SWNOVELXO Chapter 330
Chapter 331. It Was Winter (7)
The fierce battle between Keter and Lord Eslow.
On the surface, it seemed like Keter had the upper hand.
The arrows lodged in Eslow’s chest, shoulder, and back… Each wound Eslow suffered was fatal.
“Is the Divine Archer of Sephira going to win? The Lord of the South…!”
At someone’s muttering, half of those gathered nodded in agreement.
However, a few remained silent with serious expressions.
They could see it. Eslow hadn’t even used half of his strength.
Of course, Keter felt it too.
‘I expected him to be a tough opponent, but this… is this how it is?’
The more Keter fought Eslow, the more he realized his mistake. The illusion that he could stand toe-to-toe with a Lord.
That illusion was rooted in his past life’s experience. The memory of fighting on equal terms with Dayal, the Lord of the East, had given Keter the wrong impression.
Keter realized and admitted it. In his past life, he hadn’t fought Dayal on equal terms. Dayal probably hadn’t even used half of his strength.
In other words, Dayal had been holding back.
‘These are absurd monsters.’
In conclusion, the situation was the worst. The Lords weren’t just twice as strong as Keter had thought—they were twenty times stronger.
‘Even after stealing Eslow’s Five Great Weapons, using a surprise attack with the Demon Sword, and landing an unexpected blow from Wid…’
Even Eslow, who had mastered all weapons, was initially pushed back by the unfamiliar Celestial Infinity Technique, but as expected of a genius, Eslow was adapting to the technique at an insane speed.
‘Is there no point in trying to buy time and cause him to bleed out?’
Eslow bled red like a human, but something was different. The blood that came from his body evaporated in the blink of an eye.
The blood on his clothes didn’t evaporate, making it seem like he had suffered massive blood loss, but there were no bloodstains beneath his feet.
‘And that wound on his shoulder. It’s deep enough to reach the bone past the muscle. Yet, he’s moving his arm perfectly fine. It’s not just a matter of willpower.’
Eslow may look human, but inside, he’s not. That was Keter’s conclusion.
Keter immediately changed his fighting style.
Whoosh—Boom!
Using the penetrating power of Tusk as a feint, he began to rely on the Milky Way as his main attack.
Since explosions of ordinary power couldn’t harm Eslow, Keter increased his energy output fourfold.
In an instant, the precise battle fought in moments thinner than a hair and shorter than 0.1 seconds was completely overturned.
But Eslow gracefully countered. The moment Keter shifted from “point” attacks to “area” attacks, Eslow switched to “line” attacks.
Before anyone knew it, the curved blade in his hand smoothly drew a semicircle. The chain explosions of the Milky Way tried to engulf him, but the sword aura of the curved blade carved through the explosions like a knife.
The martial artists watching clicked their tongues.
“An attack that tries to overpower a strong one like Eslow with brute force won’t work.”
Strength cannot overcome flow. No matter how strong steel is, it cannot stop water. Water will flow along the steel.
At that moment, a condensed sphere fell above Eslow’s head. It was a technique he had already shown once—”Heaven Explosion Fire Rain: Annihilation.”
The energy was condensed enough to obliterate anything it touched, but it was meaningless. Hadn’t Eslow already cut it down once?
Using the same technique twice against a strong one like Eslow was foolish.
Slash!
As expected, what he had split with a great sword earlier was now split with a light curved blade, and with just one hand.
But the Annihilation wasn’t just one. Another Annihilation fell through the split.
Without hesitation, Eslow swung again. The Annihilation was cleanly cut down.
But—
“…!”
“He’s insane.”
The onlookers hurriedly backed away. The Annihilations pouring down on Eslow weren’t just one or two.
Dozens. Each one was an energy sphere the size of a small hill, and a total of 37 were raining down on Eslow.
Keter, with one hand stretched above his head, smirked and said, “If it’s not enough, just do more.”
The terrain once called “Cherry” could no longer be called that.
Instead, it had become a terrain more aptly named “Grape.” Enormous pits where the ground couldn’t be seen. All traces left by Keter’s Annihilations.
Henya swallowed hard as she looked at the countless pits.
“Carved so cleanly. The density is insane.”
She had witnessed it. Keter’s Annihilation smoothly penetrating the ground without any sound of collision.
Even if the ground had been steel, Amantiir, or Orichalcon, there wouldn’t have been much difference.
But not all Annihilations had hit the ground. Eslow had cut down more than half.
The aftermath filled the area with smoke, but a single winter breeze cleared it all away.
What followed was a sight that gripped everyone’s hearts.
“…!”
Eslow’s curved blade had pierced Keter’s solar plexus.
The reason the attack didn’t continue was that Keter was using both hands to wrestle with Eslow.
Splat!
Blood gushed from the pierced wound. This was evidence that the sword was moving, even if only slightly.
Keter, who was even using Heavenly Power, was being pushed back. Henya’s breath quickened, but she calmly observed the two.
She didn’t know exactly what had happened in the less than three seconds between the Annihilation hitting the ground and the smoke clearing, but Eslow wasn’t unscathed either. His entire body was ashen, as if scorched by fire. However, his recovery speed was absurdly fast.
‘Did he charge through the damage? Keter couldn’t stop that.’
Henya, who roughly understood the situation, pondered. Should she rush in to help Keter, or should she carry out the plan she had thought of earlier?
But the latter was a plan based on the assumption that Keter was alive. If Keter died, it would be meaningless.
To anyone watching, Keter was in a desperate situation. Even the martial artists who had been watching were now rushing at Eslow. Eslow’s hands were sealed as he wrestled with Keter. They were aiming for that opening.
‘If Eslow wants to counterattack, he’ll have to let go of Keter eventually. If that happens, Keter’s hands will be free, so maybe now is the opportunity.’
As Henya finished her thoughts and was about to join, she saw Keter’s face.
Keter was smiling. Even with a blade in his solar plexus, where his heart should be. Even with just 2 centimeters of movement, he could die at any moment.
That smile was definitely not one of madness.
Seeing that smiling face, Henya immediately changed direction. Not to help Keter, but to run away in the opposite direction.
At Henya’s movement, the corner of Eslow’s eye, who had been watching Keter, twitched slightly.
In that brief moment—
Crash!
Keter’s headbutt slammed into Eslow’s forehead. The curved blade dug deeper into Keter’s body, but Keter didn’t care and headbutted again, saying, “Where are you looking? I’m not dead yet.”
“…”
Eslow didn’t respond and only increased the strength in his hands. The blade was moving, but only slightly.
Eslow was expressionless, but inside, he was extremely surprised. The Celestial Infinity Technique was a style of archery he had never seen before, but Keter’s raw strength was even more bizarre.
‘This is a strength that no human body structure could produce. What kind of trick is he using?’
Eslow had no intention of holding back against Keter. He was putting all his strength into killing him as quickly as possible. Yet, Keter was holding on, which made no sense.
The secret, of course, was the 6th stage of Heavenly Power. The power that had allowed Keter to pass Toban’s trial was now preventing his instant death.
Thanks to that, Eslow couldn’t kill Keter in one go and was now being surrounded.
But that wasn’t a problem. The martial artists trying to surround him had no Ain.
No matter how much they used their sword aura, their Aura and Mana were only half-strength. They could wound the body, but they couldn’t touch the soul. Only Ain could reach the soul.
Soon, the swordsmen who had closed in saw that Eslow still hadn’t let go of the curved blade and unleashed their ultimate techniques.
All of them were Grandmasters, and some were close to Prime. But Eslow, without even using both hands, drew his Heart Sword.
Clang! Screech!
Eslow faced all eight martial artists with eight Heart Swords.
It was rumored that the Heart Sword was stronger than sword aura, but that was a misconception. In terms of freedom, the Heart Sword might have the upper hand, but in pure power, the sword aura wielded by a swordsman was much stronger.
Even so, Eslow showed no signs of being overwhelmed while controlling eight Heart Swords, which bruised the martial artists’ pride.
“Ughhhh!”
Those gathered here weren’t here to help Keter. They were here to surpass their limits and become Primes.
To have their swordsmanship recognized by the world, to gain the fame of having killed a Lord, they were all giving it their all.
They poured out every technique they had, holding nothing back, but they couldn’t even touch a hair on Eslow’s head.
Seeing Keter’s archery work, they had thought, “I can do it too,” but that was the martial artists’ excessive arrogance.
“How noisy.”
Eslow muttered. In that moment, the bodies of four Grandmasters split and died.
The thought that if they went to help, Eslow would surely counterattack was also a misconception. Eslow still hadn’t let go of Keter’s throat.
Twitch.
Then, Eslow reacted.
Was it because of the martial artists’ attacks? No. He had noticed Henya was getting further away.
‘That can’t be.’
Eslow’s gaze turned to Wid. The man Henya loved. He was alive, but in critical condition.
‘I see, she’s running away.’
Eslow understood. If he were Henya, he would run away too. There was no chance of winning.
The mages of the Green Tower were annihilated.
The Titans of Vaen were useless.
Her lover was dying, and even Keter, whom she had trusted, was on the verge of death.
The combined efforts of the Grandmasters were merely annoying, nothing more.
So running away was the right choice. For Henya, at least.
‘That’s a bit of a problem.’
Eslow couldn’t track Henya. If the Empire was determined, even Eslow wouldn’t be able to find her.
This might be the last chance to lure her into a trap. So he couldn’t just let Henya go.
Glance.
Eslow glanced at Keter. He had suffered enough fatal wounds to die if left alone. He needed immediate treatment with an Elixir.
But Eslow’s intuition told him that if he let Keter go now, Keter would attack him rather than seek treatment.
‘I admit it. Turning my back on you is uncomfortable for me too.’
Whoosh!
Eslow decided that capturing Henya was more important than killing Keter. So he infused his divine power into Keter through the curved blade.
This wasn’t an attack but rather a form of aid. If Keter could neutralize the divine power, it would transform into his own.
But it would take time. At least an hour of quietly neutralizing the divine power. This was Eslow’s proposal to Keter.
‘I’ll spare your life and even give you divine power. In return, give up on Henya.’
Eslow, who had let go of the curved blade, rushed toward Henya. Henya was already more than 500 meters away, but Eslow caught up to half that distance in the blink of an eye.
And in that moment—
Shudder!
Eslow felt a chill. He gripped his swords and looked around, but there was nothing.
Yet, his intuition screamed danger, telling him to counterattack immediately, but he couldn’t tell where the attack was coming from.
Instinctively, he found Keter. Keter hadn’t moved from his spot.
Smirk.
Keter, who had been smiling all along, now had an even more eerie grin.
Eslow suddenly thought, Could all of this be his plan?
Crack!
The moment he thought that, the ground beneath him crumbled like desert sand, and an enormous flash of light erupted from the cracks.
“This is…!”
Heaven Explosion Fire Rain: Annihilation.
The technique he thought had been completely destroyed was now rising from the ground.
Even the mighty Eslow was too late to react. He swung his sword, but—
Boom!*
The pillar of Annihilation that erupted from the ground was intense enough to pierce the sky.