Chapter 34

Shots whizzed past. Onerst swiveled his head to avoid the bullet.

It was a precise strike aimed at the forehead. Damn it, Onerst gritted his teeth and stumbled backward.

“Fuck, are you serious? Dare to assassinate the captain within Kalion’s warship? Don’t think you can get away from this, soldier!”

“Get away from what?”

Ivan approached, turning his axe, not hastily narrowing the distance.

He slowly examined the guy’s condition. A mage-warrior. Proficient in swordsmanship.

Most elves don’t wield swords, especially officer ranks.

Elven military officers are all high-ranking nobles, and elven nobles disdain sweating.

However, some of them wield swords. This complicates matters.

Despite the disdain of others, mastering swordsmanship implies significant potential, given the long life of the elf race.

Elves mostly detest close combat, but paradoxically, the best sword user in the world is an elf. She was rumored to be a former mentor to a Hero.

In other words.

Being a sword-wielding mage elf officer made Ivan overwhelmed. Even if he had broken one of his legs in her first raid.

“Elizaveta sent an impressive hunting dog. What’s your name, soldier?”

“Do you think delaying time will benefit you?”

Onerst frowned at Ivan’s words. He’s quick-witted.

He licked his lips briefly.

He couldn’t weave spells recklessly. For those classified as ‘superhuman’, the distance between him and Ivan is less than a step.

They were within each other’s attack range.

After a brief standoff, the elf sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright. I surrender, soldier!”

“Throw your sword.”

“In your dream, you didn’t guarantee that you would cut my throat right away.”

He wasn’t wrong. But Ivan narrowed his eyes.

The elf surrendering so quickly? Without even fighting properly? Not to mention an officer-level noble?

That’s impossible.

Ivan raised his axe silently. Surrender can be done after neutralizing the threat.

Watching this, Onerst licked his lips.

“Damn. Fine. Take it.”

And he threw the sword with all his might towards Ivan.

-Clang!

As Ivan deflected the flying blade, Onerst was already leaping backward, reaching into his pouch.

Ivan leaped towards Onerst, lowering his stance. No silhouette of a sergeant’s rank was visible beneath the tightly closed uniform.

So, what could come out of there? Pistol, dagger, or explosive magical weapon.

Among them, the possibility of the latter is the highest and the most annoying.

“Lord... Veolgrin!” (Onerst)

“...?” (Ivan)

Why did that man’s name suddenly come up?

Ivan shook off the momentary confusion that overwhelmed him. Now was not the time to ponder such things.

Shouting technical names or calling out prominent figures was generally a foolish tactic.

Ivan pounded the ground and leaped, wielding his axe. There was no time to delicately strike with the axe’s back. He raised the blade straight and brought it down towards Onerst’s forearm.

Facing a suspicious magical device, there was no room for complacency.

-Click.

As expected, what Onerst pulled from his pouch was a small bead-shaped magical device. It had a densely packed violet aura, looking extremely ominous.

Just before Ivan’s axe could split Onerst’s forearm, his thumb firmly pressed the top of the magical device.

And then, a shockwave erupted.

-Kwaaaaaaaah!!

Ivan thought as he was thrown back by the violent shockwave.

Mission failed. Self-destructing.

The mission assigned by Elizaveta was to secure the captain of the warship and the rendezvous site with Alexander.

Can he win against Veolgrin head-on?

The moment he thought about it, he knew. It’s impossible.

But can Veolgrin exert all his original strength?

Probably not. The sensed magical power amount was nothing compared to the captain’s.

“Oh, planning to fight. Well... you’ve always been like that. ‘Little’ Ivan.”

“Any other choice?”

“Of course. But it doesn’t seem like you would make such a choice. Come on. Let’s see your skills after a long time.”

While the captain’s magical power was more than that of a human, the gap wasn’t despairingly wide.

In other words, it means a difference worth exploring.

However... even if he possesses that level of magical power, if Beolgrin himself is controlling that body, can there really be a chance of victory?

‘No.’

Ivan was well aware of his own limits. It was one of the most crucial virtues of a trained agent.

Since he had to perceive himself as a tool for mission accomplishment, he needed to precisely understand his catalog specifications.

Therefore, Ivan knew that he had no chance. Beolgrin would effortlessly dismantle him with merely half the magical power at that level.

However, however...

The chance of victory was not important.

“Learn a move or two.”

Ivan gripped his axe with deeply sunken eyes.

Victory wasn’t important.

Can it be done or not, that kind of thing was never considered important.

Should it be done? If it should, then somehow, in any situation. Do your best regardless of the circumstances.

As a trained agent, one should fear not failure but giving up.

***

Decisions in the shortest possible moment, and actions as swiftly as possible.

The moment Ivan decided to attack, he threw himself into action. Straight towards Veolgrin.

A sense of dissection, breaking down the moment into microseconds.

A sensation of air resistance hitting the body, slowing down the flow of time itself.

The heightened senses of the ‘Transcendent’ entering at the moment when magical power was forcibly activated by striking it into the nerves.

A fleeting moment of visualizing the instant. This moment was the battlefield of the Transcendents.

In this time where even breathing fragmented, Ivan’s axe flowed through the air like levitating. Smoothly, sharply, but robustly.

-Woooom—!!

Right at the moment when the emerald green magical power was forming.

He had torn away a layer of magic.

He made contact. Beolgrin.

Ivan looked at him, speaking with his eyes, and prepared for the next strike.

At the moment when he stripped away the magic just before completion, considering the time it would take to cast the next spell, Ivan’s axe would undoubtedly be faster.

So, he made contact. In the same position as the giants he had faced in those times.

“Excellent.”

A voice mixed with laughter gently resonated.

-Whoosh—!!

A light resistance blocked his path. Ivan immediately reacted and twisted his waist. Through the gap, five sharp ice spears pierced through.

A speed that surpassed diagonal detection. A completed magic the moment the spell was consciously initiated.

The time from perceiving the moment until Ivan readjusted his stance and raised his axe was still just a moment in the fractionated moment.

However, at the end of that short clash.

“Ha.”

Easily visible, more than forty distinctly structured magics were inscribed in the air.

Veolgrin smiled gently and clapped his hands.

“Show me more. How much have you grown?”

Ivan, realizing this, gritted his teeth and rushed forward.

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