Chapter 49: Surging Mana

Number 5 panted roughly, gathering mana to heal the wound where his arm was half severed.

At some point, the mana stopped gathering well, and a few seconds later, even the mana he held inside his body began to be sucked out.

What’s this?

He gripped the hilt with his left hand to draw a second estoc, but his hand trembled and let go midway.

He didn’t have the strength left to pull it.

Suddenly, he noticed his blood dripping from his shoulder had become quite murky.

Even the mana in his blood had been drained.

“What the?”

“No.”

Number 22, staggering up while gripping his war hammer, widened his eyes and stared at Ribelia.

On the bed draped with ornate silk curtains, the girl clutched a dagger tightly, bracing against the wall as she tried to rise.

Her veins glowed blue.

Even the capillaries in her lips and eyes filled with blue light.

Crack, crackle. Number 22 realized the magic he’d cast around them was starting to shatter.

The wall of magic built by piling up mana like sand was turning back to sand and scattering.

It was like someone with strong lungs inhaling against a gourd’s mouth to shatter it.

Stealing control of my magic? No. It’s not just stealing control. It’s outright destroying it.

Number 22 tried to gather mana to protect the field.

But before the ocean’s thirst, a bucket of water could do nothing.

Even for him, with his relatively deep blood, it was the same.

Having sucked in all the area’s mana into her blood, Ribelia felt a deep sense of fulfillment.

It was like finishing a satisfying meal.

Shaking off a slight drowsiness, she shouted.

“Brother! Be careful!”

The magic hadn’t fully broken yet, so her voice pitch was off, but it was enough to make Anplus turn.

Anplus saw the blue veins rising on Ribelia’s body and was surprised once, then twice at Number 22’s dazed expression.

He quickly broke Number 34’s limbs and leaped toward Number 22.

Drawing the sword he’d thrown at Number 5, he slashed the wrist of Number 22 holding the war hammer.

Thud!

The moment the hammer hit the ground, the field shattered with a crash, and all sounds returned.

Looking at the assassins’ dismayed expressions, Anplus let out a sigh of relief.

It was his victory.

“Over here! Secure the young lady’s safety.”

He stuck his head out the window and shouted.

The blue bloods and knights searching the inner castle swarmed like bees.

“Check the imperial delegation roster first. There might be more missing ones.”

“Sir Anplus. We’ve brought armor.”

“Lady Ribelia. Stay in the room until the search is over.”

The house’s knights and blue bloods dragged away the three assassins.

Anplus picked up one of Number 5’s estocs from the floor.

It’s the most useful weapon for an attendant-level electric mage. It can burn deep inside the body. If I adapt it somehow, I might be able to use it too.

The assassins were handed over to the information branch, and the imperial delegation was placed under quasi-house arrest.

“This has nothing to do with me. Why would I do such a thing when I’m here to retrieve my comrades’ bodies?”

Kirie protested his innocence, but it fell on deaf ears with the enraged Argantius. They were to remain confined until evidence proved the assassins and delegation were unrelated.

To prevent any possible escape, an officer-mage who controlled beasts released dozens of crows and rats to monitor the surroundings.

Ribelia went to the elders to check if her mana manipulation strained her body.

Argantius praised my merit, but right now, Intezeruto was heatedly debating whether to go to war or not.

It wasn’t the time to discuss rewards for a mere knight.

Thus, my commendation was postponed for a bit.

That didn’t mean I was given a mission right away.

Rather, thanks to that, I had time to focus solely on the sword for the first time in a while.

I headed to the training ground with the estoc in hand.

“It’s a truly unique sword. I’ve heard rumors of swords like this. It seems made solely for thrusting.”

“Isn’t this just a big awl instead of a sword? Can you really learn swordsmanship with this?”

Sir Dande and Sir Liam swung the estoc a few times.

Sir Dande set it down quietly as if it wasn’t to his taste, and Sir Liam shook his head.

“Young sir. Pardon my rudeness, but this seems utterly unusable.”

“Sir Liam. Why do you think that?”

“It has no edge, right? It’s only for thrusting, but thrusting alone makes it hard to win against blue bloods. Even if you poke a hole in the torso, they’ll endure and cast magic.”

Sir Liam continued logically.

“Of course, if you can aim for the head in one go, no problem. But that’s inherently difficult. The head is smaller than the torso and more carefully protected, isn’t it?”

Sir Dande wore a skeptical expression too.

“For once, I agree. On the battlefield, it’s not just one mage—you have to face enemy elites, knights, attendants, and more. Thrusting might be useful in one way, but it lacks versatility.”

Sir Liam demonstrated a thrust with his knight’s sword.

It was sharp enough to tear a flying fly’s wing.

“Thrusting is sufficient with this. We have charges, right? We’ve learned a lot from you and Lord Seongbaek, so it’s enough now.”

Sir Dande showed a similar demonstration.

It was endless, resolute, yet overflowing with composure.

“It matches well with that electricity attribute the assassin had. But we don’t have techniques to ravage the insides like that. Plus, given the thrusting nature, it seems like a one-hit-kill technique, which differs somewhat from the direction you’ve pursued, young sir.”

But in my eyes, there was a slight shortfall.

Their thrusts were still specialized for charging to attack the thighs.

“Right. This is a one-hit kill too. It differs from my direction. But the adaptation I thought of this time is too good to pass up.”

“How do you plan to adapt it?”

“Sir Dande. What did you say was the biggest problem?”

“It’s a one-hit-kill technique you don’t pursue, and yet it lacks power. Also, poor versatility.”

When saying the biggest problem, don’t people usually mention just one?

I smiled bitterly and prepared the demonstration.

“Yeah. I’ll show you something that solves all that.”

I attached an iron plate the thickness of a breastplate in front of a wooden post.

“The guy who used this estoc seemed to have learned from Daiodel the Iron Cleaver.”

“Iron Cleaver?”

“Isn’t the sword form the complete opposite? Iron Cleaver uses the edge to the maximum.”

The two knights wore incredulous expressions.

I shrugged and continued.

“I thought the same. I judged he learned wrong, and indeed, I won. But on second thought, it wasn’t a bad adaptation.”

The core of Iron Cleaver is intentionally stiffening to gather force and accelerate instantly.

It shines in slashing, but it’s not bad for thrusting either.

The issue was that clean puncture wounds weren’t fatal to blue bloods.

Even the wounds Temeratia inflicted on me with earth spikes healed quickly.

“But as you know, puncture wounds alone aren’t enough.”

The two knights nodded.

“So I added a motion to increase the power.”

The two knights looked up.

Their expressions had turned serious.

I decided to meet their expectations fully.

Stiffening my shoulder-back muscles, I prepared a thrust with Iron Cleaver added, fully relaxing my elbow.

“Watch closely.”

Bang! When the estoc pierced the iron plate, it sounded like a slingshot firing an iron ball.

With the Iron Cleaver-enhanced thrust piercing the plate, I used my wrist and elbow for a full rotation, pushing the recoil and force entirely inward.

I thought I could combine the martial art that shattered the ice sheet with thrusting.

“Just a hole in the iron plate, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s right.”

“Now I’ll show the wooden side.”

I pulled out the estoc, removed the iron plate, and revealed the wooden post.

“Huh?”

“What on earth did you do?”

Sir Liam and Sir Dande jumped in surprise.

Exaggerating a bit, the wooden post had a hole wide enough for a fist.

The inside was severely torn, the grain completely mangled.

It looked like sticking a wooden rod into soft mud and twirling it.

It was the result of the recoil-laden rotation.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected such an impressive outcome either.

“This seems like something even most blue bloods couldn’t recover from in one go. What do you think, sirs?”

Sir Liam approached me and respectfully extended both hands.

“Young sir. I was wrong. I’ll practice diligently. Sorry for doubting.”

Sir Dande muttered in a dazed voice.

“I’ll place an additional order at the armory. We’ll carry two swords each now. Truly, truly impressive.”

“From now on, if you say you can break a castle gate with a twig, I’ll believe it!”

“If you say you can bisect a person with a dagger, I’ll believe that too!”

At the two knights’ words, like a loyalty competition, I burst into laughter.

Absolute trust shone in their faces.

“If I say something like that, just laugh it off.”

***

The house’s mental-attribute mages rummaged through the three assassins’ minds without caring if they lived or died.

Unfortunately, there were no significant gains.

The house that raised them had already thoroughly destroyed their minds, erasing any readable knowledge from their memories.

“I’m sorry. They’ve erased names and faces. It seems they do that before missions.”

“I never thought they’d treat fellow blue bloods like that.”

Unintentionally, Kirie’s innocence was proven.

Memories emerged of them killing the original attendants meant to join the delegation and secretly taking their places without Kirie’s knowledge.

But that didn’t prove the imperial family was innocent.

Rather, their memories confirmed the imperial family was behind it all.

Intezeruto’s rage pierced the heavens.

On the lord’s orders, a sea-colored officer-mage hastily formed a delegation and prepared to depart for the imperial family.

“If they don’t apologize, I’ll throw the declaration of war scroll right in the emperor’s face. If not for you, young master, we would’ve faced disaster.”

“It was only what I had to do.”

“Actually, before departing, there’s something I want from you, young master.”

What could an officer-mage need from me?

“I want to take the clothes you wore that day. I’ll shove them in those imperial bastards’ faces. Tell them precious blood flowed like this because of you.”

Precious blood.

Those words shook me.

“I’ll bring them right away.”

Just in case, I hadn’t thrown them away; when I brought those clothes, the officer-mage’s servant held new ones.

Three sets, high-quality shirts worth two gold coins each.

“I heard your clothes got ruined a lot this time. This is a personal gift, so please accept it.”

“It was only what I had to do. You don’t need to do this.”

“Since I’m taking one shirt, naturally I should replace it.”

“Then I’ll wear them gratefully.”

***

An administrator with a document bag and a servant came to find me.

It was the day after receiving the new shirts.

“The lord orders you to conclude the talks with the imperial delegation.”

Sending Ribelia, who went through that ordeal, back in front of those imperial scum would be a diplomatic humiliation.

Having broken their spirit once, it was right for me to step in.

“I’ll go in armor. Wait a moment.”

I donned my breastplate, gauntlets, then belted on the bestowed longsword and the estoc acquired as spoils.

Walking the corridor, I heard and memorized several messages.

“…Those are the contents.”

“I’ll keep them in mind.”

Bursting open the reception room door, I found Kirie in a black suit, eyes downcast.

He looked awful, having suffered considerable mental strain.

A brief silence flowed between us.

Kirie moved first.

Scrape, rising from his chair, Kirie bowed to me.

“I have no words even with ten mouths. As the imperial delegation leader, it’s my fault for not managing the attendants properly. So please, at least return my comrades’ bodies.”

It was the action of the man who’d said how could he sit at the same table as a knight in hideous breastplate.

Softening a bit, I said.

“Intezeruto keeps its promises no matter what. Lord Ventios and Lord Lobigos will return to their families.”

“I’m only grateful for Intezeruto’s mercy.”

Raising him as he bowed again, I said.

“I’ll ask. Swear you’ll answer only the truth.”

“Yes. In return for the mercy Intezeruto showed, I’ll repay with truth.”

I took a small breath and asked.

“Does the imperial direct line desire war?”