The heat was so fierce that it seemed to cover the entire world. The flames from Edwin Hector's hands had spewed out in all directions as if they were from a dragon's breath.
Crackle!
Fsshhhh!
The heat was strong enough to melt one's skin the moment it touched them.
Roman turned away from that. Although he was running at quite a speed, he stopped instantly and aimed his attack on one side of Edwin Hector while avoiding the heat.
"How dare you?!"
Edwin's eyes gleamed blue.
Memorize!
The magic circle he had engraved beforehand to prepare for Roman Dmitry's appearance instantly appeared.
"Entangle!"
Pak!
Papak!
The ground rose. The seeds of the plants buried in the soil germinated at an incredible speed and became trees with trunks as large as a human and grabbed Roman's body. It was like a giant anaconda had caught Roman. The tree trunks, which moved as if they were living creatures, possessed the powerful strength to even destroy a human body within a few seconds.
One by one, the trees attacked Roman to take his life. Nonetheless, Roman raised his mana and cut down the trunks instantly, but just then, a powerful shock arose right next to Roman.
Kwang!
Rumble!
"How dare you touch the prince!"
He had seen a man as strong as him for the first time in his life. He seemed to be middle-aged.
Wearing a robe to hide his face, he pushed Roman away strongly while his mustache continued to flutter because of the wind. His sword continued to show an explosive Aura that was threatening Roman's life with every attack. It was different from the Aura Jackson used. This man's Aura was so intense that it even distorted the surrounding atmosphere, and it was powerful enough that Roman hadn't experienced anything like it before in this world.
That man was a 5-Star Aura Swordsman named Butler, and he was the leader of the Royal Knights. He was also ranked second in Hector's Rankings.
Butler coming here meant that Hector really was doing everything they could to win the war against Cairo.
"You cannot run anymore!"
Kwang!
Kwakwang!
Butler's Aura exploded as it pushed Roman, and the forest around them shook. It wouldn't have been strange to say that the strong and swift attacks were good enough to behead Roman soon. Also,
"Wind Blade!"
Swish!
Edwin Hector didn't miss the opportunity. The wind that blew from his hand turned into a blade and attacked the gaps that arose because of Butler's relentless attacks. Their combo was truly an unstoppable attack. Even Edwin had thought Roman couldn't survive this.
Swish!
In an instant, Roman threw himself far away. After dodging the Wind Blade, he immediately raised his head back up and continued responding to Butler's attacks, who had already rushed toward him.
Kwang!
His head trembled. Edwin Hector had dug a perfect trap. He had disguised his defense by showing him that the escorts had run to Roman recklessly, but actually, he already had Butler on standby.
No matter how much Roman Dmitry crawls and flies, he will not be able to withstand the combined attacks of a 4-Circle Mage and a 5-Star Aura Swordsman.
This trap was beyond common sense. Just as Roman Dmitry had done before, Edwin Hector also attempted an attack that was beyond common sense. He believed that with this, he could finally take Roman's breath away.
Roman's head was spinning frantically. He was continuously feeling a repulsive energy because of his opponents' non-stop combined attacks.
"Ptui!"
He even spat out blood. Nonetheless, with Butler rushing toward him even at that instant, he couldn't lose his focus for even a single moment.
'As expected, they are fully prepared.'
Before he had made the attack, he had a gut feeling. Edwin Hector was a being who pretended to be someone ordinary even though he had raging mana within him. Thus, he knew Edwin Hector had dug a trap. Still, he followed his opponent's intention. Even though he knew that there was a trap, he appeared and attacked Edwin.
Why?
Why did he make such a reckless choice?
It was because he wanted to see it. In his life as Roman Dmitry, he had not yet seen anything that could be called a real crisis. Blood Fang, Barco, and even the guerrilla operation—In the life of Baek Joong-hyuk, all those things could be considered ridiculously easy.
As his heart was drenched in comfort, Roman deliberately came out and put himself on the line of death to test himself.
Kwang!
He blocked the attack. Still, a 5-Star Aura was so powerful that it shook his insides. Roman Dmitry's body had become stronger thanks to him experiencing the Skeletal Metamorphosis, but it wasn't yet at the level to take on a 5-Star Aura. Furthermore, Butler's sword technique was smooth and systematic. It showed how long he had trained in that sword technique, and he wasn't allowing Roman to take a break.
Kwang!
Kakang!
Sparks flew everywhere. As the Auras collided, a strong shock swept through the surroundings. At that moment, Roman felt terrified. He could feel the mana rushing toward him once again. Naturally, he realized that the combo attacks hadn't ended yet.
Swish!
Wind Blade!
The blade made of wind flew past him.
Blood splattered on his face, and Butler approached him while wielding his sword. The situation made him go out of breath. Roman's stamina was reaching the limit due to the successive attacks, yet he looked straight into Butler's eyes with an icy-cold and threatening gaze.
'Heavenly Demon Sword Art; Third Move.'
The mana within his dantian trembled. Suddenly, a powerful explosion was created. Mana shone in all directions as if an active volcano was exploding, and the manifested Aura attacked Butler terrifyingly.
"….!"
Kwakwang!
The power of the attack was literally incredible.
Seeing the attack ripping through the air like butter, Butler hurriedly raised his sword and manifested an Aura with all his might. Yet, he wasn't able to completely block the attack. Blood flowed out of his nose as he bounced off the ground. Nonetheless, that was all. Although it was quite a shock, he had not collapsed.
"…Just where did this monster even pop up from?"
His voice trembled. Edwin, a 4-Circle Mage, and he, a 5-Star Aura Swordsman, had attacked Roman relentlessly. Even if the opponent was a 5-Star Aura Swordsman equal to Butler, they would have been dead by now, but the current situation was different from what he had imagined. Roman's violent counterattack had entirely shattered the plan they had drawn in their heads. Furthermore,
'Roman Dmitry is still in his mid-twenties.'
He felt goosebumps rise on every single part of his body. He had reached the level of 5-Star when he was in his fifties, but his opponent was already able to counter such a power? How was this even possible? Nonetheless, Butler felt fortunate. It was because he managed to meet Roman Dmitry now. It was like a golden chance to deal with the monster that belonged to the Cairo Kingdom and would threaten them in the future. As of now, Roman was still not at a level to defeat him. Also,
Glance.
He saw Edwin Hector. He noticed that Edwin, who had raised his mana violently, had a stiff expression.
"Now it really is over. Break! Hold!"
That was Double Casting.
The mana instantly swept over Roman.
Break was a magic that destroyed the target with a strong pressure. On the other hand, Hold was a magic that suppressed the target and made them unable to move.
Both of the spells had clear purposes. The first one would break Roman's sword, and while the second one held him down, Butler would end his life with an attack while he was defenseless and couldn't move. Edwin also knew that Roman didn't have the Magic Immune artifact. Because of the momentary gaps that Roman had revealed, he would now die.
'Roman Dmitry doesn't seem to have the aura of any magic artifact. Therefore, there is no way he can stop this attack.'
He was certain. However, an unbelievable thing happened just then,
Swish!
Roman moved and avoided Butler's attack! Furthermore, even his sword looked fine!
When Edwin saw there was no effect of "Hold",
Flinch!
Roman instantly counterattacked. Naturally, blood splattered on the face of Butler. It was an unexpected counter, so he couldn't even react.
None of them knew Roman's secret. The moment Edwin Hector used magic, Roman immediately understood what his opponent was thinking.
'He's trying to suppress me with magic power.'
He felt the force of Hold penetrate his body and suppress his muscles. Magic was a force he had experienced for the first time in his life as Roman, and he had also studied a lot about it. "The Intangible Force; The realm of Gods that allows one to create something out of nothing"—That was what the books said.
There was no magic in Murim. However, he knew about the realm of magic, which was similar but also different.
In the last 6 months, Roman had sincerely prepared for war. He had started to research magic, thinking that he might meet Mages on the battlefield, and was able to get desired results.
'Magic and Witchcraft are different, but their fundamentals aren't so different. Like Witchcraft, Magic is based on mana and tries to infiltrate one's body and attack them with mana. Thus, as long as I use the Heavenly Demon Godly Art and remove it instantly, it should be enough.'
That wasn't as simple as it sounded. Mana penetrated the body with the intention of never being forced out of it, but Roman's mana management ability was at its peak. It was because he was Baek Joong-hyuk.
Without any special effort, the mana stored in Roman's dantian moved and evaporated the power of Hold. Also, Break wasn't a concern. That was because Roman's sword wasn't one that would be broken down by magic like that. He had gone through hell and repetitively subjected his body to flames to make this sword after he had given up Salamander.
Edwin's spells of magic were broken. Obviously, Roman didn't prepare for the war while thinking that Edwin was going to be his opponent. Before the war, Roman had just prepared for all possible variables.
The unexpected situation made Edwin and Butler utterly shocked. Obviously, Roman didn't miss that gap.
Pak!
"…!"
He dug into the gap in an instant. This time, Butler couldn't even move. By the time he came back from the shock and tried to catch Roman, Roman's sword had already decapitated Edwin Hector.
Swish!
The attack was perfect. Edwin's head was now in the air—No, it should have been. Nonetheless, magical power didn't allow that.
"Blink!"
With the spell 'Blink', Edwin Hector's body disappeared from where it originally was. He reappeared a little further from where Roman was. Nevertheless, his face was ghastly pale as he had overused his magical prowess.
"Fucking bastard!"
Butler's emotions exploded when he saw that his prince had almost died. He manifested an Aura that was incomparable to before and rushed ahead with the momentum to kill Roman at any cost.
Also,
FWEEEEET!!!
Whistles could be heard from every direction. The troops who were chasing Roman seemed to have finally arrived.
With Jackson rushing toward him frantically, Roman judged he had to make a decision quickly.
'If I stay here any longer, I will die.'
He saw Edwin Hector far away from him. Then, he said, "Remember this. I will catch you. If I meet you next time, you will not be able to survive like today."
Once he finished his words, he kicked the ground and moved away instantly. Even Butler was left speechless when he tried to reach for the space that was filled with darkness, where Roman had disappeared, but couldn't even find Roman's traces. It was thanks to the Shadow King's martial arts. The other troops tried to quickly find Roman by lighting up the darkness with torches, but there was no way Roman would be found so easily.
Eventually, everyone stopped in their spots. Seeing the darkness they could never dare to step in and the crazy situation in front of them, they only had one thought.
'This is Hector's defeat.'
That was an unacceptable reality, and even more so for Edwin Hector, who had lived his life being acknowledged by everyone he met. Naturally, he could hardly take his eyes off the darkness Roman had disappeared into a few moments ago.