章節 15: Chapter 174
Ka-clang! Clang!
Haytona's chainsword shot forward like a whip. Compared to the normal long sword, the chainsword's attack range was inconceivably long. The blows were quite strong and heavy. The impact through the blade and handle was enough to make Jin's hands sting.
In Jin's opinion, the mirages' sword skills were similar to what the Tona Twins actually had.
'Had I not known they were mirages, I would have believed that this was real. Murakan never would have thought that the mirages would be like this.'
He had never heard of a type of magic or god-given ability like this anywhere in the world.
Even if they were mirages crafted by some ability, if he didn't dodge or parry their attacks, he would get cut. Every impact he received, his entire body felt like it was in a real battle.
Haytona spoke with a smirk.
"You're blocking it well."
Then, Daytona charged in. His weapon was a colossal sword slightly smaller than the axe-sword Crantel. Its weight should still be beyond belief, but his swift movements didn't make it look heavy at all.
Sssssssssst-clang!
The blade dragged across the sand, then flew up like lightning. Jin took a step back and parried the attack horizontally. He felt that his strength wasn't like before.
Daytona only stopped for a second to recoil then continued swinging.
'I would usually end his posture in one swing. Unfortunate.'
He had eaten only twenty percent of his normal amount of food and walked the barren wasteland for a week. His body would never be the same.
Still, with his current normal state, he would be able to take down the Tona Twins within five minutes. However, due to the lack of strength, the skill gap significantly shortened.
Haytona shouted, swinging his chain sword once more.
"Gonna cry? Gonna panic? We waited for you to be exhausted!"
As the Tona Twins began to attack together, Jin's movements got busier. Making small gaps to dodge the mid-range attacks from the chainsword and deflecting the colossal sword.
"It's been a long time since we've met, and this is how I get greeted?"
As he spoke, Jin's eyes bolted in every direction to find the most optimal path to dodge.
"Shut up!"
"Die!"
Ting! Clang!
As the three blades clashed, sparks flew everywhere.
Although his stamina was low, Jin's aura was simply stronger. Coming into contact with Bradamante—that burned powerfully and shed Blade Mist—the chainsword and colossal sword weakly got deflected.
'Their cooperation is immaculate. If I try to focus on one of them, the other will immediately get aggressive.'
However, that was it.
At 18, the Tona Twins weren't beyond Jin's comprehension. Jin lauded their movement as one, but there wasn't a single strong blow.
They were provisional flag-bearers, just like Jin. Yet they didn't learn a single Decisive Killing Move that could change the game.
'If I were in my best condition, I could take them down in three minutes. Only if they were as strong as I expect them to be. Maybe I'm overestimating their strength.'
Even if he couldn't go full force at the moment, the skill gap was too great.
Remembering the Tona Twins who bullied him to death in his past life, Jin thought it was unfair.
He vowed to wreak vengeance since his days at the Storm Castle, but he didn't.
Eyes cold with killing intent, he glared at the twins.
"Kill me right, then. I'm getting pissed."
"Blabbering more shit are you?"
"Still out of your mind? Don't be too proud that you beat us once."
Swish! Fwooom!
The chainsword and colossal sword took turns swinging at Jin's head. The aura decreased a bit, so Jin didn't dodge it.
He had finished analyzing it. The aura they could conjure was barely mid-5-star. That kind of skill wasn't threatening to him, even with his current stamina.
Clang!
With all his might, he swung Bradamante upwards. As soon as the two blades contacted Bradamante, an explosion of sparks occurred. The twins instinctively backed off.
Jin then kicked the sand.
Sssst!
The cream-colored sand spread like a net through the air and concealed Jin's body.
The twins fixed their posture and blocked each other's blindspots, waiting for Jin's attack. The sand settled, and where Jin stood before was now only a blue sky.
"Hup!"
While the sand was settling, Jin took position right beside the Tona Twins.
Reacting first, Daytona oriented his colossal sword to block Bradamante's blow. However, trying to block the sword flying at his face, he made the mistake of hindering his view. Jin wouldn't miss this chance.
Slash!
Daytona's stance fell apart, and Jin gashed his thigh. Blood splattered and dyed the sand red.
He started to wonder if this really was a mirage.
Yet he decided to not hesitate. Whether his opponents were the Tona Twins or not, they really wanted to kill him.
"Daytona!"
Haytona turned quickly and grabbed Daytona by the collar. Simultaneously, he whipped his chainsword, but Jin deflected it just like how he parried the deadly hooks from Nameless assassins.
Ching!
One of the grooves of the chainsword met Bradamante's tip. Like a snake pierced by a needle, the chainsword stopped in place and rattled.
Haytona let go of his weapon. With another quick stab, Jin aimed for his throat, but was barely evaded.
Ssshhht.
However, the blade still scratched Haytona's eye.
"Argh!"
Bleeding profusely out of his eye, Haytona stumbled backwards. Watching this sight, Jin gritted his teeth.
He took his brother's sight in one of his eyes. He planned to never hesitate, but he felt completely different from when he gashed Daytona's thigh. A completely different emotion scratched at his heart.
Unlike the leg, the eye couldn't be healed.
"Haytona, your eye…!"
"We will kill him! We. Will. Kill. Him!"
Were they really mirages?
The Tona Twins spat curses with faces of anger and hate. A perfect replica.
Was it okay to swing at them?
'Why am I thinking this? Whether they're real or fake. They're trying to kill me.'
The goddess of victory was on Jin's side. He could end the battle if he wanted to.
However, why did he feel molten metal on his heart and confusion in his head?
'Do I not want to fight the Tona Twins? Did I think that they could be on my side just because I spent time with them at the Storm Castle?'
Did he want to build a different relationship with them than in his past life? Just like with Elder Sisters Luna and Yona?
Looking back, even in this life, Jin didn't have any great memories with the Tona Twins. Before Jin showed them who was boss, they constantly scoured for an opportunity to mess with him. It was the same during their training as beginner and intermediate cadets.
Despite that, there was a hint of sadness…
—J-Jin! Are you okay…?!
—Did Father say that he'll let you live? Why did you even do this?
—You guys act too cute sometimes. I'm fine. Besides, I have a favor to ask.
He remembered the conversation he had with the Tona Twins when he met Cyron after breaking provisional flag-bearer regulations and meeting Luna.
At the time, no one—other than Luna—worried for Jin.
Though he didn't know of it, Mary also didn't want him to die. However, that was it. If he died, then it couldn't be helped. And if he lived, then she would be thirsty for a duel.
Only the Tona Twins came to Jin after holding their breaths at the bottom of the staircase. They awkwardly walked up to him, confessed to him about their worries, and asked what he did.
They were so anxious that they bit off all their fingernails. After seeing those nails, there were times where Jin smiled at the thought of it.
"I'll rip your limbs off! Shit, you dog…!"
"Aaaaargh!"
Those very same Tona Twins were now screaming at Jin. They appeared for no reason and suddenly swung their swords at him.
Their eyes were wet in fear. They only barked loudly like dogs in fear. They didn't dare to attack.
Because they knew. They knew that they were no match for Jin. So instead, they poured their frightened and hateful emotions.
Staring at the twins, Jin's glare turned dark.
'I have to kill them.'
Whether they were mirages or real, he had to kill them.
Otherwise, he wouldn't progress in his journey.
Because he was a Runcandel.
Spiritual energy enveloped Bradamante's blade.
"I'm sorry."
"Shut up!"
"Because I wasn't strong enough, you guys got hurt. Now, there will be no pain."
Jin slowly walked across the sand, and the twins scrambled backwards. Thinking they were pushed to a corner, they looked around.
Yet they were in a desert.
Nowhere to run away, nowhere to hide, nowhere to back off.
"Don't come…!"
"Shit, fuck off!"
Immediately, the Tona Twins fell into despair, voices quivering.
Jin didn't dare to evade their eyes. Each step he took, he felt something falling apart in his heart.
Faced with the opportunity to strike, he hesitated.
The moment he failed to swing Bradamante, Haytona let out a screeching scream and swung his chainsword. Filled with nervousness, his attack was heavily flawed. Jin subconsciously smacked the sword away and charged towards Haytona's neck.
Swoosh!
Before Haytona's head even fell to the ground, Daytona's colossal sword flew at Jin. He turned to dodge the massive blade. He cut Daytona's wrist before stabbing his throat.
Thunk.
With a single scream, the Tona Twins dyed the sand red. Jin emotionlessly stared at their rolling heads.
Time passed, yet the corpses still didn't disappear.
'Why… are you not disappearing…? You're just mirages.'
They remained even after one hour.
So, he dug a grave for each brother and placed them gently in the holes.
He stabbed their respective swords in the ground in place of gravestones. Jin then continued to walk, his hands shaking.
Not much longer after, he found an oasis.
He plunged his face into the water for a long time. As he rose and opened all of his water canteens to fill them up, he saw the bloodshot eyes in his reflection.
"Yeah, killing anyone in your family is a painful experience."
Hiding in the barrier of the Great Desert, a woman watched him drink without him noticing.
With pitch-black hair akin to Murakan's, she was Murakan's sister—Black Dragon Misha.
"You have chosen a great child, Lord Soderet."
She spoke to herself, then whipped her hands in the air. The two swords that were once erect in the sands disintegrated into dust. The wind blew to whisk away all evidence of the mirage.
In the place where the Tona Twins fought Jin, only cream-colored sand remained.
章節 16: Chapter 175
Every time he exhaled, Jin felt his mouth drying, as if his breath was filled with sand.
Every day, he walked. Every night, he shivered alone in the piercing cold. Whenever he woke up, he found that his blanket turned very dry and brittle.
One time, he got stung by a scorpion that was never named. Every creature in the Great Mythra Desert had deadly venom. If he hadn't obtained the Thousand-Poison Antidote, his journey would have been far more dangerous.
Jin ate the scorpion to conserve his food. Every bug or two-headed snake with black scales that he saw, he immediately consumed it.
Was it because he swallowed too much sand? The creatures he cooked lazily with his magic smelled and tasted horrible, but he didn't feel it at all.
Crunch, crunch.
The snake got minced between his now-thin cheeks. He let the venom be a substitute for water, and he thanked Yona once more.
Then, four days passed since the first mirage.
He would have never known how much time had passed if the sun and moon didn't set. That was the harsh reality of the Great Desert; everywhere and anywhere he went, it looked the same.
'There really is no one in this desert…'
That was the most agonizing part.
He had never had such a lonely moment in his life. About ten days had passed since he left Tikan, but the time in the desert passed at a completely different pace than in the real world.
Another week passed.
No snake or scorpion appeared. Jin trekked and trudged through the desert in complete solitude. It would be better if he talked to himself, but his water canteen seemed to have bottomed out. Entertaining himself was not an option either.
And for him, things couldn't get any worse.
December 11th, 1796. There was no other perfect statement to describe the Great Mythra Desert.
'My food that I rationed… is all gone?'
As soon as he woke up, he could only scream. However, only a shallow shout came out of his dry throat.
The food he conserved in the bag he hugged as he slept was all gone. All other items remained as it was, but just his consumables had disappeared—not a single jerky or grain left behind.
He shoved his head into the bag, and even the smell disappeared. As if the food was never there.
'Hah.'
He began to curse. He threw his empty canteen across the sand and swore at the sky.
'Why are you doing this to me, do you wanna fight?!'
His voice didn't even leave an echo. It just scattered into the emptiness of the desert.
He had to keep walking.
The only thing waiting for him was the sweet release of death if he just complained. Even if it was unfair, he couldn't let that stop him.
Even the strongest warriors couldn't survive without food or water. Jin was using his transcending grit to move forward, but it was only because he had no other choice.
A day passed, and the yellow didn't return.
Two days passed, and his frail body began to tremble. Surviving the desert without food or water for two days straight had to be a miracle.
For four days, there were no ponds or oases, no creatures to eat.
Thump…
He took a bad step and fell to the ground. All strength left his ankles and calves.
In his open mouth, a handful of sand slid in. His mouth was so dry, no sand stuck to his tongue.
He only tripped once, but he felt the exhaustion rapidly spreading through his bones. The desire to sleep forever overtook his brain like a tsunami.
Resisting the urge was not an easy feat. Especially in a hopeless situation.
'Shit, it's just one trip. I only tripped once…!'
Ptoo!
He grimaced and spat out the sand. He stood up. He felt dizzy at the sunlight reflected by the sand. His weak legs didn't feel like they were his own.
Then, he saw a hand holding a canteen.
Someone showed up right next to Jin and handed it to him. Obviously, there was no person like that in the desert.
'A mirage!'
Whether it was a mirage or a real person, it was important that he or she walked up without any footsteps and offered the canteen. If it were a sword inside of a water bottle, he would have died on the spot.
Shing!
He hit the canteen with the pommel of his sword and fully unsheathed Bradamante. Without even confirming the person's face, he turned quickly and oriented himself behind them, holding his sword at their neck.
Thump.
Before the canteen even hit the ground, Jin held the opponent's lifeline.
His speed was like that of a bullet. His body reacted so quickly, he didn't even understand how it had enough strength to move as fast.
The owner of the canteen didn't flinch despite having a sword close to their neck. Then, Jin realized it was a woman in a robe.
The woman held a staff in the opposite hand. A staff made of silver pine—an item he had seen many times before.
The woman's red hair was also familiar.
Jin's eyes widened. In his memory, there was only one person with magnificent crimson hair and a silver pine staff.
"Valeria…?"
"Can you move your sword if you aren't really going to kill me?"
Jin slowly lowered the sword near her throat.
She sighed and turned around, welcoming Jin with the face that he longed to see greatly.
Valeria Hister.
It was her who taught Jin the secrets of magic.
"How…?"
No, it wasn't 'how'.
She was a mirage. Jin saw a 26-year-old Valeria. Just how she looked when Jin left her in his past life.
Was it because he couldn't take the strenuous days in the desert anymore?
The loneliness and depression that he suppressed for the past two weeks as well as his yearning were all about to burst out.
"It's the same as when I gave my hand to you three years ago. That day, you were on the ground as well. Just like back then, you aimed your sword at me. Though, your skills weren't as sharp."
That was Jin in the Garden of Swords three years ago.
However, that was not the case for Valeria. In her memory, Jin just got exiled and started roaming the land like a loser.
"Valeria… No, Master. Are you the second mirage?"
"I guess so."
"What's this…? Are you aware that you're a mirage?"
"Yeah, I am. Well, the real me who's going to turn 15 soon doesn't, though."
"Then what I have to do is…"
"To kill me and go along."
It was cruel.
The first thought in Jin's mind. Jin felt it.
The mirages of the Great Desert weren't born from magic or an ability. The mirages until now were all real people who existed deep within Jin's heart.
In his heart and memories were the people who were important to him. Hence, when he killed the Tona Twins, he felt like he really killed his own siblings.
And now, he could only feel like he really met his own master.
"I… didn't want to reunite with you this way. It would have been better if we met in a better way."
"Don't do this, Master. Why does it have to be you?"
Valeria picked up the canteen from the ground and threw it to Jin.
"Drink up. If you fight me in that condition, you'll die on my first cast."
"Is there no other way?"
"You know what's best. Don't deny it. I heard you were reborn and got so much stronger. Your concentration is also much better than the apprentice that I remember. Don't sound like such a pussy."
Thump.
The canteen fell to Jin's feet. With quivering hands, he picked it up.
He walked the living hell of a desert for many days, and the water he had been searching for was now right in front of him.
However, he didn't want to drink from it. If he drank it, then afterwards…
'I'll have to kill her.'
Killing her was incomparable to killing the Tona Twins.
If it weren't for her, Jin would have never gotten a second chance at life. He would have died alone after regretting his 25 miserable years in the Runcandel Clan and roaming the streets like a wild dog.
Because she lent her hand, even when Jin smacked her hand away and wielded his sword. Because she came back to save him.
Jin could exist today.
"You've gotten a lot more disrespectful, my apprentice."
Noticing Jin's hesitation, Valeria raised her staff. She cast Mana Release, and a deep-blue mana whirlpool appeared at the tip of her silver pine staff.
"7-star magic. You're not thinking that you can defeat me with only that, are you? Drink, Jin Runcandel. I'm also your inner voice. I'm sure you're ready to fight me."
Click…
He opened the canteen. One more moment of indecisiveness, and she would throw a barrage of spells at him. In Jin's memories, Valeria Hister was more sword-like than any other warrior.
He then made up his mind. About the love and the hate. The connecting and the severing. The fighting and the fleeing.
"What am I to you?"
"My most valuable, one-and-only apprentice. So all you need to do is to not disappoint me."
"Would you have really done this?"
"I would have shown you more love than this. I would have hugged you by now. Maybe even kissed you on the forehead."
"That doesn't help the situation at all."
"Then stop asking. Kill me and move along. There's one more, you know? Another mirage is waiting for you."
Glug, glug!
Jin chugged the water. However, unlike normal water, it filled Jin with energy.
"You can use any trick up your sleeve. Swordsmanship, spiritual energy. Bring whatever you want to the table."
Was the Master in his memory that strong? Enough to pour everything into this battle?
He couldn't make a decision quickly. However, he was certain of one thing: the mana gathered in Valeria's staff was stronger than he remembered.
"I will regret it if I take you down with my sword. You were everything for my magic, and forever more."
"Well, I remember the best part about your looks not matching your recklessness."
Pzzzt!
Valeria's mana immediately took the form of electricity. The spell that instantly cooked Jin during his apprentice days.
"And that recklessness got me in trouble every day."
Flash!
Before he could even finish talking, five bolts of lightning fell from the sky. So fast that Jin could barely react.
Flaming with mana, Valeria's staff was already prepared to release another spell.
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