Chapter 48. Hidden Choice (3)
The Special-grade Magical Beast worth 50 points.
「Baphomet」
How many times had he repeated the Nemesis Knight Order examination stage in the original work just to try and catch the seemingly invincible creature?
‘My heart pounded wondering what reward catching such an amazing creature would give, and I finally found the method.’
But after finally discovering its only weakness and defeating it, there was no particular reward.
Moreover, the solution discovered through such hardship offered no guarantee of success without suffering critical damage.
‘Because the method I finally found to kill it ends everything if I mess up the controls even once.’
Making a mistake here is extremely critical.
‘That’s why I didn’t try to catch it unnecessarily, but…’
He slowly aims the sword towards the Magical Beast before him.
Baphomet.
Unlike its appearance of rotten skin suggesting great age, a Magical Beast that purely crushes opponents with overwhelming reaction speed and monstrous strength.
Furthermore, its tough hide nullifies all magic with superior magic resistance.
Outwardly, it's a creature hard to find weaknesses in.
Except for one thing.
‘Excluding those eyes sprouting all over its body.’
The eyes glaring fiercely from the creature's torn body, looking this way ominously.
Meeting those dozens of pairs of glaring lights, Enoch quietly projected mana into the sword blade.
The dark blue color blooming with a faint metallic cry pushed back the darkness.
-Kieeeeeeeeeek!
The Magical Beast roared as if frenzied, then slammed both arms hard onto the waterway floor, shattering the ground into chunks.
Then, it started running, randomly throwing the broken floor pieces, beginning to close the distance with Enoch.
But Enoch didn't even blink, turning his foot half a step sideways.
‘Now I can be sure.’
A rock chunk brushed right past his eyes.
Getting hit once by a rock of that size and speed held the power to literally disintegrate limbs, yet he felt no threat at all.
The reason was simple.
‘In terms of pure reaction speed, I overwhelm it.’
Spin.
Enoch spun his body once to evade the thrown rock, and simultaneously changed his body's direction straight forward.
Then, pushing off the ground as if bouncing off, he began rapidly dashing straight ahead.
Holding his sword slanted, Enoch sprinted through the darkness, the creature's weakness flashing through his mind.
‘Simultaneously destroying all the eyes on its body is the only weakness!’
That was precisely why the Special-grade Magical Beast was a tricky opponent.
Because discovering the method to kill Baphomet like this was difficult, and executing it was also hard.
But since the situation had already flowed this way, he had no choice but to catch it.
‘If the timing of simultaneously destroying the eyes all over its body is off even slightly, it won't die.’
A situation requiring cutting down multiple targets at once.
If so, Form 2, ‘Fire Wheel’, would be most suitable.
But there was one fundamental problem.
‘…The Fire Wheel I currently wield still lacks proficiency.’
The true nature of Fire Wheel seen in the memories of the World of Impermanence wasn't just about cutting fast.
The ‘freedom’ to change trajectories unpredictably at that speed, cutting down enemies in a single strike.
Enoch hadn't reached that stage yet.
‘So far, it’s just cutting in a straight line.’
Swordsmanship that merely mimicked speed, just a shell.
It had served well in actual combat until now.
But to cut down those irregularly placed eyeballs on its body in one strike, that alone wouldn't do.
He had to execute Fire Wheel at tremendous speed while simultaneously ‘perfectly controlling its trajectory’.
Along with the resolve, Enoch triggered mana in his limbs.
Taaang!
Pushing off the ground while sprinting, he shot up towards the sky ahead with seemingly rebounding speed.
Thus evading the massive fist the creature thrust out.
Enoch, rotating rapidly in the air while falling, swung his sword wide in mid-air.
─Chwaaaaaak!
Form 2, Fire Wheel.
The sword, rotated three times, tore through the air, slashing the eyes on the Magical Beast’s body.
But immediately after Enoch landed on the ground.
Pooow!
The thick forearm the creature swung violently struck Enoch, grazing his side.
“Keoheok!”
The impact sent Enoch’s body staggering back significantly.
Quickly planting his sword into the ground to brake, he barely controlled his body that had been sent flying backward.
Even though it was a glancing blow, the intense shock made it hard to breathe.
If it had been a direct hit, it would have been a fatal strike.
Enoch raised his head to check the enemy.
The creature, while howling in pain from its slashed eyes, still stood firmly on two legs in the darkness.
The reason was obvious.
‘Didn't cut… all the eyes.’
He failed to cut all the Magical Beast’s eyes.
The eyes not destroyed at once were regenerating like tumors, wriggling back to life all over its body.
Enoch briefly replayed the recent event.
Though a brief moment, he definitely saw it.
Just now, in the very short instant before swinging the sword.
The creature saw his movement in that instant and raised its forearm, taking a defensive stance.
It instinctively protected its weakness.
Seeing the creature starting to take defensive postures to avoid his attacks, he paused to catch his breath.
Cutting down all the eyes scattered across its massive body in one strike was much trickier than expected.
But he had to succeed.
‘Fire Wheel shouldn't just be fast. The Last Sword Saint didn't use Form 2 like that in the first place.’
Enoch met the Magical Beast’s eyes.
The red gleam burning with ominous hostility glared fiercely, aiming for Enoch’s life.
Can I do it?
Even amidst the fierce sword strike accelerating by exploding mana, having to control the sword thoroughly.
‘Failure means death.’
Just then.
─Piiing!
A huge rock fragment grazed past Enoch’s eye, who was lost in thought. Blood spurted slightly from his cheek.
-Krrrrrrk!
Baphomet, taking advantage of his hesitation, started throwing rocks and rapidly closing the distance.
Simultaneously, Enoch also turned his sword and resumed his sprint.
In the darkness of the waterway.
Red gleam and dark blue eyes charged fiercely towards each other like beasts, leaving long afterimages.
The Magical Beast moved first.
Baphomet clasped both its arms together and slammed down violently towards the approaching Enoch.
-Whoong!
Enoch dodged Baphomet’s strike by quickly turning his body sideways. The creature’s fist grazed past him, shattering only the waterway floor.
With a roar, the water flowing on the floor in the darkness of the underground waterway shot up in all directions, and pavement fragments exploded.
Instantly, Enoch’s eyes narrowed.
A chance.
‘Focus.’
The fierce yet free sword form the Empire's Last Sword Saint displayed during his lifetime.
This time, he had to unleash that swordsmanship from memory at the same level within his own hands.
Grip.
Enoch tightened his grip.
As if tracing the boundary between life and death. The dark blue mana projected onto the sword blade shone intensely in the darkness.
His fingertips, focused to the extreme, once again drew the Sword Saint’s Fire Wheel in his mind.
And at that moment─
Enoch’s eyes widened greatly.
The image of Fire Wheel seen in the Last Sword Saint's memory vividly overlapped with reality this time.
Instantly, Enoch’s lips moved slightly.
“…Got it!”
Beyond his vision in the darkness, the definite trajectory of the sword used by the Empire's Last Sword Saint emerged.
Immediately after.
Finally, the dark blue sun unfolding from the sword tip rotated three times, slashing through the darkness.
Sgaaak─!
Evading all the defensive postures the creature hastily adopted.
The trajectory of that dark blue sword cut down all dozens of pairs of grotesque eyes in a single rotation.
At that moment.
The movement of the sword reflected in Enoch’s vision. That trajectory momentarily overlapped with the memory from the time of inheritance.
The past memories of the Last Sword Saint seen in the World of Impermanence. The fierce and nimble sword movements he achieved.
He could finally be sure from the fingertips holding the sword.
‘Getting closer.’
It was distinctly different from the swordsmanship used until now.
The completeness of Form 2 acquired last time was now infinitely close to that of its original owner, the Sword Saint.
Tap.
Behind Enoch, who landed on the dark waterway floor.
The Magical Beast, all its eyes slashed in one blow, slowly collapsed onto the dark waterway floor, losing balance.
Eventually, the creature’s massive body fell onto the water flowing on the waterway floor.
Splash, a dull sound of water echoed dryly in the darkness-filled waterway.
Enoch glanced back briefly.
On the watery surface of the waterway. Baphomet lay collapsed forward, powerless.
Ripples spread out in calm circles around the fallen creature’s massive body.
Clearly combat-incapable to anyone's eyes.
The light of the dark blue mana projected onto the sword cast Enoch’s long shadow onto the floor.
“Hoo.”
Only then did Enoch gasp for the breath he had held momentarily.
Besides allowing an attack during battle, perhaps due to the recoil of using Form 2, a dull, severe pain shot through his entire body.
Thinking he managed to use Fire Wheel in such a state, he lowered his sword and looked up at the waterway ceiling.
Baphomet was a Special-grade Magical Beast.
An opponent practically impossible for the teams of just four mages formed in the examination grounds to defeat.
Luring such a creature into the waterway where there were no prying eyes, facing it 1-on-1, and defeating it.
Although he had no choice due to unforeseen circumstances, considering the intended purpose of deploying the Special-grade Magical Beast in the examination grounds, it was quite a reckless strategy.
Enoch silently readjusted his grip on the sword.
This wasn't the time for sentimentality.
There was still work to do.
He had to confirm its demise.
He turned his gaze towards the front of the dark waterway passage.
Baphomet lay collapsed there.
-Rustle rustle…
Perhaps already breathing its last, the creature’s body was already disintegrating at an abnormal speed in various places.
As if saying it should have returned to dust long ago, the Special-grade Magical Beast decayed like ashes, turning into black powder starting from the tips of its arms and legs.
Enoch approached the fallen Baphomet closely to confirm its death for certain.
And the next moment.
-Swish
Suddenly, it laboriously pushed itself up.
At the unexpected action, Enoch immediately aimed his sword.
-…….
But the creature remained motionless, merely staring at Enoch’s sword with its already blinded eyes.
A strong question flashed through Enoch’s mind.
‘What? Suddenly, why the sword…?’
The creature was still rapidly disintegrating into black particles, decaying and vanishing quickly.
But even amidst that, the Special-grade Magical Beast raised its collapsing body—
-Thud.
As if paying respects before the sword of the Empire's Last Sword Saint.
With its last strength, Baphomet politely knelt, bowing its head towards the sword.
Seeing the Special-grade Magical Beast’s sudden action, Enoch’s eyes narrowed momentarily.
‘…What is this?’
He wasn't seeing things wrong.
In the darkness of the underground waterway.
The massive Magical Beast was dying while venerating the sword left by the Empire's Last Sword Saint, the one that cut it down.
As if… it had known the sword and the swordsmanship that killed it well since the past.