SWNOVELXO Chapter 327
Chapter 328. It Was Winter (4)
The first to notice Lord Eslow’s appearance were the mages of the Green Tower, who had already deployed a wide range of protective magic.
Although the Green Tower failed to prevent Eslow’s approach, they had activated Altar Magic in the meantime.
Altar Magic. In short, a large-scale magic cast simultaneously by dozens of mages. The more people involved in the casting, the more exponentially the difficulty increases, but so does the power and range.
The mages of the Green Tower were seasoned. It was evident they had practiced hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
Twenty mages moved as if they were a single organism, sharing the same thoughts and actions.
Kururururung!
The world shook as if it were being turned upside down.
Magic of the 8th Circle and above is often referred to as calamity magic. A single spell can obliterate a metropolis.
And such magic was being cast at a single target—Lord Eslow.
“Incredible. Even though I’m not the target, the pressure is overwhelming.”
Altar Magic takes a long time to cast. But what compensates for that drawback is the mana compression that occurs simultaneously with the casting.
That alone was enough to render everyone immobile. Even the knights of the Baen Kingdom, who were at odds with the Green Tower, acknowledged the excellence of the Green Tower’s Altar Magic.
“Look over there. Even the lord can’t move!”
Eslow stood still with his arms crossed. Henya prayed that it wasn’t out of confidence.
Soon, the Altar Magic was complete.
“Even time shall freeze—Absolute Zero!”
8th Circle Ice Magic, Absolute Zero.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz!
Frost began to spread across the entire area, and in the blink of an eye, pillars of ice connecting the ground and sky formed.
Eslow was trapped within the ice pillar. His arrogant posture remained unchanged. Yet, no one dared to say, “Did we get him?” The mages of the Green Tower immediately began casting their next spell.
“Ancient power, wrath of the earth!”
Kwarurururung!
A sphere of gravity formed in the sky, and the ground flipped over, being sucked into it. The earth and trees merged into a single massive sphere.
Its size rivaled that of a small hill.
A fusion of gravity and earth magic.
“Terraria!”
Bound by Absolute Zero, even a giant would feel dwarfed by the sheer mass of the sphere.
These were the two 8th Circle spells prepared by the mages of the Green Tower.
Those who witnessed it were left speechless, unable to even gasp.
It is said that spells of the 7th Circle and above rival divine power. And this was the 8th Circle. No matter how much of an 8-star Irregular the lord was, surviving two consecutive 8th Circle spells was impossible.
—Or so they thought.
At that moment, light reflected off Eslow’s arm, still trapped within the ice pillar.
Flash!
The moment Terraria struck the ice pillar, the light exploded. It was clearly not the result of a collision.
Chuwaaaaaa!
“W-what?!”
“H-how?!”
8th Circle Ice Magic, Absolute Zero.
8th Circle Fusion Magic, Terraria.
Both high-level spells were being absorbed into the Glass Shield attached to Eslow’s arm.
The moment this phenomenon was visually confirmed, the two spells vanished in the blink of an eye.
“How can such power be contained in a mere shield?!”
The mages of the Green Tower were aware of Eslow’s Glass Mirror.
Henya had informed them. Eslow had five cherished artifacts.
A sword with no blade, only a hilt.
A spear wreathed in crimson flames.
A double-edged axe made of blackened bone with horns.
A glass shield as thin as a strand of hair.
A wooden gauntlet woven from branches and stems.
Among them, the Glass Shield was specialized in defending against magic and supernatural abilities.
But the mages of the Green Tower had been confident.
—The characteristic of artifacts that defend against magic is their ability to disrupt mana itself. Their weakness is clear: they cannot block magic with a physical form.
Absolute Zero and Terraria. Both were artificial constructs made of mana, but with physical forms.
Though created with mana, the final products themselves were independent of mana. Thus, ‘magic defense artifacts’ were useless.
But common sense was shattered. Eslow’s Glass Shield devoured two 8th Circle spells with physical forms in an instant and remained unscathed.
Eslow, still standing with his arms crossed, spoke to the mages.
“Are those the only two spells you prepared?”
Sweat dripped from the brows of the Green Tower’s mages. It was no longer a situation where they could say, “You’re stronger than we thought. We’ll retreat now.”
“Prepare Thunder Storm!”
Casting three 8th Circle spells in a row was impossible. But one step down, at the 7th Circle, it was feasible.
‘Thunder Storm has an equal distribution of physical and magical power. He won’t be able to block this!’
It was an unplanned spell. The lack of coordination made the casting time longer than that of an 8th Circle spell.
The battles of master-level fighters are said to be decided in the span of a second. Victory is determined within that second. Truly, the battles of transcendent beings are decided in an instant.
The moment the Green Tower’s mages spent over ten seconds casting their spell, they were already dead.
The only reason they were still alive was that Eslow had spared them. And the mages knew it well.
Insulted or not, survival came first. They planned to distract Eslow and escape with a group teleport.
“Thunder Storm!”
With a cry bordering on a scream, lightning rained down from the clear sky. Eslow raised his Glass Mirror toward the heavens.
In that fleeting moment. The Green Tower’s mages cast their next spell. A teleportation gate opened. Their plan was to escape while Eslow blocked the Thunder Storm.
But—
Kwagwagwagwang!
With a deafening roar, the Thunder Storm struck the Green Tower’s mages. The Glass Shield hadn’t absorbed the Thunder Storm—it had reflected it.
The mages, who had never imagined their own spell would be reflected, were caught off guard and turned into roasted meat.
Of course, they had double or triple-layered shields, but such shields were no match for a 7th Circle Thunder Storm.
In the blink of an eye, Eslow, who had annihilated the Green Tower’s mages, slowly descended from the sky.
Though he could have descended in an instant, Eslow chose to do so slowly, speaking to Henya with a kind expression.
“Don’t be nervous. As your father, I’ll accept all the traps you’ve prepared.”
*
Though the once-mighty mages of the Green Tower had died so easily, the knights of Baen were not intimidated. Two knights confidently stepped forward.
“We are the Olio and Alio brothers of Baen. Have you heard of the Titan, my lord?”
Eslow replied with a bland expression.
“If you’re just here to talk, I’ll kill you now.”
“Impatient, aren’t we? Well, fine. The 6th Level Titan we’ve designed is meant to face transcendent beings. We’ll have to give it our all.”
From the protruding shoulders of the Titan’s armor, electricity surged, soon enveloping the exterior like armor. The goal was to integrate offense and defense with lightning.
As if that weren’t enough, all sorts of things began to happen with the 6th Level Titan.
“Begin resonance!”
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Seven Titans connected through mana.
“Draw your swords!”
The Titans drew swords attached to their backs. These were no ordinary swords, as a white aura shimmered around them.
Seeing this, Eslow’s expression changed for the first time.
“You’ve infused divine power into the swords. That’s quite impressive.”
“Hahaha! This is the new technology of the Baen Kingdom, surpassing even the Empire!”
The energy wielded by knights, known as aura, can be refined to its limits, creating what is called a sword aura. When one becomes a transcendent being and gains divine power, they can wield an even greater force—a divine sword.
The Baen Kingdom had succeeded in manifesting divine power through technology alone and imbuing it into swords.
Many of the powerful individuals gathered here were in awe of Baen’s technological prowess.
No matter how skilled one is in swordsmanship, an overwhelming difference in aura renders it meaningless. It’s like trying to pierce a steel shield by swinging a tree branch.
“Some train for hundreds of years to gain divine power.”
“Has technology surpassed effort…?”
The powerful individuals who had come to fight Eslow lamented. Yet, their eyes sparkled. Could a divine sword created through technology truly defeat a ‘real divine sword’?
Of course, Eslow was alone, but his centuries of experience and unique techniques made it impossible to predict the outcome.
While everyone was focused on the battle’s outcome, one person’s mind was elsewhere.
‘Keter, when are you going to show up?’
Half the reason Henya had set this up was for Keter.
‘He promised to fight… Oh.’
She suddenly felt a chill. The story she had heard from the Special Operations Unit wasn’t like this.
—Set a trap and let me know the time and place.
That was all Keter had said. In other words, there was no explicit promise to help or fight.
‘But… but it was implied, right? I trusted that…’
—Did Keter set you up?
A dark voice whispered in her heart. She shook her head vigorously.
‘Keter needs to control the Southern Region. If he can’t make Father an ally, he’ll have to eliminate him. But no matter how he does it, he won’t win the people’s hearts. That’s why he asked for my cooperation.’
—That’s exactly what Keter is aiming for. What if he shows up after I’m dead and claims revenge? He could control the Southern Region without my help.
‘That can’t be. Keter isn’t like that.’
—How can you be sure? He’s a madman.
Henya couldn’t refute the dark voice in her heart. The seed of doubt grew larger.
—Anyone would think you and Keter are deeply connected. At most, you met during the Southern Sword Tournament for a month, and even then, it was sporadic. He was just playing with you for fun. Thinking you were special was your own delusion.
‘So… Keter isn’t coming?’
—Yes, that’s right. He won’t show up until Eslow has dealt with you and all of us. He’ll appear when Eslow is exhausted and take everything for himself. That’s his plan.
Thud.
Henya’s fist clenched tightly. She didn’t even notice the Baen Titans being dismantled by Eslow’s fingers.
Despair at the thought of having no chance against Eslow, guilt over her poor judgment leading to the deaths of her lover and brother—her mind was rapidly crumbling.
‘What should I do now? Should I beg Father? Ask him to take only me and spare Wid and Lyze?’
—Pathetic. You need to survive to seek revenge, right? Even if Lyze or Wid survive, can they avenge you? But if you live, you can avenge them. And most importantly, you have power, don’t you?
‘Power?’
—Yes. The authority you inherited from Eslow, whom you hate… You can use it.
‘Use it? On whom?’
—Are you pretending not to know, or are you just naive? You know. The power of Weaponization turns the stronger and more precious something is into a powerful weapon. Eslow will turn Lyze into a weapon and kill Wid. So you should do it first…
At that moment, Henya snapped back to reality, feeling warmth on the back of her hand.
It was Wid. He was looking at her with a worried expression.
“Wid…”
“Lady Henya. It’s not time yet.”
“Huh…?”
Henya, filled with resolve, felt something was off. It wasn’t like Wid to say such a thing.
Then—
Nod.
Wid silently nodded and stepped back.
Only then did Henya realize.
Keter had arrived.
Though it was disappointing that he hadn’t stepped forward immediately, Henya gritted her teeth.
‘Father… no, Eslow isn’t an opponent that can be defeated without sacrifice.’
It was absurd to think Keter could defeat Eslow one-on-one in the first place.
Henya finally understood Keter’s intention.
‘Keter will ambush Eslow while he’s distracted by the trap.’
Honestly, she couldn’t guarantee that an ambush would work.
But Keter had always thrown himself into uncertain situations.
‘I won’t just watch from the sidelines.’
Though her heart wavered slightly, and she felt some shame, she acknowledged it without turning away.
“Eslow!”
Eslow, who had just torn apart five Titans, was startled. The loud voice calling his name belonged to none other than Henya.
As if her intention wasn’t just to draw attention, Henya strode confidently toward Eslow.