Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 379

His eyes narrowed. What was that look on the enemy commander’s face?

Even from far away, he saw the enemy commander’s face twist in anger.

The commander’s eyes were famous for being sharp, and now they burned with a furious glare.

“Don’t worry, Lord Amil,” Divine Sword said. “Sword Soul isn’t as strong as he can be, not like me. It will be hard for him to fight up close.”

Burdel ignored Divine Sword and kept shooting arrows, one after another.

He knew he was in control here. Sword Soul, or any great swordsman, couldn’t touch him from this far away.

– You are the best archer in our kingdom, maybe even the whole continent. You can change the battle faster than anyone.

– Just wait a little longer. When the war starts, everyone will know your name. You will be greatly rewarded for waiting.

Burdel remembered the king’s promises.

The king had made him superhuman and promised him riches and fame.

But Burdel wasn’t truly loyal to the king like others. He was helping Maclane partly because he was thankful, and partly because he wanted a great future for himself.

‘To get that future,’ he thought, ‘I need to show them how powerful I am.’

So, he could ignore the great swordsman glaring at him from far away.

‘He’s not even the greatest swordsman anymore,’ Burdel thought, smirking at Sword Soul.

He kept shooting at the knights with armbands. His red lightning arrows, three at once, hit their targets and changed direction in the air as he wanted.

Of course, Burdel also thought, ‘I need to run if that swordsman gets close.’

He kept looking for a way to escape and checked where his allies were, just in case.

“Your Majesty… Lord Aran,” someone said.

“Don’t worry, Lord Amil,” Eileen replied, smiling confidently from behind Burdel.

Eileen was confident because they were facing Egon Miller, called the Sword of Decapitation, and Sword Soul, one of the strongest people, even if he was hurt.

They were tough enemies, but Eileen looked like she was excited to fight these famous superhumans.

But Divine Sword wasn’t happy.

Except at the north wall where they had won before, there was one superhuman at the south and west walls, and two here at the east.

Even if the magic barrier failed, these enemies were still very strong.

“Even without Sword Soul,” Divine Sword warned, “people say Egon Miller can cut through aura blades like they are tofu. That’s why he leads the Western First Legion.”

“It’s fine,” Eileen said dismissively.

Divine Sword wondered what was fine. Aran was only a medium-level aura user at best.

But Egon Miller was a high-level user. And his aura blade was incredibly strong against anything.

Also, Divine Sword sensed something strange about Aran, even though Aran was using magic to hide.

‘No time to think about whether Aran is a man or woman,’ he thought quickly.

Divine Sword, from the very religious Holy Kingdom, sighed. They were even more strict than the old Grandia kingdom.

He spoke again, “I don’t think I explained it well enough. Let me say it again, Egon Miller is…”

“I’ve heard enough,” Eileen said. “Trust me. If we do what we planned, we can hold this wall. If we catch Sword Soul, who is still weak, or even just hurt him more, it will be easier to defend later.”

Divine Sword thought, ‘Maybe he’s so confident because he’s from a small kingdom.’

Or… ‘They said he was a secret superhuman, but he’s just too new to fighting.’

Sending someone so inexperienced to battle is dangerous, like sending a frog that only knows its well out into the ocean.

But now wasn’t the time to teach him, so Divine Sword just looked worried.

‘This battle has problems,’ Divine Sword thought.

The future looked bad. Harman knew he had to think about the worst thing that could happen.

While he was thinking, Aran spoke suddenly, “They are climbing the wall! Please go back, Commander.”

It would be stupid to come out here to encourage the soldiers and then just get killed for nothing.

Harman nodded to Aran and walked quickly back from the front of the wall.

Even with all the worry, Burdel kept fighting bravely.

And then, suddenly, “I’ll kill you, you rat!” Egon Miller shouted, his face red with rage, as he jumped onto the wall.

‘Just like I thought! Divine Sword isn’t here!’ Egon Miller quickly looked around as soon as he got on the wall.

He had seen the fight between Sword Soul and Divine Sword very close up. Their strange power had really scared him.

– It’s all talk. Divine Sword will run away when we get closer. Attack hard.

Even though Sword Soul had said it was okay, Egon was still nervous. He almost wanted to tell Sword Soul to lead the attack himself if he was so sure.

His loud, angry shout was also to hide his fear.

Seeing that Divine Sword wasn’t there, Egon focused all his anger on the archer in front of him.

“Die!!” Egon yelled, a rude word for a commander like him.

He was trying to push away the weakness and shame he felt, feelings he hadn’t felt for years as a powerful leader.

With that shout, he swung his aura blade hard, wanting to cut through everything, even his own shame.

WHAM!

But instead of hitting the archer, his sword crashed into a pillar of red light with a loud roar.

“Kugh!”

“Ugh!”

Egon stumbled back, almost falling off the wall. He looked up.

Standing in front of him was a thin person, who looked small, like a young boy. But the sword in his hand and the bright red light around him showed he wasn’t just a boy.

To Egon, though, he was just something in his way, making him even angrier.

‘This guy can’t even control his aura, it’s leaking everywhere!’ Egon thought angrily.

He gritted his teeth, pushed off the ground, and swung his sword sideways.

His aura blade grew long, over 5 meters, like it could cut through anything.

It was a big attack, enough to hit two enemies at once.

It seemed like too much power for just aura users, but Egon was sure it would work.

Egon’s special skill was ‘cutting,’ which could even cut through other aura blades.

He thought he had been surprised before and hit the side of the sword, not the blade, which is why his attack was blocked. He thought he understood.

But then – CLANG!

A very loud crash! A rough red aura, looking more like a club than a sword, blocked his attack again.

“Huh?!”

Egon’s face went stiff. He couldn’t understand what was happening.

‘This isn’t just a kid!’

He felt a cold fear in his chest and stopped moving for a moment. Then, from behind, three red lightning arrows shot towards him.

Far away, these arrows wouldn’t be dangerous. But this close, they were very fast.

Still, Egon was a high-level aura user.

“Don’t make me laugh!” he yelled.

Tap tap tap!

“……Stop it!”

Egon quickly raised his sword, just in time to block the arrows flying towards him. He moved forward as he deflected them.

One thing became certain from the previous exchange: archers are, at best, early-stage fighters and not worth the attention.

This time, his Aura Blade was smaller and sharper, glowing brighter than before, cutting through the thin person in front of him.

A dull thud followed by a tingling shock. Startled by the unfamiliar sensation, Egon stepped back.

“Where did you come from so suddenly?!”

Only the sound of his own voice, blurting out unintentionally, allowed him to barely suppress his anger and regain his composure.

‘Right. Where did two very strong people suddenly appear from?’

“The Severing Sword? A sword that cuts? Nothing special.”

The enemy’s taunt, delivered with a relaxed expression, ironically helped him regain his composure.

It couldn’t be a superhuman the Holy Kingdom had been hiding. If so, they would have revealed themselves in the initial battle.

If they were revealing themselves now, they must be very strong people who had come to support from somewhere nearby. It seemed they had joined the battle late, avoiding the strong watch.

But their appearance was too unfamiliar. With the skill to block his Severing Strike, they could not possibly be nobodies…

Egon aimed his sword at the ‘enemy’ with a cautious gaze.

“Who are you people, and where do you come from?”

“The Holy Kingdom.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Believe it or not, as you wish.”

“Are you so ashamed of your origins that you can’t even reveal them?! What a waste of such skill!”

“The Empire’s legion commander is all talk. Getting scared, are we?”

Unlike him, the enemy’s endlessly lighthearted attitude fanned the flames of Egon’s anger once more.

But he wasn’t foolish enough to get worked up with an enemy who could block his Severing Strike before him.

“A superhuman with no pride in themselves. Heh, then I shall bury you here along with that unrevealed name.”

The tip of Egon’s sword glowed radiantly once more, and at the same time, his body surged towards the enemies as if shortening the distance in space.

‘Stronger than I thought!’

Aileen, too, was not as relaxed as she appeared to the enemy.

Having heard about the enemy’s characteristics, she had volunteered for this assignment despite the objections of her companions. She believed that her skill, Unbreakable Defense, could withstand the Severing Sword.

But the impact was greater than she had anticipated. From the second collision onwards, she worried that she might suffer internal injuries if she wasn’t careful.

‘The difference in concentration…….’

Her Aura, spread throughout her body including her sword, versus Egon’s Aura, concentrated on his sword.

The difference seemed to be greater than she had imagined.

And even knowing that, there were limits.

Her skill was fixed, she couldn’t change it easily. She couldn’t completely remove the Aura armor that enveloped her body, even if she wanted to. Even if she concentrated the maximum force she could muster into her sword, she couldn’t reduce the difference.

Wham!

Scritch.

She blocked one Severing Strike again, but the next attack pierced her defense and left a shallow wound on her arm.

Kwaaaang!

And with the following barrage, she had no choice but to absorb the impact throughout her body and be pushed back.

“Hmph! Is this all you’ve got?”

The red Severing Strike, descending again with an arrogant snort, continued to force damage upon her.

After experiencing several exchanges, Egon began to focus on exploiting openings rather than directly clashing with her sword.

Scritch.

Psh.

Swish.

The more the small noises, barely audible on the battlefield, accumulated, the more wounds increased on Aileen’s body.

It was proof that Egon had perfectly grasped her skill.

Although Burdel had left the battlefield and disappeared midway, they were now completely focused on each other. They couldn’t afford to ignore an opponent with extremely conflicting traits and focus on anything else.

“Where, until when, can you keep enduring like that!?”

The enemy’s voice, said in a mocking tone, pressured Aileen, but even in a state of being pushed back, her gaze remained calm. No, rather, her eyes, deeply sunken as if lost in thought, seemed to be not even looking at the opponent.

‘I can endure. Strangely enough.’

That was right.

A difference of more than one level in mastery.

The enemy’s advantage in trait compatibility.

But strangely enough, she could endure.

And Aileen had vaguely anticipated that she would be able to do this. The result before her was merely confirming that anticipation.

‘Why?’

The primary reason was easy to guess. It was probably thanks to her unique footwork, ‘Feather Step,’ which had fully taken shape during the Kingdom Alliance War.

A defensive footwork that added the vibrations of the dozens of layers of Aura barriers surrounding her body to the Shadow Step. That special skill, born from the experience of a sword master, her talent, and the immense Force endurance derived from the power from her special training, was reducing 90% of the impact, minimizing the damage.

But that wasn’t all.

From the moment she heard about Egon Miller’s trait, Aileen had harbored a vague expectation. That his ability, which was in extreme conflict with her own trait, would allow her to realize her shortcomings.

And the talent of the genius who had risen to the intermediate level of Aura User in just his mid-twenties admirably fulfilled his own goals and expectations. An unbelievable phenomenon was occurring where the Aura, constantly splitting and collapsing due to the enemy’s attacks, was being transformed in real time.

Her Aura changed. It became sticky. This meant that even if the enemy’s attacks broke through her layers of defense, they would quickly stick back together.

‘Just a little more. Just a little more!’

The genius’s obsession, focused as if forgetting that this was a life-or-death battle in the middle of the battlefield, soon worked perfectly. The shallow sword strikes, aimed at exploiting openings, suddenly failed to penetrate her Aura and scattered.

“Got it!”

Her appearance, shouting with joy without even realizing it, was utterly miserable. The armor all over her body was already torn like rags, barely protecting only her vital points including her face, and shallow sword wounds were spread like spiderwebs all over her limbs.

It might have seemed ridiculous to shout with joy in such a state, but Egon’s face twisted in anger.

“This damn bastard…….”

He, too, could immediately grasp what it meant for the previous strike to be blocked. That he could no longer cut down the enemy unless it was a proper direct hit.

The troublesome enemy had evolved to be even more troublesome.

But at that moment, a seasoned voice was heard from behind them.

“Enough. Catch the fleeing archer, Egon. I’ll take it from here.”

The sight of the Sword Demon, who had already piled up heaps of corpses across the entire path as he approached, hardened Aileen’s expression.

‘Just endure. Just endure.’

The plan has already been set. Moreover, the results gained from facing Egon Miller just now are also significant.

Her Aura, with added stickiness, will strengthen the Unbreakable Defense much stronger, and will also make her Force endurance far superior.

As a reaction, the path of sharpening her Aura to increase her attack power was definitely out of the question, but she chose to maximize her strengths rather than fix her weaknesses.

Moreover, the faint Aura, like a drop of water barely clinging to the tip of the Sword Demon’s sword, fueled that confidence.

‘He definitely hasn’t recovered from his injuries.’

However.

“A maiden I see for the first time, why would she be dressed as a man? What a waste of such skill.”

The eerie gaze, as if seeing through everything, diminished that confidence in an instant.