Chapter 48
The mana emanating from Mount Grace grew increasingly intense. It was a sign they were nearing the summit.
Sion's Demon Sword Sibelin blue radiance grew deeper, receiving the mountain's mana.
Planteras rushed in like wild beasts from every direction.
With each swing of her sword, five or six Planteras were cut down.
Something grabbed Sion's ankle.
A Plantera, which had its lower half severed, held onto Sion's leg until the very end.
They were sacrificing themselves like wasps confronting an intruder who had disturbed their nest.
She immediately swung her sword to cut off the Plantera's hand and continued running.
As they climbed higher, the greenery that had blocked the sunlight thinned, and rocks and gravel let out a crunch underfoot.
Soon, an open sky without branches and leaves came into view.
Finally, they reached the mountain ridge made of large rocks.
Sion briefly covered her face from the sudden bright sunlight.
As her eyes adjusted, the first thing that came into view was a magic stone tablet placed about a hundred paces away.
While she sheathed her sword and caught her breath, she heard the sound of gravel crunching from the side.
Turning her head toward it, she saw an unidentifiable man.
Sion's pupils dilated.
She should have been alone at the summit. She had clearly been in the lead. She had maintained an overwhelming gap with anyone following behind.
Yet, breaking this belief, an unknown figure stood casually before her.
As if he had fallen from the sky.
Moreover, like her, he had no companions.
Sion could instinctively sense it. This person was different from those struggling below—he was of the same caliber as her.
"Who are you?"
When Sion spoke, he finally turned around.
Red hair, wearing a mask, holding a wooden sword in one hand.
Blood flowed down his shoulder and dripped from the wooden sword's tip, suggesting he had fought fierce battles on his way to the summit.
"..."
Sion remembered him.
The man she had briefly encountered at Fillin's forge.
She had taken note of him after overhearing that he had received a recommendation letter.
Someone with a recommendation letter should have been renowned in the region, yet there were no rumors about him. So she had assumed that even at his best, he would be below Victor or Gale's level.
That assumption had been completely wrong.
Who would have thought this man would be the exam's greatest dark horse?
His eyes glowed strangely bright. It seemed to be the effect of potions or magic.
Wooden sword, mask, glowing eyes—he was full of mysteries.
However, his combat ability seemed to fall short of Sion's.
Having reached the summit just like him, Sion hadn't shed a single drop of blood.
The masked man gestured for Sion to go first. Despite bleeding profusely, his attitude was remarkably composed and gentlemanly.
Seeing this, she couldn't help but laugh.
An ignorant candidate would have rushed desperately toward the tablet, blinded by it.
The fact that he stood still showed he must have known….
What was waiting ahead?
"Quite cunning, are you?"
She even had the amusing thought that he might have climbed up by taking advantage of other candidates.
Though he seemed like a trickster, that couldn't be all. No matter how good at deception, it would be impossible to climb here alone without real skill.
"Unfortunately, I know everything, too."
Cheap tricks wouldn't work.
Sion picked up and threw a fist-sized rock. It flew far and landed at the midpoint between the tablet and where she stood.
In response, the ground began to rumble.
The spot where the rock fell began to rise. Soon, a house-sized golem revealed itself.
The final gate remained. This was a test to filter out those who had climbed through luck or by taking advantage of others, selecting only those with the highest skill.
The magic tablet wouldn't activate unless the golem was destroyed.
GROOOAR—
The golem let out a roar heavy enough to make the gravel tremble, then stood blocking the tablet, glaring fiercely at the challengers. It was huge and massive—a single punch would turn someone to paste.
Sion drew Sibelin and said to the man, "You told me to go first? Well, I'll play along just this once."
This might be her final battle at Eternia. She could afford to play along once.
As Sion stepped forward, the golem's gaze focused on her.
Mana began to gather in the artifacts on both her feet.
Once ready, she immediately started her approach.
She rushed at the golem with three times the speed of a normal human.
The golem immediately brought its arm down on Sion.
CRASH!
The impact was strong enough to make one wonder if the ground would collapse.
Sion lightly dodged to the side and jumped onto the golem's hand.
She ran up to its shoulder joint as if crossing stepping stones and swung her sword at the left shoulder.
Everything happened in an instant.
WHOOSH!
The blue sword swept through the golem. Sibelin cut away a third of the shoulder made of massive rock.
Another swing dropped half of what remained, and with a final swing putting her full weight into it, the golem's left shoulder was completely severed.
GROOOAR!
As if startled, the golem began swinging its remaining limbs wildly.
Dust and rock fragments flew everywhere, crashing onto the group with tremendous noise.
Sion calmly dodged the golem's attacks and moved out of range.
After returning to her original position and catching her breath, she said to the man, "Now it's your turn."
"..."
The man observed Sion's sword for a moment, then looked pensively at his own wooden sword as if comparing them.
He sheathed the wooden sword at his waist.
Then, he stretched his empty hand into the air.
Sion's eyes, which had been watching with curiosity, widened.
With terrifying magical pressure, a glowing sword appeared in the man's hand.
A magic sword?
It was extremely rare for someone so young to possess and wield a magic sword.
Even more surprising was that compared to Sion's Sibelin, though both were magic swords, its magical pressure was incomparably higher. Even just crossing swords would make ordinary people lose consciousness.
What... is that?
The sword's material was also bizarrely unique. No matter how special a magic sword might be, it should be drawn from a scabbard, not appear suddenly from thin air. Despite traveling across the continent, she had never seen such a sword.
He made a large slash through the air with one hand. After a blinding flash of light, a pure white sword wave flew toward the golem's right shoulder.
CRASH!
It caused a tremendous explosion and completely blew away the golem's right arm.
The power was overwhelming enough to stupefy.
The man confirmed the golem's condition and made the sword disappear again.
Seeing this, Sion said, "What's your name?"
"..."
"Can't you speak?"
The man nodded.
Sion crossed her arms with displeasure and narrowed her eyes.
After staring at him silently as if in a battle of wills, she said, "...Then, I won't speak either."
Only silence hung between the two.
Unable to bear it any longer, Sion finally attempted to communicate through gestures.
She pointed at the man, then at the golem.
You go first.
He shook his head.
Having confirmed his intention, Sion immediately drew Sibelin.
Since he had refused the chance she'd given him, there would be no room for complaint if she destroyed the golem and left her handprint on the tablet first.
GROOOAR—
The golem roared and gathered its strength.
Surrounding rocks stuck to the golem like magnets. Soon, its damaged arms were restored.
Unless its core was destroyed, the golem would regenerate indefinitely. Gradually chipping away at it would be useless.
It needed to be finished with one powerful strike.
Sion immediately rushed at the golem.
The golem, its aggression at its peak, immediately brought both arms down on Sion. The strike was faster and more powerful than before.
CRASH!
Sion threw herself to the left to dodge like before. However, when she hesitated slightly from the sudden change in direction, the golem swept its arm sideways like a broom.
Sion blocked it using her sword as a shield but was sent flying from the impact to her entire body.
Landing head-first, Sion got up without a moment's delay.
And rushed at the golem again. This time, she baited the golem's attack and circled wide around it. When the golem missed, she immediately stuck close to its torso in that opening.
She swung Sibelin widely at the torso where the core was hidden.
With a blue afterglow, she created a long sword wound on the golem's torso.
However, due to the massive size of the torso, it was far from reaching the core.
A counterattack came immediately. Since every rock was a joint for the golem, it could twist its arms freely to attack.
It wouldn't allow anything near its torso.
It launched relentless attacks to prevent focus on cutting to the core.
Rock fragments flew everywhere.
Though Sion cut at the torso several times with all her might, she only left gashes without dealing significant damage.
After several misses, the golem's fist finally struck Sion head-on.
She was sent flying and crashed.
Sion coughed up blood once and muttered to herself. "That hurt."
After properly facing it once, she understood. This wasn't meant to be fought alone.
When she tried to stand again, intense pain immediately shot through one ankle.
"Ugh!"
Her ankle seemed to have twisted when she fell—it was so swollen that walking was difficult.
Moreover, the golem's attacks weren't over.
The golem picked up a rock and threw it forcefully at Sion.
Sensing she couldn't dodge, Sion barely managed to stand and took an iaido stance with her sword at her waist.
There seemed to be no choice but to cut it.
The rock flew straight at her. And just as it reached her, a pure white sword wave flew in from the side and shattered it.
"...!"
Sion turned her head.
The masked man stood there in the direction of the sword wave with his magic sword drawn.
Sion bit her lip. She didn't want help, even if it meant death.
He looked at Sion briefly before walking toward the golem.
As if to say it was now his turn.