Chapter 338: Neil Blanc (3)

By now, soldiers had surrounded the Sun Hall, forming several layers of defense around the entire structure.

“Magic battalion to the rear! Cast shield spells on the front-line shield-bearers!”

“Prepare the rear-line sorcerers!”

“Frontline, assume protective formation!”

“Stop him at all costs! Even if it means sacrificing your life, do not let him escape! Second line, spearmen, ready for battle!”

“Ready!”

The deafening roars of the soldiers echoed through the palace. The number of troops surrounding the imperial palace had risen to tens of thousands.

“...”

Karyl surveyed the scene. Sharp, vengeful eyes peeked through the gaps of the massive tower shields imbued with protective magic. The soldiers glared at him as though he was their mortal enemy.

“Jade Knights! Ready for battle!”

Crack―! Boom!

At the command, lances shot forward through the gaps between the front-line spears.

Bzzzzzz...!!

The lances were far longer than ordinary spears, and the tips sprouted four hooks, slowly rotating. They matched the color of the jade armor worn by the knights.

“A new knight order, huh? I can guess why they’re glaring at me like that...”

With a bitter smile, Karyl glanced at the commanding officer. It was Cam Gray, the commander of the Ryeo Knights—the ones Karyl had annihilated at the Abyssal Rock.

“Knights who have lost their commander, and a commander who has lost his knights...”

Though he didn’t recognize every single knight, Karyl knew exactly why they wore jade-colored armor. These were the Green Knights previously deployed in the north, the ones Karyl himself had slaughtered.

With Jarvant Redak’s vanguard of 300,000 troops having fallen, Cam Grey—appointed to lead the main force—now commanded the remnants. He seethed with hatred for Tatur more than anyone else.

“Losers banding together are still just losers,” Karyl muttered with indifference, showing no emotion toward the knights. “And you, commanding a force of 500,000. If it were Kuwell of the Blue Knights, I might have been impressed... but Olivurn must be far too comfortable with this war if he’s willing to throw away half a million lives like this.”

“How dare you! How dare you utter His Majesty’s name with that filthy mouth, you monstrous fiend!” Cam Gray bellowed, his face even paler than when Karyl had last seen him. His eyes burned with a venomous desire for vengeance, sharpened over years of burning hatred.

“Is this about the Abyssal Rock?”

“Y-You—!”

“Your knights were simply weak. Given how easily I wiped them out, none of them would’ve survived this war anyway. Consider yourself lucky. Now you have better knights from the Green Order.”

Cam Gray was done listening. He drew his signature rapier and lunged at Karyl with everything he had.

[How pathetic. He attacks as weakly as he looks.]

Mael yawned, unimpressed by Cam Gray’s supposedly renowned speed. He seemed way slower than Karyl.

Swoosh...!!

Karyl deflected the rapier with the hilt of Lakna, then plunged Agnel into Cam Gray’s collar.

“Ugh!!”

The blade pierced with a sickening sound, and blood gushed from his neck like a fountain.

“Perhaps that crazy sub-commander, Naril, would’ve made a better commander than you. It’s clear you haven’t held a sword in years. No wonder your knights are in such poor shape."

“You... You monster...!!”

Karyl looked down at Cam Gray as he screamed in anguish. There was a tinge of bitterness in his expression, but only for a moment.

Naril had died by Cam Gray’s own hand, so Karyl felt no remorse for what Cam was about to face.

Clang―!!

Cam’s rapier shattered under Karyl’s foot like brittle glass.

“Stop!!”

A young knight, stunned by Cam Gray’s overwhelming defeat, charged forward from the crowd of soldiers, swinging his sword at Karyl.

The First Stance: Crown Posture.

Crack...!!

Karyl twisted Lakna as he intercepted the greatsword, driving his blade into the knight’s shoulder.

The knight winced in pain. Karyl’s unique swordsmanship, with its unpredictable trajectory, seemed foreign to everyone at the scene.

Of course, this was the swordsmanship Karyl had devised after being hailed as the Sword Saint in his previous life, even without magic. No imperial knight could break through his five sword stances.

“Gah!!”

The knight stumbled, his violet shoulder armor shattering. Still, despite the grievous wound, he pressed on, willing to sacrifice his arm to strike at Karyl.

Boom―!!

He swung the greatsword down at Karyl, but the sharpness of the previous attack was no longer there.

Clang!

Karyl twisted Lakna, dislodging it from the knight's shoulder, and the knight’s greatsword fell to the ground as he staggered.

“And you are?”

“...Norcen, commander of the Wisteria Knights.”

Despite his shattered shoulder, Norcen’s Mana Blade still clung to his greatsword, refusing to dissipate.

He’s got grit, I’ll give him that.

Karyl could sense the same disciplined flow of mana he had seen in Greys. This knight had the potential to become a Sword Master—or perhaps he had already reached that level.

The Wisteria Knights, who had once belonged to Marquis Vestal, had moved to the imperial capital under Olivurn’s rule. With the previous commander absent, Norcen, a loyal supporter of Olivurn since his days as a prince, had naturally risen to the position of commander.

Although he might have discovered a new Sword Master, Karyl remained indifferent. He yanked Lakna free from Norcen’s shoulder.

“Ugh!”

He then flicked the greatsword out of Norcen’s hand and delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen.

Thud!!

Norcen’s violet armor shattered under the force, sending him sliding dozens of meters across the floor.

“Cough... Cough...!!”

He struggled to rise but eventually collapsed onto one knee, blood spilling from his mouth. But Karyl wasn’t finished. As he extended his head, Norcen was lifted off the ground as if sucked into a vortex.

“Guh?!”

In an instant, Norcen’s neck fell perfectly into Karyl’s grip, like a puzzle piece.

“Ugh...!!”

Karyl’s fingers dug into the knight’s flesh, drawing blood that trickled down his hand.

Norcen’s face turned crimson as he gasped for breath, unable to scream as he flailed helplessly. The hundreds of knights and sorcerers in the hall stood frozen, too terrified to act.

“Gr... Grghhh...!!”

Karyl stared coldly at Norcen as his life slipped away.

“Belin Vallention, Cam Gray, and Norcen... If half of the six knight commanders died here today, that wouldn’t be a bad haul,” Karyl remarked, his tone icy. “And perhaps I’ll take your head too, Kadin Luer.”

“You lunatic... What are you all doing?! Strengthen the perimeter!!” Belin shouted in frustration, clicking his tongue.

Meanwhile, Kadin glanced back at his sorcerers.

“Begin.”

With a firm nod from his subordinates, Kadin’s sharp mana flared to life.

Having focused solely on gathering his mana so far, Kadin finally unleashed his Infinite Breath. Three circles materialized above his head, while the remnants of the shattered barrier glowed faintly, rising into the air and merging into his spell.

"νωϪοκ υφχϪφχωγ ﬆφ."

"Ϫοκφχφχ"

"ﬆϪϪχκ."

Kadin was casting his spell without an incantation, while the sorcerers behind were chanting strange, unfamiliar words.

[Is that... rune magic?]

Allen sounded intrigued as he recognized the ancient tongue.

Wooooooong...!!

It seemed these sorcerers were wielding ancient magic from the Magical Era. With this, another high-tier spell—one kept secret in the Ivory Tower—was now in play.

“...”

Karyl looked up as the three massive red magic circles materialized above him, surrounded by eighty-nine smaller ones. A faint crimson curtain fell over the Sun Hall, enveloping Karyl in its shimmering haze.

Massive Barrier Formation - Crimson Radiance.

While the Immortals studied black magic and the Dawn Council researched elemental magic, Kadin Luer had developed unique magic through the Imperial Academy. As a court sorcerer, he prioritized large-scale warfare magic, one of which was his signature barrier formation.

That old man’s going all out

, Karyl thought with a bitter smile as he recalled seeing Kadin Luer’s barrier magic countless times in his past life. He knew all too well how powerful this spell was.

The crimson curtain split into hundreds of tendrils, transforming into sharp, conical spikes before raining down on Karyl. Normally meant to restrain hundreds, this barrier’s power was now focused solely on Karyl.

[Karyl.]

I know.

At Allen’s warning, Karyl bit down on Agnel and drew the Freezing Talon hanging from his waist. With a swift motion, he tossed the sword into the air.

Fwoosh...!!

A dark shape materialized beside Karyl, catching the spinning weapon as it hovered in the air.

[Shame it’s not a staff.]

“It can’t be helped. The Freezing Talon, infused with the essence of death, is the closest match for the task at hand. If you want a staff, there’s one right there.” Karyl pointed toward Kadin Luer.

Allen, gripping the Freezing Talon, chuckled.

Whoooosh―!!

Slash―!!

The hundreds of crimson spikes surrounded them, forming a vortex of blood-red energy like a swirling storm. The sheer power of the spell left the capital’s people staring in awe, their faces frozen in shock.

“Be careful.”

[You’re telling

me

that? Heh...]

As Allen gripped the Freezing Talon, its blade shifted from a light blue to a deep violet.

[Using rune magic, something even I rarely employed in the Magical Era... These sorcerers are quite impressive for modern standards. They’ve probably studied a lot of ruins. But when it comes to rune expertise, no one can compare to the Seven Elders.]

With that, Allen inscribed runes onto the blade as though drawing them with his finger. The ancient symbols glowed brightly, one by one.

[After all, I was the one who created rune magic.]

At that moment, the runes etched on the Freezing Talon floated into the air, aligning themselves into a new formation.

[A large-scale spell...?]

Boom! Boom!

As the runes scattered into pieces, they seemed to act as lightning rods, drawing dark bolts from the sky that struck where the runes had been.

[This is nothing compared to the Magical Era.]

Allen pulled at the crimson curtain of magic surrounding them, and rows upon rows of intricate rune scripts appeared before him. The sheer complexity of the magical formulas was overwhelming to anyone who could see them.

[Magic isn’t simply about pouring in more mana. Disabling such a simple formula is child’s play.]

With a smirk, Allen slashed at the air with the Freezing Talon, and the barrier’s complex magical structure shattered like glass.

[In that sense, Kaye Aesir came close to grasping the essence of magic. Speaking of which, I wonder what that fool Mikhail is up to these days...]

As the massive magical structure dissolved, black lightning bolts repelled the hundreds of crimson spikes that Kadin Luer had summoned.

At the same time, the blood-red vortex that had blocked Karyl’s path split down the middle like a parting sea, clearing a path directly between Karyl and Neil Blanc.

“...”

A sharp gust of wind sliced past Neil Blanc’s cheek.

“This... this can’t be happening...”

Kadin Luer, who had poured all his effort into constructing the barrier, collapsed to his knees in disbelief as he watched it disintegrate just like that.

Karyl, for his part, was once again reminded of the sheer greatness of Allen Javius, the Great Sorcerer.

[No need to be surprised. You’ll be able to do the same now. You just didn’t have enough time before. Now that you’ve reached the 7th class, you can fully unlock my repository of knowledge.]

Allen planted the Freezing Talon into the ground and gazed calmly at the dismantled barrier.

“So you could have neutralized Gordon’s Automata instead of letting me fall from the airship, right?”

[Why would I help a fool who acts out of misplaced mercy? You needed to learn the hard way.]

“Mercy? I only spared him to hear what he had to say. You felt it too, didn’t you? He deliberately threw himself off the airship to avoid being overheard.”

[Hmph, what does it matter whether the gods are watching or not? You and that oaf, whispering secrets like conspirators...]

“Well, thanks to that, I learned something important.”

Karyl chuckled bitterly.

[Secrets, you say? Cut off the limbs of someone who knows a secret, and they’ll talk eventually. You were the one who said facing the truth takes not courage, but anger. Look closely.]

At the end of the path that Allen had carved, Karyl’s gaze met Neil Blanc’s.

[He’s waiting for you at the end of this path.]

Now, nothing stood between the two.

[Dragon or human, it doesn’t matter. Cut off his arms and legs, and he’ll spill the truth all the same.]

Fwoosh—!!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Karyl gripped his sword and lunged at Neil Blanc, ready to put an end to this.