Chapter 306
Episode 93: Temar’s Second Tomb (4)
She had become one with the shadows. Her body, darkened and blurred, looked like a faint silhouette standing there—almost ghostly. If you reached out to touch her, your hand would slip right through, as if passing through a phantom.
Suddenly—
The Guardian halted in place.
It was because of the reversed flow of mana.
Under normal circumstances, even if the Guardian’s mana capacity had dropped from 8-star to 5-star, she would never have been lured in like this.
But this reversed flow was a grand magic that completely upended the common understanding of mana reflux, even in the present age.
For someone from a thousand years ago like her, it was all the more bewildering.
“…Is this some secret technique of Ziphl? To wield such powerful magic at such a young age.”
Her fiery eyebrows twitched in irritation. The Guardian, clearly bothered, couldn’t take her eyes off the reversed flow.
A portion of the mana fueling the Overheat began to collapse, forming a band. This band-shaped mana was slowly being absorbed into the orb of reversed flow.
With the added pressure following the power of time, the Guardian seemed unable to move rashly.
Meanwhile, the struggle with Murakan continued unabated.
Two forces—spirit energy and fire, and the control of space—clashed fiercely from all directions, each pushing the other back.
Yet, contrary to appearances, it was not Sarah who was overwhelmed, but Jin and his companions. They couldn’t even approach the Guardian who stood still.
From a logical standpoint, this made no sense. Even considering the unique power of ancient Runcandel, it was a mystery how Jin and his allies could wield such force with 8- or 9-star mana and aura.
By simple comparison, Jin and his comrades clearly possessed greater power.
But she was a pureblood Runcandel from before the Covenant, a being almost supernatural in her own right.
Among them, she was close to the strongest.
“Please… may Lady Sarah regain her composure, even if only for a moment, before this fight ends.”
Jin’s grip tightened around his sword.
Then, dark shadows slipped out from his body, staining the ground black.
It was a single massive shadow, splitting into multiple tendrils that slid swiftly toward the Guardian.
In an instant, the fragmented shadows surrounded her.
Swish! Crack!
The Guardian instinctively unleashed fiery sword energy at the shadows.
But it was impossible to physically harm the shadows. They only flickered briefly, continuing to spread across the floor.
Spirit Sword, Seventh Form: Shadow Assault.
As the name suggests, the seventh form was a unique technique of the Spirit Sword, designed for sudden, overwhelming attacks.
Without the ability to manipulate shadows, no matter how great one’s power, this swordplay could not be imitated.
Jin’s blurred form lunged forward.
To those who hadn’t reached his level, facing Jin charging with a semi-transparent, darkened body would be disorienting.
He moved so fast it seemed less like a body and more like a streak of dark sword energy.
Still, the Guardian tried to casually fend off Jin’s onslaught.
By the time Jin moved, she had already calculated the trajectory of her sword swing.
As the distance closed to mere inches, their blades traced arcs in the air.
The Guardian’s sword was faster. Regardless of her total aura or injuries, her lifetime of swordsmanship still reached a transcendent level.
The clash was between swords forged of fire and shadow.
Or rather, it only appeared to clash. The Guardian’s blade sliced through empty air, and Jin vanished completely from her sight.
Instead, the Guardian suddenly faced Sigmund descending from behind, blackened and poised to strike.
Her companions gasped in shock.
“Did Lord Jin… teleport?”
Teleportation.
That was the only explanation they could come up with. Jin, who had charged head-on, was now swinging his sword from behind the Guardian.
Not entirely wrong.
Jin’s sudden disappearance was due to the five shadows surrounding the Guardian.
Those shadows were a kind of “gate.” The Shadow Assault of Spirit Sword’s seventh form allowed Jin to move freely between them.
At the moment of clash, Jin hid behind the shadow in front of the Guardian, then slipped out through the one behind her to strike.
An “assault” — an unpredictable, powerful ambush.
Only someone who could become the shadow itself could pull off such a trick.
Shing!
Jin’s blade grazed the Guardian’s back.
More precisely, it brushed the fiery edges that cloaked her like leather.
A Knight of the Tenth Order.
Even bound by the power of time, locked in a struggle with Murakan, and forced to endure the mana reflux, it was never expected that she could be cut with a single strike.
“Ah, yes. The Spirit Sword had this after all. How unpleasant, to use the Lord’s sword.”
Jin no longer denied that he was Ziphl.
After all the twists and mental collapse of the old hero, he had decided that the only way to communicate was through the sword, not words.
“Unlike with Lord Shildray, there are problems, but Lady Sarah is also part of Solderet’s plan. As long as the conditions of the legacy are met, the same thing that happened in the first tomb will happen again.”
All the trials left by Solderet shared the same answer.
Willpower. The most noble value as a warrior, and perhaps as a human. Proving it opened the path forward.
It had been the same when awakening the Spirit Sword, in the Mitra Desert, and in the first tomb. There was no reason this time would be different.
Their swords clashed from five directions. Jin moved freely through the five shadows without spinning his body, while the Guardian frantically parried Sigmund’s strikes.
But despite the frantic appearance, the Guardian’s eyes were as solid as rock.
As the exchange quickened, their swords became simpler in form.
Not a dazzling display, but a battle of depth within simplicity.
Whose sword was deeper?
By all measures, it was the Guardian. In rank, experience, skill, and unity with the blade—except for innate talent—Jin’s swordsmanship was inferior.
“Such a pity, boy. If you were Runcandel, you would have been the hero to save the world.”
The five shadows surrounding the Guardian began to part slightly.
Proof that Jin was being pushed back.
Though his companions watched this clearly with their own eyes, they could only lament their inability to intervene.
Quikantel’s power over time was nearing its limit. The time he could hold the Overheat was now at most a minute, and even that binding was weaker than before.
Murakan’s side was no different. As the time constraint weakened, the Overheat grew stronger, signaling a shift in the tense power struggle.
Jin silently swung his sword.
Unlike his parched companions, he calmly waited for the right moment, observing how the Overheat’s mana flowed as it flared again.
“The time constraint has loosened, so its power is rising again… but the mana forming the Overheat no longer has the immense density it once did.”
The flow of mana the Guardian wielded had changed.
Unsurprisingly, the cause was the reversed flow.
“If her body were in perfect condition, it might have been possible—to control the mana reflux caused by the reversed flow while maintaining the Overheat.”
But not now.
None of the others noticed the drop in the Overheat’s density. They were tense, waiting for the ancient Runcandel magic sword technique to explode again at any moment.
But Jin’s eyes could not be deceived.
His eyes as a mage.
He clearly saw the Overheat’s unstable state.
“In truth, the Overheat collapsed the moment the reversed flow began. It’s being forcibly held, but the reflux will start soon.”
Because the Guardian was still fighting normally, the others didn’t suspect she would soon succumb to reflux.
Of course, even if reflux began, Sarah’s skill wouldn’t suddenly falter. She would surely refine her mana before the reflux deepened and continue her fierce assault as if nothing happened.
There was only one moment.
When the reversed flow caused a gap in her defense.
“When Lady Sarah slows to correct the reflux, if that moment is missed, there may be no next chance.”
Clang! Clack! Ching!
The shadows derived from Spirit Sword’s seventh form now traced a circle more than twice as large as before.
This was the result of Jin being pushed back by the Guardian.
Just as the Guardian faced multiple opponents at once,
Jin was simultaneously monitoring the many phenomena originating from her.
He parried, checked the mana flow and density, watched the Overheat’s path, and calculated the moment she would fall into reflux.
The time constraint would hold for about twenty more seconds.
And Jin had finished his calculations.
“In five seconds.”
The Guardian’s reflux would begin.
One.
Two.
Three…
Gulp!
Suddenly, the Guardian expelled a mass of dark spirit energy. Jin’s prediction was exactly right.
For the first time since their clash began, Jin took a step forward.
Preparing the real trick hidden beneath the Shadow Assault.
Swish!
A dark blade fell toward the Guardian’s heart.
After hundreds of exchanges, this was her first real crisis.
But even while controlling the reflux, the Guardian showed monstrous strength in responding to Jin’s sword.
Her flame-tinged blade rose, knocking Sigmund aside.
Jin’s attempt seemed to have failed.
If only one Sigmund had attacked the Guardian, it would have been a failure.
[Ah.]
The guardian stepped back, putting distance between herself and Jin.
A dark, shimmering blade was lodged deep in her chest, and through the wound, a torrent of spiritual energy gushed out.
Sara had anticipated that the moment she fell into magical backlash, Jin would seize the chance to strike.
If not for that, even she wouldn’t have been able to parry the final blow with mere reflexes.
“Haha… I’ve been bested,” she murmured.
The Fourth Form of the Spirit Sword: Scissors.
Jin’s true trick, the one move Sara hadn’t foreseen. The instant she deflected Sigmund, the scissor-like blades pierced straight through her heart.
The guardian’s vision darkened.
She instinctively knew that her long, grueling, and lonely duty was about to end.
She finally understood the mistakes she had made all this time.
But the fight with the boy before her—the descendant they had fought so hard to protect from G-Flow—was far from over.
“What are you waiting for? Finish this, Jin Runcandel,” the guardian said.
Without hesitation, Jin strode forward and thrust his sword once more.
“It’s been an honor, Lady Sara Runcandel.”
Thrust…!
Sigmund pierced her chest again.
She sank to one knee, collapsing, but a faint smile lingered on her lips.