Ch. 25

New Novel - Read Here

The technique Spatial Severance was, just like the Tower Master's unique signature spell, Thunder-Eating Dragon, a technique that existed exclusively within the Snowtier family.

As if to prove their ultimate goal really was to cut through space itself, everything the sword's single line touched was, quite literally, sliced apart.

But this was, ultimately, only true once the technique reached the very peak of its mastery.

She, as she currently stood, was surely nowhere near a level capable of breaking a cursed sword.

"Ngh!"

Jane's blade sliced sharply into the gap in my guard.

I blocked it easily enough, but the impact that traveled through it struck me hard.

Just as I'd predicted, the cursed sword didn't break.

But the sheer force behind the strike, far beyond what I'd anticipated, sent me stumbling backward more than ten steps.

On top of that, having only blocked the First Form, the palm gripping my sword had split open, blood trickling out and making my grip slightly slippery.

This was bad.

The slippery grip on my sword hand wasn't the real problem, though.

The real problem was her Talent.

Before the regression, the nature of her Talent had been fairly well known.

It was because, if she drew even the slightest amount of blood from an opponent through her attack, she grew monstrously stronger, as if blessed by some kind of holy grace.

Which was where her nickname had come from.

The Snowtier stained in blood, Bloody Snow.

The nickname had come from combining her blood-reactive Talent with her family name.

Just as her nickname suggested, sensing that blood was now flowing from my hand, the aura pouring out of her began growing steadily stronger.

[Blood]

Just then, a voice that seemed to mix in every unpleasant emotion imaginable suddenly rang out in my head, and the blood from my split palm abruptly vanished without a trace.

Startled, I opened and closed my hand a few times, checking whether it was actually fine.

What was even more surprising was that the blade of the Greedy Leech, which hadn't changed at all until now, had started darkening.

Given the circumstances, it seemed this thing had fed on my blood and ended up like this.

So maybe the name Leech hadn't been for nothing, after all.

It seemed to have greedily drained every last drop of my blood, exactly as its name suggested.

"What is that sword?"

"Cursed swords aren't limited to just one in the whole world, are they?"

Just as you're holding the Call of Yearning, I just happen to be holding the Greedy Leech.

As I grinned and readjusted my stance, she spoke with a chilling smile, as if something had just clicked into place.

"So that's it... to think you'd underestimate me... no, our entire family, just because you happen to hold one measly cursed sword."

If anything, I'd been more afraid of the Snowtier family than anything else; I'd never once, not for a single moment, thought lightly of them.

I can still vividly picture your dad slicing through demon necks like they were nothing.

But figuring Jane wouldn't believe me even if I said this, I kept my mouth shut.

"Even if you can block an attack with a cursed sword, in the end, if the wielder holding that sword lacks the ability to match it, it means nothing at all. Just like your split palm right there."

That was only half true.

If I'd genuinely lacked ability, then even with a cursed sword, it would have been about as meaningless as putting a knife in a child's hand, but I'd already proven, through our exchange of blows up to this point, that I was far from lacking in ability.

She surely knew that too, so what was her reason for saying this? Was she trying to provoke me?

Or perhaps, having taken a mental shock, she understood everything on some level but was choosing to believe only what she wanted to believe.

"Right now it's your palm, but next it'll be your arm, then your legs, then your eyes... and then I'll cut out that vile tongue of yours for insulting my family."

Perhaps her rage had simply driven her out of her mind entirely.

Watching Jane deliver her chilling death threats, I shot her a mocking smirk.

"Die!"

Another white line was drawn as the attack came in.

Since I'd drawn blood, this attack, surely made even more powerful by her Talent, somehow felt even easier to block than before.

Apparently, the darkening cursed sword was absorbing most of the impact for me now.

Wow, this performance is definitely something.

"Argh!"

Frustrated that her attacks kept getting blocked, Jane bit down on her lower lip and kept up her assault.

But an attack thrown wildly, lost in nothing but fury, had no chance of ever landing on me.

Even before the regression, I'd easily dealt with this kind of attack, and now I even had a cursed sword capable of blocking a mana-infused blade.

Well, honestly, maybe it was more because she hadn't fully grown into her strength yet?

Even had she kept her composure, I doubted facing her would have felt like that much of a burden.

"Ngh!"

Cutting off her continuous barrage and pushing her back, I lowered my sword.

Then, putting on the most bored expression I could manage, as if I were the single most jaded person in the world, I spoke.

"Ahh, boring."

Jane's eyebrows twitched once again.

Watching her expression carefully, I muttered this time with a languid air, my eyes filled with sheer tedium.

"So boring it makes me want to die."

At my words, her eyes, which had been glaring at me as if she wanted to tear me apart, began wavering more and more.

No matter how much higher her Body score was than mine, she must have felt, through crossing swords with me, a wall too high to overcome with that alone.

Even she surely already knew there was no way she could win.

But even so, her pride wouldn't let her back down or give up like this.

This was exactly why dealing with nobles was always such a headache.

"...Boring, you say?"

Just then, the presence that had been steadily pouring out of her body vanished without a trace.

Thinking she'd finally given up, I nodded at Jane.

"Yeah. You're incredibly boring."

"Boring... I see... hahah..."

She sheathed her sword, letting out a laugh that sounded like air escaping.

After laughing for a while, Jane's expression suddenly hardened completely, and she began radiating a level of bloodlust incomparable to anything before.

"Then let's see if you find this boring too."

Jane stepped one foot back, one hand resting on the sheath, the other on the sword's hilt.

Despite her outwardly calm stillness, her sheath had begun rapidly gathering mana, as if swirling violently within.

The Snowtier family's swordsmanship, Spatial Severance.

Second Form: Cleave.

If the First Form carried the intent to cut through everything in its path, the Second Form, Cleave, was a quick-draw technique that added extreme, blistering speed on top of everything the First Form embodied.

Normally, the friction between sheath and blade should have slowed down the drawing speed, but the Snowtier family channeled a special kind of mana into the sheath itself, causing the sword to launch out as if fired from a weapon instead.

The only person capable of using the Second Form in that exact stance was the very man who'd created this technique himself, Duke Snowtier.

Since the force behind that fired blade was considerable, it required the muscular strength to actually control it, and having personally witnessed the Duke's Second Form myself, I was certain there was no way Jane could ever hope to control that technique properly right now.

Even at the peak of her ability, she hadn't been able to use the Second Form in that exact stance.

Which meant its power was that immense, and also that the Duke himself was that much of a monster.

Regardless, it clearly meant its raw power alone was undeniable, and since it was an attack she couldn't properly control, simply trying to block it head-on could end up being genuinely dangerous.

If that were the case, then the best option among what remained was probably this.

"Hooof."

I took one deep breath, spun my sword around once in a full circle before drawing it back, and extended my empty hand forward.

"I don't know if you can even hear this with how focused you are... but since you seem pretty serious, let me show you just a small taste of what I've got too."

The moment my raised hand, my eyes, and my target aligned into a single straight line.

The presence I'd gained, one steeped in thick bloodlust, from being exposed to the burst of energy when I'd destroyed the Marionette's Ghost before the regression, began exploding out from every part of my body.

It gave off an eerie, unsettling sensation, almost like an illusion of blood-red snakes flicking their tongues, spreading out in every direction.

But the vicious killing intent contained within that eeriness was more than enough to constrict the throat of everyone in the entire area.

"Well then..."

Honestly, up until now, I'd simply been treating this as a chance to try blocking every attack one by one, purely because it felt so novel being able to block a mana infused sword at all.

But now, if only for the sake of protecting my opponent, it was probably time to bring things to an end.

Because her mental state looked genuinely dangerous by now.

"I'm attacking, alright?"

Just as several people here had, over time, come to earn their own nicknames, I too, before the regression, had earned my own nickname after passing through countless battlefields beyond counting.

Someone cunning enough to kill even someone with mana despite having none himself.

Someone who, in the end, always toyed with and killed his enemies.

Someone utterly impossible to gauge.

The nickname that encompassed all of this: The Deceiver.

Which was why she should be grateful, rather than angry.

Because from this point on, if only for a little while.

I intended to show her a glimpse of exactly what that nickname meant.

……

Not far from the academy, three figures stood motionless.

One of them, a young girl, kept fidgeting and tugging at her academy uniform skirt with visible discomfort.

"The Tower Master's surveillance is intense right now. Do we really need to enroll in the academy at this exact moment?"

"With your Talent, even the Tower Master won't be able to detect your presence."

Despite the gentle, benevolent voice, the girl's expression didn't soften, but she nodded anyway, as if resigned to it.

"So it seems they're recruiting additional students, after all."

At the words of a massive man, standing in stark contrast to the small, adorable girl, the same gentle, benevolent voice responded once more.

"The student population must have dropped significantly, I suppose."

"It was worth the effort of forcibly luring in the Kraken, then."

"Indeed. Everyone worked so hard back then. It put up more resistance than expected."

The incident involving the Kraken's appearance, which had left the port city of Laverin nearly leveled to rubble.

The three of them discussed this catastrophic event quietly, as if it had all simply been their own doing.

"Sigh... I never imagined I'd end up living an academy life, but... it's the mission I've been given, so I'll carry it out faithfully."

"Sarah, there's no need to be so dutiful about it. Just enjoy an ordinary life like the other children do."

"Ordinary..."

"Yes. You've surely had a difficult time working toward your goal until now, so wouldn't it be fine to consider this a bit of a break? Except..."

The woman with the gentle voice lowered her head to meet eyes with the small girl called Sarah.

"You just need to make sure you don't forget what needs to be done on the appointed day of destiny."

"The day of destiny..."

The girl, wearing a blank expression for a moment, soon hardened her face and answered.

"Yes. I will never forget."

Pleased by her answer, one of the women smiled and straightened her back.

"It's about time the ship arrives soon."

"Then we'll be heading to the Northern continent now. Sarah, you'll manage well on your own, won't you?"

"O-of course I will!"

Watching the girl bounce around, her face flushed red, the two of them let out small bursts of laughter.

A moment later, they stopped laughing, bowed their heads toward one another, and spoke.

"For Silver Ring."