The Amber Sword

All of them had Kirrlutz’s uniforms.

[But it is strange. Why are these people here?]

The knights were still quite a distance away from them.

When Brendel returned his gaze to the young boy to indicate that he was ready for the duel, the latter had already thrown two bottles of explosives made from Alchemy.

He frowned slightly and took a step back. Even though the young boy said he would not injure him, he did not hold back at all. He did not indicate for the duel to start too.

If these two bottles were thrown onto a normal person, they would definitely be crippled and possibly die.

The bottles exploded in mid-air. The boiling acid and glass fragments flew in every direction, but before they reached him, a wall of blinding flames was raised in front of him.

The Fire Shield spell on the Crimson Blessing had activated automatically.

When the flames and white smoke disappeared, Brendel found two bizarre humanoid creatures the size of a human adult lumbering towards him, and their twisted and ugly bodies had Magic Formations crawling all over them. They looked like a pile of rotting meat, but one would realize they were no weaker than gargoyles after looking at them closely.

The name was simply called Mutant in the game. It was a level 25 Alchemy Creature. One could call it as living creature, but it had no feelings, emotions, or intelligence. This was why it did not go against the teachings of the Holy Cathedral of Fire.

Brendel immediately understood the young boy’s intentions when he saw twelve metallic orbs hovering behind the latter.

Rono wanted to use the Alchemy Creatures and other defensive tools to gain more time.

[This boy is trying to prepare an Advanced Magic Formation. He’s really quite experienced in battles. Does he belong to some special department? Perhaps a Battle Alchemist?]

He was slightly surprised. Kirrlutz’s royal Alchemists had a special group that was focused on combat. They wore blood-red emblems of eagles and were called Battle Alchemists.

[A Battle Alchemist is indeed one of the sub-professions for an Alchemist to advance in the direction of combat, but it’s rare to find one. And this boy is really a little too young if he’s one. Quite the talented individual.]

However, he mocked the boy while shaking his head: “Your abilities only go this far?”

The young lord did not even pull his sword against the Mutants. His right hand sliced through the air, and he invoked the White Raven Sword Arte’s wind pressure against the two Mutants in front of him. The stats of a Gold-ranker could hardly be imagined. The two mutants did not even have the chance to resist the vertical hurricane and were hurled back.

The girl trapped by the vines shrieked as one of the Mutants went past her, causing her long golden hair to dance in the wind. The other Mutant was thrown upwards towards the knights, but their reactions were swift and split apart in both directions to avoid it.

One crashed against the ground, another was flung over the fence and dropped hundreds of meters like a stone.

“It seems that the Kirrlutz Empire doesn’t amount to be anything much,” Brendel said as he raised his hand again.

The wind started up yet again. The boy was astounded. He had never expected his opponent from Aouine to be so difficult. Two superior Iron-ranked monsters did not even delay him for a second. Even the strongest opponents he had faced in the past would take a moment to deal with the Mutants.

“The Shield of Tyr!” He shouted. The metallic magical artifacts immediately formed a circle around him, and twelve transparent shields blocked off the hurricane that Brendel conjured easily.

Tyr was a famous Magic Artificer who was good at defensive magic. He invented numerous defensive magic and artifacts.

The boy inhaled deeply after defending against Brendel’s conjured wind and was prepared to counter-attack, but a burly hand pressed down on his shoulder.

The knights had arrived.

“Rono, you’re not his match! Fall back, and support us with Alchemy. Leave this bastard to us!”

The knight who stopped the boy was covered in full armor and wore a purple-green helmet that covered most of his face. His voice echoed within the metal plates, and Brendel quickly recognized him as a Centurion.

“Captain?” Rono was surprised to hear that assessment; he initially thought the opponent in front of him was a second-rate Elementalist, but it appeared that the youth angered by Faena was a difficult foe and required the entire squadron to fight against him.

“Leave it to us.”

“Where’s Grandmaster Cullens?”

“He will be arriving shortly.”

The captain of the knights turned to look at Brendel, and the green eyes under the helmet were full of cautiousness: “Ser, did you say that the Kirrlutz Empire amounts to nothing much? You seemed to be confident in yourself! Allow us to show you what we’re capable of, citizen of Aouine—”

He raised his sword, and twenty knights rushed out from both sides.

The boy did not waste time too. The metallic orbs spread out started firing lasers vertically onto the ground to draw a Magic Formation. Each laser created a node, and the boy threw down a Mana Crystal in the center of each node. The Magic Formation was divided into three layers, and had twenty-two nodes to form a tapered formation.

The Magic Formation was swiftly created and its speed could be compared to Blood Magic. However, these metallic orbs were expensive to use because they required extremely pure Amber Gemstones as fuel. The creation of these orbs was also costly, and only a few people knew how to make them.

[Indeed, only the Kirrlutz Empire can afford to let their Alchemists use these luxury items. But these people make me fucking laugh. Do they really think the Kirrlutz Empire is the human race’s pride?]

The tragic ending of the Princess Regent was linked to this ‘prestigious empire’. Duke Arreck was unable to give an answer to where her assassins came from, but the gamers were everywhere on the continent.

The truth was eventually revealed.

[I haven’t even thought of going after you bastards, and you dare to reveal yourself in front of me? Good. It’s time to let these arrogant idiots understand that the world doesn’t revolve around Kirrlutz. You’re just the favorite kingdom of the Holy Cathedral of Fire.]

He glanced at the ground Rono was at. It was a Magic Formation to invoke the Wind Fog spell. It greatly aided an Alchemist in close combat, and he naturally could not let his opponent finish it. Even though the latter’s speed was indeed an envy for most Alchemist, it did not matter to Brendel at all.

The young lord reached out for a Flame Agate in his bag. The Mana that it contained was more than ten times the boy’s Mana Crystal had. Brendel invoked an advanced Magic Formation with the Crimson Blessing which immediately shattered his Flame Agate.

The centaur shopkeeper howled silently in distress when he saw that sudden scene. That was a Flame Agate Mana Crystal of the highest quality!

The Mana that gushed out from the broken fragments appeared like it had a physical form. Because of the purity, there was a sky blue mist that wrapped around Brendel’s hand. Three Magic Formations formed on his arm and condensed the Mana into several balls. The blue Mana spheres were vibrating slightly as though they were about to burst out into an explosion.

Brendel then lifted his hand, fired the projectiles past three incoming knights as they left a trail of blue light. They shot into the boy’s Magic Formations and his expression immediately changed. The Magic Formation that was drawn nearly to completion was destroyed instantly.

[Counter Magic specifically to disrupt an Alchemist’s Magic Formations! He’s also an Alchemist who’s experienced in combat!]

The boy staggered backward a few steps and coughed out blood. He quickly covered his mouth, but the amount of blood leaked out from his fingers.

[How is it possible for him to form a Magic Formation so quickly? That Counter Magic Formation is at least a Seventh-Circle Magic Formation. It’s even greater than my own by two Circles! Blood Magic? That’s not right either, it can’t be used in Advanced Magic Formations. Even if there is one, a Blood Magic Formation is red, and that Magic Formation of his is clearly white.]

The boy was completely stunned as he collapsed to the ground. The feedback from the Counter Magic had greatly damaged his organs in an instant.

“Rono!” The lady who was still tied up by the vines gasped.

The knights were also shocked. They did not expect the greatest genius amongst the current Empire’s youths was gravely injured in just a single move. What was even more stunning was that his opponent used Alchemy as well, and he was not much older than the boy was.

But the commander of the knights had his shock quickly turned into anger. He could not imagine what fury the emperor would have if he knew the genius under his protection got injured, as well as what kind of fate would befall on his head.

“Kill him!” The centurion roared, but he suddenly realized that this was still the territory of the Druids, and he quickly changed his words: “No, capture that Aouine man!”

“Catch me?” Brendel’s laughter was cold: “What qualifications do you have to do so?”

He glanced at his surroundings. The twenty-odd knights had the strength of an upper-tier Silver-ranker. On one hand, it was clear that Kirrlutz had strong military power, and the other was that the boy and the lady’s identities were not simple.

Still, it was just a mere twenty-odd Silver-rankers to him.

[I shouldn’t waste any more time. They probably have strong reinforcements.]

He took a single step forward.

And an aura exploded from the youth. Under the combined might of his Gold-ranker’s strength and level 16 Aouine Military Swordsmanship, the aura took on a visible form of a white mist.

Even though he did not take his sword, the knights felt like there were countless blades pointing at them.

The centurion could not have imagined the youth had reached the standards of a Gold-ranker, and that he was already a grandmaster swordsman—

“A grandmaster swordsman!” The knights shouted as their formation was quickly broken.

The overwhelming, physical pressure from the youth could not be withstood. In just a single heartbeat, the twenty knights were completely downed.

Brendel expected this outcome. If he were to engage these knights before the events in Schafflund, it would have taken him considerable trouble to deal with them. But they were pretty much harmless to him. He spun round to look at the female aristocrat from Kirrlutz.

“D-don’t come any closer......”