

It was Lennok’s first year, when he had just begun working as a freelancer.

Back then, when he was commissioned by Evelyn to deal with dark wizards alongside the Agents, didn’t members of Platon intervene everywhere?

It had been quite some time since those who meddled in every major incident in the megacity began to disappear.

What was the reason for these individuals, who had constantly inserted themselves into all sorts of megacity affairs, to reappear now?

How much truth was there to the ominous rumors that their unusual financial power was linked to high-ranking city council members?

Despite the complex thoughts intertwining in his mind, Lennok flicked the mana threads with a calm expression.

Simultaneously, the mana transmission echoed in Chen’s ear, transforming into a low message.

[From now on, we’ll proceed as discussed beforehand. Is that alright?]

“Since when have you ever asked that?”

Chen replied with a wry smile.

“I guess I’ll just have to endure some scolding. We started it, so let’s see it through to the end.”

It didn’t take long for the meaning of those words to become clear.

Just five minutes after the Proxy Battle began, Chen immediately declared his surrender.