# Chapter 53
—
Someone collapsed.
It was Arthur, struck with a gruesome wound across his chest.
“Khak!”
Arthur, kneeling on the ground, coughed up blood.
Carpe, who had been staring blankly at the sight, jolted in shock and shouted.
“Y-you lunatic!! You can’t fall now!”
Arthur grimaced and retorted.
“Mr. Carpe! Not me—Mr. Tacen!”
“…?”
“Don’t look at me! Look at Mr. Tacen!”
Carpe blinked, then turned his gaze.
And before he realized it, an exclamation slipped from his lips.
“…Huh?”
Something was off about the monster-like Tacen.
The aura and pressure he gave off hadn’t changed at all, yet the violent, destructive movements from just moments ago were gone.
‘What’s this? He’s zoning out in the middle of battle?’
Just as Carpe frowned at the thought—
Blood burst from Tacen’s shoulder.
Startled, Carpe instinctively stepped back, just as Tacen roared.
“Graaaahhh!!!”
From the wound where blood spurted, fierce static crackled out.
Carpe gaped in horror.
“He got electrocuted? That monster?”
“Stop being impressed and do something, Mr. Carpe!” Arthur barked, pressing down on his chest wound.
“He can’t stay like that long! You need to fire off that spell you were preparing before it’s too late!”
At those words, Carpe hastily raised his hands.
At the same time, mana surged up around him.
Sensing the anomaly, Tacen gnashed his teeth and growled.
“…You, bastard.”
“Oh? Mr. Tacen, you’re back to your senses?”
“What the hell… did you stick inside my body?”
Arthur curled his lips into a smirk.
“I shoved in a sharp little lightning bolt to wake you up. Feeling more clear-headed now?”
“You son of a bitch… Where the hell did you learn that?”
As he shouted, Tacen’s sclera turned red once more.
Arthur flinched at the sight—then Carpe’s spell was completed.
**\[Tacen Door.]**
With the incantation, four doors erupted upward from the ground, surrounding Tacen.
Enraged, Tacen tried to smash through them, but it didn’t work.
*Kwaang!*
It was a binding magic close to a barrier—one of Carpe’s original spells based on Tacen’s mana, designed as a countermeasure to restrain his rampages.
‘It won’t work on anyone else, but against Tacen, there’s no defense more effective than this.’
Proof of it: even Tacen, cloaked in sword aura, could not break down the doors.
‘I developed this spell long ago in case something like this ever happened… never thought I’d actually use it.’
Carpe sighed.
As long as his mana didn’t run out, the doors wouldn’t collapse. Which meant Tacen’s rampage was restrained.
Something utterly impossible had Carpe been alone.
He hated to admit it, but he had unexpectedly benefited thanks to his chance encounter with Arthur.
‘But still… that lunatic, what did he even learn? Lightning? Could he use magic all along?’
Carpe had only identified four abilities in Donn (Arthur): swordsmanship with spirits, the bloodline power that hardened his skin like armor, and the artifact that allowed teleportation.
Yet only a few months later, Arthur was suddenly wielding lightning.
‘Wait… was that even lightning made of mana? When his body was wrapped in it, I couldn’t sense any mana at all.’
And how could he remain unscathed while enveloped in lightning?
Only a magician could pull off something like that.
Carpe’s eyes narrowed.
‘That guy… isn’t he truly dangerous? He’s not even a magician, yet he summoned lightning. And the blow he struck earlier, his fighting style too…’
Carpe trailed off, recalling the scene.
Donn had drenched Tacen’s body with a water spirit, then the moment they exchanged blows, he had driven lightning into Tacen’s body.
If all of that had been calculated, if he had foreseen this very situation—
to be honest, it was less impressive than it was terrifying.
‘He toyed with Tacen… despite their difference in power.’
Carpe swallowed dryly and turned his gaze.
Then his eyes widened.
“…?”
Arthur, who had been gasping for breath just a moment ago, was gone.
Carpe blinked, then belatedly opened his mouth.
“…That lunatic!!”
He whipped his head around.
“Damn bastard-!!”
From the very passage Tacen had walked out of earlier—
came the faint sound of footsteps.
—
—
Leaving Tacen to Carpe, Arthur muttered as he exited the scene.
‘That was lucky. If my cut had been any shallower, I never would’ve broken through Mr. Tacen’s skin.’
Swordsmen who reached the 5th Circle didn’t just wield sword aura.
They also mastered defensive skills befitting their level—the most representative being **Mana Defense**, which Tacen had displayed.
‘A defensive technique one step above physical reinforcement… wrapping mana directly around the body, like a magician’s barrier. Incredibly tricky to deal with.’
Which was why scratching the body of a high-level swordsman was nearly impossible.
In that sense, Arthur’s earlier clash with Tacen could only be chalked up to fortune.
Even though he had used Undine to drench Tacen’s body and then drove lightning into him, managing to wound a body protected by Mana Defense was a gamble, even in Arthur’s own mind.
‘It was luck all around. If I hadn’t cut through… I’d be the one lying dead.’
He groaned, blood spilling from his lips.
The gash from Tacen’s greatsword throbbed viciously.
Undine was desperately trying to close the wound, but since it had been inflicted by a sword infused with aura, it wasn’t healing easily.
*\[A-Arthur…]*
“I’m fine, Undine. Don’t be scared—just focus on the healing.”
Undine nodded frantically.
With the water spirit’s aid, Arthur kept walking as the wound in his chest was slowly tended.
‘If Mr. Tacen came walking this way… then the destination must be at the end of this path.’
He forced his hazy mind to focus.
A sharp, metallic stench hit his nose.
“…Huh?”
Arthur blinked and stopped.
An arched chamber revealed itself—corpses floated by the dozens on stagnant, filthy water.
At the center stood a girl, clutching someone’s neck in her grasp.
“Yenika?”
“…Young Master?”
Recognizing one another, both Arthur and Yenika flinched.
“How did you know it was me?”
“How did you?”
“My ability, of course. And you?”
“Because of the necklace around your neck.”
“…?”
“The black cross. Among the people I know, the only one who belongs to that group and would wear such a necklace is you, Yenika.”
Yenika narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“Again… just a hunch?”
Arthur only shrugged.
Then he turned his gaze to the man in her grasp—
Keras, the one who had hypnotized him and struck from behind.
“Haa… from the looks of it, I’m a step late.”
Yenika smirked.
“Kuhh…!”
At that moment, the man she held let out a choked cry—
and astonishingly, his face began to peel away.
The mask he wore disintegrated, revealing a narrow-eyed man beneath.
His appearance matched perfectly with Marshal Dust, the man sketched on the flyer Sir Willet had given Arthur.
“H-how is the princess of the Black Cross here?”
Revealing himself, Marshal Dust stammered in fear.
Yenika averted her gaze from Arthur and answered.
“I’ll tell you slowly. We’ve plenty of time to talk, Marshal Dust.”
With those words, Marshal Dust’s entire body was engulfed in blood.
Whether it was Yenika’s or his own was unclear, but enshrouded in blood, Marshal Dust collapsed unconscious.
Watching from the side, Arthur sighed.
“You won’t hand him over, will you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what’s so special about him that even the Black Cross is involved?”
“Am I obliged to answer that?”
“Come on. I just helped stop Mr. Tacen when he was hypnotized.”
Yenika blinked.
“Tacen… was hypnotized?”
“Yes. He almost attacked Mr. Carpe instead of the necro…mancer. I fought alongside Carpe to stop him.”
Arthur flashed the wound on his chest.
Yenika could immediately tell he was telling the truth.
‘The scent of Tacen’s blood… and Carpe’s mana, too.’
Still, needing stronger proof, she pulled out a mana communication device and contacted Carpe.
\[Th-that lunatic went to you, Princess!?]
Only after confirming did Yenika finally turn her eyes back to Arthur.
Arthur stood with arms crossed, wearing a sullen expression.
“…So, you really did help.”
“Yes. Which is why you should at least tell me your objective. Why capture him?”
“You must know what he stole?”
“I heard it was some core technology of magi-engineering. But wasn’t that unconfirmed?”
Yenika smirked.
“What if it’s true?”
“….”
“The royal family’s been hunting an industrial spy. And the one who really escaped with core magi-engineering technology… is Marshal Dust. Him.”
Arthur’s eyes widened.
“Oh… That’s huge. If he really stole such lucrative tech monopolized by the royal family…”
“Exactly. Want to hear more?”
“Nope. Not like you’d tell me anyway.”
Yenika chuckled slyly.
It was an infuriating smile for reasons Arthur couldn’t place.
But he didn’t respond.
Yenika giggled, then snapped her fingers.
A drop of crimson blood shot toward Arthur’s face.
“Consider this a reward for saving Carpe.”
“….”
“See you at school, Young Master.”
With that, Yenika vanished leisurely, carrying the unconscious Marshal Dust.
Arthur, watching her go, licked up the droplet of blood she’d left him and muttered.
“She’s really annoying… Someday I’ll have to cut her throat.”
Clicking his tongue, Arthur turned.
He walked past the overflowing corpses, down the opposite direction of the sewer.
*Drip, drip…*
Beyond that point, no corpses could be seen.
It seemed the previous chamber had been the final battleground.
Instead, the sewer widened abnormally, the stench of rot from the stagnant water overwhelming.
If not for Undine, the stench would’ve clung to him for days no matter how much he washed.
Arthur continued on until he heard a sound of falling water.
“Oh, a waterfall?”
He peered out.
*Kwaaahhh—!!*
The sewage, rushing through the wide drain, poured down like a waterfall.
It was one of the Scepters in District D-42—the western lake.
The unpurified sewage fell endlessly into a vast basin, forming a gigantic lake.
Arthur leapt down.
*\[A-Arthur!]*
Startled, the gnome hastily formed platforms to catch him.
Arthur slowed his descent with them and landed safely.
*Thud.*
On the lakeside, Arthur turned his gaze.
“….”
Perhaps because it was near the polluted lake, not even the usual insect noises could be heard.
Yet his sharpened senses picked up faint breathing in that silence.
Arthur smirked.
“Mr. Marshal Dust?”
“….”
“I know you’re hiding. Why not come out?”
No reply.
So Arthur drew his pistol and fired at a tree opposite him.
*Bang!*
The enhanced bullet snapped the tree clean in two.
From within, the narrow-eyed man emerged, astonished.
“…How did you notice me?”
“Is that important?”
Arthur drew his black meteor-iron sword.
“From here on, I’m going to kill you. Don’t expect it to be clean. After all the trouble you’ve caused, I intend to make you pay for it.”
—
