Chapter 481
Episode 134: Duel on the Deck (3)
Flash!
A blinding light first overwhelmed his vision.
There wasn’t a single warrior in the world who could truly “see” and react to a light-speed thrust perfected to its extreme.
Without prediction—or some kind of insight beyond that—it was impossible to dodge.
Fortunately, Mary’s fifth secret technique hadn’t yet reached its peak. And because she unleashed it so swiftly without any preparatory movement, Jin, though caught off guard, was still able to move.
He threw his body to the left.
The strike of a light-speed thrust wasn’t confined to a single point. It started as a pinpoint, then fanned out like a fan, before converging back to a point.
So even though Jin had moved far outside the trajectory of the chained sword serpent, he still felt the sword’s energy brush past his cheek and neck.
A chill ran down his spine.
“Is Tikan okay?!”
As hot blood seeped into his collar, Jin quickly calculated his next move.
“If I turn to look, it’ll be too late. I have to counterattack first.”
He judged that the light-speed thrust’s path barely missed Tikan.
Surely, Mary wouldn’t have risked disobeying their father’s orders—or turning herself into his mortal enemy—just to unleash that attack.
Crash!
Lowering his body, Jin sprang forward like an arrow, slashing with his sword. The weapon he chose was the Bongroe Sword, Sigmund—a pale, razor-sharp lightning energy extending toward Mary’s forehead.
She easily blocked her brother’s thrust, then burst into a satisfied, hearty laugh.
The siblings’ duel continued, two streaks of light reflecting and intertwining in a dizzyingly fast and chaotic dance.
The audience couldn’t even follow the movements of the flashing, scattering, and rejoining swordlight.
“Whoa! Lady Mary is showing something incredible right from the first move! Eek! What is that? What’s happening?! There’s a hole in the sky above the Tikan!”
It seemed Cosmos was not only the announcer but also the commentator for the match.
The crowd followed his finger and looked up, gasping as they saw a massive hole torn through the clouds.
It was almost unbelievable that a single sword strike from a human could cause such a phenomenon.
This must be Runkandel…!
Everyone was left in awe. Not only Mary’s near-divine thrust, but also Jin’s ability to dodge and counterattack in the midst of it made them seem like monsters.
Not just the crowd—Jin’s comrades shuddered and shook their heads in disbelief at Mary’s skill.
“To pull off a thrust like that in place… Can you even call that a thrust? Now I understand why Valkas bet on Lady Mary.”
At Kashimir’s words, Valkas quietly smiled.
‘Cosmos is talking normally, so Tikan must be unharmed.’
Jin silently breathed a sigh of relief, knowing his immediate counterattack had been the perfect response.
If he had hesitated even a moment or tried to check on Tikan first, his stance would have collapsed, leaving him vulnerable to follow-up strikes.
“Tch, still not like Father, huh? I’ve trained quite a bit, though.”
Mary clicked her tongue and smirked, and Jin felt anger surge up sharply—but he forced himself to hold it back and met her gaze.
“You came here determined to kill me, didn’t you? I almost lost my head.”
“You didn’t die. I expected you to react, after all. Heh heh.”
“…Didn’t you say we should avoid big moves?”
“Hmm? Me? When?”
“No, I’m sure you did.”
“If you really think so, then try to remember what I said, little brother.”
—The rules are simple. You and I fight on the fleet. But any technique that causes excessive damage to the fleet is forbidden.
—Though most big moves are sealed for this duel, this sister will still give it her all.
No excessive damage to the fleet allowed, most big moves sealed, but I’ll do my best…
In other words, as long as the fleet isn’t destroyed, any technique is fair game.
‘So it was just a loophole.’
Jin ground his teeth.
Come to think of it, the first duel with Mary had been the same.
Back then, she alone wore the silver armor and had scattered top-tier magic bombs all around, yet still fought.
Usually, Jin wasn’t one to fall for such tricks or cheap tactics, but somehow, whenever he faced Mary, he always ended up getting hit by something like this.
“I understand what you mean.”
“Good. Glad you finally do. Now come at me again! But why didn’t you activate your helmet?”
Mary’s voice was lively as she pointed her sword tip at Jin’s head.
“Oh, you mean the rune of Multa?”
“Is that what it’s called? Anyway, that helmet. If you’d worn it, you probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt so badly.”
“That’s for the same reason you wear an eye patch.”
Jin’s answer made Mary pause.
She wasn’t blind or wearing the patch because she’d lost an eye. It was a kind of handicap she gave herself, thinking that if Jin couldn’t use his magic sword secrets or the Reign of the Underworld sword, this would balance things out.
Mary believed Jin was clearly superior to her, but at least in pure swordsmanship, she trusted she was ahead.
“Oh? Is that so?”
“Think about it, sister. Even in our first duel, we were evenly matched. Back then, I held back because I was afraid you’d get hurt. So why would I need to use artifacts now?”
“You can say that after I’m forced to take off my eye patch, little brother!”
Before she finished speaking, the distance between them closed again. Jin blinked, and the serpent sword was already flying right at his face, blocking his vision.
Judging it a thrust, he raised his sword to parry—but with a clatter, the chained sword unraveled and changed course.
Like a snake, like a whip, the chained sword moved in impossible ways, attacking from all directions.
To the audience, it looked as if Jin was completely trapped within the sword’s trajectory and afterimages. Crack! Each time the two stepped, the deck splintered and wood chips flew.
The pressure from the chained sword grew heavier.
It was the result of Mary’s entire body being suffused with aura. A variation of the seventh battle technique—not a self-destruct move, but a kind of physical enhancement.
Runkandel Seventh Battle Technique
Volcano—Mary Runkandel
Mary had named it “Volcano” with Siron’s direct permission.
Jin had only seen Mary unleash her Volcano once before. Though the form was slightly different then.
‘It was the variation she used when she saved me and the little demi-humans from the phantoms. This feels more advanced, completely different.’
He felt grateful but had no time to dwell on it.
And there was no need to ask if it was okay to unleash such a powerful sword that would destroy the fleet.
Guhk!
As soon as the Volcano was unleashed and their swords clashed, Jin coughed up blood and staggered backward.
It was a strange sword.
Mary’s strikes with the Volcano were worthy of a genuine ten-star warrior’s heartfelt blow, yet strangely, nothing but Jin was harmed.
‘…The impact isn’t escaping outward at all?’
Mary’s chained sword with the Volcano only inflicted shock on Jin.
No matter how hard he struck, the deck didn’t even crack.
From the outside, it looked like the siblings were just play-fighting. Their exchanges seemed ordinary, but Jin twisted his body and coughed up blood every time the sword touched him.
Normally, shock should radiate outward according to natural laws, but here it was trapped inside Jin’s body—a phenomenon he found impossible to accept.
“What’s going on?! It looks like a light attack, but Lord Jin is coughing up blood! This is a crisis!”
Like the crowd, most of Tikan’s allies couldn’t understand what they were seeing. Even Kashimir, known as the Demon Sword, had never seen a sword like this.
“Oh ho, indeed. Valkas, your assessment wasn’t wrong. Mary Runkandel has already reached that level. Seems she’s more delicate than I thought. Not many in my era could wield that.”
Murakan, having lived over three thousand years and witnessed Runkandel’s prime, immediately recognized the level.
“What’s happening here?”
“Well, hey, Quikantel. What do they call that again? It’s been so long I can’t remember.”
“Temar called it ‘Shin-Yeol’—Heart Heat. It’s a style mostly used by martial artists rather than swordsmen.”
“Ah, right. Shin-Yeol Sword, that’s it. It causes no external shock, only internal injury. That’s why the kid looks so pained despite the light-looking attacks.”
Click, click, kukuk!
Each sword strike felt like dozens of needles tearing through Jin’s organs. Cold sweat drenched his spiked hair.
He had to create distance.
Jin knew this obvious countermeasure well. But he couldn’t use a strong enough technique to push Mary back, and the space was limited.
‘…She can’t keep the Volcano active and keep using this sword forever. The Volcano variation itself puts a tremendous strain on the body.’
But relying on that alone to buy time was a gamble—and an impossible one at that. Even the magic spells, including the flash cannon, were already known to Mary, so they couldn’t slow her down.
That meant it had to end in one swift move.
And Jin, in fact, had planned it that way from the start. He was only momentarily thrown off by the variables of the light-speed thrust and the blazing sword.
He knew the Meowngwang Sword wasn’t exactly suited for a fight under such limited conditions, yet there was a reason he chose it first.
Pzzt… Fash!
As the electric energy radiated rapidly from the Meowngwang Sword, coursing through Jin’s entire body, Mary spoke up.
“Is that the technique you showed me in the Sword Garden? You’ll definitely lose by disqualification if you use that. Or… do you just want to kill me, regardless of winning or losing?”
Jin nodded, and Mary let out a short, amused laugh.