Chapter 258

RMSBS – Episode 258 . Divide and Conquer (8)

*WHIP*

The moment the wyvern army approached the ice barrier, Callithus noticed that the speed of their descent was alarmingly fast .

He soon discovered the reason .

A downdraft current was blowing . One so strong that it could not possibly be natural .

It was as if the current was trying to pin them to the ground .

“Huh?”

And thus, the tragedy began .

Right before the wyvern army arrived, the hundreds of ice shields that Adjest materialized started to shatter simultaneously .

One of those pieces grazed Callithus’s armor .

*CLANG*

Only a single fragment had brushed past him, but the Fourth-Circle magic that had been enchanted on the armor broke immediately .

It was strange . Even considering the acceleration, there was no way that a single ice fragment could be that destructive .

Callithus squinted his eyes . He quickly realized that the tens of thousands of ice shards rushing towards the wyvern army were all glowing faintly .

“Is that… … ?”

Callithus’s breath caught in his throat . He could not believe his very eyes .

If his knowledge was correct, there was no doubt as to what this was .

‘Aura… … !’

Magic lay squarely in the domain of magicians, and aura in the domain of knights . A man of mediocrity would have a hard time mastering just one of those domains .

But the woman in front of him had mastered both .

This was a feat only possible for Adjest Kingscrown, humanity’s strongest magical swordsman .

“KYAAAK!”

“HRAAAAGH!”

The sky, filled with a mixture of human and wyvern screams, quickly morphed into hell .

The wyvern army had flown into the field of aura-imbued shards, and just like that, they were torn apart .

Rapidly increasing their altitude and then suddenly diving to avoid the sniper had led to their demise .

From their perspective, tens of thousands of blade-like shards, each infused with aura, had just come flying at them from nowhere . No knight or magician could withstand such an absurd attack .

Watching his troops getting torn to pieces, Callithus spoke in a dazed voice .

“This is absurd . ”

Those were his final words .

Swept away by countless shards of ice, Callithus was torn asunder along with the wyvern that he was riding .

From the sky rained not just the wyvern unit’s artillery attacks, but their blood and guts .

* * *

Pittsburgh’s Central Square .

Leaving the dragon-shaped fountain between them, the Side Guard and Janissaries confronted each other .

The atmosphere of the two groups was quite different .

While the Side Guard prepared for battle like cold robots, the Janissaries bore eyes of wild beasts that could not contain their excitement .

Raphaello swallowed a laugh at the absurdity in the stark contrast between the two groups .

The Royal Guard and the Janissaries .

Naturally, with the hundreds of years of war between Hebrion and Divide, the two groups had continuously competed for the position of the strongest on the continent .

These two groups were both knight-centric, serving the Hebrion Empire’s Imperial Family and Divide’s Royal Family respectively, making them the national pride and the symbol of strength for their countries .

This was a showdown between two groups claiming to be the continent’s strongest .

“Get ready for battle . ”

Starting with leader Brepon, the Janissaries all summoned their aura at the same time . The result was an extreme suppressive force bearing down on the area and its surroundings .

The Side Guard, apparently unphased by such a display, drew their weapons and aimed them at the Janissaries .

After a brief pause, they charged at each other with no regard to who moved first .

*BANG*

*CRASH*

The two groups collided into each other fiercely, causing deafening roars to ring out in all directions .

The spacious square was instantly destroyed as aura coated weapons clanged against each other and magic exploded .

It was a fierce battle .

The Janissaries only had a few dozen people, but these troops were all knights strong enough to be commanders of any regular formation .

On the other hand, the Side Guard’s knights were less powerful, but they made up for it with their outstanding teamwork with high-ranking magicians .

They were two groups with vastly different compositions, but they both fought neck and neck .

They were locked in a tense battle where neither side indicated any willingness to yield .

However, the longer the battle continued, it was the Side Guard who would have the disadvantage . Their magicians would slowly run out of mana, and the Janissaries would likely triumph in a battle of pure swordsmanship . Even so, the Side Guard continued fighting calmly .

They could fight fearlessly thanks to the presence of a man, who was currently fighting at the forefront of the battle alongside them .

*CLANG*

Raphaello stared ahead as he rotated the aura that wrapped around Gram .

Five swords rushed towards him .

Strong teamwork multiplied the power that any individual held by several times . And if that teamwork was between the best of the best, there was nothing more to say about the power they could wield .

The Janissary knights moved, thinking that it would be impossible even for a King-Class swordsman to block this attack .

But instead, Raphaello took a step forward .

During the slight moment while the Janissaries were taken aback, Raphaello’s sword moved .

*SLASH*

The signature aura wheel of the Sword Grand Master easily shredded the knight standing before him .

“Huh?”

The knight that stood right behind the slain knight let out a stupid sound .

Raphaello kicked his abdomen . Despite having witnessed his colleague being slaughtered in front of him, his face remained stoic, with only one thought in his mind: victory .

*BANG*

Although he had focused on materializing his aura, that did not mean he had neglected the other ways of using aura . As he kicked someone with his body, which had been enhanced by his immense King-Class aura, nearby soldiers turned towards the sound of what they had thought was a bomb going off .

*BANG*

The half-folded body of the knight crashed into the fountain and exploded . There was no need to check if he was still alive .

“Th-This monster… … !”

As two of them had been overpowered in an instant, their formation had collapsed even before they could try further coordinated attacks .

Raphaello bent down as soon as he took a step .

*WHIP*

A Janissary knight attacked after estimating where Raphaello would advance . Unfortunately, his attack was to no avail .

Raphaello felt the sharpness of the blade as it grazed past his head . But without hesitation, he swung Gram sideways .

The knight that had swung his sword at Raphaello was cleaved in half before he realized what had happened, long before he even had a chance to get back into position .

“Following attacks with your eyes? You’ve still got a long way to go . ”

From there, Raphaello did a half-turn and struck his sword down at the incoming stab aimed at the left side of his lower body .

*CRAASH*

As the ends of their swords clashed, a massive shockwave erupted .

*SPLAT*

Blood splattered everywhere . Just like that, the knight on the receiving end of the exchange exploded into scraps of meat .

Raphaello wiped the blood off his cheek as he levelled his sword at the last knight still standing .

*CLANG*

A sharp metallic clang rang out .

“Ooh . ”

Raphaello subconsciously let out an exclamation . Brepon, the leader of the Janissaries, had stepped in instantly to stop his sword .

*CLING*

Brepon pushed back Raphaello’s sword as he spoke .

“I would like to exchange pointers with the Sword Grand Master . ”

As soon as his words ended, aura rose from his sword in a threatening manner .

At the same time, three wheels formed on Raphaello’s sword and began to rotate .

*CRAAASH*

As aura crashed against aura, a massive explosion swept through the surrounding area .

The battle between the King-Class swordsmen was unlike any other .

Even amidst those explosions, the two did not stop swinging their swords .

It was a battle where a multitude of blows was exchanged every second .

In contrast to his position as the Empire’s shield, Raphaello was going all out on his offensive while Brepon was forced onto the backfoot, stuck defending against his onslaught .

*CLANG*

“Let me ask you one thing . ”

Raphaello said to Brepon as they were locked in combat .

“Why are you following Divide’s orders?”

It was a simple yet deep question .

Brepon did not have trouble understanding the implications of his question, but he answered the question while ignoring its nature .

“… … Why, that’s easy . That’s because I’m a knight of Divide . ”

Brepon pushed back Raphaello’s sword . His instantaneous use of aura had caused his strength to surpass Raphaello’s for a second .

“As a knight who has sworn allegiance to the Royal Family, what more reason would I need to follow the country’s orders? I’m simply following my master’s orders faithfully . ”

Hearing that answer, Raphaello’s expression went cold .

“That’s the worst answer . ”

His tone had also turned icy cold . His attitude was sharper than ever .

The number of wheels encircling Gram increased as the rotations accelerated . The amount of aura that the sword held was menacing .

An overwhelming pressure .

“There’s no more need for me to continue talking to someone who’s stopped thinking . Let’s finish this quickly . ”

Soon, six wheels formed on his sword .

The sight of the six wheels, spinning as if they would swallow everything, clearly proved that Raphaello had reached a point where there was no doubt that he was deserving of the title Sword Grand Master .

Even faced with this overwhelming spectacle, Brepon silently raised his sword .

“It won’t be that easy . ”

Blue flames shot up and wrapped themselves around his sword . The vigor that he exuded did not fall behind Raphaello .

The strongest knights, from the Hebrion Empire and the Kingdom of Divide .

Once again, the two swords crossed each other .

—-

Chapter brought to you by Kevin K .

???: …

ED: Purplemen101

TLC: N/A

QC: Nhan