The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 125

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 125
As the severed-armed Raven writhed and groaned across the cavern floor, I calmly assessed the full strength of the enemies gathered before us.
‘Total… five. Three 5th Rank and two 4th Rank, it seems.’
The 6th Rank Chimera Sorcerer that Saya had mentioned was nowhere to be seen.
Which meant the leader-class Chimera Sorcerer was deeper within this cave, somewhere in the corridors beyond.
‘…Rashek might end up facing that one.’
Rashek’s cultivation was mid-5th Rank. No matter how exceptional his talent, a direct confrontation with a 6th Rank Black Mage would be difficult.
I had to dispatch these small fry as quickly as possible and rejoin Rashek.
However…
“Renia, don’t kill all of them.”
“Huh? Why?”
“We’ll need someone alive to interrogate.”
To catch the Archmage King’s tail, it would be wise to keep at least one of them breathing.
“You insolent wretches…!”
The Mantis-Masked Black Mage erupted in fury, watching as Renia and I conversed with such casual indifference.
“How dare you wag your tongues so freely before me!”
As the mantis-masked figure raised his staff, a grotesque cry tore through the darkness.
Soon, the monsters bred by the Beast Face Society—chimeras—began pouring from the passages on all sides.
Hordes of grotesque creatures swarmed down the cavern walls and hung from the ceiling in a frenzied charge. Their numbers easily exceeded a hundred. Even Renia’s face drained of color at the sight.
In my past life, I’d grown sick of hunting chimeras. Dispatching hundreds of them single-handedly was hardly uncommon.
But I was no longer a Sword Master, and Renia was no Grand Mage.
At my current cultivation level, facing such numbers of chimeras simultaneously was beyond reach.
However…
“Renia, stay close to me.”
It wasn’t as though I had no options.
I pulled Renia against my side and drew a single wedge inscribed with ancient runes from Andvari’s Cube.
A magical artifact I’d obtained while raiding the Apsache Stronghold’s warehouse not long ago.
According to Rashek, this wedge’s effect was…
Whoooosh!
A portable barrier.
The moment I drove the wedge forcefully into the ground, a hemispherical transparent barrier rose up around us.
Its protective power was excellent—dozens of chimeras that charged forward first bounced off the barrier’s surface harmlessly.
With this, we had secured a safe zone.
When dealing with chimeras, it always became a war of attrition, so establishing a shelter was an iron rule.
I drew Eclara from its sheath.
Red, yellow, black.
“Amber.”
Light, heat, and expansion.
Booooom!
Whoosh!
Undulating dark flames enveloped the barrier, and the inextinguishable light spread across the chimeras’ bodies in an instant.
[Kiiiiiek!]
The chimeras’ cries shook the cave.
As Renia’s rune magic descended upon them, dozens of chimeras writhed helplessly across the ground before being crushed beneath their own kin’s feet.
While the chimeras flailed, I stepped outside the barrier and drew Benheim’s sacred blade.
Thwack!
I walked among the chimeras still clinging to life, piercing their hearts with surgical precision. There was no need to swing my blade twice.
I killed, and killed again. A few chimeras that had quickly assessed the situation charged at me, but even they were decomposed by Renia’s rune magic.
“What, what is this?”
“How is this even possible….”
The Beast Face Society’s creatures trembled in fear. To their eyes, I must have appeared to pierce invisible hearts and dispatch the chimeras in a single strike.
“…Damn it! Stop him!”
The Mantis-Masked Black Mage finally cried out in desperation, and in response, the crocodile-masked chimera sorcerer rushed covertly toward my back.
“Huh…!”
A dark smile spread across the crocodile mask’s lips.
But by fortunate coincidence, my vision had already been “opened” thanks to the cloak. I had long since detected the crocodile’s approach from behind, and even the black orb forming at the tip of his fingers.
Shing!
“Ugh…kh.”
Without turning around, I thrust my blade backward, and a thin red line appeared across the crocodile’s neck. He couldn’t even manage a final scream as he clutched his throat. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and with eyes full of incomprehension, he collapsed and breathed his last.
It was only natural that the chimera sorcerers who witnessed this incomprehensible sight lost their will to fight.
“We can’t win! Nigimi! We can’t win! We’ve already lost half our forces, damn it!”
“…Where the hell is Spider in a situation like this!”
“I don’t know! She suddenly said she had something to do and withdrew!”
As they cursed and passed blame among themselves, the particularly nimble Fox-masked sorcerer turned and began fleeing in panic.
The very same mage who had escaped from the Apsache Stronghold.
I couldn’t let him escape twice, especially not after severing his tails.
Besides, I still had questions for him.
‘Elixir pills.’
Pills that twisted one’s vital energy and forcibly elevated one’s realm. I needed to investigate their source.
But currently, I was pinned down by the chimeras and couldn’t pursue the fox.
So I extended my empty left hand.
Whoosh.
Then I unleashed my conjured blade magic. Threads of mana intertwined, and a pale blue blade materialized in midair.
Ever since I flew through the sky using conjured blade magic during the Trion incident, I had been repeatedly training to manipulate the floating mana blade remotely.
After nearly months of training, while I couldn’t handle dozens of blades with the precision of Kaiden or Petra, I had become proficient enough to control a single blade with ease.
Just like this.
Whiiiiing!
Thud!
The pale blue mana blade shot through the air like an arrow, piercing the fleeing Fox-masked sorcerer’s thigh and embedding itself firmly in the ground.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
* * *
Rashek el Maelern stared directly at the Spider mask before him.
‘…6th Rank, upper tier…. A formidable opponent.’
A full 6th Rank, and at the upper echelon no less.
Befitting the leader of the Chimera Sorcerers, Spider could rightfully be called on par with the Archmages of the Seven Great Mage Towers.
Rashek el Maelern, by contrast, was merely mid-5th Rank. A direct confrontation offered no chance of victory whatsoever.
Yet Rashek el Maelern had a reason he could never retreat.
Behind him, Saya, the heir of Aconia, was struggling to extract the captives.
As always, Rashek el Maelern chose not to overthink it.
“I’ll repay this debt!”
Rashek el Maelern bellowed and charged toward Spider. Fleshy tentacles erupted from Spider’s back, lashing forward like whips.
He swept his left fist to deflect them, but another tentacle aimed for his right flank. Barely bending his waist to evade, a tentacle suddenly surged up from the ground itself.
“Ugh!”
A long gash opened across Rashek el Maelern’s forearm. Sharp bone-blade fragments jutted from the tentacle’s tip.
True to the Spider epithet, the opponent wielded eight tentacles total, manipulating them like limbs. The sensation of pulverizing these fleshy appendages resembled the Chimera’s flesh he’d fought not long ago.
Yet what proved most horrifying was that the tentacles Rashek el Maelern burst apart regenerated instantly, resuming their assault.
He’d heard Chimera Sorcerers possessed weak combat prowess in their true forms, but at 6th Rank upper tier, the rules changed entirely.
“You there, your movements have grown sluggish, haven’t they?”
Gradually, wounds multiplied across Rashek el Maelern’s body, and Spider chuckled at the sight.
Kugugugu——.
The cave floor trembled violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
Surely the shockwave from Reagan’s magic.
‘Now.’
Rashek el Maelern unleashed his fist with every ounce of strength.
The trembling ground had thrown Spider off balance, and her tentacle attack aimed at Rashek el Maelern went wide. His strike, however, found its mark without fail.
Had they not sparred countless times aboard the ship? Fighting while maintaining footing on unstable ground—he’d grown so accustomed to it he was sick of it.
Ching!
Rashek el Maelern’s heavy fist connected squarely with the Spider mask. Spider’s body launched skyward, but she quickly drove her tentacles into the ground, righting her stance.
“…Ha, haha. This… I actually took a hit.”
Spider’s voice grew cold as she touched the cracked mask. The eyes that had gleamed with composure moments before now burned with unmistakable killing intent.
Rashek el Maelern clenched his fists tightly once more.
This time, he raised not just his fists. He rose onto the balls of his feet, ready to unleash his legs at any moment.
The past week.
Through countless sparring matches with Reagan, Rashek el Maelern had suffered defeat after defeat.
Reagan was a man of extraordinary talent. By now, Rashek el Maelern had to admit that Reagan’s hastily improvised leg techniques far surpassed the fist methods he’d honed over half a lifetime.
Yet through those matches, through those defeats, Rashek el Maelern had grown tremendously.
If Reagan’s leg techniques held the edge.
‘I’ll imitate as much as I can.’
Just as Reagan had mimicked and adapted Maelrn’s fist methods from him, Rashek el Maelern absorbed the necessary elements from Reagan’s leg techniques and wove them into his own movements.
Rashek el Maelern advanced. His footwork rhythm was slightly faster than before. Thanks to that subtle syncopation, the tentacle barely grazed his temple as it passed.
‘Flow around it. Evade. Deflect.’
I repeated those three principles in my mind.
Two fists alone couldn’t block all eight tentacles. If I added my legs to the equation, that changed everything.
Whoosh! My right foot stomped down on a tentacle rising from the ground, crushing it beneath my heel. The moment my right foot withdrew, I twisted my left foot—infused with wind spirit energy—to intercept the other tentacles’ assault.
Utilizing both hands and both feet with perfect precision, I fought my way forward relentlessly, methodically closing the distance.
“…Hah.”
The Spider let out a startled breath as she watched my approaching form. Yet she didn’t retreat. She couldn’t afford to. For a 6th Rank mage to back away from a mere 5th Rank fledgling would be an unbearable disgrace.
In the end, I reached mere inches from the Spider’s face….
Crack!
My fist struck the Spider’s mask once more. This time, a sharp sensation bloomed across my knuckles—a solid, clean hit that connected perfectly.
“…You dare… strike my face….”
The Spider’s mask shattered into fragments, scattering across the floor, and black hair tumbled down.
A pale-faced woman glared at me with a seething expression.
Shaaaaa.
Whether from the broken mask or from rage that had shattered her reason—
The number of tentacles sprouting from the woman’s back doubled.
“…Damn it all.”
I cursed under my breath and raised my fists again.
* * *
Saya Nafelus Aconia melted the lock while observing the battle between Rashek el Maelern and the Spider-masked woman.
At first, it seemed he was holding his own, but as the Spider unleashed her full power, Rashek began to falter helplessly.
A tentacle pierced his shoulder blade. Deep lacerations carved into his thigh. His forehead split open, and crimson blood streamed down past his eyes.
The tide had turned decisively against him. At this rate, Rashek would surely meet his death. Yet he didn’t retreat a single step.
For the sake of Aconia’s people, he stood his ground against a formidable foe with unwavering resolve.
‘…Why.’
Saya couldn’t comprehend it.
Aconia and Maelrn had been mortal enemies for over a century. Why would the heir of Maelrn throw away his life for Aconia?
“….”
Perhaps he hoped that while he bought time, Saya would rescue Aconia’s mages and escape with them.
But she couldn’t do that.
No matter how bitter their enmity, her pride wouldn’t allow her to abandon someone who willingly shed blood for her sake.
“…Sigh.”
Saya withdrew her hands from the lock.
“…Saya, what are you doing? Hurry….”
“Father.”
Saya looked up at her father, Baren, the patriarch of Aconia.
“I think I need to go help that man.”
“Absolutely not!”
Baren gripped the iron bars and cried out urgently.
“He’s of Maelrn blood! He’s the enemy who took your mother! Whether he lives or dies is no concern of ours! Open the door and escape!”
“….”
Hearing that desperate cry, Saya’s brow furrowed.
‘Was he always this cowardly?’
Her father, who had spoken of Aconian pride as though it were a habit, now revealed himself to be utterly pathetic and selfish in the face of another’s sacrifice.
Deep disappointment flickered across Saya’s eyes.
“How can you say that? He may be from Maelrn, but he’s risking his life for us!”
“This is not a fight you can help with! You’ll only die for nothing!”
Baren’s words were not without merit. A mere 4th Rank like Saya would be of little use if she threw herself into that battle.
Yet an Aconian mage was a poison master before anything else.
For a poison master, rank was meaningless. A single drop of lethal venom could strike down even a 6th Rank powerhouse in an instant.
So what Saya needed now was a single drop of that lethal venom.
“The Secret Art.”
At the words that fell from Saya’s lips, Baren’s expression hardened visibly.
Aconia’s Secret Art was poison.
The ultimate deadly toxin capable of rotting the mana circuits of even the strongest warriors.
Yet only one person within the Aconian family could wield the Secret Art. Following the principle of single-lineage succession, the family head of Aconia possessed this poison across generations.
In other words….
“I will become the family head.”
To save that foolish man.
Saya Nafelus Aconia had to become the head of House Aconia right here, right now.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————