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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter 101: Thornwood (2)
***
Alexander snorted, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I don’t know how to describe how I feel right now.”
– Kehehehe, let me guess. Do you feel like shit because you got punked by a snot-nosed kid?
“That’s about right. I mean, I’m a high-class, and I got killed by a middle-class…trash…”
Alexander rubbed the back of his neck. His neck seemed to be throbbing with anger.
“I’m curious how you can use dark magic, but… I don’t think this is the time to ask. Yeah. There’s something else I need to do right now.”
Alexander raised his demonic sword and pointed the tip at Damien.
“I’ll make you, you insolent brat, realize what a high-class is.”
“High-class?”
A smirk appeared on Damien’s lips.
“You’re strutting around like some pompous peacock just because you’ve got your grubby mitts on the power of the demonic sword.”
Alexander’s strength was not his own.
“And here you are, fumbling about with that sword like a clueless child clutching a toy. You haven’t the faintest idea how to wield its power and even if you did, you’d likely just end up tripping over your own incompetence.”
Damien could see it all.
The fact that Alexander was just putting on a show as a high-class.
“And that’s precisely why Sir Liam kept wiping the floor with you. You’re nothing but a low-class imposter pretending to be something you’re not. You keep calling yourself a high-class but in reality, you just cluelessly flailing about with borrowed power you can’t even use properly.”
Alexander’s eyebrows twitched at the repeated provocation.
“You’re as good as blind with two eyes. Didn’t you see me defeat that Liam?”
“That’s because you caught him off guard with the demonic sword’s ability. Without that ability, you would have lost to Sir Liam in the end.”
Alexander’s expression twisted, but the demonic sword laughed out loud.
– Kehehehe, you’re a smart one. He would have been killed by Liam or whatever his name is if it wasn’t for me.
“Can’t you shut up?”
– Partner, getting angry like this makes you look really pathetic. You should at least keep your pride. Don’t you think?
“I told you to shut up.”
Alexander glared at Damien. His eyes turned bloodshot with anger.
“I felt it from the first time I saw you, but you’re really unlucky.”
“Oh, spare me your feeble attempts at insight. When I first laid eyes on you, I saw nothing but a pathetic combination of cluelessness and unwarranted arrogance.”
“You little punk! I’ll first cut off your tongue!”
Alexander erupted in anger and charged forward. He swung his demonic sword at Damien.
Damien also rushed forward and easily parried the attack.
As soon as he blocked the sword, Alexander immediately launched a series of attacks.
Damien blocked all of the attacks as well.
“Not bad! Then I’ll take you seriously!”
– Kehehehe, leave it to me, partner!
The demonic sword infused Alexander with even more dark magic.
Veins protruded prominently from his sword-wielding arm. At the same time, Alexander’s movements became even faster.
“Kukakahat!”
Alexander burst into laughter and pressed Damien even harder.
The demonic sword slashed through the air without rest. Damien’s hands moved busily.
Both of them were so fast that their hands were invisible. Only the sparks bursting out of the air told of the exchange of blows.
At that moment, their swords crossed.
The holy sword and the demonic sword tried to cut each other’s owner’s throats.
Just before the demonic sword hit him, Damien tilted his neck. The demonic sword only cut off his collar.
On the other hand, Damien’s holy sword cut Alexander’s neck, but it bounced off with a clang as if it had hit metal.
Both attacks failed. The two men stepped back simultaneously.
“This is the first time my clothes have been cut.”
Damien said, touching his collar. Since his regression, Alexander was the first person to touch Damien’s clothes.
“The demonic sword’s ability is much more powerful than I thought.”
Damien said, looking at the demonic sword. But Alexander had no time to respond.
“You bastard…….”
Thanks to the dark mana of the demonic sword, Alexander’s speed had become even faster.
In fact, Alexander’s slashes were much faster than Damien’s.
However, Damien calmly blocked all of those slashes. It was as if he could read Alexander’s mind.
That wasn’t all. He even counterattacked at the end, and not only that, he cut the most vital point, the neck.
If it wasn’t for the fact that his body’s hardness had been strengthened to the point of being able to withstand the aura thanks to the demonic sword, he would have surely lost his life.
In other words, Alexander was overwhelmed by Damien.
He was outmatched in both skill and experience.
“How can a middle-class… This is ridiculous… Who the hell are you… What the hell are you!”
“It’s nothing much, but you’re really surprised.”
Damien said nonchalantly.
“I told you, you’re just borrowing someone else’s power.”
What is a high-class?
Is it just someone with superhuman physical abilities? Someone with a huge amount of mana?
No. A high-class is someone who has reached the pinnacle of their skill.
“You don’t even understand your own swordsmanship and calling yourself a high-class is as absurd as a donkey donning a crown. Even a passing dog would laugh.”
Damien’s skills were not insignificant enough to be defeated by such a fool.
“This little motherfucker…!”
Veins popped up on Alexander’s face. He looked like he was about to charge at any moment.
– Partner, calm down. There’s nothing good that will come from falling for that guy’s provocation.
At that moment, the demonic sword stopped Alexander.
– What if that guy is not ordinary? Even so, that guy can’t hurt the partner.
The demonic sword was right. Damien’s sword had not been able to cut Alexander’s neck.
– If we drag this out, we will eventually win. Besides, that guy’s weapon is also broken.
It was terrifying to see that the holy sword that Damien was holding had cracked.
The divine power began to leak out from the crack, and the holy sword turned into an ordinary sword in an instant.
“…….”
Damien looked at the holy sword with a surprised face. He knew that the demonic sword had extraordinary predictive abilities, but he had not expected it to be able to destroy even the holy sword.
– Kehehehe! Look at that guy’s face! He’s so surprised that his eyes are wide open! If you’re going to fight me, you have to pay the price!
The demonic sword cried out in joy. Seeing Damien’s expressions, Alexander also felt better.
“Haahaa! That precious holy sword has become scrap metal! Good!”
Damien stroked the holy sword with an apologetic face. It was a really good sword. He had not expected it to be broken in such an absurd way.
“I’m sorry. I’ll let you get revenge with your own hands instead.”
Although it was cracked and its divine power was gone, the holy sword was still a great sword.
Damien gripped the holy sword. Alexander and the demonic sword laughed at him.
“It looks like that guy is going to try again with us.”
– Kehehehe, let’s show him what’s for real this time.
Damien charged. Alexander also rushed forward with the demonic sword.
“Let’s smash that sword first!”
Alexander swung the demonic sword down diagonally.
However, Damien did not block the demonic sword and dodged the attack by leaning his body to one side. Alexander immediately swung his sword horizontally.
As Damien leaned back slightly, the demonic sword once again cut through the air.
“You’re good at dodging!”
Alexander swung the demonic sword repeatedly. However, Damien dodged the attacks all too easily.
As the attacks continued to miss, Alexander’s expression began to change.
It was strange.
Their attacks were clearly much faster and stronger. But the attacks didn’t hit.
“Are you curious how I’m dodging?”
Damien was even calm enough to talk.
“I’ve already memorized it all.”
Damien could master any swordsmanship he had seen once.
Once with Liam Bluegreen, and again in the recent clash.
“I’ve seen it twice already. I’ve already seen through the demonic sword’s swordsmanship perfectly.”
“Why are you spouting such nonsense……!”
“You’ll see if it’s nonsense or not from now on.”
“Yeah, let’s see!”
Alexander swung down the demonic sword in anger. Damien turned his body slightly.
The demonic sword passed Damien by a hair’s breadth.
At that moment, Damien thrust out the holy sword. The outstretched holy sword grazed Alexander’s shoulder.
“It’s useless…….”
The flesh on his shoulder was cut open. Blood gushed out.
“……Huh?”
– ……Huh?
Alexander and the demonic sword were simultaneously shocked.
In the meantime, Damien retrieved the holy sword and swung it again. This time, it cut Alexander’s forearm.
This time too, the flesh was cut and blood splattered. Alexander was even more embarrassed.
“This is ridiculous…… What the hell did you do!”
Veronica Sánchez.
In her past life, she was called the Grim Reaper, and through an obsession with murder, she reached the level of mastery known as the Life-Taking sword mastery.
After reaching Life-Taking sword mastery, she was able to slice through a person’s body like water even with a blunt tree branch.
It was useless to strengthen his body with the demonic sword. With Life-Taking sword, he could cut through flesh.
“Kuaak!”
Damien swung his sword repeatedly and cut through Alexander’s body. Alexander screamed.
“This is ridiculous…… This is ridiculous! A middle-class, to me…… Me, me!”
Alexander’s eyes gradually filled with fear.
He was starting to feel it. The fact that death was imminent.
– Partner! What are you afraid of? I’m here!
At that moment, the demonic sword shouted. He came to his senses at those words.
– Use me! Let’s turn him into a mincemeat!
Immediately, Alexander grabbed the demonic sword in reverse and thrust the tip of the sword into the ground with all his might.
Immediately after, thorns sprouted all over the ground where the two were standing.
***
Throughout the battle, Damien was wary of the demonic sword’s special ability.
The demonic sword ‘Thorns’, as its name suggests, attacked enemies by causing thorns to sprout over a wide area.
It was not only fast but also destructive. It was capable of destroying weapons imbued with the aura of a high-class.
It was too dangerous to face it head-on.
That’s why Damien had already prepared a countermeasure.
Just before Alexander thrust the demonic sword down, Damien activated the Art of Sacrificial Raging Demon Manifestation.
The mana stored in his muscles instantly activated his body. His senses became extremely sharp.
As his senses became sharper, the amount of information entering his brain also increased rapidly.
All of Alexander’s movements came into view. The movement of his facial muscles, the processing of his gaze, the swaying of his hair.
Alexander’s movements began to slow down. He could see in detail the demonic sword touching the ground and the dark magic spreading towards the ground.
Damien stepped forward. Thorns pierced through the ground and poked their heads out.
Damien stepped only on the empty spaces. Thanks to this, he was able to avoid the thorns and reach Alexander’s nose.
Even though Damien had reached his nose, Alexander did not recognize him. It was because the whole world had stopped.
Damien stopped using the Art of Sacrificial Raging Demon Manifestation. The world that had stopped started moving again. Thorns sprouted out long and covered the whole world.
“……Huh?”
Only then did Alexander find Damien. Even after finding him, he had a blank expression for a while.
– Partner! Dodge!
The moment the demonic sword cried out, Damien swung the holy sword.
Alexander’s head flew into the air.
***
In that same instant, Alexander’s hand whipped out and grabbed his head. Then, as if nothing was wrong, he reattached it to his neck.
Simultaneously, he swung the demonic sword with a powerful arc. Damien dodged the demonic sword and retreated.
Dark smoke erupted from the severed area. The wound regenerated in a blink of an eye.
“Kuh, keh! Keuheuk!”
Alexander coughed up a spray of blood.
“Thanks to you, I’m alive! I would’ve been done for otherwise!”
Upon hearing these words, Damien realized that it wasn’t Alexander who had just moved his body. It was the demonic sword itself, manipulating the body to snatch the head and put it back on.
– Kehehehe, I just ensured your survival.”
The demonic sword boomed with a laugh.
– After all, your dying wouldn’t exactly benefit me either.”
– Partner
the demonic sword continued, its tone suddenly serious.
– I just realized something. That guy is far too dangerous. We can’t possibly win this way.
“Don’t tell me you’re suggesting to run.”
– Kehehehe, of course not! We’ve been thoroughly humiliated. We need payback.
“So you have a plan to win?”
– Kehehehe, absolutely. Absolutely.
Alexander’s face lit up at the demonic sword’s words.
“If that’s the case, why the wait? Use it now!”
– The time wasn’t right yet.
the demonic sword explained.
– I had intended to use it later.
“Just get on with it already! Kill that guy right now….”
Alexander’s body abruptly stiffened. He looked down with a face contorted in disbelief.
The demonic sword was embedded in his body, piercing straight through his chest and protruding from his back.
“W-what… What the… Cough.”
Blood bubbled from his mouth, rendering him barely able to speak.
– Partner, forgive me.
The demonic sword rasped.
– No matter how many options I considered, this was the only way.
The demonic sword liquefied and oozed into Alexander’s body, merging with him.
Immediately following this gruesome transformation, Alexander’s body began to morph. A metallic substance, eerily similar to the demonic sword’s material, engulfed his entire form.
“Y-you bastard… What are you doing to my body…!”
The metal completely encased his face, obliterating all his features.
A moment later, a vertical split appeared down the center, followed by a horizontal one intersecting it.
The vertical split widened, revealing crimson pupils that resembled coagulated blood.
The horizontal split stretched open, exposing rows of sharp, shark-like teeth.
The entity that was once Alexander wiped its metallic face with a pseudo-hand. Then, it slowly spread its arms outwards.
– Haa…
It sighed, a sound laced with a strange sense of euphoria.
– Having a body truly is a magnificent thing.
Sword’s voice is a chilling combination of the demonic sword and Alexander.
– Wouldn’t you agree?
***
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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