Chapter 50: Instant
A deep cyan streak of light swept across the ground, the gale it stirred cutting through the ranks of frenzied beasts like a blade, raising a tide of blood.
Amidst the Black Forest, Brandon raced at breakneck speed.
Slaying magical beasts without pause, leaping over thickets, his body was cloaked in a mist-like deep cyan battle qi. This condensed power drew upon the flow of wind and atmosphere, further accelerating the swordsman's speed while also storing strength for the next strike of his twin blades.
At this moment, a cyan vortex spun within Brandon's eyes. The world, as he saw it, had become a twisted alien realm filled with cracks. The swordsman, having activated his Eyes of Instant Death, wore a cold expression, and not a single drop of blood from the magical beasts torn apart by his blades splattered onto his face.
Brandon Kaos—a man with the Empire's finest swordsmanship talent. Even the Kaos Family, which had produced legendary mages, had to acknowledge this fact. His talent had even sparked debate within the clan—and the final result of that debate was to let this direct heir become a swordsman, rather than a mage in keeping with family tradition.
Yes, rather than letting this sword prodigy become an ordinary, mediocre Gold-rank mage, it was better to let him become a swordsman who might one day become a legendary sword saint. For a proud mage family, such a change and concession meant the greatest recognition of his talent.
Crossing a small hill, the chaotic aura grew denser by one degree. The wyverns circling in the sky seemed unable to suppress their urge to attack, diving straight down at the running Brandon.
With a disdainful glance at these black wyverns soaring in the air, the swordsman swung his sword in an empty arc. The surging brilliance of battle qi tore through the atmosphere, striking the 'cracks' and cleaving these monsters—along with their magical breath—into two halves. Stinking purple-black blood mixed with entrails rained down like a bloody shower.
Paying no mind to these monsters that were practically throwing away their lives, Brandon sheathed his twin blades, which radiated a strong order fluctuation and were essentially a source of monster attraction. As he sped forward, his brow furrowed deeply.
Something was wrong.
The number of these frenzied beasts was extremely abnormal.
Brandon felt that everything was going a bit too smoothly.
This was the Great Magic Tide, with two hundred thousand frenzied beasts—a terrifying magical beast army capable of shaking mountains and making forests tremble! So why were there only this many monsters in the end?!
He had been prepared to be surrounded by thousands of magical beasts, fighting desperately to carve out a bloody path!
At first, Brandon had heard Joshua's roar from ahead. The swordsman thought he would soon catch up to that warrior fighting alone and help him. But Brandon never expected that, even while riding the wind and battle qi, and with such easy battles along the way, after flying at high speed for such a long time, he still hadn't caught up.
This simply defied logic—under normal circumstances, Brandon was faster than Joshua, so he should have caught up long ago. Yet in reality, the swordsman was still eating dust, only able to see the results of the other's path.
Along the way, Brandon saw many magical beast corpses—spiny armored beasts like hedgehogs with sharp shells, giant mammoths with steel-tough hides as large as hills, and colossal armored bears with strength enough to shake mountains. These monster corpses were scattered like trash around the scorching path, which was the route Joshua had taken.
Most of their bodies bore only a single wound—either in the heart, the head, split open by a blade, or pierced through by a spear. In short, all were killed in one blow.
Without a doubt, this was why the swordsman hadn't seen many monsters along the way—because ahead of him, that warrior had already slaughtered all the troublesome ones.
"This combat ability is a bit excessive…"
Killing these monsters swiftly without affecting his own speed—Brandon prided himself on being able to do the same, but only with his magic eyes activated and full concentration. Joshua didn't have magic eyes that could instantly kill by hitting 'cracks' like he did, and he had been fighting for so long. How could he still maintain such precision?!
There was no answer to the question, and now was not the time to think. The most important thing now was to catch up to that black-armored warrior.
No sooner had the thought settled than a noise beyond all worldly madness suddenly rang out. A piercing shriek that could nearly tear eardrums came from afar.
In the distance, deep within the Black Forest, where it was completely obscured by purple-black mist, a massive ripple spread. The mist surged like waves, and a gray-black shockwave churned the air, spreading through the atmosphere, making one's heart tighten.
Boom!!!
Accompanying the mist's fluctuation, a thunderous roar like a volcanic eruption shook heaven and earth. In an instant, a black pillar of light appeared once more on the horizon, even more swift and massive than what Brandon had seen from the fortress wall earlier, bringing with it even more otherworldly aura.
"So fast?!"
The blonde swordsman couldn't help but exclaim in shock. The Chaos Space-Time Gate was opening much sooner than expected. He gritted his teeth and said, "Joshua was right—if this keeps up, it really will be too late!"
As a guardian of the ordered world as well, Brandon could also sense the endless chaotic magic power surging from that pillar of light. The power within the Order Twin Blades protected his body from erosion, but the surrounding trees and magical beasts weren't so fortunate. They breathed in the thick otherworldly power and were rapidly eroded and transformed.
A layer of translucent color gradually spread over the surface of the tall, bizarre trees of the Black Forest, a thin film of crystal slowly extending. As for the monsters, the areas where magical power was most concentrated had mostly crystallized completely.
The appearance of chaos always meant the corruption of a region. In his youth, Brandon had followed an elder of his family to a sealed land in the Western Mountains. That secret realm hidden deep in the mountains had been almost completely taken over by chaos, with countless twisted, deformed monsters roaming everywhere, only kept from reaching the Mycroft Continent by the seal.
Unlike the crystallization here, that secret realm was fungal. Whether plants or creatures, everything in that realm was eroded by magical power into writhing, fungal-like monsters, like slimes.
Breaking through the not-so-dense beast horde ahead at supersonic speed, Brandon suddenly felt the pressure lighten. There wasn't a single magical beast ahead. The originally noisy, crowded Black Forest suddenly became empty. This scene, which should have been a relief, instead felt eerily strange, doubling the pressure.
"What's going on?!"
Anomalies always had a reason. Brandon muttered to himself but didn't slow down. He had a premonition that the cause of this strange phenomenon was not far ahead.
Cyan light streaked by. Brandon, carried by the wind, arrived at a high ground. The blonde swordsman stood atop a hill, looking down from above.
His sharp eyesight and observational ability quickly found the scene he wanted to see—and that scene made his eyes widen.
Beneath the gray-black overcast sky, as far as the eye could see, within the shadows and darkness of the jungle, countless terrifying magical beasts surged. It was like when the horde had besieged the fortress—the rolling tide of beasts crowded and churned, surrounding a clearing in the jungle. However, these completely twisted and alienated monsters roared repeatedly, looking extremely ferocious, yet they dared not attack easily because of a single figure in the center of their siege.
Brandon focused his gaze.
In the distance, at the center of the beast horde, the fluctuation of order mixed with a crimson glow. Joshua, clad in black heavy armor and burning with fire-like red battle qi, stood in the empty forest. He seemed to regard the surrounding magical beasts as nothing, casually pulling a red box from his chest. On it, countless glowing runes flowed.
Looking at this box from afar, Brandon suddenly felt a palpitation, a heavy and terrifying pressure like the deep sea faintly emanating.
Snap.
The box was opened.