Chapter 273
Episode 87: Siblings (4)
Roll roll… crackle, crackle!
The magical bombs Mary had thrown rolled smoothly across the ground. At first glance, they looked like small blue eggs, but each one alone was capable of killing dozens of ordinary humans in an instant.
“How many did she bring…? And she says she just forgot about them?”
At a rough estimate, there were over two hundred.
There couldn’t be many crazy enough to scatter such dangerous explosives all around and then challenge someone to a duel.
What had been a vast empty field moments ago had now transformed into a deadly arena.
“Surely you’re not scared? After coming all this way, you wouldn’t disappoint your big sister…”
Ssshh…!
As Jin drew Sigmund, Mary let out a sly smile.
Regardless of rank or status, it was only natural to feel a chill run down your spine at that sight. Fortunately, Jin managed to hide his momentary unease.
“That’s right. That’s the spirit.”
As Mary slowly gathered her energy, her slightly chubby, tousled bob fluttered in the breeze.
Her eyes sparkled brightly, like someone gazing at a beloved, but within them burned an incongruous mix of fierce determination and deadly intent.
Mary wasn’t the strongest in Runcandel.
But when it came to revering and enjoying the fight and victory itself, she was undoubtedly the best in Runcandel.
“Are you really going to let me have the first move?”
“Of course.”
“Really?”
“I said I would.”
“Then I gratefully accept.”
As Jin lowered his sword and took his stance, Mary felt as if she might take flight.
How many years had she been waiting for this moment?
“My father said it was a formidable power. Indeed, this is no ordinary fight. The thrill, the rush, the shiver down my spine! Little brother, today one of us is going to end up in the infirmary, battered and broken.”
While Mary struggled to contain her excitement, Jin calmly prepared his attack.
His movements were deliberately slow—an attack he wouldn’t dare attempt if Mary hadn’t fully yielded the first strike.
Though not quite on Luna’s level, both Jin and Mary possessed bodies strong enough to be called near-peak.
But in a field littered with magical bombs like this, expecting to come out unscathed was foolish.
“Better to finish it in one blow. I don’t want to meet the doctors again right after arriving.”
Jin was about to unleash the first form of the Spirit Sword technique: Soul Slash.
For the past year, he had trained daily in Laprarosa, honing this move. Of course, he was still far from the level where he could sever an opponent’s soul itself.
But this time, his Soul Slash had clearly advanced.
He no longer needed to chant the “Cut!” spell aloud to use it in battle, and it had become sharper and more precise.
Moreover, if given enough time to focus his spirit energy while chanting, he could unleash destructive power that would even trouble transcendent warriors like Luna or Vanessa.
So, assuming Mary truly yielded the first move, Jin was confident he could bring her to the brink of death with a single strike.
Whoosh—
The pale blade of Sigmund darkened.
“Spirit energy… the power of Solderet. Compared to the thrill I felt the first time I drew this sword, this feels… dull. No, not just dull—too weak. I feel nothing.”
Five seconds passed quietly.
Mary showed no sign of feeling threatened.
After another ten seconds, she nearly lost her patience. She wanted to shout, “What on earth are you doing?”
“Huh?”
Ting!
It was a fighter’s instinct.
Mary instantly sensed the spirit energy gathered in Sigmund was dangerous.
“What a strange sword. No intimidation at all, yet suddenly the hairs on my arms stand on end…!”
Mary’s intuition had never been wrong.
It was telling her that if she gave Jin just a few more seconds, she might be felled by a single blow.
“Hey!”
Suddenly, Mary closed the distance between them.
In the blink of an eye, she was right in front of Jin, slashing her sword like a bell.
Clang!
Jin had no choice but to halt his prepared strike and defend.
“Big sister, didn’t you say you’d let me have the first move?”
“Don’t you know what ‘to a reasonable extent’ means, you shameless brat! Whatever you were planning, I’m pretty sure it would’ve been a technique even I’d struggle to handle.”
“That’s a misunderstanding. I haven’t even learned the decisive technique yet, so there’s no way I have anything like that…”
“Anyway, I’m not going to accept a sword strike that can’t be used in real combat.”
Mary’s eyes gleamed as she pressed her attack. Her ever-changing, destructive swordplay rattled Jin’s vision.
“Tch, it’s no use. She probably can’t gauge the spirit energy’s strength, so she’s just relying on instinct.”
Jin’s spirit energy had reached the seventh star level.
Spirit energy could unleash power roughly two stars stronger than ordinary aura or mana.
In other words, Jin’s pure spirit energy alone could match the destructive force of a ninth-star ordinary energy.
But the superiority of spirit energy didn’t end there. Unlike ordinary energy, well-refined spirit energy had no tangible presence.
No matter how large, a shadow has no weight.
Still, Mary was wary of the immense power hidden behind that invisible energy, forcing Jin to revise his plan.
“Hey, aren’t you the one who doesn’t know what ‘reasonable’ means? This isn’t a life-or-death duel, so why scatter bombs everywhere like this?”
“Have you never heard my old nickname?”
“The Madwoman of the Southern Continent?”
“Exactly. I liked that name better than ‘Mary of the Gale’ that I’m called now.”
Indeed, “Madwoman” suited her better.
Jin swallowed his retort and steadied himself. Fortunately, he hadn’t completely ruled out such a scenario, so his spirit energy didn’t spiral out of control.
Ssssh! Ssssh!
As Mary unleashed a full barrage of sword energy, Jin retreated, focusing on defense.
The magical bombs were a constant nuisance. If he didn’t properly neutralize her sword energy, the bombs would detonate—and even one explosion could trigger a horrific chain reaction.
“Ha ha ha!”
Mary laughed heartily.
Their auras blazed wildly in the empty air. Sparks flew and shockwaves rippled with every clash of their blades.
For now, the shockwaves only scattered the bombs further, but the constant threat of sudden explosions sent chills down Jin’s spine.
Mary truly deserved the title “Madwoman.”
While Jin fought behind a thick aura shield, Mary attacked fiercely as if the bombs were invisible—almost as if she wanted them to explode.
“Could it be that Mary, like Luna, has a body so tough it can withstand this?”
Just like Luna, who had come through the Qingaseok training unscathed.
Could Mary also take these top-tier lethal magical bombs to the bare skin and only come away with a scratch?
“Heh heh, ha ha! You’re blocking well—almost killing me!”
Ssssh, swish, thud!
Suddenly, Mary’s sword began to writhe like a whip.
Her beloved blade, “Viper,” looked like an ordinary longsword, but when infused with aura to unlock its internal lock, it transformed into a chain sword.
The straight sword suddenly lengthened, bent, and twisted, leaving Jin dizzy.
Every time Jin dodged or parried, the chain sword naturally struck the ground. Rocks and clumps of dirt scattered like flesh torn apart, and the bombs trembled precariously, ready to explode at any moment.
An explosion was inevitable.
Crack…!
A fissure appeared in a bomb right beneath Jin’s feet, the moment stretching out like slow motion.
“Damn.”
Jin swallowed hard and summoned his aura. He couldn’t release his spirit energy due to the backlash from a failed Soul Slash.
If only he had his Black Light Armor on—it would have eased the burden.
But the Black Light Armor had been shattered during his training in Laprarosa. Now, he had to rely solely on his aura shield and Multa’s rune.
“Anyway, if the bombs go off, Mary will take some damage too. I just need to recover first and then counterattack… huh?”
Jin’s eyes widened.
He had seen it.
Beneath Mary’s coat, hidden away, was a silver, peerless masterpiece of armor!
Silver Light Armor.
Made alongside the Black Light Armor, it was another masterpiece from the Minche Blacksmiths’ Guild.
Meh.
Mary even stuck out her tongue, her face flushed with excitement.
She never intended to fight Jin fairly from the start. The magical bombs weren’t just for thrills.
“Provocation isn’t something only you can do, little brother.”
Mary smiled sweetly, and Jin gritted his teeth. It had been a long time since he’d been outmaneuvered and provoked like this.
“I never thought Mary would pull something like this on me.”
In other words, Jin had let his guard down.
Boom! Bang! KABOOM! Rumble…
A deafening series of explosions began.
True to their designation as “top-tier lethal,” Mary’s magical bombs weren’t just powerful—they were filled with sharp metal shards, like Qingaseok but far deadlier.
Qingaseok was toned down for training, but these bombs were not.
Bang! Crash! Ping! Ping!
With each explosion, metal shards shot out, ready to tear Jin apart.
“Ugh!”
The shards pierced through his aura shield, stabbing at his entire body. If he weren’t blessed with a resilient physique, he would have been shredded in an instant.
And that was just the beginning…
Mary had to fend off the renewed assault as well. Thanks to her armor, which protected only certain parts of her body, she could move much more freely.
Of course, the armor wasn’t invincible. She, too, had shards embedded in various places, causing excruciating pain that made her curse under her breath.
But Mary was determined to trade flesh for broken bones. After all, the youngest was at a disadvantage compared to her.
“You’re not going down that easily, are you? You’ll take some serious damage, though. After that, I’ll carefully finish you off step by step!”
Swish, hiss! Even amid the explosions, the chain-sword serpent pressed on relentlessly.
Her vision blurred, making it impossible to aim precisely for vital spots, but Mary still felt the thrilling sting of flesh being sliced through at her fingertips.
The explosion lasted a full three minutes—long and powerful enough to obliterate not just an ordinary person but even most warrior forms.
When it finally ended, Mary exhaled heavily and waited for the dust to settle, eager to see the youngest’s battered state.
As her eyesight cleared, she saw Jin, frozen like a statue on one knee. His entire body was soaked in blood, and he was coughing up blood as well.
“You okay? Did I go too far? If you think you’re about to die, we can stop here.”
But Mary wasn’t the type to back down. Without hesitation, she reforged the aura around her chain-sword. She couldn’t afford to let her guard down until she was certain her opponent was completely defeated.
“Ma…ster.”
At Jin’s call, Mary’s eyes sparkled once more.
“That’s right, little brother! You can still fight, can’t you!?”
Slowly lifting his head, Jin continued with a fierce resolve.
“I’m going to… kill you.”