The Mad Spearman of the Northern Front - Chapter 269
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Mad Spearman of the Northern Front (269)
Kuuuuuuuuung!
The thunderous sound reverberating from beneath the ground seemed to lift the entire Imperial Palace skyward.
The stone walls of the Conference Room trembled faintly, and the decorative fixtures embedded in the ceiling swayed, emitting low metallic chimes.
Fine dust cascaded down from the ceiling like golden rain.
Deep within the first floor of the Imperial Palace lay the Conference Room.
What should have been a composed space where the fate of the Empire was deliberated had become a place where all the ministers sat with hardened expressions.
No one rose from their seats, and no one dared to speak carelessly.
Only the sound of their breathing hung heavy in the air, intertwined with tension.
The documents resting on the table trembled faintly in rhythm with the vibrations.
A single sealed document slowly slid toward the edge.
Even that small movement felt like an ominous prophecy to those seated in this chamber.
Marquis Roedin Silvar, seated in the position of Finance Minister, finally broke the silence.
His fingertips were clasped together without his awareness, and each knuckle had turned white with tension.
“…Surely Belkakrode’s rebellion won’t actually succeed like this, will it?”
His voice carried deep concern.
Yet no one in the Conference Room could answer immediately.
The Capital was already overflowing with soldiers.
The City Gates had been seized, and key government offices had fallen silent one by one.
Even the interior of the Imperial Palace could not be called safe.
The sound of military boots echoing through the corridors and the grinding of metal still seemed to linger in their ears.
Moreover, Duke Carbain himself appeared to have bowed his head to Belkakrode before the shackles of hostage-taking.
The moment Roedin recalled this fact, his lips pressed firmly shut.
His tongue, dry and parched, scraped against the roof of his mouth.
Were there any means left within this Capital to stop him?
The silence enveloping the Conference Room settled even more heavily.
It felt as though the very air itself was being compressed, making even breathing difficult.
But then, Prime Minister Taifren quietly opened his mouth.
“Let us wait and see.”
His voice was composed.
His demeanor suggested that all of this was already within his calculations, yet his eyes too trembled faintly with anxiety.
The fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes had deepened.
However….
“…It seems someone is still making relentless efforts.”
His gaze swept toward the ceiling.
Successive vibrations continued to resound.
Fine cracks seeping between the stone blocks.
The fact that such powerful impacts continued meant this was no mere disturbance or suppression.
Somewhere, someone was still fighting.
Bleeding, teeth gritted.
And as long as the battle isn’t over, I cannot set everything aside.
There was only one source of anxiety lodged in Taifren’s heart—the safety of his family members who had fled outside.
Even Belkakrode couldn’t easily harm them.
‘How far that mad Emperor can go… history has already explained it.’
His fingers trembled faintly beneath the table.
The painful truth struck him: despite holding the position of Imperial Chancellor, he was ultimately nothing more than a head of household.
‘Surely… it’s not already too late.’
Taifren did not let this thought show on his face.
He knew that the moment he displayed any wavering here, everything would crumble.
“Siiigh…”
A long, drawn-out sigh from someone simply dispersed meaninglessly throughout the Conference Room.
That sigh—no one could even tell whose it was.
* * *
Crash!
The Blue Aura and golden Aura collided head-on, shattering the stone floor into fragments.
The shockwave rippled outward like waves, grazing the pillars, and the portraits hanging on the wall surfaces fell in unison.
Baolent clenched his teeth.
That fellow was undeniably strong.
If not for the Aura-suppressing Magic Circle, the situation might have been entirely reversed.
In a sense, it was humiliating for a warrior.
That someone who prided himself as being among the top five in the Empire had to rely on such a thing.
‘But…’
None of that mattered.
Whatever price had to be paid…
‘I will kill this bastard here.’
Baolent’s eyes flashed as a deep blue Aura surged like a tempest across his entire body.
And in that moment.
Whoooosh!
Arteon, standing before him, steadied his breathing and lowered his Spear into position.
The Spear Blade of Iglis trembled softly, suffused with golden light.
Each time I used my Aura, a shattering pain coursed through my body.
Due to the Aura-suppressing Magic Circle, I could only use half of my available Aura.
‘If I retreat here… I die.’
In the end, I had no choice but to endure.
Arteon clenched his molars and raised Iglis.
Boom!
The moment Arteon’s feet kicked off the ground.
Whoosh!
His body form vanished.
Baolent’s head snapped around, tracking Arteon’s movement.
‘Quite the remarkable fellow.’
To display such fluid, natural movements under these absurd conditions was beyond comprehension.
For just a fleeting moment, I even wondered if the Aura Suppression Magic Circle had malfunctioned.
But that thought didn’t linger.
Shwack!
Arteon’s Spear extended in a straight line, aiming for Baolent’s neck.
A sharp Air-Rending Sound tore through the Palace Corridor with a piercing wail.
Clang!
Baolent’s longsword intercepted the strike.
Sparks erupted in a brilliant burst.
The moment their weapons collided, their gazes locked.
“….”
“….”
Only the grinding screech of metal against metal resonated clearly through the silence.
But….
Boom!
Baolent drew upon his Mana, channeling power into his body.
And his blade, which had been pressing downward from above.
Shring!
Rebounded Arteon away even as it soared skyward once more.
“Die.”
A voice laden with unwavering resolve.
The Blue Aura erupting from his blade refined itself, stretching upward in a brilliant arc.
And….
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwakboom!
Baolent’s blade, drawn in a single straight line, tore through the Palace Corridor with such tremendous momentum that it unleashed a thunderous roar.
Crrrrrrrunch!
Several pillars reinforced with Orichalcum, which supported the corridor, were severed in a single stroke.
Pillars that ordinary blades couldn’t even scratch.
Arteon raised his Spear Shaft half a beat too late to receive the blow, but the impact traveled directly up his arm.
It might have been due to the weakening caused by the Aura Suppression Magic Circle.
‘But setting that aside….’
Baolent’s strength was genuine.
The seamless execution of his Aura and Sword Technique was genuinely awe-inspiring.
I couldn’t say how he’d fare in a life-or-death battle, but in terms of Aura control and the technique of exploiting an opponent’s openings, he seemed to surpass even Svein.
“Huuuuuuuuuh….”
Arteon exhaled a long breath.
The more I faced him, the more awe and unbearable fury welled up within me.
Baolent Distron.
He was a perfected swordsman, and one who was imparting new lessons upon me.
Yet someone possessing such ability….
‘Threw himself into this pathetic rebellion?’
My Aura writhed.
The suppression Magic Circle responded instantly, intensifying the compression.
Kuuuung!
A pressure as if my entire body were being crushed down.
A pain as if my organs were being wrung dry.
My muscles screamed.
But I did not stop.
Kuguguguguguuung!
My momentum as I drew forth my Aura grew stronger and stronger.
At the same time, the agony from the Aura suppression Magic Circle intensified further, yet I paid it no mind.
This pittance of pain.
Even if my entire body were torn asunder, could it compare to what I endured in my past life?
Compared to the helplessness I felt then, to the anguish of losing my comrades.
‘This mere physical torment….’
Crunch!
I clenched my teeth with all my might.
My eyes had long since become bloodshot, and blood now dripped from my gums where my teeth bit down.
There was no restraint, no moderation.
Even if I died from this pain in the next moment, it mattered not.
Kuguguguguuung!
A thunderous sound as if the entire Palace Corridor were collapsing.
And….
Fwooooooosh!
A golden Aura erupted like a tempest.
Baolent’s pupils trembled violently at the sight.
‘…Impossible.’
The Aura suppression Magic Circle was imbued with technology the Empire itself took pride in—nearly flawless.
Yet to draw forth this magnitude of Aura from within such a suppression Magic Circle was beyond the realm of what a normal human could endure.
Moreover, that form—as if transcending all limits.
This was far beyond mere gritting of teeth and perseverance.
It required a willpower so absurd that ordinary humans would not dare even glance upward at it.
Baolent swallowed hard without realizing it.
‘Surely… he truly is in his twenties…?’
And that was the precise moment.
Crack! Crackcrackcrackcrack!
The Patterns inscribed upon the Palace Corridor floor and walls began fracturing in unison.
Clear cracks spread across the blue-glowing Aura suppression Magic Circle.
“Im, impossible…!”
Baolent cried out instinctively.
But it was already too late.
Kwaaaaaaang!
A golden Aura erupted explosively, shattering the Magic Circle into fragments.
The relentless compression of suppression vanished in an instant, and a brilliant golden light engulfed the Palace Corridor—no, the entire Imperial Palace.
Whoooooooosh!
Blinded by the dazzling golden radiance, Baolent hastily shielded his eyes and turned his head away.
And when the light slowly, ever so gradually, began to fade.
“….”
At its center.
Arteon stood with his Spear in hand.
Golden sparks erupting across his entire body.
Faint crackling sounds splitting through the air.
His eyes burned with unwavering resolve.
And Arteon slowly raised the Iglis Spear, pointing it toward Baolent.
Unlike moments before, freed from the shackles of the Aura Suppression Magic Circle, he was a beast unchained.
With his Spear extended, Arteon spoke to Baolent.
“From now on, things will be very different.”
And with that.
Kuguguguguguguguguguung!
The entire Palace Corridor trembled once more.
But unlike before, it was not merely a crude shaking…
‘Perfectly….’
An overwhelming pressure born from refined power that took one’s breath away.
Baolent unconsciously tightened his grip on the Sword in his hand.
For it felt as though everything might end with this next attack.
‘Yet why….’
Did he feel strangely exhilarated?
The destruction of the Aura Suppression Magic Circle was a considerable shock to Baolent as well.
It was as though the impossible had come to pass.
But because of it, he could now stand on equal footing with that Red-haired Comrade.
No longer….
Screech.
Baolent tore away the armor resting on his shoulders and hurled it to the ground.
With a heavy thud, the device designed to evade the Aura Suppression Magic Circle fell to the floor.
“Huh.”
Warrior against warrior.
Strength against strength.
Baolent’s gaze sharpened toward Arteon.
And as he raised his Sword, he spoke quietly, just as he had said at the beginning.
“Come.”
The moment those words left my lips.
Kuaaaaaaang!
As Arteon’s Thrusting erupted, golden light consumed the entire Palace Corridor.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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