Chapter 154: Fire (2)

The forest burned.

The forest surrounding the royal castle was so vast that even the small villages nestled within it were in danger. If the flames continued, the damage could reach the city.

Yuri crouched.

“They really did it.”

Trusting in the enemy’s conscience to wage battle was foolish, but this time he had. Because only in that way could they win this war.

Besides, deep down, it was also for Graham. While he remained unharmed, they wouldn’t resort to burning everything, and since he desired Graham’s well‑being, Yuri didn’t want to base strategy on his downfall.

Unknowingly, he had been carried away by his emotions.

How foolish he had been.

“Yuri Briol, you still have much to learn. And yet you act this way after seeing all this?”

Yuri blamed himself more deliberately. It was the only way to bear it. He spoke aloud, as if forcing himself.

“I made a mistake, so I have to fix it. Yes, I must redo everything. Let’s go.”

Yuri drew Guilty.

“They set fire! Everyone evacuate!”

Yuri was first to detect the flames. He yelled at the top of his lungs toward the Joachim army’s camp.

The response was immediate.

The soldiers fled in total disorientation.

In such dense forest, there was no way to extinguish the fire once it spread.

“Where are the mages?”

“They’re under Dispel!”

“Damn it, those bastards…”

The mages could have contained the fire, but the Empire had already deployed a Dispel.

It was useless. They had no choice but to retreat.

Gonte, who had just exited, spat in rage. His face showed contained fury.

“Those bastards from the Empire… so this was their plan.”

At first only sparks flew far away, but now the flames rose like an unstoppable tide moving toward them.

“Send the signal so all soldiers in the forest retreat!”

“Yes, sir!”

Yuri fixed his gaze on the woods.

The flames devoured everything. Beneath the burning trees, shadows danced chaotically. Among them, a glint like a sword was visible.

Yuri drew Guilty again and plunged into the flaming woods. He encountered the Alloy Brigade in full retreat.

“Are you…?”

“Retreat quickly.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have something to do.”

“It’s dangerous! The fire is out of control…”

“Don’t worry about me. Go somewhere safe.”

“Understood.”

They nodded and continued evacuating the forest. Yuri headed in the opposite direction, toward the burning woods.

Since the entire forest was full of ambushes, Joachim’s knights took time to emerge.

Meanwhile, Yalta was brutalizing those fleeing, attacking them mercilessly from behind.

Yuri closed his eyes and opened them again. His racing heart calmed.

Instead of being swept away by rage, he contemplated his own faults and steadied his emotions.

“Yalta.”

The name of the enemy he had to kill came to his mind. A controlled murderous thirst spread through his body.

His steps became light. He stalked Yalta like a shadow, making no sound.

“Damn worms. Hahaha…”

Yalta laughed as he trampled corpses. Yuri stabbed his back with Guilty.

Clang!

“Oh…”

Yalta spun around with a mocking smile.

“One of the three cursed puppies, huh? Where are the other two?”

Yuri didn’t answer and kept swinging Guilty. Their swords clashed with a deafening noise.

Yalta burst into laughter.

“Are you upset because I set the fire? You didn’t expect me to do something like that?”

Yuri remained silent. He attacked straight for Yalta’s neck. Yalta evaded with a spin and counterattacked with his sword.

The edge passed mere millimetres away. But Yuri didn’t move, his eyes wide open.

The blade grazed him, cutting a few strands of his hair.

Yalta whistled.

“You’re lucky.”

“It’s not luck.”

“You’re implying you knew I wouldn’t get you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that does impress.”

Yalta chuckled and twirled his sword in the air. Yuri opened his eyes firmly.

Although not identical, another lock of his bangs fell. It was something that often happened with his combat style, based on keen awareness of distance.

Even in his past life it was so.

Graham intercepted him as he fled, and during their sword exchange, one of Graham’s strikes grazed his hair.

He could still recall Graham’s eyes behind falling strands.

“You killed him?”

Yuri asked.

“What?”

Yalta frowned.

“I asked if you killed him.”

“What are you talking about? The ones from Joachim? I killed tons. When the fire started, they all fled like cockroaches. So I chased them down and crushed every one of them.”

He laughed scornfully.

“Does that bother you so much? Should it matter to a guy with a sword?”

“Well, you’re right.”

Yuri shrugged. Then suddenly, he launched a thrust.

The distance was long. He emitted no sword wave. But in an instant, his blade pierced the air—and Yalta’s body.

It was the “Single Strike,” a technique he learned from Sparrow.

“Huh?”

Yalta, with animal reflexes, twisted his body and avoided a killing blow. But his side was sliced from one side to the other and began to bleed.

Yalta alternated his gaze between Yuri’s sword and the wound on his body.

“What the hell was that…?”

Yuri withdrew his blade and attacked again. This time, Yalta ducked to dodge. The thrust passed through empty air.

Yalta roared and lunged for an attack.

“What a weird trick you use!”

The distance closed immediately. Their swords clashed again, with brutal impact.

Flames danced around them as they fought fiercely.

But Yuri was disadvantaged. Yalta had overwhelming strength. Every time they clashed, Yuri was pushed back as though floating. Though uncut, the impact accumulated in his body like bone‑shaking blows.

“You came here thinking you were someone important?”

Suddenly, Yalta seized Guilty with his bare hand, and with the other he aimed a strike at Yuri’s head.

Yuri attempted to block with Guilty, but Yalta’s brute strength stopped him from lifting it.

To dodge that strike, he would have to drop his sword. But if he did, he couldn’t keep fighting.

A shadow of doubt flickered in Yuri’s eyes. Meanwhile, Yalta’s sword neared dangerously.

Yuri gritted his teeth. His thoughts raced. And in that instant, the world seemed to slow.

The downward arc of the sword, Yalta’s smiling face—all moved in slow motion.

Yet Yalta also appeared trapped in that slowed time. There was no way to evade the strike within the available moment.

The sword drew one palm closer. If he allowed it, his skull would split in two.

He was about to drop his sword—but then he recalled something. In such a critical situation, the risk was enormous. It would have been smarter to drop the weapon and flee.

But he didn’t want to. Just as he didn’t want to directly ask about Graham, he also didn’t want to drop his sword.

So he went for it. A faint swirl arose along the blade.

Yuri channelled mana from his core into Guilty, creating a fractal vortex that repeated infinitely.

Guilty did not escape the flow of time, but the “Cut of the soul and the heart” was not bound to that tempo.

The whirlwind spun as fast as Yuri willed. He had done it.

As soon as the vortex from the sword completed, time returned to its normal flow, and the swirl unleashed from Guilty wrapped entirely around Yalta’s hand.

Yalta was flung into the air, bleeding all over his body.

The vortex continued tearing through the air before finally vanishing into the sky.

“Haa, haa…”

Yalta got back up. His entire body was bleeding.

“What the hell was that now?”

Showing his bloodstained teeth, he let out a crooked smile.

“You’re a real joker. Yeah, you were the one I liked the least.”

Yuri looked at him and suddenly asked.

“What happened to Sir Graham?”

“What?”

“I asked what happened to Sir Graham.”

Yalta opened his eyes wide in surprise.

“Huh? How did you know?”

Yuri closed his eyes and reopened them.

“How did you figure it out if no one was supposed to know? Was it just a hunch?”

Yalta scratched his head, muttering to himself.

“Or maybe it showed? Well, with the fire, I guess everyone must’ve figured it out. Should’ve killed him sooner…”

And suddenly, Yalta lunged.

“Including you.”

He swung his sword.

Yuri blocked the attack, but the force pushed him back quite a bit. In that instant, Yalta’s foot slammed into his abdomen.

“Kugh!”

Yuri groaned. Yalta kept talking.

“I was in a good mood and felt like playing around, but you ruined it. So I’ll just kill you quick, arrogant bastard.”

Yalta used both his sword and body. Even if his blade was blocked, his punches and kicks kept coming relentlessly.

Yuri also had experience in that style of combat, but the strength difference was so vast he could barely stay on the defensive.

His eyes could track the movements, but his body couldn’t react as fast.

Moreover, the flickering flames distorted the outlines of what he saw. It was becoming harder to see clearly.

Yalta burst into loud laughter.

“Resisting is pointless. Without the forest, you Joachim rats have no way to stop the Empire.”

“Is that so?”

“Still acting calm? Come on, give up your neck already, Yubi!”

Yalta remembered Yuri’s name, which meant he saw him as a threat.

Meanwhile, the fire continued to spread. Although both Yuri and Yalta could endure it due to their levels, the rest of the troops could barely breathe within the inferno.

“When the forest burns down completely and the path opens, Joachim will be finished.”

Yalta grinned wickedly.

“And speaking of that, Graham is finished too.”

It was a sudden confession.

Yuri frowned slightly. Yalta, as if talking to himself, tilted his head.

“How strange. Killing Graham was like killing Joachim too. What kind of relationship did you have? Was he a spy, maybe? Maybe I did the right thing killing him.”

“You killed Sir Graham?”

“Yeah. Stabbed him right through. Crushed his head too.”

Yuri’s eyes darkened.

“He wouldn’t let me set fire. If I could just burn everything, Joachim would fall instantly, right? Don’t you think so, Yubi?”

“And you think I’ll let you?”

“And if you don’t let me, what are you going to do? You have the power to stop this fire?”

Yalta wasn’t wrong.

If that forest turned to ashes, the path to the castle would open.

With the land cleared, the Empire’s troops would invade with ease, and Joachim wouldn’t be able to resist.

“If I burn it all… I could turn all of Joachim into ashes…”

As he murmured, Yalta looked up at the sky.

“Huh…?”

Yuri also felt something. His eyes widened. Something touched his cheek.

Yalta opened his mouth with a puzzled expression.

“Wha…?”

It was rain. Rain was falling from the sky.

Yalta shouted in surprise.

“It’s raining all of a sudden!?”

Water began to pour down in torrents. The flames that had risen like demons were slowly being extinguished.

As the rain soaked the forest, the fire could no longer spread.

“This makes no sense…!”

“Doesn’t make sense?”

Yuri gripped Guilty tightly and spoke.

“If there are people like you who start fires, then there will be someone to put them out.”

That rain wasn’t natural.

“But… we said to use Dispel! Then how—!?”

At Yalta’s words, Yuri let out a slight smile.

Hernando had hinted at it in the past.

Magic could be easily neutralized with Dispel, which was why, no matter how powerful, a mage rarely reached the level of the Ten Greats.

But there was one mage capable of surpassing that limit.

One who wasn’t hindered by Dispel and could face monsters capable of cleaving mountains with a sword.

The Archmage Inariel.

He had arrived.

***

Inariel gazed at the burning forest from above.

The lives rooted in the earth screamed in pain. He clicked his tongue.

“Humans…”

As an elf closely connected to the forest, that scene was anything but pleasant to him.

Inariel raised his staff. Of course, he was an Archmage.

His secret magic was simple.

The Immutable Mana Formula

The magic Inariel wielded could not be altered by external agents. Not even the Dispel that blanketed the entire area posed any limitation to him.

He lowered his staff with a firm gesture.

And then, the rain began to fall.