Chapter 92
Instead of pulling back, he boldly extended his leg forward and shoved it straight into To-Yeom’s leg!
More precisely, he pushed against the knee brace protecting the knee.
Shing!
The brace was sliced through, and blood splattered from his leg. But it was only a minor injury.
‘Damn it.’
Chris frowned deeply.
If the guy had tried to dodge or block in any other way, his leg would have been severed for sure.
But in that split second, he realized it was impossible to block or evade, so he just pushed his leg in.
He had figured out that To-Yeom’s fire attack was weakest at its ignition point.
‘This guy isn’t an ordinary shadow.’
Chris clenched his fist tightly.
He looked at the man’s face.
Though the artifact mask distorted his features, making it impossible to tell who he was—
‘This guy’s a genius too.’
Not that he had the same level of talent as Chris, but among ordinary geniuses, he was definitely at the very top.
Which meant he was a much tougher opponent than any other four-star warrior.
Just as Chris could push beyond his limits, this guy probably could too.
‘This is troublesome. I can’t even use the Union’s power.’
According to Chris’s plan, there couldn’t be any trace of the Union’s power on this guy’s corpse.
He was supposed to be the one who killed Miasak and the others, and Chris planned to take him down and claim the credit.
‘No choice. I originally wanted to capture him alive for a clean plan, but that’s impossible. I have to kill him here and now.’
Chris had wanted to capture the shadow first and eliminate him later because of the timeline.
If Miasak and the others died first, their bodies would be investigated.
But if the shadow was found dead before them, it would raise suspicion, so he planned to delay the kill.
‘No way around it. He’s not someone I can subdue without killing.’
Chris’s gaze darkened.
Did he sense the shift in energy?
The man’s aura also grew heavy.
For a moment, they stared at each other.
Then the man swung his sword.
Slash!
Another straightforward, powerful strike.
Because it was so honest, it was all the more difficult to counter.
‘There’s no opening to exploit. No openings at all.’
Chris clicked his tongue.
This opponent was a perfect sword in himself.
How much training had he endured?
Though it was a single strike, Chris could feel the traces of relentless, grueling practice behind it.
And talent worthy of Chris’s respect.
A tough opponent.
Not even comparable to a rookie like Miasak.
But—
‘Not as good as me.’
Chris moved.
He focused his core energy and stepped forward.
Just like his opponent.
The same powerful strike.
And—
Chris’s black sword was infused with his will.
“!!”
The man’s eyes widened in shock, almost tearing with surprise at the overwhelming power of the black sword.
Shing!
But astonishingly, he blocked Chris’s sword.
In a split second, he performed an incredible maneuver, deflecting the black sword’s force.
‘Unbelievable. I expected him to deflect it, but to actually pull it off?’
Chris let out a dry laugh.
But it didn’t matter.
He had assumed the deflection from the start.
He watched for the tiny opening created in the man’s stance as he redirected the will-infused black sword.
A minuscule gap that Chris’s normal abilities couldn’t exploit.
Buzz!
The Vampire Ring on his finger vibrated.
He had been saving this move for when he faced Miasak and the others, since it required the Radiant Mana.
But now wasn’t the time to hold back.
The Radiant Mana shifted into Dark Mana and spread through his limbs.
His physical abilities skyrocketed in an instant.
The man’s pupils flickered.
Still, he reacted with astonishing speed.
Sensing defense was impossible, he launched a deadly counterattack.
His sword suddenly lunged toward Chris’s neck.
A late preemptive strike.
Though Chris’s reflexes were faster, the man’s sword reached his body first.
Such a precise move was possible only because of his deep understanding of the sword.
If Chris didn’t dodge, his neck would be pierced.
But instead, Chris made the opposite choice.
He didn’t dodge—instead, he thrust his sword toward the man’s chest.
The man’s eyes showed confusion.
He couldn’t understand Chris’s choice.
He pressed harder into his sword.
The blade accelerated with even greater force.
A dazzling mana blade shining brilliantly, as if determined to finish the fight.
A truly radiant strike that could cut through the Dead Sea itself.
Then, at that moment—
Something utterly incomprehensible happened.
Shing!
The man’s mana blade suddenly wavered, momentarily disrupted!
“?!”
Of course, this was Chris’s doing.
‘He exploited the blind spot in the Dead Sea Flash’s acceleration.’
It sounded unbelievable.
Chris knew the secret weakness of the Dead Sea Flash sword technique because he had seen the hero Evan use it countless times.
But that weakness was not something anyone could easily exploit.
If it were, it wouldn’t be called the secret technique of a famous sword school.
Only Chris could pull off such a crazy move.
‘I predicted he’d accelerate the Dead Sea Flash and set a trap accordingly.’
In fact, he had played a strategic game to lure the man into using the Dead Sea Flash.
That was why he first unleashed the will-infused black sword.
Why he used the Vampire Ring to corner him.
And the pinnacle was the subtle black sword transformation he triggered in midair.
Though it had no killing power, it momentarily disrupted the flow of the mana blade.
Only Chris could pull off such madness.
A series of moves proving he was a monster on a different level from other geniuses.
“!!”
The man hastily withdrew his sword.
Shing!
A mana blade rose like a shield before his chest.
It was a four-star Saint-level ‘Mana Conversion’ technique.
“But it’s useless.”
Shrek.
Chris’s will-infused black sword sliced through the mana shield.
Thud!
It pierced straight through his chest.
The man trembled once, then coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground.
‘Phew.’
Chris let out a deep breath.
‘That wasn’t easy.’
He had won, but the guy was incredible.
If he hadn’t grown so rapidly recently, Chris wouldn’t have won.
‘Who the hell is this guy? A shadow like this? He’s just like Evan.’
Suddenly, Chris’s face stiffened.
A thought struck him late.
‘Wait, no. That can’t be.’
With trembling hands, Chris removed the man’s artifact mask.
And—
He froze like a corpse.
“No, no way. This has to be a joke.”
The face that came into view was solid and rugged.
Like a hero from a legend, as if sculpted by a master.
A familiar face.
It was Evan, the hero.
“W-what? No way! This can’t be! Why? Why is he here?”
Chris babbled, uncharacteristically flustered.
The most bewildering situation since his reincarnation.
“He’s from the sword school, so maybe he’s Evan’s brother or something… but that can’t be!”
Chris’s complexion turned pale.
This was definitely Evan.
No doubt about it.
‘Aaargh! Why did Evan come to the Dark Mage Empire?! He said he’d never been here before becoming a hero!’
There were several reasons Chris hadn’t recognized Evan earlier.
First, the fight had been too intense for him to think clearly.
More importantly, Evan had said he’d never come to the Dark Mage Empire during his shadow days, so Chris hadn’t even considered the possibility.
The biggest reason was the sword style.
Chris first met Evan near the end of the Age of Destruction.
By then, Evan had already reached the eight-star ‘Absolute Realm.’
The sword Evan used then and the one he just used shared only their rigidity—no other similarities.
So Chris couldn’t recognize him.
‘Anyway, I have to save him!’
Fortunately, Evan was still alive.
True to his reputation as a resilient hero, he had twisted his body as the sword pierced him, narrowly avoiding his heart.
‘But he won’t last long. He can’t hold on.’
Chris hurriedly pulled out a pill from his pocket.
It was a first-aid pill from the Uiseon family, called the ‘Anti-Death Pill,’ which he had prepared for emergencies.
He quickly popped it into his mouth and used magic to send it down his esophagus.
‘Damn, this won’t be enough.’
Though the pill had powerful healing properties, befitting its name, Evan’s injuries were too severe.
Chris gritted his teeth and reached out.
The energy flowing through his blood vessels shifted, and the Radiant Mana from his inner core surged forward.
Fwoosh!!
A brilliant aura burst forth.
Uiseon Qi Gong.
The power that had made the disciples of the Uiseon family into saints.
After receiving a secret manual from the Poison Mage Duke of Huam, Chris had been secretly mastering this technique.
Thankfully, it had an effect.
The synergy between the Qi Gong and the Anti-Death Pill stabilized Evan’s breathing noticeably.
But Chris’s expression didn’t improve.
‘It’s only a temporary fix. At this rate, Evan’s going to die.’
Thanks to his knowledge of medicine, rivaling the continent’s greatest healers, Chris could accurately assess Evan’s condition.
‘This kind of emergency treatment won’t be enough. We have to get him proper medical care.’
The problem was time.
He couldn’t even move him anywhere—Evan wouldn’t last a few more minutes.
At that moment, Evan coughed up blood again and trembled violently.
Chris hurriedly checked his pulse—it was faint.
His heart was stopping.
“No! We have to save him, no matter what!”
Chris’s vision darkened.
Originally, his plan was to seize control of the Mage Empire from within while using the hero to reorganize the Alliance’s forces.
But if the hero died, everything he had worked for would fall apart.
“The Alliance has to grow stronger if we want to prevent this war from happening.”
And beyond that reason—
Chris gritted his teeth.
—It shouldn’t have been me, Chris. You were supposed to be the hero.
He was always frustratingly stubborn.
He’d promised himself that if they ever met again, he’d punch him just for the hell of it.
But this guy was his comrade.
There was no way he was going to watch him die like this.
“I haven’t even properly beaten you yet! Get up and suffer alongside me!”
A blinding light burst forth.
The mana in his inner core drained in an instant.
Still, it was no use.
His strength returned briefly, but it was only temporary. Soon, it would fade again.
“What do I do now?”
Chris bit his lip hard.
“Think of a way.”
But deep down, he knew the truth.
The reason the spiritual energy technique wasn’t working was simple.
Evan’s condition had already passed the point of no return.
What Chris was doing now was like desperately holding onto a candle flame that had already gone out.
“Even the spiritual energy technique can’t save someone on the brink of death.”
“Damn it!”
Chris slammed his fist against the floor in frustration.
Blood trickled down, but he couldn’t even feel the pain.
Then, in that moment—
Seeing the blood dripping from his fist—
A lightning bolt of realization struck Chris’s mind.
“The spiritual energy technique can’t save someone so close to death. But…”
He swallowed hard.
“With black magic, it’s possible!”