High Elf Nadine.
She was an elf who had lived for nearly an eternity, weathering countless storms. Yet, even this ancient being could not comprehend the scene unfolding before her eyes.
A descendant of the Caravan harboring Gaia’s power? How? Far from being friendly, the five Spirit Kings harbor an intense hatred for the Caravans. For a being who shouldn’t even be able to borrow the strength of a minor spirit, let alone a Spirit King, to somehow…
Nadine was well aware of the Caravan’s Authority of Steel. Because of that, she hadn’t expected to completely seize his sword using the energy of the earth, but she had believed it would be more than enough to suppress an inexperienced Caravan. Before the energy of the earth, steel would weaken, and a golem imbued with the power of a Spirit King should have been the natural enemy of any swordsman. In truth, it was the correct tactical choice.
It was simply that Arhan defied all common sense.
There is no way the Earth Spirit King, Gaia, would cooperate with a Caravan. Then…
Could it be that this unfinished Descendant of Steel had directly plundered a fragment of Gaia herself? Nadine found it impossible to believe. She had seen many Caravans since the First Caravan, but none had ever performed such an eccentricity. Not one.
…This brings back unpleasant memories.
Looking at the Last Caravan—this youth who had yet to reach full maturity—as he raised his sword, Nadine felt a chilling sensation crawl up her spine. In this moment, the image of Arhan reflected in her eyes overlapped with a certain man from the distant past. The peerless swordsman who had forged a new order with a single blade and pacified an entire era. The Greatest Steel, who was a legend in life and eventually became a myth.
He is dangerous.
She saw the shadow of Liam Caravan in him.
* * *
The golem that High Elf Nadine had so triumphantly summoned proved to be no threat. It was all thanks to the fragment of the Earth Spirit King, Gaia, dwelling within my sword. The golem recognized both Nadine and me as its master simultaneously, leaving it paralyzed and unable to act.
This single sword is helping me bypass so many problems.
The commander of the Magic Corps who had raided the Caravan estate, and now the golem summoned by Nadine—both were neutralized by Gaia. Trials that should have been grueling were being resolved with ease.
「There is a reason I personally stepped in to secure that for you.」
This time, I could accept my Master’s boastful words. I had solved quite a few problems recently using the Sword of Gaia. It was a complete transformation from the days when I had to scavenge scrap metal from the slum’s junkyard. As expected, a swordsman’s equipment plays a massive role.
Yeah, I’ve suffered enough. It’s about time some things went smoothly.
I can’t keep struggling forever. If I did, I’d probably go bald from the stress.
「For a swordsman, excellent equipment is more important than anything else. Among the various beings in this world, none have as many weaknesses as a swordsman.」
“That’s true.”
Elves who command spirits, dragons, wizards, monks… the list of beings a swordsman finds difficult to face is almost endless. Without being a 「Sword Runner」, a fight against those who wield Mysteries wouldn’t even be possible. And even after obtaining a Mystery, the moment you encounter someone using ‘Earth Magic’ or commanding an ‘Earth Spirit,’ you usually have to run without looking back. Those who manipulate the element of earth start a fight by shattering the weapon that is a swordsman’s very lifeblood.
“A sword is something you pick up for the sake of romance alone.”
「A perfect description.」
Romance—that was the only word for it.
Despite these well-known disadvantages, the reason countless beings across the continent still pick up the blade is simple: only swordsmen can become transcendent beings. A Swordmaster. The path to becoming an absolute existence that no one can rival exists only through the sword.
「Show them, young descendant. Show them what a romantic sword can do.」
I took a long, deep breath. My second heart began to throb, and paths extended through my body like veins. As the power of a superhuman was granted to me, wings sprouted—Steel Wings with a framework like iron girders. My wings were now fluttering in multiple pairs. This was the reward for completely absorbing 「Flight」 and devouring the remaining half of 「Gale」.
“Phew.”
Five pairs of wings revealed themselves.
And then.
“Huuu—”
I inhaled so deeply it felt as if my lungs might burst. An overwhelming amount of mana spread through my entire body, and soon, one of the many swords within my inner self unleashed its Mystery. The Mystery of the 「Lantern」, which transcends limits. The will of a certain monarch who dreamed of the Age of Stars granted me new strength. Now that I had become a proper 「Sword Runner」, the risk of using the Mystery of the Lantern had significantly decreased.
“Caravan—!”
Amidst the mystical power enveloping my body, I heard Nadine’s voice. The golem, looking like a walking piece of nature made of rock and vines, came thundering toward me. Focusing my gaze, I saw that the golem’s structure had changed. The power of Gaia I had felt inside the golem’s chest—the same aura radiating from my sword—had vanished.
So she chose the golem over the spirit in the end.
Well, the golem wasn’t a bad choice.
I could feel its overall specs had dropped after she removed Gaia’s aura, but it was still plenty threatening. I glanced down at my blade. It seemed unlikely I could command the earth by swinging my sword as I had at the entrance of the Sky Mountain Range. If we competed in manipulating the earth, it would be impossible to defeat High Elf Nadine.
Not that I intended to do that anyway.
I have to do what I’m best at.
A frontal confrontation.
* * *
Golems.
I had faced the one belonging to the Black Mage Jerry Selfit, and I had dealt with them when escaping the Blade City, Cherni. These puppets made of various natural materials are troublesome enough to be called the natural enemy of a swordsman. It’s especially true when spirits are involved. A golem isn’t a being sewn together with thread like a doll; it’s sewn together with Mystery. Since this golem was raised by a High Elf like Nadine, its body was undoubtedly connected by spirits. An ordinary 「Sword Runner」 wouldn’t be able to handle it.
No matter how much you cut it, it would just absorb the power of the surrounding nature to restore itself and keep rising. But I didn’t need to worry about that. Why?
“……!”
Because I had the flames.
“The flames that… burn away Mystery…”
The arm of the golem approaching me was sliced clean off. The moment the limb hit the ground with a thud, the golem’s body failed to regenerate. This was because the Flame of Doubt, which had spread from my sword, was incinerating the golem. Nadine’s eyes wavered.
You probably didn’t see my weapons back in Cherni, you old hag.
Nadine didn’t know all the weapons I possessed.
The blazing Flame of Doubt burned the golem, dismantling its various Mysteries. Once the spirit’s Mystery was extinguished, the golem was nothing more than a scarecrow for sword practice. As 「The Path」 showed me the route I needed to take and 「Wings」 pulled me along that path, the golem couldn’t even touch me.
“A Mystery born from an intense malice toward the world. It’s chilling just to look at. That man… he is maddeningly similar to that man. How can this be? The most distant descendant, the Last Caravan born with the thinnest blood… is the one who resembles the First Caravan the most?”
As the Mystery of the 「Lantern」 granted my body new strength, I spread my wings and soared into the air. The newly completed Gale made me even freer. It allowed me to fly not like a two-legged beast, but like a winged one. And so, from a great height, I executed a vertical slash—the First Steel was completed. The heaviest sword of Caravan, which no golem made of rock or dirt could ever withstand.
“Ha… Haha.”
With a resounding clang! , the body of the golem Nadine had raised shattered as if it had exploded. The moment the debris scattered in all directions and hit the ground with a heavy impact, I kicked off. As soon as my feet touched and left the ground, I was at Nadine’s nose. It was a speed that seemed to fold space itself. Two pairs of wings unleashed the Authority of Acceleration, accelerating both my consciousness and my physical body to their limits. In a slowed-down world, I was a being whose body and mind were both incredibly fast. My blade cut through the air, aiming for Nadine’s throat. Just before the blade touched the skin of the old, wrinkled elf’s neck, a sharp sense of foreboding surged.
“However, there is one thing you do not resemble.”
Nadine’s eyes were looking directly at my blade. This should have been impossible. An elf who primarily used spirit arts, a being accustomed to fighting from a distance… reacting as an equal to me at this range? It was impossible. If one thought normally.
But.
“Overwhelming power.”
High Elf Nadine was not a normal being. She was a creature who had lived for an unnervingly long time, defying the laws of nature. Would an elf who had lived for nearly an eternity have only learned archery and spirit manipulation? Of course not.
“Liam Caravan harbored a terrifyingly powerful malice toward the world and the gods. That malice, bordering on obsession, eventually carved out an era and held a blade to the throats of the greatest beings. He was a nightmare-like existence the likes of which we will never see again. But the decisive reason his malice could make the world tremble was that he possessed the power to silence everything. However, you lack that. You lack the thing that symbolizes a Caravan—the overwhelming power to establish yourself through the logic of the world and bring everyone to their knees.”
Nadine’s body snapped back like a bowstring.
My sword cut through empty air, and Nadine’s foot, swung in a mid-air spin, struck my solar plexus. A powerful impact erupted, feeling as if my body might break. The attack didn’t end with a single blow. Starting from my solar plexus, various vital points were struck as if pierced by a spear. I coughed, and my vision blurred. As the world turned hazy, my eyes were covered by Nadine’s outstretched palm.
“The logic of steel cannot stand without power. If you wish to claim a new order, it must be accompanied by the power to silence all other orders. There is no such thing as an order without power.”
With a sickening crack, my knee was twisted in the opposite direction. As I began to fall, losing my balance, I swung my sword relying on instinct. The horizontal slash cut through nothing. When I looked forward, gasping for breath, Nadine had already moved just out of my range. A green light swirled in her eyes. Simultaneously, vines erupted from the ground, binding my limbs.
“Deceiving the eyes of the weary World Tree with a magical shell. A concept only the First Witch could conceive. But no matter how perfect the shell, it is enough to simply peel it away. The eyes of this old fairy are the eyes of the World Tree. The moment you were caught here, you were finished. The World Tree shall judge you.”
With the sound of my wrists and ankles snapping, Nadine’s form wavered. At the same time, a massive tree appeared overlapping behind her. The World Tree. The will of the greatest tree was watching me. Nadine’s most powerful weapon had awakened. The violence of nature delivered by an elf who had lived for eternity—a power that had made even the First Witch hesitate.
However.
I figured as much.
I never expected to win in the first place.
You old hag.
How shameless can you be, trampling over a junior who’s so much younger than you?
The former master of Flight. The reason he could enter the Great Forest as if it were nothing.
My primary goal was to buy time.
Just because I’d gotten a bit stronger, did it really make sense for me to raid the capital of the Iron Kingdom alone and lop off the head of one of the continent’s strongest beings? Victory wasn’t in my head from the start.
The power the Great Forest harbors to exclude intruders is the Authority of the World Tree. And I have tasted a portion of that Authority when I faced Nadine in the Blade City. The essence of the World Tree’s Authority is suppression. To annihilate will, strip away freedom, and bind one to be manipulated at will.
Giving her a taste of her own medicine is enough.
And the power the former master of 「Flight」 possessed is the freest Mystery among all those I have devoured. A power harboring infinite possibilities that allowed him to remain free even before a dragon’s spells and to be liberated from all means of restraint.
The former master of Flight had roamed the Great Forest freely using only the Mystery he possessed. Past memories proved that the World Tree could not bind him. If my hypothesis was correct, unless she summoned the World Tree itself to crush me, an Authority that strips away freedom and manipulates others at will wouldn’t work on me. Because that is the power of 「Flight」. Because it is a dream passed down from a certain father and son who wished to resist an unreasonable world and soar until the very end.
“The World Tree… isn’t working?”
A blue world unfolded. The azure sky that an old adventurer had once imagined spread out, and everything binding me vanished. The power of nature that had tied my limbs and the Authority of the World Tree that Nadine had called forth both became useless. The moment I was liberated from everything obstructing me, a legend awakened. A perfect flight granted at the moment of liberation. A true glide that couldn’t be compared to mere ‘acceleration.’
“What is th—”
Now, Nadine couldn’t react.
Enveloped in blue light, I became a single flash of radiance that no one could respond to. The moment two blue-glowing points were connected, an irresistible line bisected the world.
“……at—”
Nadine’s body split apart. Instead of red blood, vines, leaves, and soil poured out from her broken torso. It was as if a mountain had been cleaved. The moment the world began to flow at its original speed again, Nadine stared at me with wide eyes. As if she couldn’t believe it. As if this were impossible.
“……!”
A powerful impact pushed me back.
I went flying with a crash. When I lifted my head, Nadine was frantically gathering the soil and leaves pouring from her body with a panicked expression. Like soldiers weeping as they try to shove their spilling intestines back in during a war. Soon, Nadine’s eyes turned toward me.
“It was shallow. It was dangerous, but it was definitely shallow. You will regret missing this opportunity. There will never be another chance like this. Again—”
“Who said I was going to fight you again?”
Man, you’re naive.
“We’ve already won.”
This isn’t a duel being held in an arena with our lives on the line.
I’ve stalled for enough time. So?
“Elizabeth.”
“Good work.”
Elizabeth’s voice echoed. Her voice was laced with crackling static. Simultaneously, the sky over the Great Forest turned dark. The clear sky was completely covered by dark clouds. In the next moment, a torrential downpour began, as if everything were about to be washed away.
“From now on, I’m going to fry that old knife-ear and all these damn vegetarians to a crisp.”
Tag out.
You bastards.
