Chapter 282: Light and Shadow (3)

“W-What is that…?”

To anyone watching, it was clearly Samyeong Family Head Oren who was blocking the situation and evacuating the residents.

Ibon Family Head’s sudden attack, far from assisting him, was utterly bizarre in many ways.

But Ibon paid no mind to the atmosphere and shamelessly bellowed.

“The Samyeong Family Head is the one who ruined the Proxy Battle. For the safety of the Fortress residents, he must be dealt with immediately!!”

The real culprit and truth of this situation don’t matter.

What matters is to stubbornly obscure the eyes of everyone and shift the blame, even if it requires sophistry and insistence.

If they can just cloud the judgment of the other Family Heads for a moment, it’s enough.

As Ibon shouted and stretched out her arm, veins instantly bulged beneath her skin, smoothing out its wrinkles.

While the other Family Heads gaped at this incomprehensible miracle, a massive wooden fist erupted from beneath the VIP seating and struck the spot where Oren had stood.

Magically charged slashes extended one after another, turning the area where the Family Heads were into a wasteland, and a powerful explosion erupted.

Boom boom boom boom!!

“Ibon Family Head!!!”

“Calm down! What is this nonsense?!”

Above all, Oren’s mouth must not open.

If they couldn’t resolve this before all the Fortress residents escaped the manor…!!

However, Ibon’s face, which had been focusing her mana with that thought, quickly distorted.

Beyond the thick dust, the presence of someone holding a long spear was felt.

Standing in Oren’s way, who was now concentrating and beginning to float upwards, was Soo-ryun, who had accepted the role of Oryun Family Head.

She looked at Ibon Family Head’s stiff expression and smiled leisurely.

“You seem rather desperate.”

“You…!!”

“You plotted all of this with the Guido Cult, and now you’re trying to play innocent?”

“……”

Whoosh!!

Soo-ryun lightly swung her glaive, scattering the dust, and slowly took her stance.

“Van was right. You all thought the outcome of the Proxy Battle didn’t matter from the start.”

If they won the Proxy Battle and gained the Fortress Head’s authority, good. They would then access the Fortress’s ruins and achieve their goal.

But even if things went wrong, they planned to seize the life force of the people gathered in the manor to forcibly summon the Guido Cult’s forces.

If they performed human sacrifices on thousands of people, they could at least transfer hundreds of cult members here.

With that, they would seize the Fortress, kill the Fortress Head again, and reopen the Proxy Battle.

From the beginning, Ibon intended to seize the Fortress Head’s authority, even if it meant completely destroying the Fortress.

“……It seems some paltry sorcerer has been spouting strange things.”

Ibon Family Head maintained a forced smile and spoke.

“What benefit would I gain from conspiring with the cult?”

“Well, if you want to say that…”

Soo-ryun cut herself off and slammed the glaive in her hand into the air.

Cr-ack!!

Ibon’s attendant, who had passed her through the dust and was extending a blade towards Oren, was instantly split in half, gushing blood.

“Instead of trying to kill the Samyeong Family Head, shouldn’t you be helping him? Right now, it’s solely the Samyeong’s power that’s safely evacuating the Fortress residents.”

It wasn’t just Ibon Family Head attacking Oren alone.

In that brief moment while the two conversed, Ibon’s attendants, whom she had brought here, began fiercely rushing at Oren on behalf of their Family Head.

Their momentum was so ferocious it was hard to believe they had shown no murderous intent just moments before.

Soo-ryun was overwhelmingly outnumbered to block all their offensives with her glaive.

Just as the attendants’ blades, steeped in darkness, were about to reach the blindfolded Oren beyond the shadows.

Clang clang clang clang!!

Sharp silver flashes twisted and gathered between them, deflecting the direction of all the blades.

A muscular man, who had scaled the audience seats in the blink of an eye.

The swordsman, whose human head had been replaced with a robot head on his shoulders, readjusted the blade in his hand, and at the same time, blood splattered wildly everywhere.

Splatterrr!!

[Yes, it should have been like this from the start!!]

He moved swiftly, continuously spouting unnatural mechanical sounds.

His body, having long abandoned human breathing methods, abnormally contracted and expanded, sweeping everything aside.

Thump thump thump thump!!

[I was so nervous I wouldn’t get to use such a great combat chassis!!!]

Slicing with his blade here and there, he unleashed insane laughter, devoid of any logic or reason.

His careless movements seemed to surrender judgment solely to impulse and instinct.

Yet, there was no one capable of truly understanding and countering the profundity of the swordsmanship contained within.

With a few twists of his wrist, Manson’s raised blade vanished, and each time, somewhere on the limbs of the rushing attendants, something was pointlessly severed.

Thud thud thud thud!!

That wildly aggressive, living swordplay was the result of conserving strength even to the point of forfeiting the Proxy Battle.

Lennok had anticipated this moment, preserving Chen and Manson’s stamina, and preparing for the decisive moment.

Specifically, to thwart Ibon Family Head’s plan from the start, in case they couldn’t secure the Fortress Head’s position.

Soo-ryun and Manson.

Warriors who had reached the rank of commander, each wielding different methods and weapons, began to block Oren’s front and rear, holding their ground. Ibon’s attendants couldn’t easily break through and kept their distance.

Unlike the warriors brought for the Proxy Battle, those present here were far from the family’s main fighting force.

To reassure the Family Heads, each family’s attendants consisted only of those with relatively low combat capabilities.

“Useless creatures…!!”

Finally, Ibon Family Head, her face contorted, rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward personally.

“……I apologize.”

“Take the Ilwon Family Head and get back to the main family!!”

At Ibon’s sharp shout, the attendants moved without hesitation.

As the attendants snatched up Tae-oh, who was trembling with a pale face, and disappeared, Soo-ryun also stiffened her expression and re-gripped her spear.

“Ilwon… Did no one stop the Family Head from getting into that state? The family has already lost its self-sufficiency.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ibon smiled. Even alone, she was utterly defiant.

Crackle!!

Thick veins, climbing up to her face, rapidly expanded, instantly reverting her age to her younger years.

In the time it took to catch a breath, the old woman was turning back her own time into a young woman.

Ibon, sweeping back her hair which had returned to a sleek black, smiled with a confident expression.

“Ilwon and Ibon have always been together since the Palgung Fortress was established. There was only a difference in our roles.”

“……”

“From now on, it is we, Ibon, who will step to the forefront of the Fortress, and Ilwon will simply support us from behind.”

Ibon said this and slowly raised her hand.

In an instant, unknown energies gathered into her grasp, beginning to form a massive conglomerate.

Following the death of the Ilwon Family Head and former Fortress Head, Ibon Family Head, along with Oren, was one of the strongest wielders of power within the Fortress.

Having completed her Hierarchy, and with an overflowing amount of lived time and experience, why had she not stepped to the forefront until now?

Was it not to thoroughly conceal the cult’s existence and secretly grasp everything she desired?

The power of the Fortress and eternal youth.

It would be a lie to say she didn’t want both.

But not everything in the world goes as planned, and if she had to choose only one.

Wouldn’t she have to pour all her strength into it, for her own sake?

Crackle crackle crackle!!!!

Coiling in her hand, slowly expanding its mass, was a plant stem of an unknown species.

Just as Soo-ryun and Manson, facing a practitioner of irregular strength, simultaneously raised their auras and prepared to take a stance.

Something flew right next to Ibon and slammed into the VIP seating where the Family Heads had been sitting.

CRASHHH!!

“Ugh…!!”

It didn’t take long for Ibon Family Head, who was trying to ignore it and continue her attack, to snap her head around.

“…Martinez?”

“Ibon Family Head. The plan has changed.”

Walter, his arms ragged, stood up with a bitter smile.

“We need to escape right now.”

Walter’s gaze directed.

From below the stage where the Proxy Battle had just taken place, a man in a coat was looking up at them.

‘He’s much weaker than I thought. Below expectations.’

Lennok lightly cracked his neck as he walked up to the VIP seating.

A bishop from Rebatenon University, who had possessed the body of an incomplete sorcerer student and still displayed top-tier combat ability.

He had naturally expected Walter’s true combat ability to far surpass what he’d seen then, and had thoroughly conserved mana throughout the Proxy Battle, yet Walter couldn’t even properly withstand Lennok’s offensive.

For Lennok, who had intended to focus on Walter despite knowing of Ilwon Family Head Tae-oh’s escape, the situation was unsettling.

‘If his response is much weaker than even at the university, then, as expected…’

As soon as Lennok realized this, he decided to join Oren instead of focusing on killing Walter, as the situation was rapidly changing.

Walter, having stood up, coughed dryly and said.

“As soon as he grasped our strength, he tried to capture us. He’s a dangerous fellow in his way of thinking.”

“……”

“Fortunately, we safely extracted the Ilwon Family Head, so the larger framework hasn’t collapsed.”

He concluded cleanly and nodded.

“Let’s retreat.”

“……We haven’t obtained any of the expected fruits yet. Are you telling me to tuck my tail and run in this situation?!”

Ibon Family Head’s face contorted.

“I can deal with a wizard who was somewhat successful outside…!! You, go catch the people who are escaping right now!!”

Only after hearing her sharp rebuke did the other Family Heads truly understand who the mastermind behind all this was.

If the unknown young man, whom they only knew as the Ilwon Family Head’s proxy, and Ibon had conspired as if by prior arrangement, wouldn’t the conclusion be obvious?

Sagun Family Head’s lips trembled as he roared.

“Ibon Family Head. What on earth are you doing?!”

“Have you allied with an outsider and thrown away the safety of the Fortress?!”

The other Family Heads also finally realized the gravity of the situation and began to draw up mana towards Ibon Family Head.

Their formation of an alliance with Ibon Family Head to pressure the other three families was solely for the purpose of dividing the Fortress’s power among themselves.

They absolutely did not wish for the safety of Palgung Fortress itself to be jeopardized.

“Tch…”

Ibon quietly clicked her tongue, but it was unavoidable once her scheme was exposed.

The number of people who could ally with the cult and enjoy its benefits was limited, and she had no intention of sharing her regained youth with the other Family Heads.

With Walter’s existence and her manipulations exposed, playing innocent was a waste of time.

Instead, she sneered coldly at the Family Heads and muttered.

“Family Heads, think about it. How long do you intend to remain like frogs in a well, trapped within this narrow domain?”

“W-What did you say?”

“It’s already been decades since we made an agreement with the old hags of the City Council and made this land the Fortress’s territory. How long do you think those old geezers will guarantee our rights?”

“……”

“The world is changing day by day. You may not know, as you don’t pay attention to outside news, but there are even rumors that the prohibition decree binding high-level ability users will soon be lifted.”

A cold silence fell after her sharp retort.

Ibon Family Head continued, undeterred.

“Change is imminent. And I have no intention of planning my remaining life relying on the mercy of crazy old people. So… I simply made my choice first, before being abandoned.”

“Are you saying you will sacrifice the entire Fortress population and seek a new life?”

Whooshhh!!

At that moment, Oren, who had been concentrating with his eyes closed, spoke.

“That’s not wrong. But if you truly thought that, you should have first discussed it with the Fortress Head and sought a path for the Fortress to take.”

He calmly opened his eyes and descended to the ground, his steady gaze fixed on Ibon Family Head.

“My old friend died because of your petty selfishness, and his son became a puppet. Do you truly believe you can toy with human life and death?”

“Why not?”

Ibon laughed.

“If not for others, then this world guarantees that you and I, who have completed our Hierarchies, certainly have the qualifications to do so.”

“……”

“If my wishes can be granted just by bowing to the monsters of the Outer Sea… I won’t hesitate for a moment.”

“Is that so? To my eyes, you don’t seem any different from the mad old people of the City Council.”

Oren retorted.

“How much blood and flesh did you consume to obtain that youth?”

Ibon Family Head did not answer further.

She merely let out an eerie laugh and took a step back.

Walter, who had just reattached both of his shoulders, stepped in front of her, blocking the way.

Lennok watched them and then spoke.

“He’s from the Guido Cult. Considering the magic he uses, he’s a fairly high-ranking official.”

“Understood.”

“His combat ability is terrible, but he seems to feel pain to an unusual degree. Despite that, his body’s restoration isn’t very smooth either.”

Oren, sensing an ominous implication in Lennok’s words, turned his gaze.

“……What do you mean?”

“Think carefully.”

Lennok, holding a cigarette and exhaling smoke, said.

“The body of a middle-aged man well over forty. A pale face and bruises below the neck. Terrible combat ability and regeneration. Even the unusually cooperative Ilwon Family Head.”

“……”

“Don’t you think the reason might be right there?”

“Wait, you don’t mean…”

Oren’s eyes, rarely wide, opened unusually large as he grasped Lennok’s intention.

Lennok nodded towards Walter, who was letting out a strange laugh.

“That’s highly likely to be the deceased Fortress Head’s body. If they’ve been toying with that body until now, in some way we don’t know, then quite a few things start to make sense.”