Chapter 134

After climbing a little along the mountain ridge, the Merion Dam came into view.

Tibel Bartole, even in her butler's uniform, walked briskly up the mountain path without difficulty, while Kukulo almost had to be carried by Pneuve to climb the mountain.

When they reached the middle of the slope, their view was wide open.

A gentle breeze, green leaves, the pouring sunlight and the vast Merion Dam below.

A table and a chair were left alone, as if someone had been having a meal.

Tibel Bartole tilted her head.

"...Why is there a table in the mountains?"

"Oh. That's my spot!"

A sharp shout was heard.

A blond young man quickly ran out from between the trees and sat in the chair.

He quickly stuffed the remaining bread into his mouth, as if to not let it be taken away, and chewed.

"I just went for a short walk."

"You..."

"Why are you surprised to see me?"

I chuckled.

"Didn't you expect me to be here?"

"......"

Both Kukulo and Tibel fell silent.

I seemed to have been waiting for them.

He even brought a table and chairs and sat there shamelessly!

Kukulo and Tibel quickly exchanged glances.

"...You're surprising."

I smiled faintly.

Kukulo had no choice but to grind his teeth.

His stomach was twisted and tangled and he was in excruciating pain. He felt like he wanted to spit out his lungs.

"And that face... the way you're smiling widely after stealing my business makes me sick."

"You should get your facts straight. They're my businesses now."

"...You son of a bitch."

"You raised your businesses well. They were very delicious."

"You bastard-!"

A thick vein popped on Kukulo's forehead.

I had a knack for getting under other people's skin.

Tibel held Kukulo's hand.

The man who resembled a cuckoo calmed down and caught his breath.

"Alright, what's done is done. It's a good thing we ran into each other here, in a way."

"Good thing?"

"You must have come here without knowing what's in the Merion Dam."

He gestured to his retainer.

"...Tibel, you said you could move right away."

"Yes, master."

"Activate it."

Tibel Bartole nodded and lowered herself, placing her hand on the ground.

As she moved her lips, a halo of light rose from behind her head.

The number was three; a Three-Origin Halo.

She chanted the activation word.

A dark blue mana flowed through the circuit hidden in the ground.

A vibration started from deep within, and the ground began to crack.

The ground they were standing on cracked.

It was accompanied by a low, rumbling sound. Inside the cracked ground were several forms.

I let out a gasp of admiration.

"Wow! I didn't expect to see this here."

There were seven mechanical beasts.

Each one was the size of two carriages put together and was covered in brilliant mana light.

They were weapons made by high-level magical engineering, beast-form magi-soldiers.

They were things I was all too familiar with.

"Aren't those Cordis military weapons?"

The corner of my mouth twisted.

It was because the thought of the Empire made me angry from the inside of my chest.

"What kind of guts do you have to make something like this? Did you want to get stoned to death?"

It had been 53 years since the war between the West and the Empire.

There were many who still hadn't forgotten the wounds.

The Empire held a persistent animosity, no, a hatred, for the West, and the West for the Empire.

"If you die here, no one will know."

Kukulo said with confidence.

He had a right to, since he had weapons from the Great Empire, Cordis.

But Tibel Bartole couldn't hide her anxiety.

Shion seemed to have recognized that they were beast-form magi-soldiers, but he didn't lose his composure even for a moment.

"Really? I have a question."

The Regressor Prince ran his hand through his hair.

"Did I come here knowing these magi-soldiers were here, or not?"

The smile on my lips was my answer.

If I came here knowing they were here, it meant that those magi-soldiers were no threat to me.

"......"

But Tibel had no other choice.

She had to bury Shion here.

Tibel moved her lips once more.

The magi-soldiers, having heard their master's command, began to hum.

The mana light was brilliant even in the sunlight.

The magi-soldiers, who resembled wolves, bared their fangs and charged.

Their momentum was tremendous.

The smell of mana wafted.

Even the sound of the magi-soldiers running was chilling.

Their legs were so powerful that they left deep footprints where they ran.

Shion Pollinglight put his hands together politely, as if in prayer.

My first Ars,

'Fantasy Finger'.

One of the magi-soldiers fell over.

It looked as if it had been grabbed by the ankle by an invisible hand.

The magi-soldier that fell over had its mouth torn wide open from top to bottom.

Dozens of 'Fantasy Fingers' had done it. Once its mouth was torn, it could no longer move.

Another magi-soldier flew through the air.

It looked as if it had been grabbed and swung by an invisible hand.

It was thrown, then thrown again, and grabbed again, leaving a deep scar on the ground.

After being swung about ten times, it went limp and stopped moving.

There was a magi-soldier whose outer armor was torn off as if it had been ripped apart by an invisible hand.

There were others that were bent and broken like millet stalks, and others that were torn into pieces like an insect in a baby's hand.

"They're all instantaneous...!"

No one but Shion knew what had happened.

That's how 'Fantasy Finger' works.

An invisible hand weaves its way through and by the time you realize what's happening, everything is over.

"Tibel...!"

Kukulo gritted his teeth.

"Bring out that one too!"

"I was just about to."

Tibel Bartole chanted a spell.

A vibration began from an even deeper place.

This time, the ground did not crack.

Instead, a giant form pushed through the water of the Merion Dam and rose.

I allowed them to bring out their weapon. Soon, a gigantic bronze head emerged from the water.

"...Del Conti, you guys are crazy!"

I gasped in admiration.

I knew the true identity of that bronze giant.

It was a giant-form magi-soldier.

It was a weapon so huge that its head would come out of the water if it stood on the bottom of the dam.

Thump, a sound was heard. ‘

Thump, thump, the ground continued to shake.

It was the sound of the bronze giant walking out of the dam. Its presence was overwhelming.

It felt as if a mountain was moving.

"You made a giant-form magi-soldier?"

Even its shadow was enormous.

The entire clearing where we were standing was darkened by its shadow.

I frowned and looked up at the bronze giant.

I suddenly thought the sun had been blocked out and it was evening.

"You must have been planning to establish a country."

Even the Great Empire, Cordis, couldn't just mass-produce those bronze giants.

It was the strongest magi-soldier, incomparable to the beast-form or angel-form ones.

The Empire's ultimate weapon was said to be able to destroy a city with one, a mountain with three, and an entire country with ten.

"...Stop talking."

Tibel Bartole frowned.

This bronze giant was something that should never have been brought out.

It was no different from a piece of evidence that she was an Imperial spy.

"You will die here today."

"How scary..."

I scratched my neck.

A thick vein stood out on my neck.

"I'm so scared that..."

The bronze giant tried to stomp on me.

A tremendous booming sound was heard.

Kwa-aaaaang! The ground shook so much that Kukulo covered his ears and fell to the ground.

"...I'm getting angry, you know?"

My third Ars,

'The Heated Iron Bloodline'.

I had torn out my bloodline and made it into an Ars.

It was a disgustingly heavy and hot iron bloodline.

It was so heavy that the bronze giant, which had been hit in the shin, staggered and couldn't stomp on me.

'Humph.' The Regressor Prince snorted and flicked his wrist.

The 'Iron Bloodline' rushed at the bronze giant like a living black snake.

The giant raised its arm to block it.

Another Kwa-ang! Even with the mana protection, the giant's forearm was deeply dented.

If I flick my wrist, the 'Iron Bloodline' flies out.

When dealing with a person, I would change its trajectory with 'Fantasy Finger', but since the giant was so big, there was no need for that.

Even with a simple swing, the disgustingly heavy and hot iron bloodline struck the giant.

With each strike, the bronze giant screamed with its entire body.

"You should live up to your size. You have nothing but your toughness."

My third Ars, 'The Heated Iron Bloodline.'

The secret it holds is, 'He does not give up.'

It was as heavy as the weight of my heart for my destiny and as hot as the heat of my longing.

It was a weight that even the Cordis 11th Legion Commander, Niko Nereyades, had a hard time with.

There was no way a magi-soldier could endure it.

'What idiots. The biggest advantage of the giant-form isn't its size.'

Although magi-soldiers originally had human-like intelligence, the giant-form ones had particularly excellent learning abilities.

These things, despite being machines, grew with each battle.

A giant-form magi-soldier that had completed its learning was no exaggeration to say it was on par with an Imperial Legion Commander.

But if it hadn't learned properly and hadn't been given proper weapons... it was just a giant made of bronze.

Of course, even at this level, it would be an incredible weapon in the West, but to me, it was nothing special.

The ground shook every time the iron bloodline struck the bronze giant.

If Pneuve Freira hadn't been supporting him, Kukulo would have fallen long ago.

The bronze giant couldn't even manage a single proper attack.

Even when it tried to move forward, the 'Iron Bloodline' would hit it heavily, forcing it to retreat.

I kept pushing forward.

The bronze giant was finally bound by the 'Iron Bloodline' and struggled.

The heat of my soul heated up the giant.

The Regressor Prince muttered.

"What a waste."

When I yanked my wrist, the 'Iron Bloodline' dug into the bronze giant's neck.

Soon, the giant's severed neck rolled on the ground, causing a great commotion.

The bronze head turned all the rocks and trees in its path into dust before finally falling into the dam with a thump.

"You must have spent a lot of money to make this."

Because the bronze head had fallen in, a large amount of water splashed up.

Kukulo Del Conti and Tibel Bartole were soaked and looked like drowned rats.

They couldn't even think of avoiding the splash.

They just stared blankly at the bronze giant that had stopped moving with its neck cut off.

"Is this all you prepared?"

***

"Hey. I asked if this was all."

I walked closer.

Even after cutting off the bronze giant's head, I was so calm, as if nothing had happened, as if I had just come for a walk in the mountains.

Because of this, Kukulo was so terrified he felt like he was going crazy.

"When a person asks you a question, you should answer."

"Heeek...!"

Kukulo stumbled backward in fear.

The sight of me overpowering the bronze giant was still vivid in his mind.

He had no choice but to be afraid.

The presence of Pneuve Freira next to him provided no comfort.

'He took on a giant-form by himself...'

Tibel Bartole bit her lips.

She realized that I had at least the power of an Imperial Legion Commander.

She also knew that she would never survive a fight with me.

Because of that, she took out a small switch from her pocket.

"Stop."

I sneered.

"What is that that would make me stop?"

"I have enough explosives to fill twenty carriages set up under the Merion Dam."

What? When did she do that...? Kukulo's eyes widened.

He had never heard of explosives under the dam.

Tibel Bartole ignored him and held up the switch.

"If I press this, or if I die, it will explode."

"You're going to collapse the dam?"

"Yes. That's what I'm saying."