LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 193
Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity
Chapter 193
In the clash between the Western and Eastern armies, it was the Eastern army that first gained the upper hand.
The Four Divine Beasts of the East.
Miao, Jormungandr, Blue Bear, and Fenrir.
These divine beasts confronted the undead divine beasts led by the Western army and provided significant support to the Eastern forces.
Alongside them, warriors fought on mounted monsters, and the shamans in the rear bolstered the troops’ morale with their magic, further boosting their momentum.
However, this did not mean the Western army was at a disadvantage.
The Western Forest Alliance was a coalition of tribes from the Western forest, where the law of the jungle—"the strong devour the weak"—reigned supreme.
As a result, each of them was a formidable warrior, and many fell before their weapons.
More importantly, there was a figure in the Western army who maintained the deadlock between the two forces.
“Die, you wolf wench!”
Whooosh!
A dark red aura blade came flying.
It was an attack from a warrior of the Black Tiger Tribe who had swallowed a fragment of the Philosopher's Stone.
“Hyaaaaat!”
Kaaargh!
In response, Furious Fang, the chief of the Silver Wolf Tribe, let out a fierce battle cry.
She swung her sword, sending silver aura blades scattering across the air like a wolf’s fangs, slashing through the curved blade of the Black Tiger Tribe.
Slash!
The sharp sword aura, as ferocious as a raging wolf, shattered the Black Tiger Tribe’s aura blade and, in turn, bit into the enemy’s left shoulder.
“Kuaaagh!”
A master of the Black Tiger Tribe, struck by the counterattack, collapsed, bleeding profusely.
Throb.
She grimaced at the pain in her right side.
It was a wound sustained during the battle.
A deep wound that needed immediate treatment to stop the bleeding.
But there was no time for that.
“The wolf chief is exhausted!”
“If we push a little more, we can take her down!”
Four more Black Tiger Tribe masters still stood before her.
The light of their aura blades, emitting a crimson glow, flickered from all directions.
She gritted her teeth and shivered.
‘Vile Black Tiger Tribe scum, how dare trash like you wield the Emblem of the Great Warrior!’
The Emblem of the Great Warrior was how the tribes of the Great Forest referred to aura blades.
Thirty-eight sword masters of the Black Tiger Tribe.
Blue Bear had dealt with most of them in the landslide, but more than ten of them were still fighting the Eastern army’s chiefs.
As the chief of the Silver Wolf Tribe and the tribe’s sole Great Warrior for over a decade, she never imagined she would experience such a rare sight of that radiant emblem being so cheaply and commonly displayed.
The Black Tiger Tribe in front of her was certainly using the Emblem of the Great Warrior. Their strength and speed were indeed befitting of a Great Warrior.
But they were not true Great Warriors.
‘They’re just fakes imitating the real thing.’
While their power matched that of a Great Warrior, their skills, as she had heard, fell short of the mark.
Thanks to this, she could hold her ground to some extent, even against multiple opponents.
Silver aura and the dark red aura of the Black Tiger Tribe clashed violently, continuing the fierce battle.
As the fight dragged on, Furious Fang’s body accumulated more and more wounds.
But the sight of her not collapsing caused the Black Tiger Tribe warriors' faces to contort.
‘How is she still standing despite our combined attack as Great Warriors?’
‘Stubborn wolf wench…’
‘We’ve reached the same level as a Great Warrior…!’
Originally, they were warriors who lingered in the mid to lower levels of sword aura mastery.
However, after swallowing fragments of the Philosopher's Stone, they awakened as superhumans.
Nineteen out of twenty of their tribe couldn’t withstand the excruciating pain and died.
As a result, those who survived felt a sense of superiority and pride, believing they had reached the long-awaited realm of a Great Warrior.
In a world where strength is truth, this pride was of utmost importance to them.
Yet, as they fought the ‘true Great Warrior,’ the chief of the Silver Wolf Tribe, they felt their pride cracking.
Seven of them had joined forces, enduring their shame.
But three of their comrades had already died, and that wolf wench, though exhausted, was still swinging her silver blade.
It was as if she was telling them:
‘You’re just fakes. Weak, half-baked pretenders.’
Clench!
The veins in their hands gripping their weapons bulged.
‘Don’t be ridiculous! That can’t be true!’
This was wrong!
They had shed their former weakness and become true powerhouses!
The warriors of the Black Tiger Tribe denied their shortcomings.
Then, they directed their burning hatred toward the chief of the Silver Wolf Tribe, who had wounded their pride.
Clang! Clang! Chaaang!
The more they fought, the more fiercely their aura blades flared, and their attacks became even more aggressive.
“Urgh.”
A groan escaped from Furious Fang’s mouth.
No matter how inferior their quality, being overwhelmed by sheer numbers gradually pushed her onto the defensive.
Even if she blocked one blade, multiple others would strike from different directions.
She had already slain three of the Black Tiger Tribe warriors, but there were still many left.
‘Is there no way out…?’
Stumble.
At that moment, she felt her vision blur.
It was the dizziness caused by excessive blood loss.
‘Damn it!’
Furious Fang realized her mistake.
The Black Tiger Tribe warriors did not miss her opening.
Whoooosh!
A blade aimed at her vital spot at a timing where she could neither dodge nor block it.
That was when—
“Get a grip!”
Whooosh!
A deep blue light of destruction surged in between the silver and crimson lights.
The twin axes of Shammamak, the chief of the Blue Bear Tribe, his trusted weapons, blocked and deflected the Black Tiger Tribe’s blade.
Then, with the axe in his other hand, he cleaved through the Black Tiger Tribe warrior.
“Kuaaaaah!”
Slaaash!
A fountain of blood erupted as the Black Tiger Tribe warrior fell.
The others hurriedly retreated under the intimidating aura blade of Shammamak’s deep blue axes.
“Blue Bear!”
“To think the mighty Furious Fang would be cornered by these cheap fakes. It’s hilarious.”
“…What about the Black Tiger Tribe warriors you were fighting?”
“I took care of them all.”
“…What?”
Furious Fang was speechless.
From a quick glance, it had seemed he was facing over eight Black Tiger Tribe warriors.
Yet he claimed to have dealt with all of them.
A hollow laugh escaped her.
“Ha, you’re still as monstrously strong as ever.”
Even though they were both Great Warriors, in terms of combat ability and skill, he was a level above her.
Until now, there had been no battle in the Great Forest large enough to display their full power, so she hadn’t realized the gap was this significant.
“Well, monstrously strong…”
But Shammamak chuckled at her words.
He looked toward one side of the battlefield.
“That expression suits them better than me.”
“…Indeed, you may be right.”
Turning her gaze in the direction Shammamak was looking, Furious Fang had no choice but to agree.
The battlefield where Kaan and Aden were fiercely fighting.
Though the Eastern and Western armies clashed, they deliberately avoided fighting near the area where those two were engaged.
The reason was simple.
Kwarrrrumble! Boom, Kwoooom!
The ground collapsed and storms raged due to the impact of their battle.
* * *
Kaan’s spear techniques were like a storm.
It was not a mere metaphor; every time he swung his spear, a dark red storm rose.
Kwoooom!
The storm rushed in, aiming to tear Aden apart.
Fwooooosh!
Aden’s jet-black fire demon collided with the attack.
Flames and storms clashed, causing the ground to split and the air to tremble.
Every time a strike missed or was deflected, the innocent ground and empty space bore the brunt of the damage.
A sight of overwhelming power that was entirely different from other battles.
This was what it meant to be a battle between Advanced Sword Masters.
No one dared to intervene in the exchange between the two.
‘He’s strong.’
Aden thought as he blocked Kaan’s onslaught.
Kaan was different from those who had forcibly elevated their power using the Philosopher's Stone.
Kaan was the strongest warrior of the Black Tiger Tribe, who had originally ascended to the level of a Great Warrior.
As a superhuman, his mastery was already complete.
It was only natural that his attacks possessed terrifying power.
“Did you say I’m being used?”
Even as he fought, Aden told Kaan that he and his tribe were merely being used by Chaos.
He also warned that if things continued as they were, they would only become pawns in the conflict between the Great Forest and the Magic Kingdom.
Though Kaan had crossed the line by starting a war of unification after allying with Chaos, Aden thought it was worth mentioning just in case.
“It doesn’t matter.”
But, as expected, it was futile.
“If they’re using me, I’m using them.”
Even if their final goals were different, as long as the paths leading to them were the same.
He would simply use them.
“Even if they become my enemy later, I will fight them then. If I am strong, I will survive; if I am weak, I will die. That’s all there is to it.”
“Crazy bastard.”
Aden clicked his tongue.
It was a pitiful but thoroughly steadfast philosophy.
Although this was Aden’s first time meeting Kaan, he had a clear understanding of what kind of person he was.
Kaan was undoubtedly a madman.
That’s why he had allied with Chaos and sacrificed people to turn the divine beasts into undead.
Aden looked into his eyes.
“I will conquer nature and the lands of those who imitate it.”
Like the Black Tiger Tribe, Kaan’s eyes were dark like Aden’s.
But the atmosphere in those eyes was entirely different.
There was no ambition, no desire, no hatred, nor any thirst for revenge in those eyes.
They were eyes devoid of any emotion.
Eyes that felt even more terrifying because of their emptiness.
“The only outcomes in this process will be whether I conquer or am conquered.”
The weak are devoured.
The strong devour others.
This was the only truth ingrained in his mind.
He seemed like a man who had been molded into the very concept of the law of the jungle.
“And I will be the one who conquers.”
In those eerie, inhuman eyes, the image of Aden holding a sword engulfed in black flames was reflected.
A bizarre sound echoed from Kaan’s mouth.
—I am the storm that will sweep the world.
Aden immediately realized what Kaan was attempting to do.
‘Sword Incantation.’
Sword Incantation, also known as Sword Spell.
It was a technique where a warrior at the advanced level used aura to create a phenomenon resembling magic, akin to a mage using an incantation.
—My spear will tear apart and subjugate the world.
Kaan’s Sword Spell created a storm.
A massive, blood-red storm that seemed to have grown by drinking the blood of the dead.
A tornado towering high into the sky.
‘Is this your unique Sword Incantation? It’s as if it was crafted by Chaos itself.’
A storm that could snap even a thousand-year-old tree, strike fear into the heart of a wild beast with sharp fangs, and render humans, supposedly the rulers of all creatures, powerless.
The storm was an absolute power and violence for all beings.
Kaan had crafted that natural violence with his own hands.
Rumble…!
That natural violence was inching closer, ready to tear Aden apart.
Aden murmured as he looked at the storm.
“You’re strong, undeniably so. But…”
Aden aimed Baalzebul at the storm.
“You’re not the only one who can use a Sword Incantation.”
Whoooosh…
He extinguished the dark flames of the Abyss that had wrapped around Baalzebul.
Instead, a blue aura blade radiated from his sword.
Aden had now reached the level of an Advanced Sword Master.
His level had previously been too low to use, but now he could finally unveil his own unique Sword Incantation.
It was an ideal situation that his first trial involved facing another Advanced Sword Master.
Like Kaan, a bizarre echo spread from Aden’s lips.
—I am the one who severs the reverse scales of dragons.
The sword of the world’s sole dragonslayer revealed itself to the world.