“This is it. Tricks will not work against that bastard anyway, so you will have no choice but to fight with your own skill.”
As he said this, the Emperor handed Arden a pitch-black herb from the corner.
“Thirty minutes. It will nearly double your total amount from where it is now. I would like to give you something else, but… I do not think you could endure it yet. Be satisfied with this elixir for now. I received it from ‘them’ who lived in the forest, so it will be enough.”
Arden nodded and chewed the pitch-black herb.
“Go now. If they are the ones I was told about, they will still be holding on.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The instant Arden swallowed the herb, the Emperor stepped closer.
When he pressed his index finger near Arden’s heart, a black space opened behind him.
WOOOOONG!
Arden looked at the Emperor for a moment before entering it.
Fortunately, he did not lose his memory this time.
With the sensation of his body stretching out at length, he arrived before Kane.
***
CRAAAAASH!
At the same time, he blocked the dozens of blades rushing toward Kane.
Unlike before, he was not pushed back.
Twice.
That doubling alone had brought him to a level similar to Kyle’s.
“A golden portal…. It is exactly what I heard from one knight. It seems the Imperial Storehouse was not merely a rumor. Did you take an elixir there?”
Kyle asked.
“…….”
Instead of answering, Arden thrust his sword.
He even changed its trajectory midway to aim for Kyle’s limbs.
The situation was completely different from when he had first met Kyle.
Kyle knocked away Arden’s sword one strike at a time before taking a step back.
“You have certainly… changed. I acknowledge it.”
Kyle grinned and continued.
“Now this is worth doing. Come. The longer you delay, the bastards over there will die.”
Arden knew as well.
He could not drag this out any longer.
Therefore, he drew up all the power that had not yet fully risen.
His heart throbbed as though his barely healed wounds had been torn open again, but there was no helping it.
Besides, judging from how he felt now, even five minutes would be difficult.
He needed to finish this within that time.
Only then could he go help the four people.
“Huu….”
Arden exhaled hot breath and looked ahead.
At the same time, he kicked off the ground.
As though folding space, Arden leapt before Kyle and thrust his sword toward his throat.
Kyle lightly leaned his head back to avoid it, then blocked the fist coming toward his abdomen with his left hand.
BANG!
Kyle was pushed three steps back.
He looked at the footprints formed in the ground, then shifted his gaze forward again.
He threw his sword toward Arden, who was charging at him with white light spilling from his eyes.
A bluish trajectory approached, exploding everything it touched.
Arden also threw his sword to deflect it.
CLAAAAANG!
The swords flew up, scattering sparks, then stabbed into the ground.
WHOOSH!
Kyle threw a punch.
Arden slightly twisted his body, blocked it with his elbow, then immediately leapt and drove up his knee.
Smack!
Just before it struck Kyle’s chin, Kyle blocked Arden’s knee with his left palm.
…A silence briefly settled.
Arden and Kyle looked each other over, then stepped back at the same time.
After catching their breath once—
Tap!
Kyle charged.
Arden knocked upward the fist burrowing toward his cheekbone.
That instant, Kyle spread open his raised left hand and grabbed Arden’s arm.
Crack!
The sound of bones breaking rang out, but Arden did not remain still either.
He drove inward and slammed his fist into Kyle’s solar plexus.
CRAAAAASH!
Kyle’s solar plexus caved in with the shape of Arden’s fist.
Kyle released Arden’s arm and staggered backward.
He wore an incredulous expression.
But Arden, who had attacked him, was not unharmed either.
His finger bones had been crushed from striking Kyle’s body with his bare fist when Kyle had defended himself with Aura.
But it did not matter.
The broken parts would heal.
There was no need to spare his body.
The more severely Arden was injured, the more he panted in pain… and the more he endured it and pressed forward, the shorter the fight would become.
Arden had to help the three people holding out at the forest entrance.
“…….”
The moment he finished steeling himself, the pressure Arden gave off changed.
From then on, Kyle also fell silent.
They kept their distance for a moment as they read the situation.
But that moment did not last long.
Arden immediately tripped Kyle, and they rolled across the ground.
They grappled and rolled for a while before Arden mounted him.
He trapped both of Kyle’s arms between his legs and punched him in the face.
Thud! Thud!
Each time, Kyle, pinned beneath him, twisted his body to throw Arden off.
“Hup—!”
Kyle drew in a deep breath.
He used all his strength to pull out the arms pinned beneath Arden.
Creak!
As he twisted his body at the same time, Arden gradually began to shake.
That was when it happened.
Kyle violently threw his body and rolled once to the side.
In an instant, the balance of offense and defense changed.
Arden was pinned underneath.
Kyle, his face swollen, grinned and threw down his fist.
Fortunately, Arden’s arms were not pinned, so he blocked as much as he could.
Crack!
Crunch!
His bones were crushed, and his arm bent again.
Whenever it went limp from losing strength, Kyle’s fist slipped through the gap.
Arden tried to redirect the blows as much as possible by turning his head, but there was a limit.
Kyle did not stop there.
He lowered his upper body and slammed his forehead into Arden’s nose.
Crack!
His nose caved in from the impact.
Blood burst forth in streams.
But Arden had not stayed still either.
As Kyle’s lowered upper body tried to return to its original position, Arden pushed with all his strength.
Kyle’s center of gravity shifted forward for a moment, and he fell off Arden.
“Huu, huu.”
Thanks to that, Arden was able to escape from beneath him.
As Arden widened the distance, the fluorescent liquid inside his body writhed and came out.
It raised his severely sunken nasal bone.
Crack!
“Huu.”
“I wondered where it had gone. It was inside your body. Fascinating.”
Kyle looked at the fluorescent liquid and slowly approached.
Arden frowned but did not let down his guard.
When Kyle tried to kick his abdomen, Arden immediately extended his leg to stop it from rising any farther.
Then he threw a fist that had not properly healed and struck Kyle’s ribs.
Thud!
A crimson mark rose on Kyle’s skin.
Kyle immediately counterattacked in the same way.
Crunch!
With one blow, Arden’s ribs were crushed.
He vomited a mouthful of blood and kicked back two steps.
Then he flung himself to the side and picked up the sword lying there.
He did not forget to kick Kyle’s sword far away.
“…….”
Kyle paused and looked at the sword that had flown far away.
Meanwhile, Arden removed every bit of power surrounding his body and wrapped it around his sword.
WOOOOOOONG!
The sword’s light stretched out long.
Arden immediately sent a Sword Aura toward the Kyle who had caught up to him.
BANG!
Three pure white crescents shot forward.
Kyle concentrated bluish Aura in his left hand and caught the Sword Aura.
CRACKLE!
Kyle was pushed back.
Smoke rose from his hand, and the smell of burning filled the forest.
But Arden was not about to watch him.
He kicked off the ground and thrust his sword.
“Grr….”
Sensing danger, Kyle used his right hand to redirect the Sword Aura he was holding toward the left.
BANG!
The ground exploded, forming a deep pit.
At that moment, Arden’s sword, which he thrust in a wrapping arc, cut off Kyle’s right wrist.
SLASH!
Time slowed even further.
Kyle’s hand, blackened from blocking the Sword Aura, rose into the air.
Blood stretched out in a long trail and dripped down.
Yet Kyle did not stop.
As though determined to kill Arden, he concentrated Aura in the fingers of his left hand in an instant.
He thrust them toward Arden’s exposed right side, revealed as he had cut off Kyle’s wrist.
CRUNCH!
The side he had grabbed was torn out in a spiral.
The lowest rib was crushed, and his organs burst apart.
Even then, Kyle did not let go.
As though he intended to stir them apart, he shoved his left hand even deeper inside.
“Grrrgh—!”
Arden’s vision blurred in an instant.
Terrible pain wrapped around his entire body.
As Arden vomited blood, he forcibly grabbed Kyle’s left arm embedded in his side.
He did not stop there and twisted it with all his strength.
Creak!
At first, Kyle held firm with strength, but in the end, it bent.
CRACK!
Once the arm bent, it could no longer endure.
Arden took a breath and turned it once more, intending to tear the arm off completely.
Rip!
Dislocated bone tore through flesh.
Perhaps he had struck a blood vessel, because blood sprayed in every direction.
Slash….
At the same time, he pulled Kyle’s left hand, which was on the verge of coming off, from his side.
Then the organs inside Arden, reduced to pulp, stretched out like a tangled thread and dragged out after it.
Gurgle!
The fluorescent liquid immediately began to move.
It regenerated the organs that had been crushed inside his abdomen.
It caught the red mass spilling from his gaping side and pushed it back inside.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
As Arden heard something being reattached, he opened his eyes wide.
“Gaaaaaaaaah!”
With a battle cry mixed with a groan, he swung his sword diagonally upward.
Kyle saw this and tried to spread the Aura gathered in his left hand across his entire body, but—
SLAAAAASH!
Arden’s sword tore through flesh, severed ribs and organs, and burst Kyle’s heart faster.
“…Cough!”
Kyle vomited blood.
By the time the blood flowing from him soaked his chest, his upper body gradually tilted to the side.
Thud!
He collapsed onto the ground.
His winding small intestine spilled out beyond the severed cross-section.
“Huu….”
Life and death were decided in an instant.
About three seconds passed before the wrist that had floated in the air rolled beside the corpse.
The fates of the two people had been decided in that short time.
The dead man grew cold on the ground.
The survivor turned his head and looked beyond the forest.
The battle was not over yet.
***
Once Arden joined them, the battle quickly turned.
The bandits had realized it.
Their leader was dead.
They had gathered because of Kyle’s strength, so once their central pillar disappeared, they fell apart in an instant.
Of course, some continued to resist, but they were all dealt with within a few minutes.
“…Grr.”
Arden, who had finally run out of strength, collapsed at the entrance to the forest.
The elixir’s power still remained, but he could not move.
His entire body had been crushed and punctured, leaving him unable to endure any longer.
Arden slowly turned his head and looked at Berua.
After casting healing magic on Dylan, she approached Arden.
“…….”
Berua’s face was pale, as though she had pushed herself to her limit as well.
“Arden… you have worked very hard.”
She appeared to have much she wanted to say, but she ended it briefly.
Instead, she clasped her hands toward Arden and closed her eyes for a moment.
About thirty seconds passed before she spoke.
“The fluorescent liquid is rejecting Divine Power, so I do not believe I can heal you. Do you know where Kane is?”
“…He is near the pit. He is not dead, so you should be able to heal him.”
“Understood… I am truly sorry that I could not help you.”
Berua turned her unsteady body and set off to find Kane.
Arden watched her back for a moment before turning his gaze to the sky.
“…….”
The sky was stained by sunset.
At the edge of his vision, a faint moon had risen as well.
Arden took in that sight for a moment before losing consciousness.
***
“Hurry….”
“Dispose of them….”
Arden opened his eyes to the noisy voices.
When he looked up at the sky, the sun was already high overhead.
It felt as though he had slept for an entire day.
“…….”
Arden raised his upper body, turned his head, and looked at the people moving busily around him.
They all wore pure white clothes, as though they belonged to the Arcane Temple.
“There is a corpse here as well.”
“Gather them all over here! We will deal with them at once.”
They gathered the corpses scattered across the ground and neatly placed them inside the pit.
Then, one young man suddenly made eye contact with Arden.
Startled, he immediately spoke to an old man who was praying.
“The person who had collapsed has awakened.”
“I will go. Continue what you are doing.”
“Yes!”
As the young man nodded and returned to work, the old man approached Arden.
“Are you all right?”
“…Yes.”
Arden grabbed the old man’s wrinkled outstretched hand and rose.
The old man watched Arden dust himself off and spoke.
“I am glad you appear to be unharmed. We moved the others inside first. We intended to move Sir Arden as well, but Berua asked us to leave you as you were until you awoke. I assumed there was a reason, so I agreed.”
“Ah….”
“I mention this just in case…. I apologize if it was presumptuous.”
“No, it is all right.”
“Ha ha… thank you. Come this way. I will guide you.”
The old man smiled faintly and turned around.
Arden quietly followed him.
“Please, go in.”
The old man opened the entrance and gestured inside.
Arden bowed and entered.
There were four beds inside the tent.
Berua, Dylan, Kane, and Derek each lay on one of them.
“Hey… you’re here. I think I’m going to die.”
Kane, the only one conscious, greeted Arden.
“You are still alive, at least.”
“Yeah. But I’m more curious about you. What did you do to get back up already? We feel like we’re dying here….”
Kane said this while holding his aching wrist.
“I do not know either… By the way, how are the other three?”
“The leader is half-dead, and Berua is the same. At least that hunter and I are all right.”
“Ah….”
Arden nodded and continued.
“Then I will go back outside. Rest well.”
“Are you sure you do not need more rest? We can quickly add another bed.”
“It is all right. I am fine now.”
“Yeah, being young is nice. Not that I should say that when I’m only ten years older than you… well, you know what I mean.”
“…….”
“I do not know what you’re going to do, but be careful out there. I put the notebook up there. No one has read it yet. I told them to leave it because it came from the bastard you caught.”
“Yes.”
It was just as Arden walked to where Kane pointed and picked up the notebook.
“Ah! Arden.”
“What is it?”
“When you leave, tell them to bring me some food.”
Arden gave a faint smile and nodded instead of answering, then left the tent.
As he turned toward the direction where a savory smell drifted from, intending to ask for food—
“……!”
In an instant, his vision expanded.
As though space were being pulled closer, it showed him only one spot at the far end of the field.
A person in a red robe stood there.
A Demon Worshipper.
It was that bastard.