Chapter 268 |
Once he succeeded in gauging the limit line where no strain would burden the body and leave no aftereffects, the rest wasn't difficult.
By gradually narrowing the gap between the ideal movements Renok envisioned and the actions Chen could perform, the number of selectable branch points naturally multiplied endlessly.
He recorded and checked all those judgments and intuitions with the violet magic eye, thoroughly dispersing the risk as he suppressed Hojor.
Pabababap!!
The excess quickly vanished from the movements of the mana threads extending from Renok's fingers.
At the same time, Chen's movements, which had been chaotic when he first charged at Hojor, became concise, while the sharpness of the curving sword strikes he unleashed in response grew more varied.
While manipulating Chen, he observed Hojor's movements and predicted the next actions. He patterned them and inputted prepared motions with time differences.
Like executing command inputs, the curving sword extended from Chen weaved through Hojor's close range without hesitation.
Tertete-tung!!
Only then did Hojor's complexion turn pale as he finally sensed something amiss.
"Th-this...!!"
He couldn't read the offense and defense of an opponent he had considered far inferior in level.
In contrast to Hojor, who faltered at that fact and slowed his club swings, Chen's gaze deepened.
He had realized that all this maneuvering stayed within the limits of his own athletic capabilities. Simply by meticulously constructing patterns of attack and defense, he could even match weapons with a superior opponent.
A mage's combat logic.
It might sound like absurd armchair theory when spoken aloud, but Renok's method of directly manipulating Chen's body like a marionette was entirely different.
Even in the instant he gripped the curving sword with both hands and dodged the heavy club swinging before his eyes, Chen could vividly feel it.
The key was never to lose control of the battle.
Even if he couldn't fully dominate the battlefield, he must never miss the chance to choose the minimal exchange.
To realize that logic, the most crucial premise was to minimize moments of retreat to the extreme.
In essence, it was a desperate climb, relentlessly advancing to topple the thick wall that was Hojor.
From the moment he recognized that, Chen cleanly discarded his pride and entrusted his senses to the mana thread wielder manipulating his body.
In return, he keenly observed the offense and defense realized through his moving body with his own eyes, straining to learn the combat logic.
A freelancer in his third year since entering this world—and a mage with no experience in full-scale battles at that—now acknowledged and accepted that a sharper, more sensitive warrior's talent than his own lay dormant within him.
Rather than dodging the shockwave of the club crashing down toward his shoulder, he charged forward.
Kwaak!
He stabbed the curving sword in his left hand into the dirt floor of the courtyard and rolled his body forward, pulling his arm to draw himself in.
Like a flash, Chen slipped past Hojor's left leg, flipped his body with a spring, and hurled the curving sword in his right hand.
"...!!"
Kagak!!
The moment Hojor twisted his club handle to deflect the flying blade, Chen slashed at the back of Hojor's knee with the remaining sword.
"That's far enough!!"
But the follow-up after throwing the curving sword was predetermined.
Hojor naturally anticipated the next move and unhesitatingly kicked out at Chen.
Tung!
"...!!"
What caught on Hojor's toe was a weight far heavier than expected.
Hojor's face stiffened at the repulsive force that defied belief compared to Chen's strength so far.
Cases of combat ability altering so drastically in an instant were rare.
From Hojor's experience as a warrior, there was only one possibility.
"...You, don't tell me?"
The curving sword in Chen's hand, as he rose enduring the kick, shimmered with a faint light green mana glow.
The basic color of mana was a pale blue.
What did it mean for that transparent azure, said to reflect the human soul, to begin distorting?
An attribute shift arising upon reaching the realm of a soldier.
Had he, like the warriors of legend, elevated his realm through endless battle?
"......"
Chen silently picked up the other fallen curving sword from the ground and reversed his grip on both.
As he slowly lowered his stance, no hesitation remained in his eyes.
Behind him, Renok, who had been fidgeting with the mana threads, scratched his cheek with a troubled expression.
'I got too carried away. I hope Chen isn't disappointed...'
The idea of directly manipulating Chen's body to use as a vanguard wasn't bad, but the effect was better than expected, so Renok had become overly immersed.
The attribute shift in the mana Chen was using now wasn't entirely his own achievement.
After Chen realized without hesitation that his maneuvering and intuition far surpassed his own and cooperated with the manipulation.
Renok had gotten carried away and directly interfered even with Chen's mana.
The attribute shift in Chen's mana now was closer to the natural consequence of the mana shifting in tandem as Renok moved, rather than true growth.
Once Renok's manipulation ended, that light green mana would vanish as well.
'It could be dangerous. Should I stop?'
Directly interfering with another's mana to manipulate its flow and purpose was a good experience for Renok, but he couldn't guarantee Chen's safety.
The sensation of the mana Renok wielded followed a different trajectory from other mages.
If he manipulated that mana without regard for the limits of Chen's control ability, Chen's body could explode.
"Renok."
But as if aware of that, Chen quietly called out to stop him.
"Keep going."
"......"
"I can still handle it."
A desperate expression. Renok ultimately continued moving the mana threads instead of pulling back.
Chen knew full well that the realm he had attained now was a fleeting miracle born of coincidence and serendipity.
Yet, to not forget this miraculous sensation in his hands, he charged at Hojor, burning away fear and anxiety.
"Hup!"
Hojor, who had been staring at Chen in a daze, laughed.
"Good. Let's see it through to the end, then!!"
Kung!
As he gripped the club tightly, Hojor's mana enveloped the heavy metal, rotating and changing its color.
The true power of the blunt weapon, which he hadn't fully unleashed due to Renok's meticulous suppression, now revealed itself.
The torrent of mana swirling grandly around the club was a heavy brown.
The two warriors, awakened to attribute shifts, charged at each other without hesitation.
Hojor, sensing the turning point of victory or defeat, ignited his battle spirit with a sharp shout.
"Uoooooo!!"
Before long, Chen's face flushed red as he too bellowed fiercely.
In the instant Chen's form shot forward and Hojor's motion swung the club skyward from his spot overlapped.
Kuuung!!
A heavy roar shook the ground a beat later.
But it wasn't Hojor's massive frame that fell.
The handle of the heavy club he had gripped moments ago was severed, and the head dropped to the ground.
"......"
Realizing not just defeat in warrior's exchange but utter loss in direct confrontation, the expression vanished from Hojor's face.
Watching that, Paldoon's family head bellowed.
"Everyone, charge at once!!"
"Huaaaaaap!!"
At that moment, the Paldoon warriors surrounding the three with fierce glares rushed forward in unison.
Kaaaaang!!!
[I knew it, you cowardly bastards!!]
Manson, hastily drawing his sword to block in front of Renok, spewed a barrage of curses.
From behind, Renok looked up at the family head with a cold sneer.
"So it comes to this after all? Well, if you'd been scared off by this much, your clan would have been wiped out long ago."
"You think I'll hand over the authority representing the family so easily...?!!"
The family head leaped to his feet, his beard trembling as he roared.
"The opponent's a mage!! If we take him down before he casts his incantation, we can make this never happened!"
His intent was obvious, intervening the moment the duel—seeming favorable—turned against Hojor.
He had never intended to honor the proxy from the start.
Manson swung his sword rapidly to secure space and buy Renok time, but it was already too late.
The other warriors, who had crept close to Renok, pierced the range Manson could cover and reached out toward him.
Blunt weapons with wide surfaces.
Once swung, they easily claimed area and narrowed escape routes, swarming from all sides.
Kugugugugu!!
Successive impacts erupted with dull thuds.
Dust and gravel winds rose repeatedly, shrouding the courtyard in hazy fog, but no trace of hot blood mingled in.
Even with his ten fingers linked to mana threads, Renok deployed five layers of shields in segments, twisting the incoming strikes and slamming them into the nearby ground.
A divided cognition ability that guided Chen's movements against a warrior like Hojor while keeping himself unscathed.
Before the other warriors could admire that exquisite distribution of force, Renok severed the mana thread from his left hand and lightly brushed off his coat sleeve.
Chik!!
Immediately after, a metallic body gleaming with a bluish sheen emerged from Renok's left hand, emitting a pale flash.
A double-barrel shotgun with two muzzles. A rechargeable one that charged mana from near the trigger and propelled it through the barrel.
Kiiiiing...!!!
With a noise like something rotating fiercely inside, the crystal on the shotgun's side glowed intensely blue.
The immense pressure leaking from the muzzles even created a faint sensation of attractive force in reverse.
A scent of mana too dense to dismiss as mere firearm.
The warriors, faces paling in shock, tried to retreat hastily, but Renok pulled the trigger far faster.
Piii-
There was no sound.
The ears of everyone present simply went deaf.
Renok's mana, compressed to the extreme, propelled shells vigorously from the two muzzles.
The remaining output twisted and burst into the air, resonating with oppositely rotating mana,
And unleashed a massive storm centered on the shotgun shells.
The bluish mana coalesced into wind, rotating reversely and plunging into Paldoon's inner courtyard.
The moment the family head, watching the crumbling brawl with an anxious expression, leaped to his feet.
Kwaaaaaang!!
As if devoured by a giant beast, the mansion's floor was crushed entirely.
"Uwaaaaaak!!"
"Kkeuuk...!!"
The burly warriors charging at Renok groaned in agony under the debris of the exploded mansion.
Unable to withstand the intense mana shockwave, they became extraneous shells, smashing into the mansion's walls and shattering the wooden structure.
"...!!!"
"This, what... How can a gunpowder weapon have such power!"
"He still had this much reserve left...?!!"
As someone muttered in daze, no matter a double-barrel shotgun, unleashing such power was logically impossible.
Even Mauser, who gifted Renok this shotgun, wouldn't have anticipated this might.
It wasn't achievable merely by amplifying firepower.
Even for a rechargeable shotgun, there was a charge limit, and exceeding it would destroy the structure itself.
But Renok had ignored that limit via shooting aid magic, continuously charging and preheating the mana.
The result of sustained stimulation and preheating: compressing and charging mana over time, thoroughly protected by shooting aid magic.
The mana consumed in that shot slightly exceeded Renok's total capacity.
Sustained charged shots of this power were impossible, but the merit of pre-storing mana and converting it to physical force was self-evident.
In that stunned instant, Renok didn't miss the opening and shouted sharply.
"Manson!!"
[I know!!]
With the charged shot binding the other warriors, Manson's hands freed, and understanding Renok's intent, he charged at the family head without delay.
The family head, noticing Manson's pursuit amid the splintering wood piles, thrashed to evade, but no one remained to aid him.
Moreover, Manson was a top-tier freelancer even in Balkan.
[Annoying old geezer. Come here!!]
"Euk!!"
It ended in a flash.
"You cowards!! Let go of my father!!"
Hojor's face flushed crimson as he bellowed, but no one responded.
Seok!!
Chen slipped through the split club like sliding, deeply slashing Hojor's thigh.
Confirming Hojor kneeling and spilling blood, Renok immediately drew Archangel's Compassion from inside his coat and activated the transition ritual,
Jamming a flashing stun grenade into Hojor's gaping mouth.
"Agagagagaga!!"
Pajijijik!!!
Hojor's body flashed blue with the stun grenade in his mouth, eyes rolling back as he slammed his head into the ground and collapsed.