BXBX NOVEL Chapter 299. Praying (2)
Chapter 299. Praying (2)
Argo had numerous sword marks across his body, and the blood from his numerous wounds had wet his skin and dyed his clothes red. It would not be a surprise if he were to keel over and die at any moment.
This was the price he incurred for forcing himself out of the battle against the two most powerful knights of the Empire, Rapaello and Jean. It was indeed a reckless and bold judgment, but his intuition paid off. This war would end in their defeat the moment Priscilla died.
“How did you… ?”
“Because I thought you might be in danger.” Argo answered, keeping his eyes on Desir. “… Thank you for coming, my loyal knight.”
The stab wounds on Argo’s entire body began to be healed under Priscilla’s recovery ability. Priscilla’s expression had somewhat brightened. Argo was the most powerful knight in the church. His ability was comparable to the combined might of the two Royal Guard members. If they fought together, they stood a chance against Desir’s new system.
“Leave.”
But Argo had something different in mind. “Argo?”
“We won’t last long, your highness.” *Whoong*
Most of his wounds had recovered, and even his broken armor and weapon had been restored. However, there was something that was not restored no matter how much time passed. Strips of raw flesh lined the path between his right forearm and the center of his chest, the irrecoverable wound he incurred defending against Desir’s spell.
The mana of the atmosphere suddenly began to tremble and churn like a gushing tidal wave. Desir had decided they did not deserve any more time.
“Your highness, there is nothing more we desire than seeing your wish granted. The world may not know it yet, but they, too, long for it.”
Argo, who had just finished his recovery in time, poured his aura into his sword. *Rumble*
A roar erupted just by gathering and imbuing his aura. At the same time, Desir’s spell was launched at them.
Argo lifted up his sword, facing the wave of magic head-on. At that moment, the aura in his sword began to swell exponentially, forming shields reminiscent of a wall.
*Booom*
A roar broke out. Again Argo failed to completely block Desir’s magic, and his fingers, which had taken hold of his sword, were burnt black.
Even with these new injuries, he did not have a problem in swinging his sword. That was enough. Just before Desir’s magic was completed again, Argo kicked against the ground. His body shot forward like a flash; at the same time, the space around Desir began to distort.
*Booom*
A huge amount of aura flooded the surrounding area. The attack would have been powerful enough to significantly damage a large mountain, but it failed to break through the spatial distortion.
Desir’s gaze remained on him for a while before moving on. Argo was clearly the most powerful enemy present, and Desir judged him to be the biggest risk, but even this amount of power proved to be inconsequential.
There was no need to pay any more attention to him. In addition, it would clearly be a mistake to close the distance to launch an attack. It was possible to kill Priscilla without interruption now.
Desir ignored Argo’s attacks and began developing another spell to ensure that Priscilla met her demise.
*Crack*
A gruesome sound reached his ears. Turning his eyes, Argo’s sword was slowly forcing its way through the spatial distortion.
Desir’s eyebrows shot up. The amount of aura imbued in Argo’s blade was increasing several fold by the second.
‘Wow… ’
An enormous amount of aura was condensed and launched at Desir. It was a quantity of aura beyond what any living being should be capable of possessing. Desir genuinely doubted humanity; even Swan Katarina was incapable of accumulating such an absurd amount of aura. ‘Was he always this strong?’
Desir had memories of being on the battlefield with him in his previous life. He was undoubtedly one of the strongest knights of the allied forces at the time, but never to this extent.
Given Argo’s simultaneous dealings with Raphaello and Jean, he thought that the skills he had seen in his previous life would not have amounted to even a fraction of this power, but this was not that kind of story.
Desir and Argo’s eyes met.
At that moment, Argo exclaimed proudly, as if there was no more need to hide. “My Inheritance allows me to absorb things.”
He kept talking as if to draw Desir’s attention away from Priscilla and to himself.
“What is embedded in this sword is the aura of thousands of knights. No matter how hard you try to deny Priscilla’s reality, you’ll lose.”
The intention behind him revealing his ability in detail was clear, but Desir had no intention of falling for this petty trick. Although it was quite dangerous to ignore him like this, he decided that even if it meant he died alongside her, Priscilla had to be dealt with here.
Before he could begin fighting, Argo made a demonstration. “Witness, Desir!”
A red aura began to bloom from Argo’s sword, and Desir’s expression rapidly distorted. Having seen it several times before, he would never forget it. He had fought alongside the user, and had worked with them at the Hebrion Academy.
It was the aura of the Blue Moon Party’s leader: Argeria G Rogran Nimbias. *Whoong*
‘Please, Goddess…’
Argo smiled faintly as he observed the blossoming spell array take aim at himself instead of Priscilla.
‘Please fulfill our wishes.’
* * *
The furious battle being waged on the western border of Dresden had yet to cease.
Screams and shouts burst out at every moment. The situation on both sides was similar; there was a series of bloody skirmishes between the two forces without either side gaining the upper hand.
*Boom*
A large vacant space had naturally formed in the middle of the battlefield. None of the soldiers dared to fill it, lest they have a deathwish. Both sides naturally parted to form an arena where their leaders could fight uninterrupted. The constant collision of intense cold and heat between Princess Rogfelas and Head Inquisitor Rhea, and the resulting shockwaves from their violent combination, were far too intense for any rank-and-file soldier to survive.
“That’s all you got?!”
Rhea smiled frantically and swung the hammer of the flame. Along its trajectory, vast flames poured out, forming a huge tidal wave of several thousand degrees.
*Booom*
Adjest also gathered her mana before flinging it at Rhea.
She condensed the cold air flowing from her Center of Ice along the edge of the sword. The now even icier sword was completed, instantly freezing solid anything the tip of the sword passed.
When the sword and hammer met, yet another explosion occured due to the huge temperature difference.
*Boom*
Adjest’s body bounced back. After quickly recovering, she shook off the fire that danced around her figure. Rhea was enraptured by the sight, a gruesome smile occupying her face. “I’ll make you regret choosing to stay here.”
“You talk too much.”
Though Adjest took a casual attitude, the situation was far from one-sided or even optimistic. With each round of flame fired, Adjest had no choice but to retaliate, and could rarely launch her own attacks.
*Boom*
‘It’s certainly an annoying ability.’
In terms of raw power, Adjest was slowly being pushed back. The reason was simple. Rhea’s ability had considerable range, and the force behind these attacks simply devoured the surrounding area entirely.
Adjest had offset this with her ice, but it was impossible to stop her flames completely. The overflowing heat was the source of Rhea’s power. Rhea’s flames were building up their strength, burning Dresden at this very moment.
‘Then… ’
Adjest hurriedly developed a spell before Rhea’s flames flooded everywhere again. [Forest of Crying White Crows]
Dozens of heavy ice columns soared around Rhea. Immediately after the sharp cold snap, like a blade, broke the column, and dozens of ice columns turned into tens of thousands of ice fragments.
At the same time, Adjest created a storm of ice that tore everything within its range to shreds. *Smile*
But Rhea maintained a smile in the midst of the overwhelming spectacle. Though beautiful, the spell was only Fourth-Circle.
“Ha, you’re no match for me with such attacks.”
As she grabbed her hammer with both hands and hit the ground, a stream of lava burst forth from the ground and soared like a fountain. It devoured the ice storm and desiccated everything.
Adjest then reached out towards her again.
“If that attack wasn’t enough, then how about this?”
At that moment, pieces of ice that had not yet melted were concentrated in the air and formed a knife of ice. Subsequently, the edge of the knife, bearing the extreme chill, began to be overlaid with Adjest’s aura.
This was an attack that was not consistent with Rhea’s mockery.
That sword, having been imbued with both aura and mana at the same time, was more threatening than any other attack, despite its small size.
Rhea stepped back half a step, and nearby hyacinth petals began to gather before her. Immediately after, an explosion had burst forth from in front of her, giving birth to a single enormous flower bud.
The moment it bloomed, it shot towards Adjest’s sword and flooded the blade with glacier-melting heat.
The sound created by the highly compressed steam was so sharp it overpowered all other sound on the battlefield. Though Rhea had successfully offset Adjest’s attack, it took all of the heat she had gathered to do so.
Predicting this series of events, Adjest surged her frost towards herself, and dashed towards the gap in her opponent’s defenses, making quick use of the opportunity she created.
*Spark*
[Ice Empress]
The moment the glare of gold lost its light and turned white, an unbearable chill occupied the whole place.
After developing her abilities and gaining the ability to reach King-Class or perhaps even higher, Adjest shot at Rhea like a flash of light. Flames several thousand degrees in temperature rushed to protect Rhea, but Adjest’s body had already reached behind their barricade.
Adjest’s sword was smoothly pulled down towards Rhea’s nape of her neck. *Spark*
Rhea blocked this attack with superhuman reflexes, but at that moment Adjest’s attack morphed and continued its trajectory from her rear.
It was a move impossible to follow with human eyes.
Rhea moved her heat shield around to shake off Adjest, but even that was completely offset by the deployment of the [Ice Palace].
Rhea, who thought it would be disadvantageous if this pattern continued, hurriedly tried to back down, but the frozen surface of the earth began to move as if it were alive and caught her footsteps.
Sword and hammer crossed again, and the eyes of their wielders met. Rhea was captivated with a sneering smile, staring at the white-colored hair of Adjest.
“That was the same power, too.” And spat out unpleasantly.
“Well, you wouldn’t have stopped me if it wasn’t for your Inheritance.” ‘Inheritance?’
Adjest’s eyes were stained with incomprehension.