WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 148: Thanks for the Meal

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There was neither the impact he had expected nor the sound of clashing blades. The instant their swords met, that pitch-black, straight blade writhed as though alive and coiled around the greatsword. A swift thrust followed at once. Fenris shot toward the center of Tebar's face.

'Well, damn.'

Tebar bent his knees and arched his back. Bang! Air burst right before his nose, and several strands of hair brushed the blade and scattered.

'Feels like fighting Lamika.'

Now he understood exactly what it meant to be devoured. In only three months, the brat had learned that serpent-like swordsmanship well enough to make Tebar feel as though he were facing Lamika herself.

'He's not just copying it. He learned the circulation of mana through her cultivation technique too. Is that even possible without being taught?'

Tebar's back came close enough to touch the ground, and his greatsword lowered with him. At that moment, the greatsword swept just above the ground. A massive slash aimed for Kyle's ankles. Kyle immediately leaped upward.

It was an obvious dodge. Tebar grinned and released the greatsword in his right hand. His left hand caught it and swung it upward. Rumble! The greatsword shot up with a deafening roar, wrapped in blazing red Sword Force. It looked like a volcano erupting and spewing lava.

'His Spirit Root is flame.'

Kyle stepped on empty air and adjusted his posture. Violet energy wrapped around Fenris. Boom! The lava rising from Tebar like an explosion was crushed beneath Kyle's violet serpents. Dozens of streams of Sword Force wrapped around the lava, split it apart, and scattered it.

'As expected.'

The corners of Tebar's mouth rose. Kyle had not simply mastered Lamika's sword. He had thoroughly made Lamika's serpent-like sword paths his own.

Tebar, who had nearly had his back against the ground, sprang up like a coiled spring. His massive body soared at an unbelievable speed, reversing their positions. The greatsword dropped vertically toward Kyle.

Clang! Their swords collided in midair. It was too heavy a blade to block properly.

'I'm not winning a contest of strength.'

Kyle accepted that quickly. Meeting head-on and competing in strength was exactly what Tebar wanted. Size did not automatically mean superior strength when mana was involved, but Tebar's mana was explosive and powerful as well.

Kyle landed and angled Fenris sideways. This time, he did not block the descending greatsword. He redirected it. Screech! The greatsword slid across Fenris's flat and slammed into the ground.

Kyle's mana changed the instant he redirected it. Water became steel. Solid sharpness joined the writhing sword. The Sword Force left behind in the blade's path did not disperse. It moved like a multitude of blades.

'Would you look at that?'

Dozens of blades swept toward him. Rather than pull out the embedded greatsword, Tebar spun around it using its hilt as an axis. His rotating body escaped Kyle's sword path. Then Tebar's leg flew toward Kyle's side.

Kyle snickered at the response. A swordsman did not need to use only a sword to attack. This was an age filled with swordsmen who treated their swords more like staffs and wielded mana and intent like magic. A kick could even be considered a more orthodox form of attack.

Boom! Kyle's left arm, held against his side, blocked the kick. The impact sent his body skidding sideways.

"Good block."

Tebar pulled out the embedded greatsword, resting it on his shoulder as he smiled.

"For a brat from a prestigious family, you're damn good at fighting. Most would focus too much on the greatsword, get kicked, and go flying."

"You're good at dodging too."

Kyle replied while rotating his tingling left arm.

"You're awfully nimble for someone your size. I heard you lead the most extreme faction in the Sword Church, yet you're quite willing to use attacks other than your sword."

"Puhahaha! Is there some rule saying a swordsman can't kick? Doesn't matter how you do it as long as you win."

"True enough."

Kyle readily admitted it. He liked people like Tebar. Swords far removed from orthodoxy. Swords that used anything and everything to survive a fight.

"Young Master!"

The moment their exchange paused, Ronia immediately cried out.

"What is this all of a sudden..."

"Shut it, Ronia."

Tebar answered even though Ronia had called out to Kyle. Licking his lips, he adjusted his grip on the greatsword with his right hand and braced his left hand on his knee.

"The brat says he wants to devour me too. What an honor."

Rumble! Aura blazing like flames covered Tebar's body. The red Aura soon flowed thickly and densely, heating the air around him. The grass on the ground turned to ash in an instant, and waves of fiery heat began spreading as though they would burn down the entire forest.

"A sword devoured from Lamika won't be enough to devour me. Brat, you weren't expecting me to kindly serve myself up for you, were you?"

"Doesn't look like you're planning to set the table for me."

Kyle grinned and operated the Primordial Chaos Sword Canon. Deep violet energy enveloped his body. Tebar's eyebrows twitched at the sight. One could normally tell a Spirit Root's attribute by the mana it controlled, but he could not make out what kind of mana that brat's light possessed.

'When he used Lamika's sword, it was water, just like hers. But his earlier counterattack was steel. Two Spirit Roots... no.'

That light did not contain only water and steel. It held far too many powers, making it all the harder to grasp.

"I'll devour you myself."

That was why Kyle had come to the Sword Grove. Tebar's lips curled as he smiled, then he kicked off the ground. Whoosh! He looked like a mass of red, sticky lava charging forward. Kyle held his breath against the wave of heat rushing at him. Tebar would not even allow him to breathe as he pleased right now. The moment he inhaled, the boiling heat would burn his throat and lungs.

'His sword is both offense and defense.'

It did more than restrict breathing. Most swords would not even reach Tebar before burning to ash. To prevent that, Kyle had to bind mana and intent tightly enough that the fiery heat could not invade.

So he did. A curving slash pushed back the heat. The moment he could breathe freely again, Kyle took a deep breath and strode forward. Crash! The lava-wrapped greatsword and Fenris collided repeatedly. The fiery heat following the greatsword surged at Tebar's intent.

Lava flowed over the greatsword and pressed in. Kyle's sword changed with it. Dozens of serpents wrapped around Fenris. They bit into the lava and scattered it. The instant the offensive thinned, Fenris flashed. Crack! A lightning-like thrust pierced through the sword path.

'It changes again.'

It aimed for the center of his chest. Tebar twisted the greatsword's hilt. As the blade thrust forward, the greatsword's pommel precisely blocked its tip. Boom! An explosion erupted the moment they collided. The blast knocked Fenris upward, but Tebar's greatsword did not budge. Instead, the explosion accelerated it.

Boom! Repeated thunderous blasts shook the forest. Kyle rolled through the blackened woods. Tebar laughed loudly and brought down his greatsword.

Boom, boom, boom! Explosions erupted wherever the greatsword struck. With every blast, Tebar's greatsword grew faster and stronger. He had begun using his intent in earnest.

'He won't be able to withstand this anymore.'

Tebar's sword grew stronger as the battle continued. The fiery heat dominating the space pressured his breathing, and the flames continued to burn. Every strike from the sword wrapped in those flames caused an explosion, amplifying its force even further.

'Lamika's sword can't overwhelm mine or suppress it.'

If Lamika's sword was a swamp of venomous snakes, Tebar was a constantly erupting volcano. To face Tebar with her sword, Kyle would need to trap him in the swamp before the explosions could build up and leave him unable to move.

Even Lamika herself could not do that. If she could, Lamika would have been the Fourth Apostle and Tebar the Fifth. Tebar twisted his lips into a smile at Kyle, who had rolled across the ground and become covered in ash.

'You didn't swing your sword intending to kill me while stupidly assuming I wouldn't do the same, did you?'

Another Apostle might refrain from using a killing sword out of consideration for the Sword Church Master, but not Tebar. Since that side had tried to kill him first, Tebar would naturally swing his sword intending to kill as well. A sword was a weapon meant to kill people. This was only natural.

'If I kill you, will the Sword Church Master finally feel killing intent toward me?'

The thought thrilled him beyond endurance. The Sword Church Master, always indifferent, who casually brushed aside even ambushes filled with killing intent. Who only cut away Tebar's sword and had never once swung a blade at Tebar himself. If the Sword Church Master truly became angry, attacked while pouring out killing intent...

'Just imagining it-'

His thoughts abruptly stopped. The intent he had extended, the instincts and intuition accumulated throughout his life. All of it warned Tebar of a fatal threat. It was a premonition of death denser than when Kyle had first ambushed him. Tebar immediately twisted his descending sword and swung it.

Boom! Explosions flooded the sword path and blocked what lay ahead. Then a massive slash cleaved through the explosions. Fenris had clearly been in Kyle's hand, but he now held a sword of an entirely different shape.

A massive single-edged blade.

The Demon King's sword, Baal. The blade bearing the authority of annihilation cleanly split the fiery heat and explosions in two.

'This is insane.'

Intent was will made into power. Yet Baal had cleaved even Tebar's intent. The explosions stopped abruptly, and the flow of fiery heat was severed.

'No, it was only cut for a moment.'

Tebar focused. His severed intent reconnected, and flames rose again, but the firepower he had worked so hard to amplify had gone out.

It did not matter. Tebar himself was the source of the flames and explosions. As long as there was a spark left, he could amplify the firepower again.

[Masterrrr!]

Baal's Dokkaebi shrieked. Tears even streamed down Baal's face as she hopped around Kyle.

[It has been so long since you held this one! Th-that time! I know not what happened in the meantime, but you have become more worthy of being this one's master!]

Kyle had not drawn Baal during his journey with Lamika. Every sword style had a sword suited to it. The sword he had devoured from Lamika did not suit Baal at all.

That was why he had drawn it again after so long, and he could clearly feel the difference from before. The Boundary Realm. Having grown accustomed to intent and spiritual energy, he could better control the authority of annihilation dwelling in Baal. As Kyle's spiritual energy joined Baal, the authority of annihilation that cut and killed everything manifested more clearly than before.

'It is sharp, but...'

Sweat formed on Kyle's forehead, then evaporated in the heat filling the space.

'The consumption of intent is enormous.'

Simply erasing Tebar's firepower had consumed a great deal of intent. Baal had always been too sharp to handle easily, both then and now. Sizzle! The killing intent Baal emitted subsided and concentrated into the blade itself.

[Masterrr! Why are you suppressing this one's killing intent?!]

Kyle ignored Baal's shriek. Gripping Baal with both hands, he kicked off the ground.

'He reduced its power. No, he concentrated it in one place.'

It did not look like restraint. It seemed even he was struggling to control it. Tebar's eyes grew cold, but his Aura became scorching lava and wrapped around the greatsword.

Boom! Baal collided with the greatsword. The impact felt wrong. The instant the blades met, annihilation erased some of the firepower. It was not a problem. The explosions and firepower grew stronger with every repetition. A gap opened between the blades that had met, and Tebar brought down the greatsword again.

Kyle swung Baal in the same manner. Boom! The impact still felt wrong. No, it felt even lighter than before. Tebar's eyes widened.

'This...'

Tebar twisted his waist and swung the greatsword in a broad arc. Kyle swung Baal the same way. Boom! The same result. The thunderous sound and explosion were far weaker than Tebar had expected. The amplified firepower was the same.

'It's my sword.'

Tebar's sword exploded and exploded again, its firepower growing stronger with each successive attack. Kyle's sword opposing it did the same. Only the power it used was different. Just as Tebar's greatsword drew strength from repeated explosions, so did Baal. The reason the impacts felt so weak whenever they collided was because Baal erased that much. Baal's authority of annihilation was now amplifying with every attack.

'This is insane.'

The amplification from explosions was only part of Tebar's sword, but it was undoubtedly its core. They had only crossed swords for a short time, yet the brat had taken only the essential principle of the sword Tebar had built over his entire life.

'What kind of fucked-up situation is this? Wait, if it keeps getting stronger...'

A chill ran down Tebar's spine. Baal was no longer releasing killing intent indiscriminately and crudely as before. It concentrated the authority of annihilation solely into the sword itself, and that authority grew stronger with every attack.

'He learned control of that power from my sword. Just as my sword grows stronger with every attack, that sword grows stronger too.'

Until now, a prolonged battle had favored Tebar, but that was no longer true. What if that sword's sharpness surpassed his explosions? A chill ran down his spine again. It felt as though the dreadful scent of death was drifting before his nose.

"To think you'd be this much of a monster."

Tebar immediately withdrew his greatsword and leaped back. Whoosh! The fiery heat filling the area gathered around Tebar. His spiritual energy swelled, and the world opened its ears.

A True Declaration. Tebar opened his mouth.

"Hellfire Prison..."

"That's cheating!"

Before the True Declaration could be spoken, Kyle shouted. At the same time, he immediately put away Baal, turned his back without hesitation, and began running.

"...?"

Tebar had never imagined Kyle would act that way. He had no choice but to stop before finishing the True Declaration. He stared blankly at Kyle's retreating back with his mouth open. Kyle, running at full speed, was already far away.

"You little bastard! Where the hell are you running off to in the middle of a fight?!"

"I lost today!"

Kyle's shout came from far away.

"Thanks for the meal!"

At the shout that followed, Tebar's face turned bright red.

Footnotes:

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