enjoyebooks Chapter 183 : Nabrash (7)
Chapter 183 : Nabrash (7)
Chapter 183: Nabrash (7)
Sigbard moved his rod without rest to block Drake’s attacks.
Among the warriors of his age in the tribe, he had never had an equal.
Yet Drake’s greatsword was quite overwhelming.
“Euryahhhap!”
With a shout, Drake brought his greatsword straight down.
The rod held horizontally blocked it precisely, but there was no helping the fact that he was pushed back in strength.
“A fine rod. To think it wouldn’t break even after taking my blade.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Clang. Claaang.
The greatsword pressed against the rod, refusing to fall away, continuing to apply pressure.
His arms slowly bent inward, and he was on the verge of dropping to one knee.
On top of that, he was anxious because Serena, who had disappeared earlier, still hadn’t returned.
“Where are you looking. Focus on me.”
“Kh!”
At this rate, his head would be split open by the greatsword.
He pushed aside his worries for his companion and poured strength into both arms.
As if connected by nerves, Fighting Spirit spread across the surface of the rod.
Claaang!
When he barely managed to push Drake back, the latter asked with an intrigued expression.
“Is there a reason you wrap Fighting Spirit around your weapon?”
“To exert greater strength. Why ask the obvious.”
“Strange. If it’s simply to become stronger, wouldn’t it be better to reinforce your body instead?”
Drake stabbed his greatsword into the ground and slammed his two fists together.
A bursting shockwave rippled outward in a circular wave.
Without grasping his sword, he beckoned Sigbard with his palm.
“You’re saying you won’t use a weapon.”
“That’s right. I’ll teach you a move.”
Sigbard’s pride was wounded, but he was in no position to be picky.
He had to go find the missing Serena.
He swung the rod infused with Fighting Spirit with all his might toward Drake’s fist.
Kjeong-!
The fist and rod collided, and it felt as though he had struck solid rock.
Once again, it was Sigbard who was pushed back.
“There are countless ways to utilize Fighting Spirit. Among them, directly wrapping it around the body allows one to coat far more than when wrapping it around a weapon.”
Drake pressed Sigbard even with his bare fists.
It wasn’t that Sigbard didn’t know the technique of channeling Fighting Spirit directly into the body.
But infusing it into a weapon was far more efficient.
That was the common sense Sigbard had learned through experience.
And the Drake before him shattered that common sense.
Boooom!
Each fist carried enough force to shatter anything.
Rather than blocking, Sigbard focused on evasion and thought.
How could he possibly knock down that monstrous kinsman?
“Stop just dodging and do something!”
“I’m thinking.”
“How long are you going to just use your head!”
As if he had no intention of giving him time to think, Drake gradually increased his speed.
Both strength and Fighting Spirit were superior on Drake’s side.
In this situation, what move should he use?
To the question he posed to himself, Sigbard could only arrive at one answer.
He would use Accumulated Energy.
Within his father’s weapon, Beivolg, the power his father had left behind while alive remained.
If he could draw out that power, he could overcome the current situation.
Kjeojeojeojeong!
He stopped evading and took a defensive stance to block Drake’s fists.
A tingling shock traveled through his hands and spread throughout his entire body.
“Hooop.”
His eyes tracked Drake’s fists, and he withdrew the Fighting Spirit from Beivolg.
While enduring the now heavier onslaught, he searched for the sleeping power within.
Strangely, the manifestation of Accumulated Energy, which had previously felt just beyond his grasp, came to him with astonishing ease.
Giiiiiiiiing.
As though a barrier had formed around Beivolg, Drake’s fist stopped abruptly.
Thinking he had seen wrong, Drake struck down again.
Just as before, his fist failed to reach Beivolg.
When he looked at Sigbard, something had changed.
“What is this. Did you hide a companion?”
Behind Sigbard, the figure of someone large could be seen.
A physique outstandingly massive even for a Barbarian Tribe.
That warrior, flickering like an illusion, was clearly sharing his strength.
“Don’t tell me… Accumulated Energy.”
“That’s right.”
“Who is it.”
“My father, Gunrad.”
Kuung. Kugugugung.
Accumulated Energy, a power different from Fighting Spirit.
The power Gunrad had left behind while alive was so vast it was difficult to control.
It was enough to make him worry that it might explode if his concentration wavered even slightly.
Sensing the anomaly, Drake poured even greater strength into his punch to secure victory.
And that created a gap in Sigbard’s control.
Boom!
A small explosion erupted from the tip of Beivolg.
Though only the size of a watermelon, its instantaneous power was nothing to dismiss.
“…Damn.”
Boom! Popopopopoom!
Each time he swung the rod toward Drake, small explosions burst forth in succession.
He had succeeded in forcing the bastard back, but the problem was that even Sigbard struggled to control it.
The explosions erupting from the tip of Beivolg grew larger by the moment.
“I’ve lost.”
“What?”
“Have you not heard what happens to one who cannot control Accumulated Energy. You’ve won, so I’ll run away.”
True to his words, Drake turned his back and fled.
With no time to feel empty over the anticlimactic end of the match, Sigbard gripped Beivolg and struggled to suppress the power.
“Grrrgh. Stop! I’ve won, so stop, I said!”
He tried planting Beivolg into the ground to gather the power, but it refused to listen.
A situation where he might self-destruct at any moment.
As he desperately tried to hold it back with all his might.
A welcome voice was heard from behind.
“Sigbard, you look troubled.”
“Serena? You’re safe!”
“Of course. Who do you think I am.”
When Serena returned, Sigbard was left alone, his body trembling violently.
At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary situation.
She swung her staff and asked Sigbard.
“What’s the problem.”
“It’s difficult to control Beivolg.”
“Really?”
Kwarurururu.
A curtain of water spread around Sigbard, then filled into a hemispherical dome.
It rose from beneath his feet until his entire body was submerged, and he held his breath.
He waited, assuming Serena must have a method, but aside from filling it with water, she took no further action.
When he looked at her in confusion, Serena explained.
“I thought it might calm down if you were underwater.”
“……?”
“Even if it explodes, you’ll get hurt less underwater.”
It didn’t seem like a solution born from deep deliberation.
Well, she had suddenly disappeared and then returned only to see Sigbard like this, so it was understandable.
Still, wasn’t it too much to trap him in water until he suffocated?
“Mmph……! Mmph……!”
He was slowly reaching the point of suffocation.
Even so, he did not let go of Beivolg and kept wildly swinging it around, expressing his plea to be taken out.
“Oh, it’s actually working.”
What did she mean it was working.
Just as he thought he would pass out from lack of oxygen at this rate.
Right before he lost consciousness, the hemispherical water slowly subsided.
“Kuheuuup! Khelock! Khelock!”
After inhaling and exhaling huge gulps of air several times, he looked up at Serena.
He wanted to protest whether she had truly intended to suffocate him.
But seeing how visibly exhausted she looked, he shut his mouth.
Unlike usual, her complexion was pale blue, and there were bloodstains on her knees and elbows.
“Take better care of your weapon. You nearly caused a disaster.”
“I see.”
Come to think of it, Beivolg had calmed down.
When he lowered his head, the rampage had already ended.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I lived.”
“I’m completely drained after using Spirit Arts just now. Can you move?”
“Of course.”
“Lend me your shoulder.”
Serena climbed onto Sigbard’s shoulder.
It was as natural as mounting a horse.
“Let’s go find Robin and Aelin.”
“Did you figure out their location.”
“No, we’ll have to start looking now.”
They decided to hear about what had happened to each other later.
For now, rejoining their separated companions came first.
“Sigbard.”
“What is it.”
“You worked hard. Now you’re the ruler of District 7.”
At Serena’s praise, Sigbard gave a faint smile.
“You worked hard as well. That Spirit Mage didn’t look easy. It seems you managed to defeat him.”
“Yeah. He turned into a mummy and died.”
“A mummy……?”
“Just think of someone more shriveled than a starving beggar.”
What kind of Spirit Arts had she used for him to turn into a mummy?
He was reminded anew that Serena had far more resolve than her appearance suggested.
“Let’s check from the first floor. Dexter went in this direction.”
“Understood.”
The Barbarian Tribe warrior carrying the Spirit Mage stepped into the mansion with long strides.
Those who had witnessed the outcome of the fight did not dare to stop the two.
Robin and Aelin struggled against Zakras’s true body.
Zakras, who had mastered the swordsmanship of the Mercenary King, was not an opponent who could be easily brought down, and fatigue and injuries piled up.
No matter what method he used, he recovered even after being wounded, but Robin and Aelin had to conserve their potions and use them only when necessary.
“Hehehehe, it seems you’ve shown me everything you have.”
Zakras truly used swordsmanship identical to Robin’s.
Robin’s swordsmanship had been developed independently.
Yet Zakras imitated Robin’s blade based on the Mercenary King’s swordsmanship.
After exchanging several bouts, he even devised countermeasures and pressured Robin in return.
“It seems that elf has run out of arrows. Instead of just watching from afar, why don’t you come help?”
“Stay right there.”
Aelin’s support had also ceased just moments ago.
She had consumed too many arrows.
That said, she could not be drawn into close combat.
If Aelin came closer now, it would be no different from throwing away her life.
“It seems I’ve gained everything I could from you. Let’s end this.”
Zakras’s sword emitted red Fighting Spirit.
The Fighting Spirit that longed for destruction was aimed at Robin.
Robin glanced behind him.
He saw the anxious look in Aelin’s eyes.
Their gazes met for just a moment before he turned his attention back to Zakras.
Jiing. Jiing. Jiing.
The Black Mask’s sword held in his left hand vibrated.
Robin now knew why this sword reacted that way.
It was absorbing Demonic Energy.
Since Zakras’s true body had emerged, the intervals of the vibration had grown shorter.
“I will be the one to finish you, you filthy Demon Tribe bastard.”
The sword imbued with Demonic Energy and the Dwarf-Forged longsword.
The two blades collided with Zakras’s sword, scattering sparks.
The trajectory of the blades, moving without hesitation, was as beautiful as a painting yet dangerously sharp enough to pierce at any moment.
“Damn… what am I supposed to do at a time like this.”
Watching their duel, Aelin bit her lip.
There was only one variable—she had one arrow left.
Zakras had not noticed the arrow Aelin had tossed onto the ground.
But what could she possibly do with just a single arrow.
No matter how carefully she had shot until now, Zakras had dodged every single one as if he could read the future.
“You said you could fight well. Idiot. I can’t even face Robin…….”
Just in case, she picked up the arrow and nocked it, when she saw something different.
More precisely, Robin’s sword drew a left-pointing arrow.
In an instant, the sword’s path shifted, but Aelin caught the signal just now.
Her gaze naturally turned left, and aside from a collapsed wall, there was nothing there.
“Could it be?”
The wall from which Zakras had emerged and from which Demonic Energy billowed out.
Though it was too dark to see clearly with the naked eye, it was certain that something that should not exist was deep within.
Robin had drawn an arrow with his sword to signal that she should destroy it.
But…….
“Can I hit it?”
There was no one to answer her muttered words.
Robin and Zakras were both focused entirely on each other.
That might make it an even greater opportunity.
“No, I have to.”
If she was to make up for boasting before entering the cave, she had to succeed.
By rough estimation, the depth seemed to be over 100 meters.
She took a deep breath, drew the bowstring, and aimed in one smooth, flowing motion.
All that remained was to release toward the target with Fighting Spirit infused.
Woooong. Woooong. Woooong.
One change that had occurred after seeing Elicia’s memories.
Beyond freely controlling Fighting Spirit, its quantity and power had increased significantly.
The Fighting Spirit gathered at the arrowhead was more intense than ever, and it stiffened the ordinary fletching, instilling the will to fly farther.
Piyung-!
Like a falling shooting star, the arrow flew and struck its target before Zakras could react.
At her fingertips, Aelin felt the sensation of something solid shattering.
Crash!
With the sound of something breaking, cracks spread across Zakras’s face.
“Nooooooo!”
Leaving Robin behind, he ran beyond the wall.
Robin and Aelin immediately chased after Zakras, lifting a Torch to illuminate the interior.
When they reached the end, the sight before them was exactly as Robin had intended.
A massive horn lay shattered into pieces, and Zakras was kneeling, babbling incoherently.
“N-no… do you know how I raised that horn…….”
“Didn’t you say you tore it out yourself to use Fighting Spirit.”
“Yes! I modified it so I could reuse it anytime after tearing it out! If I can use both Fighting Spirit and Demonic Energy, I’ll become the strongest of the Demon Tribe!”
Zakras’s eyes burned with hatred.
He looked ready to slaughter Robin and Aelin at once.
But that was only in spirit; in reality, his strength drained away gradually as if he had taken an anesthetic.
“A, ah… my power…….”
“You talk about imitating humans and learning Fighting Spirit, but a Demon Tribe is still a Demon Tribe. Seeing how you can’t use your power once your horn is destroyed.”
“Shut up! How dare you……!”
Squeezing out his remaining strength, Zakras lunged at Robin.
Yet the result came far too easily.
Slash.
Zakras’s head was cleanly severed and rolled across the floor.
Into the pile of human bones he had killed and consumed all this time.
“Aelin, you did well.”
“What did I do… it was all thanks to you.”
“We can trade compliments later. Let’s get out first. We’ve delayed too long.”
“Wait. Isn’t that an Artifact?”
Looking where Aelin pointed, there lay a small leather pouch.
“This is…….”
When Robin carefully opened it, he was left dumbfounded by the unexpected windfall.
It was a Spatial Artifact.