The Amber Sword

v3c364

Requiem(14)

*Due to similar terminologies used in the raws, Devils and Demons will be defined in a standardized manner which will lead to changes of some terms. Affected terms: (Old term – New term)

Demon King – Devil King

Demon Lord – Devil Lord

Demon Whale – Devil Whale

Demon Warlock – Devil Warlock

Demon Martial Arts- Devil Martial Arts

Demons will be redefined as Devils in most cases with a few exceptions: Demonic Waves, Eagle Demons etc.

Brendel understood that his goal was to use the effects of the Flash Strike Sword Art to produce a displacement effect, not to kill the enemy. Therefore, he set his sights to aim at opponents who had little combat power, locking down the imps of the devil army from 20-30 meters away, and slicing their heads off in one fell swoop. At the same time, he used the phantom left behind by the Nine Luminaries Sword Art to perform Puncturing Blows.

The devils quickly went haywire.

Not all the devils were inferior and lacking in intelligence; the higher-ranked devils had anticipated Brendel’s path of advance without even needing a sense of judgment. They could think with their knees and would still be able to figure out that the damn human was headed straight for the portal.

They absolutely could not let him get what he wanted. The Longhorn Devils in the back were the first to scream, using the harsh language of the Abyss to call for their companions to stop Brendel.

Unfortunately, it was very much limited in effectiveness. In the words of the Lord of Hell, Lomoka, the inferior devils and Imps were worse than a piece of dog shit. It was vulgar, but quite apt. If they could be so confused by the commands of one of their own kind, there was no way they could take on a teleporting swordsman.

As soon as the devils pulled back, the Lantonilan knights felt the pressure lift.

It was then that most of them had the time to see what was happening on the battlefield. The knights soon saw Brendel’s feat and couldn’t help but let out a cheer in unison.

Babasha was unsurprised by Brendel’s performance, but it was hard not to be proud. Not proud of the Darkness Dragon. but of her own foresight. Though there were plenty of capable witches in the Winter Kingdom, the twelve pure-blooded ones were not even related to her. Who could have had the foresight that she had?

The old witch never even considered that the Darkness Dragon would fail; after all, they were just a bunch of lame and sheep-hoofed devils only. She let out a sharp laugh and reached out to grab an imp, before blinding and deafening it. The knights then took the opportunity to pin it to the ground. In general, humans wouldn’t speak of chivalry when in a fight with devils.

However, Babasha hadn’t expected Brendel to struggle at this moment.

Although the portal was near, he could feel his Stamina and Elemental Points dropping fast. Using Puncturing Blows, Nine Luminaries Sword Art, and Flash Strike Sword Art consecutively placed tremendous burdens on the body. After progressing quickly for about two-thirds of the distance, Brendel realized that his muscles were gradually becoming stiff along with his movements. There was an unstable fluctuation in his spirit as well.

He had to shake his head in an attempt to shake off this dizzy feeling.

Flashing for the tenth time above the devil army, Brendel slashed the Halran Gaia in his hand downwards. The poor wretch below was still grabbing onto a bloody human shin, the pale skin of the limb covered in bite marks. Looking at it made Brendel sick.

But that was merely a flash of a thought. The Halran Gaia had already slashed its way towards the devil’s shoulder. The thick and heavy blade cut into the rough, purple-red skin and muscle, getting wedged in its spine for a while. The blade pushed the poor wretch right down to the ground while slicing it into two pieces. Its broken bones jutted out from its skin, turning the wretched creature into a gooey lump of flesh.

The scene looked spectacular, but it made Brendel’s heart clench. This sword theoretically should have sliced through the opponent’s muscle and bone, decapitating it in one swing cleanly and sharply, just like before. It wasn’t a coincidence that this happened, nor did these Imps become stronger; it was his strength that was beginning to wane.

“Amandina, are you injured?” he gasped.

“No...” Held in one of Brendel’s arms, Amandina was unsure if she was scared or nervous at that moment. When she finally calmed, it wasn’t like she had never imagined something like this happening. However, she certainly never imagined that it would be when she was in the midst of an army of devils. The young noble lady couldn’t spare a moment to think about this. She did not even dare to look at the situation outside.

She was so afraid to see Brendel slipping up that she closed her eyes tightly. If she were to die while being held, then she should die together with him. No, she would be relieved if she were to at least die in front of him. That was her mindset as she curled up in Brendel’s arm.

When Brendel asked her about it, she shook her head, her mind muddled.

That’s good. Brendel was also relieved. It felt great and heroic, imagining being unstoppable and unbeatable in the midst of an army. However, he soon realized it wasn’t like that at all when reality reared its head. There was no thrill when looking at the enemy, only the cold sweat of tension.

His palms were already long since drenched, and the pressure of impending death was like an approaching jungle of swords and thorns. Any mistake would cause an irreversible situation.

What comes after death? Brendel had considered this kind of question when he was still a teenager in the other world, but most people could only come up with an empty conclusion.

It was only when the grim reaper was close that he truly felt that piercing coldness from the other world. It was pointless for life itself to discuss the subject of death, for after it there is only nothingness.

Brendel was not sure if he would have time to regret it during the moment right before he died.

But at the very least, he knew he wanted to live.

His survival instinct sharpened his senses a thousandfold. He flung the corpse – which was akin to a piece of rotting flesh – away with his sword. Then, the attack patterns of the devils pouncing towards him became clear as day. Brendel looked up, his gaze falling upon a point dozens of meters away, whereupon he noticed the retreating figure.

It’s you.

“Brendel, watch out.” With her eyes shut, Amandina was completely unable to judge the situation around her. So the one who opened her mouth was Sanorso the Wind Empress. “Watch out for the Devil Warlock over there!” the Wind Empress warned,

Brendel looked back. He saw them too; he saw the devil warlocks standing by the portal casting spells at him.

To be honest, he wasn’t a mage and his knowledge about the world of mages was scant. But the good thing was that he was at least a player. There was a joke that if players represented one world, then sorcerers were at least half a world. Brendel as an enemy of half the world wasn’t able to distinguish every spell’s gestures and incantations, but his survival instinct seemed to have sharpened his memories at that moment.

The Dimensional Anchor.

Brendel felt the hairs on his back stand up, like a cat that had arched its body. His eyes were scarily bright at that moment.

Brendel didn’t have time to investigate whether the Flash Strike Sword Art’s ability to distort dimensions could actually bypass the Dimensional Anchor blocking all spatial transfer effects. He wasn’t a maniac who liked to research everything, and reality wouldn’t allow him a second chance. He immediately activated his Dash without a hint of hesitation. As those flashing white circular magic arrays appeared above him, head already stepped on a few Imps and rose up from the midst of the army of devils.

Like a beautifully twisting line, it pierced through all spell effects.

The devil warlock’s attempt was completely foiled.

The eyes of the witches – who were fortunate enough to witness this scene – lit up with fear. Besides the rebirth of the Darkness Dragon, what other twenty-year-old young man possessed such terrifying combat experience? This wasn’t a battle between swordsmen, but a perfect example of breaking spells with sword arts.

Not everyone had such an experience.

The witches weren’t alone in this as even the eccentric Garlock’s eyes couldn’t help but light up in an odd manner. At least Brendel’s actions had proven that he was fully aware of his opponent’s spells and attempts. Even this great mage from Seifer couldn’t tell how he did it, and breaking down spells was Garlock’s specialty. He didn’t dare say that he knew every single curse although he spent half of his life practicing it. In addition to that, attempting to find the spell hidden behind the secretive spell gestures required incredibly difficult and specialized knowledge

Right then, Garlock had a feeling that perhaps this young man had a better future as a mage than a swordsman. He had completely forgotten that Brendel was also a genius even in terms of his proficiency in swordsmanship.

After penetrating the Dimensional Anchor’s area of effect with a Dash, Brendel once again cast Flash Strike Sword Art mid-air. Flash Strike Sword Art had already fully absorbed the experience of Aouine’s military swordplay and rose to Level 4.

Flash Strike Sword Art Level 41 Introductory Ancient Dragon: A special technique allows your blade to deflect dimensionality. Each attack can ignore a set distance of 60 spaces.

At this level, it was already a realm that was out of reach for the average Paladin. Stephen seemed to only come back to his senses just then as he realized what he was seeing. If someone had told him that one could reach a higher level after understanding the secret of a sword art, he would have thought the man was a madman, or taken him for a fool.

But now, he felt that he might as well really be a fool.

He even stood there, dumbstruck. If the Imps in front of him hadn’t been foolish enough to follow the orders of the Longhorn Devils to turn around and go after Brendel, he would probably be swarmed and chopped into minced meat by now. Fortunately, a knight in the back realized something was wrong with this lord and pulled him back, saving the Holy Cathedral of Fire from another tragic loss of a high-ranking member.

“That’s impossible!”

Stephen suddenly reacted and shouted. “Lord Marsha, the fragment of the Flaming Blade must be on him. So that’s it! He is the chosen one!”

The poor knight yelled gibberish as if he had suddenly woken up.

Brendel, having turned in mid-air, had locked onto his next target and raised his Halran Gaia, its blade giving out a white flash. “Wait,” the Wind Empress called out to him. “Brendel, you can now Flash about sixty meters with one swing, and to get to the door you’ll need to cast it at least twice. Have you thought about it?”

Brendel was shocked.

He had actually been staring at the status interface. Both his Elemental Points and Stamina were at their limit, but he could still manage to cast Flash Strike Sword Art twice. However, the Wind Empress’ words made him completely dispel that thought. “If I can judge your Flashing distance, then they can do it as well.”

He had actually thought about it. If he was locked in by the Dimensional Anchor again, he could still get away with the Nine Luminaries Sword Art, but what happens after that? Would he have the strength to use Flash Strike Sword Art again?

It was clearly written on the status interface. Brendel couldn’t conjure Stamina and Elemental Points out of thin air unless he could catch his breath. But how could he get the chance to on the battlefield?

Luckily, he hadn’t made a move yet.

Brendel couldn’t help but be glad that the Wind Empress was with him. Being the Holy Saint from the War of The Holy Saints, she took every aspect into consideration in no time.

His Dash skill was at its highest point right now. Brendel felt his body begin to weaken, but it was really simple for him to find a solution. He brought up the skill bar as fast as he could and threw in all of Mavicart’s remaining experience.

Flash Strike Sword Art upgraded again in a flash.

Flash Strike Sword Art Level 51 Introductory Ancient Dragon: A special technique allows your blade to deflect dimensionality. Each attack can ignore a set distance of 100 spaces.

Flash Strike Sword Art’s name immediately went gray after reaching level 5. It was the same as his previous White Raven Sword Art, which Brendel knew because the Flash Strike Sword Art that the cathedral revealed was incomplete. Therefore, he didn’t think much about it and just thrust forward.

With a single thrust, he appeared next to the huge portal.

There were no Imps near the portal, only three tall Longhorn Devils. Brendel suddenly flashed over to the middle Longhorn Devil and tried to cut it down with a slash.

But the Longhorn Devil seemed to have foreseen this as it suddenly raised its large jackal-like head and then raised its hand into the air. With a ‘clang’, a sharp sound like the clash of gold and iron, Brendel felt as if he had hacked a steel pipe.

However, he didn’t dare to stop even for a moment. He immediately rolled backward using the momentum and landed steadily not far from the three Longhorn Devils.

He subconsciously raised his head.

Standing by the huge portal of the Cathedral of Fire, he and those devils were practically as small as ants. It hadn’t felt like this when they were further away, but after getting closer to it, the great oppressive feeling of the Door of Flame immediately crashed upon him.

What was even more suffocating was the Sulfur River that was becoming more and more real behind the Door of Flame.

Brendel couldn’t help but take a gulp. The shock from earlier had hit him so hard that his gums were bleeding. However, he wiped the edges of his mouth and immediately let go of the noble lady. “Amandina, is everything alright?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“How much time do you need? I’ll try to distract them.”

“I... I don’t know, I’ll try my best.” Amandina frowned as she stared at the massive portal, which was itself a semi-magical guidance mechanism. It wasn’t a full magical guidance device, so the best way was to have a mage work with her, but right now, that clearly wasn’t possible now.

“You have five minutes.”

Brendel looked back and saw the Imps pulling back. Although the fools were making a mess of themselves, a few minutes was enough time for them to turn around. Apparently, the Lantonilan Knights were not enough to stop the army.

Amandina went pale and nodded.

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