The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 414

253. Blood (4)

“My stepping stone isn’t going to be easy. You think you can keep up with my speed by gathering all your mana? Really? You’ll have to chase me to death.”

Miliana spoke to Viola without even turning around.

“I don’t give chances as many times as some people do.”

Despite her harsh words, Viola could sense Miliana’s acknowledgment.

“We are prepared. Tactical formation…!!!”

“Haaap!!!!”

As Viola shouted, raising her silver blade, the knights of the alliance spread out in a phalanx formation and began to charge.

[Krrr…!! Kaack!!!]

The body of Blood, which had been spewing poison, returned to its original form, and the complete entity rushed towards Miliana.

‘Now, the second time.’

Caryl watched Blood’s attack slowly, thinking. As if reading his thoughts, it opened its mouth and inhaled, as if waiting for this moment.

The air was sucked in instantly, filling Blood’s body, causing it to swell greatly.

‘Mist Inhalation.’

It was one of the techniques mainly used by the Fallen, but Blood’s technique was slightly different. While the intangible mist was a difficult opponent, the blood spewed by Blood was even harder to deal with.

Chiiiiik…!!

Even with Miliana’s skin protected by dragonification, the dragon scales were peeling and melting away the moment they came into contact with Blood’s blood, both the blood spewed out and the droplets that splattered when Blood was cut.

“Kuh?!

However, like the Queen of Savagery, she endured the pain with tenacity and thrust her sword to cut Blood.

Boom—!!

Then, with a loud noise, Blood’s swollen body exploded. Miliana staggered back, forced to retreat from the storm-like heat emanating from its body.

Scales were peeled off here and there, revealing her bronze skin.

Caryl knew that the moment it used Mist Inhalation, it was the second stage. And to hunt the Fallen, he had to pierce its heart in the final, third stage.

[The Gray Headmaster told us about the product of the Fallen, and it’s exactly the same. Do you remember, Caryl? When you first came to the Headmaster, you caught the monster I released, didn’t you?]

‘Of course, I remember. Moreover, I hunted that Blood in my previous life, so there’s no way I wouldn’t know its fighting style.’

Alrn recalled the past.

[But it has power that can’t be compared to the Fallen I created. If Nain saw it, he would faint in surprise. The immortal legion called Slave that he created is nothing compared to that monster.]

‘How can something created by God be the same as something created by humans?’

Caryl said that, but it wasn’t to praise Yula’s creation, Blood. It was just to remind himself that the enemy they had to face was not easy.

However, because it was an enemy that had to be defeated, Caryl didn’t take it lightly, even though it was a fight he knew the strategy for.

“Miliana. Don’t back down!! Now that it has exploded is the chance to aim for its heart!!”

Caryl shouted at her.

“…Damn it!!”

Miliana cursed as she swung her beloved swords, Ark and Gale, amidst the storm of blood pouring down on her like a wave.

Digon Dual Swordsmanship 1st Form – Crimson Moon Wind.

Tilting her swords diagonally and rotating her body, Miliana desperately tried to deflect the blood attacks pouring down on her.

However, the amount of blood rushing in was overwhelmingly greater than the blood she could block with her swordsmanship, and she had no choice but to retreat.

“Cough…!

The moment the blood splattered on her face, she felt as if a terrible poison was burning her internal organs.

With a cough, a handful of blood flowed from her mouth.

“Like this…!!!”

Her prideful self tried not to back down, but unlike her reason, her body was running away.

Her body knew instinctively.

That if she took Blood’s attack head-on, she would surely die.

Tactic – Gale.

It was then.

The knights gathered around Grace blocked from above and from the sides with their shields, charging towards Blood’s flank in a giant cone formation.

Kwaaaaaaa—!!!

A giant spear made of shields pierced through the hot blood and pierced through it.

Chiiik…! Chiik…!!

Blood’s blood covered the knights’ shields, but they did not slow down their horses.

At the end point where the shields gathered, Grace’s mana blade-infused sword blade protruded, aiming for Blood’s heart.

[Huh… Shields that don’t melt even in the Fallen’s blood? Was the old gnome’s craftsmanship that great?]

Alrn Xavius clicked his tongue as he watched the knights’ shields withstand Blood’s attack.

“That’s the work of the Iron Clan. And that pattern drawn on the shield. It seems the Thunder Clan also lent a hand.”

[Hmm?]

“A clan that handles fire and metal as well as dwarves. The shape may look crude, but it seems to be a shield made solely for defense… It was made faithfully to its purpose.”

Caryl realized that the shape of the shields the knights were holding was unusual.

“When did they do all that…? Anthem handled the work quite well. It must have been difficult to deal with the northern barbarians.”

He once again thought that meeting Anthem was an excellent decision. He was from a duchy, not from the empire where the Edict of Heresy Extermination had been issued, so he was less resistant to the northern barbarians, which made it easier to increase intimacy with them.

However, apart from those conditions, acknowledging the abilities of the barbarians and actively employing them for his plan would not have been easy in itself.

‘He’s also taking on his own challenge.’

Caryl smiled faintly at the thought and watched the battle.

“Now is the time!!”

Miliana was a mess, as if she had been burned all over, but at Grace’s cry, she instinctively thrust her dual swords.

“Hwaaaaaaa…!!!”

The phalanx formation that had been blocking the front instantly opened to both sides as if a door had opened, and Miliana thrust Ark and Gale into Blood with all her might.

Kagang!! Kagagagagang…!!!

A cheerful wind rose from the two dual swords, and they pierced Blood’s heart like a gale.

Kwajik…!!

However, the moment the sword blade pierced her heart, her face hardened slightly.

“Was it too short…?!

Just before her sword pierced Blood’s heart, it gathered its arms to block it, blocking the sword instead of its heart.

Crack… Crack…

Miliana tried to pull out her sword, but Blood, as if not feeling any pain, gripped the sword blade with all its might.

[Krrr…!!! Kaack!!!]

At the same time as Blood’s strange cry, its chest opened and another giant mouth popped out.

At the same time, a red liquid began to congeal in that mouth, as if it would spew towards Miliana at any moment.

“Hwaaap!!”

It was then.

The knights surrounding Blood pushed around Blood with their shields as if to crush it. At the same time, Grace thrust his sword between Miliana’s ribs.

Panpinel Family Swordsmanship – Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio bianor).

His sword bent vertically and then rushed parallel to the ground, pouring out sword strikes in an irregular trajectory like the flapping of a bird’s wings.

Kwaaaaaang—!!

With a loud explosion, his sword accurately pierced the half-destroyed heart of the Fallen.

[Kuaaaa!!!]

Blood’s scream was heard, and at the same time, Grace and Miliana’s bodies were thrown back by the impact.

Drip- Drip–

Unlike before, black blood poured out of Blood’s heart.

“Hoo, hoo, hoo…”

Grace, forgetting the shock, jumped up and kept his eyes on Blood. Even though it was only a single blow, his lips trembled with a kind of elation that overcame the tremendous pressure that his attack had succeeded.

“Not bad for a stepping stone.”

Miliana said, lightly tapping his slightly trembling shoulder.

“Huu… Hup. You’re welcome. It was only possible because the knights created an opening.”

“Yes, that’s a knightly model answer. Although it was an opening I created, I can’t help but acknowledge the efforts of your lord and knights.”

She chuckled at Grace’s gesture of giving credit to Viola.

“Anyway, we won.”

Miliana said, dusting off her hands as if relieved.

Kuggggg… Kuggg…

It was then.

Blood, who had fallen with the sword stuck in its heart, slowly began to rise. Its tenacious vitality was tiresome.

“No way…”

At the sight, Grace’s eyes trembled as if the elation he had felt a moment ago had disappeared, and he let out a low exclamation.

“Is the Fallen immortal?”

“To think we have to fight monsters like that in the future…”

Although it was a very low voice, Viola sensed that her knights were uneasy from the words coming from the rear.

“Calm down. The fact that we couldn’t kill it means that our skills were lacking, not that it is impregnable.”

Anxiety is easily contagious.

If it had been her in the past, she would have been swept away by that wave and wouldn’t have known what to do, but it was different now.

“We have only fought the first battle. It is the job of our allied knights, who have gained the honor of fighting the Fallen first, to collide with it as many times as necessary to find a way.”

“Yes!!”

“Understood.”

“…I’m sorry.”

She didn’t push them, but her words reassured the knights.

A fight against God.

Everyone knew that it was like throwing an egg against a rock, so expecting to win easily in the first battle was greedy.

But the anxiety that bloomed even though they knew it.

Viola, in that moment of crisis, instilled courage in them once again with the demeanor of a queen.

“That’s right.”

At that moment, Caryl slowly walked out from among the knights. Everyone’s eyes were on him.

“Good work.”

Caryl lightly patted Miliana’s shoulder as she panted, watching the broken Blood gradually recover.

“To destroy the Fallen, you have to break its heart. To do that, you must be able to block its poison.”

Then he said to Viola.

“I didn’t talk about how to break through the poison. I wasn’t going to leave it to you from the beginning. In fact, I thought you would be ill-prepared for the first Fallen. But I underestimated you too much. Even if you didn’t know about the enemy, you tried to prepare for all possibilities.”

Caryl picked up the huge, half-melted shield lying on the floor.

“You tried to fight the enemy not only in the way I told you but in your own way.”

It wasn’t just praise to boost their morale. Unlike him, they were fighting the Fallen for the first time. Of course, the lack of information was the same as in his previous life.

But as Viola said, they prepared all the methods and preparations to win the war with human capabilities. And unlike his previous life, where he suffered tremendous sacrifices before hunting the first Fallen, he was leading the battle in a completely different way.

“It’s not easy to break through the poison, but you found its heart in it and accurately thrust your sword into it. Frankly speaking, it’s close to impossible.”

Miliana frowned slightly at Caryl’s words.

“We didn’t kill it. Then it’s a failure.”

“No, you showed the possibility.”

Caryl threw the shield he was holding with all his might.

Thud—!!

The broken shield rotated like a boomerang and accurately hit the head of Blood, who was recovering.

Its head exploded, and red blood flowed down the floor with black smoke.

“The possibility of victory.”

[Kruk… Krrruk…]

Even though its head was blown off, it seemed to be struggling to regenerate, making strange moans with the giant mouth in its chest.

“So now I will turn the possibility you have shown into certainty.”

Thud- Thud- Thud-

Caryl slowly walked towards Blood.

Everyone on the battlefield watched him with tense eyes as he approached the first Fallen without hesitation.

“It’s not because you are weak. What you lack is not skill. Just a little information.”

Caryl pulled out Miliana’s sword stuck in the floor and slowly raised the blade.

Woooooong…

The light of Larciss flowing from his hand stayed on Ark, one of the dual swords, and began to glow gold.

“I can give that to you. From now on, watch carefully. The first Fallen that God confidently showed will become a textbook for killing God, and every single detail will be dissected to fill in the missing knowledge…”

Caryl said in a low voice.

“When this battle is over, as a sign of gratitude, hang the fragmented corpse of that guy on the highest mountain on the continent so that Yula up there can see it best.”