C734
It’s deep.
Even the underground tunnels of the castle seemed shallow compared to this cliff.
As Jin descended for several minutes, he felt two sensations simultaneously as the ground approached.
The first was the chaos that pierced through his body like a knife, and the second was the feeling of obstruction in his aura generation organs, as if he were exposed to the "Aura Jammers" of Qwaul and Valeria.
Just before landing, Jin countered the impact with his sword energy and touched the ground gently.
He had a strong intuition.
This place was only the "First Underground Floor."
‘Although I don't know how many floors there are, Rosa must be on the lowest level.’
As he looked around, he could see faint lights in the distance.Jin quickly recognized that those lights were the glint of eyes.
The fierce aura emanating from those pupils was visible and tangible.
"This time, please."
Jin's deep voice spread through the air like the wind.
This time, the energy that the knights who had returned from the mausoleum possessed was entirely different from those he had encountered before.
"I hope you’re someone worthy of being called an ancestor."
The glowing eyes approached. Jin advanced toward them.
"About eleven knights."
The fact that there were twenty-two glowing eyes meant that all of them were knights who had returned from the mausoleum.
As the distance shortened, the contours of the knights became sharper.
Examining their attire, Jin recognized that they were an ancient patriarch and ten black knights.
However, unlike the black knights, the ancient patriarch showed a slightly different appearance from the previous patriarchs he had encountered.
Does he have his face covered in chains?
Black chains surrounded his face.
The sword he held was also an ordinary longsword that the ancient patriarchs had widely used, making it impossible to determine his identity based on his weapon. ṛ𝘢ΝǒᛒĚs̈
"I am the Twelfth Flagbearer, Jin Runcandel. Knights, reveal your names."
Instead of the ancient patriarch, one of the black knights spoke.
[You came down alone]
"So, you are the leader of the black knights. Can't the ancient patriarch speak?"
The chains covering the ancient patriarch's face seemed to twitch slightly.
"In that case, let's postpone taking the ancient patriarch's life for now. All of you, come in."
Jin pointed his sword at the knights while holding it diagonally.
The sensation of his aura-generating organs and blood flow being obstructed grew more intense.
On the other hand, the mausoleum knights were unaffected.
The knights were well aware of this fact.
Nevertheless, they formed their formation cautiously.
They understood that even if his aura-generating organs were hindered, Jin was by no means an opponent to be taken lightly.
"If it's too heavy, let me go first."
Pah!
The ground beneath Jin exploded, and a sharp sound of air splitting resonated.
His sword first aimed at the ancient patriarch's face, attempting to remove the chains that covered it.
However, the ancient patriarch deflected the attack with his sword raised, and the swords of the black knights surrounding Jin flew towards him.
Twisting and pushing away two of them, Jin took the opportunity and thrust his sword at the ancient patriarch's face again.
Tick!
A chain caught on the tip of the sword, and fragments flew out.
Then, as the ancient patriarch retreated behind the black knights, a blinding thrust struck Jin's ear.
A trickle of hot blood oozed from his ear, but Jin felt no sense of danger. On the contrary, he was filled with doubt.
I don’t sense sharpness or murderous intent in the ancient patriarch's attacks.
The murderous intent that pricked his skin came from the black knights.
In other words, the ancient patriarch harbored no intent to kill Jin.
'But every attack is clearly lethal...'
The ancient patriarch is being controlled.
Jin considered this possibility.
Someone must have been manipulating the ancient patriarch's body like a puppet, and it could only be Rosa.
This time, the black knight's sword grazed Jin's shoulder.
He had some minor wounds, but Jin remained composed.
The disruption of aura generation was undoubtedly being caused by Rosa’s chaos.
Although Jin couldn’t immediately find the device or link causing it, he wasn’t bothered.
It was a wise decision to descend alone.
'Rosa is using the disruption of aura creation to make it easier to kill others, not me.'
Unless the aura organs were completely destroyed, such disruptions would only temporarily inconvenience Jin.
Ka-aaah!
When Jin unleashed his aura, a shockwave spread out with a flash of light.
Three black knights who were approaching were thrown back, and the central figure, the ancient patriarch, staggered backward.
His blood flow and aura organs, once blocked, were now open.
The reason Jin didn’t initially undo the aura disruption was due to his curiosity about the ancient patriarch’s and Rosa’s actions.
"Building a castle, digging underground, sealing the ancient patriarch’s mouth, and using aura creation disruptions... You’re doing things that don’t align with the evil god."
The Bradamante Sword pointed upward, enveloped in white light.
Runcandel’s Third Final Movement: Meteor Rain.
The aura formed in the air poured down into the underground like a tsunami.
The black knights lowered their stances and extended their aura to intercept the meteor rain.
At that moment, Jin broke through their formation again.
Skkk!
The right arm of a black knight was severed, and a full-blown melee ensued.
One sword and eleven swords clashed, leaving countless and intricate aftermaths in the darkness.
Amid the chaos, the meteor rain continued to relentlessly bombard the battlefield.
With each falling blade, the terrain changed, and the black knights were always one step behind Jin in following the proper techniques.
Only the ancient patriarch could read the constantly evolving battlefield at a speed almost identical to Jin's.
Even so, Jin couldn’t read any murderous intent in his glowing eyes.
Instead, they seemed to contain some desperate cry.
It was clear that he did not wish for this battle.
"This sword technique isn’t yours."
Runcandel’s swordsmanship didn’t possess any distinctive form apart from the secret techniques and final movements.
However, Jin could discern a familiar flow in the ancient patriarch’s swordsmanship.
He could feel the flow of the person wielding the sword fiercely, even without possessing Runcandel’s physical form.
"Are you recalling your days as a human? Evil God."
The ancient patriarch’s sword skill matched perfectly with Rosa’s swordsmanship.
Rosa was controlling him.
There was only one reason for Rosa to “control” him.
The ancient patriarch is opposing the Evil God.
Jin could see in his appearance a bittersweet aspect and a glimmer of hope for the Runcandel Family.
‘Not all the knights who emerge from the mausoleum fully submit to Rosa. Some, like the ancient patriarch, oppose the Evil God.’
The ancient patriarch hadn’t uttered a single word, nor had he wielded his sword to kill Jin even once.
Jin could discern an aspect of the Runcandel mentality, which had never given up.
A struggle that never bends, not even against the will of the Gods.
In the long and extensive history of Runcandel, spanning a thousand years.
There couldn’t be a single person left who could match such a figure.
If there were those who crawled like Lionel or Senga, there had to be someone who never crumbled.
Now, as the ancient patriarch, who burned with more determination than when he was alive.
Jin finally understood Rosa’s intention.
She must want to show that even the ancestors who fought until the end are ultimately helpless, and she wants to kill all such individuals.
Jin had no intention of joining Rosa’s vile intent.
"I will free you soon, Ancestor."
Jin’s attitude toward the ancient patriarch had changed.
Though the sword pointed at him became even more threatening, it was only intended to break the chains binding him as quickly as possible.
However, the Black Knights persistently attacked Jin.
He couldn’t preserve the ancient patriarch’s body while unleashing the power of the Sword of Legends or similar techniques.
Of course, even if he freed the ancient patriarch from his shackles, there was no guarantee that Rosa wouldn’t seize his soul or life.
But Jin wanted to break the chains and have a moment to converse with him, even if it was brief.
He wanted to tell the ancestor who had fought honorably until the end.
And if possible, he wanted to keep him alive and overcome this hell together.
Clang!
A chain wrapping around the ancient patriarch’s face was severed.
His pupils cleared slightly.
At the same time, blood flowed from Jin’s shoulder.
It was the Black Knight Commander’s sword.
Though it didn’t penetrate deeply, if the bleeding continued, Jin’s movements would inevitably slow.
However, comrades were jumping from the upper levels to the lower ones.
"Jin!"
Hedo’s voice reached him.
Bianca and Octavia were also descending towards the battlefield.
Ten minutes had passed.
Even in their absence, the situation flowed in Jin’s favor, so the mausoleum knights would inevitably find themselves in a more difficult situation.
Hedo’s sword techniques and Octavia’s light magic assaulted the Black Knights.
Not long ago, they had been on the same side, and now they showed perfect coordination.
As the Black Knights were momentarily startled, Bianca positioned herself behind Jin.
As a result, the Black Knight Commander had to block Bianca’s greatsword instead of driving his sword into Jin.
For a moment, Jin had the opportunity to focus solely on the ancient patriarch.
At the moment Jin swung his sword towards the chains, the ancient patriarch momentarily broke free from Rosa’s control.
The sword that was moving to repel Bradamante paused for a moment.
'It’s because I’ve cut some chains!'
That was the best and greatest result the ancient patriarch could achieve by refusing to be controlled by the Evil God.
Jin didn’t waste the opportunity.
Crack, clank!
Finally, with a single blow, Jin managed to break the chains covering the ancient patriarch’s face.
The revealed face belonged to a person Jin had heard about many times in his past life while studying the history of Runcandel.
Alpen Runcandel.
He was the twentieth patriarch of Runcandel and a figure known as the "Knight of Light" in the past.
-
KO-FI:
https://tinyurl.com/SHADOWK
-
( Up to '120' more ch4pt3rs)
-