NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5
“My older brother is so consistent.”
Princess Brigitte said, lamenting her situation.
In front of the First Princess’s palace, a presence exuding an unusual aura stood.
Brigitte was certain. This was a show of force for taking Cloney.
Yuma and Cloney were now approaching the enormous gate. Brigitte wasn’t worried. After all, Yuma was there.
“Open the gate.”
At Yuma’s command, the knight stationed at the palace gate spoke with a stiff expression.
“There seems to be someone outside who appears to be one of the Empire’s Ten Peers. Is that alright?”
Yuma slowly nodded his head.
Creeeak…
The knight ultimately opened the gate.
Yuma stepped forth with poise and halted before a man clad in black armor.
‘Looks like the guy I saw yesterday.’
He was definitely one of the two by First Prince Schwarze’s side.
“I am the Spear Demon Roark. One of the Empire’s Nine Peers.”
Is he expecting admiration?
Is he hoping for trembling fear?
Yuma slowly nodded in response.
“Yeah, nice to meet you. I’m Yuma.”
“…Nice to meet you?”
Roark’s brows furrowed deeply.
Grrrip─
Yuma looked down at Cloney, who was lightly tugging at his pants. She whispered in a tiny voice that only Yuma could hear.
“Yuma-sama, you’ve already noticed, but there’s a mage and what looks like an archer hiding at the far end of the castle wall. I found out using field detection magic.”
How did you pick up on that?
Truly a future great mage.
“Thanks. Stay back since it’s dangerous.”
“Yes…!”
After confirming that Cloney had activated her protective magic behind him, Yuma focused on the spear demon Roark, who was glaring at him like he wanted to kill him.
He had no intention of dragging this out.
Swish─
Yuma grasped the [Black Dragon Bernac's Tooth] in his hand.
Roark’s body twitched.
“A short sword? Isn’t your main skill ranged attack?”
Yuma realized that Roark was completely misunderstanding something.
‘Well, I guess he doesn’t know that I reflected the Red Star.’
He couldn’t possibly know that ordinary citizens had used parrying to reverse an attack, rather than being a warrior or a mage.
‘So he thinks my main attack is ranged.’
Yuma looked at Roark with an amused expression.
“What does it matter? I’m facing you.”
“…What did you say?”
What does it matter what kind of attack I use or what weapon I wield to deal with scum like you?
Interpreting Yuma’s words that way, Roark’s brows furrowed even more.
Another remark slipped from Yuma’s lips.
“I’ll let you have the first move.”
And those words really got to Roark.
“This… son of a b!!!”
A fierce crimson aura twisted around Roark’s spear.
Yuma focused on the trajectory of the spear.
‘Whatever the attack may be.’
Whatever the attack, whatever the skill.
‘There exists a Parrying Point.’
★[There’s no attack that can’t be deflected if you find the Parrying Point]
Author: Don’tScrewMeOver
Just as a casual thought, he was reminded of posts circulating on every site, labeled as a complete pro.
The center point of the spearhead.
That’s the Parrying Point of that attack.
Yuma struck the center point with his dagger.
Ka-Kaaaang!!
A golden circular effect spread, signifying that the parry was successful.
<Absolute Counter>
With Yuma activating his ultimate skill, the path of the wind spear was recreated at the tip of <Black Dragon Bernac’s Tooth>.
Roark’s main skill ‘Windstorm’ shot out in a straight line, amplified in power by ten.
Whoooosh─────!
Roark’s armor crumpled like paper. The gale pierced Roark’s heart and soared into the air.
The lifeless eyes of Roark were clouded over. He crashed down to the ground, blood spraying everywhere.
Yuma didn’t loosen his grip on tension even a bit. He remembered Cloney had told him enemies were hiding at a distance, on both sides.
A chilly wind blew.
‘That guy I just killed was probably the bait.’
The First Prince who sent him here couldn’t have predicted that the so-called Nine Elite of the Empire would die playing the role of bait.
To Yuma, this was only the beginning.
Shooooosh!
From the left came three arrows.
Boom-boom-boom!
From the right, thick smoke accompanied three fiery spheres rushing in.
Each arrowhead was concentrated with a high-grade aura. It contained the essence of a master-level archer.
The spherical fireballs weren’t low-tier magic either. They were flames blazing fiercely. It was the 6th circle spell <Great Judgement>.
Surrounded on all sides.
But Yuma’s mind remained calm.
<Bullet Time>
He would just use what he had to get through the crisis.
Squeeeek……g-g-g-
Time began to flow slowly.
Only Yuma’s eyes were the focal point.
He had 30 seconds to see the world in slow motion.
Three arrows and three fireballs were floating in the air. While they seemed to be frozen momentarily, they were gradually closing in.
His brain accelerated.
The gaps between the three fireballs.
The gaps between the three arrows.
Where is the Parrying Point for everything?
In a fleeting moment, he calculated everything.
Calculating everything in the liver.
The more dangerous option is definitely [Great Judgment].
The direction of the dagger was aimed to the right.
Kiiiiing!
Before Bullet Time ended, I quickly parried two fireballs.
─Kikigik!
Clang!
And right as [Bullet Time] fully expired, I struck the last fireball away.
My body moved nimbly, exactly as I had meticulously calculated.
The order and angle of my parries drawn during Bullet Time. Yuma didn’t doubt his calculations for a moment.
Immediately, twisting my body to the left where three arrows were incoming, I brought down the dagger gripped reversely.
Kaaang!
Twisting sideways.
Kakagagagg!
I flicked it upwards.
Kaang!
Three fireballs.
Three arrows.
A total of six projectiles were all parried.
The six projectiles, as if repaying karma, returned to the owners who had shot them.
As if rewinding a video recorded with a camera.
Swaaaaaaah─!
Kwahwahwahwahwah!
The problem was that all the projectiles were returning to their owners with ten times the damage amplified.
To the left.
A mighty, enveloping, high-level arrow.
That arrow lodged itself in the body of the archer who fired it.
Bamf! Bamf! Bamf! Bamf!
“Ugh, cough! Kyaaaaaah!!”
The sound of a shoulder being torn, flesh ripping, and screams echoed.
To the right.
The 6th circle spell [Great Judgment] reversed on its caster. [Great Judgment] turned into a more powerful spell, like a 7th circle meteor, crushing the mage’s body to bits.
Crunch! Smash! Snap!
The sound of bones crumbling resounded.
In the end, only a pile of meat left that was unrecognizable as once human remained.
Crack─
Yuma, expressionless, spun the right arm that had wielded the dagger around.
“Is that all?”
Yuma asked while looking up at the sky.
He uttered those words, questioning if this truly was everything.
However, the knight who had opened the door for Yuma felt a shiver at those words.
‘What kind of superhuman has the princess recruited!’
Saying “Is that all?” after killing three individuals who were called ‘masters’ in their respective fields in the blink of an eye was just astonishing.
It wasn’t just that knight who felt a shiver.
In front of the dead archer, someone was observing the corpse and bringing a communication magic device to their ear.
“…The Empire’s Seven Lords, Heaven Bow Derain. Just now deceased. All three of the powerful ones sent by the First Prince have been killed.”
The closest aide to the powerful Marquis Kairos of the Astes Empire, Knight Harksen, stared at the twisted corpse of Derain as if caught in a storm.
The fearsome arrow fired by the Heavenly Archer Derain returned as an even stronger storm of energy, piercing through his body like a living dragon.
“Despite not knowing the detailed positions of the enemy, he first took down the spear phantom directly in front of him and then reflected the attack aimed at him. Not a single shot missed. Three arrows from the Heavenly Archer and three fire-based ultimate spells from the wizard, Judgment of Fire…”
It was the power of homing projectile-like precision embedded in the skill [Absolute Counter].
Of course, to Harksen, who didn’t know that, everything appeared thoroughly calculated.
He perfectly returned all the long-range attacks aimed at him back to the enemies, even embedding stronger energy into the projectiles in the moment.
The sheer might that man had displayed was astonishing the more one explored it.
“I dare say… the danger posed by those recruited by Her Highness the Princess is unpredictable. Beyond imagination.”
Harksen swallowed his saliva and opened his mouth again.
“I think it’s not an overstatement to call him the God of War, Marquis.”
Before the now-meat chunk of the wizard who had received [Judgment of Fire] back, stood another figure—a woman with orange hair.
She was Yumir, the apprentice of the King of Mercenaries, who had come to confirm the situation on the battlefield upon the request of the well-known Count Venosetian from the Astes Empire.
Naturally, Yumir expected to report the death of the one recruited by the First Princess Brigitte, but she found herself unable to think clearly in the completely opposite situation.
She too was holding a communication magic tool shaped like a shell to her ear.
“Uh… the red sorcerer from the Red Brigade, Circle 7 Beckler has died. He’s become quite the meat chunk. Both the two Empire Ten Lords sent by His Highness and Beckler—all dead.”
Yumir swallowed back her rising nausea. She felt that if she spoke out now, she too would be killed by that mysterious man.
So, even now, she was whispering quietly, hidden far away, like a little mouse.
“Danger? It seems we should not touch this person. For now, I will not take any more requests related to him… I want to live a long life.”
She heard Count Venosetian’s voice through the communicator asking if she knew the name.
Being a mercenary who specializes in gathering information, Yumir had a hearing artifact, so she caught all of Yuma’s words.
“I heard the name he said. Yuma… it was definitely Yuma.”
The story of a man who killed three of the Empire Ten Lords in just two days began to spread among the nobility throughout the Empire.
The God of War Yuma.
That the First Princess Brigitte had recruited a monster to sit on the Imperial Throne.