Free Web NovelChapter 337: Chapter 73: The Sound Comes After the Sword
She thought for a moment, organizing her words. "It feels... like the world has become clearer, but also noisier."
She extended her right hand, palm up, and with a slight nudge of her will.
A wisp of pale silver energy quietly gathered above her palm, slowly rotating to form a tiny vortex:
"Before, during Meditation, I could only vaguely sense the flow of Energy, like looking at a shadow at the bottom of a lake through a layer of fog. Now, the fog has thinned. Sometimes, I can even ’see’ the textures and patterns of the Energy, it’s like..."
"...like how I used to only see leaves caught in the wind, but now I can occasionally ’see’ the subtle eddies of the wind itself."
She paused before continuing. "And after my Spiritual Power and Dimensional Energy completely merged to create ’Magic Power,’ the biggest change is sustainability. Before, casting Magic mainly consumed my own accumulated Spiritual Power. Now, even though I still need my spirit to guide and control the construction and release of Magic, the primary Energy cost is shouldered by external Dimensional Energy funneled through the Magic Power interface. The drain on my own Spiritual Power is drastically reduced..."
Murphy listened quietly, saying nothing.
...
「Twenty kilometers outside Monte Castle.」
This was a sparse woodland on the leeward side of a hill. The early spring chill had not yet completely receded, leaving mottled patches of snow on the ground. Under the moonlight, the bare branches cast menacing, claw-like shadows.
The night wind whistled through the woods, letting out a low, whimpering cry.
Suddenly, the air above a clearing in the woods rippled like the surface of water without any warning. Immediately after, a blurry figure appeared stumbling into the moonlight, as if being squeezed out of the water itself.
It was a tall, slender figure shrouded in a dark gray cloak, their face obscured from view.
The moment the figure appeared, they steadied themselves with one hand against the rough trunk of a nearby oak tree, panting slightly as if from great exertion.
"HUFF... HUFF... That was close." A low, slightly hoarse voice, impossible to identify as male or female, drifted out from the shadows of the cloak’s hood, tinged with lingering fear. "Almost... got caught."
He slowly straightened up and tilted his head slightly, as if listening for something, or perhaps confirming he was safe.
A moment later, he seemed to let out a sigh of relief, but his tone was filled with incredulous surprise.
"Unbelievable... Truly unbelievable. To think that the territory of a Legendary Knight would be hiding an Official Wizard."
"No, that’s not right. An Official Wizard, no matter how young, could become an honored guest of any major power on the Continent, or even establish their own. Why would she be content serving under a Legendary Knight? Even with a name as famous as the Thunder Sword, he’s still just a War Slave. What’s more, he’s seriously injured and hasn’t recovered."
"Wait... I get it." A hint of sudden realization entered his voice. "She isn’t serving him, she’s using him! That Official Wizard must have her eye on the wealth and resources the Monte Territory has accumulated over the years!"
The more he spoke, the more plausible it seemed, and his tone took on a self-satisfied, mocking edge. "An Official Wizard who wants to research in peace and increase her strength needs a vast amount of resources. Materials, laboratories, servants—which of those doesn’t cost money? Gathering and managing all that herself would be a time-consuming hassle. How could that be more convenient than directly controlling a ready-made, well-run territory?"
"Either that Thunder Sword Melfield is so badly injured he can’t recover and has lost control of his territory, allowing this Wizard to seize power from behind the scenes."
"Or, the two of them have reached some kind of agreement. The Wizard provides protection, and the territory becomes her personal money bag."
He let out a soft sneer. "No wonder... No wonder that Wizard reacted so quickly and had such tight security. She’s protecting her own property. She thought that with the power of an Official Wizard, she could intimidate any common riffraff, but she never expected..."
He paused. The shadow under his hood seemed to shift, as if he were smiling.
"...she never expected that she would reveal her hand. A young Official Wizard and a Legendary Knight who’s likely nothing more than an empty shell..."
But in that very moment, disaster struck!
None of his senses, none of his defenses, not even the Magic he used to conceal his form and aura, had detected the slightest warning.
There was no sound of tearing air, no Energy Fluctuations, no trace of killing intent or alarm.
There was only a singular, ultimate, pure "swiftness"!
A streak of dark gold light seemed to leap directly from the void. It was too fast to leave an afterimage on the retina, searing into his consciousness only the impression of a straight line tearing through the night.
SHLICK!
The sound was like that of a sharp blade piercing leather.
The body of the figure in the dark gray cloak went rigid.
He looked down, staring in disbelief at his own chest.
The spot that should have been covered by his specially made protective cloak, layers upon layers of Shielding Force Fields, and the passive Protective Magic he had constructed as an Official Wizard was now replaced by a perfectly straight, smooth-edged hole.
No blood sprayed out.
The streak of dark gold light had been too fast, its temperature too high. In the instant it pierced through him, it had utterly vaporized and annihilated the flesh and bone in its path!
And then—
BOOM!
The delayed, thunderous boom finally exploded through the woods!
It was the sonic boom left behind by the streak of dark gold light as it broke the sound barrier, finally catching up to the destruction it had already caused. freёwebnoѵel.com
And with that boom, the cloaked figure’s body seemed to finally register the horrific blow it had suffered. Starting from the smooth-edged hole, countless spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across his entire form! frёeωebɳovel.com
A blinding, dark purple light erupted from the cracks.
"Im... pos... si... ble..." He struggled to move his lips, forcing out the broken syllables.
