The Regressed Magic Swordsman Devours the North - Chapter 40

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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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Episode 40. Clue
After the rain had poured down.
Warm, sunny days followed one after another.
Life stirred through every corner of the mountain.
Insects clung to trees and sucked sap, squirrels scurried busily about, and a small stream trickled past.
Through it all came the steady, heavy sound of footsteps.
Thump—thump—
Sion and his companions walked along a mountain path still damp from the rain.
The smell of wet moss.
The clean scent peculiar to coniferous trees.
The odor of grass.
Such mountain smells tickled the nose.
The weather was pleasantly mild, yet the moisture-laden earth and soaked vegetation added to the weariness of the journey.
Each of them carried an enormous pack on their back, and when they stepped onto bare earth where no grass grew, their arms would sink deep into the ground.
The saving grace, though,
was that everyone in the party was a Knight.
Knights transcended ordinary humanity.
Mana generated from their Core coursed through their entire circulatory system, bolstering their strength so they did not tire easily, and even mere walking carried them forward at a pace that would have been a sprint for an ordinary person on a mountain path.
Since there were no ordinary roads around the Bilton Family Mountain Estate, they climbed upward, cutting through grass and trees.
Then a well-worn mountain path, packed down by the many who had traveled it, appeared, and from that point on they followed it steadily.
Moving quickly—after a considerable trek—at last the end of the Yarel Mountain Range came into view.
They hurried out of the mountains, and a grassland sprawled before them, with grass grown as tall as a person’s waist.
Sion and his companions paused for a moment and gazed out over the Grassland Plain.
They had set out that morning, yet already the sun was beginning its descent.
Light radiating from the sunset enfolded the world, and as it mingled with the grassland, it resembled a sea of vermillion.
Whoooosh—
A fresh breeze blew in and swept across the waist-high grass. Sion’s golden hair, Lui’s red hair, and Silvia’s deep blue locks all danced in the wind.
“Let’s move on.”
Sion and his companions resumed walking through the grassland.
Lui and Bill and Bwindol took the lead, swinging sticks they had picked up in the mountains, this way and that. Each time they did, came the sound of grass tips being struck.
Crack, crack!
It seemed like a purposeless action, the sort that rural children would do, but in fact there was meaning behind it.
In their own way, they infused the sticks with subtle Aura to scan the grassland for danger—to keep snakes, assassins, insects and the like at bay.
As they walked through the grass, about a kilometer away, a familiar silhouette appeared.
“Huh? Isn’t that the old woman from before? The one who worked for them?”
“Yeah, it really is.”
“Ah, so she escaped.”
The Old Woman who had served as the Bilton Family’s informant. She had indeed fled during the chaos at the estate, but no one had noticed.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say no one had cared.
Of course, Sion knew both that she had escaped and that she had been waiting for them here, but he deliberately said nothing.
The Old Woman sat perched on a large boulder placed in the middle of the grassland, and there was a staff they had never seen before.
A staff made by binding vertebrae densely together. Black Mana rippled between each bone segment.
On the Old Woman’s gnarled and wrinkled fingers was a Silver Ring, with a gem resembling a ruby set in its center.
Like the staff, Black Mana shimmered within it.
Silvia studied the Old Woman carefully, then spoke.
“Sion. Something’s not right about this.”
Her instincts were indeed sharp. Even from quite a distance away, she had sensed it accurately.
“Silvia is right. Everyone, stay alert.”
At Sion and Silvia’s warning, the Knights tensed. They set their large packs down on the ground.
Shing—
They drew their swords and advanced.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You brats are quite late, aren’t you?”
The Old Woman twisted her lips into a cruel smile as she spoke. Her expression seemed to say:
—Now you’re finished. Finished by my hand.
From the staff she held, faint Black Mana began to surge forth. Everyone saw it clearly.
“……Black Mana.”
Most of them were shaken by the revelation.
All except one. All except Sion.
Sion’s lips curled into an even crueler smile at the sight of her Mana. He had known from the very first meeting, after all.
“What madness are you babbling, you crazy old hag.”
Sion’s sudden curse made the Old Woman’s face contort.
“Disrespectful bastards. Tch! All you Knights are the same.”
She thumped her crooked back and rose from her seat.
“Listen well, you insolent whelps. I was considering sweeping you all away at that mountain estate. But I decided to report to my master first, so I left. That’s when I hit the road.”
Silvia, Lui, Bwindol, and Bil could not make sense of the Old Woman’s words.
One thing was certain: when they first assaulted the Bilton Family Mountain Estate, Sion had entered with Silvia and Bwindol, and that’s when the Old Woman escaped.
“But before reporting to my master, I decided I should claim your heads instead. So I came back. Just an old crone’s forgetfulness, you might say.”
Sion let out a derisive laugh upon hearing the Old Woman’s words.
“What nonsense. You’re the coward who fled because you were frightened, then went and collected the artifacts.”
“……!?”
The Old Woman was taken aback. How could this green youngster possibly know that? Her expression screamed confusion.
In truth, when Sion first met the Old Woman at Shackle Cliff, he had used Mana Detection and confirmed faint traces of Black Mana coursing through her body.
And he had dusted her neck with teal-colored powder—an artifact called Whisper of Grass Fairy, used for tracking and surveillance.
‘I bought it at an auction house. Handy thing.’
Of course, neither his allies nor the Old Woman could have known, so both were equally caught off guard.
“You. Filthy old woman. You went and swallowed a black pill, didn’t you? Do you have any idea what that thing is? Pathetic. As if swallowing something like that would change anything.”
“……Just who are you?”
The Old Woman stared at Sion with wide eyes. But Sion pressed on with his insults regardless.
“A withered crone clinging to life. How many people have you devoured all this time? If you’d aged gracefully, at least you’d have a grave. Now you’ll just lie face-down in the grass, food for worms. Don’t your relatives know what you’re doing here?”
Even if a person was caught off guard, there were limits to what one could bear in the way of insult.
Sion had easily pushed past the Old Woman’s limit.
“This damned brat! If you’d just gone quietly, I would’ve given you a clean death!”
“There you go again with your nonsense. You came back with all the artifacts. So why did you run away again? Did you see more Knights and lose your nerve at the numbers?”
The Old Woman flinched.
Because that was exactly what happened.
When she returned, there was a contingent of Knights, and she judged it hopeless, so she retreated once more.
But.
How did that brat know that!?
“Don’t ask how I knew. It’s written all over your face.”
For a moment, the Old Woman almost reached up to touch her own face. Was it really showing? Really?
“You hid along the mountain path and waited for us to come, didn’t you? No, wait—you were worried too, weren’t you? Afraid we’d all swarm toward you. So you cowered like a rat, watching for your chance. Because if you just went back empty-handed, your master would kill you.”
“Who the hell are you!? Answer me!”
The Old Woman flared with fury. Black Mana surged violently from her staff.
By now the sun had set entirely, and darkness swallowed all the light.
Silvia and the other Knights could not follow what was happening at all.
What was this old woman?
Sion, how do you know all this?
“Silence. You’re already a corpse-to-be. Why would I explain myself? Besides, you’re a pathetic cur. To think you’ll die by my hand instead of your master’s. Tsk, tsk.”
“You goddamn brat! Since you’re so bold—!”
The Old Woman’s rage intensified. Because everything Sion said was true.
“Keep working yourself up? Do we look that easy to you? I’ll break that shriveled nose of yours, grandmother.”
“I can’t take this anymore!”
The Old Woman raised her staff high and brought it crashing down against the ground.
Boom!
“Binding of Black Roots”
(Binding of Black Roots)
Black Mana pulsed from the staff’s tip and seeped into the earth.
Crack-crack-crack—
From the grassland, thorned black roots shot up like serpents, and they lashed toward Sion and his companions.
“Dark Magic! Don’t let it catch you!” Sion cried out.
The Knights channeled their Auras into their blades. Gleaming swords carved through the roots.
Though they’d never seen Dark Magic before and were startled, they responded with composure.
Among them, Silvia wielded her Frost Aura without hesitation, freezing the black roots, then stamped them underfoot to leap forward.
But.
“Damn… these wretches!”
The Old Woman twisted her ring.
“Blood Mist”
(Blood Mist)
Whoooosh—
The crimson gem set in the Silver Ring flared with light, and a scarlet fog billowed forth.
The mist swept across all directions in an instant, and with the sun already down and the Blood Mist spreading, visibility was reduced to mere inches.
Worse, the Blood Mist carried mana within it, making it nearly impossible to distinguish enemies even by Mana Detection.
And then.
Crash! Crash!
The black roots had no eyes, so they came without pause.
The result was an environment tailored to disadvantage Knights rather than mages.
Even if Sion wanted to obliterate everything, comrades surrounded him, making rash attacks impossible—a genuinely vexing situation.
Yet the Old Woman’s magic never ceased.
“Bone Soldier.”

Though invisible, the sound was clear enough. Sion and his company could anticipate what horrors would unfold.
Crackle—crackle—
The grinding of bone joints filled the air. Soldiers stitched from death itself surged toward the Knights.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Battle erupted. The Knights responded with uncanny reflexes, yet no clear strategy emerged to break the deadlock.
Sion surveyed the chaos and thought, ‘They certainly understood we were Knights before deciding to charge.’
In a place where you couldn’t see an inch ahead, black roots and skeleton soldiers kept coming?
Without a seasoned and keen Knight, it would’ve been unbearable.
Of course, if Silvia made a bold decision, killing the Old Woman would be child’s play—but it didn’t seem like she would, at least not yet.
And that was precisely why.
A smile never left Sion’s lips. He welcomed this darkness where sight meant nothing.
He drew mana from the Heart Seal that encircled his heart.
Whiiiirrr—
“Fire Eagle.”
Flames kindled from the mana he’d summoned, and those flames became dozens of eagles in an instant.
Whoosh—
They poured down upon the skeleton soldiers and black roots, detonating with savage force.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!—
The bone soldiers shattered and scattered; the black roots burned to ash.
“…!”
“…What in the—”
His companions froze.
“What? What is this?!”
The Old Woman panicked too. But Sion seized the moment.
He poured mana into Thunder Strike, a ring-shaped Magical Device he’d recalibrated from the twelve-tool collection.
With Mana Detection—several times more precise than sensing alone—he pinpointed the Old Woman’s location.
Crackle—
Current raced across the ground. In a flash, Sion crossed the distance and raked his fist across the Old Woman’s face.
Crack! Teeth scattered—
The Old Woman’s teeth flew like seeds.
“Aaaagghhh!”
She shrieked at the terrible agony, but no further sound came.
Slice—
Sion drove his blade through the gaping wound of her mouth, and her head split clean in two.
He did not stop. Immediately he severed the wrist gripping the Staff, then cut away the fingers wearing the Silver Ring.
Then he snatched up the artifacts and wrapped them in Mana Sealing Paper—the very paper that had wrapped the Sun Stone.
And then.
Whoooosh—
The mist dissipated.
Crumble—crumble—crumble—
The black roots and skeleton soldiers crumbled to dust.
What remained on the Grassland Plain, now wholly devoured by darkness,
was a fire burning cheerfully.
Four Knights standing motionless.
The Old Woman’s corpse, cooling in the chill.
And one Knight gazing down at it.
Sion Carcen.
He spoke.
“Kill the fire and pack the bags.”
The Returned Sword Mage devours the North.
Author
: Bangsim
Date of Publication
: June 16, 2026
Publisher
: ACES Media Inc.
Editor
: ACES Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACES Media Inc. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder,
and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260615032

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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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