[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]

Chapter 305: Do You Want to Betray Him?

I spread my Black Wings and fired off a volley of black feathers.

Whooosh

Tens of thousands of blades, enough to shred anyone they touched into chunks of meat, were enveloped and annihilated by a single sword wind from Ivan.

‘Crazy bastard. I’m not even surprised.’

Confirming that, I used the Shadow Flowing Phantom Sword and the Moon Dance to disorient Ivan with the pinnacle of flamboyance, and then…

KABOOOOOM!

I struck Ivan with a Lonely Wave Yearning Moon that was overlaid with Formless Sword Aura.

“Whoa there.”

But Ivan stomped his foot, drew up power from the ground, and sent me flying instead.

“How light. I thought I was hitting a feather.”

“And you needed to stomp your foot for that?”

Swoosh!

As I dodged and parried the relentless slashes that allowed no time to rest, Ivan had already closed the distance and was pressing me continuously.

‘For the most part, my techniques aren’t working.’

Even I was daunted by Ivan’s ability to counter with ease; lightly against illusion swords, swiftly against fast swords, and heavily against heavy swords.

He knew every technique that could be performed with a sword, and he was so proficient in all of them that there was no opening.

‘In the end, it’s his insight.’

He saw through my next move with near-perfect prescience, and thus, he responded with perfect appropriateness.

With just that, Ivan was receiving all my attacks without difficulty.

“You’ve learned a diverse array of petty tricks. I’ve never seen anyone fight as colorfully as you, Karzan.”

Even Ivan had to say that.

“Oh yeah? You haven’t seen anything yet.”

The Ink Soul Sacred Shadow Technique was a technique that maintained all the powers I possessed in a supremely exquisite balance.

But even while maintaining this balance, I had to use the techniques of various other martial arts.

It was as difficult as writing with your right hand, cutting meat with your left, and singing with your mouth all at the same time, but for me, in a state of extreme concentration, it was not so difficult.

Kaang!

Our swords stopped each other in mid-air.

Then, I used the arts of Infiltration and Black Flame simultaneously.

Tssssssss!

An intense heat, enough to evaporate sweat in an instant, bored into Ivan’s body.

“Hmm.”

The moment Ivan felt the heat and retreated…

‘Dark Lightning.’

Krakooom!

A single black thunderbolt momentarily stunned Ivan.

‘Ice of the Darkest Night.’

I incorporated Ulbhild’s ultimate technique to freeze the ground at his feet, then moved to his blind spot.

“Hoh.”

Footwork is the foundation of swordplay.

With his feet bound, Ivan’s response was bound to be clumsy, so…

‘Ashen Celestial Dance.’

A light that reveals all, and a darkness that covers all.

The ultimate technique, a colossal slash, a massive mana wave, a crystallization of pure power, cut towards Ivan as if cleaving a mountain.

“You’re using that here?”

Ivan’s voice was a little urgent as he brought out an ultimate technique of his own.

“Black Tiger Rending Maw Slash!”

Suddenly, the form of a Black Tiger appeared, looking as if it were opening its massive jaws.

Krrrrrrrrrck!

Bakakakakakak!

A collision that seemed to crumple the air, or perhaps space itself.

The tiger’s face and the sublimely intersecting light and darkness distorted together, causing a massive explosion.

“Ugh!”

I was thrown far back, and only by spreading my Black Wings did I manage to fly up into the sky.

“…I didn’t finish him, did I?”

It was the ultimate technique of the Ink Soul Sacred Shadow Technique that had annihilated Grimnar, but I did not think it would be able to do anything to Ivan.

“Crazy bastard. To suddenly use an ultimate technique here.”

Sure enough, Ivan stood in the middle of the explosion’s aftermath, covered in a bit of dust, and grumbled.

“And on top of that, fire arts, ice arts, and lightning arts? How absurd. What the hell have you been doing all this time?”

“My ancestor was a pretty amazing person.”

“Are you talking about Vitenfeld? If it’s him…”

“No, the Eldarkion side.”

“…”

Ivan let out a hollow laugh.

“Ah, that side? The hero of Eisenach. Then it must be related to the Dark Mana.”

“Yeah. Last time I saw you, it looked like you had copied a few of my ancestor’s arts too.”

“Right. We greedily collected all the martial arts of the continent and reconfigured them with demonic arts.”

Ivan floated a strange aura above his palm.

The black aura intertwined like rings and bracelets, or perhaps chains.

“It means we have evolved it by one stage.”

“Bullshit. What a bluff.”

“The name of the demonic art I have learned is the Black Blade Ghost Wheel Art.”

“It’s not a demonic art that sucks people’s blood like that guy Gelberich’s, is it?”

Ivan looked serious, as if to ask who he was being compared to.

“What he learned was a demonic art that was lost a long time ago. The cruel and bizarre martial art of ancient people. It’s closer to black magic than a martial art.”

“It seemed that way. In terms of martial talent alone, he wasn’t that great.”

Ivan nodded and asked.

“Only you can say that. By the way, are you done now? The 50th exchange just passed.”

“Goddammit.”

That was all?

“Now it’s my turn.”

As Ivan swung his sword, several rings surrounded me, rotating rapidly.

“Try to endure this, Karzan. This is the level of the 8th tier.”

“Go easy on me.”

And then, hell unfolded.

.

.

.

The ground was gouged, rocks were sliced, and the terrain changed.

KABOOOOM!

Kugugugugu!

To say Ivan’s power was a one-man army was an understatement.

It was as if the power of a single human could rival the forces of nature itself.

“Your talent for running away is still top-notch, Karzan!”

Ivan shouted, as if caught up in the excitement.

“Right? If I went back seventeen years in this state, I would never have been caught.”

I ran my mouth diligently while narrowly dodging all of Ivan’s attacks.

“Yes, it would have been better if that had been the case.”

“If that had happened, you would have sent Gelberic, and then some bastard like Amilcar to kill me somehow, right?”

But as I was now, I was confident I could run to the ends of the earth.

Besides…

“Hiyah!”

When things seemed impossible, I defiantly shot a poison palm, forcing Ivan to retreat.

“You’re full of tricks. Did you learn poison arts too?”

I grinned.

“I stole Grimnar’s poison. I dissolved most of it with my internal mana, but I saved enough to use a few times for an instant kill.”

“…Is the poison that potent?”

“I almost melted into a puddle of blood myself. When things get really bad, I plan to land one poison palm and run.”

“…Indeed. A deadly poison could be a variable.”

Ivan nodded his head.

“I’ll acknowledge it. If you refine the powers you have a bit more, you’ll be a worthy opponent for an 8th tier master.”

“Aren’t we doing that right now?”

Ivan replied as if the idea was preposterous.

“If I fought you seriously, you’d be finished within the next five exchanges.”

How could a real man endure hearing such words?

“Bullshit. Try me.”

“Oh yeah? Don’t regret…”

Before Ivan could finish his words, I retreated backward, created distance, and deployed my stealth art.

“Yep. I’ll just hide.”

“You cheap bastard, at every turn.”

Ivan then released a wave of mana mixed with his demonic art in all directions.

“!”

Auras like black lightning spread out, covering the earth.

It was a power that could even dispel the curtain of stealth, and no matter how much of a stealth master I was, a brute-force method like that was bound to catch me.

‘He breaks it like this.’

My thoughts and words went in different directions.

“For an old man, you’ve got a lot of mana. If you’ve got something good, you should share it.”

What flew back instead of a reply was Ivan’s ultimate technique.

“Ghost Wheel Slash.”

Crescent-shaped slashes rushed in with heavy and fast speed.

It was an ultimate technique that felt like a herd of angry bison charging to trample everything in their path.

‘Wow, fuck.’

My breath was starting to run short, and my internal mana was running dangerously low.

No, honestly, shouldn’t he give me some credit for lasting this long?

‘This is just my luck.’

I used the Scarlet Cloud Ghost Path movement technique as a base and imitated Ulbhild’s ice art, freezing the ground to slide, then exploding my internal mana to increase my speed, reading the trajectory of the slashes and repeatedly deflecting them with minimal force.

‘…He’s strong. If Ivan wasn’t holding back, I would have been dead long ago.’

But.

…Ivan’s strength was not the greatest among all the humans I had ever experienced.

“Ivan!”

I raised my hand and asked, now with several cuts on my forearm and side as the price for receiving all his ultimate techniques.

“What is it? Surrender?”

“Of course not. Let me just ask one thing.”

“Stalling for time, I see.”

I ignored Ivan’s smirk and asked my question.

“Can you not use the Sword Orb, Sword Control, or Mind Sword yet?”

“…”

Ivan tilted his head.

“Absurd. How many people in this world can use all of those?”

“Well, in our Grunewald, there is one.”

“…Leszek Grunewald, I presume.”

Ivan narrowed his brows.

“At that level, he would be a match for Lord Gulbark. Or perhaps Sir Amilcar.”

“That toad-faced bastard is that strong? I don’t believe it.”

“…Appearance has nothing to do with strength.”

I pointed at Ivan.

“Did you just admit that bastard is ugly? You irreverent bastard. How dare you talk shit about your superior’s face behind his back?”

A slash flew at me.

“Whoa there.”

I jumped to dodge it and raised my hand in apology.

“Just kidding.”

I spoke first to cut Ivan off.

“But then, is the Dark King stronger than those two?”

Ivan retorted.

“If he were not, why would they obey him?”

“The boss doesn’t always have to be the strongest.”

But I knew best that it was a stupid question.

If the leader of an organization like this was not the strongest, he would have been stabbed in the back and died long ago.

“Karzan, haven’t you stalled for enough time?”

Ivan raised his sword upwards again.

“You have four exchanges left. After you endure those, there will be twenty left, so hang in there a little longer.”

“This is fucking insane.”

…And so, I endured a full 100 exchanges.

* * *

“Hah, hah, haah.”

I clutched my bursting heart and fell flat on my back.

“Wow, fuck. I really almost died.”

“…Excellent.”

Ivan brushed back his sweat-soaked bangs and plopped down next to me.

“You managed to endure. You were getting stronger even during the fight. A genius is a genius, I suppose?”

While enduring the 100 exchanges, I had deepened my mastery of the third stage of the Ink Soul Sacred Shadow Technique and the various abilities of the Silent Night Soul-Soaking Divine Art, and above all…

“You’re a very kind teacher. Thanks to you, I feel like I’ve surpassed a stage in my sword mastery.”

“Right. At the 97th exchange, remember the feeling you had when you received my ultimate technique with a single stroke.”

Ivan let out a smirk.

“A truly enlightened swordsman’s sword needs no miscellaneous ultimate techniques. It simply cuts and cleaves as it is swung.”

“…”

I thought for a moment, then replied.

“When you put it like that, it makes me want to force a name onto it.”

“Crazy bastard.”

Ivan smirked.

“This one duel won’t be enough to overcome the 8th tier wall. But it’s safe to say you’ve reached the very end of the peak of the 7th tier.”

“I guess so.”

…I held my tongue. It was because I had one more ace up my sleeve.

‘If I learn the martial art given only to the head of the Grunewald clan here.’

Then, I would surely be able to reach the 8th tier.

‘But it would be good if I could surpass that level in advance, during the war for the throne.’

“So, Ivan.”

I asked what I was really curious about.

“You were looking for that Ereshkigal?”

“Yes.”

“…Does the Dark King need it?”

“He needs it, and he does not need it.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

Ivan smirked.

“To say more would be disloyal.”

“You bastard, you’ve been plenty disloyal already.”

“Hahaha.”

Ivan laughed heartily and got up.

“So did you find it?”

“I did not. It really is a mythical object. It seems it’s difficult for two of them to exist.”

“Well, yeah.”

The Emperor had poured the entire resources of the Empire into obtaining it, and even a mythical hero had to go on a long and perilous adventure.

To have already obtained it, and then to lose it because of me…

“Come to think of it, I guess I’ve already landed a blow on the Dark King, haven’t I?”

“It was more than just one blow. It was a loss several times greater than killing the likes of you.”

“You son of a bitch, you have a hurtful way with words.”

Only then did Ivan crack a smile, as if he had finally landed a blow of his own.

“By the way, Ivan.”

“What is it?”

“Today’s events, what are you going to tell that toad-faced bastard?”

Ivan’s actions were clearly suspicious.

“Look at the traces of this fierce battle.”

Ivan pointed at the surroundings, where the terrain itself had changed.

“These traces are the proof.”

“Are you seriously going to say you were defeated at the end of that fierce battle?”

“Of course, it will require some persuasion.”

Ivan replied.

“So, about that, would it be alright if I gave a little hint that you’ve learned poison arts?”

I immediately understood what he meant.

“Ah, so you were hit by a desperate poison palm and had to retreat?”

“In return, I’ll say you were gravely injured. If I add that Gahir, Siena, Ulbhild, Knut, and Rudgarda all attacked me at once…”

“Well, it’s not unbelievable. But will that bastard fall for such a convenient excuse?”

Ivan shrugged.

“If he has a problem with it, he can come here himself.”

“Wow.”

This bastard’s ego has gotten big too.

Then again, an 8th tier powerhouse would be called the greatest sword in the kingdom no matter which country they went to.

The position of humbly taking orders from others was long past him.

“Ivan.”

I asked seriously.

“Just this one thing, tell me honestly.”

“What is it?”

“Do you want to betray the Dark King?”

…Ivan’s eyes held a deep abyss.

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]