Chapter 351: Outside the Tower (3)  

...Thud!

Vikir landed on the ground.

The tip of his sword was still emitting a stream of aura, and at the tip of it was a giant sun.

A concentration of aura, a black sun.

It shone in full view of every student, every parent, and every professor at Colosseo Academy, illuminating the depths of the abyss where the Hell Tree had sunk.

....

A collective silence. Everyone was at a loss for words in the face of something so unreal and unbelievable.

The person who finally opened his mouth was Professor Morg Banshee, the interim principal of Colosseo Academy.

"Vi, Vikir-kun, is that you? Uh, how did you get such power...?"

Professor Banshee's fingers trembled as he pointed to the solid aura of a Swordmaster.

But Professor Banshee never got to finish his question or hear the answer.

kwakwakwakwakwakwang!

The fragments of the Hell Tree that had shot up into the sky came crashing down to ground.

And then the huge thing carrying the debris cast a dark shadow over everyone's heads.

Amdusias!

A unicorn with two eyes burning red was waving its fiery mane.

Winston's body had long since burst into flames.

Turning to Amdusias, who was now in the body of his former self, Vikir asked in a dry voice.

"It would be too much of a burden to incarnate without a host, wouldn't it? Do you intend to destroy yourself?"

[I don't care, as long as I can get rid of you!]

Amdusias glared at Vikir and said.

[You are someone who should never be allowed to live, especially now that we are about to embark on the Great Quest].

"You mean the gate?"

[...If you know that much, I can't let you live any longer!]

Amdusias steadied his crumbling body and channeled his magic power into the tip of his horn.

peo-eong!

The aura shoots out in the shape of a huge horn.

It threatened to sweep away not only Vikir, but all those behind him at once.

"Oh no! Everyone back up!"

"Everyone on the ground!"

Spear King Cervantes and Archon Roderick were the first to react.

Two absolute powerhouses in the realm of the Supreme, they had gathered their magic power and raised it to stop Amdusias.

But.

There was an earlier, faster, more powerful action.

...Flash!

Vikir cast a long aura from his magic sword, Beelzebub.

Then, like a tidal wave, the massive strike rose to meet Amdusias' attack.

Boom!

[...!?]

Amdusias was stunned by Vikir's power, which was now much stronger than before.

But that was to be expected.

Vikir had leveled up to 100 in the tower and gained additional stats.

He had a talent he wasn't born with, and he honed it to the extreme until he became an old man in a flowing river.

Upon exiting the tower, he regained his original strength, and all the power he had built up inside the tower was added to it, doubling his strength at least twice.

The trajectory of Vikir's sword's movements began to take on a complex number.

One tooth. Two teeth. Three teeth, four teeth....

Slowly, the number of teeth grew to seven.

And finally, an eighth tooth.

kwa-gigigigigig!

It was much bigger than any of the seven teeth that had appeared so far.

The Baskerville 8th Form. That too is completely extreme.

It took the breath away from everyone who saw it.

The expressions on the faces of Spear King Cervantes, Archon Roderick, and Osiris, the young patriarch of the Baskervilles, were particularly stunned.

"Oh, my God, the swordsmanship of an iron-blooded swordsman! That's also 8th Forms" "It's not just 8th Form, it's the Ultimate of 8th Form, Master!"

"...This is surprising."

It was now officially known that Hugo Le Baskerville, Patriarch of the Baskerville family, had mastered the 7th Form, and that Osiris, a young patriarch, had just reached the beginning of the 7th Form.

But now, here was a user of the 8th Form who was completely flawless.

This is a boy who has never made a name for himself in the world and who has only just turned 19!

ujijijijijig! kkwadeudeudeudeug!

A total of eight strikes, led by the most powerful 8th tooth, slowly carved away at Amdusias's horns, sending them into a spiraling trajectory.

And then.

...POP!

With a loud crash, the horn broke and snapped in two.

Earth Shattering (驚天動地).

The clouds in the sky were blown away by the wind pressure, and the ground shook like crazy.

Vikir was single-handedly blocking a Demon King runaway dive.

That too, against the demon Amdusias, who is optimized for one-on-one combat among the Ten Corpses, and there is no one who can beat him in a 1:1 match!

[Ku-aaaaaghh!]

Amdusias roared in pain, humiliation, and anger at having his horns broken.

kwakwakwakwakwang-

Rocks and trees were shattered in all directions by the rampaging hooves.

"Damn it! Protect the citizens first!"

"Protect the students!"

Cervantes the Spear King, Roderick the Archon, Professor Banshee, and other heroes and heroines were fending off the falling rocks and other debris.

Meanwhile, Amdusias sprinted, his body crumbling.

He ran so fast that his body caught fire.

At the end of it, Vikir stood.

[I do not lose to humans, not even in one-on-one combat!]

Amdusias had always prided himself on his combat prowess as a single entity.

So he couldn't admit defeat anymore.

Is that why?

Amdusias drained his life force. He was unleashing his full power.

His body burned like a shooting star, fading away.

But despite this, Amdusias continues to run in a straight line, with only one goal in mind, to kill Vikir.

...However.

"I already know that you are strong in one-on-one combat."

Vikir pulled back lightly.

Even though he had mastered the 8th Form, it would be a burden to go one-on-one with an Amdusias who would fight for his life.

Vikir chose a slightly more certain method.

"There is no need to match the other person's strengths."

'If Amdusias is a land-based demon that specializes in 1v1s, there's no need to fight him 1v1.'

...Vikir barely finished speaking.

"Well said, husband!"

A voice came from beside him.

Vikir turned to see a familiar-looking girl running towards him, her face bright with excitement.

Morg Camus. She looked quite tired, as if she had been staying here for just a few days.

"We met quickly this time? I was prepared for another few years!"

As soon as she entered the battlefield, Camus summoned a wall of fire and iron skewers to block Amdusias' path.

...teoeong!

Amdusias gritted his teeth as his charge was stopped.

[Seere! How dare you betray me!?]

"Look at me straight. Who is Seere, to say the least?"

[Ha, but I can definitely feel Seere aura...?]

"If you mix 99.99% water with 0.01% beer, do you call it beer?"

Camus snorted as if she were full of energy.

Indeed, the power she was exuding was clearly something that had once belonged to Seere, but now it was nothing to sneeze at.

Seere had shrunk to a very, very small size, even smaller than a fairy, and was hanging from Camus's shoulder.

The feeling of seeing a Thumbmaiden, not a Thumbelina

Decarabia, clinging to Vikir's chest, chuckled.

[Hahaha! What is the appearance of Seere, the world's scum!]

[You're laughing at a subject that's no better than a cheap necklace from the road shop...]

[Still, I'm better than you, we're equal partners, not master and slave, khahahahaha!]

While Decarabia and Seere were snapping, Camus completely blocked Amdusias' charge with a grid of flaming iron skewers.

Just then.

"Vikir-nim! Let me help you!" Another voice interjected.

Dolores stood at Vikir's side with a determined look on her face, her holy power radiating from her.

The scars on Vikir's body faded away, and his mana began to flow again.

Meanwhile, sparks flew from Camus's eyes.

"Hey, who are you, and why have you been hanging out near my husband since last time?"

"What, what? Who are you and what are you talking about?"

"I don't have a name to give you, so get the hell out of my way and don't play tricks on someone else's fiance!"

"How rude, when did you see me...!"

"I saw you at the festival!"

" ...at the festival?"

Dolores's pupils twitched slightly.

Suddenly, that voice sounds familiar.

Dolores's expression turns to one of disbelief.

"You mean the black mage who invaded the festival, the Corpse Queen?"

"....Ugh. Oops-"

Camus realized her mistake and shut up for a moment.

Dolores glanced back at Vikir, too, as if demanding an explanation.

However.

"...I don't think this is the time for that."

A voice floats over Camus and Dolores' heads, landing lightly at Vikir's side.

Osiris.

He, waving his black robe, faced Amdusias with his red sword hanging down.

He, who had just recently reached the level of master, lightly struck the rising solid aura with the tip of his sword.

Then he looked back at Vikir and spoke in a calm voice.

"...Acting Patriarch. Your orders."

Camus and Dolores, as well as everyone behind them, were astonished by Osiris' actions of bowing his head in a light but extremely polite manner.

What kind of shocking behavior would this be for a boy from a commoner background, from a person who was no less than the young patriarch of the iron-blooded swordsman Baskerville?

...And an acting patriarch? freewebnove(l)

And yet.

Vikir received Osiris' greeting in a very natural manner.

teobeog-

With that, Vikir took a step toward Amdusias.

Camus's skewer bars creaked as if they wouldn't last much longer.

Amdusias' body is about to rush towards them and explode.

Toward the red-hot body of the unicorn, Vikir spoke briefly.

"Hounds assemble."

At the same time, an object emerged from Vikir's arms.

A dark red whistle shaped like teeth.

It makes a quiet yet heavy beating sound.

The moment it rings once.

Chills...

Everyone in the hall shivered at the unknown chill.

Flutter.

The sound of a cloak fluttering can be heard from somewhere.

Flutter- Flutter- Flutter- Flutter- Flutter- Flutter- Flutter-

It wasn't just one or two.

One by one, shadows in black bloody robes began to emerge from the Academy's walls.

Strange people with red auras dripping stickily like honey from the tip of their long swords.

A hundred people in a group, all Graduators. And seven such groups.

Pit bulls. Mastiffs. Dobermans. Shepherds. Rottweiler. Wolfhound....

Seven Hundred in total.

And six senators to lead them.

The Seven Counts.

The strongest of the iron-blooded swordsmen, who spend their lives in battle.

All six are here, except for CaneCorso, who guards the Grave of Swords.

A red whistle that symbolizes all military authority of the Iron Blood Swordsman.

The proof of the patriarch, once given to Vikir by Hugo himself to bring the Wraith Tree to Pomeranian.

All the Baskerville hounds, attracted by that sound, have gathered here.