Chapter 99. Isn’t There Such a Herb?
“Sirius, then leave Garibaldi to me.”
The Demon King tried to step forward in place of Sirius, who had just fought two battles in a row.
However, Sirius raised a hand to stop him.
“I’ll handle Garibaldi too.”
“Aren’t you tired? It would be better to leave one of them to me.”
“There’s a high probability that Big Brother would lose.”
“So what you’re saying is that… what? I’m going to lose?”
Huanwang’s eyes flared open.
As the Grand Warlock of the 9th Circle, there was no way he would lose, so he couldn’t help but be angry.
“Aren’t you underestimating me?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
“Do you think that old man would have charged at us without any preparation?”
Sirius glared at Garbaldi.
“Earlier, I saw that he seemed to be hoping that you would come forward. He must have some kind of plan in place.”
“A plan?”
“Some way to interfere with your illusion magic… something like that. Didn’t you see it in the South?”
“……!”
Huanwang was the Grand Warlock of the 9th Circle.
However, since his specialty was showing illusions, his direct combat abilities were not that high.
If his illusion magic was sealed, he would have no way to fight Garbaldi, who was in the top ranks of the 8th Circle.
“Am I wrong, Garbaldi?”
“……”
Garbaldi bit his lip.
It was proof that Sirius’s guess was correct.
“Even so, things won’t go your way, Garbaldi.”
Sirius said in a calm voice.
“Grand Warlock Huanwang here is not someone who can be defeated so easily.”
“……!”
“No matter what countermeasures you come up with, he’ll quickly develop new powers to overcome them.”
Huanwang gasped at Sirius’s words.
This was Sirius’s way of encouraging him.
If Huanwang developed new powers, it would eventually help Sirius as well.
Sirius was hoping that Huanwang would create something new by referencing the concept of martial arts.
“Until then… I’ll crush you.”
“……”
Garbaldi frowned.
“You’re quite confident. Just because you defeated Casper and Bastarian, don’t get too cocky. I’m not on the same level as Casper or Bastarian.”
As he spoke, Garbaldi struck the ground with his large staff.
“Sirius, in my opinion, you’re like a warlock of the 8th Circle.”
“……”
“However, you’ve acquired ancient magic that strengthens the body, allowing you to display combat abilities that surpass the limits of the 8th Circle. That’s certainly impressive.”
He had seen through the power that strengthened his body, but everything else was wrong.
However, there was no need to correct him, so Sirius simply kept his mouth shut.
“But… I’ve already figured out that much.”
And the moment Garbaldi struck the ground again with his metal staff.
The tempestuous wind wrapped around Garibaldi’s whole body.
“You won’t even be able to approach me.”
Kukuukung!
A storm was raging.
It was on a completely different scale from the wind created by Sirocco.
The moment he was caught in the wind, Sirius couldn’t maintain his posture and was blown into the sky.
“Sirius……!”
Others called out to Sirius anxiously.
However, Sirius didn’t have the leisure to answer them.
Because he was caught in the wind and couldn’t even maintain his posture in the air properly.
That was how strong the wind Garibaldi was creating.
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“Why don’t you try blocking it with your excellent swordsmanship, Sirius?”
Ssyaaaeek!
Something brushed past Sirius’ shoulder in the storm.
It was a hoop attached to Garibaldi’s metal staff.
It was flying through the sky, spinning like a windlass.
“If you can block it, that is.”
Hwirilik!
The hoops rushed towards Sirius from all sides.
Each hoop was as sharp as a blade, and if he was careless, his limbs could be severed with a single blow.
However, Sirius was caught in the storm and couldn’t even assume a proper posture.
It was a precarious situation for anyone to see.
“Sirius, it’s dangerous……!”
When Velid raised his voice anxiously from the ground.
Suddenly, a strange sound began to be heard.
“This is……!”
Kwarrung!
A tremendous thunderclap was heard within the storm.
If this storm had been a normal weather phenomenon, it would have been natural, but this storm was created by Garibaldi’s Gale magic.
That’s why it was strange for thunder or lightning to occur.
“……?”
The moment Garibaldi frowned and tried to check inside the storm.
Blue lightning flashed through the storm.
“……!”
Kواجق!
The hoops that Garibaldi had flown were split one after another in the storm.
Sirius, who had been tossed around in the storm…… was moving freely through the storm as a blue lightning bolt.
“No……!”
Kukung!
Sirius had drawn out all of the internal energy of his 3-gap and was wrapping his whole body in lightning energy.
Using the third stage of the Cheonrang Divine Art, the power of the Spear of Lightning, he turned himself into a bolt of lightning.
Of course, the internal energy consumption is severe.
Even normally, martial arts that use mind energy consume a lot of internal energy. The Spear of Lightning was no exception.
Since he spread mind energy throughout his entire body, not just the blade, his internal energy was being consumed at a very fast rate.
But in exchange for that… Sirius was able to become a bolt of lightning that could pierce through the storm.
“How is this even possible…!”
Garvaldi intensified the storm even further.
Just as Sirius was pouring out all of his internal energy to spread his mind energy, Garvaldi was creating wind by releasing his magical energy to the maximum.
But it was no use.
No matter how strong the storm was, lightning is not something that can be swept away by the wind.
“……!”
After breaking through all of the layers attacking him, Sirius finally grasped Garvaldi’s location.
Gathering the rest of his internal energy, he charged through the storm.
Because of the wind, he couldn’t see Garvaldi’s expression.
But he could tell that he was raising his staff in a panic.
It was a heavy metal staff.
If swung properly, it would be able to exert considerable power as a close-range weapon.
However, it was meaningless in front of Sirius.
Clang!
The crumpled metal staff flew off somewhere into the sky.
Garvaldi hurriedly tried to raise the wind to retreat, but it was already too late.
The blade covered in blue mind energy dug into Garvaldi’s abdomen.
“Ugh…!”
Thud.
Garvaldi thrashed about, coughing up blood.
But Sirius’s charge didn’t stop.
Like a bolt of lightning, he continued to charge through the air, piercing through Garvaldi’s body.
Garvaldi tried to twist his body to somehow escape this situation, but there was nothing he could do in a situation where he was being dragged through the void at such high speeds.
And so, the lightning that had been piercing through the sky… finally struck the ground.
“Keuk!”
Boom!
A loud noise rang out as dirt and dust scattered into the air.
Sirius slowly got up from Garvaldi’s body, which had crashed into the ground somewhere on the outskirts.
“Ugh…”
Surprisingly, Garvaldi still wasn’t dead.
Even though his abdomen had been pierced through and all of the bones in his body must have been crushed, he was still breathing.
“Si, Sirius, you’re… really…”
Garvaldi muttered as he spat blood from his mouth.
“Th, this… isn’t magic. This can’t be magic. What kind of power… Keuk!”
A fresh scream erupted from Garvaldi’s mouth.
Sirius thrust his right palm, which unfolded the energy of the north star, into Garbaldi’s chest.
The black energy infiltrated, destroying Garbaldi’s circle and sucking up all the remaining magic power.
“Ughhh…”
After recovering his internal energy, which had been depleted from using the power of the lightning strike to its limits, Sirius drew back his right hand.
Garbaldi was already dead.
“Sirius!”
An urgent voice came from afar.
Bellid was running towards him, panting.
“A-are you okay?”
“Yes, as you can see.”
Hwangwang and Berdian also arrived and checked Garbaldi’s body.
“You took care of him. Good job.”
“There was no need to worry.”
Everyone sighed in relief after confirming Sirius’ victory.
“But you seem to have struggled quite a bit.”
“Yes, he wasn’t an easy opponent.”
Garbaldi was definitely strong.
His confident attitude in front of Sirius wasn’t a bluff.
Even as a storm mage of the same 8th circle, he seemed to be much more skilled than Siroc, Casper, or Bastarian.
“Thanks to him, I also consumed a lot of my internal energy.”
If Sirius’ internal energy had been even slightly insufficient, it would have been difficult to escape the storm.
Garbaldi’s storm magic was that powerful.
“If Garbaldi, a subordinate of the Wind King, is this strong… the Wind King must be even stronger than this.”
“Well… yes.”
In that case, it would be dangerous to face the Wind King directly in his current state.
He had to advance to the next stage before meeting the Wind King.
“It seems we should visit the Respada family soon.”
The Respada family that provided the Red Flame Grass.
He would be able to get his hands on a new elixir there.
* * *
After repelling the Wind King’s subordinates, the group headed south.
The Respada family was an old and established family located in the southwest of the West.
However, it seemed that the family was gradually declining because the head of the family, Piet Respada, was only interested in medicinal herbs.
“This is a letter of introduction from Justitia Rigel.”
“Oh, from Lady Justitia…”
Piet welcomed them warmly when they visited the Respada family.
Piet was old, but his eyes and skin were as young as a young man’s.
It seemed to be because he kept searching for and consuming good medicinal herbs.
“I am indebted to Lady Justitia. She has supported me a lot.”
“Is that so?”
“Thanks to that, I was able to secure funding for my research, hahahaha.”
Piet led Sirius and his companions to his laboratory with a smile.
There, a truly enormous-scale apothecary was present.
“It’s amazing.”
Even Berdian, who had studied pharmacology under the Poison King, was impressed.
“If there are any medicinal herbs you need, please tell me. I will provide them to you.”
“Thank you. In that case……”
He also needed to obtain the ingredients for the elixir that Berdian was developing.
However, there was something that took even higher priority for Sirius.
“Would it be possible to obtain Crimson Blaze Grass?”
“Crimson Blaze Grass…… is what you said?”
“Yes, I heard that you had discovered a few roots of it on the island to the southwest. You sent one of them to Justitia, didn’t you?”
Piet tilted his head as he listened to Sirius.
“But what would you use Crimson Blaze Grass for? It’s so potent that an ordinary person would die as soon as they ingested it. Are you perhaps trying to use it as poison?”
“Well……”
“If you have happened to discover a new processing method, please share it with me. The people from last time absolutely refused to tell me.”
“What?”
Piet scratched his head as he spoke.
“Actually, I disposed of all the remaining Crimson Blaze Grass a fortnight ago. Someone came and bought it for a lot of money……”
“Who bought it?”
“It was just a merchant who operates around here…… It seemed like they were acting on someone else’s behalf.”
“……”
Sirius fell into thought.
In this world right now, there was only one person who would need Crimson Blaze Grass…… other than Sirius himself.
“That damn Salt Lord……”
Hwangwang muttered from beside him.
One of the most powerful figures in the Alliance, the 9th Circle Pyromancer…… the Salt Lord had been searching for Crimson Blaze Grass for some time now.
It was said that he intended to use it as a means to reach the 10th Circle, but it was still unknown how he planned to utilize it.
Due to the Crimson Blaze Grass in the southern region drying up, he had been struggling for a while now…… but it seemed that he had finally gotten his hands on some.
“Sirius, it seems like things have gotten a bit difficult.”
“That’s right.”
Crimson Blaze Grass was a medicinal herb that possessed an extremely hot aura.
An ordinary person would die if they ingested even a small amount, but Sirius could absorb the aura of the Crimson Blaze Grass and obtain his extremely yang internal energy.
He had planned to ingest the Crimson Blaze Grass one more time and enter the fourth stage of the Heavenly Wolf Divine Technique…… but it seemed that the Salt Lord had gotten to it first.
“If the Salt Lord secures the Crimson Blaze Grass, will he reach the 10th Circle right away?”
“It’s not likely. It’s impossible for it to be possible just because he obtained a single herb. He’s probably just starting to enter full-scale research now.”
“I see.”
Piet blinked, not understanding what was going on.
“Excuse me, but is there some kind of big problem?”
“No, it’s nothing, Mr. Piet.”
Sirius asked, tilting his head.
“Are there any other medicinal herbs that have a hot nature like Red Blaze Grass?”
“Well, Red Blaze Grass is a very unique herb, so……”
Piet pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
“Sorry, I don’t know of any herbs that are as hot as Red Blaze Grass, though there may be some that can simply raise your body temperature.”
“I see.”
It was a disappointing answer.
But Sirius didn’t give up and continued to ask questions.
“What about this kind of herb?”
“Yes?”
“Have you ever seen a herb that glows gold, unlike ordinary herbs? I understand that herbs that receive a lot of sunlight become like that.”
Originally, plants use sunlight to sustain their lives.
However, some herbs store sunlight separately.
Such herbs don’t grow very large, but they accumulate the sun’s energy and turn gold.
And if the conditions are right and they accumulate the sun’s energy for hundreds of years…… they become a panacea that can grant the user profound internal energy.
There may not be any medicinal herbs here like the ones from the martial arts world, but there might be herbs that contain the sun’s energy like this.
“Glowing gold……?”
Piet remained silent for a moment, lost in thought.
And then…
“Ah, there is, there is!”
He clapped his hands and nodded.
“A few years ago, I obtained a root of Golden Millennium Grass that was glowing gold on the southern mountain!”
Millennium Grass.
Verdian exclaimed upon hearing the name.
“Millennium Grass? Is that the herb that’s called Millennium Grass because it lives a very long time?”
“Yes, but it was strangely gold, so I didn’t take it and kept it separately. It was like a mutation.”
Piet said with a laugh.
“Would you like to see it, Sirius-nim?”
“Yes, please.”
If Sirius’s expectations were correct… he would be able to obtain a panacea that was even more effective than Red Blaze Grass.