Chapter 1059
“……”
Denier showed no reaction even to Raon’s provocation. As if he intended to wait only for the White Blood Lord’s summons, he knelt and bowed his head.
“So you’ve become a dog on a leash. Is that pathetic look really how badly you wanted to live when you betrayed Zieghart?”
Raon let out a scoff after retrieving the Wooden Wheel Sword the White Blood Lord had thrown away.
“……”
Denier still said nothing and only stared at the White Blood Lord’s back.
“No matter how much you provoke him or question him, it won’t mean anything. That’s how he was made.”
The White Blood Lord sneered, saying provocation wouldn’t work on Denier.
“So now you suck up words instead of blood? I wasn’t talking to you, so stay out of it.”
Raon waved his hand at the White Blood Lord as if brushing away a fly.
“You insolent little brat….”
Unlike Denier, the White Blood Lord seemed easy to provoke, glaring at him as her brow twisted.
》 “Provoking her even now… You really are something else.”
Wrath let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
“If you won’t talk, then I’ll make you.”
Raon bent his upper body deeply forward like the blade of an axe. The moment he was about to charge, Denier pulled Martha into his arms.
“If you take even one more step, I’ll kill this woman.”
As if he meant it, Denier wrapped Martha with his left arm and aimed his sword at her neck.
“Ah, Father….”
Martha’s lips turned pale and trembled at the sight of Denier, whom she had followed almost as much as her mother, trying to kill her.
“Please….”
As if she didn’t want to believe this reality, she squeezed her eyes shut.
》 “Wh-what is this! What kind of madness is that!”
Wrath ground his teeth as he looked at Denier’s sword pressed to Martha’s neck.
》 “What kind of father kidnaps his own daughter and takes her hostage! In what world does that make sense!”
As if genuinely enraged, he radiated fury nearly as intense as Raon’s.
》 “Call down this king at once! I’ll kill that bastard and that mosquito bitch together!”
Wrath jumped up and down, saying he would save Martha and lock both Denier and the White Blood Lord in an icy hell.
‘That’s the choice I make only when there’s truly no answer left.’
If he used Demon King’s Descent, both his and Wrath’s strength would permanently fall.
There was no way of knowing how much power and cultivation they would lose, so that path had to be avoided as long as possible.
‘There’s still a way forward.’
Raon lifted his left foot as he looked into Denier’s icy eyes.
Step.
Ignoring Denier’s warning not to move another inch, he strode forward without hesitation.
Piiick!
As if proving he meant what he said, Denier lightly pressed his blade against Martha’s throat. Red blood trickled down from her pale neck.
Step.
Even after seeing Denier cut Martha’s throat, Raon did not stop walking.
“I told you not to come any closer, didn’t I?”
Denier frowned for the first time, finally showing emotion.
“You can’t kill Martha.”
Raon jerked his chin toward Denier, whose voice had risen.
“If you still think this human is my daughter, then you’re making a grave mistake.”
Denier lifted his chin as if human relationships meant nothing to him.
“Raon….”
Martha opened her eyes slightly and called his name. Reflected in her trembling gaze was not betrayal, but pain and sorrow.
“It’s okay. You won’t die.”
Raon nodded to Martha, telling her not to worry.
“No, she will die.”
As if he were serious, Denier pushed the sword deeper into Martha’s neck. Blood so red it was chilling dripped from her throat and stained the white ground.
“Ugh….”
Martha groaned from pain and fear, but as if she trusted him, she pressed her lips tightly shut.
》 “Y-you idiot! Stop! The beef girl’s going to die!”
Wrath grabbed his shoulders and shook him, telling him to stop moving.
“Enough bluffing.”
Raon twisted his lips as he looked at Denier and then the White Blood Lord.
“You’re planning to make Martha the White Blood Lord’s new body.”
“Mm….”
Denier’s hand trembled slightly on the sword, as if he had never imagined Raon would see through even that.
“If that weren’t the case, there’d be no reason to take Martha hostage instead of King Lecross.”
Even knowing that taking the gravely wounded King Lecross hostage would’ve been the best choice, Denier had thrown him aside and taken Martha instead. No matter how you looked at it, that was strange.
“I-is that true?”
Balder’s eyes widened as if the thought had never even crossed his mind.
“I’m sure of it. If they really had no use for Martha, they could’ve killed her right away while retreating.”
Since they hadn’t killed her and had instead paralyzed her entire body and taken her away, Martha clearly still had an important role to play.
“Besides, the White Blood Lord’s body has already reached its limit.”
Raon frowned as he pointed at the White Blood Lord, whose hands and arms were sprouting white scales.
“In order to use her full Blood Energy, the White Blood Lord needs a body whose soul wavelength matches hers. Since she’s using Martha’s mother’s body right now, it wouldn’t be strange for her to target the grown Martha next.”
Raon bit down so hard his molars felt like they might shatter.
“Denier may have had Martha adopted into Zieghart in order to prepare her as a body the White Blood Lord could switch into.”
He didn’t want to imagine it, but given everything that had happened so far, that was the most likely explanation.
“……”
Denier said nothing and only glared at him as if he wanted to kill him.
“Ha….”
The White Blood Lord let out a hollow laugh, as if finding the whole thing absurd.
“Your little brain really does work well.”
She wrinkled the bridge of her nose as if acknowledging his judgment.
“Now that I’ve confirmed my guess was right….”
Raon bent forward like a drawn bow and stepped with the [Supreme Harmony Steps]. Advancing as if folding the ground beneath him, he brought Crimson Flash down toward Denier’s neck.
Craaaang!
As if proving Raon’s judgment correct, Denier pulled Martha back and raised his sword to block Crimson Flash.
“Just as I thought.”
Raon drew a cold smile as he looked at the veins standing out at Denier’s temple.
“Raon Zieghart….”
Denier ground his teeth audibly as he shoved away the flames of Crimson Flash with Blood Energy.
“You’d better fight with everything you have.”
Raon pressed Denier with sheer force and lifted his chin.
“Because I’m really pissed off today.”
He swung the flames blazing above Heavenly Drive with all the rage burning inside him.
Craaaang!
The golden flames filled with fury burned through the white Blood Energy in an instant and drove toward Denier’s heart.
Kuuung!
Realizing a frontal clash wouldn’t be easy, Denier raised a wall of Blood Energy and retreated without hesitation.
“Guard this one.”
Denier handed the gasping Martha to an archbishop, then stood in front of Raon again.
“How much of it was real, and how much of it was a lie?”
Raon looked down at Denier, who had lowered his stance as if tense, and asked the question.
“Everything was real, and everything was a lie.”
Leaving those words behind, Denier vanished amid a white current. It wasn’t sorcery. His movement was so fast it only looked as though he had disappeared from sight.
‘As I thought….’
Raon narrowed his eyes as he felt Denier move elsewhere before his senses could even catch him.
‘So Denier’s specialty was speed?’
He had felt it from the moment Denier dodged the frost strike he unleashed while in the Divine-Demonic Harmony state, but Denier’s strength seemed to lie in swordsmanship and movement of extreme speed, too fast even for Raon’s senses to catch.
Piiick!
As Raon spread his senses wider to locate Denier, his shoulder split open and blood sprayed out.
Swaaash!
By the time the blood struck the ground, he heard the sound of a sword wind. It seemed Denier moved even faster than sound itself and launched his strikes that way.
‘He’s definitely not beneath me.’
Just as he had first felt, Denier possessed martial might nearly equal to his own.
‘This time, behind!’
As if trying to kill him in one blow, Denier moved behind him in an instant and drove his sword toward Raon’s neck.
Kyaaaang!
Raon narrowed his eyes as he blocked Denier’s thrust with the Soul Requiem Sword held in reverse grip.
“Looks like going for the back is your specialty. Or maybe it’s all you can do.”
Even Denier reacted to provocation in the end. Raon crooked his finger arrogantly to rile him up.
“Hmph!”
Denier scoffed and accelerated even further. The afterimages he left behind reflected like mirrors, making it seem as if hundreds of Deniers stood before him.
“Die.”
With that cold command, the afterimages of Denier in different stances rushed in all at once.
They weren’t clones, yet they felt like clones, and Raon couldn’t find where the real Denier was. It felt less like fighting a swordsman and more like fighting sorcery.
Kyaaaaaang!
Focusing all of his mind into his senses, he barely managed to knock aside Denier’s sword strike as it burrowed toward his chest.
‘It isn’t heavy, but it rattles the bones.’
Denier’s sword carried the subtleties of speed and precision pushed to the extreme, so even when blocked, it brought pain that felt like it was tearing skin and muscle apart.
The sword energy was so keen that even a single stab seemed enough to take his life, sending a chill down his spine.
“You’re still far from enough.”
As if he had expected that much, Denier left behind a cold voice and sliced across Raon’s shoulder once again.
“Ugh….”
Raon frowned as he stanched the blood flowing from the shoulder Denier had cut twice. He had been certain he blocked it, but Denier’s sword had no fixed form, making it difficult to defend against.
“You’ve grown far more than when I saw you before.”
The White Blood Lord nodded as if pleased with Denier’s movements.
“It seems your luck runs out here.”
She curled her lips as if convinced of Raon’s death.
“Raon!”
“You brat! Didn’t you say you’d finish it quickly!”
Larian and Chamber shouted. Even with the battle against the White Blood Lord right in front of them, it seemed they were more worried about him.
“……”
Like true swordsmen, Aris and Lecross only nodded silently, as if they trusted him.
[Don’t try to kill the White Blood Lord. Just think about enduring.]
As Raon knocked away Denier’s sword aimed at his heart, he sent an aura message to Larian, Chamber, Lecross, and Aris.
[The White Blood Lord isn’t in normal condition. Even now, she’s stalling for time to recover her wounds and stamina. Start the fight quickly and wear her down.]
Telling them the White Blood Lord only looked fine on the surface, he laid out the only path by which they could win this war.
[Are you alright?]
[Worry about yourself!]
Larian and Chamber shouted at him to focus on the fight in front of him instead of them.
[I’m fine.]
Raon drew a faint smile and activated Azure Mind’s Eye. Entrusting himself to the cold energy blooming over his pupils, he tightened his grip on Heavenly Drive and the Soul Requiem Sword.
[From this point on, I’ll be able to see everything.]
===
“Idiots never understand until they suffer it themselves.”
The White Blood Lord curled her red lips upward as if certain of Denier’s victory.
“You’re the same. Now that the Mara of Blood and Mercy has descended, there is no way I will fall.”
With a sneer, she amplified the Blood Energy of the Mara of Blood and Mercy even further. It felt as though not only the White Blood Cult, but the shore and sea beyond it, were being stained by Blood Energy.
“That’s something we’ll only know after we try.”
King Lecross stepped forward with a powerful stamp and advanced on the White Blood Lord. Drawing the sword pulled behind his waist forward, he unleashed a mighty sword strike that seemed capable of piercing the sea itself.
“For once, you said something right.”
Larian used the lightning clinging to her fingertips to summon yellow thunderbolts from the clear sky.
“I’ll rip that head right off!”
Chamber swung her staff and tore apart the very space where the White Blood Lord stood.
“I’m going too!”
Aris swung her sword in concert with Chamber’s magic. A slash that split dimensions burst forth from behind the White Blood Lord.
Kugugugugugu!
As the four transcendents, each wielding different abilities, attacked together as if perfectly coordinated, heaven and earth shook violently and the Blood Energy the White Blood Lord had spread began to melt away.
“You vermin.”
The White Blood Lord narrowed her brow and brought her hands together in front of her chest. The moment she revealed killing intent amid dense Blood Energy, the eyelids of the Mara of Blood and Mercy opened and its crimson gaze flared.
Kugugugugugu!
The Mara of Blood and Mercy brought down all the weapons held in its dozens of hands at once.
Terrifying Blood Energy exploded, and the aura and magic fired simultaneously by Larian, Chamber, Aris, and Lecross collapsed in an instant.
Kuwaaaaaang!
The Mara of Blood and Mercy raised the weapons in its right hands and summoned a huge wave of Blood Energy. It was a move that turned defense straight into attack.
Kwaaaaaaang!
Larian drew a hexagram with her dagger and formed a defensive spell, but the Blood Energy of the Mara of Blood and Mercy was so vicious that she was pushed back ten whole steps.
“Krrgh….”
Larian’s fingers trembled as if just blocking the Blood Energy was already straining her.
“Are you alright?”
Chamber let out a low groan as she looked at Larian’s shaking hand.
“You old fossils focus on attacking.”
Larian let out a rough breath, saying she would hold the Blood Energy back herself.
“Larian….”
Normally Chamber would’ve shouted at her not to bring up age, but the situation was too serious for jokes.
“Cough….”
Lecross coughed repeatedly, blood mixed in his breath, as he raised his sword.
“My apologies. I’ll make sure I cut her down instead.”
As if staking his life on it, the faded light in his eyes filled once more with the noble will of a knight.
“I’ll help with the defense too.”
Aris approached Larian and bowed her head.
“No, you focus on attacking.”
Larian shook her head firmly.
“Your sword that cuts dimensions works on the White Blood Lord too.”
She nodded, saying Aris’s dimensional sword was the sharpest blade they had right now.
“She’s right. If you combine it with my magic, that sword’ll become even sharper.”
Chamber tapped Aris on the shoulder, telling her to fight together with her.
“I’ll open the way….”
Even in his poor condition, King Lecross once again took the front line and charged at the White Blood Lord.
Kuwaaaaaang!
Burning away the Blood Energy, he knocked aside the weapons of the Mara of Blood and Mercy as they came crashing down and plunged straight into the White Blood Lord’s embrace.
“You come looking for your grave!”
The White Blood Lord stretched out a hand rippling with Blood Energy as if she were pleased to deal with him personally.
“Owen’s knights never break!”
As if to give courage to the knights fighting behind him, Lecross clashed head-on with the White Blood Lord.
Kugugugugugu!
Dark aura and transparent Blood Energy collided, sending gray sparks spraying across heaven and earth.
“Krrgh….”
Even as he coughed up blood, Lecross did not retreat and endured the White Blood Lord’s overwhelming might.
“Even if you stop me, it won’t matter!”
With the White Blood Lord’s gruesome smile, the Mara of Blood and Mercy moved again.
As if trying to swallow both Lecross and the other transcendents in a single strike, the giant blood god brought down the dozens of weapon-bearing hands all at once.
Wooooooong!
Larian raised a shield of mana with eleven daggers and blocked the assault of the Mara of Blood and Mercy as it poured down monstrous Blood Energy.
“Kghhhhh!”
Red veins rose in Larian’s eyes, and her breathing came in jagged, broken pieces as if it might stop at any moment.
“Let’s go!”
Chamber and Aris ran through the opening Lecross and Larian had made and unleashed transcendent magic that tore space apart and sword strikes that cut through dimensions.
“Don’t you dare!”
As if she had anticipated everything, the White Blood Lord tried to block her back with the shield held by the Mara of Blood and Mercy.
Huuuuuu!
But Chamber’s magic that shaved away space itself and Aris’s sword that cut dimensions pierced through even that thick shield of Blood Energy and opened fresh wounds across the White Blood Lord’s back.
Puh-eok!
The White Blood Lord’s back split wide, and transparent blood erupted like a fountain.
“You gnats!”
Grinding her teeth, the White Blood Lord brought her hands together, and the weapons held by the Mara of Blood and Mercy moved with a mysterious flow as they fell toward the transcendents of the Five Kings.
This was different from before, when only the Blood Energy had been strong. These attacks followed the flow of martial arts, as though a master were wielding the weapons himself.
“Don’t block it! Dodge, no matter what!”
At Larian’s shout, Chamber, Lecross, and Aris gave up on attacking and stamped the ground hard enough to shatter it as they retreated.
Kuwaaaaaaang!
In place of the four transcendents, the ground took the full force of the Mara of Blood and Mercy’s assault, collapsing so completely no trace of its former shape remained. In its place yawned a massive crater with no end in sight.
“Running won’t save you!”
As if determined to catch them, the White Blood Lord advanced together with the Mara of Blood and Mercy and targeted Larian and Lecross, but with Chamber’s and Aris’s support, the two managed to escape without serious injury.
“Go in again!”
The moment the Mara of Blood and Mercy’s fierce assault ended, Chamber opened space again and emerged, firing spatial magic meant to erase the White Blood Lord’s head.
“I know!”
Aris also seized the opening and unleashed a slash that cut through dimensions.
Wooooooong!
Larian and King Lecross, who had just escaped the Blood Energy, joined the attack again without even a moment to catch their breath.
Kuwaaaaaang!
The White Blood Lord blocked the combined assault of the four transcendents with a shield made from the Mara of Blood and Mercy’s Blood Energy, but her brow creased as if she found the situation infuriating.
“You fight like cowards!”
The White Blood Lord gnashed her teeth and sent Blood Energy surging out again, but the transcendents of the Five Kings had cast aside all pride. Whenever the situation became dangerous, they retreated without a second glance.
“Kraaaaaah!”
The White Blood Lord spewed Blood Energy like mad in fury, but she could not catch the transcendents as they fled while supporting one another.
‘This will do.’
Chamber nodded as she watched the enraged White Blood Lord.
‘No matter what we do right now, we can’t win.’
Even with four transcendents together, none of them were in proper condition, so defeating the White Blood Lord was impossible.
The best they could do was what they were doing now: avoid her and wear down her strength.
‘The turning point is….’
Chamber bit her lip as she watched Raon block Denier’s attacks far more easily than before and even counterattack.
‘It’ll be when Raon takes down Denier and joins us.’
===
Kyaaaaaang!
Raon narrowed his eyes as he knocked away Denier’s lightning-fast sword.
‘I can see it now. No, I can feel it too.’
The moment he opened Azure Mind’s Eye, Denier’s movements, which had once slipped beyond his perception, became perfectly visible.
He was no longer relying only on experience and instinct to block like before. Now he could defend with certainty.
‘Now I can pierce him too.’
The instant Denier moved in to thrust at his neck, Raon twisted aside to avoid it and brought Heavenly Drive down.
Puh-eok!
Unable to handle the speed of his own charge, Denier’s shoulder was sliced long and deep by Heavenly Drive.
“Ugh….”
Though pain twisted his brow, he attacked again at once. His speed grew even faster.
‘He’s definitely fast. But….’
Now I can see all of it.
Because he could sense what Denier was aiming for and where he would strike, he could prepare not just to defend, but to counterattack.
Chiiiiing!
Raon deflected Denier’s sword with the Soul Requiem Sword and carved a long gash across his thigh with Heavenly Drive.
Piiick!
Bleeding from both shoulder and thigh, Denier retreated. His face had gone deathly pale.
“It’s too late for regrets.”
Raon shook his head as he flicked the white blood staining Heavenly Drive aside.
“You’re Zieghart’s enemy.”
“Haaa….”
Denier let out a long breath and pulled a glass vial filled with red liquid from his chest.
“I still haven’t shown you everything.”
Just as he let out a rough breath and was about to uncap the vial—
Huuuuuk!
A brilliant blue light flashed, and the glass vial vanished from Denier’s hand.
“What is…?”
“Huh?”
Raon and Denier both lifted their heads at the same time and looked toward the sky where the light had burst.
Huuuuuk!
It was Evelyn. Standing in the air, she waved the glass vial Denier had been holding in her right hand.
“Looking for this? Or….”
Evelyn drew a red smile and pushed Martha, cradled in her left arm, forward.
“Are you looking for this girl instead?”
(T/N: My Evelyn is here!! And look at her illustration, damn! She looooks sooo goood! Raon, you gaeeee? How can you ignore her?!)
Thanks for the translation you’re the best