Chapter 323: Battle in the Depths (3)
It wasn’t as if Karnak had noticed Beltia’s presence from the start. The marking engraved upon her had a margin of error that spanned dozens of kilometers. But that didn’t mean he could sense her from hundreds of kilometers away.
It only meant that if she came within dozens of kilometers of him, he could detect her presence. But that would be without any precise direction or distance, just a vague sense. And what had Karnak done until now?
It wasn’t him, but Search Black, under his orders, who kidnapped the princes and threw the capital into chaos.He had also left it to Search Black to handle the intelligence on the subjugation force. Karnak himself had never moved directly.
And by the time the subjugation force headed toward the Tower of Dawn, he had already fled to the Pellantia Mountains. When the subjugation force, like a dog chasing a chicken, pursued him all the way to the mountains, he hid himself inside a dungeon.
Not once had he ever come within dozens of kilometers of the subjugation force. Thanks to that, it was only after he had settled within the dungeon that he was able to detect Beltia’s presence. It could be said to be the downside of his usual habit of being overly cautious.
And it was a troublesome issue. He had carefully laid out his plans and was carrying them out diligently, and then suddenly, this variable had appeared out of nowhere. And it wasn’t as if he had the spare manpower to adjust his plans to account for that variable.
In his previous life, he would have given up at that point. Whether it was Diogres or Search Black, he would have abandoned them, gathered up his own subordinates, washed his hands of the matter, and fled.
Those betrayed might die cursing his name, but Karnak would not have cared. But now, having decided to live like a human being, he could no longer do that. Because of that, he chose something he would have never even considered in his past life. He chose to stake his own life.
***
A chilling voice echoed behind him.
"Kar...nak..." It was a deathly voice laced with murderous intent. "Did you think I’d let you get away?!"
Golden aura flashed as it shot toward him. It was a strike of golden sword aura unleashed by Beltia.
As he dashed through the halls of the old fortress, Karnak hurriedly activated a spell. "Wind Walk!"
Wind Walk propelled his entire body forward. The golden aura narrowly missed, striking the empty spot where he had just been. A fearsome explosion rocked the fortress.
"Damn, that was close." Clicking his tongue, Karnak stretched out his right hand.
In his hand spun a black die, an Anti-Time-Space Transcender, which began to emit black mana.
"Let the light carve a path through the heavens!" A white flash, the pure force of destruction, shot toward Beltia. It was Arcane Strike, a seventh circle spell, the quickest high-level spell one could cast.
Beltia did not dodge. "How weak."
There was no need for her to. She simply, casually, drew her sword down through the air. A golden curtain intercepted the incoming flash. There wasn’t even an explosion.
The golden light enveloped the flash, crushing it and erasing it in midair. Watching his Arcane Strike vanish so emptily, Karnak clicked his tongue again. "Well, I didn’t really think it would work anyway."
After all, what could a mere seventh circle spell accomplish against a martial king? He hadn’t cast Arcane Strike in order to defeat her.
If I didn’t do something immediately, I felt like I’d be struck down by her aura on the spot.
He would need to amplify the power of his magic. Karnak’s right hand once more flared with black mana. At the same time, twelve gray magic circles began forming over his shoulder.
It was a spell of necromantic magic, Streaking Ashen Meteor. He had layered Arcane Strike to produce a force equivalent to a ninth circle spell. Even Beltia would be unable to ignore it as she had before! But that was only if he could finish chanting it.
"You’re too slow." Beltia flicked her right hand lightly. A massive slash of golden aura came crashing down.
The twelve flickering gray magic circles shattered all at once. The spell was broken before it could even be activated.
Once more, Beltia’s golden wave pressed down on Karnak’s entire body. "Surrender your life to Tesranach!"
Amid the downpour of bombardments, Karnak was left with only one option.
"Damn it!" To flee for his life, once again. "Wind Walk!"
He activated Wind Walk and narrowly evaded the onslaught. Even so, he couldn’t dodge her attacks completely, and the ripple of aura struck his side. It was a strike that barely grazed him. If one had to compare, it was like a strand of hair brushing past. And yet pain flooded his entire body. Karnak’s face twisted in pain.
As I thought, neither magic nor necromantic magic will work...
Magic had short casting times but was too weak, while necromantic magic had power but took too long to cast.
Suddenly, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Karnak’s lips. Still, I gave it a try, didn’t I?
Serati had always told him. She begged him to think over things to the very end, questioning whether his methods were truly necessary, and whether there truly was no other way.
I’ve done enough!
Karnak gripped the Anti-Time-Space Transcender tightly. For an instant, Beltia’s eyes widened. The chaotic mana that had been coiling around Karnak suddenly changed.
What is this...? she wondered.
The energy that had felt like pure mana instantly took on the scent of deep darkness and death. Enveloping himself in pitch-black energy, Karnak leapt backward.
"Shadow Jump! Dimension Slide!"
He vanished into the air as if melting away. He had traveled between shadows, slipping across the dimensional interface. In an instant, Karnak had moved far outside of Beltia’s range. Her expression hardened.
"Necromancy," she muttered.
It wasn’t that she was shocked to see him using necromancy. She had already suffered greatly from Karnak’s necromancy before. It was just that the memory came back to her once again. The nightmare dug into Beltia’s heart, transforming into pain.
The wounded woman’s wail exploded outward in a blast of destructive light. "I will kill you, Karnak! I will kill you, no matter what it takes!"
***
Chaotic skirmishes raged across the vast cavern. Everyone was so entangled, fighting in a disordered frenzy, that it was impossible to tell how the battle was progressing, or even whether their side was winning or losing.
Yet even amid that chaos, there was one place that everyone, friend or foe, instinctively avoided: The half-ruined fortress at the center of the city ruins. It was where two archmages were clashing.
"Let the falling brilliance of lightning become the dragon of light!" Elezar’s thunderstorm flowed across the sky and ground at once.
"Bearer of light, let your wings descend!" Diogres’s barrier of light spread wide enough to cover the fortress.
Both were ninth circle spells. Even for practitioners of the tenth circle, it was impossible to use ultimate spells in a situation like this. They took far too long to cast. They would be interrupted before they could even recite half of the incantation. Besides, even ninth circle magic was more than powerful enough when cast by an archmage.
The clash of tremendous mana shook the cavern. Despite being underground, the thunder boomed, echoing sharply. The spells were so powerful that the shockwaves from their collision shattered dungeon structures, which had been protected by malice and demonic energy, breaking them apart like biscuits.
Clutching the Platinum Queen, Elezar clicked her tongue. "You really aren’t easy to deal with."
Her face was visibly weary. They had already clashed like this dozens of times. Even for archmages, the mana consumption was enormous.
Yet Diogres could not even bring himself to smile. "Damn it..."
His mana consumption was even worse.
Not having the Dawnshroud Staff really hurts.
At first, he had managed to hold out well enough. But like clothes getting soaked in a drizzle, the gap between them grew wider as time passed. It was obvious who would collapse from exhaustion first if the battle continued like this.
Elezar said, "Well then, shall we continue?"
The platinum staff scattered a dazzling waltz of light. It was Interference of Ruin, a ninth circle flash spell.
Diogres swiftly countered. "Not so fast!"
A massive pillar of ice pierced the curtain of light, scattering cold air in its wake. It was Absolute Spear, a ninth circle freezing spell. As the two powerful spells collided, a storm of steam exploded upward.
At the same time, both archmages stumbled back. Their entangled mana had rebounded, sending shockwaves through them both.
This time, Elezar had taken the worse hit. The shock she received was greater than what Diogres suffered, and she had used up slightly more mana as well. Even so, it was Elezar who continued to smile.
Both were growing exhausted, and both were using up mana at the same pace. That alone meant the outcome was already decided. Unlike Diogres, who had no one at his back, she had the martial king of Kretas standing firmly behind her.
***
Dreltein glanced toward the fortress. "It’s going well."
Then he turned his gaze back to the opponents before him. Two blood-soaked men, swords of fighting spirit in hand, were charging at him. A giant man cloaked in silver swung his sword downward.
Delphiad Swordsmanship, Overkill!
From the other side, a swift young man brimming with purple aura struck upward with a reverse grip.
Delphiad Swordsmanship, Downhill!
Varos and Leven’s aura blades aimed for Dreltein from above and below simultaneously. Originally, these techniques were meant to connect in a sequence to exploit an opponent’s openings.
But when used together in a coordinated attack, they could create openings where there were none. Not that such a tactic would actually work against a martial king.
Is this Sir Leven’s technique? Seeing the familiar swordsmanship, Dreltein let out a faint smile. Well, this is Sir Leven, after all.
His movements suddenly quickened. The golden sword flashed, and it was as if the motions in between had vanished, the outcome unfolding instantly. A single slash swept past the world. A chilling golden arc cut across Varos and Leven at the same time, and both were sent flying backward in unison.
Watching them tumble across the ground, bleeding, Dreltein clicked his tongue. "Well, you’re both really hanging on."
It had been a strike aimed to kill, yet they had rolled backward as if they had anticipated it, dodging by the slimmest of margins.
They’re both enduring far better than they should. What particularly caught his attention was that giant blond man he had never seen before. Was his name Varos?
Of course, it wasn’t as if Dreltein felt threatened by Varos. He was a martial king, after all. How could he possibly be pushed back by a mere silver knight? In fact, Dreltein was toying with Varos and Leven without so much as a scratch, and in just a few minutes, the two of them were drenched in blood.
Yet, this also meant they had managed to last a few minutes against a martial king. It was because Varos was familiar with Dreltein’s swordsmanship. Each time he was on the brink, he found a path of survival with uncanny precision, responding as if he had battled against Dreltein many times before.
But it was impossible for someone he had just met today to be familiar with Dreltein’s swordsmanship.
Is it simply that he has such extraordinary battle instincts? Dreltein thought.
There were rare cases like Lapicel, so it wasn’t entirely impossible. Yet, there was something strangely familiar about him. Varos was someone he had never seen before, and yet the moment he faced that aura, a strange sense of déjà vu struck him.
I don’t get it. Clicking his tongue, Dreltein continued his relentless assault.
It was then that a massive explosion erupted on the far side of the fortress.At the same time, he saw Diogres being slammed into the ground on the far side of the fortress. It seemed he had lost heavily in their mana clash.
Elezar immediately pursued him. Dust billowed up as the two archmages quickly vanished from sight.
I should move too.
He had made prior arrangements with Elezar, so Dreltein immediately stomped down on the ground. Varos and Leven could not afford to turn their backs on Dreltein. If they showed such a gaping opening, their heads would fly in an instant.
But Dreltein could turn his back whenever he pleased. A golden flash soared into the air, flying over toward the far side of the fortress. Varos shouted hastily, "After him!"
They could not allow Dreltein and Elezar to attack Diogres together. Through the thick cloud of dust, the two of them began running frantically toward the far side of the fortress.
