Episode 217
Chapter 70. Bitter Fate (3)
Even without fully understanding what it was, Joshua’s instincts screamed that what Jin had just unleashed was dangerous.
For the first time, a murderous gleam flickered in Joshua’s eyes, and the aura enveloping his silver sword, Sran, flared up fiercely.
“Trickery!”
With a wicked shout, the condensed aura on Sran’s blade surged toward Jin. In that brief instant, the sword energy it formed was so dense it nearly obscured the spiritual energy lingering in the air.
But it was already too late.
“I’m pretty sure I told you—you should have killed me back then. That meant there would be no more chances after that.”
With a soft whoosh…
Like a boulder tumbling down a thousand-foot cliff, Joshua’s sword energy vanished into the spiritual energy without cutting anything.
Even when he immediately launched a new wave of sword energy, the result was the same. In just over two seconds, dozens of sword energies from a nine-star knight were swallowed by the spiritual energy.
Joshua couldn’t approach recklessly. He had a vague understanding of what an ‘Ethereal Sword’ was, but he had never encountered anything like this.
Grasping the hilt of Sran in stunned silence, Joshua shook his head.
“You got me good, kid. Yeah, I guess I was too complacent…”
The spiritual energy that had swallowed Joshua’s sword energy, spreading out where Jin had swung his Bradamante, was—
a ‘Gate.’
Another name for Laprarosa, the gate to open the black light.
Jin hadn’t lost control of his anger and fought Joshua one-on-one just to vent. He had simply wanted to test the gap between them by clashing swords directly.
“As I suspected, he’s preparing to steal my contract. And his skill is better than I expected.”
Joshua had never thought his strength was weak. He just assumed it wouldn’t be enough to earn the title of ‘next head of the family.’ But that wasn’t the case.
“If only Luna hadn’t been around, there wouldn’t be so much gossip now.”
Whoosh…
The spiritual energy dispersed.
The gate of Laprarosa had opened.
‘Since half-brothers can’t be summoned, hopefully one of the two Tuwang brothers will appear.’
In truth, it was far too early to relax.
Jin had no way of knowing in advance who from Laprarosa would be summoned by the special ‘Black Light Summoning’ of the Ethereal Sword.
If a regular warrior appeared instead of a Tuwang, killing Joshua would have to wait for another chance.
“Long time no see, Brother Jin!”
A familiar voice.
A smile appeared on Jin’s lips. There was no shame in this.
“Sorry to call you out, Brother Garmund.”
Garmund of the Eight Tuwang.
The first Tuwang to teach Jin in Laprarosa. Fortunately, it was he who stepped through the gate.
‘Summoning… Damn it, how could I have predicted something like this?’
Joshua was stunned the moment Garmund appeared.
Even putting aside the fact that the summoning was done through a sword, the power wielded by this mysterious beastman named Garmund was—
something that could be felt clearly without even clashing swords.
“He’s strong. Strong enough to require full effort. I should have finished this before the kid could even summon…”
Regret came too late. He had been completely toyed with by Jin.
“If you’re sorry, then tell me all about today’s events later, Brother Jin. What shall we do?”
“Kill him.”
“Looks like he cursed you, Brother. Is that enough? I think we should keep him alive and ask a lot of questions.”
“It’s fine. No matter what he confesses, it’ll only be gloomy, filthy jealousy.”
After exchanging blows with Jin once,
Garmund fixed Joshua with a deep, heavy gaze.
“I am Garmund, the eighth Tuwang of the Great King’s clan. I have come at your brother’s call, and my duty is to annihilate your enemy. If you have any last words, speak now.”
His voice was firm, like reading a verdict, carrying the dignity of one who once ruled the world.
Though it was just a voice, the impact was so great that the island’s soil gently shifted.
Joshua, overwhelmed by the aura, gripped Sran tightly.
“None?”
“Were you a ghost of a tribe that failed and perished half a millennium ago? I don’t know what tricks my brother has played, but enough talk—draw your sword. I will cut you down and punish your brother.”
Then Garmund burst out laughing.
“You’re pretending to be a warrior when you’re not.”
“You’re pretending to be kin when you’re not even the kid’s blood.”
A flash of blue light sparked from Garmund’s grip.
At a speed too fast for Jin to fully register, a kick struck, and simultaneously, a bolt of lightning crashed down on the crown of Joshua’s head.
It was a lightning strike brighter and sharper than those Julian had unleashed in his avatar form. Without any preparation or gathering of strength, the kick and lightning came down at once.
Crash!
Amazingly, Joshua met the lightning head-on.
His raised silver sword sliced precisely through the center of the lightning, even counterattacking with sword energy in a display of skill.
Garmund did not dodge Joshua’s incoming sword energy.
Like a towering tree standing firm against the wind, he remained still. Yet the sword energy could not cut through his body, and Joshua shuddered at the chilling sensation along his neck.
It wasn’t just the fact that his sword energy was so easily blocked that sent shivers down his spine. Strangely, Joshua saw Luna’s image in Garmund.
The monstrous figure he had never been able to wound since childhood.
The reason Joshua’s next sword energy seemed dulled was the sudden resurgence of that inferiority complex.
Garmund had never met Luna.
Yet, as if seeing through everything, a sneer appeared on his lips as he looked at Joshua.
“I told you, you’re no warrior. You’re impressive for a human, but the truth behind your safe achievements can’t be hidden.”
“Keep talking, ghost. In the end, you won’t be able to protect Jin.”
Crackle!
Garmund’s sword blazed with thunder energy. The core of his heart trembled, and the area was once again covered in thunder energy.
Matching him, Joshua raised his aura. The aura spreading from Sran formed a kind of barrier in response to the thunder energy.
Because the island was a confined space, if a nine-star knight and a Tuwang poured all their power into the fight, it would only result in self-destruction.
So they used their aura and thunder energy to create a ‘solid’ space where they could move freely.
In other words, they artificially made a dueling ground.
Jin, whose aura was still insufficient, hadn’t considered this method. Their battle had begun on a level beyond Jin’s usual perception.
Normally, Jin would analyze their fight and turn it into a lesson for himself.
But today, he intended not to analyze but to savor the moment—watching his lifelong enemy suffer a crushing defeat right before his eyes.
‘Still… no matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand why he came to the island alone without any guards. He must have known a big battle was happening here.’
That was the one thing Jin couldn’t wrap his head around.
Even if not the Black Knight, bringing a few Execution Knights wouldn’t have been difficult.
From the moment they first met, Jin had felt a strange unease about Joshua being ‘alone.’
‘Anyway, he dies today. If he’s prepared for what comes after, I’ll find and destroy it one by one. After today, the name Joshua will quickly fade from the Garden of Swords.’
Though not completely overwhelming, the fight had been tilting in Garmund’s favor from the start.
Though it seemed like an even exchange at a glance, Joshua was one mistake away from losing his head.
Meanwhile, Garmund pressed him like a siege engine tightening its grip on a fortress. The relentless pressure was so suffocating even Jin, watching, felt his breath catch.
Crack! Crack! Grind!
Sran, caught in the oppressive assault, screamed as it scraped against the air. Though not quite on the level of the Black Sword Kainer, Sran was still a legendary blade.
Frak!
But before three hundred strikes had passed, cracks appeared on Sran’s blade spirit.
Against Jin, it might not have made much difference, but when fighting someone equal or stronger, the importance of one’s weapon needed no explanation.
Though not widely known, Garmund’s weapon was one of the masterpieces forged by Boras, the Great King’s clan’s master blacksmith and second Tuwang. Like all Tuwang weapons, it was exceptional.
Falling behind in both skill and weaponry, Joshua’s defeat had been sealed the moment Garmund appeared.
‘For Joshua, not arming himself with Kainer will be a regret even in death.’
Of course, it wasn’t over yet.
“Ugh…!”
Joshua hastily sheathed his sword and put distance between them, his eyes wavering.
Garmund, about to press the advantage and finish it, suddenly stopped and caught his breath.
He halted because, for the first time, a ‘dangerous’ instinct gripped him. Jin shared the same thought.
‘The Runkandel Final Technique.’
The reason both were tense: the Runkandel Final Technique.
Joshua’s last card had to be that.
His opponent was strong, his weapon on the verge of breaking—it was only natural. Joshua had no choice but to gamble everything on this move.
‘But it’s too late. If it were me, I would have pulled out the final technique the moment I realized I was losing.’
Since Jin was still a trainee, he hadn’t yet learned the Rune Kandel Final Technique, but he was well aware of its transcendent power.
“If Joshua had used the Final Technique before his sword broke, it could’ve at least changed the odds. There’s no way Joshua didn’t know that… so why didn’t he? Was it because there was no backup plan if he failed?”
As Jin pondered this, Joshua’s aura, which had been suppressing the psychic energy all around, began to converge into the Sran.
“That aura alone is incredible—almost too good to waste on someone like you,” Garmund said casually.
But as Jin watched the Sran’s blade rapidly expand, his eyes widened in shock.
“Why that one, of all things? No way… did he already decide he was going to die!?”
Joshua’s final move was the seventh Rune Kandel Final Technique: Volcano.
“Brother Garmund, we have to retreat! That’s Rune Kandel’s…!”
“If I pull back, who’ll protect you? I’m fine. You go—get as far away as you can.”
And Volcano was Rune Kandel’s only self-destruct technique.
More than the sheer power of the Volcano, what shocked Jin the most was that Joshua had chosen to sacrifice himself. The Joshua he had known would never have chosen suicide.
Just before the Sran’s blade exploded, Garmund pushed his psychic energy to the limit, erecting a protective shield, while Shuri bit down on Yulian. Jin, carrying Murakan, leapt onto Shuri’s back.
That guy… there’s definitely something going on…!
That thought flashed through Jin’s mind. But for now, he had to follow Garmund’s orders.