Grull was like a bolt of lightning. Striking and retreating like lightning, he pierced through without missing a moment's opening, splitting the instant apart. Two daggers resembling fangs moved swiftly, ruthlessly tearing into the enemy's weaknesses. With these weapons, Grull feared no enemy.
"A Principle that can only be used after preparing in advance? It's half-baked."
However, neither the Principle Grull boasted of nor his favored weapons worked against Marquis Raphaeno. Marquis Raphaeno left a trajectory in the air as he slowly approached. As if it mattered not at all what Grull did.
"Must you push the ground with your feet to move only that distance? You grow stronger only as much as you prepare... You are weak, my friend, a far too weak Principle."
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Seeing that Grull dragged his feet on the ground every time he used his Principle, Marquis Raphaeno instantly grasped the trigger and pressed Grull hard. If he even tried to do Ground Leveling a little, the Marquis targeted his legs, making Grull feel suffocated.
"The Qi Gong you've learned. The spirit elixirs you've taken. The skills you've honed. That is your preparation, Grull. Believe in yourself a little more."
"Enough with the boasting!"
"I'm not boasting, I am simply outstanding."
Without a single rough breath, Marquis Raphaeno stepped forward. The Vulcan Combat Manual is a Qi Gong art predicated on duels. As Marquis Raphaeno leaned forward and extended his leg, his body stretched out long like a spear. In Grull's vision, the Marquis appeared to be flying toward him like an arrow.
'He's faster than me...!'
Without using his Principle, he was outmatched in both strength and speed. A lack of talent? No, before even discussing that. The very starting points they stood on were different.
The Marquis's Qi Gong was more refined. The Marquis's Qi was more abundant. He hadn't even neglected his training. After rooting his feet like massive trees, he instantly detonated his Qi Gong to propel his body. At the same time, he extended his entire body, using that force entirely for movement.
'That's not all. Every single technique is precise! There isn't a single point of waste!'
Techniques created and developed over decades and centuries by humans called geniuses. Seeing the pinnacle of that, Grull didn't even have time to admire it before throwing his waist back. A trajectory of light grazed past before his eyes. Grull, who was about to rise from the rebound, recalled the Marquis's Principle and deliberately thrust his foot out and fell over on purpose. If he had raised his head, his neck would have been sliced by the blade.
Having one's posture broken is fatal. The Marquis's rapier curved and struck down at Grull. Watching the rapier fall toward his stomach, Grull used Ground Leveling while lying down. It was his first time attempting such a gamble, but the Principle unfolded properly, and his body slid about 2 meters. The rapier, having lost its target, dug deep into the ground.
"A Principle is a new power. It's like gaining an extra hand that can move freely. Yet, your Principle is merely an extension of your Gon Qi Gong. Moving quickly with Qi Gong... isn't that something you can do even without reaching the level of a Principle?"
Clearly so, but the Marquis instantly took two more steps and pursued him.
Gon Qi Gong is a technique that moves by grabbing the ground with Qi and pushing off. The Principle of Ground Leveling is a movement akin to the Earth Shrinking Technique, but Marquis Raphaeno's footwork is also fast enough to be nearly invisible to ordinary eyes. The presence or absence of a Principle is bridged by footwork.
"Because of that very Principle, you who couldn't learn footwork cannot be my match."
Stab. Grull's side was torn open and blood splattered heavily. Grull, who sealed the wound with Qi Gong, gritted his teeth.
He couldn't win. Maybe if he had prepared the ground in perfect condition before fighting the wolf. In his current state, he was struggling just to block. Considering Marquis Raphaeno's Principle, he wouldn't have been able to beat him no matter how much he prepared the ground. No matter how fast he moved, if he was caught in the trajectory of the Lingering Slash Sword, it would only result in Grull getting hurt.
"That's all because you didn't learn. Who knew a warrior as shrewd and talented as you would make such a poor judgment. Tsk tsk."
Compared to Grull, who was breathing heavily, Marquis Raphaeno hadn't a single rough breath.
"Grull. Do you really not know why you've been safe until now? Who couldn't have thought of bringing spirit elixirs from the lands of all nations? It was simply because there was no need to advance into the empty Enger Plains while risking the threat of wolves. Even if they sent a large-scale force, they would suffer losses from the attacks of beasts and wolves. In times like this, isn't it better to leave it to civilians like adventurers?"
Grull started a business with the Beast Faction that wandered the plains, bringing them wealth and power. It was certainly due to Grull's outstanding abilities, but it was also because an opportunity arose thanks to the Wolf King.
"But since the Principality has decided to step forward directly, you should have joined us. Because it's beneficial for both you and us. But... if you intend to fight us. We have no choice but to strike you down."
But that was an absurd notion to Grull. Grull had rejected the proposal because Marquis Raphaeno had said he would drive out the beastmen.
"You're so shrewd, so why are you trying to drive out the beastmen?! What are you going to do on these Enger Plains without the beastmen?!"
And the difference in their positions became clear. Marquis Raphaeno expressed his doubt.
"...Hmm? If you stay, it's difficult to send settlers to this land, isn't it?"
"They are the settlers!"
"That is not for you to decide."
"No! We decide for ourselves. We decide what we can do!"
"Unfortunately, Grull, that is not for you to decide."
Two daggers shot out. The advantage of dual wielding is, naturally, the numbers themselves. Just as one hand cannot block two, it is difficult to block daggers moving in different trajectories with a single rapier. In this situation, one should attack the opponent's body instead of their weapons to halt the offensive, but the Marquis chose a slightly more troublesome path.
"Power decides."
He slices one side before Grull arrives. Then he follows to the opposite side and deflects the dagger. The past slash blocks the left hand, and the present slash blocks the right hand.
And the future slash will slice Grull. The rapier, reflecting the sunlight, glowed coldly.
"Without power, you cannot convey your will to the world, Grull. Come back after you've grown stronger. That is, if you can."
"Stop!"
At that moment, the Regressor intervened. A gust of wind leaped across space and flew toward Marquis Raphaeno. Sensing the unusual momentum, Marquis Raphaeno clenched his other hand into a fist and struck the empty air.
Huashan Sutra, Explosive Shatter. The Qi packed into his fist grabs the wind. Geon Qi Gong is a Qi Gong that acts on all things in the world. A Qi Master who has reached the realm can infuse Qi not only into steel but also into the air. The Marquis grabs the wind with his hand, infuses it with Qi, and swings it.
Boom. The sword aura of Cheon-eong collided with Marquis Raphaeno's fist and disappeared. The Marquis felt a stinging sensation and looked at the Regressor who had intruded.
"It's not a Principle. A Relic? Then you must be the adventurer called by the Purple Merchant Guild."
"Yeah. What's with the sudden intrusion and causing a scene?"
Even with the Regressor's appearance, Marquis Raphaeno showed no signs of tension. Rather, the Marquis sighed as if it were a pity.
"Are there only half-baked ones here? A Relic is ultimately someone else's power. One who clings to it can never reach a Principle... What a waste of talent at that age."
Without her Jizan, the Regressor is objectively a tier below a Master. She lost to Jeolchang and couldn't gain a clear upper hand in her fight against Jiseon. Since there's no guarantee of an unconditional win even if she uses her Jizan, she has almost no chance of winning against Marquis Raphaeno.
However, the Regressor didn't care that much. Because she was a Regressor.
"You're the one wasting talent! If you're so great, you should have fought the Wolf King yourself. Instead, you wait until the fight is over to just spoon in?"
Annoyed by the uninvited guest constantly butting in, Marquis Raphaeno held back once.
"This is the Principality's internal affair. Don't interfere. Well, I won't stop you if you insist on being unreasonable. But you'll have to show that much power."
'Dealing with a Relic brings annoying trouble, and I don't want to create a situation where the Purple Merchant Guild gets involved. How troublesome. It would be nice if I could resolve this with words, but...'
Naturally, the Regressor snorted and shouted.
"You keep going on and on about power, power. What about you? You're just a thug throwing your weight around in the Principality! Only someone like the Sword Sage can say things like that, while you're nothing but a frontier Master from the Empire's perspective!"
"...."
As expected of a Regressor. She dropped a bomb that couldn't even be compared to the incident with Duke Erektus. The remark was so severe that not only the Obelisk and the beastmen, but even the army Marquis Raphaeno had brought were glancing at the Marquis's mood.
In the suffocating silence, the Marquis's mustache twitched slightly. It was obvious to anyone that he was feeling intense rage.
"Right. Since when did we fight with words? I tried too hard to resolve this through conversation."
Shring. Marquis Raphaeno drew another sword from his waist. It was a main gauche, slightly shorter than the rapier he originally used. The main gauche with its pitch-black blade swallowed the sunlight and rang ominously.
"There are two of you, so it shouldn't be a problem if I use two swords, right?"
Fighting spirit billowed up. If they fought like this, someone would die. Sapien urgently intervened and shouted.
"Stop, Marquis Raphaeno! Or else!"
Only to stop the fight, Sapien made her final choice.
"I will file a lawsuit with the Empire and the Holy See!"
That single statement made even the army, let alone Marquis Raphaeno, flinch. Confirming that the threat was working, Sapien took a step further.
"The Enger Plains is the land where Saint Enger planted his flag! We, his descendants, are the undeniable owners of this land, and nobles who have protected this land with all our might! That attempt to occupy the land anointed by the Saint at will will not be forgiven by justice!"
If it were the Principality's land, it would be a preposterous attempt. But the Saint's name transcends even borders, and the attempt holds clear legitimacy. Furthermore, the Empire would not refuse the excuse to intervene.
"You. You shouldn't have done that."
-However, that was also a terrible move for Sapien. Marquis Raphaeno gave a small command.
"Everyone, prepare for battle."
Clatter. The army simultaneously raised their weapons. The mage unit began chanting, and the guard unit formed a formation.
The war army led by the Black Tiger Army. Each one was a strong warrior surpassing the Beast Faction's warriors, advancing in formation. The target was... not only Grull and the Regressor, but all the beastmen who were resting after the fight.
"Execute the rebels."
"...What?"
"Public official Sapien, Grull of the Beast Faction. And that adventurer as well. The three are designated as rebels. Those who help them will be slaughtered. This is a slaughter order issued by the Black Tiger General."
The Principality is a vassal of the Empire. Therefore, the citizens of the Principality hold a status one step lower than the citizens of the Empire. It is like a destiny determined from birth.
Naturally, no one likes a destiny that is disadvantageous to them. And a few try to overcome it.
Marquis Raphaeno was one of those few. The Regressor was dismayed.
"You want a war? You're just going all out?!"
"Does it feel absurd? What can you do. That's how the world works. In the end, when we clash with each other, we have no choice but to test our strength."
The pig beastmen fought humans to oppose the absurdity. However, the pig beastmen who took the position of rulers birthed another absurdity. The beastmen of Ende cursed their foolishness and cowardice.
But are only the pig beastmen truly that cowardly and foolish?
The pig beastmen were just a little later. Such foolish revolutions have occurred dozens of times even up to now. And the successful revolutions only hid behind their brilliance; the same absurdity continued.
Humans, too, were pig beastmen.
The Principality inflicted the absurdity they received from the Empire onto Ende.
"Obelisk! Prepare for battle!"
"You bastards! Grab your weapons!"
Over their heads as they scrambled to their feet, lightning and flames poured down. It was white magic fired by the Imperial Mage Unit. Obelisk and the Beast Faction warriors were terrified by the preemptive strike aimed at breaking their will to fight. Because Ende didn't have a mage unit that could fight against them.
They hadn't even finished the rescue yet. Whether an army was coming from over there or not, the workers who were still removing rocks and rescuing the buried were struck by sudden lightning.
"Toooe. I barely made it out... Now I can finally rest a bit."
"Aaaagh! Fire!"
"Tooooooe?!"
Without any organization or tactics, they were ambushed by humans they thought were allies. Even before discussing victory or defeat, it was a situation where they had to worry about whether they could even flee.
If there was any luck, it was that Ende's only Archmage had just been freed. The Imperial mages firing magic indiscriminately at the beastmen sensed something was wrong.
"Archmage Argios. The triggers are blocked."
"What is it? An Unique Magic Dao?"
"It seems so. The wands used as catalysts are not working. Even if we change the trigger, the same phenomenon occurs. It's like something is caught on a law. However, if we pour magical power directly to operate it, the magic fires normally."
"An Unique Magic Dao that controls triggers? The effect is weak, but the rule is simple and the domain is wide. It'll be troublesome if we encounter it on the battlefield."
"Wait. It controls triggers?"
"The rule might be different, but for now, the effect looks like that."
"Then conversely... couldn't it also activate the triggers?"
"What?"
Boom! The catalysts held by the mages activated, and magic was fired in the wrong directions.
Unlike black magic that uses one's own body as a catalyst, white magic uses jewels or tools as catalysts. By drawing a mana circuit on an intricate alchemical tool and infusing it with magical power, one can use magic with just an activation word. There were many magic tools that only had a trigger set so they could be used without separately infusing magical power in preparation for battle.
The reason it's in the past tense is that they were all activated by Kito's Unique Magic Dao. The flames erupting from the wands spread in all directions. The mage unit, accustomed only to attacking and not to defending, ran around screaming.
"Is it an ambush?"
"No. It's an Unique Magic Dao!"
The Imperial Mage Unit is a precious force for the Principality as well. When such a unit went berserk, their attention was briefly drawn away. The Regressor didn't miss that opening and swung Cheon-eong.
"Heavenly Sword Qi, Cleaving Grass!"
Cheon-eong is a Relic symbolizing space itself. A storm raged, blocking the legion's advance, and the berserk magic spread on the wind. The legion temporarily halted to assess the type of attack.
The Regressor, who had created a precious opening even if only for a brief moment, looked back and shouted.
"Everyone, run... Keuk!"
"A futile effort."
A sharp sword strike assaulted the Regressor. Two swords targeted the Regressor. It was a powerful and swift ambush, but the Regressor, utilizing the Heavenly Reflection Sutra, forcefully bent her waist backward and dodged.
Judging by pure Qi, the Regressor was not inferior to the Marquis either. She had gulped down spirit elixirs obtained with future knowledge like water, and had mastered them through the supreme Qi Gong called the Heavenly Reflection Sutra. No matter how fast the sword strikes were, the moment she recognized the attack, she dodged them all. Her ability to dodge attacks was comparable to Grull, who had reached the level of a Principle.
'Tsk! I can't counterattack...!'
However, she could never say she had the upper hand. The slashes drawn by Marquis Raphaeno lingered, remaining dangerous even later. Like most Principles, it was absurdly powerful to fight against.
And there was another problem.
'How long do those things stay?! There are slashes remaining in all directions right now! There's nowhere left to retreat!'
The true value of the Lingering Slash Sword is its spatial dominance. The space where the sword has even once grazed through is now the Marquis's. Unlike Grull, who was the consuming type, Marquis Raphaeno gained the upper hand the longer the fight went on.
Retreating in a direction the sword hadn't reached might be different, but the safe zones were usually where her allies were. It was a situation where her allies would get caught up in the Master's sword strikes.
'It's absurd...!'
"Isn't it absurd?"
Marquis Raphaeno spoke as if he had seen right through the Regressor's mind.
"It's the same. Absurdity can visit anyone at any time. Whether you can overcome it or not depends solely on power. So... that's why you struggle to gain that power."
"So you intend to drive out all the beastmen for that?! If you do that, that absurdity will come to you someday too!"
The Regressor shouted, recalling the King of Sins, but Marquis Raphaeno answered calmly.
"Whatever I do, the absurdity that will come will come. If it's to gain the power to overcome it. I will personally become that absurdity."
But that is not absurdity.
It is merely humans acting on selfishness, a very natural thing. They call it absurdity, but in reality, it's just the barbarism hidden beneath the mask of order revealing its fangs.
The reason one considers that absurdity is because they expect something from the other party. They feel a sense of injustice because they wish the other person, who is a human like them, would think like them and comply.
Real absurdity does not happen in that way. It comes so suddenly and intensely that one cannot even feel a sense of injustice.
Yes, just like....
"Roar. So you are the highest-ranking human here."
Like the girl suddenly appearing before the Marquis, swaying a tail with stripes drawn beneath her jacket.
The girl who tore through the midst of war was relaxed despite the spreading flames and splattering blood. Amidst the chaos of steel and screams, let alone fear, boredom was visible. Her eyes exuded faint curiosity along with arrogance.
Appearing in an even more absurd manner in an already absurd situation, the girl spoke slowly.
"I ask of thee."
I can't read her thoughts. If it were just that much, I wouldn't have felt anything.
But my instinct is reporting fear. My whole body trembles, and cold sweat runs down my back. Before I knew it, my clothes were soaked. Even the fact that Aji healed a person is not important right now.
Perhaps, there might not be a single person left for Aji to heal!
The Tiger King, San-gun. The King of Beasts, rightfully called the King of the Mountain, commanded the human.
"Where is the wolf?"