Chapter 287: Temar's First Tomb (8)
C287 - Temar's First Tomb (8)
It was outrageously enormous.
Jin couldn't think of any other way to describe it.
The aura transformed the gigantic sword into a tower so massive that he could barely look up to see where it ended.
The blade was easily dozens of times larger than its wielder, and yet the guardian held it in his hands as if it weighed nothing.
What is this? I mean, can it even be called a sword?
Jin didn't believe he would blink, no matter what was thrown at him.
But this was something that even Jin felt completely amazed by. The guardian's giant sword was not only immensely long. Even its width was so vast that it seemed atrocious.
This indescribably excessive expansion had been caused by the aura.
The three spikes had already pierced through the shield barrier, but the repulsive forces of the giant sword prevented them from piercing the guardian, who now smiled confidently.
His descendant was showing him a satisfied face after facing the master move he had spent his entire life creating.
"This is the secret move called 'Giant Sword King.' No matter how amazing my enemies were, they all had a stunned look like yours when they faced it for the first time."
Jin couldn't respond. He could only look at the guardian and his giant sword.
The battle seemed to have entered a state of calm. But despite how it seemed, their energies were still desperately fighting to push each other away.
Perhaps they had reached some kind of equilibrium. In the fragile balance of these two forces, the first one to lose concentration would suffer quite unpleasant consequences.
Jin breathed carefully. He calmed his Light Heart, which had become unstable after executing retribution. Blood started to flow from every opening on his face.
Giant Sword King?
Undoubtedly, the denomination was accurate. No one could argue against it. There would definitely be no larger giant sword than this.
As far as Jin knew, the Runcandel clan had ten ultimate moves, seven secret moves, and three profound mysteries.
None of them were even remotely similar to this.
After the Zipple erased all records related to Silderay Runcandel, his renowned move, Giant Sword King, was also lost along with his name.
"I spent many days trying to come up with its name with Temar. Don't you appreciate the beauty of its name?"
"I'm not so sure about that."
"What a shame."
Grooooooar!
Aura surged around the guardian once again. It rose in the air, transforming into several dozen cord-like forms and started to wrap around the giant sword.
It helped the guardian hold and swing the massive sword, or rather, that enormous mass of aura.
Kaaaaargh!
The guardian shouted.
Just as Jin was covered in lightning energy after activating the Reign of the King of Legends, the guardian's body was also becoming brilliantly white due to the aura.
But the difference was that he was becoming one with the giant sword.
Countless martial artists in the world claimed that becoming one with the weapon was the ultimate mastery one could achieve as a martial artist.
But obviously, it was a figurative expression. It had nothing to do with this abnormal sword technique that the guardian was executing.
However, Jin swallowed saliva and felt chills.
It wasn't his martial artist senses or his intuition, honed through countless trials, that told him it was dangerous.
It was simple.
It was the visual impact.
The visual terror of the ridiculous scale of things that humans certainly should not be allowed to accomplish at all.
This is quite shocking.
Jin was convinced.
Even if historians hadn't written a single line about the Giant Sword King, it would undoubtedly have survived for a thousand years through word of mouth alone.
On the other hand, he was also amazed that the Zipple could completely erase such impactful sword techniques from history.
"Try this!"
Whooom!
The Giant Sword King began to descend toward the ground.
It was as slow as the midday sun sinking on the horizon.
It was even slower than Cyron's strike that Jin resisted on the day he returned to the Garden of Swords after completing his training as a provisional flagbearer.
Despite its tremendous size, the slowness made it seem like even untrained people could move away from the giant sword.
But it was impossible to escape the technique, despite its slow descent.
It wasn't because the movement was beyond the principles of nature, like Cyron's sword skill.
It was the repulsive force that had kept the spikes of retribution at bay.
That same repulsive force now pressed downward, crushing Jin like Tess's pressure. It was as if thousands of invisible hands were pulling his body downward.
It's heavy, even after activating the Reign of the King of Legends!
But indeed, the Reign of the King of Legends was the only thing allowing him to breathe and move.
Jin's aura alone wasn't enough to bear the weight exuded by the Giant Sword King.
It was the same principle as the lightning of the Reign of the King of Legends, which demanded that one be at least on par with the Legends to survive it.
Jin tried to move away and noticed that his feet weighed incredibly heavy.
It wouldn't be easy to escape the range of the giant sword even if he focused all his effort on it. In fact, it was impossible to escape its range.
He had to strike back with his sword.
It falls very slowly, but I have no choice but to strike back. What a terrifying secret move. How long will it take for the giant sword to touch the ground? Thirty seconds? Twenty seconds?
Jin took a breath again.
He could feel the rattling of every joint in his body as the Giant Sword King approached. Moreover, Jin was starting to pay the price for executing an incomplete Reign of the King of Legends.
My body is nearing its limit.
The blue-tinged lightning energy in Jin's eyes and hair noticeably faded. The Reign of the King of Legends was nearing its end, while the guardian's aura grew increasingly brighter.
In Silderay's days, that's what martial artists called him: a monstrous strength. Silderay of monstrous strength. Literally, a knight with a monstrous amount of brute force.
Indeed, he wasn't even a pure-blooded Runcandel.
As Jin suspected, he didn't possess the blessed body of the Runcandels.
Yet, he was capable of performing indescribable feats.
Jin looked at the sword and adjusted his stance.
There are people who have reached extreme heights with just one chance in life. Yes, the fact that I was fortunate enough to go to Lafrarosa never meant that I was strong enough to challenge them. I almost rushed ahead there.
First of all, there was his father, Cyron Runcandel.
Then his older sister Luna, Vanessa, Temar, and others. These transcendental swordsmen had always seemed like a mystery to Jin.
They were immense mountains. Sometimes, they also served as markers or milestones in his life journey.
And now, Jin achieved another milestone called Silderay Runcandel. Jin was lucky to have a second chance in life and to meet incredible people who helped him. Finally, Jin had to rise above all of that and surpass them all.
"With pleasure."
Shwoom!
The lightning energy of the Reign of the King of Legends faded away.
The Light Heart seemed empty after losing its light. Jin vomited blood after losing his activated energy.
Aura backlash, multiple fractures, and internal injuries.
That should have been the fair result that Jin received when facing the guardian without what he had gained through fortunate encounters.
It was impossible for the twelfth flagbearer of the Runcandels, who had not yet turned twenty, to confront one of the ten knights of Temar Runcandel, said to be the most powerful in history.
However, Jin's strength was not based solely on his return to life and his fortunate encounters.
They only served an auxiliary purpose because Jin always had something much brighter and more precious than anything else.
His willpower.
That immeasurable strength allowed him to hold onto the sword against any adversity.
If the guardian's secret move, which made his light shine over the entire ethereal plane, was the legacy of the Runcandel ancestors, Jin's willpower was the very light carried by the clan's lineage.
Soon, the Giant Sword King fell to the ground.
And the guardian had to praise the brilliant light of Jin's willpower.
The swords made contact.
The two willpowers that symbolized the first and the last of the Runcandels met across time and space.
The time had come for a mystery to be revealed.
"The transmission is complete," the guardian said softly after completing his move.
The aura spread like a tsunami before the guardian. The Giant Sword King fiercely rushed forward in an effort to tear apart the entire ethereal plane, while Jin remained at the center of it all.
Jin stood like a statue after wielding his sword.
He had failed. His willpower was vast, but Jin's strength was still not powerful enough to pierce through the Giant Sword King.
But this wasn't a battle for life, nor a slaughter to establish the obvious power difference between them.
It was merely a ritual held to transmit the will.
The aura ravaging the ethereal plane began to turn into dark particles. The power that could have torn Jin apart thousands of times now scattered like dandelion seeds in the wind.
Jin extended his arm and felt the dark particles, the Shadow Energy, gently escaping through his fingers.
The guardian who had been standing far away also turned into a faint shadow and disappeared.
"Sir Silderay?" Jin shouted his name in despair.
There were so many things Jin wanted to ask him after the battle. About how the Runcandels of the past were, or why he had been erased from history. But to think that he would disappear so abruptly...
The particles of Shadow Energy roamed like petals in the wind, offering no answers.
Instead, they gathered around Jin and swirled around him as if they wanted to do something.
Jin could hear faint murmurs coming from far away.
The sound came from the whirlpool of Shadow Energy, and it was something Jin had never heard before while exerting his power.
Jin focused and realized that it was actually human speech.
Is it Sir Silderay's voice?
The extremely faint voice murmured these words.
Jin, I'm sorry.
-I don't think I can leave many records.
Jin widened his eyes.
Solderet?
It was Jin's god's voice, which hadn't spoken to him since the moments before his return to life.
It was Solderet's voice.
Jin began to shout Solderet's name as soon as he recognized the voice. He shouted with all his might, running around through the dark particles, but received no response.
-Jin, I'm sorry. I don't think I can leave many records.
The same voice repeated.
Very soon, Jin realized that the voice came from a very distant past.
It was because another voice had joined Solderet's in the Shadow Energy.
-Who are you talking to, Solderet? Jin? Isn't Jin the contractor you mentioned before, after a thousand years?
-Hello, Temar.
-Murakan and Misha have been complaining that you manifest too often and that lately you've been making them too nervous. The battle against the Zipples will begin soon. I'll be in trouble if either of those two falls ill, you know? Give me a break.
-Don't talk to them about Jin.
-Come on. I've already told you I won't. Can't you see? You barely trust me.
The conversation was clearly that of Solderet and Temar, from a thousand years ago.
-But you've already chosen the contractor who will come in a thousand years.
-Does that mean you think we'll win for sure in the battle against the Zipple? I mean, since you're already planning contractors for a thousand years from now and all that.
-There would barely be any Runcandels left in the world to enter into contracts with you if we ever lost, right?
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