Chapter 99
"……!"
It was my first time experiencing my entire body freezing, so I was quite flustered.
Fortunately, I had instantly circulated divine power to protect my body; otherwise, I would have died in an instant.
Because of that, I had to judge what the grade of that sword was from the top of my head.
'It's not an Illusion Sword.'
If it were an Illusion grade, I wouldn't have been able to resist this easily.
However, even if it was a simple Spirit grade, it was a sword that couldn't be easily seen.
'That's a relief at least.'
The one holding the sword wasn't in his right mind. Seeing him lost in spirit while looking at the sword blade, he had frozen us and made no movement.
"……."
"……."
As I slowly and quietly melted my body without provoking Gid's temperament, I met eyes with the Gold Lion.
Nodding, melting the body first was the priority.
The Gold Lion also knew this, and quietly unfolded his Gold Qi to melt his body.
I unfolded Manhwa-bongyuk to its extreme to melt my body, and on one side, I kept watch on the guy. The old man who appeared to be Gid was looking at the sword he had made with an ecstatic expression. Bulging eyes and protruding cheekbones.
And wrinkles and bloomed liver spots.
White hair growing haphazardly added to the eerie feeling.
If I had encountered him outside, he had an appearance I would never want to face.
But the sword he held while in ecstasy was uniquely beautiful.
A pure white blade stretching straight.
A simply but luxuriously finished cross-guard and a pommel embedded with a blue jewel were wonderful enough to be called a noble's sword.
'Is the body almost melted?'
It was quite a brutal cold energy, but at this level, I could now move.
The moment I exchanged glances with the Gold Lion and tried to move slowly.
A cold voice pierced between the Gold Lion and me as if stabbing at our blind spots.
"Don't move."
It was Gid's voice, but it was heterogeneous.
Multiple voices were heard simultaneously from one throat.
The guy was still looking at the sword blade, but his consciousness was directed at us.
"I can feel it. The blood the sword desires. The sword wants blood. Much blood. It tries to raise the grade of its soul with that."
I didn't know what he was feeling as if he were some perverted bastard, but I had a feeling I shouldn't just leave him alone.
The moment I tried to move slowly.
The guy's pupils rolled.
"Black hair with heterochromia. Blond hair with blue eyes. Have famous figures of the Four Great Noble Families come to see me? Kulkulkul, but it's not your turn yet."
"What are you talking about."
When the Gold Lion asked back, Gid answered while stroking his sword.
"My sword, Valentine, wants much blood. Simply put, it seems it's not yet complete. The Flesh grade has mixed well, but the Soul is not yet. The Soul hasn't achieved a complete grade. It's still mixed. Since it hasn't formed a single complete grade, I have no choice but to raise its grade, don't I?"
It wasn't difficult to understand what he meant by raising its grade.
It meant that eating Callias and the Gold Lion might cause an upset stomach right away, so he would go out and slaughter the knights.
"Does that mean the sword you made will be promoted to an Illusion Sword?"
"That's right. Wolf of Zerban."
I didn't ask how he could know that.
The guy was overflowing with bizarre energy that didn't seem normal at all. There must be something that connected him with the sword.
In any case, the situation wasn't good.
'It's dangerous.'
A Spirit Sword comparable to an Illusion Sword.
The guy was an old man and not a knight, but that alone would produce tremendous power.
"Wolf of Zerban and cub of Luidren. Struggle for a moment. I'll feed you your blood last."
Swish.
The guy disappeared, crossing between the Gold Lion and me with footwork as if he were floating in the air.
"Ugh."
Crackle crackle.
I had almost melted my body, but when he lightly struck us with the flat of his sword and left, the penetrating cold energy became even more powerful.
"This...!"
The Gold Lion turned his head, but the guy had already disappeared, ignoring us.
Aaaagh!!
As the guy disappeared, the screams of soldiers began to be heard.
Rumble!!
"He even closed the door, that bastard."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm fine. I had almost released it, but it's a more formidable power than I thought."
It still had the Spirit grade, but since it was at the very end, it seemed to be producing power similar to an Illusion Sword.
Indeed, the guy's cold energy was remarkable. With just a slight touch, my whole body was covered with thin ice, and when the flat of the sword touched, it froze like this.
"I let my guard down."
The sword Gid creates changes depending on the situation and the psychology of the person used as the final sacrifice.
I never expected to encounter the difficulty set to the worst case.
"I couldn't even draw my sword."
The sword was frozen and wouldn't even come out of the scabbard.
I had no way to deal with it since I didn't expect him to use cold energy.
"If we leave him alone, he'll kill everyone in the Earldom."
There was the Gold Lion Knight Order, but the guy's sword was close to the realm of an Illusion Sword.
It would be safe to say there was almost no one who could stop him.
"Can you get out?"
"What about you?"
"I think I'll be fine."
Though I was shivering, the Gold Qi was appearing on the frozen bottom.
Then the problem was me.
It was my first time having my body frozen, so I was also at a loss.
Since no other method came to mind, the methods I could use were limited.
"I think I'll be a bit rough."
"Excuse me?"
Then, Pahwaro in the left hand.
The subtlety of the White Cat imbued in the right hand.
Divine power was drawn up from the entire body, and the two energies fused into one.
"Take care of yourself."
"……!"
The Gold Lion, who was wondering what I was talking about, had his eyes widen.
And then.
Kwaaang!!
The ice burst out.
* * *
"Argh!"
The sword he made.
Gid, holding Valentine, felt his heart pounding and the blood in his body rejoicing.
Ssak!
He hadn't even thought that a sword of this caliber would appear.
It was beyond his thoughts.
So much so that he didn't even know what his condition was.
"Kulkulkulkulkul!"
With one swing, he sprayed cold energy, and the soldiers who were hit by it couldn't move at all.
Slitting the throats of such people was as easy as picking grapes by one's bedside.
The pure white frozen ground was dyed red. The overlapping blood became increasingly thick.
"Hahahahahahahaha!!"
A momentary instant was enough.
After killing all the soldiers, knights rushed in. He froze, slashed, and decapitated the rushing knights as well.
When he grabbed and shook a severed head, blood dripped down.
He sprinkled it over his head and around him. There was no reason.
It was an action done in excitement.
"Crazy……."
Holding a severed head and dancing made it even more bizarre.
Originally, people don't carelessly approach a madman.
Because they can't understand it.
Gid was exactly that.
They couldn't understand it.
Because they couldn't understand it, fear and the instinct to avoid it surged up.
Gid originally had no talent in swordsmanship.
He was originally a pilgrim, but he couldn't find the sword he wanted, and in the meantime, he took on the work of making swords in the sanctuary.
He made swords, made them, and made them again.
However, even so, he couldn't find his sword.
But that sword.
The sword he had been searching for his entire life.
It seemed he had finally found it.
"Good…… very good!"
Gid plopped down on the spot.
On the pure white frozen floor, the limbs of soldiers were scattered about.
Gid, with dry eyes, sliced a soldier's thigh and lay down.
The sky was dark.
When he thought it was dark, the clouds cleared and moonlight shone brightly.
Today was a full moon.
"It's been a long time since I've seen the moon too. What? You say so too? Kulkulkul!"
As if having a conversation with the sword, Gid muttered to himself.
The soldiers trembled with fear, and the knights also couldn't approach easily.
"Why? Why is that? Why are you looking at me like that. Ah, is it because blood is smeared on me. It's red before my eyes. Hehahahahahahaha! Just, simply!"
"Uwaaaaah!"
"R, run away!!"
He only pretended to charge, but the soldiers seized by fear ran away.
The knights were also frozen and couldn't move, so the world seemed to be his.
Was living in the world this easy?
Gid had blamed himself anew for having no talent in swordsmanship, but indeed, it wasn't a problem of swordsmanship but of the sword.
It was because of the sword.
In his youth, if he had made such a sword earlier, he would have split, torn, and slashed the world that was against him!!
"Oh, isn't that Baron Valentine! I killed you, so why are you there?"
Gid's neck bent grotesquely.
He had a face as if it was strange.
"What……."
Gid, looking at Trala, approached with large strides as if it was strange.
"It's strange, I slowly dipped the Baron from his toes to his head in the furnace, so how are you there?"
"……!"
Fear and anger coexisted.
But he couldn't say anything.
It felt like if he uttered any words, he would kill him.
He wiggled his toes, but his legs wouldn't move for some reason.
He couldn't escape.
"Hmm…… it can't be helped. I don't know how you're alive, but I can just kill you again."
'I'm going to die.'
Trala's eyes, which had a handful of tears, were squeezed shut.
It was then.
A man appeared, grabbing and throwing aside Trala's frozen nape.
"You bastard! What kind of bastard is causing such a commotion!!"
"What…… are you?"
"I am the servant of Lord Callias von Zerban, a man who entrusted his life to the Lord, and one who seeks to emulate the Hero of the North!"
It was Brance.
"What's with this white-haired old geezer swinging a sword in the middle of the night? Clear out before I call our Lord, alright? Hmm?"
"Can't you…… see me?"
Gid's appearance was a horrific sight.
His whole body was covered in bloodstains, and even flesh remained on his sword.
Yet Brance stood confidently with his arms crossed in front of him.
"Have you ever seen such a crazy bastard."
Even to Gid, who wasn't in his right mind, Brance seemed like some crazy bastard.
"The one who's crazy seems to be the old man, what…… no, what are you all doing? A guy like this will have his limbs broken four hundred and fifty-six times when our Lord and the Gold Lion come! Now, attack!!"
Why was he acting so cocky? He had something to rely on. The Gold Lion Knights positioned behind rushed in.
The Sixth Division also didn't stay still.
Brance had brought them along.
Had he ever seen such a despicable fellow.
He let out a hollow laugh in disbelief and raised his sword high to the sky and brought it down.
Kwaaaaaa-!!
A wave-like, towering cold energy poured out in front of the rushing knights.
"Gulp!"
Seeing the knights frozen and unable to move, Brance started gulping.
Gid, who had frozen the knight order and the Sixth Division all at once with a single sword, slowly walked in front of Brance.
As the white-haired old man approached, radiating red light from his eyes, Brance fell on his backside.
"Hiieek! Save me! Please save me!!"
What a guy with no pride.
He immediately knelt and started rubbing his hands like a fly, to the point where it felt embarrassing to the sword that had been feeding on the knights' blood.
"Like a bug. My sword doesn't need the blood of a wretch like you who's worse than an insect."
Thwack! Kicked away, Brance crashed through and smashed into a warehouse.
"You bastard!"
Among the gathered knights, the majority were knights of nobles, but there were also those bearing the crest of the Gold Lion and inquisitors with the mark of the Sixth Division.
As their numbers exceeded one hundred, the Baron's spirit was soaring.
"How dare you cause such a commotion! I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of the Count!"
"Thank you for coming to die!"
What followed was truly a slaughter.
The spreading pure white cold wave was not something that could be blocked.
With one swing, a storm-like cold energy spread out. Between them, he shot sword qi, so those hit were severed, and soldiers whose bodies were bisected while frozen writhed like bugs, unable to die for a while.
Most were dying as they froze, and the Gold Lion Knight Order and the Sixth Division had relatively less damage.
But that was only a matter of time.
There was no knight who could exert power in front of that freezing of his.
Even if they avoided the sprayed cold energy, their bodies slowly freezing was the same.
Was this why the Order revered swords so much?
The knights, powerless before a single sword, felt as if all their efforts in shedding blood were in vain.
A white-haired old man was knocking down over a hundred robust men, and it was impossible not to have such thoughts.
It was truly a disaster.
A disaster itself.
It was then.
Kwaaaaang-!
"W, what!"
"The ground suddenly!"
A violent vibration occurred as if there was an earthquake.
Whiiiii- Kwaaang!!
Something that soared high into the sky fell to the ground.
When I saw what it was.
"A door?"
It was a door about three spans thick.
From the rising dust, the figures of two men appeared.
"Move."
Whoooom.
The man who swept away the pure white cold energy and appeared like a storm was Callias and Luen.
The ash wolf and the Gold Lion.