Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 140

“Commander!” A desperate voice shouted from behind. Heinckel heard it, but even before he understood the words, he was running towards his lord.

Running into the fight was a mistake for a Knights Commander. It was foolish. He was not skilled enough to fight in this battle between powerful warriors.

His lord was badly hurt. Heinckel’s rush forward might even get in the way of his friends who were trying to help.

If he was thinking clearly, he would have called his own actions weak and useless. But right now, he didn’t care about reason. He only saw his lord in danger.

“My Lord!” Heinckel cried again. He kicked his horse, a strong and loyal animal that was made even faster by magic called Force. The horse leaped forward with a speed Heinckel had never felt before.

He grabbed his Bombardment Bow, a weapon for emergencies. It held ten arrows. He fired them all at once, aiming at the enemy. This enemy was like a powerful storm of white energy.

Heinckel hoped that if he could just get the enemy to look at him for a second, the Grand Prince could rescue their lord.

It was almost impossible to hope for this to work. It was a crazy plan.

But then, as if the sky itself was helping him, red arrows suddenly flew from two different sides. They glowed brightly as they shot through the air.

“What?!” Heinckel thought, surprised. Suddenly, many more arrows, not just his, flew towards the enemy. It seemed impossible, but all the arrows, about thirty in total, hit the same spot at the same time. They exploded together.

The explosion was surprisingly strong. Even the powerful enemy stumbled back.

“Now is my chance!” Heinckel thought. This was the opening he needed to save his lord.

Aylin let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She saw the powerful enemy who had been attacking Logan was now fighting someone else who had appeared suddenly.

Aylin quickly threw the empty bow on the ground and stomped on it, breaking it. She didn’t want the enemy to take it and learn about their weapons.

Aylin then looked to see who else had fired arrows at the same moment from another direction.

“Good timing,” Aylin said, a little surprised.

“Just doing my job,” the other person replied, without much emotion.

He’s not very friendly, Aylin thought.

He had strange eyes, one red and one blue. He was younger than her, only a year younger, but already known as a genius swordsman. He was skilled in using Force, that magical energy, even though he had only been training for a few years.

For some reason, he had been cold and distant to her ever since she started training with the Knights.

‘I should talk to him about that sometime.’ But now was not the time.

“Both of you! Protect me for a moment!” Clayton, uttering an urgent voice, was emitting a ‘gigantic and alien’ energy while raising a ‘never-before-seen staff.’

Aylin and Victor stared at Clayton. Suddenly, the air around them felt different. It was heavy and strange, like a storm was coming, but without wind or rain.

Just moments before, when they first saw the enemy Kalia soldiers…

“Lord Clayton! Use it!”

“Huh?!” Clayton accepted the object Logan threw in a daze.

It was an artifact, a magical object, that Logan had given him. This artifact was said to have helped Roger Vifrost perform magic much stronger than he should have been able to. Even just holding it, Clayton could feel powerful magical energy, called mana, flowing from it. It felt like at least 5th class mana.

Normally, Clayton would have been very careful about using such a powerful and unknown object. But now, they were in a desperate situation.

Logan, who had given him the artifact, was now fighting the powerful enemy. This was not what they had planned.

“Master! The Grand Prince is…!” Victoria cried out, her voice full of fear.

“I’m watching!” Clayton replied quickly. He focused on the artifact. As he tried to use its magic, the staff in his hands began to shake strongly, buzzing with power.

Suddenly, Clayton understood how Roger Vifrost had been able to do such incredible magic.

‘What…? How is this possible?!’ Clayton thought, amazed. The artifact was making his magic so much stronger. It was like it was speeding up his spells, making his mana more powerful, and using his mana more efficiently. His magic was becoming unbelievably strong, far beyond anything he could normally do.

‘Could it be…?’ He realized he might even be able to use a very powerful spell, a spell that could make a mage like him almost superhuman, a spell that only the most skilled mages could even dream of.

‘Yes, I can do it!’ He felt his mind become incredibly focused and clear. He could perfectly control the huge amount of mana flowing through him.

He focused all his will. It was risky, he might fail, but he had to try. Just at the right moment, he shouted the spell: “Gravity Control!!” It was 6th circle magic, a very advanced and difficult spell. He cast it perfectly, just as he had imagined it in his mind.

He knew he could only do this because of the artifact’s power, not his own skill yet. But someday… he thought, filled with hope. This was why mages always wanted powerful staff artifacts – they could unlock magic beyond their current abilities.

Clayton smiled, feeling a surge of hope and power. And on the battlefield, the effect of his spell was about to be seen.

Wicken Kalia inwardly groaned at the immense weight suddenly pressing down on his entire body.

It felt like his weight had suddenly increased dozens, hundreds of times.

The weight was crushing him, like a force that could make normal people, or even most knights, collapse and be seriously injured.

The heavy weight made him lose his balance as he ran. Wham! He swung his sword to finish off the young fighter who had fallen, but his attack went wild, missing completely.

He landed heavily on the ground with a Craaash! “Kugh!” he grunted. Even landing like that, which should have been nothing for someone as strong as him, hurt his body.

The young fighter, still unsteady on his feet, moved weakly. Wicken saw blood around his mouth. But even this injured fighter seemed to move more easily than Wicken himself.

This strange feeling made him realize what was happening. Magic! It had to be powerful magic. He hadn’t even sensed it coming.

He tried to forcibly shake off the formless power binding his whole body, but it did not disappear easily.

“Kkeueung,” Wicken groaned, struggling to move. Thud. Thud. Thud. His movements were slow and heavy. This was unbelievable for him, Wicken Kalia, who was known as the Storm Sword, the Ruler of the Wind, for his incredible speed and agility.

The invisible magic was stuck to him like glue. No matter how much he used his Aura, his inner energy, it wouldn’t go away.

It meant that the source of the binding power was not near his body.

‘Could it be?!’ He had not experienced such strange magic many times in his life, but he could guess the situation because of those few experiences.

Magic that could even affect someone as strong as him. Invisible power that Aura couldn’t easily break. These two things could only mean one thing. ‘6th circle magic!!’ he realized with shock.

Only the most powerful kind of magic, magic that used a special force even stronger than mana, could do this.

“There’s a mage?!” His face hardened like stone at the appearance of a completely unexpected obstacle.

Then he heard the young fighter shout, “I’ll keep the big guy busy! Attack the other enemies!”

Even though the mage’s magic was slowing him down, Wicken was sure he could still defeat this young fighter.

Aura users, like him, were much stronger than Force users, like this young fighter. The difference in power was huge.

He knew he wouldn’t lose unless he became so tired he couldn’t even use his Aura anymore.

But things were not going as planned. Wicken had imagined leading his troops to break through the enemy lines, with his knights following behind. But now, everything was going wrong.

‘No! At this rate, the damage…!’ Was it too much to rush in at Roger Vifrost’s urgent request?

He felt a deep regret for not bringing the entire main force.

The McLane soldiers, with their new weapons, were fighting much harder than he expected. They were even managing to fight against his stronger Aura users.

‘I can’t be tied up here!’ That calculation fueled his anger.

“Damn it! You! Boy! Stop running and fight me!”

But then, Wham! The young fighter suddenly broke through Wicken’s attack and said something completely unexpected.

“Marquis,” the young fighter said politely, using Wicken’s title. “Tell your soldiers to stop fighting. We don’t want to be part of this war anymore!”

A polite tone that did not fit in the middle of a battle.

Wicken’s answer to that was simple.

“Nonsense!”

Whoo-oong. Wicken decided to change his tactics. If he couldn’t beat the young fighter with speed because of the magic, he would use raw power instead.

It wouldn’t be as effective as focusing his Aura directly, but he would create powerful blades of wind using his elemental power. He thought these wind blades would be strong enough to defeat the young fighter.

Until he saw that huge golden greatsword of that guy.

“Damn it!” Wicken cursed. Kuaaaang! The sound of a massive impact echoed across the battlefield. Thud. Thud. He saw the young fighter stumble backwards, clearly hurt.

He could see that guy’s face had turned pale, but it would be the same for himself.

Because his body was still heavy and slow from the magic, he couldn’t dodge the young fighter’s powerful attack. He had to take it head-on.

Crack. ‘What is this power?!’ Wicken thought, shocked. The attack from that huge sword was incredibly powerful, much stronger than it should have been. It was breaking through the normal rules of Aura and Force.

It was beyond common sense, but it was definitely the reality he was experiencing.

The bigger problem was that the enemy had also noticed it.

“You won’t be safe either if this goes on!”

Even though he had used a lot of elemental power and been hurt by the attack, Wicken still felt he could keep fighting.

However, he still had not found the source of this magic that bound his whole body, and even if he pushed himself further, there was no guarantee that he could catch that guy with his slowed body.

“I told you, we don’t want to fight!” the young fighter repeated. Normally, Wicken would have ignored such words from an enemy in the middle of battle. But now, he actually listened.

“What are you talking about?”

“Why would we continue the war when we were betrayed by the 2nd Prince’s group!”

Wicken started to understand. The young fighter was saying that they had been tricked by Roger Vifrost, who had brought them into this battle in the first place. Vifrost’s attack had destroyed any trust between them.

“We McLane soldiers don’t want to be part of these political fights anymore!” the young fighter yelled. “Tell your troops to retreat! Or do you want the 2nd Prince’s army to win everything?”

But as much as the enemy’s mouth was constantly talking, the enemy’s attacks were also incessant.

The enemy’s Force Blade was like a snake, always attacking. It kept breaking through Logan’s wind blades, looking for a chance to strike. Logan’s body felt heavy and slow. It was hard to move fast enough to block the attacks. He had to wrap himself in Aura just to defend himself. It was his only choice.

Boom!

The enemy hit him again. Logan stumbled back. His body was too slow to take advantage of the openings in the enemy’s defense.

“Damn it!” Logan thought.

Keeping the Aura around him all the time was using up his energy fast. If this kept going… he didn’t want to think about it.

‘No. I can’t lose.’ Pride pushed back the scary thought. But the enemy seemed to see something in Logan’s face.

“If you refuse because of your pride, you’d better be ready to die!” the enemy shouted.

“Ha. Hardly…” Logan replied, trying to sound confident.

“Knights, formation! Target Weken Kalia first!” Logan commanded.

“Yes!” the knights responded.

It felt like a long time, but his knights still hadn’t arrived.

The pale-faced enemy waved his golden, snake-like Force Blade around him, keeping Logan trapped.

“I’ll hold him down. Finish him!” the enemy yelled to his own troops.

“Is he crazy…?!” Logan wondered.

Whirr.

Grrr.

The Aura of wind pushed back the Force Blade, but…

Creak.

“Not a chance!” Logan shouted.

The man, though pale, didn’t give up easily.

Then, Weken Kalia’s movements slowed down. Even the ordinary knights could see it. He had been moving fast even though he was using Gravity Control to make himself hundreds of times heavier.

“Knights, charge!” Logan yelled.

Tap tap tap.

Logan’s pride finally gave way to reality.

“Alright! I accept your offer. Stop your attack!”

To stop attacking in the middle of a war? Even Logan knew it was a crazy thing to ask.

But his pride made him say it anyway.

“This is terrible,” Logan thought.

The enemy leader’s face became serious. He looked surprised but then said, “All troops, stop firing! Stop attacking now!”

The man actually agreed to Logan’s crazy demand.

‘Thank goodness,’ Logan thought, feeling relief wash over him.

He coughed and tasted blood. He swallowed it down, hiding the pain from his injuries. If the enemy had fought on for just a little longer, Logan might have lost.

Clayton’s strange magic had helped, but if the enemy leader had really fought to the death, who knew what would have happened?

‘I’m at my limit,’ Logan thought.

Whirr.

The Force in his heart was almost gone. His body hurt, and his vision was blurry.

He felt like he would fall down if he kept fighting for five more minutes.

Besides, there was no reason to kill Weken Kalia if it meant taking heavy damage.

‘Who would gain from that?’

He remembered Duke Jordan’s snake-like smile, and his face turned serious.

The two groups still had to fight each other to the death.

So, he was happy that Weken Kalia had almost surrendered.

Logan tried to gather as much energy as possible to hide his injuries. He shouted again.

“I’ll count to five. If your army doesn’t stop moving forward, you will die today, no matter what happens to us.”

His bloodshot eyes took away the enemy leader’s last bit of pride.

Weken gritted his teeth and shouted loudly.

“All troops! Halt! Stop firing!!”

His voice, made louder by the power of the wind, reached his army, which was coming from far away.

The battle ended as quickly as it had started.

“Captain!” a voice yelled behind him. Heinkel heard it, but he didn’t even think. He just charged forward to help his lord.

He knew it was a mistake for a knight commander. It was foolish to rush into a fight with experts when he wasn’t strong enough. His lord was already badly hurt. Heinkel’s charge might even get in the way of his allies. It was a stupid thing to do, something he would normally scold someone else for.

But right now, he didn’t care about anything else.

“My Lord!” Heinkel shouted.

His warhorse, powered by Force, ran faster than ever before. He grabbed his bomb bow, the one he was only supposed to use if everything else failed. He fired all ten arrows quickly, one after another. They flew towards the enemy leader like a white cloud, trying to distract him.

It was a crazy thing to do, and he didn’t really expect it to work. But it was as if the heavens heard his plea. He saw red arrows being fired from two different directions.

‘Huh?’ Heinkel was surprised. Then, suddenly, thirty bomb arrows hit the same spot at the same time. It was perfect timing. The arrows exploded one after another.

The explosion was strong. Even the enemy leader had to step back.

‘Now!’ Heinkel thought. This was the chance for the Grand Duke to save his lord.

Crack.

Aileen sighed in relief. She watched as the enemy leader, who had been attacking Logan non-stop, now had to fight someone else who had come from behind.

Aileen threw the empty bomb bow on the ground and stomped on it, breaking it. She didn’t want the enemy to take it and study it.

Then, Aileen looked at the person who had shot arrows at the same time as her, but from a different direction.

“Good timing,” she said.

“It was nothing,” he replied.

‘Uninteresting guy,’ Aileen thought.

Victor. He had red and blue eyes, which made him look different. He was a year younger than her, but everyone said he was a genius. He had become a good Force User in just a few years of sword training. And for some reason, he had been acting cold towards her since she joined the Knights.

‘I should talk to him about that later,’ she thought.

But now was not the time.

“Aileen! Victor! Protect me!” Clayton yelled, his voice shaking. He held up a staff. It was a staff they had never seen before. A strange, powerful energy came from it.

Aileen and Victor turned to look at him.

Suddenly, the air around them felt different. The battle was about to change.

Earlier, when they first saw the Kalia army…

“Clayton! Use it now!” Logan shouted, throwing something to him.

“Huh?” Clayton caught it without meaning to.

It was the special object that let Roger Biprost use very strong magic. Even just looking at it, Clayton could feel a lot of mana, like magic power, inside it. It felt very powerful.

Normally, Clayton would not want to use something like this. But now was different.

Logan was fighting the enemy leader, which was not part of their plan.

“Master! The Grand Duke is in danger!” Victoria cried out.

“I see!” Logan yelled back.

Clayton quickly gathered his mana as Victoria shouted. The staff shook strongly, making the magic power even bigger. Clayton suddenly understood how Roger Biprost could use such amazing magic.

Gravity Control!!

Clayton knew he needed the magic artifact to use its full power.

*One day, I will…* he thought.

Wizards always wanted the best wands, and for good reason.

Clayton smiled, feeling the power flow through him.

Then, magic exploded across the battlefield because of his smile.

Suddenly, Wiken Kalia felt like a mountain was on top of him. He gasped.

It felt like he weighed ten times more than before!

This weight was so heavy, it would crush normal people. It pushed down on Wiken, making it hard to breathe.

The weight made him lose his balance as he charged.

Wham!

His attack, meant to hit the young enemy who was falling, went completely off course.

Wham!

“Ugh!”

He landed hard, and his body swayed from the impact.

Thud.

The young enemy, staggering and moving, with blood running from his mouth, seemed lighter than he was.

This strange feeling made him realize what was happening.

‘Magic!’

And it was magic, powerful magic. So strong, he almost didn’t feel it coming.

He tried to shake off the invisible force that was holding him, but it wouldn’t go away.

“Ugh.”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

He was moving slowly, like he was underwater. This was strange for Wiken Kalia, who was famous as the ‘Storm Sword’ and ‘Master of Wind’ – names that showed how fast he usually was.

The invisible force was like glue, stuck all over him. Even using his inner power, his ‘aura’, couldn’t make it go away.

The source of the binding force was not near his body, which meant…

‘Could it be?!’

He had rarely felt such strange magic, but he could guess what was happening.

Magic that could affect even someone as strong as him.

This invisible force that wouldn’t disappear even with his aura.

It could only mean one thing.

‘Sixth Circle magic!!’

Only magic that used multiple elements, creating power beyond mana, could do this.

“There’s a mage?”

His face turned to stone when he realized there was a mage.

Then, the enemy shouted.

“I’ll hold the superhuman! Sweep away the enemies!!”

Even if the mage’s magic had slowed him down, he couldn’t be beaten by this young fighter.

Normally, fighters who used ‘aura’ were much stronger than those who used ‘Force’. There was a huge difference in power.

Unless he was too tired to use his aura, he couldn’t lose.

However.

Wiken had a plan. He would lead the attack, break through the enemy lines, and push his knights deep into their army like a wedge. But from the very beginning, things went wrong.

‘No! At this rate, the damage…!’

Was it a mistake to rush here because Roger Vifroth asked him to?

He really regretted not bringing his main army.

The McLaine army had new weapons, and they were fighting much better than expected. They were even hurting his stronger soldiers.

‘I can’t be stuck here!’

That thought made him angry.

“Damn it! You! Don’t just run away, attack!”

But then.

Wham!

The enemy, breaking through his attack, said something unexpected.

“Withdraw your troops, Marquis. We don’t want to be part of this war!”

He spoke politely, which was strange in the middle of a battle.

Wiken’s answer was simple.

“Nonsense!”

Whoosh.

He couldn’t move fast enough to hit the enemy directly. So, he decided to use a different tactic: attack with a lot of power instead of speed.

This wind attack wouldn’t be as strong as when he put his aura directly into his sword. But he hoped these wind blades, made with his powerful magic, would still be enough to beat the young enemy.

That was until he saw the enemy’s huge golden sword.

“Damn it!”

Wham!

Thud. Thud.

The enemy staggered backward.

He could see the enemy’s face turning pale, but his own was probably the same.

Because he had to take that attack head-on.

Crack.

‘What is this…?!’

The enemy’s attack, with that huge sword, was incredibly powerful. It was stronger than it should have been, even considering the difference between aura and Force.

It didn’t make sense, but it was happening.

The bigger problem was that the enemy had also noticed it.

“You won’t be safe either if this continues!”

Even if he kept using his elemental power, he still had some strength left.

But he still hadn’t found the source of the magic holding him, and he wasn’t sure he could catch the enemy, even if he tried harder.

“We’re telling you, we don’t want to fight!”

Normally, he would have ignored the enemy’s words. But now, he started to listen.

“What are you talking about?”

“The Second Prince’s faction betrayed us, so why would we continue the war!”

Thinking about it, it made sense.

Vifroth’s attack had broken their trust.

“We McLaines don’t want to be involved in this fighting! Withdraw your troops! Or are you going to let the Second Prince’s army win?!”

Even though the enemy kept talking, they didn’t stop attacking.

The enemy’s Force Blade moved like a snake, destroying his wind attacks. It kept hitting him where he was weakest.

Because he was moving so slowly, it was hard to block the attacks.

His only choice was to defend himself by covering his body in aura.

Wham!

The enemy staggered again, but he was too slow to take advantage of it.

‘Damn it!’

Fighting like this, with his body covered in aura, was too much for him.

If the battle continued like this, the worst could happen…

‘No,’ he thought fiercely. ‘Not to me.’

His pride told him it was impossible, and he pushed the bad thoughts away. But the enemy seemed to see something in his face.

“If you refuse because of your pride, you’ll have to be ready to die!”

“Ha. Unlikely…”

“Knight Order, formation! Target Wiken Kalia first!”

“Yes!”

It felt like a long time, but his knights still hadn’t arrived.

The enemy’s face was white. He moved his golden Force Blade like a snake, circling Wiken.

“I’ll hold you here, even if it kills me. Destroy him!!”

“This crazy…?!”

Whoosh.

Grrr.

The wind aura pushed back the Force Blade, but…

Crack.

“Not a chance!”

The enemy didn’t back down, even with a pale face.

Wiken Kalia, who was so fast it was like flying even with the heavy magic on him (‘Gravity Control’), now moved much slower. Even normal knights could see it.

“Knight Order, charge!”

Tap tap tap.

Then, Wiken’s pride broke.

“Alright! I accept the offer. You stop attacking first!”

Stop attacking first, in the middle of a fight? Even Wiken knew it was crazy to ask that.

But his pride made him say it.

‘This damn thing.’

The enemy who had spoken looked surprised and serious.

“All troops, cease attack! Cease attack!”

The enemy actually agreed to that crazy condition.

‘Thank goodness.’

Logan had to swallow hard to stop himself from coughing up blood. He was badly hurt inside.

If the enemy had kept fighting a little longer, Wiken knew he would have been in real trouble.

Clayton’s strange magic had trapped the superhuman. But Logan worried about what would happen if they pushed him too far. How many of their soldiers would die if the superhuman really fought back with everything he had?

‘First of all, I’m at my limit.’

The Force in his heart was almost gone, and he felt pain that was making him dizzy.

He felt like he would collapse if he fought for five more minutes.

Also, there was no reason to kill Wiken Kalia right now, even if it cost them a lot.

‘Who would benefit?’

Logan thought of Yordan’s sly smile. Logan’s face became even colder.

The two factions still had to fight each other.

So, Logan was happy that Wiken Kalia had basically surrendered.

Logan shouted again, trying to sound strong, even though he was hurt. He didn’t want the enemy to know he was weak.

“I’ll count to five. If your army doesn’t stop moving, you die today, no matter what happens to us.”

Logan’s eyes were red with anger and pain. Wiken saw them and his pride finally broke.

Wiken gritted his teeth and shouted loudly.

“All troops! Halt! Cease combat!!”

His voice, loud as the wind, reached his soldiers who were running towards them.

Just like that, the battle was over as quickly as it had begun.