Chapter 300: Final Battle (2)

Even though she had just asked him to kill her, Katrina sent venomous tentacles flying toward Yuri.

The tentacles aimed for his vital points, and the surrounding giants closed in, forming a circle to leave him no escape.

Yuri cut through one of the tentacles and stepped back, but a giant’s foot slammed into him, sending him rolling across the ground before he sprang back to his feet.

He managed to escape the flurry of consecutive attacks only by using the power of Chaos.

“Why are you doing this if you just asked me to kill you?”

Without answering, Katrina only intensified her attacks.

Yuri gripped Guilty and let out a faint breath. Air filled his lungs, and in his core, mana began to stir. His will—more intense than ever—caused The Cut of the Soul and the Heart to release a sharper energy than it ever had before.

He had received Katrina’s help, but that wasn’t something he was going to take into account.

Even if she hadn’t asked him to kill her, she was still an enemy he had to eliminate.

Yuri gauged the distance between himself and Katrina.

Far.

Between them were giants blocking his path, and through the gaps between them, tentacles shot toward his vital points.

One mistake, and he would be injured.

And to maintain a prolonged fight, he couldn’t afford to take damage.

Clean and precise—cut only the enemy’s neck.

Yuri stepped forward.

The muddy battlefield clung to the soles of his boots. The heavy air made movement more difficult, but Yuri didn’t care.

The environment could only limit the body, not the mind.

And The Cut of the Soul and the Heart was a mana method that responded to his will.

If, in his mind, he could already kill the enemy, then within the infinite possibilities created by Chaos, the most efficient path would naturally emerge.

Yuri seized that moment.

He pivoted on his heel and dashed backward.

[Are you running away?]

Katrina’s voice came from behind him. Her tone was calm, but the tentacles moving with her words chased urgently after Yuri’s back.

The sharp tips closed in at high speed.

Just before they could pierce him, Yuri twisted his body to the side. The tentacles twisted as well to follow him.

Yuri’s boots pounded the ground several times as he wove between the giants. Then, Katrina’s extending tentacles became entangled among the giants’ bodies.

Unfazed, Katrina concentrated her strength and split in two the giants that obstructed her movements. From her tentacles, blade-like spines sprouted, cutting apart the bodies in her way.

“Good.”

Yuri whistled as he moved faster. No matter how numerous the tentacles were, they had a limit.

He ignored Katrina and continued wreaking havoc among the giants. Every time he swung his sword, another giant fell dead.

Seeing Yuri continue moving without rest, Katrina frowned.

[Are you only going to run?]

Suddenly, Yuri’s figure, hidden among the giants, vanished.

Katrina’s tentacles, having lost their target, writhed erratically like snakes searching for prey.

Then, she looked up. Something was falling from above.

[There you are!]

The tentacles sprouting from her back instantly retracted and then shifted direction. Dozens of tentacle beams shot toward the enemy falling from the sky.

Flesh was pierced—but the sensation wasn’t right.

Katrina realized that the one who had appeared above wasn’t Yuri.

It was a giant.

For an instant, she didn’t understand the situation and froze. Even so, her tentacles shredded the giant’s body.

In that moment, she felt pain in her abdomen. She could see the sword piercing through her stomach.

[Ah…]

Yuri sliced her body in two at the waist and raised his sword again to split her head.

But from the severed surface, tentacles burst forth and counterattacked, forcing Yuri to retreat without hesitation.

Katrina’s upper half rolled awkwardly across the ground until it propped itself up on the tentacles sprouting from the cut.

Her face turned sinister.

[Ah… ah…]

Watching her, Yuri vaguely understood what was happening.

While she was whole, Katrina’s will had been strong enough to overcome the influence of black magic.

But after being cut and forcing the black magic to act aggressively to regenerate her, she seemed unable to maintain her sanity.

Her face contorted and showed pain again and again.

Yuri raised his sword. He would grant her what she had asked for.

“If you die, that pain will end.”

Yuri didn’t know how to cure or reverse black magic. Perhaps such a thing didn’t even exist in this world.

So he decided to give her rest.

Through the sword’s edge, he looked at Katrina.

The lower half of her body, cut by him, rotted immediately and turned to mulch; the upper half, supported by tentacles, transformed into a monster.

Her face had also deformed so much that it no longer resembled the Katrina he had known.

A renewed hatred for Cedric grew within him.

Whether it was an act or a means to an end, they had once been a couple. Turning a person into this state was something Yuri could not forgive.

His grudge toward Cedric burned even hotter.

Guilty vibrated.

The Cut of the Soul and the Heart, cloaked in the power of Chaos, swung down toward Katrina like a crashing wave.

Hundreds of tentacles erupted from her, filling his field of vision and rushing at him. The giants in their path were torn apart as if they were paper.

An overwhelming killing intent engulfed him.

But he felt no fear at all.

His sword could cut through anything—flesh or soul.

Yuri’s eyes entered the domain of the soul.

In the burning vision, the tentacles and giants were nothing more than hazy shadows.

By contrast, the sinister black magic that dominated Katrina and the image of her suffering soul appeared with perfect clarity.

The Cut of the Soul and the Heart, reinforced with Chaos, erased the tentacles with ease.

Yuri leapt toward Katrina.

The tentacles that filled the space writhed, releasing their presence and frantically lunging at him. Yuri swung Guilty in a wide arc, and the tentacles around him were instantly severed, collapsing to the ground.

He closed his eyes for an instant, then opened them again.

For a moment, the inner demon’s landscape passed before him—something that had already become routine.

What had once been a constant torment was now nothing more than a fitting stimulus.

Yuri smiled.

After that vision, the flames of his hatred toward Cedric surrounded him like a blazing inferno.

Clutching Guilty’s hilt tightly, he charged toward Katrina’s core.

The blade shattered every illusion.

‘Let’s eat a little more bread before we go.’

‘Huh?’

‘There’s plenty inside. Eat until I’m ready.’

Suddenly, a conversation he’d once had with Katrina came to mind.

‘How good was it?’

‘Even if Jared, who was eating bread, suddenly collapsed from a heart attack…’

‘Hey.’

Yuri had never been particularly close to her.

Back when he didn’t know Cedric’s true identity, he’d been curious about the woman who was his brother’s lover, but had only briefly met her and received a bit of help.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel compassion.

As Guilty closed in on her, the few moments they had shared shattered into pieces.

Yuri opened his eyes wide and aimed precisely at what he intended to destroy.

In that instant, the world turned completely white. Before him stood Katrina, looking straight at him.

Her body was no longer deformed by black magic, and there was no trace of pain on her face.

She appeared as she had in life, wearing her baker’s cap and smiling.

“Yuri.”

She called out to him.

“I would have liked to serve you some bread. It’s a shame.”

Yuri shook his head. And, treating her as if she were still alive, bowed respectfully.

“Lady Katrina’s bread was the most delicious I have ever tasted. I remember it so clearly that I don’t need to eat it again to recall its flavor.”

Katrina smiled.

“Thank you, Yuri. Give my regards to Jared.”

She spoke in a familiar tone.

Suddenly, a memory he had forgotten returned to him.

‘Thank you. And you may speak to me casually.’

‘How kind. When we are closer, I’ll drop the formality.’

Yuri smiled faintly.

It had been a brief connection, but not an insignificant one.

He stepped forward and extended his hand. Katrina did the same. He kissed the back of her hand and bid her a courteous farewell.

“May you have peace.”

That was the end.

Yuri’s sight returned to reality. Guilty was cleaving Katrina apart. The core of black magic inside her was breaking into fragments that scattered away.

Yuri saw it.

His sword cut through Katrina’s flesh and, beyond that, destroyed the malicious will of Cedric that controlled her.

And deeper still, in the most hidden place, there was something—

Something that could only be called a soul.

Just before he reached it, Guilty stopped on its own.

It was the first time something like that had ever happened, and Yuri was taken aback. The thread of The Cut of the Soul and the Heart that stretched from his core to the tip of his sword seemed to move with a will of its own.

Guilty turned the blade upward.

Then, it swept away the lingering black magic that covered the area.

Yuri slowly lifted his gaze.

That which had been inside Katrina was rising into the sky. Freed from its bonds, the soul ascended until it disappeared beyond sight.

It was so fleeting that Yuri wondered if he’d imagined it.

But he knew it wasn’t.

The shiver of The Cut of the Soul and the Heart coursing through his entire body told him it had been real.

He didn’t know what it truly was—
If the soul really existed or if there was a place it belonged to.

He couldn’t know.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Yuri shook his head.

He didn’t have time to think about it.

The war was still raging, and the Anti-Imperial Coalition behind him was locked in a bloody battle against the giants.

Yet his heart felt lighter. Perhaps that was the gift Katrina had left him.

“Your Highness!”

Jared, who had finally caught up to him, shouted.

“Slow down! Who were you fighting? The ground was shaking!”

“Just now?”

Yuri gave a faint smile.

“I ran into Lady Katrina.”

“Huh?”

Jared tilted his head.

“The one who made good bread?”

When Yuri had met Katrina, Jared had been with him. Both had eaten plenty of bread baked by her.

“Yes.”

“You’re not joking?”

“No.”

Jared moved to his side, shoulder to shoulder.

It was just as well he hadn’t seen what Katrina had become. For Jared, she would always remain in memory as a beautiful woman.

“She asked me to give you her regards.”

“Really?”

Jared fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

He seemed to understand, at least in part, what had happened.

“The bread was delicious.”

“I’ll buy you some next time.”

“It won’t taste the same.”

“Yes, it will.”

Yuri smiled.

“It’ll be that taste.”

In front of them still loomed countless enemies. The first line of giants was only the beginning.

Behind them, dozens of layers of monsters deformed beyond what could be called human formed a wall.

And beyond that—

Yuri could feel Cedric’s presence waiting for him.

“There’s too many.”

“That’s true.”

Yuri raised Guilty.

“But I bet they’re thinking the same thing.”

With that, he patted Jared’s shoulder and pointed behind them.

Jared turned.

“Ah…”

Just like the Imperial troops blocking them, an enormous number of Anti-Imperial Coalition soldiers was advancing like a tidal wave.

It seemed as though everyone on the continent who knew how to wield a sword was gathered there.

Swordmasters on par with the Ten Greats—Moyongchan, Jose, and Francesco—were tearing through enemies with each strike, while knights no less skilled hunted down the giants that followed.

“We’re not in bad shape at all.”

“Right?”

Yuri and Jared looked forward again.

“Who are we?”

“Yuri and Jared.”

“What?”

“Sorry—Your Highness and Jared.”

“That’s right. And we’re Briol’s vanguard. And what does the vanguard do?”

“Advance.”

“Exactly. Let’s move before our friends catch up.”

“And Laurent? Aren’t you bringing him?”

“Look to the left.”

“When did he get here?”

“He’s been here for a while.”

Yuri took the first step.

In that moment, he stood at the very front of the entire army.

“Let’s go!”

Yuri charged forward. The other two followed.

The offensive had begun once more.