C212 - The Secret of the 32nd Island in the Blue Bird Islands
If Jin hadn't reached out to Samil and Lafrarosa, he wouldn't have been able to react to their ambushes.
"It seems there was a barrier here. Damn it, a God's tomb, huh. It would have been dangerous if not for your Sword," Murakan spoke as he swiftly struck with lightning.
This islet was the tomb of Gramm, the God of Thunder who was killed by the Legends in the past.
As it was a God's tomb, there was a barrier.
Murakan could only avoid the ambush because Sigmund had activated the barrier.
Sigmund was a sword made by sealing Gramm's powers within it.
"You have no idea how long we've been waiting to see you again!" Kuzan shouted with a furious gaze.
Neither Beris nor Kuzan saw Jin's face when they fought him in the Kingdom of Delki, but they immediately realized that the intruder was the Contractor of Solderet, their sworn enemy who deserved to be torn to pieces.
"Aaaargh, bastards!" Beris couldn't contain her rage when she thought that she was finally facing the killer of her mother.
As she thought, they must have sworn loyalty to Joshua.
Since Taimyun Marius had been under Joshua's command, Jin expected that Kuzan and Beris were also serving Taimyun.
But little did he imagine that he would encounter them on the thirty-second island of the Blue Bird Islands.
Jin and Murakan weren't the only ones surprised.
Kuzan and Beris hadn't expected it either, nor did Joshua anticipate it when he sent them here with Yulian.
If Joshua had known that Jin had stolen the Compass and understood its purpose, things would have been very different.
He would never have sent those hounds here.
"I'll tear you to pieces today, to console our mother's spirit!"
Boom!
Jin's and Kuzan's swords clashed, causing the aura on their blades to explode.
The sound of their swords colliding was like a cannon blast. Jin immediately realized that Kuzan had also become stronger.
Kuzan was still an eight-star, but he had far surpassed his own limits thanks to the body modifications he learned to do with Taimyun.
Beris's mana was equally dangerous.
She was also an eight-star, but as she used mana fiercely while sacrificing her life force in return, she rivaled a power that was now close to nine stars.
"Yulian! Go after the human first! His Dragon Guardian can follow later!" he shouted.
Beris seemed to be holding onto her last thread of reason.
"It doesn't seem like you've been waiting for me to come to this place. What are you doing here? What are you two doing here?" Jin looked at Kuzan as their swords crossed.
"That doesn't matter. You will die tonight, in this very place. I will make sure of it."
"You've been lashing out with questionable rage from the moment you saw me. Don't you think I should be the one furious with you two? I almost died in Delki because of you, you know? And by mother, do you mean Taimyun Marius?"
"Do not dare utter her name with your profane tongue."
He didn't have time to respond. Kuzan's venomous sword dazzled his sight relentlessly while Beris supported him with spells as she did in Delki.
Body modification made them stronger. But it was nothing compared to the amount of progress Jin had made since his time in Delki.
Back then, he had to risk his life at every moment of his fight against them, but now things were different.
He could keep fighting even though he hadn't unleashed Sigmund's lightning bolt yet.
Jin couldn't afford to lose against them since being grazed by Kuzan's sword was no longer a threat due to the Thousand-Poison Antidote, and he also had Murakan with him.
The two of them wouldn't pose any problem.
"As long as I pay attention, I can even choose whether I only want to subdue them or kill them outright."
Beris and Kuzan didn't know all the cards Jin could play now.
The Sword of Legends, the Shadow Blade, Sky Reversal (역천), and the Immunity Potion. Jin acquired these four powers after Delki, so they would never expect them.
Therefore, Jin found it very easy to turn the tide of the battle.
"They said his name was Yulian? He's the one who gets on my nerves. Peitel's contractor and a Lightning Bow."
Peitel was known for his habit of granting weapons to his contractors.
The Lightning Sword, the Lightning Spear, and the Lightning Bow of the Storm.
Of the three, Harmilla, the Lightning Bow, was only given to contractors who pleased him completely.
Yulian wielded that same bow.
Sparks of lightning began to spread. The lightning emerged from Harmilla, not from Sigmund.
It surged and diminished at Yulian's will even before he loaded it on the bowstring.
Yulian seemed to have made the decision to fight Murakan against Beris' orders.
Murakan also decided that Yulian was more threatening than Kuzan.
"Haha, I can't believe all these kids are challenging me just because I've passed my prime. Brat! Hurry up and finish those guys off and come here. I'll beat you up in the meantime."
Jin against Beris and Kuzan.
Murakan against Yulian.
They quickly decided the course of the battle.
There was much chaos with aura and mana flaring on Jin's side, while Shadow Energy and lightning intertwined with Murakan.
Along with rainstorms and strong winds, the thirty-second island of the Bluebird was soon becoming a representation of hell.
"By the way, I don't understand why you're so angry with me. It seems strange for you to speak as if I myself killed Taimyun Marius."
"I told you to shut your mouth!"
"Kuzan, I also don't understand why you're so unhinged. The last time we met in Delki, you had a cool head, not unruly like now."
He wasn't just quite calm.
In Delki, Kuzan was one of the calmest and most perceptive enemies Jin had ever encountered, no, the calmest he had ever known.
He wasn't caught off guard by the Photon Cannon and fought cautiously after immediately realizing that Jin was a Magic Swordsman.
Even when Tess attacked Beris or when his decisive blow was blocked by Myulta's Rune, he didn't flinch.
In fact, even when the person whose life he considered more valuable than his own, Beris, was threatened, he continued to fight without rushing towards her, completely shattering Jin's expectations.
Throughout the battle, Kuzan only showed surprise for a second: right after Jin unleashed his Shadow Energy.
But soon after, Kuzan Marius managed to counterattack with his poisoned sword, bringing Jin close to death.
If the Third Prince of Delki, Laika, hadn't arrived at the scene, Jin's life would have ended that day.
On the other hand, Beris couldn't contain her anger throughout the entire fight and wasted her eight-star mana.
But now, Kuzan wasn't acting any differently than Beris on that day. Although he had clearly become stronger, there was nothing intimidating about him. He was just a small, weak man driven by fury.
"Oh, or are you pretending? Are you trying to blame me for Taimyun Marius's death and sell it to Beris as well?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"It wasn't me who killed Taimyun Marius. It was five assassins disguised as Runcandel's executioner knights. And they had your poison on their daggers."
Kuzan's eyes shifted.
'I can't believe this cold-blooded killer flinches so easily at the mention of Taimyun Marius's death.'
Irony filled Jin's mind.
"Obviously, I thought Joshua had killed Taimyun with your poison. Now, you also confuse me with this reaction."
"Shut your mouth."
"Kuzan, don't listen to him! He's just randomly making up lies because he doesn't want to die at our hands-"
Bzzzt!
A blue lightning bolt formed above Sigmund for the first time instead of the Aura that had covered it so far.
Jin had been looking for an opportunity to use the lightning bolt since the battle began, with the purpose of subduing Beris in a single move.
The battlefield was filled with sparks of lightning.
Of course, they all came from Yulian, so Kuzan and Beris didn't realize that Sigmund's blue spark was actually Jin's Lightning Bolt.
"Kaargh!"
The lightning bolt reached Beris, who was far away.
The first bolt broke through the barrier of her shield, and the second completely tore it apart. When the third bolt fell, Beris had burns all over her body and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Jin wasn't going to give her time to restore her shield barriers.
The three bolts struck Beris almost simultaneously.
She couldn't withstand the lightning because she had only formed enough shield barriers to protect herself from blade waves and had been using all her mana in her attacks.
The mistake was inevitable as she didn't know Jin's Legendary Sword Technique.
"Beris!" Kuzan shouted.
"She's not dead. I just felt the need to put that chatterbox to sleep. I could have easily killed her as well. In fact, I really wanted to, but I did my best to restrain myself. You should remember that I have unfinished business with both of you. But the only reason I spared her was because we need to talk."
Kuzan didn't respond. He just stared at Jin.
"Kuzan, do you really believe that I'm the one who killed Taimyun Marius?"
"Who else could it be if not you?"
"Joshua Runcandel. The one who once owned Taimyun Marius. As I see it, he had more reasons to kill Taimyun Marius than I did."
"What are you saying...?"
"Unfortunately, Joshua is my older brother. He convinced Taimyun Marius to hire Kiddard Hall to curse me, but he failed. I was busy tracking him down when I encountered you in Delki."
Kuzan's eyes widened.
"Don't tell me you are... Jin Runcandel?"
"The moment I confirmed that Taimyun Marius was involved in my curse, I went to her vacation home with my older sister. There, I witnessed her die with my own eyes. She had a bitter end like a discarded hunting dog."
A brief silence followed.
Kuzan's eyes immediately turned red. Tears of blood started flowing from them.
"If you had considered me an enemy of Taimyun Marius, it's probably because you were deceived by Joshua. Or do you disagree?" Jin said.
"Any evidence? Can you prove it with evidence?"
He sounded calm, but there was an inexplicable amount of rage in his voice that sent shivers down Jin's spine, regardless of Kuzan's abilities.
"The fact that you were unaware of my name is proof itself. Joshua already knows that I am a Magic Swordsman and a Contractor of Solderet. He would have told you if he had nothing to hide."
"That's not enough."
"Then, you don't trust me. Then, I don't wish to explain anything further. You sound like you want to blame me despite everything, for your own failure to protect Taimyun Marius."
Kuzan's sword trembled.
"Or maybe you are afraid to confront the true culprit of Taimyun Marius's death, Joshua? Are you trying to console yourself by dying in battle against me, thinking you've done everything you could for Taimyun Marius?"
Kroooom!
After Jin's final word, thunder struck from the sky.
The thunderous strike was as enormous as the God of Battle's Combat Technique.
The thunder didn't strike Murakan. Instead, it directly hit Yulian.
Jin turned his gaze in response.
Yulian was covered by the currents left by the thunderstrike. He was convulsing, but for some reason, he slowly rose into the air.
"Kid. We might have a problem," Murakan said.
"What's wrong?"
"I think Gramm's Thunder Energy has aggravated Peitel."
"Suddenly? What do you mean?"
"I think that boy has become a medium for Peitel."
Kroom! Krooooom! Bzzt!
When Yulian opened his eyes again, it was as if the dark night sky was shining.
The entire sky was covered in lightning.