Chapter 147

Chapter 147: Reinforcements, Arrived. (2)

Swaaaah!

The shattered remnants of the bridge were swiftly swept away by the raging current.

The river was easily several dozen meters wide, and the flow of water was overwhelmingly strong.

No matter how skilled a mana user one might be, leaping across such a distance seemed far from easy.

And if, by any chance, they made a mistake and fell into that torrent...

‘They’d end up drowning for sure.’

‘Damn it…’

The faces of the escort knights turned pale as their bodies began to tremble.

At that moment, the very person responsible for this mess, Hardin, walked forward with heavy steps, pointed his sword ahead, and spoke nonchalantly.

"Hey, you're Count Vernian, right?"

"Shut your mouth!"

"How dare you utter the Count's name!"

The escort knights flared up, pointing their swords in return.

"Stand down."

"Ah, yes!"

Step, step.

Vernian pushed past them and strode forward.

His face flushed red, his fists clenched tightly, his expression twisted with rage.

Anyone could see he was suppressing his fury with all his might.

"Hardin Daphne, when did you start setting this all up?"

"Plan? What plan?"

Sching!

Vernian drew his sword and pointed it forward.

"You understood what I meant, didn’t you? From the naval combat to the arrival of the reinforcements—I'm asking which part was staged."

"Sheesh, I don’t get you."

"What don’t you get?"

As Count Vernian’s brow twitched slightly, Hardin scratched his head and then wiped the smile off his face.

"Is that really important now? Even if you knew, would it change anything?"

"……"

Hardin pointed at Vernian’s face as if poking him with a finger and asked,

"What really matters is this—your side lost."

"I... lost?"

"Yeah. Completely."

A moment of silence.

The escort knights only glanced at Vernian nervously, and Vernian let his head drop with a thud before his shoulders began to shake.

"Heh... Heheheh… Is that so? I lost?"

Then he lifted his head again and, with a murderous expression, declared clearly,

"I see things a little differently. I admit you lot fought well, but this alone…"

"You’re hoping to retreat, regroup, and come back properly for a rematch, thinking you’ll win then. That’s your plan, isn’t it?"

"……"

Struck right in the heart, Vernian clenched his lips shut, unable to answer.

Hardin exhaled sharply through his nose and, with a strangely annoyed expression, said,

"Don’t get cocky."

"What?"

"Tread ends today."

Gripping the sword in his hand more firmly, Hardin added,

"You’re going to die here too."

"You arrogant little—"

"You’re the arrogant one, brat."

Was that the spark?

"…Kill him."

Count Vernian thrust his sword forward and gave the order coldly.

"Ha, but my lord! Right now, escape should be our priority!"

"If we waste time here, we'll be in danger!"

The escort knights shouted urgently, their faces pale.

It was an entirely reasonable and logical judgment.

For now, only Hardin stood before them, but if they delayed here any longer, it was obvious that pursuers would catch up soon.

But just then—

Kwa-jik!

"Keugh!"

A thin line slashed across the neck of the knight who had stepped forward to stop Vernian...

Thud!

His head dropped cleanly, and his body collapsed helplessly, spewing blood.

"My… my lord."

"Huuh…"

While the escort knights were overwhelmed by shock, Count Vernian spoke again in a cold voice.

"I said—kill that bastard. Now."

The knights swallowed nervously, their faces stricken with fear.

"Aaaaargh!"

"Chaaaarge!"

Eyes gleaming, they charged toward Hardin with ferocity.

Four 2-star knights came at him simultaneously from four directions.

But—

Clang! Claaaang!

Hardin lowered his body and swung his sword, sending sparks flying as all their blades were knocked back simultaneously and the knights were pushed away.

'So… heavy!'

'He blocked all of that?!'

It had all happened before any of them could even track Hardin’s blade properly.

And then…

"Kuhaaaak!"

One knight's shoulder was deeply slashed, sending blood spraying out.

With just that single exchange, everyone could tell.

‘He’s strong.’

‘What kind of monster is this…?’

The gap between them and Hardin was unimaginably vast, utterly unbridgeable.

As the knights faltered and backed away—

Fwoosh!

A shadow darted forward between them.

Count Vernian.

With the face of a devil, he lunged forward, thrusting his sword toward Hardin with incredible speed.

A nearly flawless ambush—he had erased all traces of his presence and mana, attacking from a blind spot.

‘Die.’

A sinister grin crept across Vernian’s lips as his blade shot forward like lightning.

But—

Crack!

"Guuhk… M-my lord…"

The blade pierced not Hardin, but an escort knight standing on the opposite side.

The knight, utterly confused, coughed up a mouthful of blood.

‘…What the hell?’

Vernian’s eyes widened in disbelief at that moment.

He had been certain his thrust was perfect—yet somehow, it was as if Hardin had vanished into thin air just before it landed.

Vwooooom!

A slicing sound came from behind, and he felt a presence there.

"Eek!"

Vernian dropped his sword and rolled his body to the side.

Slashhh!

"Aaaargh!"

Another escort knight let out a death scream as Hardin’s sword claimed his life.

"Give it to me!"

Clack!

Vernian snatched the sword from a nearby knight and immediately resumed his assault.

Clang! Clang!

He unleashed the swordsmanship taught to him by his master, Commander Pattinson.

Along with it, he mixed in a variety of secret techniques—ones he had spent immense time and money to master.

‘Die!’

Each and every one of his strikes seemed powerful enough to take an enemy’s life in a single blow.

On top of that, the mana and force of a 3-star knight added a devastating momentum to his attacks.

However—

Clang! Claaang!

All of those attacks merely scattered as useless sparks against the tip of Hardin’s sword.

“Gaaah!”

“Haaah!”

And this was all happening while Hardin was simultaneously fending off the combined assault of the other escort knights.

‘This doesn’t make sense.’

‘Even the lord’s attacks… don’t land.’

Hardin, drenched head to toe in blood, swung his sword with a cold, indifferent expression.

And even amidst all that, not once did his center of gravity or mana output falter. He not only blocked all of their strikes but returned them with deadly counterattacks.

He was doing all this against Count Vernian—reputed to be nearly equal in skill to Captain Pattinson, the strongest in Luden Shire.

It felt as if they were fighting a being born solely for the purpose of wielding a sword.

Despite having numerical advantage, a chill began creeping up their spines.

“Faster!” Count Vernian urged, his voice pressing hard.

“B-but!”

“Now!”

In response, the escort knights pushed their mana output to its absolute limits.

Slaaash!

“Keugh!”

Crack!

“Gyaaaaaagh!”

With every exchange, another knight's head flew off lightly, their injuries piling up.

The fierce back-and-forth continued for some time.

“……”

Before they knew it, three corpses lay sprawled across the ground. Only two escort knights and Count Vernian remained.

“Hufff… huffffff…”

Count Vernian, covered in his subordinates' blood, breathed heavily and glared at Hardin.

Hardin pointed his sword forward and said,

“Is that it?”

As if everything was already over.

A tone and posture that radiated complete confidence in his victory.

As he looked upon that, Count Vernian’s heart began to pound violently.

‘……’

Grit.

He clenched his teeth hard.

Hardin Daphne—barely looking over twenty.

Looking at him triggered old memories, now echoing in his mind like phantom whispers.

---

“Young Master Vernian is a genius!”

“The most gifted talent in all of Luden Shire… No, perhaps even the Empire’s greatest one in the future.”

---

He had lived his life surrounded by the label of "genius" since he was young.

Among those his age, there had never been a rival. He had even become Lord at an early age.

His future had seemed nothing short of bright.

With the backing of his ‘superiors,’ a political marriage, and rapid expansion of his house… he had no doubt he would become the dominant power beyond Luden Shire—maybe even more.

And yet.

‘To think I’m losing to some punk from a third-rate family…’

How could this be real? Was he dreaming?

No—his head was going numb. It wasn’t just blank anymore; it felt dazed and detached from reality.

The image of Hardin standing before him slowly began to distort.

His blond hair, his long fingers, the blood-soaked armor and sword—everything started writhing like worms. Then his form began to warp and expand into something monstrous and grotesque.

‘…What is that?’

In that instant, a crushing terror engulfed Vernian’s entire body.

That brat, younger than him and from a third-rate house, now appeared dozens, no—hundreds of times larger and more powerful.

Tremble… tremble…

The trembling of his body grew more intense.

Like a helpless herbivore before a predator.

《You die here, brat.》

The voice from that monstrous being—no longer Hardin, but something that had only worn his skin—echoed endlessly in Vernian’s ears.

Sweat poured down his forehead, and his entire body chilled with dread.

He tried to hide it, but the overwhelming urge to retreat surged within him.

Then, voices called out from beside him.

"My lord! Run!"

"We’ll buy you some time!"

The escort knights were shouting toward him.

Step.

Vernian instinctively took a step back.

"Aaaaaargh!"

"Diiiiie!"

Clang! Claaang!

Sparks burst between the escort knights and the towering creature.

At that moment, Vernian’s instincts screamed a command:

Don’t look back—just run.

Dash!

But Vernian charged forward instead.

‘Don’t make me laugh.’

He couldn’t die yet.

He hadn’t lived this far just to end like this.

The blood-red earth heaved beneath his feet, and eerie wails, as if ghosts were crying from all directions, clouded his mind.

Fear gripped him with the thought that the creature might lunge from behind at any moment, making each step feel like sinking into a swamp.

But Vernian forced himself to remain composed, pushing forward step by step.

How far had he run like that?

Thunk!

"Urgh!"

A black hand shot out from the rippling ground and grabbed his ankle, toppling him.

“Damn it!”

Vernian kicked at it and tried to shake it off as he raised his head.

"Aaaaagh!"

"Hiiieeeek!"

In the distance, he saw the massive monster devouring his escort knights.

Once it finished with them, he would be next.

Which meant… his turn to be eaten was coming soon.

‘Is escape… impossible?’

The trembling of his body, the pounding of his heart, the blood rushing through his veins—none of it stopped.

It felt like everything would burst apart at any moment.

And just when he reached his limit—

“…In that case.”

Snap!

Suddenly, as if everything before had been a lie, Vernian calmed down.

The trembling vanished, and the heart that had been pounding like mad fell silent.

Calmly, he reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled something out.

A black pill, no larger than a thumbnail, came into view.

Its scent was so sweet it made his head spin, and a tingling sensation pulsed through his fingertips.

---

—If you ever face a crisis, try using this.

—What is it…?

—A trump card, you might say… one that summons a demon.

---

He had received it on the day he swore loyalty to the superiors—an unidentified object.

The fragrance it emitted, the numb sensation at his fingertips, whispered to Vernian.

“Consume me.”

“It’s not over yet.”

If he couldn’t escape from that monster, then he simply had to become something beyond it.

Even if that choice meant never being able to return.

Crunch! Gulp!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Count Vernian bit down on the black pill and swallowed it whole.

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