Chapter 209
A single attack actually sent a Superhuman flying away?
The Mercenary King finally stopped rolling. The attack had to have been too strong even for him to handle as he started having a coughing fit.
He couldn’t really be blamed. How was he supposed to accept such an absurd reality?
“Wow, the Mercenary King was actually—” Cain started.
“Your Majesty…”
However, Leo de Grans’ enthralled muttering interrupted him.
With a frown, Cain clicked his tongue and hissed. “I’m still the First Sword.”
“You’re still going on about that? I thought we were finished with this conversation.”
Cain rolled his eyes. “What do you mean, big brother? I said I’d treat you like my older brother. I wasn’t really giving up on being the First Sword.”
“Are you really going to act like a child?”
“That’s what I should be saying. Shouldn’t you give way to your younger brother?”
“Don’t you know that there’s a proper order to everything?”
“I thought you didn’t care about the order?!”
“You’re really going too far with this now…” The veins on Leo de Grans’ neck popped. They were talking just like ordinary people a few moments ago, but their conversation went wrong for some reason.
“Argh,?damn it…!”
Step.
Cain and Leo de Grans froze at the sound of the Mercenary King’s cursing. The Mercenary King looked like he was losing his mind. It seemed that the humiliation this time was a bit too much to handle. It was evidenced by his ashamed look.
However, the Mercenary King couldn’t really be blamed for being defeated in the clash just now. After all, he had never seen Aura being used in such a manner before. As such, he was bound to fail, even if he had been prepared for it.
Riiinggg!
“Argh!” The Mercenary King gnashed his teeth as the ringing in his ears got worse.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” The Mercenary King roared like one of the wild warriors of the north, driving away Joshua’s sound with his mana-infused shout.
“Wow,?are you mad?” asked Joshua.
“Pfft!” At the comical question, Cain awkwardly laughed. “Hahaha…”
The Mercenary King finally recovered. He exhaled a hot breath and disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving Joshua to blink in confusion at where he once stood as the Mercenary King’s Taorin made a beeline for Joshua’s right shoulder.
The mercenary king's ax, which was bigger than any other adult man's, fell toward Joshua's right shoulder.
The Mercenary King’s gigantic axe cut a white streak through the air—
However, Joshua wasn’t there anymore. He used Lugia as a lever to swing his body around, whipping his aura-enhanced leg into the Mercenary King. The collision sounded more like metal clashing against metal than colliding delicate flesh.
It was a strange scene. The Mercenary King could have easily avoided such a kick, even if Joshua was using Aura Force to bolster his physical abilities. He could have used Aura Overlay to enhance his own physical abilities and dodge.
Unfortunately, the awful ringing in his ears was still there, and the damned noise prevented him from mustering the razor-sharp focus necessary to wield Aura properly.
Joshua was undeterred by the Mercenary King’s defense. His legs left wisps of white smoke in their wake as they hammered into the Mercenary King over and over again. Joshua’s attacks were faster than the Mercenary King expected, and he was only getting faster.
The Mercenary King couldn’t do anything but block and defend.
However, Joshua suddenly pulled Lugia out of the ground.
“What are you—” muttered the Mercenary King as he tried his best to block Joshua’s attacks. He stopped swinging when he discovered droplets of blood flying everywhere in the air.
Did he manage to cut Joshua? When?
No…
The Mercenary King could feel the blood dripping out of his right thigh onto the barren land. His right thigh was sending him waves of pain. If he hadn’t managed to move at the last moment, his leg would have been severed.
“You have been ignoring something very important here. Your world is currently inverted, so you’re bound to get fooled.”
The Mercenary King’s expression stiffened. “You…!”
“I’m sure you understand it now, right?”
When Joshua’s words fell, the Mercenary King erupted into a shower of blood. It turned out that he hadn’t been able to perfectly block Joshua’s attacks. The latter had been surreptitiously carving into his thighs, knees, shoulders, and torso.
Of course, the Mercenary King was still alive. However, it couldn’t be said that he was in good shape.
The Mercenary King stared at his battered and bloodied body and cackled. “Keuk, keke… kekeke…!”
“...” Joshua watched him laugh in silence.
“I’m sure of it now…” The Mercenary King started.
“You’re a special case. It’s no surprise—your lineage has so many secrets.”
Joshua stared blankly, surprised to find that the Mercenary King could still stand.
From Joshua’s point of view, the battle was already decided, but perhaps Joshua had gotten ahead of himself. It seemed that the Mercenary King was very different from any of the Twelve Joshua had seen until now.
At the very least, it became clear that the Mercenary King was a man who knew his weaknesses well, much like Ulabis.
Joshua stood there, seemingly dumbfounded.
The Mercenary King continued. “Try your best. Anyway, those cheap tricks of yours wouldn’t be able to handle Taorin.”
What was he talking about? Joshua was baffled. However, he was forced to shake his thoughts off as the Mercenary King came charging at him. He stood bolt upright, and just like before, he opened his mouth and let loose another soundwave attack.
Riiinnnggg!
The awful ringing in the Mercenary King’s ears acted up once again, but he simply laughed it off.
The Mercenary King laughed.
If Joshua could fool his eyes and ears, then the solution was simple—he had to close his eyes and shield his ears with mana.
Joshua could fool the Mercenary King’s eyes and ears, but there was no way he could erase his mana signature from the Mercenary King’s memory.
When the Mercenary King shut his eyes, he could still see?everything around him because of his Superhuman sense. When he covered his ears, his hair stood on end, and his cells were awakened.
Despite shutting down his sense of sight and hearing, he could still see and hear Joshua because it was impossible for Joshua to change his mana signature.
‘This feels good. I can’t see him, but I can feel him…’
His Aura started to burn again as if he had never been sent flying and knocked down. He used Aura Overlay on both of his hands, covering them with the fiery red hue of his aura.
“Kekeke…!” The Mercenary King erupted into a burst of madman-like laughter as he erupted with all his power.
He swung Taorin—or rather, he swung his entire body like a windmill, crushing everything in his path. This was one of the techniques that made the Mercenary King what he was—Taorin’s Wind.
There was a large explosion, and the Mercenary King transformed into a silver wind making a beeline for Joshua. The nearby knights were lucky that they were far enough.
Otherwise, the greedy and all-consuming wind would have devoured them as well.
“This is the final form of my Aura Overlay!” shouted the Mercenary King.
“...” Joshua's eyes remained tranquil, even in the face of the howling typhoon, which was the Mercenary King himself. Joshua had always been confident that the Mercenary King couldn’t possibly be his opponent.
As the fight went on, he became even more confident in himself.
It was about time for him to end all this. He had to end all this now for his comrades.
There was a spear technique that seemed to have been custom-made for a situation like this. Naturally, Joshua was eager to execute it.
Swoosh!
.
Joshua swung Lugia around slowly a few times. He started slow, but he eventually became fast enough that he started leaving crimson after images in the air.
The afterimages in the air eventually formed a cohesive image. It became a sphere of crimson, similar to the moon. In other words, Joshua had just carved out a blood moon in the air. Now, it was about time for him to execute the spear technique.
“Magic Spear Arts Level 5: Moon’s Domain.”
When Joshua’s words fell, the moonlight itself strangely disappeared.
Joshua was still standing there, but there was a carpet of white smoke at his feet.
However, the carpet didn’t remain white for long as it became pitch-black.
It became an unquenchable black hole that didn’t allow anything to escape from it.
“W-what?!” When the Mercenary King realized it, the black smoke had already grabbed him, imprisoning him in a ring of black smoke.
Joshua quietly approached and examined the obviously furious and red-faced Mercenary King. He lifted Lugia and elegantly sliced the sphere as if he were carving out the moon from the sky.
“Moon Execution.”
All of a sudden, Joshua appeared behind the Mercenary King. A beat later, the Mercenary King erupted into a rain of blood. Afterward, the Mercenary King slowly—ever so slowly—collapsed to the cold, hard ground.
Thud!
The Mercenary King had fallen.
Joshua was trembling. He had finally confirmed it. Now, he was sure that he was now as strong as he had been in his past life. The Legendary Spearman, who had never eaten a defeat, no matter how far and wide he searched for an opponent.
He was finally back at his prime—as the Legendary Spearman.
While staring at the fallen Mercenary King, Joshua unknowingly clenched his fists.
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