Chapter 214. Encounter (4)
At once, the carapaces of the surrounding hunting-dog magical beasts melted down and coiled around Ixion’s legs, accelerating his body like madness as he slammed straight into the airborne Enoch.
BOOOOOOM!!
The impact was powerful enough that, if taken head-on, it would not have been strange for Enoch’s limbs to be torn apart.
But instead of evading, Enoch spun his body in an instant and swung his sword in response.
KAGAGAGAGAGAK!!
A flashing slash crossed between them, and a dark blue cutting line carved across the wrist of Ixion’s carapaced arm, cleaving it cleanly in two.
“Arrogant? Who exactly are you talking about?”
Stepping out slowly through the cloud of ash sprayed by the shattered carapace, Enoch raised his sword to the side and lowered his stance.
The sword form of the Empire’s last Sword Saint.
[Form 1, Explosive Sword]
In an instant, vivid blue light split the darkness horizontally, and Enoch’s figure surged forward.
The priority was to create an opening to escape. Even a momentary gap would suffice, which meant pressing the attack before the bleeding worsened his condition.
Yet Ixion did not retreat. Instead, he let out a low laugh, raised the disc in his hand, and detonated crimson-black mana in all directions.
“Incredible. You can even withstand attacks like that now!!”
Driven into frenzy by the command of unique magic, the hunting dogs sprinted freely through the ruins before their forms collapsed like clay and transformed.
Dozens of harpoons were forged from the ground itself.
Jet-black harpoons tore through the air, dragging crimson light as they crisscrossed the night sky and surged toward Enoch.
WHEEEEEENG!!
A relentless offensive that allowed not even a single moment’s respite.
Clutching his bleeding side with one arm, Enoch kicked off the ruined pillars in succession and retreated.
Pain itself could be endured, but continuous blood loss was an entirely different matter.
If he continued fighting through it, there was a real risk of losing consciousness.
“Truly astonishing.”
Watching Enoch evade the barrage with dazzling footwork while retreating, Ixion grasped his mask and laughed calmly.
“To think you can still move like this while injured. With physical abilities like that, you might even be an excellent match for my unique magic.”
“You have big dreams.”
Enoch fixed him with a cold stare, walked forward slowly, and then burst into a sprint.
In response, Ixion spread both arms wide, detonated crimson mana, and slammed his hands into the ground.
Reacting to the red light spreading across the earth, the experimental hunting dogs charged forward and transformed.
The beasts that cut in front of Enoch turned into layers of carapaced walls, rectangular barricades rising from the ground in multiple tiers.
But a dark blue slash swept through in an instant, cleaving them apart.
Severed sections of black carapace drifted slowly through the air, glowing blue at their cut edges.
Bursting through the storm of fragments, Enoch spun his grip on the sword and charged straight at his enemy.
WOOOOONG!!
But a tempest of crimson mana erupted, and dozens of magic circles rotated into existence around Enoch’s path.
Forced to change direction mid-charge, Enoch sharply veered to the side.
The moment he kicked off the ground and leapt high to disengage, superheated flames erupted from all directions, engulfing the space he had just occupied.
The night sky was dyed red as fire and debris scattered everywhere.
WHIR, !!
Landing in a twist, Enoch raised his sword and reformed his stance, aiming once more at Ixion.
But Ixion seemed to have noticed something during the exchange and lifted his chin as he studied him.
“One question, Enoch.”
Pointing at him mockingly, Ixion asked,
“That freely accelerating strike you just used, how many more times can you pull that off?”
“…….”
Enoch narrowed his eyes beside the blade angled past his gaze.
Ixion had already realized it. Enoch’s severe injuries were affecting the recoil of Explosive Sword and Fire Wheel.
With his wounds, the Sword Saint’s recoil-heavy forms were a tremendous burden to use.
But against a ninth-grade Black Mage, one who could barely be matched even at full strength, there was no guarantee of creating an opening without using those forms.
If not for his grueling training in the underground facility, he would have collapsed long ago without ever mounting a counterattack.
As Enoch charged again, Ixion spread his arms wide and spoke.
“And besides, it is regrettable, but impossible, for you to deal with Indiviltal here.”
Instead of replying, Enoch’s dark blue eyes flared as he brought his sword straight down.
The carapaced arm extending from Ixion’s shoulder blocked the blade with a gleaming forearm.
Sword and gauntlet met, obsidian-hard carapace grinding against a blade that chased away the darkness with a sinister glow.
Through the clash of steel and senses, the masked Black Mage whispered low,
“Why not surrender? To be honest, I find you quite fascinating.”
“…….”
“The Book of Gnosis. While investigating that ancient prophecy, I learned a little about you as well.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Did Tantalus not tell you?”
Beneath the mask, crimson eyes curved thinly.
“, Gnosis prophesied you, Enoch.”
The prophecy of Gnosis.
For a split second, Enoch’s eyes widened at the completely unexpected words.
As if he had anticipated that lapse, Ixion violently swung his carapaced arm, detonating crimson mana.
At his command, massive hunting dogs surged from behind and fell upon Enoch.
Several shadows lunged at him, jaws gaping wide and fangs flashing.
“……!”
Enoch raised his sword to block, but the combined force of the charging beasts drove him backward.
-GRRRRRRR!!
With their maws clamped onto the blade, the hunting dogs’ eyes suddenly flared ominously, their color deepening.
Sensing danger instantly, Enoch tore his sword free, spun his body, and unleashed a series of turning kicks.
CRACK, !!
The lunging beasts faltered for a split second, their bodies spinning wide.
The creatures that had been about to fire themselves as massive carapaced spikes instead veered off course, slamming into ruined pillars and piercing straight through them.
WHEEEEEENG!!
Concrete walls ripped open with massive holes as dust poured out, cracks racing outward.
Glancing at the destruction, Enoch slashed down, spraying green fluid from the experimental beasts across the ground.
If he had been even a moment slower, it would have been his heart that was pierced.
Looking around, he realized the battlefield had shifted. After being driven back so far, they were now near the edge of the forest beyond the collapsed factory ruins.
Ahead, Ixion approached, dragging his enormous carapaced arm through the darkness.
Meeting his gaze head-on, Enoch spoke.
“That attack just now, moving the beasts without even activating a magic circle. And the way that arm functions.”
His voice echoed through the maze of towering stone walls that had barely survived the collapse.
“And the fact that I came to this forest on a mission to eliminate Indiviltal, did you learn that through unique magic as well?”
From Ixion’s recent application of unique magic, the answer was clear.
Unlike simply commanding created lifeforms, this was another ability, transforming them into parts of his own body and manipulating them as extensions of himself.
It was a way of pushing unique magic to its absolute extreme, in a dimension entirely separate from conventional combat.
Realizing his method had been exposed, Ixion finally laughed softly beneath his mask.
“It is hardly surprising.”
“…….”
“I modify living creatures and implant them as my eyes and ears. Rats in the sewers, insects, each becomes one of my sensory organs.”
He glanced at the other magical beasts.
“These are the same. Their base is still Tantalus’s experimental beasts, but once modified by my unique magic, they obey my commands first and foremost.”
“A vile experiment,” Enoch said coldly. “To twist and exploit another’s research so freely.”
“Among Black Mages, you truly are the worst.”
The Rank 9 Annihilation Officer tilted his head with a sly smile, unfazed by the provocation.
“Is that not fortunate? I can make far better use of these excellent experimental beasts than Tantalus ever did.”
He looked fondly at the hunting dogs and shook his head.
“He was obsessed with experimentation alone, with no results to show for it. Using those neglected byproducts like this ensures that the lives used as materials are not wasted.”
“Not wasted? That is laughable.”
“His reagents were powerful, but limited in materials and reproduction. He was a man shrouded in secrecy.”
Ixion shrugged, unconcerned.
“Even I was never allowed to know the true nature of Tantalus’s unique magic.”
“…….”
It was a convincing explanation.
Every magic had affinities, and sometimes those variables could decide victory regardless of rank or skill.
Merely knowing an opponent’s magic could be lethal.
Revealing the nature of one’s unique magic was, without question, extremely dangerous, like showing one’s hand in a card game.
For mages who lived by the sword, concealing their unique magic was not unusual at all.
“In the end, the point is simple, Enoch.”
Ixion raised both arms.
“With dozens of powerful experimental beasts further enhanced by my unique magic, do you truly believe you can win?”
Without waiting for an answer, he slowly lifted his arm.
The hunting dogs moved in response, circling their master.
Facing him, Enoch stepped forward, sword lowered,
THAAAAANG!!
Both sides kicked off the ground at the same time.
The first to strike was the carapaced arm sprouting from Ixion’s shoulder, its fist clenched and driven forward.
Enoch braced the flat of his blade with his free hand.
The massive fist crashed into the sword with a catastrophic sound.
But Enoch rotated the blade, diverting the force aside, and immediately slashed upward at Ixion.
“……!!”
The carapaced arm barely managed to block, sparks flying as steel screeched against obsidian-hard armor.
“Each time I face you, you make less sense, Enoch.”
An intrigued voice sounded from beneath the mask.
“Your combat ability is incomparable to before. What have you been doing to grow this strong?”
“How did I get stronger?”
Pressing his dark blue blade against the carapace, Enoch stared at Ixion expressionlessly.
“I trained.”
At the flippant reply, Ixion’s mask tilted slightly.
As their blades remained locked, Enoch accelerated his thoughts.
, Remember this.
He had grown, yes, but in his current condition, victory against Ixion alone was far from guaranteed.
If this fight dragged on, reinforcements from the forest would arrive.
That was precisely why he could not stake everything on this battle.
The premise of the mission had always been solo infiltration, avoid full-scale combat, strike the objective, and withdraw.
Speed was everything.
At that moment, hunting dogs surged toward Enoch once more.
He slid his blade aside and kicked off the ground hard, widening the distance.
‘At most, one more use of Fire Wheel or Explosive Sword.’
If he even attempted to chain his still-incomplete forms, his body might fail mid-strike.
SHRIIIIK!!
A carapaced arm sliced toward him, tearing through the air.
Enoch arched his upper body backward to evade, planted one hand on the ground, and vaulted high like a swallow.
Spinning midair, he used the intact high walls of the factory ruins as footholds, erasing the distance to his enemy in an instant.
But the carapaced arm did not stop. It smashed through the ruins and seized a massive steel pillar more than ten meters tall.
“How about this!!”
At Ixion’s swing, the arm ripped the pillar free and hurled it wildly.
RUMBLE, !!
The massive pillar crashed into the wall Enoch had just used as a foothold.
The entire wall split apart and began to collapse in a cloud of dust.
But Enoch had already kicked off the shattered surface, landed, and resumed his sprint.
The rust-red pillar carved enormous circular arcs through the air, forming overlapping red trajectories to block Enoch’s advance.
Ignoring the apocalyptic shriek of the wind, Enoch lowered his stance and charged.
Sliding forward with his blade angled diagonally, he slipped inside the attacks and unfolded his sword.
The principle of deflecting all incoming force.
[Reverse Flow]
KAGAGAGAGAGAK!!
The rusted surface of the steel pillar slid past Enoch’s side, sparks flying along a dark blue line.
Flinging the pillar aside with a wide sweep of his sword, Enoch surged forward like the wind.
“What, what speed…!!”
Realizing the gap was impossible to evade, Ixion recoiled in shock.
As Enoch closed in, he whispered low,
“Who do you think, ”
“, you are fighting in close quarters?”
Through the swirling black ash, Enoch’s dark blue eyes shone brilliantly as he drew his sword far back.
If there was ever a moment to use a form that could only be unleashed a handful of times, it was now.
[Explosive Sword • Fire Wheel]
THAAAAANG!!
A dark blue flash erupted from the blade, and the violent recoil launched Enoch forward.
Three intersecting slashes tore through the darkness as Enoch crossed Ixion in a spinning motion and landed.
As Enoch slid to a halt, sword stopping at his waist,
Three brilliant blue cutting lines appeared across the steel pillar.
The massive structure, several meters in diameter, shattered into chunks that exploded outward.
RUMBLE, !!
Steel fragments rained down as Enoch ran straight through them without changing expression.
In that fleeting instant, Ixion turned to look at him,
And beneath the black mask, a bitter laugh mixed with anger escaped.
“So you were holding back from the start, !!”
But Enoch had already kicked off the ground and leapt again.
Not yet.
His body screamed from the recoil, his bleeding worsening, dizziness creeping in.
But the opening was still not enough. Then,
Spinning the sword once, Enoch grasped the blade itself with both hands and drew it back over his shoulders to its absolute limit.
A sword technique with fearsome impact, capable of nullifying even the strongest defense, erupted in light.
[Fire Wheel • Lethal Strike]
BOOOOOOM!!
The Black Mage’s carapaced arm, thrust out desperately to block, collapsed and shattered completely.
A massive circular shockwave rippled through the air like waves across a lake, blasting Ixion’s body away.
Hurled backward at insane speed, Ixion slammed into the factory ruins in a trajectory parallel to the ground.
The entire wall collapsed as if struck by artillery, belching out dust dozens of meters high.
RUMBLE, !!
An echoing return of the earlier blow.
Before Ixion could even fully register it, massive stones crashed down where he had been driven.
Turning away as he saw the ruins collapse, Enoch exhaled.
“Kh.”
The pain he had suppressed surged all at once as he forced out breath after breath, having pushed his wounded body far beyond its limits.
His consciousness, sharpened by battle, began to sink into a dangerous haze.
That blow would not be enough to finish Ixion. Of that, Enoch was certain.
At best, he had bought a brief moment.
And that was all he needed.
Clutching his bleeding side, Enoch lowered his sword and moved without hesitation.
Between the towering trees of the forest, now tinged with the pale light of dawn, he pressed forward.
Entering deep into the forest, the true zone of his solo operation, Enoch advanced.