Chapter 152
RMSBS - Episodes 152
RMSBS - Episode 152 . The King of Puppets (3)
Kei looked very pale from excessive blood loss, but his fighting spirit appeared no different from the start of the battle .
Desir instinctively felt that he could not afford to lower his guard around this newly unveiled Kei for just a second, even if he was an opponent that had lost an arm .
Desir took a step back and threw out his accusation in an attempt to buy time to make sense of these circumstances .
“… … … you’ve been looking for the Homunculus from the start . ”
Something just wasn’t right about the way these events had unfolded . It was too unnatural . The biggest red flag was probably the fact that Kei got angry at the death of his men, but remained very calm when the King he had served for a long time was found dead .
All he did was fix up the body without any words of mourning . Now that he thought about this again, it was hard to see Kei acting out of a sense of loyalty .
‘But how does he know about the Homunculus?’
Kei was ostracized within the Magic Kingdom, failing to hold any kind of significant position and being well and truly out-of-the-know when it came to schemes like this Homunculus creation .
Desir had confirmed through Totrina, the magician he tortured earlier, that Kei had not received any information about the research . It was for this reason that Desir had been willing to trust Kei to such an extent . He surely wouldn’t know anything about Homunculus .
At that time, a memory suddenly came to the forefront of Desir’s mind .
[As you are a mercenary hired by Kei Hazmaryoon, you must escort Aldin Sepius . Aldin Sepius has a very important clue that is needed to achieve Kei Hazmaryoon’s goal . The life and death of Aldin Sepius will have a significant impact on the quest process . ]
“Aldin Sepius… ”
Desir realized what information Aldin had that Kei needed .
Aldin Sepius had something to do with alchemy . If he had handed over information pertaining to the Homunculus to Kei, then it meant he was not any ordinary alchemist . It meant he was an alchemist who matched Pureus in terms of skill and blatant disregard for natural order .
[You’ve correctly guessed Aldin Sepius’s role in this quest line . He is one of the first people to conceive of Homunculus creation . He went mad after using his own body to experiment on, miraculously conducting many experiments and pioneering an entire field of alchemy on his own . Within his tortured mind is valuable information about his life’s work, especially in the field of Homunculus creation . He is guarded by the Sword Master, Kei Hazmaryoon, and has provided him all of the information he is in possession of . ]
Desir’s guess was correct . It was unclear how he obtained the information from the insane Aldin, but it became clear that the information truly did originate from Aldin .
With his desire to obtain possession of a Homunculus, Desir could tell that Kei was trying to achieve something using Aldin’s knowledge .
*Crash*
The walls of the ceiling collapsed and dust rose . This place was collapsing entirely . It was now a complete ruin .
“… … … … ”
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Sensing the strange atmosphere, Pram, Romantica and Adjest began to move .
There was a full-blown confrontation between Kei and Desir’s party .
While there were far more people in Desir’s party, Kei was not pressured or pushed back at all .
A man referred to as the Sword Master of his generation had the power to overwhelm his surroundings simply by standing there .
Kei spoke to Desir in a matter-of-fact manner .
“My request is now concluded . Of course, I will pay you the promised amount . I’ll make sure to take care of that . ”
If Desir’s party were real mercenaries, there would have been no reason to stand up against Kei, but they were not mercenaries in the real sense of the word .
If they didn’t destroy the Homunculus, this Shadow Realm wouldn’t end . Even if they needed to make an enemy out of a Sword Master, they had no room to retreat . As Desir signaled his party members, they nodded with determination .
Kei, who figured out what the action meant, could help expressing something akin to frustration .
“I don’t understand why you’re taking this form of action . If you want to interrupt me, I’ll knock you down . ”
An aura rose around Kei’s sword . After seeing this, Desir and his party members began to feel nervous .
‘So we have no choice but to fight… ’
Desir had come to the conclusion that the quest for this Shadow World was to prevent even the slightest possibility of this Homunculus being studied . If so, unless Kei gave up on the Homunculus, they had the unenviable task of knocking him down .
Fortunately, Kei’s aura was somewhat dimmer than before and had a somewhat hazy form; it was certainly a lot less substantial than usual .
It was obvious that he had considerably taxed his strength in the battle with the Prophet .
‘I don’t think that’s going to make it much easier for us to win, but… ’
Desir confirmed the status of his party members . They had also fought all this time as they made their way here and had long reached their limits since facing the Homunculus .
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As Desir let down his guard just for a brief moment while grasping the situation, Kei took advantage of this opening and charged forward .
Romantica fired a spell as soon as Kei moved, not failing to miss Kei’s sudden movement . Her shot flew precisely at Kei’s forehead .
*Kaang*
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Kei lifted his sword and simply deflected the high-speed attack . This was a feat that required superhuman reflexes .
Kei kicked against the ground once again . In a mere instant, the distance between Kei and Desir narrowed . Desir and Kei’s eyes met .
He was aiming for the commander, Desir . Pram hurriedly wielded a sword and blocked Kei’s approach .
“Ooop!”
As soon as Pram faced Kei’s aurinfused sword, Pram felt the extreme pain of the muscles in his arm tearing as they reached their limit . He barely managed to hold Kei back, letting loose a scream that pierced the otherwise silent atmosphere .
If Kei’s body had been in prime condition, Pram would have been torn asunder with that sword strike .
Just one attack was all it took for Pram to realize that he could not face Kei’s sword directly in a frontal attack .
‘But I can’t retreat . ’
Behind Pram, there was Desir . He decided not to send Kei to Desir, even if he ended up cut apart .
Pram used all the skills he had mastered, and poured them into a concentrated volley at Kei .
*Kagang*
*Kagagang*
Pram’s swordsmanship relied heavily on speed over might .
Pram had always possessed considerable talent, and that talent was heightened and honed much faster through meeting Desir .
However, the talent he possessed fell short of Kei; he casually defended Pram’s all out attack . Pram had launched a volley of attacks at tremendous speed; but Kei threw him off balance in a simple counter-movement that felt almost reflex-like . While his movement looked incredibly simple, it was anything but that . To the trained eye, this was an inhuman move .
“Urgh!”
Pram felt like it was a miracle in itself that he was even able to block just one of Kei’s attacks, let alone two .
Each time he blocked an attack, Pram had to commit his utter best… no, beyond his best . However, eventually an unguarded point was finally revealed .
*Kaang*
Pram was pushed back by a heavy blow and Kei lowered his posture while pulling his sword back to perform a finishing move .
At that moment, Pram felt his body split into two . His intuition told him that this was not just a hypothetical, but an inevitable situation he would find himself witnessing in just a moment .
A strike that was impossible for him to deal with .
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Pram judged that no matter what he did, he could not confront this attack with his own strength .
As if the very heavens themselves had seen the dire circumstances he was in, two spells streaked past him to interrupt Kei’s attack . They were from Desir and Romantica .
[Burst Fire]
[Wind Bullet]
*Bang*
The huge explosion caused smoke to spread out in all directions .
Adjest, who had recovered a little bit of mana while Pram endured, dashed into the smoke .
After a while, flames erupted among the hazy-looking figures between the smoke .
As the gale that followed the trajectory of a sword parted the smoke, the scene of an equally determined Adjest and Kei locked in mortal combat were revealed .
Adjest was being pushed back . With just sword skills alone, unable to use magic to reinforce her sword and body, she was merely a Knight Class swordsmen . She stood her ground against the frantic Kei, barely defending herself .
In the meantime, Pram, who took a short breather, poured all of his strength into the hand he tightly gripped his sword with, and drew back his arm as if drawing a bow . A flurry of stabs washed over Kei . These stabs were so fast, they looked like beams of light .
*Kagagagaaang*
It was in this manner, someone tying up Kei’s footwork while another took on Kei head-on, that the tide of battle gradually started to turn in favour of Desir’s party .
Desir’s party had exceeded Kei’s expectations . The situation was starting to get difficult now . Kei, who made this snap decision, suddenly stepped back and sheathed his sword .
Desir knew well that he couldn’t afford to let off the pressure and give him a break, but none of Desir’s party could afford to chase him .
A lull in battle naturally formed .
After catching his breath, Kei was the first one to break the silence .
“Did you guys get a request from someone else? I’ll pay more than that, so please withdraw at this point . ”
Kei seemed to think that the Desir’s party was obstructing his work at someone else’s request, since they were mercenaries after all .
Desir replied, shaking his head .
“We don’t need money . Of course, we were not given a request by anyone else . ”
Kei shouted in a fit of rage .
“Then why… !”
“Then why do you need a Homunculus? You know better than anyone else what this has caused . ”
Kei hesitated for a moment before breathing deeply, sighing, and then opening his mouth in response .
“It’s to change this world in which people are discriminated against due to magical ability . ”
Desir’s party, who had managed to get this far, struggling through various situations along the way, could easily understand the meaning of Kei’s words .
“Magic is a privilege that is only afforded to a small number of people . No matter how hard they try, it’s impossible for those who aren’t blessed by mana to exceed their limits . ”
Unlike swordsmanship, as Kei had pointed out, magic was an area of ability where one’s limits are set at birth .
Desir knew this more than anyone else .
When he was born, his body failed to accept mana properly, so he was only able to reach the First-Circle . He could only achieve a mana capacity that barely qualified as Third-Circle by relying on the artifact ‘Toa’s Sentence,’ even while experiencing a life and death crisis in his previous life .
The current Desir could be described as one that had exceeded their predetermined limits . However, in reality, this was all due to the coincidence of him becoming a returner . If that hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t have had a chance to break through the wall known as aptitude either .
“I won’t deny that magic is great . I also know that it has contributed greatly to the development of civilization . And I am also aware that magicians are going to play a bigger role in the future . ”
Kei started speaking in a gentle tone, but as he continued, he gradually became more and more furious .
“But as the continent is developed by such magic, those who have not been blessed with mana will continue to be ostracized! It’s obvious in this Magical Kingdom . Before too long, everything in the world will be decided by one’s talent in magic . And I’m not going to let that happen . ”
Kei seemed to believe that the existence of magic was the main culprit behind the Magic Kingdom’s current situation .
“I will erase the existence of magic in this world . ”
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