LHAHS Chapter 541
Leo kicked off the ground and rapidly closed the distance with Velkia, his movement beyond the simple concept of speed.
Clang!
Leo's eyes narrowed. His sword was blocked.
Before he knew it, Velkia was holding a sword in her hand.
Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew as their blades clashed.
In that instant, Leo's pupils dilated as he immediately expanded into the domain of Hyper Perception. At the same time, he activated the aura throughout his body.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
In the blink of an eye, ten sparks flashed as his and Velkia's swords rebounded simultaneously.
Leo's eyes narrowed. In that brief moment, they had exchanged ten blows.
Tap!
As soon as Leo landed on the ground, he dashed toward Velkia and thrust his sword straight at her.
However, Velkia did not even look at Leo as she used her landing foot as a pivot and spun counterclockwise at high speed, her blade slashing precisely toward Leo's neck.
Tap!
Leo placed his palm against the flat of Velkia's sword and applied pressure. As if a massive boulder was pressing down, the sword did not move an inch, but he was not flustered.
It was never his intention to deflect the blade in the first place.
Whoosh!
Leo's body shot upward. Using the force from Velkia's sword, he propelled himself into the air to evade the attack.
Clang!
Velkia twisted her wrist to slice Leo's palm, but once again, he pushed off Velkia's sword and widened the distance between them.
Swoosh!
Velkia closed the gap once again, not about to let him escape.
Swoosh!
Leo listened to the sound of Velkia's blade cutting through the wind.
I don't feel anything.
There was nothing in her swings. No passion, no rage. Not even killing intent.
It was natural. Right now, Velkia had lost her reason. The only thing left in her was the instinct of an undead to drag the living into the same abyss.
It was only natural that no killing intent could be felt.
Leo adjusted his grip on his sword, pulling the hilt inward with his index finger and thumb, enough that his fingers would touch the blade if he moved them. He needed a longer handle to pull off his next move.
Tap!
Leo charged straight at Velkia, who was now right in front of him.
Clang! Clang!
Their swords clashed continuously, ringing out sharp metallic echoes.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The piercing screech of metal grinding against metal. Blades slicing through the air.
The fragments of their slashes reduced the surroundings to ruins.
Slash. Slash.
Shards of sword energy grazed Leo's body, and blood seeped from various parts of his body, but he paid no mind to them. He relaxed his grip, loosening his hold on his sword and letting the blade slide across his palm.
For an instant, just a brief instant, his attack timing was delayed.
It was an incredibly dangerous move in a relentless battle like this, where a single misstep could mean losing his weapon to Velkia's sword.
However, Leo remained calm and let that slight, but deliberate delay in his attacks throw off Velkia's sense of distance.
The idea was simple, but it was a trick that allowed no room for mistakes. Failure meant a fatal wound, but its effectiveness was undeniable.
Slash!
Leo's sword severed Velkia's wrist, the one holding her blade. Normally, this would have decided the battle, but she instead of flinching, she closed the distance with Leo even further.
Boom!
With her remaining hand, she struck Leo's sword hand.
Leo blocked the attack with his armored gauntlet, but he felt his left hand, which was holding the sword, nearly shatter.
For an ordinary swordsman, it would have been a fatal injury, but he ignored the pain and drove his fist into Velkia's abdomen.
Bam!
With a sickening sound, Velkia was sent flying, but even then, she snatched her severed hand from midair and swung a kick at Leo's arm.
Crack!
Leo's right arm snapped, left dangling limply.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Velkia crashed through several buildings before finally coming to a halt.
Eiran and Chen Xia watched the battle unfold with wide eyes.
"The level is completely different," Lunia murmured in a trembling voice.
She was not a knight, but she understood enough to know that what she was witnessing was far beyond comprehension. From her perspective, this battle was simply on another level.
"It's not just a different level," Eiran swallowed dryly. "It's an entirely different dimension."
"Yes, that's right," Chen Xia followed up on Eiran's words, her fists clenched tightly. "…They live in a different world."
This is the battle of those who had to survive that era.
Now, they understood why Leo had left those words behind.
They thought they had known the difference in experience. They were wrong.
They lived in different times. The battlefields they had faced, the number of times they had wagered their lives, it was all different.
There were plenty of strong people in the world, but the battlefield was filled with endless variables. In a way, it was like a living entity that constantly devoured lives and transformed.
Being strong did not guarantee survival on the battlefield, and conversely, being weak did not necessarily mean death.
However, those who had transcended the battlefield, were truly strong.
That is an unchanging truth.
That was why Chen Xia had believed that, one day, she could reach Leo's level. She had thought that he was merely ahead by an insurmountable distance, but…
That's a wall.
Chen Xia bit her lip. It wasn't just a matter of experiencing the battlefield and staking one's life. They had to surpass that wall before they could even begin to reach him.
Chen Xia and Eiran had seen Leo wield his sword countless times. Each time, they had been in awe of his technique.
Even when it seemed like he was merely swinging his sword, there was always an immense depth behind each strike, but watching him fight today made them realize that was not all there was to it.
Because his opponent is Lady Velkia.
It was different from his sparring match with Aaron.
Back then, neither Leo nor Aaron had been aiming to kill, but now, it was different. Leo's sword held his true killing intent.
It was a battle of those who had to survive that era, where the only outcome was death.
This isn't about variables or unpredictability.
Hadn't Aaron once said that in battle, Hyper Perception allowed him to see the future?
From what Eiran and Chen Xia could see, Leo was doing the same. Through manipulating variables and unpredictability, he forced his opponent to act according to his will.
At that moment, there was no difference between him and someone who could see the future. If there was a difference between him and Aaron, Aaron had honed his innate ability to its limit through extreme training, whereas Leo was merely imitating something he didn't originally have.
Now I understand why Sir Leo always said he could never defeat Sir Aaron.
Aaron could simply see the future through Hyper Perception and avoid danger. In front of the original, Aaron's ability, Leo's imitation would always be inferior, but so what?
If anything, it only made Eiran and Chen Xia even more terrified by Leo's ability, to have nearly reached the level of a natural talent through sheer effort alone.
He wasn't even the only one. Velkia had also stepped into the same realm as Leo.
"But… is that even possible?"
"…It's beyond common sense at this point."
"What do you mean?"
Chen Xia said, "Right now, Lady Velkia has lost her sense of self."
"I know."
"That means only her instincts as an undead remain."
"Right. She's in a berserk state."
"Yes, exactly, but even in that berserk state, she's not just wildly attacking, she's fighting with swordsmanship on par with Sir Leo."
That was true. A berserk undead would normally mindlessly destroy everything around them.
If they were a mage, they would indiscriminately fire mana blasts that barely resembled real spells, reducing their surroundings to ashes.
If someone like Velkia, a hero, were to lose control, she could erase entire nations from the map and yet—Velkia was fighting with precise, deliberate swordsmanship, as if she still had her will.
She was fighting Leo on equal footing.
Lunia had never seen anything like it before.
Up until now, Leo had defeated those with greater mana than himself through technique and experience, but Velkia, who had lost her reason, was wielding a level of swordsmanship equal to his.
That meant that Velkia's instinctive way of fighting was already at that level.
"Is that… even possible?"
"It's possible. That's why she's fighting like this."
Chen Xia clenched her fists tightly. She couldn't even begin to imagine how much training it would take to reach that a realm close to the divine.
I thought I had gotten closer.
That thought now felt laughable, but even so…
I won't give up.
Chen Xia glared at Leo's back.
She wasn't the only one. Lunia and Eiran also watched the battle between the two heroes who had survived the Age of Calamity, hoping that, one day, they would be able to stand behind that firm and lonely back.
"What's the current situation?"
"…If Lady Velkia weren't an undead, Sir Leo would have had the advantage in their exchanges, but right now, Lady Velkia is…"
"Ugh…!" Lunia bit her lip hard. "Is there really nothing we can do to help?"
"For now…" Eiran made a frustrated expression.
"It seems… we've got some uninvited guests," Chen Xia cut in.
"What?"
Lunia and Eiran's eyes widened, and they followed Chen Xia's gaze.
From above, heavily armed knights and mages were descending.
Lunia's expression twisted at the sight. "Eldon's Templars."
After witnessing the darkness lurking beneath Eldon, she felt nothing but disgust for them.
She wasn't alone. Eiran and Chen Xia's faces also showed clear contempt.
Just as Chen Xia was glaring coldly at the sky, Bihar's dagger resonated once more within her grasp.
Vwoooom…!
Chen Xia's face stiffened in surprise as she gripped it tightly.
[Master… and Velkia…]
A voice resonated through the blade, causing Chen Xia's face to be overtaken by shock.
This voice… no way…
"Ancestor?"
[Do not call me that,] the voice answered heavily. [I do not deserve such a title.]
Leo tightened his grip on his sword as a wave of excruciating pain washed over him.
My bones are definitely crushed, huh?
Leo looked down at his sword hand, then glanced at his other arm, where a pain no less than the one in his left hand radiated from it.
His right arm dangled like a snapped branch.
That one's definitely broken too.
He channeled his aura.
Crack…! Crack…! Crunch…!
The muscles, strengthened by aura, forcibly held his broken bones in place.
He wasn't skilled in healing magic, but given enough time, he could mend his bones to some extent, but Leo didn't do that.
The moment he used magic, Velkia would pounce and the unnatural sensation of bones knitting together would only hinder his movements.
Of course, forcibly holding his broken bones with aura came with unbearable pain, but pain was not a hindrance to Leo's focus. If anything, it was a familiar companion.
Despite the agony, a chuckle escaped his lips. Pain had never been enough to stop him before, and injuries were like old friends.
Not because he welcomed the pain, but because this razor-sharp battle, where even a moment of hesitation was unforgivable, made his heart race with excitement.
"You've come a long way," he remarked.
It wasn't the right moment for sentimentality, but seeing how far his disciple had grown, it made him proud.
If anyone saw this, they'd think I was completely insane.
But that didn't matter. If he hadn't been insane, he never would have survived that era.
"I always wanted to stand on the same battlefield as you, now that you've grown stronger, Velkia."
A message that couldn't reach her.
"And with Bihar, too, not as Shadows, but as heroes, standing side by side."
A wish that could never come true.
Leo raised his sword. "This won't be the end, will it?"
Fwoooosh…!
As if responding to his words, aura and mana erupted from Velkia's body as she reattached her severed wrist.
Leo watched the scene unfold and said, "Whatever you've got, I'll take it all."
He prepared to summon his mana, when suddenly, someone interrupted.
"My, my… For a great elf hero to become a filthy undead…"
Leo turned his head. A young elf in scholarly robes was approaching.
"A tragic affair, truly." With a bittersweet expression, the elf—Ullein, ignored Velkia entirely and addressed Leo instead. "I've been wanting to meet you, Leo Plov. My name is Ullein, and I am this city's Council…"
Thud…!
In an instant, Leo's sword flew straight for Ullein's head, piercing through his barrier and stopping just short of his nose.
Expressionless, Leo said, "Say it again. Who did you just call filthy?"
Ullein gave a troubled smile and pointed at Velkia. "I was referring to her, of course."
A chilling killing intent flickered in Leo's eyes.