Chapter 233
There was no sound. No shockwave, either.
When the cross of light swallowed the golem, even the eyes of a Master couldn’t penetrate the brilliance that burst in every direction. The Guardian’s body turned blinding white, then lost its shape and collapsed in the incandescence.
Even the enchanted alloys that would take a royal blacksmith hours of heating to melt, not to mention the reinforcement of layered magic arrays, could not withstand the heat. The Guardian, reduced to a molten heap, spread across the floor like a pool of slag, bubbling as it ate through the marble beneath. No restoration spell could return something in that state to form.
Lyon, who knew better than anyone what that meant, couldn’t hide his shock.
“He destroyed an Imperial Guardian in a single strike...”
Given enough energy, even an army of a million couldn’t bring down an Imperial Guardian. The ancient war machines forged from tons of enchanted metal, bound with over twenty layers of high-tier magic, were just that terrifying. Their designs, discovered in ancient ruins, represented a level of magical technology that modern civilization could never replicate.
Of course, Leon wasn’t unscathed either.
I-I feel like I’m going to break! This is worse than when I used Four Stars of Vast Heavens. It feels like my bones and muscles are splitting apart.
El-Cid chuckled inside his mind.
—Of course, you dummy. That external armor concept you cooked up was clever, but it’s still your Aura powering it. Some of the backlash will always return to you. If you could nullify it completely, you’d just keep pumping Aura endlessly and be invincible.
Ugh... I’m not using Corona again anytime soon. If using North Star Cross does this to me, then using Four Stars would...
—It’d crush your bones and grind your muscles into paste.
Leon shuddered at the thought.
Then, a deafening crash rang out as the fourth Guardian dropped its halberd. Spinning like a boomerang, the weapon slammed into the ceiling with an explosion.
Seeing her chance after the Guardian was disarmed, Elahan charged in with renewed ferocity. Perhaps inspired by Leon’s display, each swing of her Holy Iron Breaker made the air quake.
“You’re so stubborn! Just fall already!”
Her mace slammed down on the Guardian’s head, and even the brainless construct staggered. It wasn’t a loss of balance, just simply too much force to absorb.
Realizing head strikes were meaningless, Elahan shifted targets to the ankles, knees, and waist. She hammered away at the joints that anchored its movement.
Each time she crushed a limb, it swelled and reformed again, knees reforming like dough and ankles twisting back into place. It was a battle between regeneration and destruction.
If Elahan struck without a pause, the palace’s restoration magic kept pace, repairing the Guardian’s body as fast as she broke it. The outcome came down to endurance, and the answer was clear.
“Huff...!”
After over a hundred blows, Elahan finally exhaled, gasping for breath.
Even with her holy power constantly healing her, she was starting to lose the rhythm. Her holy weapon, the Holy Barrier, hissed with cooling steam as it shed her heat like molten lava.
The fourth Guardian’s frame was dented all over, unable to keep up with its own repairs, but it had no issue in terms of functionality. If this were to be kept up, it was clear that Elahan would be the first to fall. Of course, if not for his help.
A flash of white streaked through the air. Leon appeared behind the fourth Guardian, his sword carving through the back of its knee as Corona still burned around him.
With the Holy Sword far harder than any metal, his blow sliced effortlessly into the construct’s body. Its waist was too thick to cut through, but the knee was more than manageable.
“Damage to upper-leg actuator. Patellar joint destroyed,” the Guardian said in a robotic tone as it collapsed, propping itself up with one arm after its left leg had been severed.
Leon immediately struck again, flinging the remaining leg far away so the restoration array couldn’t reconnect it. Regeneration could repair damage, but it couldn’t recreate what was gone. At that point, the restoration array was useless.
—Heh. Bet the ones who made these things never saw this as a flaw. Who’d imagine anyone could cut through this much metal in the first place?
Fair enough.
Agreeing with El-Cid’s words, Leon stepped back. At the same moment, Elahan leaped high.
“Juuuudgmeeeeent!”
With one leg gone, the Guardian had no means of evasion. It raised its arms to block, but Elahan’s fully charged blow came crashing down like a meteor.
Holy Power and Aura intertwined, trailing like a comet’s tail. The strongest holy weapon in existence struck true.
Both arms bent inward, crushing its head, and its remaining leg buckled as its body sank deep into the ground.
Even the reinforced floor that had withstood its rampages couldn’t bear the impact.
Standing atop the fallen Guardian, Elahan lifted her Holy Iron Breaker again, unsatisfied with a single strike. Once balance was lost, it would never recover. The restoration magic tried to repair the shattered arms, but her next blows landed faster than it could react.
One strike. Two. Three. Four. Each slam shook the entire hall.
—What a horrifying sight. I almost feel sorry for the heap of scrap.
The fourth Guardian’s silence came swiftly after. Elahan lacked in terms of blocking and dodging, but when she went on a pure offensive streak, she was unstoppable.
With her victory, the field shifted to four-on-two. If two of them went to assist Cedric and Gilbert, they could put an end to this battle.
Just as Leon shifted his gaze to Cedric, a shrill crack echoed as the first Guardian’s body split clean in two.
Both arms were already gone. Its halberd lay shattered in pieces across the floor, and the slashes across its torso crisscrossed too densely for regeneration to keep up. It was obvious who had won.
I figured he’d be perfect for these things. He’s turned that Imperial Guardian into scrap.
—He could’ve ended it faster. Probably dragged it out because he liked how it felt to cut.
The Imperial Guardians’ greatest strength lay in their absurd durability and their endless supply of mana from the White Peak Palace’s circuits, which powered their layered defenses. However, Cedric’s sword could slice enchanted metal like paper.
Even stacked enchantments couldn’t stop an Aura Blade, which was a power that existed a tier above seventh-tier magic. To block Ten Thousand Severing Strikes properly, one would need an eighth-tier barrier array.
“Heh. Not bad. Haven’t had fun like this in a minute.”
Kicking the twitching golem aside, Cedric proceeded to sneer at Valter, who was still struggling with his own Guardian.
“Where’s all that veteran experience of yours, geezer? Aren’t you embarrassed? That girl over there could fight better in your place.”
“How rude! If you’ve got the strength to yap, then use it to help!”
“Eh, no thanks.”
“Then shut your mouth!”
Leon and Elahan both sighed deeply at the scene. The two were older than any of them, yet they were bickering like children.
Without a word, they moved forward together, charging the third Guardian attacking Valter. Even without Corona, three Masters were more than enough.
The third Guardian soon fell silent. The Imperial Guardians, the strongest defense system of the White Peak Palace, had been annihilated.
***
They’d spent a fair bit of strength on the Imperial Guardians, but there wasn’t much time to spare.
The infiltration team hurried on. The moment they cleared the hall, another long corridor stretched ahead.
Karen, rejoining from the rear, grumbled, “Ugh, exhausting. Nobody saw it, but I was working my ass off back there, you know?”
Unlike Leon, who traded blows with the Guardians, she had intercepted Imperial Guards approaching from behind. In the end, the team had handled the golems without serious injury, but the Imperial Guardians were strong; if a variable like the guards had broken into that fight, things could’ve turned ugly.
So, Karen controlled her clones over distances of several kilometers, snagging the guards by the ankles.
“There go a few more pages for my memoir... I missed another chance to shine. Isn’t there, like, a mid-boss I can solo somewhere?”
“Even if you could, don’t. Creatures like the Nine Hell Bishops are types that drag you down with them when they die,” Leon replied.
“Ugh. I really hate the Evil Order.”
Karen’s mood sank further at Leon’s warning. For an assassin, nothing was worse than an enemy that wouldn’t die. One that moved around even after dying was a close second.
Fortunately, no foes blocked their path while they moved from the first hall toward the second. When they reached the door to the second hall, Lyon spoke.
“Hold on. If I remember right, this door...”
He closed his eyes, groping for an old memory, then opened them again. Remembering something with this clarity after more than ten years was impressive on its own.
Soon, he found the answer and explained, “The second hall is probably riddled with magic circles.”
“Magic circles?”
“Yes. We’re talking well over a hundred barrages of attack spells in the sixth to seventh tier. Once we enter, the door shuts, and the surrounding space is sealed so we can’t escape. In that case, breaking through a wall to flee also likely won’t work.”
Seventh-tier magic—the mark of a Grand Mage—could cause casualties in the thousands with a single casting. Even so, Aura Masters didn’t fear seventh-tier spells.
An Aura Blade didn’t cover as wide an area as magic, but its density vastly exceeded the seventh tier. By concentrating Aura, one could stop wide-area spells like Fire Storm or Blizzard with relative ease, and single-target designs like Arcane Ray or Vortex Spear could simply be evaded.
However, taking that level of magic inside a confined space a hundred times over was a different story. It was quite likely that they would die, or at the very least be maimed.
“Can’t we cut the firing arrays themselves, or do what we did to the guard and sever the mana conduits?”
Tempted by Cedric’s suggestion, Karen turned to shadow and probed beyond the door, but whatever was set up in there barred even a shadow’s intrusion. If she had to intervene after they were already inside, it would be too late.
Cutting the circuits would take her several minutes of focus at minimum—and longer if there were additional security layers within. In that case, the squad would be annihilated.
Leon said, “Leaning on Karen alone isn’t good. Elahan’s sacred spells... probably won’t do much against magic as opposed to exolaw.”
At Leon’s comment, Elahan nodded. Valter, voice heavy, thumbed the hilt of his sword.
“Meeting fire with fire... would be difficult. Even my Dragon-Shaped Sword would have its total output canceled out after a few seventh-tier blasts. I need rest after each release, but that side will just keep pouring it on.”
“Is there no way around?” Leon asked.
“Hard. We’d have to double back and take an entirely different route. It’ll add hours.”
They had six Masters standing, and still had to hesitate between advancing and retreating.
So the continent’s strongest fortress wasn’t a mere title after all, Leon thought as he weighed his options.
With the artifact Grania gave him—a legendary-grade amulet—this might be doable. If Leon used Deceleration to slow the magic arrays, he could buy Karen time or give the squad a window to ramp their power.
The problem was the cost. Was it worth burning that value just to cross one hall? Wouldn’t it be better saved for Morse or the Mad Emperor? That reluctance kept his hand from moving.
Then, an unexpected voice spoke up.
“I’ll block it.”
It was Gilbert, the old knight, who had been glued to Lyon’s side as his guard. He had raised a clenched fist to show his resolve.
Cedric mocked him at once.
“How? Got giddy because you finally hit Master? You’re not even halfway there. Planning to get your master killed, us along with him?”
Gilbert didn’t back down. Instead, he answered evenly.
“No. My Aura Blade will suffice.”
“What?”
Cedric blinked, stung, and Gilbert quietly explained the nature of his Aura Blade. Everyone listened in silence.
A few minutes later, the party had made a decision.
“Let’s try it. It sounds viable,” When Leon assented, Cedric tilted his head.
“If he’s telling the truth, then sure. But unfortunately, I still find it hard to believe.”
“While Gilbert would lie to all of us for Lyon’s sake, he wouldn’t lie to Lyon. If this fails, Lyon dies first.”
“Loyalty over justice, huh. Tch. Trite.”
Sneering, he still couldn’t deny it. He’d seen Gilbert’s devotion to Lyon firsthand in the rebel war room. The veteran knight was a retainer who would die without hesitation if ordered. Gilbert wouldn’t gamble with Lyon’s life.
“Then it’s settled.”
They re-formed around a new plan—a circular formation centered on Gilbert. His Aura Blade had little range. It existed for one purpose only, so that was natural.
The door swung open with a creak the instant they approached. Unlike the first hall, this grand chamber was empty. Yet the mana bleeding from within pressed on them with suffocating dread.
Enter and die. Suppressing that primal warning, they stepped forward.
The moment the last of them crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut, and layers upon layers of sealing magic spread over the door and walls until they couldn’t be counted, dense enough that even Cedric’s Ten Thousand Severing Strikes wouldn’t cut it in one blow.
“Here it comes!”
From the ceiling, magic circles blazed like a field of stars. Despite what should have been a comfortable distance of hundreds of meters, goosebumps rose on each and every one of the infiltration party’s skins.
It was like facing a meteor storm head-on. A pageant of strategic spells stared down on them, any one of which could annihilate a legion.
Only one person would oppose it.
Gilbert drew his faithful blade and poured his soul into it. Even gathering every drop of Aura in his body wasn’t enough. He filled the rest by shaving away his own life.
Eyes wide beneath wrinkled lids, the old knight bellowed, “Gilbert, knight of the Clyde Imperial House, stands here!”
Aura flared like flame, rushing into his sword, layering again and again into a circular wall. Its shape was undoubtedly...
“Sword, become a shield! Become a wall that guards your lord from the world!”
A giant’s shield. An Aura Blade specialized solely in guarding.
If stars were falling from the sky, then from the earth rose a mountain. For the first time, Gilbert’s unique secret technique revealed its strength.
