Chapter 239: Chapter 239
Raon narrowed his eyes while staring at Rimmer, whose chin was smugly raised.
"Are you telling me to use the technique right here?"
"Of course."
He clumped fingers and flicked them at him to signal for Raon to attack right away.
"I'm thankful for your help, but..."
Raon shook his head while looking at Heavenly Drive.
"As I said before, this swordsmanship isn't complete yet. I can't control the power yet."
The sound sword he had used a moment ago also had influence on the Light Wind members behind him because he couldn't control it properly. Since the first swordsmanship was even more difficult to use than the second one, it could be dangerous.
"Huh? Are you worried about me right now?"
Rimmer furrowed his brows, shoving his face towards him.
"Do you know who I am? Hello? I'm Rimmer! It's me! Rimmer!"
He was so stupefied that he said 'I' and 'Rimmer' six times total in that short time period.
"Hmm..."
Raon licked his lips.
'Of course I know how strong he is. But... I can't trust him.'
He still had a long way to go before catching up to Rimmer. He couldn't even begin to guess how he could defeat Rimmer if he used the Sword Field Creation. However, because of the fact that he usually behaved like a beggar, it was difficult to trust him.
"You know I'm pretty knowledgeable. Stop worrying about it and attack me. I'll tell you what you need to improve and what you need to remove."
Rimmer gently turned his neck and drew his sword from around his waist.
"You guys should also watch properly. Since it's a lucky occasion for you to be able to witness Raon's sword up close, you should try analyzing everything he has and take what you can use."
He grinned at the Light Wind members behind him while telling him to watch him as hard as they could.
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
The Light Wind members stopped doing whatever they'd been doing, gathering together to sit down and focus on watching them. They were flustered at first, but their eyes soon started to sparkle in excitement, since they were swordsmen as well.
"Alright."
Raon exhaled lightly before returning Heavenly Drive to its scabbard.
'I'll give my best since it came down to it.'
The technique he was about to use was different from the ordinary sword draw that used speed to its advantage to defeat the enemy. Since it was a new type of sword draw that utilized the harmony between sound and illusion to end the opponent's life, it was necessary to properly analyze the opponent's behavior.
"Haa."
After putting his thoughts in order, Raon closed his eyes. As he caught his breath, he opened them again. He held the hilt, his serene eyes looking like a red moon reflected on a lake.
"Here I go."
* * *
A faint smile appeared on Rimmer's face as he watched Raon grab his sword.
'I can roughly guess what he's coming up with.'
Raon had mentioned that he was creating a sword draw that used the illusion sword and the sound sword. Considering the swordsmanships he'd used before and the training he'd been doing recently, it was pretty obvious what kind of technique he was about to use.
'He should be trying to create problems in the vestibular organs before going for the vitals with the illusion sword.'
An expert was capable of blocking sound before it could reach the nervous system. That's why, instead of directly cutting the nerves like he did a moment ago, Raon should be trying to stimulate the vestibular organs before targeting multiple vitals at the same time with the illusion sword.
'Come at me with everything you have. You don't need to worry about me.'
Rimmer licked his lips while slowly controlling his aura.
'Those are some nice eyes.'
Raon's eyes looked frightening, as if he were facing an enemy. Rimmer liked that personality of his, where he really gave his best when it came down to it.
Raon's hand started to move. It looked like he'd finished getting focused. He lightly grabbed Heavenly Drive and drew it out. Rimmer focused on his hearing in order to properly listen to the sound. He was expecting a loud sword resonance bursting out, but the flickering sword resonance sounded like the growling of an extremely small and young animal.
Crack!
The moment that eccentric sound reached his ears, all of the hair on his body stood on ends. His heart started to pound like crazy.
'It's fast.'
The aura inside the sound pierced his ears. It was so fast that anyone less than a Master wouldn't be able to defend against it. Even though it wasn't as loud as the sword resonance he'd created before, it was far faster than it.
'This...'
Rimmer frowned. It wasn't just affecting his vestibular organs, but it was decreasing his hearing. He couldn't even hear the sound properly.
'Is he decreasing the enemy's hearing capabilities before connecting to the next hit?'
It was a surprising way of using the sound sword, but something like that wouldn't work against an expert. Rimmer looked down at Raon's illusion sword, which was coming straight at him at almost the same time as the sound.
Cring!
Heavenly Drive was targeting his neck. It looked like a swift sword rather than an illusion sword since it was charging towards him straight, without any variation nor illusion.
'Did he make a mistak...Ah!'
Rimmer's eyes widened. The real blade was targeting his heart, hiding under Heavenly Drive's shadow as it charged towards his neck.
Cring!
Chills ran down through his spine at the sight, because his sharp strike seemed capable of piercing right through his heart.
"Kuh!"
Rimmer exploded all of the aura he'd been controlling at once to strike with his sword.
Claang!
A powerful shockwave was created, and Raon was sent flying like a piece of paper before he rolled on the ground.
"Hmm..."
Raon stabbed the ground with his sword and frowned.
"That was a bit excessive."
"I was too surprised."
Rimmer gasped. His sleepy face was clearly filled with astonishment.
"At least you weren't hurt."
"That's true."
Raon easily raised himself.
"You managed to trick me."
Rimmer licked his lips. His eyes were filled with admiration.
"The hearing wasn't the only thing killed by the sword resonance."
The sword resonance created from Raon's sword draw didn't simply kill the opponent's hearing, but also reduced their vision, sense of smell, touch, and even aura perception.
'That's why my reaction was so slow.'
It was partly because of how excellent Raon's illusion sword was, but by killing all of his senses in that instant, Raon made him feel like the illusion sword was the real one. It was bound to delay the opponent's reaction, even for an expert.
"You've surpassed my imagination."
Rimmer grinned, clapping his hands.
"That's a really crazy technique you've created."
He couldn't believe that a mere eighteen-year-old boy had created such an insane swordsmanship. Raon wasn't just a genius, he was a monster of the sword with the qualities of a founder.
However, Raon's eyes remained casual after having used such an outrageous technique.
"Squad leader."
He sheathed Heavenly Blade before coming up to Rimmer.
"How shall I complete this sword?"
"Hmm..."
Rimmer swirled his sword while putting his thoughts together before he nodded.
"First of all, the sound."
"The sound?"
"I felt something strange from the beast's roar that burst out when you drew your sword. Anyone at intermediate level Master—no, even a novice Master would be cautious of that sound."
He was even more focused on that sound in order to properly watch Raon's sword, but that unusual sword was bound to alert an expert.
"A real expert of the sword draw doesn't make any sound upon drawing their sword."
Rimmer drew his sword in an instant. There was no reverberation at all as the blade emerged to reach Raon's neck.
"If you make it completely silent like this, the opponent is going to be fully focused on the speed because they will believe that it's really a sword draw."
"But if I don't make any sound..."
"Harpies can stop people's movement with ultrasonic waves created with mana."
He continued while swirling his finger into a circle.
"It should be extremely difficult to use a sound sword without making any sound to kill the opponent's senses, but it should be possible to achieve by using mana like a harpy."
"Sound..."
Raon gave a small nod. He looked like he had figured something out.
"Secondly, the illusion sword."
Rimmer raised his index finger.
"It was nice that you hid the real blade under the shadow of the illusory sword that was fast enough to make your opponent believe that you were using a swift sword. However..."
He performed a strike in order to demonstrate once again. The blade of wind was stretched out like lightning.
"You have to make it even faster, and the timing where the real blade gets separated from the real sword should be delayed."
"So, the illusory sword and the real sword should stay together for even longer."
"Yes. If you delay the timing of their separation, it will be difficult to dodge even if they knew about it."
"I see."
Raon nodded while looking at Heavenly Drive. He seemed to be trying to remember his advice.
"I admit that your sword draw is revolutionary, but it's not going to work all the time. It can easily slay an amateur, but it should still be avoidable for those at the same level as you."
"I guess."
"However, if you can achieve perfection in the aspects I mentioned—the sound, speed, and delaying the illusory sword..."
Rimmer cheerfully smiled with serious eyes.
"You should even be able to slay an intermediate Master in a single strike, let alone those at the same level as you."
"Who didn't understand?"
Rimmer looked around the Light Wind members after giving Raon his advice. Everyone—including Burren, Martha, and Runaan—raised their hands. Apparently, even those three were unable to comprehend it.
"In that case, this great Rimmer is going to his job for once and explain it to you."
He walked in front of the Light Wind members while giggling to explain how Raon was using his sword.
Raon watched Rimmer as he explained the principles of his sword to the other swordsmen before turning his head around.
'Sound, speed, and delay...'
It was the right choice to show him.
Rimmer managed to point out the weaknesses after watching it a single time, as if he knew about it all along. He was really an extraordinary person.
'I think I can fix them all.'
Sound was the most difficult part among his advice, but there was a method he could use.
'The memories from my previous life.'
Since he'd been an assassin for his entire life, he was confident he was better than anyone at remaining silent. He was going to need to research and practice a lot, but he figured he would be able to fix it by mixing the principles of shadow into it.
"This is going to be interesting."
Since he'd finished hardening the floor and creating the foundation, he just needed to build the building now. He unconsciously smiled in anticipation of how his two techniques would develop.
Hmm.
Wrath came up on the bracelet while licking his lips.
It's such a mystery that Shitty-ears is actually working now.
He frowned while looking at Rimmer's back.
'I agree.'
Raon smiled faintly. He couldn't bring himself to hate Rimmer, because he showed his serious side sometimes despite his usual miserable demeanor.
"Raon!"
As he was about to start sword draw practice, Rimmer came up to him. It looked like he'd finished the explanation, since the swordsmen were separated into groups to discuss it among themselves.
"I realized I forgot to mention something."
"What is it?"
He was filled with anticipation for the new advice as he focused, but the words Rimmer said were beyond his imagination.
"The tuition fee."
"What?"
"You should pay an appropriate fee since you got amazing advice like this."
"You didn't mention anything about tuition fees."
"I didn't say that it was free, either."
He grinned while extending his hand.
"Since it's you, I did all that work to get some money. Give me the tuition fee, please."
"Haa..."
Raon visibly pouted and sighed.
'Seriously, this miserable elf...'
* * *
Rimmer led the Light Wind squad after the short lesson.
Although it had always been his job, Raon couldn't help being glad because Rimmer had always been slacking on it. That must've been a response to a negative learning experience.
Anyway, he managed to get some time to practice his swordsmanship thanks to Rimmer doing his job for once.
He stayed at the back of the line while moving in order to research a method to decrease or increase the sound of his sword draw. He drew his sword during break time in order to practice his swift sword, and he kept a watch at night in order to ponder about how to make his illusion sword more perfect.
He kept tempering his sound sword, illusion sword, and swift sword all day long as if the journey were a training journey for swordsmanship, and they arrived near the Gazel River before he knew it.
"Hmm?"
"Are we really near the Gazel River?"
"This is different from what I heard."
"I thought the water here was clean enough to drink..."
The Light Wind members tilted their heads as they saw the cobalt colored water.
"Hmm..."
Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at the dark Gazel River, which wasn't transparent anymore.
'The color has changed.'
When he visited that place before, the river was clean enough to see the fish below, yet it was so dark now that he couldn't even see an inch inside.
"It looks like the Blue Lughs aren't the only problems here. There must be an issue with the river as well."
Rimmer frowned and held the horse by the reins.
"Let's quickly move on. Doran Village is right in front of us."
They followed Rimmer and they could start to see Doran Village's entrance.
"Quickly!"
"Move quickly!"
"Do we have enough weapons?"
"We need to push them back for now, so take anything you can!"
People swarmed out from inside the village. They ran towards the river while holding weapons like spears, harpoons, and bows in their hands.
"We are changing the plan."
Rimmer turned around. His eyes, which usually contained a cheerful wind, were reflecting his seriousness.
"We are going to follow them."
"Yes!"
Since the villagers weren't warriors, they could catch up to them in no time.
"What's the matter?"
Rimmer approached the bulky middle-aged man who was taking the lead.
"Who are you?"
The middle-aged man cautiously examined Rimmer from top to bottom.
"We are from Zieghart."
Rimmer rolled up his robe to show the burning sword emblem engraved on his uniform.
"Ah! Zieghart!"
The middle-aged man nodded heavily. However, his expression wasn't exactly bright, and it didn't feel like he was simply welcoming them.
"The Blue Lughs are currently attacking a fishing boat upstream. We were running there in order to save them somehow."
"Where is it?"
"You just have to keep going in that direction."
He pointed towards the northwest.
"You heard him."
Rimmer looked back.
"Sprint at full speed!"
"Yes!"
The Light Wind members nodded. When they were running in the direction the old man had told them, an explosive sound could be heard from the water.
They followed the sound and they could see a river twice as large as the place they'd been before, with a merchant ship floating at the center.
"Uaaah!"
"Why are you doing this to us?"
"Go away!"
The crew on the merchant ship were freaking out as they stabbed their long spears towards the river and shot arrows.
"This..."
Raon was looking at the river water instead of the ship and the crews. Something was wriggling inside the water that was even darker than before.
Boom!
A huge explosion occurred from inside the water. It seemed to be created by a burst of magic, and the merchant ship looked like it would sink at any moment as it thrashed.
Rumble!
The blue waterspout surged after that to reveal the ones under the river.
They had similar appearance to a human, yet they were significantly different. Their skin was light blue, with ears as large as a hand, with wave-like fins attached to their forearms and backs. Their fingers were webbed.
"The Blue Lugh tribe."
They had the same appearance as the ones he'd seen before, but one thing was different. Their eyes. The innocent gazes that filled with fear upon seeing him in his previous life weren't there anymore.
The crimson glitter in their eyes only reflected their anger and killing intent.
"Kieee!"
"Kiaaa!"
The Blue Lughs splashed the water in order to drown the crew, smacking the keel, which was the center of the ship.
Crack!
Alongside the loud noise of wood splitting into two, the ship started to sink little by little.
"Runaan!"
Raon called Runaan's name as he ran towards the river. He figured he could reach the ship by freezing the water with Runaan.
"Mhm!"
Runaan immediately understood his intentions and came up next to him.
Vrrr!
Once he put his hand in the water and met Runaan's eyes in order to control the coldness, a majestic sound of horn could be heard from the ship.
Raon raised his head. He could see a large warship approaching from behind the merchant ship.
The warship was plowing through the waves with powerful energy waves, and the word 'Union' written in blue was fluttering on its flag.
Raon frowned and clenched his fist.
"South-North Union..."
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