The Sword Emperor Transmigrates

Chapter 169

“I didn’t think I would need an entire month,” Leonard muttered to himself.

After performing some major circulations, he was now fully recovered. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

His body was as strong as a Vajra Physique, and he had even awakened his Dragon Heart, yet it had almost been crushed in a mere sparring match, not even a real battle with his life on the line. This was simply proof of Grace’s incredible might. Her power was unbelievable in a different way from the other commanders he’d seen.

As a rule, Demigod Tier experts were unbeatable for anyone weaker than them. But Grace had an even greater advantage. Every one of her attacks was formidable on its own and didn’t require preparation time. Since her attacks were so efficient, she could use them over and over again. Therefore, she would also win battles of endurance.

Grace was perfect for fighting large armies. For generations, that was the role the Blue Dragon Commanders had taken on.

She was the worst possible matchup for Leonard.

It’s nearly impossible to break through her shower of swords, and even if I did, she’s not particularly weak in close-quarters combat. Even if I set up the perfect defense, she would just pummel me with swords until I was crushed.

This was not a power that Leonard could face while in the Transcendence Tier.

If he fought Audrey and Demian without them using their unique traits, he could keep up the fight for at least a hundred exchanges, but if he fought Grace in the same way, he’d likely not reach ten exchanges, let alone a hundred.

Leonard hadn’t even managed to fully harmonize his five elements; he stood no chance against Grace, who had merged hers. His aim was slightly different from hers, and her abilities were essentially greater versions of his.

She is one with natural energies, so the Eastern God Style will be useless. The Southern God Style’s destructive power won’t be able to push back against her firepower either. And focusing on defense won’t stop the attacks, so the Northern God Style won’t work either.

While healing himself with energy circulation, Leonard had run through thousands of possible battle scenarios, trying to find a way to win. Since he could use power at the Demigod Tier, it wouldn’t be completely impossible to win if the stars were aligned in his favor.

As I thought, completing the Western God Style is my top priority.

With that thought in mind, Leonard finally unfolded his legs from the lotus position and left the training room in which he’d been cooped up for a month.

The Eastern God Style incapacitated all powers that interfered with natural laws.

The Southern God Style had destructive power that could annihilate all.

The Northern God Style could halt anything, making them as if they were suspended or dead.

If he devoted himself to just one style, he could easily reach the commander level. However, part of his goal was not just to reach the Demigod Tier but to surpass the Deification Tier. To reach the peak[1] of martial arts. True martial artists sought to always continue to improve themselves as long as they were still breathing.

“I need more experience on the battlefield,” Leonard unconsciously muttered to himself.

He pushed away his fixation on the duel itself. He had an idea of a technique that he could use as an outline for the Western God Style, but he couldn’t reproduce it. During their fight, he had used an attack that had the power to cut through a mountain. But he’d fumbled the attempt and ended up with injuries that took him a whole month to recover from. However, he considered it a small price to pay when it would help him develop the Western God Style.

The White Tiger is the key, Leonard thought. It would be the foundation for the Western God Style.

It was easy for most people to think of the White Tiger as simply a tiger with white fur, but the divine beast was very different from regular tigers in multiple ways, including in appearance. Its eyes were blue and its fur pure white; it had claws and fangs that could tear through anything, and could run around the whole world at the speed of light.

There was even an old idiom, “a dragon fighting a tiger,” that was used to describe a conflict between two great powers. The Azure Dragon was often seen as the king of mystical beasts, but the White Tiger could match its power.

The White Tiger was also known to chase away evil spirits, which was why shrines in areas rife with spooky stories about spirits and ghosts would hang up pictures of the White Tiger.

Fingers running over his sword, Leonard took his time to consider the information he had used to come up with the basis of the Western God Style. He felt as if he was on the brink of a breakthrough, and that peculiar feeling made his fingers itch. He couldn’t make any developments in the Western God Style merely through sparring unless his opponent was at the commander level.

“...I’ll have to join in on this Subjugation Order,” he decided.

He’d heard that the Third Division had also finished recovering from their injuries, so it was about time for them to return to the field.

His steps were light as he headed back to the base.

The Void Deity Aiolos, who could command the four winds, would make the perfect subject for him to test the Western God Style.

“Huh? It’s Leonard.”

“What? Leonard’s here?”

Just as Leonard had expected, the Third Division had finished recuperating from their injuries and were making preparations for their next mission.

What did surprise him was the way the members crowded around him.

Grady, who’d run up to Leonard as soon as he spotted him, was the first to speak. “It’s good to see that your arms and legs are attached! I could tell how vicious Grace was by the damage she did to the arena alone. Were you spending the last month recovering?”

Apparently, there were rumors going around about how Grace had absolutely pummeled him.

“I did end up with some injuries because I pushed myself too hard... but just what in the world are these rumors?” Leonard asked back.

“Well, you didn’t really do anything wrong. It’s Commander Grace who’s the problem. The way she fights is so flashy that she ends up affecting a large area. Someone even said that her impact was so powerful that the aftershock reached people beyond the White Dragon base.”

“Ah.” Now he understood. Leonard had unwittingly contributed to Grace’s harsh reputation.

He assumed that the impact came from his last attack, which was the experimental Southern God Style technique he had used to destroy a thousand of her swords. A Transcendence Tier expert wouldn’t be able to create such a large aftershock on their own.

Grace had probably been worried about Leonard when he suddenly began to push himself so hard to use a dangerous technique, and she’d even gone easy on him so he wouldn’t die or be critically injured. And yet her concern only strengthened her reputation as someone approachable. He couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.

“But anyway, since you came here as soon as you finished recovering, I assume you’re going to join us on Aiolos’s Subjugation Order?” Isaac asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” Leonard confirmed, looking down at the sheath at his waist. “I still haven’t had the chance to test out this fine sword.”

It wasn’t forged from the expensive materials that the Cardenas family usually used but from Pollux’s iron fists. The divine sword wouldn’t really improve Leonard’s own capabilities, but it made a difference in areas where it mattered, such as when he was about to be killed.

Most importantly, a sword this powerful would give him a notable boost when fighting an enemy as strong as a Demigod Tier expert. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Of course, Isaac knew this as well. He smiled. “Yes, it looks quite dependable. I’d imagine that it can even easily cut through the winds of Aiolos’s authority. If you weren’t here, we would have had to send out a request for assistance to other divisions.”

Aiolos was the master of the seasonal winds, and he was a formidable enemy. He was dangerous in a different way from Pollux. His divine powers made him close to being an Intermediary Void Deity, and combined with their versatility, they made him so powerful that not even a Class 9 Archmage would be able to compete with him.

“Thankfully, Aiolos’s fragments are much too weak for us to need a commander-level knight to come with us. I assume there won’t be any unexpected surprises like last time,” Isaac added.

As the five knights recalled how they had nearly been annihilated by Pollux after going to fight Castor, a bitter taste filled their mouths. They swallowed it down.

Once it was revealed that Castor could call upon his brother, the party had been credited for making a big contribution to the White Dragon, but they refused to do it again.

“Oh, I guess we’ll have to take a boat. It’s been a while since I’ve been on one. I don’t like how salty the ocean air is,” Janet said, making small talk.

That reminded Leonard of what he’d read about the Divine Territory they would be going to.

Aeolia. That was the name of both Aiolos’s island and kingdom.

The island had a fortress made with technology that no longer existed in their era, and it even blocked people from looking inside with magic. They would have to go in blind, with no idea of its layout and structure.

“The island isn’t too far from shore, so it’ll only take about an hour or two to reach it from Arcadia. You can put your mind at ease,” Isaac explained.

“Yay!”

“If we’re going out to sea anyway, can we do some fishing on our way back?” Grady asked. “I want to test out my skills. It’s been a while.”

“If we have the time, I’ll consider it.”

Janet’s eyes widened at the mention of fishing. “Well, I’m going back to the base as soon as the mission is over. Really, I don’t understand why you like fishing when you don’t even like to eat fish.”

“Ah, but that’s beside the purpose. Even the commander enjoys fishing,” Isaac replied. Janet shrugged.

It was nice to see them chattering. As Leonard listened to the ridiculous conversation, he didn’t even notice himself smile. The bond between people who had fought and nearly died together went beyond merely sharing the same last name. They were basically a real family.

Yeon Mu-Hyuk had lived a solitary life, isolated by his power until his very death. Would he feel that sense of belonging someday, like the other knights?

I don’t know.

It was too early for him to answer.

* * *

The Third Division received approval to carry out their mission the very next day. Void Deities became more powerful the longer they stayed alive, so as long as the White Dragon Knights weren’t pushing themselves too hard, it was best to kill them as soon as possible.

However, Aeolia was a little different from other Divine Territories. Up until now, the knights would be transported to and from the Divine Territories with teleportation, but this time, they had to take a boat. It was a standard vessel made of metal and wood.

Leonard felt a little disappointed when he saw it, not even realizing the anticipation he’d felt.

It’s not even made with magical engineering, he thought. Then again, there’s no reason to use ships like the ones at the Atlantis Maritime Alliance when we’re just sailing through a normal ocean.

Their boat wasn’t even a proper military ship but a transport vessel. Using a ship as great as the ones at the Alliance would only be a waste of resources, Masterpieces even more so.

Now that I think about it, the Sixth Sea District will also become more dangerous the longer the Rifts are left alone. I wonder if the Arcadian Empire has any plans to deal with them.

Rifts didn’t close up naturally like wounds did. If left alone, they would erode on the Middle Realm and turn into Corroded Realms, which were several times more dangerous.

The Order of the Red Dragon was in charge of Rifts. Leonard would ask Wade once they met.

His thoughts were interrupted when he sensed something dangerous. His hair stood on end.

The ocean was peaceful, and the sky was cloudless and clear. But his instincts were warning him—warning him that something serious was about to happen, even if his life wasn’t in danger.

Just as Leonard opened his mouth to shout, the boat began to oscillate.

“What?!”

All the knights were Transcendence Tier experts. They should have been able to move around a turbulent boat as easily as they could on land, but their balance was suddenly thrown off.

The boat was being tossed around by unnatural forces.

These aren’t normal ocean waves!

Leonard’s eyes dyed golden, and he saw where natural laws were being distorted.

It was the wind.

The wind raged around them like a tornado, as if trying to flip the boat over. It shouldn’t be possible, but it was thrashing the boat around from its very underside. At this rate, they would have to return to shore without reaching the island.

“The enemy is attacking!” Leonard yelled as he unsheathed his sword.

Shing. He brandished the murky black blade.

This was a divine blade made from the fragments of a dead god.

It glinted in the face of a living god’s power.

I’ll cut through it.

Wind wasn’t like fire, water, earth, or wood. It had no substance, flowing as an intangible force.

So, Leonard simply had to cut off the flow and make his cut fast and sharp—so fast and so sharp that not even Leonard himself would see it.

One Origin Five Elements Sword Art

Five Elements Style

Ultimate Secret Technique: Azure Dragon's Flash

Crack. A bolt of blue lightning shot out from the boat toward the ocean.

1. The word also sounds like “endlessness” or “limitless” ☜