Chapter 132
"What...!"
Kwagwagwagwagwagwang!
Chain blue lightning strikes down like roots spreading in all directions.
The ground shattered like tofu, stone fragments scattered, and gale-force winds swirled.
"Kyaaah!"
Rebecca, standing at the center, could not remain unscathed.
She took the lightning head-on.
Steam rose steadily from her body. Her face, turned toward the sky with mouth agape, could safely be called that of someone who had glimpsed death.
However.
Srrrk.
Rebecca's eyeballs rolled.
She was still alive.
"Ugh."
Thud.
Spitting a clump of congealed blood, Rebecca tightened her grip on her mace.
Her bloodshot eyes were eerie to behold.
But Callius simply snorted with an indifferent expression.
"Strike."
Bibi was wreathed in lightning.
Rushing like blue lightning, Bibi's speed was truly like a flash of lightning.
As Bibi moved with instantaneous speed like a zigzagging bolt, Rebecca swung her mace.
Kaaaang-!
Whiririk!
Rebecca's mace soared into the sky.
The moment she thought the match was decided.
Chwarrrrk!
A chain connected to the massive mace appeared from her hand.
Grabbing the chain she must have been holding at some point, she sent the mace flying.
Bibi dodged easily, but Rebecca's aim wasn't the Thunder Wolf Dragon.
It was clearly aimed at Callius.
"I'll take you with me even if I have to break just one part of you!"
The determination to aim only for Callius, whether the Thunder Wolf Dragon appeared before her eyes or not.
It was an obsession bizarre enough to make one want to applaud.
'Well, that is correct.'
Rebecca's attack toward Callius stemmed from her obsession with wanting him, but also from having detected the connection of Auste between Bibi and Callius.
Auste's pilgrims control demonic beasts.
Thanks to that, their own power is naturally meager.
If the caster is broken, the demonic beast's control being released is only natural.
Her attack had justification.
Huuung!
But her mace missed cleanly, almost absurdly so.
"......!"
The man had moved just half a step to perfectly evade the mace's trajectory. Seeing that, Rebecca retrieved her mace and shouted.
"Capture him immediately!"
Furthermore, she hadn't let her guard down with just one mace.
As if on standby, the duchy's knights all charged in wielding maces.
All to capture just one Callius.
It was absurd.
A truly creepy obsession.
As expected of Rebecca, perhaps.
If he had truly served the Whip, he would probably have been caught by her.
Of course.
If it had been real.
At that moment when about a dozen knights and their maces were closing in around Callius.
Discarding his robe, a sword in his hand gleamed with light.
Seugeok!!
A long line was drawn through the center of the flying maces. Rebecca's eyes widened wide.
And through that gap, along with Callius's figure.
Sharp sword strikes surged in all directions.
"Ha......?"
Sword winds swirled around him.
"Keugh!"
"Keok!"
Not only the maces, but the knights' bodies were sliced and severed into pieces in an instant.
Scattered chunks of flesh.
Flying fresh blood.
Chwak!
Callius's black hair, shaking off the blood on his sword, fluttered in the wind.
Even in the burning forest, his figure that never lost its light made Rebecca's eyes flash dangerously.
It was an expression that showed she didn't care about the knights' safety at all.
Only Callius was reflected in her eyes.
'Stronger than expected. This has become troublesome.'
He hadn't expected even his own power to be this strong.
Moreover.
Cheok.
The Thunder Wolf Dragon standing as if to protect Callius looked majestic indeed.
Two horns standing tall.
Looking up along the cloud-like fur at its toes and the scales rising above them, lightning flickered around the blue gleaming eyes and the sword held in its mouth.
Pajik, pajijik.
"They said you control demonic beasts, but really......"
And that's no ordinary demonic beast either.
The Thunder Wolf Dragon, said to be rarely seen.
A demonic beast carrying dragon's blood.
Moreover, the power it possesses is lightning.
A power not easily seen.
With just one Thunder Wolf Dragon, it would tear through most knights.
But it was even holding a sword.
It couldn't be taken lightly.
'Seeing him control that, it must be the Whip.'
To even wield a sword.
Just as she was thinking he was a man whose identity was hard to grasp, a name came to her mind.
'Carpe of the North.'
The noble family that guards the north of Carpe.
Having relatively little connection with the duchy, she realized it late. But seeing him take up the sword, it was bound to come to mind.
The Conqueror of the North.
'Jervan.'
He was probably Jervan.
"Would you come with me?"
Rebecca lowered her mace.
At the abrupt words, Callius's head tilted.
"Still spouting nonsense."
"I'll give you the duchy."
"How can you say you'll give or not give the duchy."
"Because I'm confident."
A declaration full of conviction.
But Callius didn't even smile.
'She could probably do it.'
But he wasn't interested.
Taking the duchy would be pointless.
The Empire would eventually extend its demonic beasts to the duchy as well.
Moreover, he was a pilgrim of the Sword.
He had no greed for other lands.
What he had was only the sword.
"Your Highness the Princess!"
The noise of approaching knights made Bibi's ears twitch.
"Do you really not need it?"
"I don't."
"I guess it can't be helped. Then."
She gestured with her chin.
The knights let out fierce war cries and charged at Callius again.
But this time, Bibi didn't stay still either.
Bibi's lightning, holding the Lightning Sword in its mouth, was amplified several times over.
Not only power and speed.
Chwaaak!!
"Gwaaah!"
"You bastard!!"
With it even using a sword, there were few who could withstand it.
"One well-raised Bibi is worth ten knights."
Though still young, it was indeed a Thunder Wolf Dragon.
The lacking power was filled by the Lightning Sword, and its skill was astounding.
It kept trying to hold the sword in its mouth at some point, so I left it be, but I didn't know it would use it like this.
Maybe it's because it often saw swords being used by Callius's side.
Bibi was quite smart.
'It might be better for Bibi to use it than me using it.'
Originally, Callius had many swords to use besides the Lightning Sword.
There was no problem at all.
Bibi itself liked the Lightning Sword too.
Callius's hand, about to throw the robe back over himself, stopped suddenly.
"Is there a need for this?"
Was there a need to go this far to hide myself and tuck my tail like a frightened cur.
Would that be a true path of pilgrimage?
'If there are no witnesses, then nothing was revealed.'
Just kill them all.
If it were the Imperial Princess, maybe not.
But for a Princess of a Duchy, it wouldn't be that difficult.
Hwaaaaaaak!
Wind blew fiercely around Callius. His killing intent directed toward the duchy's knights and the Princess.
Heukkit!!
"Killing intent!"
The Princess trembled with sudden fear.
She thought her heart had dropped.
That was how deep and sharp the killing intent Callius emitted was.
She hadn't known before, but feeling the killing intent, she could accurately gauge his skill.
"Keugh!"
Thanks to that, Bibi sliced one knight.
After the knight's severed head fell, Bibi's surging lightning bound their feet once more.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
In that moment.
Callius's figure shot forward.
The scabbard in his hand.
Chekeok.
As he drew the sword slightly from it, a thick scent of blood spread instantly.
The sword of Callius that had charged right up before her eyes disappeared.
'Fast.'
Rebecca's eyes lost track of Callius's sword. What she saw was only the instant when the sword was drawn.
The moment she realized she had lost track of what followed.
"Your Highness! It's dangerous!"
Two knights threw themselves to protect her.
Chwaaaak!
The knight's torso was sliced in a single stroke, and the Princess too was cut long from her lower abdomen to her side. Splurt! Blood splattered.
"Keugh!"
"Your Highness!!"
"Protect the Princess!!"
"Take her away immediately!!"
Tat! Tattat!
Callius's gaze sank as he watched the fleeing Princess.
Shaking the blood off the Devouring Sword, he sheathed the sword.
"Shallow."
Unfortunately, it couldn't be helped.
If he chased, he would only tire himself out.
'Being known to the duchy and empire is inevitable.'
He had tried to avoid it, but the Princess crawling all the way here was an unexpected situation.
'I couldn't have avoided it from the start.'
If she had just been some strange woman, maybe, but having received the obsession of Princess Rebecca, avoiding it was close to impossible. Rather than putting on a clumsy act, it would be better to actively utilize it from now on.
Kiing.
Stroking the face of Bibi as it approached, he curled up the corners of his mouth.
"Well done."
Throwing a chunk of meat from his subspace, it opened its mouth and dropped the sword.
Gulping down the meat, it hastily picked up the sword again in its mouth. Its anxious appearance, worried it might be taken away, was quite cute.
"I won't take it, so keep holding it. But, you must never lose it. Give it to no one but me."
Reureung.
Patting Bibi's shoulder as it answered, he turned away right there.
He had lost the Princess, but he couldn't give chase while leaving his companions behind.
Moreover.
[Quest has been completed.]
Since the quest was completed too, there was no need to delay.
With his back to the blazing forest. Callius disappeared along with Bibi.
* * *
Tadak, tadadak.
In one corner of the forest reduced to ashes.
Corpses turned to ashes from fighting the fire giants.
Looking at the injured, the Imperial Princess couldn't hide her emptiness.
At that moment, seeing the Princess returning with knights trudging along, the Imperial Princess's eyes immediately narrowed long.
"Where have you been......!"
Just as she was about to say something.
Hwadeudeuk!
Rebecca collapsed, spilling a handful of blood.
The Imperial Princess hurriedly approached in shock.
"Rebecca!"
Supporting the collapsing Rebecca, the Imperial Princess immediately checked her wounds.
'A sword wound.'
A cleanly sliced sword wound.
It was cut so cleanly that it would adhere right back if pressed together.
With this level of skill, she was quasi-Master class.
A swordsman with just one step left until Master.
"Who was it."
"A man who stole my heart."
At the ridiculous answer, the Imperial Princess's expression softened a bit.
Seeing her spout nonsense, it seemed her condition wasn't as serious as expected.
"Foolish."
"I have no... kek! regrets."
Finding it absurd, she pressed down hard on the wound, and Rebecca contorted her face miserably.
"Kyaah!"
Finding her audacious, the Imperial Princess poked at it a few more times, and Rebecca began screaming and foaming at the mouth.
"Was he that handsome?"
"More than anything in this world."
"Did you find out who he is."
"Well."
It was a way of saying she didn't want to tell.
Tsk tsk.
The Imperial Princess had no choice but to shake her head and begin stopping the bleeding.
Pressing firmly on the lower abdomen to stop the bleeding, the Imperial Princess soon took out a potion from her bosom, poured it, and fed it to Rebecca.
"Using something so precious. On me, no less."
Holy water of Lactus.
Precious holy water that only the imperial family and a few Spears of the Empire possessed.
The Imperial Princess had two, and she used one on the Princess.
The wound itself was clean, but its location wasn't good.
The internal organs in her abdomen had been cleanly sliced, so if she didn't use it, it might cause serious aftereffects or disability.
"You still need to get married. I called you here, so I should bear the wounds too. Besides, if the Princess were to become disabled from this wound, my reputation would be ruined. Not that I have any reputation left to speak of anyway."
This expedition had already failed.
She hadn't known the fairy's wrath would be this massive.
If the luck was bad, it was bad; if the thinking was lacking, it was lacking.
"This is... a big deal."
"So stop whaking and get up. I need to see the face of the man who made you like this."
"Will you pursue him?"
The Princess's face, whose wounds were healing, changed instantly.
It seemed the Imperial Princess hadn't given up yet.
"I can't let this be a complete failure. One of the sectors where soldiers were blocking the retreat route was annihilated. I know where they went."
The surviving soldiers said there were pilgrims among them.
Some were hit by arrows, and many had their skulls crushed.
The most were pierced by spears, but cross-referencing various factors, they could tell there were pilgrims of multiple gods.
'It could be Crasion's intervention.'
If it's Crasion, there's a suitable candidate.
"I should bring that eunuch bastard."
The divine power that roasted the Empire's elders who kept babbling about soon becoming Masters.
Luteon.
* * *
It had been a week since traveling with the Dragonian tribe.
Callius had made a sword.
It wasn't made by killing a strong person.
It was an action taken because the Light of Grace had descended upon a corpse after a long time.
"So it was a sword after all. But how did you tame Bibi?"
Ignoring Aldu's question, Callius stared quietly at the sword and spoke.
"I need to stop by Raikiman."
"Raikiman? It's on the way, but why go to that backwater village with nothing?"
"There's someone I need to see."
It was a Grace that came after a long time.
Since it was on the way anyway, there was no problem stopping by.
'So I just need to hand it over.'
The memory that Grace materializes.
Having glimpsed it, Callius thought it wouldn't be a difficult Grace.
Though the setting in the memory wasn't particularly to his liking.
"Alright! Well, let's do that. Philo is safe too anyway! Keuheuheuheu!"
At the front, Philo gave a slight bow toward Callius.
Callius simply ignored it and, after looking at the corpse, put it into his subspace.
"Do you know of the Rose's Smile in Raikiman?"
"Rose's Smile?"
Aldu's head tilted.
"That's a brothel, though."
Callius's eyes narrowed.