< 118. Blood wets the sand (9) >
#118
Tuk. Yuria’s head fell. A beat later, my collapsed body convulsed. Red blood finally spurted out from her cut.
“What the f*ck…”
Ronan muttered as if he was dumbfounded. Yuria still had her eyes brightly open. Her leopard, sensing her master’s death, pounced on Schlieffen.
“Khuuuuung!”
Schlieffen swung his sword again. The wind that blew along the road brushed past the leopard’s neck. Kang! His head fell, a white line forming on his metal-covered neck.
“Kruk?”
thud. The stiff body of the leopard fell to the side. Schlieffen, seeing that the surroundings had quietened down, lowered his sword. He was staring blankly into space and fell down on one knee.
“······Ugh.”
“Yumma, are you okay?”
Ronan staggered towards Schlieffen. It was difficult to calm down like the day after drinking heavily. Copying Terranil’s aura consumed much more mana than expected.
“Whoa…”
Schlieffen did not answer. Unsteady breathing was coming out between slightly parted lips. Her pale complexion made her look unwell. Ronan suddenly caught sight of his sword and raised his eyebrows.
“This···!”
The sword body was not visible. Only the blood-stained hilt of the sword was in Schlieffen’s hand. At that time, the sword body that had disappeared appeared with the sound of a low wind.
-Saaaaa…
It was like watching an icicle grow quickly. The swirling airflow transformed into a bluish blade. The mana blooming from her sword body gave a completely different impression than before.
‘Calm. But it has become sharper.’
Previously, Mana was a strong wind blowing indiscriminately, but now it was reminiscent of a tailwind running over a calm sea. It has the potential to develop into a typhoon that sweeps the ocean at any time. Ronan laughed as if he was shocked.
“her.”
It was a growth rate that far exceeded expectations. I had no idea that even the Empire’s Morning Star would already reach this level. It was an Auror awakening.
“You monster-like bastard…”
Aura is an individual’s unique mana and abilities derived from it. People who consistently cultivated their Auror skills achieved a radical growth in their abilities at some point, which was called Auror Awakening.
In most cases, the range or power of existing auras was increased, but occasionally, there were some who experienced absurd changes that were comparable to turning a chrysalis into a butterfly. A guy who used to generate static electricity shoots lightning from his eyes, and a guy whose specialty was skin hardening grows diamonds on his body…
A representative example was Schlieffen. Swinging the sword by deconstructing it into the shape of wind. This was the true form of the Storm Sword that Ronan knew and the symbol of Schlieffen, the greatest sword on the continent.
It was also a skill that Ronan, who had no interest in others in his previous life, was truly jealous of. If only I had that, I would have been able to tear down all the flying giants and kill them.
‘Damn it, my stomach hurts just looking at it again.’
The storm sword had literally infinite possibilities of use. If the wind is compressed in one place, it becomes a secret weapon that can kill with a single blow like just before, and if it is spread widely, it becomes a strategic weapon that can even compete with the military. Ronan still remembers Schlieffen’s madness, covering the entire Lomira Mountains with a storm in order to catch one of the Witches of Winter.
It still seemed feeble compared to the power of his previous life, but once he entered the state of awakening, it was only a matter of time before he made progress. Ronan offered a potion to Schlieffen, who was lying down.
“Take it. “You unlucky bastard.”
“······Ronan.”
“That sounds great. “What happened?”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re awake, man.”
Schlieffen’s eyes widened. It seemed like he didn’t even know that he had awakened. He silently took the potion and shook his head.
“is it. “This is the feeling.”
“Hey, some people can’t even bloom into Auras. “Tell me the secret.”
Ronan grunted. Schlieffen, who was applying potion to the wound on her shoulder, opened her mouth.
“…I heard the sound of the wind.”
“Sound of wind?”
“okay. It was violent yet very gentle… It was the first time I heard it since I was eleven years old. “The moment I heard that, I was convinced that I could cut that woman down.”
Eleven was the age when Schlieffen developed his Auror skills. He added that he was concentrating all his attention on cutting down Yuria the moment the star’s protection disappeared. Ronan tilted his head.
“so?”
“That’s it. “It really worked.”
“This isn’t crazy.”
Ronan frowned. I didn’t expect a normal explanation in the first place, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. This is why I hate geniuses. Ronan, who mumbled that, laughed.
“Well, if I caught it, that’s fine.”
Ronan held out his hand. Anyway, it was a good thing. Schlieffen, smiling slightly, stood up with his support. Perhaps because he drank the potion, his complexion had clearly improved.
“Ronan. I have a question.”
“ok?”
“How did you break through that shield?”
Despite all his efforts, he was ultimately unable to destroy the star’s protection. Just like in his previous life when he reached the level of a swordsman. Ronan thought for a moment and shook his head.
“I don’t know either. “It just worked.”
“···is it.”
Schlieffen nodded slowly. He looked very disapproving, but he couldn’t answer that he knew something he didn’t know.
‘You’ll be upset.’
Schlieffen’s slightly trembling voice was filled with resentment. Even as he stumbled as if he would collapse at any moment, his dark blue eyes were burning with fighting spirit. Ronan said.
“But anyway, if I just keep going, it’ll work out.”
It was another task that had to be solved along with Haeju. It would be great if others could destroy the star’s protection, but if that didn’t work, I had no choice but to become strong enough to take them all on my own. Ronan stretched and turned around.
“···It’s over.”
Anyway, the battle is over. It was the most intense and dangerous fight since my reincarnation. It was only after I relaxed that I could see my surroundings.
It wasn’t a very charming scenery. Blood stains and broken metal were scattered like mold. The ruins, which were smooth as if they were made of marble, had turned into ruins that looked like they had been through three wars.
“You f*cking bastards.”
Phew! Ronan suddenly lost his temper and kicked Yuria in the head. Her head flew in a long parabola and fell in front of the Dain Har magic stone. Ronan looked at her magic stone and opened her mouth.
“Why is this shit happening all of a sudden?”
“···I don’t know.”
Schlieffen shook his head. The magic stone, which was larger than an average farmhouse, was still spreading brilliant light everywhere. I was dizzy from the excessive amount of mana flowing out.
At that time, a person’s face passed through Ronan’s mind. He stopped in place and cursed.
“Shit.”
“Ronan?”
There was no angry gust of wind in sight. I completely forgot about it because I was fighting a fierce battle. Ronan shook off Schlieffen and ran to the place where the gust had fallen. When he happened to look down the stairs, his face distorted.
The space at the bottom of the stairs was still filled with the blood and corpses of the natives. A rectangular parallelepiped, said to contain the secrets of the ruins, stood tall among the corpses. The angry gust of wind fell right on top of the cube.
“Damn, blast!”
Ronan shouted. He ran down the stairs, which seemed to be well over 300 steps, just three times. bang! bang! bang! Ronan, who quickly reached the gust of wind, shook his shoulder.
“Damn it. Wake.”
No answer came back. Red handprints remained all over the ten buttons. Given the circumstances, it seemed clear that Gust had fabricated it.
“Kuh…ugh…”
Fortunately, he was still breathing. Ronan poured all the potions he had brought into Gust’s body. Chi-i-ik…! The injury healed quickly, but I never came to my senses. It seemed like he had lost too much blood.
“do not die.”
In an instant, Sarante’s face flashed before my eyes. The old elf who was guarding the ruins was unable to heal his wounds and was turned into a foolish stone.
I couldn’t go through something like that twice. Ronan looked up the stairs and shouted as loud as he could.
“Sita!!!”
The voice echoed and rang out. Exactly three minutes had passed. A pitch-black shadow appeared on the stairs. Sita, spotting Ronan, folded her wings and descended.
“Ttaaa!”
“This way, quickly!”
Ronan shouted, supporting the dying Gust. Sita landed on Ronan’s shoulder and immediately cast healing magic.
Paaa… A cluster of red light enveloped the body of the gust of wind. The blood that had flowed from him was flowing back into his body. As Ronan straightened his twisted limbs and pulled out the stuck metal, Gust’s complexion quickly began to improve. Eventually, he twitched his fingers and opened his eyes.
“···Ronan?”
“Damn, are you out of your mind?”
“Monsters… those strange guys…?”
“He and I killed everyone. “That too for sure.”
Ronan said, patting Schlieffen on the shoulder. Gust’s eyes widened. Ronan explained what had just happened. The purpose and strength with which Teranil and Yuria came here, until their miserable end. An angry gust of wind burst into laughter after hearing the story.
“Haha… that’s amazing. “You are true warriors.”
“Hey, don’t laugh because you’ll get hurt. “Did you do that?”
Ronan pointed up the stairs with the tip of his chin. Beams of light shot from the magic stone were crossing the air. Angry Gust nodded heavily.
“Yes. I broke the rules. “You guys look dangerous, so I wanted to do something to help.”
“Discipline?”
“All the tribesmen know how to handle this. But no one deals with it. “You can touch it only on the promised day.”
As expected, it was a gust of wind. He touched his cuboid and continued. Angry gusts from his grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather. He said that he had been taught how to operate this device since ancient times.
He said that you should always protect it with your life, but you should never tamper with it at will, and that tampering is only allowed on the day of promise. Ronan shrugged his eyebrows.
“What is Promised Day?”
“I do not know either. But he said that when that day comes, you will find out automatically.”
“It’s amazing.”
Ronan laughed. I couldn’t believe that so many people died because of such a vague promise. The angry gust calmly nodded.
“Because I broke the rules, when I die, I will have to swim in red water forever. But I have no regrets.”
“You’re not guilty, man. “The ones who should be thrown into the lava are the ones who cursed like that.”
“Thank you for saying that. “I feel better now.”
“Healing sucks. Lie down quietly. The only survivors you might know are me and this kid…”
Ronan was about to say something. Googoo googung! Suddenly, the entire space began to shake violently, as if there had been an earthquake. The artificial voice I heard a moment ago rang out.
[There are 3 minutes left until the security system is activated. When activating the system, all targets without an identification code will be expelled before this operation begins.]
“Huh?”
Ronan frowned at the incomprehensible nonsense. This time too, there were too many unfamiliar words.
“Identification code for the security system…what on earth does that mean?”
“I don’t feel good.”
“I think they kick you out after about 3 minutes… damn it.”
I don’t know what or how to banish it, but I got a feeling. The vibrations were getting stronger.
The mana gushing out from the magic stone was gradually becoming thicker and more concentrated than it could be handled. It seemed clear that something was going to happen. Ronan stood up, looked back at Schlieffen and Sita, and said.
“Let’s hurry, guys. “Because I feel like I’m screwed.”
3 minutes. It was enough time to get at least one magic stone, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
First of all, I had to do what I could. Ronan, who had his sword drawn, was about to run away from the car. Suddenly, an angry gust of wind caught his wrist.
“wait. “I can’t let my benefactor go like this.”
“what?”
“It is certain that I will die anyway and end up in red water. “I will try to extend the time.”
