Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble - Chapter 233

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Chapter 233: I'll Be Back (3)

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Rumble!

The Stone Demon could not block Airen’s second attack. Unable to withstand the impact, it flew backward, gouging a long furrow through the ground before crashing into the wall.

Boooom!

The deafening impact and tremor shook the entire cave. Beneath the billowing dust, blood-red lava flowed.

The damage should have been enough to break its will to fight.

Yet the Stone Demon was still fine. More precisely, it still had one more chance.

Vwoooom...

The ancient demons each possessed their own lairs because those places allowed them to store their power.

The same was true of the Stone Demon, even with half its body destroyed.

The labyrinth it had built to savor humanity’s screams and suffering crumbled into dust.

The particles drifted for a moment before turning into a massive cloud of demonic aura and returning to the demon’s body.

Creak, craaack.

In an instant, the Stone Demon returned to its original form.

Its expression, however, was no longer the same.

Staring at the blond swordsman in disbelief, the demon thought,

‘What is this?’

Though they were not human, demons were more interested in humans than anyone else.

That was why it could tell its opponent was not particularly old.

Even though they were entirely different species, demons could estimate a human’s age from their appearance.

‘At most, thirty... Probably in the mid-twenties.’

“Ha.”

The Stone Demon let out a hollow laugh.

It was absurd.

Even if humans grew quickly for their age, there was no way someone in their mid-twenties could possess this much power.

At least, that was what its common sense had told it.

No, that was no longer true.

Facing the blond young man holding a Greatsword that gleamed like his hair, the demon realized its knowledge had become completely useless.

“Phew.”

Creak, creeeak!

The demon exhaled.

It knew thousands of ways to torment humans, but its greatest specialty was hand-to-hand combat.

Casting away every stray thought, it continued to breathe. With every inhale and exhale, its body grew denser, and its presence became more sinister.

Airen watched the entire process quietly.

The moment he sensed that his opponent had reached peak condition, he rushed forward like lightning.

Screeech!

An unpleasant sound rang out, like cloth tearing. Reaching the demon in an instant at a speed that seemed ready to rupture the air, he swung his sword horizontally.

The movement threw off his balance, but he did not care.

That was not his concern.

It was the demon’s.

Boom!

“Ghk!”

A muffled groan escaped the demon. Spiderweb cracks formed across its enormous black forearm.

But that was only the beginning.

Holding his breath, Airen Farreira took a step forward.

A single step loaded with enough weight to make the ground snap beneath it.

Rooted to the floor, he continued his powerful assault.

Bang!

Boom!

Boooom!

“Ghk! Urgh, ghk!”

From right to left, then left to right. From below to above, then back down with the force of gravity behind it.

Airen’s attacks were so brutally forceful that they almost seemed crude.

They were completely unlike his usual style, which had always carried a heavy yet clean precision.

But there was no problem with that.

In fact, it was astonishingly effective.

Watching the lump of stone stagger around without even daring to counterattack, Airen thought,

‘My body is different.’

Only three days ago, he had believed he had trained his body to its limit.

He had thought any higher realm lay entirely in swordsmanship and Aura, and that there was nothing more for his body to gain.

He had been wrong.

The impurities embedded throughout his muscles had been refined away.

The impurities caught between his joints had disappeared as well.

It felt as though his body had retained the purity it possessed at birth. Yet every result of his training remained intact.

It was perfect!

Feeling as though he had been reborn, Airen swung his sword, arms, and body to test the limitless potential of his physical strength.

Boooom!

“Guhhhk!”

Gush!

With his fighting spirit blazing, Airen unleashed a powerful blow.

The Stone Demon, which had barely managed to endure until then, vomited lava and retreated.

Airen did not let up.

Bang!

He planted his feet deeper into the ground.

Claaang!

From that stable center of gravity, he unleashed a monstrous strike.

It was not just physical strength.

Airen had swung simply because he was enjoying himself, but he had subconsciously achieved perfect harmony between the swordsmanship and Aura he had accumulated over the years.

Nothing hindered his body.

Nothing troubled his heart.

Thrilled by the exhilarating sensation, he drove in a second strike even stronger than the first.

At that moment, a completely different sound rang in his ears.

Craaaack!

It was not the sound of metal striking stone.

It was the sound of metal cutting through stone.

Airen drew his sword back and looked ahead.

The statue-like demon, twice his height, was falling with its waist split cleanly in two.

Of course, he did not let his guard down.

These creatures were not human.

They might have been influenced by humans and resembled them in many ways, but they would not die from having their waists cut apart.

If two pieces were not enough, he would make four.

If four were not enough, then eight, then sixteen.

And if that still was not enough, he would grind it down until not even a trace remained!

Airen steeled himself and charged again.

His thoughts had been long, but only a moment had passed.

As the demon’s upper body continued to fall, Airen landed a decisive Front Kick.

Boooom!

Crack, crackle...

Crumble!

The demon’s upper body shattered into dust the instant it was kicked.

Airen frowned and turned his gaze.

The lower body was the same. Its two legs, which had stood like pillars, weathered away in an instant. The lava that had soaked the ground had already seeped below.

An unpleasant, unsettling tension made it impossible to relax.

Airen sharpened his senses, preparing for the demon’s ambush.

“...!”

Then he saw the demon reappear.

But Airen was not the demon’s target.

It appeared behind him, where another swordsman stood some distance away, Brett Lloyd.

Seeing the enemy rush toward Brett, Airen stomped the ground hard.

Thump!

He moved with the speed of a gale. An ordinary person might have thought the god of wind had passed by.

But the demon was slightly faster. It had patiently waited for and seized the inevitable lapse in Airen’s concentration.

The demon, now mist, grinned.

It had no intention of taking the blue-haired swordsman hostage.

One look into those eyes was enough. Negotiating with that one was impossible.

What it wanted was only Airen’s companion’s cruel, desperate death.

Just as the demon’s foul, relentless malice was about to strike the other swordsman standing still...

Fwaaaash!

Brett Lloyd was no fool.

Brett knew he was the party’s greatest weakness. Brett also knew he was of no help in subjugating the demon.

Still, Brett had insisted.

Brett had not stopped.

There was a reason the always calm and cool-headed Brett had recklessly entered a place of certain death.

First, there was the instinctive certainty that Brett needed a life-or-death ordeal to break through that wall.

Swoosh...

Second, there was the conviction that Brett would never lose a battle fought at the risk of his life.

‘I believe in myself.’

Brett Lloyd raised a sword.

Hundreds of thousands.

Millions.

Perhaps even more.

A movement performed that many times.

Yet among all of them, none had ever been as perfect as this one.

Blue hair fluttering behind, Brett murmured inwardly,

‘Come.’

It was a command to the charging demon.

And words directed toward the self within.

It was a plea and a wish for the power that had seemed ready to emerge, yet never had.

Then, when that desperate wish met the worst possible situation...

The worst became the best.

Vwoooom!

It was not as brilliant as Airen’s.

It did not possess Illia’s elegance.

Nor was it as intense and fierce as Ignet’s.

But that was fine.

Even this somewhat plain form was more than satisfying.

Blue energy flowed naturally along the sword, like water.

Aura Sword.

The moment Brett Lloyd gently extended it forward...

Wooooosh!

A wave swept forth.

“You filthy...!”

The demon, now mist, could not finish its words.

The surging blue wave of Aura pushed it back.

It drove it back without end.

Of course, this was not enough to contain it.

If it had even the briefest opening, it could break through this at once and tear out that one’s throat.

But it could not.

Vzzzzng!

Kiril Farreira, the Cesar Duchy’s greatest prospect, pushed the demon back once more with a Sorcery shield.

Chime!

Lulu, in her Sorcery girl form, pushed it back again and again with her barrier.

The demon did not give up. It struggled with everything it had, desperate to take someone’s life.

But it was futile.

Airen Farreira had approached without anyone noticing and purified the mist-like demon with his Greatsword.

Fwoooosh!

“Craaaaaaah!”

Even after comprehending the Water Sword, Airen’s sword was still hot.

Its solidity remained as well. He had not awakened the Heart of Water to let water overwhelm everything else.

Flames that ruled Metal.

A stream that ruled flames.

Having found harmony and balance once more, Airen Farreira lowered the Greatsword he had gripped tightly.

Fwoosh.

The heroic weapon that had radiated such a brilliant presence disappeared.

The enormous silver-gray Sorcery shield that had denied the demon any approach, and Lulu’s net-like barrier that had faithfully supported it from behind, disappeared as well.

Along with the completely vaporized Stone Demon, they vanished without a trace.

But Brett Lloyd’s did not.

“Pant, pant...”

Brett lowered his head as he breathed heavily, then raised it again.

From the sword’s hilt to its tip.

No, his gaze rose even higher than that.

There, before him, was the symbol of the rank of Sword Master he had longed to attain so desperately.

Watching the blue Aura flow as softly as ripples on water, Brett swallowed.

His gaze moved again.

Kiril Farreira’s expression was different from usual. Kiril usually snapped at Brett whenever they were together.

Lulu’s face was different too, despite the mischievous look she always wore.

The eyes of Airen Farreira, Brett’s friend and rival, were slightly different as well.