Chapter 215: Thousand Blood Armor
In swordsmanship, there is a clear hierarchy.
Of course, most active swordsmanship styles actively exchange with each other to complement their strengths and weaknesses, but this is not the case with the Merida style of the reclusive elves.
The upper-level swordsmanship compatible with the Merida style is also at a high level.
However, the secret arts born from the Merida style are not like that.
There is no hierarchy in secret arts.
All secret arts that have broken through the limits of swordsmanship and escaped the limits cannot be distinguished by superiority.
For example, it is meaningless to ask whether the Iron Blood Storm is stronger or the Landgrid is stronger.
Basically, will and will are equivalent.
If the Iron Blood Storm contains a stronger will, it will pierce through, and if the Landgrid contains a stronger will, it will block it.
Secret arts all have the same basic value.
The reason is simple.
Because they share the same essence.
The paths they have taken and their intentions may be different, but the place they reach at the end is the same.
It is like convergent evolution.
That is why realizing one secret art implies the possibility of acquiring another secret art.
Of course, it is impossible to realize exactly the same secret art.
The history they have experienced is different, and the reasons for wielding the sword are different.
The great will born at the end cannot be the same.
The reason why Eugene could not follow Transylvania’s secret art and Transylvania could not follow Eugene’s Iron Blood Storm was the same.
The formulas may be the same, but the forms cannot be the same.
That’s why Eugene gave up on implementing Rex’s Landgrid from the beginning.
Didn’t he experience it enough when he learned the Dacia style secret art?
The experience of trying to follow Transylvania came to mind.
The important thing is to create my own secret art.
Chasing after someone else’s tail will not lead to anything good.
However, it was also true that Eugene’s Merida style training was still lacking.
While the characteristics of the Dacia style swordsmanship had already reached level 10, the Merida style remained at level 9.
It didn’t seem like he could create a secret art with the Merida style alone.
Therefore, Eugene decided to combine the two.
Combine the Dacia style and the Merida style.
It is possible because it is a combination of secret arts, not swordsmanship.
I’ll make up for the lack of training with the Dacia style.
And melt the formulas I learned from seeing Rex’s secret art into it.
The end of the heavy sword and the end of the light sword are mixed.
The will born at the end is a contradictory will that protects the self (我) while exceeding the range of swordsmanship to harm the opponent (彼).
A greedy will that hates being taken away while trying to take away.
A form that combines the Dacia style and the Merida style.
It is the Thousand Blood Armor.
“Whew······.”
Swoosh.
The sword energy scattered from Eugene’s fingertips and the sensation of the transparent sword disappeared.
Before they knew it, the surroundings of Eugene and his party were scorched earth.
The rebars that were rushing in were all crumpled and twisted to pieces and rolled around here and there.
The rusty iron powder crushed by the Thousand Blood Armor turned red in all directions like blood.
The pungent smell of iron stimulates the nose like the smell of blood.
Cuckoo!
The archive, a repository that contained all of the Union’s records without exception, collapsed.
Looking at it, Eugene couldn’t help but feel relieved.
Linda, no, something that had turned Linda’s shell upside down had been collecting all the information of the Union until now.
It really seemed creepy.
“Just like he said. There was no main body or core circuit here.”
“How do you know?”
“I didn’t feel the taste.”
“······.”
Myeong’s mouth fell open.
It was fortunate that he didn’t pick a fight because it seemed easy at the time.
The attack just now was a technique that used no magic or sorcery at all.
To Myeong, it seemed like he was just infusing his body with a small amount of magic power and moving his limbs as if he were swinging a sword.
However, what was shot out was a shield that crushed everything in its path.
Can something like that come out of a human body?No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand.
He was that strong even without using magic.
If he started using magic or sorcery, how much force could he project?
That was no longer in the realm of humans.
A weapon.
“Mister. Where should we go next? Just tell me. I’ll take care of the directions.”
“What? Why are you suddenly being so polite?”
“I thought about it, and I think this is the right attitude. Haven’t I been too arrogant until now?”
“Why are you like this? It’s disgusting.”
Myeong immediately went into a humble posture.
Until now, I thought he was just a poor man with excessive self-confidence.
Now I see that there was a reason for that.
He wasn’t just strong.
He was insanely strong.
He seemed like he could crush Transylvania with one hand.
If he were to face the Lord of Frost… it seemed like he could put up a decent fight.
I hadn’t known him for long, but I was convinced after spending a short time with him.
This man was neither evil nor weak.
Moreover, I had an inexplicable intuition that this man needed to regain his existence as soon as possible.
I couldn’t help but do my best to help him.
“I can’t guess how far the Alliance has been infiltrated. It’s too dangerous. Right now, those guys… no. Let’s go check on the safety of the executives first.”
“Yes! Let’s do that! The security must be very tight, but if it’s you and me, we can break through it!”
“······I feel bad.”
Looking at Myeong, who was sticking close to him and acting like a servant, Miso frowned.
Since when did this girl start looking up to Eugene so much and acting so friendly?
She felt like telling him that if he wanted to stand next to Eugene, he should go into exile in the Demon Realm and come back.
“Let’s hurry. The situation is urgent.”
“Yes!”
“······Yes.”
Eugene stepped forward, stepping on the collapsed machinery.
Miso followed him without any hesitation.
Myeong was also following him with a newfound confidence.
It was the confidence that he was on the right path.
.
.
.
“Is this the right way? Did you guide me wrong, Gwiho?”
“What the hell is this······.”
“Ah, the Archive!”
Thud.
Her legs gave out and Alicia collapsed.
A sight that she had never imagined, even in her dreams, was unfolding before her eyes.
It was as if the earth had been turned upside down and everything on the surface had been overturned.
The massive Archive had collapsed beyond recognition, and its fragments were rolling around in the sky and on the ground.
Who would have dared to imagine it?
That the Archive, with the strongest security and defenses in the world, would collapse so miserably.
The Archive was so heavily guarded that it was said that even if an airship fleet attacked, it would be intercepted in return, as it possessed various weapons and even anti-aircraft guns.
“What the hell are we chasing······?”
Oh my god, I’m scared.
Gwiho said.
This is definitely not the work of the Great Demon Belphegor.
From Noble mtl dot com
It was exactly as he said.
In this place, where we had followed the traces of that magic, there was something that far surpassed the realm of cognition.
An enemy that was both unrecognizable and possessed immense destructive power.
How could we possibly deal with this?
Alicia felt her strength drain from her body.
‘Ah, that’s what Cornelia said at the time······.’
I should have accepted her argument that we should disperse rather than entrust everything to Linda alone.
No one paid any attention to Cornelia’s words, which Linda found suspicious.
The Alliance invested heavily in the Archive, believing Eugene’s words that he was the last registered owner and Kern’s words that the spring-loaded machine followed the three principles.
This is the result.
The Archive was completely destroyed in a single blow.The heart of the alliance had been struck and turned to dust.
“Wait.”
“······?”
Thud, thud.
Transiberia’s expression became strange as she walked into the ruins.
The direction of the debris was strange.
She walked and walked.
Transiberia, who had reached deep inside, stopped.
Inside the archive, which was full of machinery, wooden debris was crushed and spread on the floor.
Standing in the center of it, Transiberia looked around.
“The culprit didn’t hit the archive from the outside. They blew it up from the inside.”
The debris all flew out as if centered on this place.
It was an impossible angle if attacked from the outside.
In other words, the enemy had reached the center of the archive without sounding any alarms or making any noise.
“Is it possible for an unidentified enemy to do that?”
“No. The archive is basically a structure with all the bulkheads closed. Not even a fly can enter without internal approval.”
“Are you saying that the opponent is a ghost?!”
Something impossible had happened.
Even if they had the power to destroy the entire archive, it was a mystery how the owner of such power had reached this far.
“Ugh······.”
Alicia felt a headache coming on.
It was a series of situations that she couldn’t understand at all.
No, in fact, the realm of understanding had long since passed since the appearance of the unidentified enemy.
How do you deal with something like this?
Do you just have to give in helplessly?
Isn’t the opponent just playing with us?
Such thoughts came to her one after another, and a sense of powerlessness gradually washed over her.
“It may not be that grand.”
“······?”
Guiho began to gather magic in her body.
A magic formula slowly began to assemble at her fingertips.
The completed magic formula began to shake all the magic that had been cast on the site.
Magic particles bounced off like a sieve.
The bounced magic particles stopped as if stuck at a certain point.
When all the particles stopped, what was completed was a dizzying structure spread out in all directions.
It was shaped like a silhouette of the archive before it collapsed.
“What is it? Are you trying to look back on what happened here by backtracking the movement of magic? If that’s the case, it’s better to use mana than crude magic. I heard that the White Magic Tower Lord has even developed a technique that vividly reproduces all five senses and the sixth sense.”
“That’s why I’m using magic. Mana is too efficient.”
“What?”
“Haven’t you heard yet? The White Magic Tower Lord lost his memory as soon as he recreated the scene involving this unidentified enemy. It was so vivid that he saw something he shouldn’t have. But if it’s magic, he’ll be able to stop just below the precarious line where he doesn’t lose his memory.”
Whoosh.
As the magic moved, the scene changed as if a frame was being flipped.
The structures twisted and transformed, and thorns pointed towards where Transiberia was standing.
And four figures next to Transiberia.
One was clearly a wind-up doll.
Another was a nobody, as you could tell just by his height.
The other two looked like a big man and a little boy.
“hahahahaha! This is it! I haven’t lost my memory up to here!”
Guiho laughed and stopped operating the magic formula.
However, the magic stuck in the air remained.
Even if you can’t recognize the opponent, is it possible to see even such a vague silhouette?
She succeeded in expanding her information using tricks.
Guiho approached the human form made of magic and began to compare its size to her own body.
Transiberia and Alicia, who had a bewildered expression, also surrounded it and groped it.
This height.
These shoulders.
And this child he’s carrying around······.
The feeling of “no way” gradually grew.Alicia met their gazes and realized that they were all thinking the same thing.
“There are only two possibilities for someone to get this far inside without proper Archive clearance and without setting off any alarms,” Alicia said, her voice trembling. “One, Linda betrayed the Alliance. Two, Linda’s commanding officer… her owner, is responsible.”
It was Eugene.
It had to be Eugene.
This was his body, and the girl ghoul beside him was his constant companion.
All the circumstantial evidence and the silhouette pointed to Eugene.
As Alicia shivered in horror, Transylvania and Guiho noticed something else, and their expressions hardened.
“Or maybe it’s both.”
“What?”
“If Linda betrayed us, there would be no reason for the person she let in to destroy the Archive. Conversely, if the one inside was Eugene, that son of a b*tch, why would he destroy the Archive?”
“Ah…!”
“The answer is both. Linda’s owner came here like he owned the place, and Linda betrayed us and turned on him. This disaster is the result.”
The truth was coming to light, and it was becoming increasingly clear.
Alicia felt her heart pounding, and at the same time,
“Then Linda has been stealing Alliance intel all this time… Agh!!!”
Her mind went blank.
The entire Alliance was in danger.