CHAPTER 291

No one knows the perfect answer to how one should confront a sorcerer. While it is exceedingly rare for a knight to shatter their limits and become an Aura-user and develop unique attributes, almost every sorcerer awakened possesses a near 100% probability of manifesting new elements or characteristics.

Furthermore, as Mana evolves into magical force, natural spells also become exponentially stronger. Knowing exactly how many tactics a sorcerer can employ in combat is something only they themselves would understand.

Nevertheless, if there was something akin to the right response, it would be this:

‘Swift and decisive!’

Defeat them before they have a chance to act.

Victor, rushing toward Greg, vanished into thin air before reappearing in front of the sorcerer in a blink.

“Huh!?”

Using Ghost Shadow with all his might to produce such movement had astounded even Greg, an extraordinary knight, with its impressive speed.

Victor swung his sword, aiming to slice through the sorcerer in a single stroke.

However.

Clang!

Ting!

His sword struck a strange gray barrier that appeared out of nowhere, causing only a slight crack but failing to cut through the sorcerer.

In the next instant, Victor disappeared again, soon appearing behind the sorcerer and the other mages accompanying him.

“Behind…!”

The only two people strong enough to perceive Victor’s movements, Greg, and Nat, shouted simultaneously.

After a brief delay, the knights charged toward Victor.

Though the sorcerer managed to slowly look back, the other mages could not even turn their heads in time.

That moment became their demise.

Slash.

A light cutting sound signaled the gray force blade drawing a long semicircle.

“…!”

Without even a chance to scream, five mages bisected at the waist collapsed in a heap.

“Damn it!”

“Fall back!”

As Greg and the other knights moved forward, the sorcerer’s bellowing voice was heard amidst the chaos.

Victor, seeing the lips of the sorcerer beneath the black hood curl upward, disappeared like a ghost once again, forsaking his attack on the remaining mages.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Nat sprang toward the entrance like lightning, having vaguely seen Victor’s movement and its direction.

‘You won’t escape!’

Despite the incomprehensible speed of his opponent, if he could predict the direction, he might be able to respond.

The opponent was, after all, a top-class Force user incapable of using Aura.

‘The same realm!’

Unleashing his secret technique, Meteor Shower, dozens of red Force constructs poured down like rain, blocking the supposed path.

But then.

Slice.

Feeling a chilling sensation, Nat narrowly dodged an incoming gray Force blade that grazed past his rib cage.

Tch.

Victor let out a sharp click of his tongue, his sword poised to strike again. But before he could, the bodies of the fallen mages burst into pieces without any prior sign.

Caught off-guard, streams of blood that should have sprayed everywhere gushed toward Victor, engulfing him like a downpour.

“Ugh!?”

Boom!

The collision of the gray Force blade and the hundreds of blood droplets created a deafening thunderous noise.

Nat seized the opportunity when Victor was pushed back by the impact and charged from behind.

At the same time, Greg also lunged forward.

“Horrible Terror.”

With a soft voice, the sorcerer’s finger pointed at Victor.

To the others, it seemed like only a faint gray glow at the tip of the sorcerer’s hand, but suddenly, Victor staggered.

“Now!”

The moment both Greg and Nat’s eyes shimmered with focus, a grinding noise was heard as Victor’s sword moved again like a ray of light.

Boom!

Amidst the loud explosion, both Greg and Nat, attempting a coordinated attack from front and back, were repelled simultaneously.

The sorcerer, his pale eyes flashing beneath the black hood, revealed the face of a pallid old man.

“An interesting one! Just block the retreat.”

At that quiet command, Greg and Nat ceased their advance, saving Nat’s life.

Swoosh.

As Nat hesitated with his advancing step, the afterimage of a gray Force blade narrowly missed his throat by the smallest margin.

“Tsk.”

Wiping the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and staggering, Victor let out a frustrated tongue click.

Feeling a spine-chilling sensation he had never experienced before, Nat’s eyes grew even colder.

‘This is the same realm as mine? Not a superhuman?’

Feeling goosebumps all over, he stood guard at the door, as per the orders of his superior, ready to block the way.

Greg, too, apparently had the same thought as he poised his serrated blade, Swordbreaker, amid the rubble.

The 18 knights, unable to find an opening amidst the assault of strong forces, lined up against the wall and surrounded Victor in a circle. The arrangement was such that even if Victor attempted to break through the opposite wall, at least two of them would confront him.

Observing this, Victor came to a halt, and the seven remaining mages behind the sorcerer began to emit a sinister black aura from their bodies.

But that was brief.

“Hold on.”

Sorcerer Gerohin, pale as his complexion, raised his white hand to stop his subordinates’ magic and pointed at Victor with his fingertip.

This recollection prompted Victor to summon all his Force, but Gerohin, smiling wryly, pulled back his black robe’s hood to reveal his full face.

“Let’s have a word. It seems like an interesting individual has wandered down the wrong path.”

Had it not been for the eerie bluish glow in his eyes, the old man, Gerohin, might have looked quite handsome.

Despite no real reason to listen, Victor needed time to recover his shaken mind and strained insides.

Concealing his intentions, Victor asked nonchalantly, “Wandered down the wrong path?”

It was just a ploy to stall for time, yet the enemy began a truly intriguing tale.

“Yours is a unique Force color rarely seen. Do you understand its significance?”

Forces that were not the standard red – usually one of many dozen Force users, a rarity not yet explained.

“Just a quirk for some, wasn’t it?”

“Heh, that’s what the majority believe. I doubt they’ve gone so far as to dissect esteemed knights for their studies.”

The sorcerer’s words, delivered with a creepy smile on his pallid face, were unsettling, carrying the suggestion that he himself might have experimented as such.

Victor’s brows narrowed involuntarily as the sorcerer continued.

“But ‘we’ are different. Are you curious about the secret possessed by those with unusual Forces?”

“…It would be a lie to say I’m not curious.”

Half intrigued, half seeking to buy time, Victor hoped his act was convincing as he focused mostly on healing his internal wounds.

‘Just a bit longer, just a little bit more.’

While it was true that Force users recovered faster than normal people, leveraging Force directly for healing was another story.

Since it was the energy of life itself, it was certainly possible to rapidly heal one’s wounds. Sealing a cut was feasible with just some awareness, especially external flesh wounds.

However, treating hidden internal injuries was another matter altogether.

It required a talent to precisely control the Force and a sense to intuit one’s own interior as if seeing it with one’s own eyes.

Victor, blessed with all these rare abilities, continued to converse while secretly mending his disrupted organs.

Right as he whispered that…

“The non-red Forces signify the presence of an ‘incredible’ talent. It’s what manifests when such a person also awakens their Force.”

“…What?”

“However, most are simply marking an affinity with spirits, a useless trait since they’ve vanished from this continent. But your gray Force is different. It’s a precious talent.”

Gerohin’s subsequent words shook Victor’s focus.

“…What do you mean?”

“You could greatly succeed with ‘us.’ It’s a hint that a top-class knight like you could also learn ‘our’ magic.”

“That’s absurd…”

A Force user employing magic?

Wasn’t that something reserved for fairy tales?

Understanding Victor’s disbelief, Gerohin smiled.

“Our magic could make it possible. With it, you could wield power beyond your limits without being a superhuman. Tempting, isn’t it?”

The sorcerer, with a gray gleam of magic at his fingertips, grinned.

“It’s an opportunity. Come to us. Swear your loyalty. We can give you power that will astonish the world.”

“Hmm…”

“Heh, pretending to contemplate? Your internal injuries should have settled by now.”

“!?”

Victor stiffened at those words, then his body moved—or at least, tried to.

But.

Whirring.

Tugging.

Gray chains, formed by a secretive magic, had stretched from the walls and bound his limbs.

“Regrettably for you, my magic is already complete.”

“Gasp!”

Cracking.

As Victor tensed his entire body, cracks began to form on every wall of the chamber.

With enough time, he might have torn through them, but the enemy wouldn’t wait.

“Heh-heh. Struggle all you wish. Mind Breaker.”

Swoosh.

As a misty gray haze spread from the sorcerer’s fingertips and seeped into his head, Victor’s most horrific memories returned as vivid as if they had happened just the day before.

– Run away!

– Remember, live!

– Son! Take care of your sister, Lia!

– Aaaah!

Soon, the dear faces he always longed for invaded his mind.

Burned deep into his consciousness was the notion that this was the enemy’s trick, and these vivid memories flooded his thoughts.

“I, I’m the reason… because of me, mom and dad…”

Before he knew it, Victor felt diminished, back to his childhood, hands stained with the blood of his loved ones.

Small, powerless hands.

The despair that once seemed to shatter the world now engulfed his mind.

– If not for you…

– Had you not been a burden…

– We could have survived!

The worst memory twisted into something more gruesome, assailing him with a reality-like surge of guilt that drowned him in despair.

“Uhhh… it, it’s my fault…”

In the profound darkness, tormented by visions and voices, Victor struggled until a faint ray of light pierced through, promising salvation.

A light that called to save him.

Instinctively recognizing it, the young Victor reached out with his wounded hand.

– Chain your painful memories and be reborn. This is true salvation…

Kind face and voice.

The conviction that following the light would bring ease flooded him.

– I am Gerohin Einhard, your savior. Entrust your pain to me, and live for me in joy.

The voice beckoned, but the young Victor hesitated.

“Oh, I can’t…”

Ignoring the warm light and staring back into the darkness, Victor’s face twisted anew.

– Forget the pain. I will save you; follow me, and forget the pain.

Although the kind voice tempted him again, the young Victor did not look toward the light.

“I, I must live for Lia, my sister. That, it’s a promise…”

Despite trembling with fear, drenched in tears, the young Victor did not reach for the light again.

“The promise means… I have to forgive.”

He refused to ignore the burden of a promise made to the parents who died in his stead, fully grasping the weight upon his soul.

– Forget!

“I can’t…”

– Forget!

“No!”

– Forget!

“I don’t want to!”

As the inviting luminescence persisted, the young Victor grew until he regained his present form, and with a glimmer of reason returning to his eyes, he roared.

“…I said no!”

Crash!

With a booming shout, the enveloping darkness shattered.

“Heh. You repelled it, eh? That makes you even more desirable.”

Stumbling from the shock but still composed, Gerohin was unfazed.

Yet, only momentarily.

“I’ll tear you apart, sorcerer.”

Coughing.

With a sickly pale complexion, Victor spat out a mouthful of blood as a gray flash erupted from his hand, severing the chains binding him.

Though the achromatic light concealed much of its otherworldliness, Gerohin, a sorcerer himself, instantly understood the profound difference.

“The power…!?”

Gerohin’s expression hardened.

Cough.

“Let’s get serious.”

Victor’s entire being radiated with a fierce intent.

Staggering, with the remnants of chains that had bound him dissipating, his body, contrary to his will, barely moved—the gray flash fading from sight.

“Heh… As I thought. You won’t easily escape my magic!”

Gerohin’s face rekindled with a smile.

“Take him! A new Aura-user catching would be a great catch!”

At Gerohin’s command, Greg, Nat, and the other knights surged toward Victor.

As Victor struggled to move his weakened frame.

Boom!

With an explosive sound, the wall opposite the entrance blasted open, and arrows began to fly in.

“Aaaah!”

“Argh!”

“Arrows!?”

The knights, struck by the arrows, screamed and scattered in all directions.

Then a ‘orange’ brilliant light filled the room.