Chapter 192
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Miruam Elizabeth El Rath (4) ༻
Fermack Daman, Dun Scaith, Dumnorix, and Sword Fiend…
Each and every one of Tates Valtazar’s subordinates was a horrifying monster who appeared as the final boss of their respective arcs but Eochaid Bres was like none other.
When the war began against the Titans, the Danann needed a perfect king to group themselves together.
The strongest god of Danann, who was perfect in appearance, intellect, and mana. The first candidates for the position were Nuada Airgetlam, the Danann of the Sun, and Eochaid Bres, the Danann of Beauty.
Both of them were as powerful as one another, but when Nuada lost his arm against the Great Warrior Sreng, he no longer fit the criteria of ‘perfection’ and Eochaid Bres, therefore, became the first King of Gods.
The Danann of Beauty.
It was a divinity that had nothing to do with fighting at a glance, but every Danann was aware of how that wasn’t necessarily the case.
“Fuck…”
‘I’m fucked.’
That was the most fitting sentence he could think of to describe this turn of events. He had been expecting the strongest warrior of Miruam, Persia to appear next.
“Why are you here?”
“Our allied princess seemed to be having trouble, you see.”
Did she contact Tates Valtazar the moment the duels began or something?
“Hmm…”
“What?”
“No, I was just thinking how Nuada has chosen a good successor.”
Eochaid Bres… the so-called King of Beauty appeared to be fond of me.
『You look quite decent. You’ll probably make a few ladies cry.』
“Why? Because I’m handsome?”
“Hoh~. It is as you say.”
King of Beauty.
He was a god glorifying beauty, whether it be a piece of artwork, song, or humanity itself. His life was filled with praises of beauty, and he himself was a possessor of otherworldly appearance.
“Well, you look quite handsome too.”
“Not just ‘quite’. For there has been no one in the records of history to be more beautiful than myself.”
“Don’t know about that.”
“Hmm?”
Eochaid Bres immediately wiped the smile off of his face and stared at me with a serious gaze after hearing me doubt his beauty. However, I went on, just like I did in the last iteration.
“Beauty is not limited to what you see on the outside.”
“Hoh. Do you dare try to teach me about beauty?”
Placing my fist against my heart, I mocked him in a way he couldn’t forget.
“It is about what lies here, the heart. ‘Bres must know the joy of providing help.’”
“...A little brat pretending to be Cairbre.”
Bres said with a frown on his face.
That was natural because the reason he was chased out by the Danann despite being the king before Nuada, was because, aside from his own misdeeds, of the satirical poem made by Cairbre, the son of Ogma the Danann of Language.
The poem from Cairbre towards Eochaid Bres, who was more tyrannical and stingy than anyone else despite craving beauty included the line below.
『Bres must know the joy of providing help!』
After seeing that sentence, red blisters started to appear on his face, which was a physical defect that couldn’t be allowed for the King of Gods and thus provided justification for him being chased out.
In other words, it was a humiliating memory of the past for him.
“Considering you’re the nemesis of Esteemed Valtazar… I hope you can endure through this.”
He flicked his hand as an enormous weapon began to appear from the dimensional gap behind him. That was one of the weapons of the Danann… which he, the King of Beauty, stole when being chased out of his throne.
“This is the Mountain Severing Blade. Dodge and do not try to block it.”
The enormous 50-meter-long sword began its rapid descent towards me.
『System Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.』
1st Precept: Duty
〚I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.〛
2nd Precept: Restriction
〚I do not perceive spirits.〛
〚Support: 50% Additional Damage〛
3rd Precept: Pledge
〚I will save the world.〛
〚 Relativity: A++〛
〚Support: 200% increase in Stats.〛
『Hero Korin Lork, defeat all evil and save the world.』
***
Grade 1 knight in Miruam’s faction, Persia, was incredibly confident in his strength, but regardless of his achievements, the Guardian Alliance never made him semi-Unique Grade, let alone even let him take the ‘Limitless Evaluation’.
When he asked the Alliance about the reason, all he got in response was, ‘You are still human.’
Semi-Unique and Unique Grade.
Anyone who exceeded the realm of humans was used to being referred to as a superhuman.
Knights and mages were powerful. There was no doubt about that. They defeated demonic beasts and returned demonic spirits to the abyss, and from the eyes of normal people, they were already superhumans and transcendents.
So what kind of beings were the ones at the pinnacle, the ‘Unique’ ones?
Sword Master Lunia Arden.
Vampire Marie Dunareff.
Dimensional Witch Josephine Clara.
Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, the strongest of his generation.
Persia tried asking an executive of the Alliance – a retired knight who experienced the Witch Revolution – about Josephine Clara, who had the most records left under her name and was the most famous historical figure of the last century.
“I can still remember it to this date. Her magic was tremendous and no other mages were like her.”
It was an ambiguous reply, so Persia asked for more.
“Magic fell like raindrops. The sky opened above 10 mages and rocks began to fall, and 5-meter-tall golems were buried by tonnes of rocks.
“Tower of Mages? Their strongest and most fortified constructions evaporated under the flaming comet falling from the sky. None of their defensive spells were able to protect them against the meteorite.
“Ahh, I also remember Sir Tates Valtazar. The Spear Saint was also in that battle.”
Spear Saint, the strongest of the previous previous generation, and the main protagonist of the Witch Revolution. If Josephine Clara was that strong as a semi-Unique Grade, then how strong was the Spear Saint, a Unique Grade?
“The Dimensional Witch was indeed an incredible mage. You could that she was a transcendent being.”
Then what about Spear Saint, the only Unique Grade of that generation?
“If you saw the Spear Saint fighting back then, you would only think of one thing. A ‘disaster’.”
Semi-Unique Grades were powerful. They were very incredible, but the retired knight said this about Unique Grades.
“Would you blame the hurricane if you were caught up in one? If your ship broke from the ocean waves during a voyage, would you blame the steersman or the ocean? That’s what Unique Grades are – natural disasters that you cannot even blame.”
Even after hearing those explanations, Persia didn’t know what he was supposed to work towards. How exactly were you supposed to train to catch up to a disaster? And besides, a superhuman among superhumans was a concept he couldn't fully grasp either.
Lunia Arden – she was an example that he could refer to.
Seeing her forming aura into dozens of sword strikes was incredible, but wars weren’t won based on how much aura or mana you had, right?
Leaving aside the Arden’s ‘nonsensical’ stories of training in swordsmanship to cut through the sky (which was simply ridiculous to him), humans just needed to be strong enough to kill others with one sweep, right?
That was why Persia was confident that he had the sharp sword to pierce through knights and mages, even if he couldn’t slice the sky.
“Ah…”
And his confidence was completely shattered today. His shattered glass-like confidence was further reduced to ashes the more he saw what was happening before his eyes.
-Kuuu—!
-Kwaaa—!
Deafening thuds were buried by thunderous noises. The earth boiled from the intense heat as ravines were sliced apart by sword strikes.
His eyes could not pick up anything.
It was clear that things were bouncing left and right – unlike his eyes, his ears were able to pick up that much.
However, he couldn’t see anything.
When a cluster of black aura was scattered across, and even when a sword strike suddenly struck down on the earth from above…
He could see the phenomena happening to the landscape around the arena, but couldn’t see the ones that were making such things happen.
“We need to… charge.”
Charge? Right now? Hearing the commander mumble, Persia realized for the first time how much rubbish someone could say.
That place was a scene out of hell.
Both living and nonliving were being crushed to smithereens. Was he telling them to charge through the canyon, around that arena? Was he telling them to die?
“...”
“Strong, aren’t you!”
The Hero of the Kingdom, who was using the Sun for the first time after the duels began, finally stood still and gazed at the princess’s helper, who was equally as unfathomable.
They weren’t human.
That was a natural disaster.
Without exaggerating it a single bit, they looked invincible and everyone including Persia realized it was stupid of them to even try to contend against that power.
Who in the world were they? How could such invincible and ground-breakingly powerful deities exist in the mortal world?
Who was that Solar Knight manipulating the Sun at will, and who was that beautiful-looking man, summoning all sorts of weapons and armor against the Sun?
A war of non-humans was unraveling before their eyes.
“Huhahaha…! To think there was someone else who could use the violent Sun like Nuada! I thought I was the only one other than him who could do such a thing!”
Despite standing before the immense Sun, Bres had a smile on his face.
Was he enjoying the situation at hand and this battle? That was a plausible conclusion considering his violent personality despite his pursuit of beauty.
Thus, Korin increased the power of the Sun. From Concentration to Manifestation into Compression.
Airgetlam in his left arm embraced the infinite power of the Sun, and the Silver Spear in his right hand oozed out with the sharp aura of Darkness.
Both the holy and the evil were in his hands. That was how he appeared in the eyes of others.
The sheer amount of power he was using made it hard to imagine that he was fighting another human being. It looked like he was trying to directly defeat a Unique Grade monster like the King of Iron Mountain or the King of Titans.
However, Eochaid Bres confronted the attack head-first.
-Kaang!
His longsword clashed against the spear as embers flared up from their collision. Korin was the one who was pushed back after the engagement.
“Tch…!”
He was flung away not because of a difference in power, but by a delicate control of strength. Through exquisite control of his sword, Bres deflected the frontal burst of the Compressed Sun and the Demonic Spear, empowered by Shura, without breaking a sweat.
‘Half-swording.’
It was a technique where the sword-wielder grabbed the blade with a thick glove to have greater control in close combat. For typical longswords, it was used to stab or twist the opponent’s weapon to look for a gap.
“That is an impressive amount of power. I don’t necessarily hate a head-to-head bout of pure strength but… that won’t be an elegant approach.”
This time, he raised a long and slim rapier and dashed in so rapidly that Korin barely reacted to it despite his amplified stats.
He fought back with an Ominous Snake. With the peculiar stab of a slithering serpent, he stabbed an equal amount of times to fend off the attack.
-Pabak!
“Uht…!”
The spearman, despite his weaponry advantage, allowed several attacks from the rapier – that proved just how terrifyingly fast the rapier was to nullify the disadvantage in reach.
Korin tried to increase the gap after allowing three stabs to his left shoulder, but that was when a shadow was cast over him from the sky. An enormous hammer was right above his head as streams of lightning flickered around the hammer of the God of Lightning.
-Kwaaaang!
The falling hammer of the God of Lightning was blocked by the Manifested form of the Sun. Their shockingly destructive clash let out a deafening shockwave that erased sound from the world albeit momentarily.
The clash between two immense powers resulted in a disastrous aftermath.
“Huu…!”
In the midst of that deadly explosion and surge of heat, the two warriors remained unscathed. After removing the Sun and the hammer, the two of them stared at each other.
“Hoh~. You even fended off the Frost Giant’s hammer, huh?”
‘As powerful as always.’
He had the power to wield the Mountain Severing Blade, reaching 50 meters in length, the ability to carry out close combat with a rapier and have it faster than a spear; his nonchalant use of the God of Lightning’s hammer, and a ridiculous pool of mana that allowed his original self to manipulate the Sun.
King of Beauty.
The reason he was referred to as the King of Beauty, was because he had nothing he excelled at the most. He had overwhelming talents at everything, hence the reason why Korin called him ‘all-powerful’.
That was why he was able to make such good use of a rapier and the hammer of the God of Lightning, despite them not being his main weapon. A monster like that having the Sun on top of that… was truly a horrible nightmare.
‘I remember barely putting him down with Park Sihu and our strongest party.’
Korin’s spear was shivering.
His mana was rapidly being drained and his aura was also hitting its limit.
The one in front of him was the man who truly had been the King of Gods. Even with the backup of his Precepts, he was still far from reaching Eochaid Bres’s level.
‘I can come up with a few risky moves but…’
Would he be able to defeat Eochaid Bres? Without the help of his team?
Korin was a complete counter to Dun Scaith;
Fermack Daman was one who focused on technique more than power, therefore, there was some likelihood of victory;
As for Dumnorix, it would depend on what kind of state he was in, but there would always be a solution.
However, that wasn’t the case for the man before him.
Tates Valtazar and Eochaid Bres weren’t enemies he could defeat by relying on compatibility, petty tricks, or pure strength. Only through a long and thorough preparation would there be some chance of victory against those monsters.
“Well, I’ve been in worse situations.”
Regardless of probabilities, Korin decided to do it simply because it had to be done.
He collected his breath and prepared himself.
Korin Style Final Demonic Spear—
“Hohh…!”
Eochaid Bres had to contain his excitement upon feeling the constant waves of power that was being gathered and compressed before his eyes. His heart was pounding, and it seemed that he was being ‘fearful’ for the first time in a very very long time.
And fear was an element that made the heart race. By relying on the pumping heart, Bres raised his fighting spirit.
“Good. Very good! I have also noticed that I must use everything in my arsenal to defeat you!”
He reached out into the air and took out a single sword. It was a bewitchingly mysterious turquoise sword, which Korin also knew the name of.
“Fragarach…”
“You know it? The annoying little Lugh left it behind, but somehow, it ended up in the hands of the northern God of Abundance.”
Magic Sword Fragarach.
A sword of certain victory on the level of Claiomh Solais. No armor could withstand it, and it was a sword that could not miss its target.
It was one of the strongest weapons of the Danann race.
“That’s why I killed him and took it for myself. It’s a treasure belonging to the Danann after all. That was already more than 1,000 years ago.”
Despite the vicious smile on his face, Bres took care not to lose his beauty.
Stingy Bres.
Violent Bres.
He, who was powerful enough to be nominated as the King of Gods despite those qualities, started pouring an unimaginable amount of mana into the magic sword.
“I’ve gone through this before.”
In response, the spearman gathered every bit of aura and collected it into his spear.
““...!!””
Suddenly the earth started to quiver as the two of them started to casually walk towards each other. The magic sword and spear flinched with each of their steps. The closer they got, the more they vibrated, crying out their wish to destroy their foe.
It was excruciating for those watching. The onlookers felt their blood churning, and standing still was proving to be extremely difficult.
That was the aftermath created due to an unimaginable amount of energy going turbulent inside the limited frame of weapons. The turbulent storm of energy only stopped when the two of them were close enough to reach each other with one step.
“One final attack will seal the deal. Young spearman.”
“I guess… I won’t be a man to not ride on it.”
The two men gazed straight at each other in tranquility with their backs straight for 2 seconds. After that—
—Final Demonic Spear
—Fragarach
By the time anyone realized it, the spearman and the previous King of Gods were standing on opposite sites with their backs facing each other.
Without caring about the blood on their arms and shoulders, the two had their backs turned but were still gazing at their foes over their shoulders.
That was the end – they weren’t following through with another attack, and they stopped their fight after that one move.
Even the onlookers could tell why.
“M, my word…”
“O god…”
The Final Demonic Spear that could slay dragons and the strongest sword strike of the King of Gods – the two attacks didn’t end just by attacking their enemies. The tiny canyon was widened by force and clouds off in the distant skies were cut off into two.
The earth was reformed after their attacks which had even reached the distant sky.
Everyone watching was in awe and trepidation. Who could possibly create such heaven-defying disasters? These men were all-powerful deities of monstrous might; a heaven above heaven and a one-man army.
That was a Unique Grade.
This was the historical moment where another transcendent being was born into this world.
“...Impressive.”
Bres had to ponder to himself after that attack.
A mere human had reached this level in such a short period of time, so how could he not praise him for it?
In turn, however, that was why it was a bit of a problem.
When Valtazar was considering this brat as his destined nemesis, Bres thought he had gone senile, but after seeing him with his own eyes, Bres could say that he was a perfect fit for that position.
But that was why it was a problem regardless of who died at the end of this war; whether it be that brat or himself surprisingly.
This was finally going to be a fight between a ‘Danann’ and a ‘Danann’ and one of the main actors falling before the final act would mean his long-cherished wish would not be fulfilled.
“I give up.”
“Ehk?”
“Aiya~ I give up. It’s my loss.”
“What the f-!”
The ‘Danann of the Sun’ seemed discontent by the sudden letdown, but the ‘Danann of Beauty’ shrugged his shoulders and replied with a smile.
“Well, don’t worry about it. I am not your destined contender.”
Leaving those words behind, Eochaid Bres vanished from the spot. As the King of Beauty, he was elegant even in his escape.
“Hah…”
Korin fell back after that anti-climactic ending and collected his breath.
“...”
“...”
The army, who had been watching the fight unfold, could not advance a single step forward and were struck speechless at the devastating remains left behind by godly monsters.
“Fuu… That bought us another day at least.”
It was when he was heaving out a sigh of relief – a piece of paper slowly fluttered down in front of Korin’s eyes.
1. Only warri r be sent the are a each .
2. The , Korin Lo , will fight w rrior n by Miruam Eliza El Ra once .
. The army advan during .
4. The ar y stop advanci g mom the ends.
Th above ract will gin when Miruam Eli eth El Rath en the aren by hers .
“Huh?”
The content of the geass – an obligatory contract – was being scorched to ashes. What was going on? Why was this contract made with the help of 400 mages falling apart?
“Wait…”
Did the contract get damaged during the fight against Eochaid Bres?
That was impossible, right? A contract made through the combined mana of 400 mages wouldn’t be broken unless it was affected by heaven-defying weapons like the Sun or the hammer of the God of Lightning…
“Fuck.”
It was me, huh?
From a distance, the princess riding on her horse slowly raised her hand before decisively lowering it down.
“All troops. Forward.”