Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 66 While bombing the previous two islands, Turan had thoroughly tested the destructive potential of the black powder known as the "Soul of Fire."
Fortunately, the Three Brothers Islands were crawling with pirates who served as perfect test subjects, allowing him to conduct a wide array of experiments. He tried detonating it over their heads, under their feet, and through walls, even cornering them before setting it off.
Through these trials, he discovered that the explosive force was maximized in enclosed spaces rather than open ones. According to his ability to read the flow of the wind, the energy that would normally disperse in all directions collided with the walls and rebounded inward, compounding the pressure.
While he felt he could create many ingenious devices if he utilized this principle well, the imminent battle forced him to use it in a more rudimentary fashion. He simply generated a wall of wind—much like when he created a Wind Path—to turn the blast zone into an artificial interior.
*
Grim.
Soaring through the sky, Turan looked down at the corridor, now a ruin of shattered stone and scorched wood.
His strategy had been simple: ignite the Soul of Fire he had poured out until the floor turned pitch black, while simultaneously sealing the windows with a wind wall. As a result, the blast that erupted within the corridor was contained entirely, its full force focused inward rather than dissipating outside.
Of course, some of the pressure had bled off through the bedroom doors and the stairwell, but the results were devastating. According to the sensations provided by his relic, two of the nine nobles had died instantly. Two others had taken significant damage, their mana flows wavering unsteadily.
This was a better result than expected. Turan had originally only hoped to inflict enough damage to impair their bodies and mana, perhaps taking one person out of the fight if he was truly lucky. It seemed the fact that the fortress was built sturdily enough to withstand the explosive pressure had actually worked in his favor.
"Orin, Amia... Dammit! Is this a Barrier Master's trap?!"
"N-no, sir! If a barrier had been laid out, my magic device definitely would have caught it—"
"Just get out of here for now! Jump out the window!"
"What about those two?"
"Carry them!"
The Soul of Fire inside was already spent, but since they didn't know the cause of the explosion, they likely feared another attack was imminent. From that perspective, their decision to retreat wasn't half bad.
As the seven nobles leaped through the window carrying the two corpses, Turan hovered in the air, spinning his sling as he tracked them. Since they were moving targets, he wouldn't be able to use a Wind Path. Even so, his sling attacks were more than enough to kill an average noble in a single strike.
I'll start with that one.
He targeted a man of exceptionally small stature. Since he was carrying a corpse, his hands were occupied, and he was already in the worst condition among the survivors.
When Turan let fly, the stone tore through the air with a sharp whistle and shattered the target's head. A five-colored light flared up as a defensive magic device tried to intervene, but it was insufficient to stop a stone empowered by such immense momentum.
"What...?"
"A sniper! From above!"
"I can't see anything!"
"Then light it up!"
The fact that every single one of them resorted to creating light the moment they couldn't see their attacker was due to the long history of the Zahar family committing atrocities using stealth magic. Had the Zahars not possessed a power so troublesome to eradicate, the masters of the Enril Desert would likely have changed by now.
However, Turan had anticipated this. Immediately after throwing the stone, he slipped into the corridor where the explosion had occurred and descended through a hole in the floor. No matter how specialized a bloodline was in light magic, they couldn't shine through solid stone and wood to illuminate the interior from the outside.
"The enemy...?"
"I don't see him!"
The Baraha nobles were thrown into confusion when they failed to find their foe, even after making the surroundings as bright as day. They scanned the area frantically before eventually charging toward Solif, who was standing in the distant garden. Whatever that ambush had been, their priority now was to secure Solif.
"Damn it, subdue him first!"
The Baraha nobles conjured weapons of light and fire, discharging them all at once. In response, Solif manifested a Halo and drew out whips of light, just as he had when fighting Turan in the past. However, the momentum with which he swung them now was incomparably more powerful. It was clear that back then, he had been holding back significantly because he hadn't known his opponent's true strength.
"Urgh—"
Yet, even with such power, Solif could not gain the upper hand. Being outnumbered six to one was difficult enough, but he was also injured and had been stripped of his own magic devices.
In contrast, the three nobles who possessed more mana than Turan took the lead in absorbing Solif's attacks, each utilizing different magic devices.
One of them seems to have taken the one Solif used to have, and another feels similar to my Guardian magic tool... Is the last one a mobile defense type?
The only reason Solif wasn't immediately overwhelmed was that he, too, was using a defensive magic device—specifically, the Guardian magic tool that Turan favored. With that device fully activated, Solif was theoretically on par with a successor-rank mage from a Great House of the Guardian bloodline. No matter how high-ranking these nobles were, they couldn't take him down quickly.
Thanks to that, Turan was able to exit the building with relative ease, creating a Wind Path as he prepared for his second snipe. His target was the one moving the least among the six. The Baraha nobles, fully immersed in the heat of battle, failed to even perceive the movement.
"Gah!"
When the silent stone pierced through one man's heart, the Baraha nobles quickly shifted into a defensive formation. One of them deduced the direction the stone had come from based on the wound, but Turan had already vanished back into the fortress.
"No, is it really a Zahar...? Why?"
The leader of the group—the one said to be the Clan Head's cousin—muttered in disbelief. It was as if the intervention of a Zahar noble here was a world-ending event. However, his stunned expression lasted only a moment. Proving he hadn't been made leader for nothing, he quickly regained his composure and barked orders.
"Soru and I will keep dealing with this one! Ray, go catch that Zahar rat hiding in the building!"
Two of the three nobles stronger than Turan and the three weaker ones surrounded Solif again, while the remaining one charged straight toward the fortress. A bird made of flame bloomed above his hand, swelling to an enormous size before diving into the stronghold.
Oh...
As the firebird tore through the interior, sweeping through corridors and rooms, the bodies of over a hundred pirates who had been hiding inside to watch the battle were instantly incinerated. This was the sheer scale a Pyromaniac bloodline could achieve when granted immense power.
Turan pulled water from his canteen, splashed it over his face, and threw himself toward the back of the manor. He felt a searing heat lick at his back and the nape of his neck.
"Ugh..."
Despite his quick reaction, his back stung fiercely; he had suffered a fairly serious burn. Had he at least been using a Guardian magic tool, it wouldn't have been this bad, but he had lent it to Solif.
As he retreated, he absorbed mana from the Mimic Relic. When he turned his head, he saw the Baraha noble called Ray walking toward him. The burning fortress behind Ray cast long shadows across his face, illuminated by the flickering orange glow.
"I'm certain everything was already settled with your side. Is interfering with our business now the will of your family, Zahar?"
"Think whatever you like."
Judging by his tone, there had been some sort of understanding between the Baraha and Zahar families. Perhaps they had agreed not to interfere even if the pursuit crossed into their territory in exchange for some assets. Or it could be something darker—perhaps the shadow of the same god loomed behind both families, or different gods had reached an accord.
Even as these thoughts raced through his mind, Turan's face showed no sign of agitation as he tossed out his retort. This was in stark contrast to Ray, whose face contorted at the provocation from a noble who was clearly much younger than himself.
"Just what are you relying on to act so cocky? You must know that we Barahas are the natural enemies of your kind. Or are you perhaps a successor?"
Both light and fire were the natural counters to the Zahar's stealth abilities. Furthermore, the Zahar bloodline itself wasn't particularly suited for direct confrontation. No matter how talented a mage Turan was, fighting a combat-specialized mage with greater mana in a head-on clash was difficult. If there were water nearby, like when he fought Solif, it might be different, but in this situation, the odds were stacked against him.
Yet, there was no trace of fear in Turan's eyes.
"I'm no successor, but I can still beat the likes of you."
Provoked, Ray fired a sphere of flame packed with immense mana. The moment he did, Turan stomped the ground, and a massive wall rose directly in front of him. Despite the disparity in mana, the stone wall he created withstood the explosion of the fireball without a hitch.
"The thing Pyromaniacs hate most is meeting a Shoal bloodline by the water, or an Earthkeeper, right?"
The mana Turan had just absorbed was from the Earthkeeper bloodline—the power of the army commander he had killed in the Western Wilds. While extreme heat could melt even soil and stone, it was a different story when the earth was imbued with the power of a family that ruled the land.
When Turan let fly a stone from his sling to counterattack, it too was influenced by the Earthkeeper bloodline, flying faster and harder than usual.
"Tch!"
The moment Ray shielded his face in shock, a green object flew out from his robes and swatted the stone away. It was the small, palm-sized shield Turan had seen earlier. The defensive magic device circled Ray confidently, as if boasting it could deflect any attack.
"Dammit...!"
Since the block hadn't been by his own will, Ray spat out a curse while stroking the face that had almost been hit. Judging by his flushed face, he felt both shame and rage at having been frightened. He thrust his hand toward Turan, and dozens of arrows made of light shot forth.
Normally, attacks that materialized light were simple enough to be a favorite among knights, but when used by a noble of a light-manipulating bloodline, they became vicious weapons. In response, Turan stomped his foot again, causing stone spikes to erupt and intercept the incoming arrows one by one.
Both were manipulating physical force, but while earth magic was defensive and slow, light was aggressive and fast. During the exchange, Turan spared a fraction of his focus to pull out some Soul of Fire and send it flying with wind magic. It bypassed the shield and caused a violent explosion the moment it reached Ray's vicinity.
"Argh!"
This kind of attack was unlikely to seriously injure a high-ranking noble, but it was enough to temporarily impair his sight and hearing. In a duel of this caliber, such a gap was everything.
Not missing the opening while Ray clutched his face, Turan's earth spikes pierced through Ray's feet and legs. The green shield could only block so much; it couldn't stop every attack while its master was stationary.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Ray screamed in agony. However, like a high-ranking noble who had lived for centuries, he continued to fire light arrows even through the pain, forcing Turan to stay on the defensive.
Turan tried to send more Soul of Fire with wind magic, but surprisingly, this time the powder exploded the moment it left his hand. Turan groaned softly as he suffered a light burn.
"Ugh..."
"I don't know what kind of trick that is, but it won't work twice!"
Ray had been focused enough to realize the black powder was being detonated by Turan and had immediately devised a countermeasure. Furthermore, perhaps because he was half-Pyromaniac, his speed in igniting flames was much faster than Turan's.
Seeing this, Turan gave up on the Soul of Fire and engaged in an honest magical duel. He reshaped the earth to create more spikes, forcing his opponent to move, while simultaneously shooting down the incoming arrows. The occasional sling stones he fired were blocked by the green shield, but in the grand scheme of things, this was like a slow-acting poison.
All magic devices were powered by their master's mana. Considering that an automated defense device like that consumed even more mana, it was obvious who was losing the war of attrition.
"Haa... haa..."
Ray's heavy breathing and cold sweat were clear indicators that his mana was bottoming out. The problem was that Turan, too, was nearly out of Earthkeeper mana. When Turan retreated first after exhausting his reserves, Ray's face lit up as he sensed his advantage.
"Haha... You put up a good fight, but it looks like you've reached your limit."
"Not really."
Despite his words, Turan had consumed a fair amount of strength. He was still in better shape than his opponent, but considering he had to help Solif afterward, he couldn't afford to be wasteful. To be honest, the fact that the man had immediately figured out how to deal with the Soul of Fire was a bit outside his calculations. He truly was a mage of a Great House.
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Turan pulled the Mimic Relic from his robes and swallowed a second type of mana.
"What is that? A magic device?"
"Something like that."
His intention to stall for time was blatant, but Turan played along. He needed time for the foreign mana to settle into his body. A moment later, after confirming the mana had fully integrated, Turan conjured light and fire in his hands.
"What...?"
Ray stared in confusion. Light and fire? Those were the two powers a Zahar noble, who relied on stealth, should loathe the most. Of course, the opponent had just displayed the power of an Earthkeeper out of nowhere, but regardless, these weren't weapons one should pull out against a member of the Sun bloodline.
As if answering the unspoken question, Turan merged the light and fire in his hands. The two types of power seemed to exist on different planes, refusing to blend at first. But soon, they fused into a shimmering, distorted whole, taking the shape of a glowing Halo behind Turan's back.
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