Chapter 348: The causes and consequences of the incident 345_2
"I was just staying at the base when I suddenly sensed a tremendous roar and movement, then someone ran back saying that everyone we had sent out was dead, they had encountered an extremely terrifying vampire, and that vampire had also gotten into a fight with someone."
"I didn’t care about the completely chaotic base and ran out alone."
"Guess what I saw?"
Brian’s expression was completely distorted.
"I saw two people fighting."
"Every time they clashed, it caused the ground to shatter from the shock."
"Every time they collided, whole swathes of trees in the forest would fall."
"I couldn’t even make out their faces clearly, I could only see two shadows chasing each other, leaving destruction in their wake as if a natural disaster had passed through, the entire world being ravaged by their battle."
"And I, just trying to survive in the aftermath of that battle, used all my strength, but I still nearly died."
Brian’s recount left everyone present as if they were on the battlefield at that time, making them vividly feel the fear, terror, and despair in Brian’s heart.
In the face of such disasters, the helplessness of humanity was fully displayed.
Brian continued speaking.
"Afterward, there was an even more terrifying explosion in that forest, I had just escaped the central area, not affected by it, and narrowly saved my own life."
"But whenever I think about what happened then, the power and terror I felt, it makes me think that all my efforts up until then seemed like a joke."
"Can you imagine? While we were training our swordsmanship just to chop down a tree, those real monsters could with just the aftereffects of a battle easily overturn an entire forest."
"It was then that I realized, humans are weak, powerless, no matter how hard we try we can’t match those naturally powerful creatures."
Brian’s hand holding the knife was clenched so tightly that it bled, his eyes looking as if they could shed bloody tears.
"In the face of such power, even if I trained swinging a sword for another ten years, or practiced swordsmanship for another hundred years, I likely couldn’t mount a proper resistance, could I?"
"What’s the use of such training? What’s the point of such strength?"
"Might as well go back home and farm!"
Thus, Brian lost all his drive and his confidence was shattered; he fled the forest in disarray, fled from Ye Lantil, and ran all the way to the capital.
This is the reason behind Brian Angelos’s current state.
"..."
All those present were suddenly plunged into silence.
Especially Gejiev and Gegran, who looked at Brian with particularly complex expressions.
They could understand Brian.
The stronger the warrior, the more unimaginable were their efforts and training to reach their current level; so they understood very well how much blood, sweat, and tears they had spent, and what kind of hardships and perseverance they had endured.
After such effort and such desperate struggle, to find mere survival in the aftermath of a battle excessively difficult, and having no choice but to flee, was indeed too sad a fate.
Even Clem fell into silence, looking at his own hands that he had worn raw countless times in sword practice, and found himself speechless for a long while.
"Sigh..."
In the end, even Ivey sighed heavily, his expression was undeniably one of sympathy, of pity.
Only Reiger, listening to Brian’s story and seeing the unwillingness and sadness on his face, had a hint of a strange emotion in his eyes.
"...All right, I understand your experience."
Reiger scratched his cheek, as if he had accidentally played a cruel prank, and spoke to Brian.
"I won’t say anymore nonsense, draw your sword first."
Upon hearing this, Brian took a deep breath, rallying his heart that was close to collapsing again.
Now, Brian didn’t want to think about anything else, he just wanted to draw his sword.
This may be his last time swinging a sword, so let everything come to a perfect end here.
"With this single strike, I will give my all."
Let all his years of effort bloom in this strike, to give himself resolution.
"[Ability Enhancement]."
At that moment, Brian began to use a martial technique.
This was a technique that could enhance physical abilities for a short period, providing a more comprehensive boost than simple [Physical Enhancement].
In such circumstances, Brian focused all his consciousness on one point, letting his senses expand outward, clearly perceiving the sounds, the air, and the vibrations around him.
This was Brian’s originally created martial technique, letting him clearly grasp everything within a three-meter radius, maximizing his hit rate and evasion rate, named—[Domain].
After years of effort, Brian had developed several unique martial techniques.
"Domain" was just one of them.
Brian also had another original technique, created in the pursuit of striking more quickly and more precisely than his opponents, which he called "Flash."
"Flash" is an extremely rapid slash, taking the speed of an attack to its limits.
In order to master this technique, the training Brian underwent was extraordinary; he had swung his sword hundreds of thousands, even millions of times.
Through such constant practice of the "Flash" technique, the hand that Brian held his sword with had grown calluses specialized for this move, and the handle of the sword he used had been worn into the shape of his grip.
As a result of constantly pushing to the limit, a new martial technique was born, even faster than "Flash." After swinging, not even blood would remain on the blade, making it impossible for the opponent to perceive the attack’s trajectory.
This move, Brian named "Divine Flash."
Brian combined "Divine Flash" with "Domain," integrating the two great techniques to finally craft a divine, inevitably accurate slash that was impossible to evade.
Secret Sword— "Tiger’s Descent."
"This is my... blade!"
Brian had infused all his life’s efforts into this single slash, making it burst forth in that moment.
"Bang!"
With a thunderous stomp, the genius swordsman let out a roar.
He transformed into a gust of wind, a shadow, like an arrow shot from a bow, hurtling towards Reiger with a whistling force.
"Zing!"
The sword was drawn from its sheath in his hand.
It was a quick and abrupt slash.
When Brian drew the sword from its scabbard, in just 0.01 second, the cold gleam of the blade was already swooping towards Reiger’s neck.
No one could react to the sword.
Whether it was Gejiev or Gegran, they only saw a flash of arc light before everything vanished from sight.
Among those present, only two responded to Brian’s rapid and abrupt slash.
One was Ivey.
Her pupils, beneath her mask, suddenly contracted, seemingly shocked by the speed of the slash.
The other was Reiger.
He fixated on Brian, watching the slash he had made, a gleam flashing through his eyes.
Then—
"Ting—"
A crisp sound suddenly emerged.
It was the sound of Brian’s sword being clutched.
Yes.
Brian’s sword was clutched.
It was caught between two fragile fingers, held tightly in their grip.
"What...!?"
Brian’s expression drastically changed.
"————!"
All those present also widened their eyes in disbelief.
Reiger, before everyone present, extended two fingers and clutched Brian’s sword.
"Not bad."
Following that, he made such a remark.
"Though not fast enough, it was indeed not bad."
With that, Reiger kicked out and struck Brian’s chest.
"Thud!"
In the muffled sound of impact, Brian was kicked flying back.