Chapter 142

For a split second, the crimson spear seemed to vanish behind her supple waist before raining down on me like a torrential downpour.

Chwajajajajajajak!!

“Woah…!?”

At first, I deflected the strikes with one hand while letting my sword hang low.

Kagagagagagagang!

She gritted her teeth as my Pure Spiritual Power clashed with her aura, creating a sharp, metallic screech. With that, her spear accelerated even further.

‘Handling this with one hand is going to be tough.’

So, I drove my sword into the ground and used both hands.

I wasn’t just parrying. I struck out brutally to deflect, block, redirect, catch, and disarm.

Yet, she rendered all my attempts completely futile through sheer, unadulterated speed alone.

The absolute instant I blocked, she pulled her spear back and thrust again. The moment it deflected to the side, she withdrew it and thrust once more. Just as I was about to grab it, she recalled it and drove it forward. The second I tried to disarm her, she pulled her weapon away and came at me again.

And the moment that acceleration reached its absolute peak, the center of gravity in her lower body shifted as she drove the weapon forward, seamlessly adding slashes to her thrust-heavy assault.

Shwishing-shwishing-shwish!!

Chic!

Tracking the spear that had finally managed to graze my cheek with my eyes, I let out a bright smile.

“Magnificent…!”

I gripped my sword.

Excluding the transcendent beings, she was the first person who forced me to wield a blade purely out of necessity.

Kagagagagagagagagang!!

Using the exact same stance and following the precise same trajectory, I swung my sword to deflect her incoming spear.

Thrust against thrust, slash against slash.

It was an incredibly high-level spear style, but even so, it possessed a set trajectory, a structured form, and a natural limit.

In other words, it was something I could easily replicate.

Kagagagagagagagak!!

When her assault was completely shut down by her exact same techniques, her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“Villain! How on earth do you know the Kiadran school style…?!”

“Because I learned it.”

“From whom!”

“From you.”

“What…?!”

“You just showed it all to me so I could learn it.”

“Y-You watched the forms I used and replicated them?”

“I didn’t replicate them; I mastered them. The techniques you just used—that was probably the first half, right? Then I guess the second half goes something like this.”

Adjusting my grip on my sword as if holding a spear, I began hacking and slashing wildly in all directions.

And each time, I stored energy within my muscles like pulling back a bowstring. At the final instant, I released the power alongside a heavy stomp, thrusting into the empty air like a flash of lightning.

Kwooooooooooong!!

The compressed air was violently squeezed before exploding outward in all directions with a massive shockwave. The air violently rushed back into the resulting vacuum, stirring up a ferocious gale.

If I could have used aura, the result would have been far more dramatic and violent.

“The Thunder God’s Roar!? How can you perform the ultimate secret art of the Kiadran spear style…!”

“Ah, so this thing qualifies as an ultimate secret art? It’s far too easy.”

“You deduced an ultimate secret art just from watching a few swings of a spear? That is completely impossible…!”

“What do you mean impossible?”

Following that, I demonstrated a few more movements to her. With every display, her eyes grew wider and wider.

“This cannot be happening… Even if you are a Grand Master, that and this are completely separate matters….”

“You’re right. The fact that I pulled this from your movements isn’t because I’m a Grand Master. It’s just because I’m brilliant.”

“……”

Having lost her words, she kept her mouth firmly shut for a moment before forcing a voice out.

“H-However, there were a few errors in the movements you showed me….”

“No. My way is correct. If there is a difference, it’s because that Kiadran spear style of yours is wrong. It was probably altered or lost bit by bit as it was passed down to later generations.”

“Absurd! The family possesses not only the secret text but also video recordings of the first patriarch’s demonstration! There is no way the techniques could have degraded…!”

“Then your first patriarch was wrong.”

“What…?!”

“I’m right, and that patriarch fellow was wrong.”

Faced with such an absolute declaration, she asked in a thoroughly bewildered tone.

“H-How can you be so entirely certain?”

“Well, because it’s impossible for me to be wrong.”

“Y-You incredibly arrogant, lawless wretch….”

“Well, I’m not exactly begging for your acknowledgment. A fact is simply a fact. More importantly, are you just going to keep standing there? Aren’t we going to fight anymore? If we stay like this, that baldie over there is going to bleed to death, you know? That wound isn’t something that can be held shut with aura alone.”

“…Ugh!”

“Y-Yes. I must fight. If I do not fight…!”

And as she gripped her spear once more, what welled up in her eyes was not confusion or anxiety for some reason, but a profound sense of ecstasy.

Flicking my finger, I beckoned to her, noting her eyes were far clearer than before.

“Carmen Sonya Evas. Show me your full power. I’ll take on everything you’ve got.”

“Full power…!”

At my words, her mouth curved into a thin, delighted line.

Kwajik!

Streams of ruby-colored aura began flowing out from the floor where she had driven her spear.

And that aura transformed into actual, literal plant vines, beginning to blanket the entire hall.

‘Thorns? Is it a rose vine?’

Shwaaaaaa….

Of course, I could have stopped her at any point during the process… but instead, I simply stood by and watched as the vines made of aura encroached upon the entire hall, even reaching the walls and the ceiling.

As if firmly believing that I wouldn’t interfere, Carmen closed her eyes entirely and poured everything she had into expanding the vines.

And just like that… when roses blossomed all at once across the vines, she finally opened her eyes.

“Is this your ability as a Master?”

“It is. It is called ‘Rose Garden.’ Inside here, I have the confidence to fight even a Grand Master.”

People often referred to Master-class Steel Body users as mages wielding swords because they could manifest magic-like phenomena, and this scene was truly fitting of that expression.

“You are certainly different from that half-baked baldie lying over there. That baldie had absolutely no abilities other than playing around with fire like a child while spouting nonsense about hellfire.”

“The Elder crossed the wall to become a Master by borrowing my lord’s power. His case is different from other Masters.”

At her explanation, the collapsed baldie’s body violently convulsed for a moment.
Seeing him throw such a fit even while practically on the verge of death, it seemed that what she just said had struck a massive nerve. That explained why he had reacted so insanely when I taunted him about whether he was truly a Master.

“Before we fight, let me ask just one thing.”

Lowering her stance as she gripped her spear, she suddenly froze in place.

“What is it?”

“Who on earth is this lord of yours? Is it the lord of the domain, the Count of Evas?”

“What ridiculous nonsense. Naturally, I am speaking of my husband and the second son of the Count of Evas, ‘Lord Diablo Duncan Evas.’”

“Isn’t he just a guy who used to idle away his time at home? How does a mere idler, and a human who isn’t even that old, manage to turn a Blaster into a Master and make a Master like you refer to him as your lord?”

“He is no mere human. He is a transcendent entity who has achieved oneness with a great being, surpassing the mortal realm.”

“Oneness with a great being? What on earth is that supposed to mean? Is it an onion? Why does something else keep popping up the more I peel away at this?”

Faced with my cascading questions, she shook her head violently.

“No more idle chatter. I believe I have shown enough consideration by waiting for the Rose Garden to be completed, so use your sword now instead of your mouth.”

“Ah, well… fine. I can always hear your answers later anyway.”

With that, she thrust her spear forward and lunged at me furiously.

“Die!!”

Khweeeeek! Caught in a violent clash, a powerful explosion erupted.

‘Wow, this is actually somewhat impressive.’

I retreated a few paces while using Astraphe to bat away the spear shadows raining down alongside her aura. This was definitely far trickier than before.

Naturally, it wasn’t as if her spear technique had suddenly experienced a miraculous leap in quality.

The thing that was actually catching me off guard was none other than,

Smack! Chwajajajajak!

The rose vines, which were perfectly synchronized with her movements, lashing out with thorned whips from every conceivable direction.

Jjajjajjajajak!

A veritable feast of aura whips exploding from all angles.

Furthermore, because these aura whips caused absolutely no harm to their master, Carmen, it was impossible to use her as a human shield.

With no spatial restrictions to hinder them, the difficulty felt as if three or four experts on par with her were executing a flawless coordinated assault at the exact same time.

Imagine, she hadn’t been boasting without cause when she claimed she could face a Grand Master inside this space.

Of course, none of this meant I was backed into a corner. After all, I could instantly think of three simple solutions to crack this open.

The first was to simply hold my ground and bide my time.

Maintaining an aura output of this scale was bound to drain her body mana down to the absolute dregs.

It would last for three minutes at most, after which I could easily subdue her once she collapsed from exhaustion.

And the second method was…

Swish…!

The exact instant dozens of rose vines tore through the space I had occupied a fraction of a second prior, I materialized directly behind her and rested my blade against her neck.

“You just died once. Do you concede?”

She cast her eyes upward.

“…Blink?”

“Mm. I received a rather nice Blink artifact as a gift not too long ago.”

“……!”

“But I suppose winning like this wouldn’t be very satisfying for you, would it?”

I promptly lifted the blade from her neck and stepped back to the exact spot where I had cast Blink initially.

“Come on, let’s go again.”

At my words, her eyes flashed with a sharp light as she reassumed her combat stance.

At this point, it felt less like a life-or-death struggle and more like a guided sparring session.

“…I am coming.”

Before I knew it, her declaration to resume the fight had become considerably more polite.

And once again, the whips of aura came raining down. This time, it wasn’t just the whips; rose petals began fluttering down like autumn leaves from the ceiling and walls of the hall, only to instantly transform into razor-sharp daggers that poured down like a torrential storm. And with every passing moment, Carmen’s complexion grew increasingly pale.

“Hmm? Looks like you’re overexerting yourself… I’d better finish this quickly then.”

Kwajijik!!

As Astraphe sliced through the empty air, a long, jagged tear ripped open across space along its trajectory.

Kwadeudeudeudeuk!

A dimensional fracture. Yes. This was the third solution.

Because it required a slight casting delay, it was still a bit awkward to use in pure one-on-one combat against Master-class opponents, but when it came to tearing things apart and obliterating a landscape, nothing else even came close.

“W-What…?!”

A pitch-black rift measuring ten meters in length materialized in midair, swallowing every single incoming attack whole.

Furthermore, the fracturing didn’t stop at a single rift.

As I strolled forward casually, thrusting my sword almost playfully, tears ripped through space one after another, transforming the grand hall from a Rose Garden into a horrific, alien dimension.

Kwajik! Kwajik! Kwajijijijik!!

Every single thing was torn to shreds. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, and the Count’s castle itself. And her proud Rose Garden along with them, vanished without leaving a single trace.

Kwajijijijijijik!!

In truth, executing a rapid-fire barrage like this wouldn’t have been easy in the past, since it used to require a fair bit of mental focus.

But as with anything, practice makes perfect. Now… I could manifest it whenever the whim struck me.

How should I put it? It felt as if a finishing move had been demoted to a basic attack.

Kwajik! Kwadeudeuk!

Before she could even register what was happening, her spear ground to a halt as she stared blankly at the destruction, and I brought Astraphe gently against her neck.

“Checkmate.”

Her body trembled violently as she gazed at the dozens of pitch-black rifts, both large and small, embroidering the empty space.

“What… no, what on earth are you?”

“Me? Just a person who gets stronger by breathing?”

“A person? A human being…? You’re telling me this is truly something a human is capable of?”

“Now, I’ll give you a detailed explanation later, so let’s take care of the urgent matter first.”

“An urgent matter? Do you mean striking off my head? Do as you wish. The defeated have no right to speak….”

“No, the thing I’m going to strike isn’t your neck, it’s your earhole.”

With that, I drove my empty left hand toward her left ear.

Jjeeeeng!!

A single-inch punch.

As her focus splintered, the shockwave exploding inside her ear caused a tangled mass of tentacles to go splat as it burst out from the opposite earhole!

“Bingo.”

Without missing a beat, I grabbed hold of the cluster of tentacles and yanked with all my might.

Sluuuurp! Jjijik!

“Gotcha, you little bastard.”

—Khweeeeeyeeek!!

Screaming like that when you don’t even have a mouth.

Following that, I shoved my finger directly into her earhole, which was still oozing a jet-black fluid, and channeled my Pure Spiritual Power.

“Now, let’s clean out the rest of the dregs for you. Lady, it’s going to sting a bit, so try to bear with it, alright?”

Wharrrrr!

A brilliant white flame ignited deep within her ear.