Chapter 335
In the faraway eastern continent, Asura was considered one of the protectors known as the Eight Legions. He was also called the King of Ghosts and used a truly bizarre way of fighting with his three sets of arms. Heimdall had personally taught the masked man that style of swordsmanship originating from the eastern continent. It was called “Six-Edged Sword,” but…
“…This is impossible,” the masked man mumbled in disbelief.
In terms of swordsmanship, the eastern continent was known to be more skilled than the western continent. And even in the eastern continent, the Six-Edged Sword was considered an exceptional technique—that was why these masked men could always emerge victorious. It didn’t matter if they were going up against the strong—up until meeting Joshua, the masked man had only lost twice with this power.
‘I lost… to this greenhorn, not?him?or Arietta?’?the masked man blankly thought.
Yes, he could accept his first defeat—the masked man thought to himself that the great Heimdall had already exceeded the human level—but he didn’t admit his second defeat since he thought his opponent just had an upper hand given the difference in their abilities. However, he was about to lose again…
‘The other apostles are watching, so I can and should never lose.’ The masked man quietly gritted his teeth.
The masked man took a step forward. “What’s… your name?”
“He’s Joshua Sanders!” Kaiser shouted at the top of his lungs.
The masked man’s eyes widened.
“Joshua Sanders? Huh… You're his…”
“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first before you ask someone who they are?” Joshua chided; his voice was clear as the day.
The assassin raised an eyebrow, visible despite the mask.
“You arrogant bastard…”
He raised his hand and lifted his mask, revealing a man in his mid-forties with serpent-like yellow eyes.
“Slager!” another masked man shouted in surprise.
“Did you ask me who I am?” the masked man mumbled. “I’m Slager, the fiftieth and final apostle of the great Heimdall, and soon, I’ll put an end to your life.”
After Slager finished speaking, his eyes were filled with murderous intentions. His pride had already been greatly hurt. Although Slager was the last apostle, he was part of the strongest organization on the continent. In fact, the organization members compiled all the martial arts on the continent. However, he was considered the weakest member of the organization as he had joined the latest.
“It’s coming from there!” a voice shouted from outside.
Slager coldly looked at the entrance to the palace.
“Enter immediately!”
“Yes, sir!”
A group of people were pouring inside the palace after detecting the explosions. Kaizen realized who they were as soon as he saw them.
“The Second Battalion Knights!” he shouted, delighted.
“Your Highness Kaizen! Are you okay?” one of the knights asked.
“Why were you so late?” Kaizen demanded.
Kaizen and the remaining nobles visibly relaxed upon seeing that there were at least over fifty knights, a similar number as the masked men. In addition to that, many greatly skilled Imperial Knights were in the Second Battalion.
Kaizen rapidly came to a decision and thrust a finger at Slager.
“It’s treason! They dared to attempt to murder the prince of the great Avalon Empire! Knights, raise your swords and eliminate these rebels here!” Kaizen shouted.
“T-treason!”
Kaizen’s remark was like pouring oil on a fire. From the moment the knights noticed the pile of nobles’ corpses, they realized something was wrong, so the Second Battalion’s Captain roared without hesitation.
“Draw your swords!”
One by one, the knights drew their gleaming swords.
“Those moths don’t know they’re going to die in this fire…” Slager smiled crookedly as he looked at the Imperial Knights. There were a total of fifty masked men, but Slager alone was going to show these Imperial Knights why the masked men, who were trained with a compiled version of all the martial arts on the continent, were called the strongest.
“You should wait for a moment.” Slager pointed at Joshua, but from the way the spearman crossed his arms, it seemed he had no intention of getting himself involved in the fight.
“I’ll see how long you can act that relaxed… kekeke…” Slager quietly chuckled as he began to move.
“Get into groups of three, then we’ll get into formation! We’re similar in numbers, so don’t ever let your guard down! We’ll protect the people until the backup arrives!”
“Keke, this is funny. I admire your efforts…”
Slager sprang forward. The captain’s eyes popped wide open when he saw it—there were fifty Imperial Knights, but the assassin advanced on the knights on his own.
“Shit…” The captain cursed.
It was difficult for one person to defeat several people on their own, and outnumbering your opponents had a higher chance of winning than overwhelming skill. Even a three-year-old knew this, so even if Slager was as skilled as an Imperial Knight, what he was doing was practically suicide.
“Men in the second line, don’t move. Maintain formation! Men in the first line will deal with the rebel—!”
The Second Battalion Commander couldn’t finish speaking because Slager had already closed with them and clashed with the knights in the front.
“Ahhh!!” Slager loudly shouted, holding the swords made with aura high up in the air.
Then he started his dance in front of the knights.
He moved like a renowned dancer, his swords traveling in truly beautiful trajectories. By swinging once, Slager was making six movements at the same time. The more Slager swung, the more the sky was colored silver, creating a silver storm. In the end, the Imperial Knights couldn’t see in front of them anymore.
The captain finally realized something was up.
“Thomas!” he shouted, but no one answered him.
“Sh-shit…”
“C-Captain!”
The knights in the second line of the formation called out, grabbing the captain’s attention.
“Th-there…!” One of his knights pointed into the silver storm, so the captain peered into the whirlwind.
Then his eyes slowly widened.
“That’s…!”
The storm had been filled with nothing but silver, but now, a change was taking place. Even from afar, the captain could see something vividly scarlet being mixed with the storm.
“Wa-wait…!” he stuttered.
Ill omens always turned out to be true. Soon enough, the captain could smell the reek of blood, but that wasn’t the real problem.
The horrible sound of human flesh being cut over and over again emerged from within the storm until the captain couldn’t take it anymore.
“St-stop!” he shouted.
“As you wish,” Slager snarked. His onslaught of spinning swords gradually came to a complete halt, and he licked his lips.
“Where did such monsters come from…?” The captain trembled like an aspen leaf. When he glanced around, he could see that half of his men had died by Slager’s single attack. Those knights didn’t even get a chance to scream.
“Kekeke, this is my ultimate technique, called ‘Asura Dance.’” Slager chuckled.
“Oh my god…”
At last, the nobles realized what had happened. They saw the knights standing in the palace with them, alive, and then they were ripped to shreds and scattered on the floor.
“Urgh!”
The sight was so horrible that some with weak stomachs couldn’t take it anymore and started to retch.
“There are still… so many monsters like him…” The captain was slowly filled with despair. He was an A-Class knight, but those levels meant nothing anymore because of the monsters of their generation like Slager before him.
“…Oh?” Slager’s eyes when he noticed that Joshua was quietly holding up his spear in the corner. Slager chuckled. “…Haha, yeah, you don’t have to rush me since it’ll be your turn soon.”
“Magic Spear Arts Level 7: Three-Headed, Six-Armed Ghost Spear.”
“…Hmm?” Slager tilted his head, confused.
At that moment, Joshua released the energy that Slager couldn’t figure out. Slager detected it first and flinched. If ever there was a moment when the phrase “sent a shiver down his spine” applied, that was the moment. Although Slager really didn’t want to admit it, he knew very well what he was feeling.
‘I’m…afraid?’?Slager thought disbelievingly.
Thus Slager gritted his teeth and darted forward.
“I’ll kill you again and again!”
In a flash, Slager closed in on Joshua.
And… there was a gigantic explosion.
Slager felt the shockwaves through his hands, and smiled victoriously. He only had to clash with his opponent once for him to win the fight; he usually fought by driving his opponent into a corner with a single collision. The six swords’ course of attack always changed, so his enemies couldn’t even think about fighting back. Slager’s fighting technique always enabled him to rise victorious. It surely did… but what were these sounds and this feeling?
Joshua stopped Slager’s first sword—no, every sword that was aiming for Joshua’s blind spot was getting blocked. No, that wasn’t it either because the materialized aura swords were actually being destroyed, and the aura that Slager hadn’t materialized also got pulverized, scattering it into the air.
“This doesn’t make any sense…!” This time, Slager involuntarily came to a halt, his lips trembling hard.
The nearby people who had been watching Slager and Joshua tilted their heads in confusion. Slager had relentlessly cornered his opponents earlier, but when he faced Joshua, he suddenly stopped after he had swung his swords less than ten times…
At that moment, Slager slowly said, “What is… the name?
He had asked a similar question before, but anyone could tell that it was a different question right now.
“Asura Dance,” Joshua answered.
Slager froze stiff, his eyes wide.
A bizarre, unidentifiable cracking sound echoed off the palace’s walls. At the same time, Slager tilted; he could feel his head moving closer to the ground. Did he ever feel such a thing in his entire life?
‘It’s… Asura Dance?’?Slager wondered.
He had a million questions he wanted to ask Joshua, but he couldn’t because he was losing consciousness.
Maybe Joshua noticed how desperate Slager was because Joshua explained, “That is why I said that’s not the real Asura.”
Slager’s wide-open eyes quickly returned to their original state.
“Was… that… so…”
“O-oh my god!”
The bystanders were petrified. Slager’s blood fountained into the air, drenching the sky and splattering all over the floor as his body was mutilated into hundreds—no, thousands of fragments, then scattered across the ground.
But why was Slager belatedly able to see Joshua’s movements?
By swinging once, Joshua’s spear moved in six bizarre trajectories. Slager thought his movement was quite beautiful.
“This… is… the… real…” Slager tried as hard as he could, but he couldn’t finish speaking and slowly trailed off.
That was his last word in this world.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by (f)reew𝒆b(n)ovel.com