A Returner's Magic Should Be Special

Chapter 150. The King of Puppets (1)

Kei firmly grasped his sword as he stepped back to take in the change of conditions. His eyes settled on the Homunculus.

The Homunculus stared back at Kei, instinctively aware that Kei was the most dangerous person here.

Feeling the Homunculus was an unusual being, Kei took his time to size up his opponent, rather than rush forward blindly.

“That monster seems to be something quite dangerous.” Desir replied.

“That’s a monster made through Alchemy. I dealt with a Homunculus when I fought off an evil Alchemist in the Desert-Flower City. But, that thing in front of us… it looks even more powerful than the one that I fought.”

Standing next to the Prophet, the Homunculus looked rather human, unlike the incomplete Homunculus manufactured by Pureus.

It had distinct facial features and its skin and skeleton did not seem to be much different from that of any other human.

‘Most importantly, the mana I can feel from it is at the Second-Circle level.’

Pureus’ Homunculus wielded monstrous ability with just First-Circle mana. Given that, he could reasonably expect that the Homunculus in front of him would be many times stronger than that one.

“I have an idea on how to get rid of it.” “Really?”

“While I’m fighting with it, I want you to deal with the Prophet.”

The ability that the Prophet had displayed in just the brief skirmish earlier proved that he was no ordinary being.

Desir speculated that he still had a hidden trump card or two and decided to leave handling him to Kei. Kei surely had the power to prevail in a straight-up duel.

Kei nodded.

“Okay, then I’ll handle the Prophet.”

Kei bowed lightly, then approached the Prophet. *Rumble*

A thunderclap rang out from the Brionac, which circled the Prophet. “Hmm, I see. So you are the one who decided to die at my hands?” “It will be clear in a little while, just who will die.”

Kei once again pointed his sword at the Prophet. *Clash*

For the second time, Kei’s sword was blocked by the invisible barrier, but the Prophet’s brooch, which was likely an artifact, couldn’t overcome Kei’s power and shattered as it disintegrated.

Kei and the Prophet made their move before the debris of the brooch could even hit the ground. Kei kicked harshly against the ground, while the shards of light hovering around the Prophet formed a spear and shot towards Kei.

*Baaam*

A multitude of clashes ensued. The Homunculus launched an attack at Kei, in defense of its master, and the building trembled in response. No matter how strong Kei was, it was too much for any person to face off against both the Prophet and Homunculus at the same time.

Desir and his party rushed into action.

“I’ll give you instructions.”

Desir hastily commanded Kei’s men.

“Commander believes in you, so we will also place our trust in you and follow your orders.” “Romantica.”

Romantica used her rifle to launch several sniping spells at the Homunculus, as if she had been waiting for Desir’s signal.

*Bang*

It sounded like iron colliding with iron. Romantica’s magic couldn’t penetrate the Homunculus’ skin at all. Although she hadn’t put her full might into that attack, things did not look good.

Romantica was shocked at what she had just witnessed.

With its head bent at a strange angle, the Homunculus looked away from Kei and focused on Desir’s party. While it didn’t suffer any damage, the attack was enough to draw its animosity. The Homunculus judged Desir’s party as being an immediate threat, and engaged them. It had not yet had a chance to adapt to its body, so its speed was still very slow. It slowly started to lift itself off of the ground it had fallen on to after attacking Kei.

In the meantime, Desir shared what information he had on the Homunculus with Kei’s men and his party.

“We shouldn’t attack it rashly. The Homunculus I fought before had the power to recover all of its wounds. Its recovery functions completely differently to regeneration, so it’s no use just destroying its body… even if we destroyed its entire body in a single strike.”

As Desir finished his explanation, one of Kei’s men spoke up, his face showing a quizzical expression.

“Then that means this thing can’t be killed!” “I thought so, too.”

Desir also thought the power was invincible when he first confronted the Homunculus.

“But if you just follow my directions, we can win. Please don’t do anything rash in the meantime.”

*Thump*

The Homunculus suddenly kicked against the ground and sprung towards the party, apparently somewhat more comfortable moving around. The speed of its movement was now beyond the level of a Bishop Class.

Perhaps because it still hadn’t fully grasped its capabilities yet, the Homunculus’ charge seemed somewhat reckless, but none-the-less remained extremely threatening. Desir gave his first command while looking at the approaching Homunculus.

“Block it, Pram.”

Pram was a swordsman at the level of a Rook Class. His eyes were able to catch the movement of the Homunculus without difficulty. Pram’s sword pierced its shoulder. Pram’s strong aura prevented the Homunculus from using that arm anymore.

It didn’t take long, however, before it invoked the force of causality and returned to its former condition.

“Chase it, Adjest.”

Adjest kicked against the ground while spreading a spell along her sword. [Magic Sword: Ice Wave]

As her frosty sword sliced deeply into the body of the Homunculus, it gradually began to freeze.

“Now!”

Desir signalled Kei’s men.

They didn't miss the opportunity. They used their aura and immobilised the Homunculus by cutting off one of its legs. But it took three men rushing in together to only break one leg.

As expected, the being in front of them was far more powerful than the Homunculus he had previously dealt with.

The Homunculus once again invoked the force of causality.

But, this was Desir’s intention.

Desir realized that the force of causality was limited to returning the Homunculus to its best condition, based on the amount of mana it had left.

There was no time for the Homunculus to run away. As soon as its body was restored, its hand was cut off at the wrist before it even knew it by the approaching Pram.

The cycle of restoration and destruction continued several times.

Cut.

Restore.

Cut.

Restore.

On and on it went, as a barrage of attacks landed on it. “Don’t give it a break!”

Another scary thing about Homunculus was that they quickly learnt how to fully utilize their abilities, even while being pummelled. The Homunculus in front of them was not yet able to fully utilize all of its abilities, so now was the best and only opportunity for Desir and his party.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Desir was distinctly aware of this and desperately attempted to settle things as quickly as possible.

‘Even its ability to control the force of causality is limited right now.’ This was the keystone of his plan.

The Homunculus used its accumulated mana whenever it empowered itself to deal or defend against an attack.

‘So the key is not how much damage it takes, but how much we get it to reinforce itself.’

Desir and his party were able to accurately figure out how much damage they needed to inflict as the battle continued. With minimal effort, they induced the Homunculus to reinforce itself using its limited power.

Desir’s strategy worked. He could feel the mana inside the Homunculus gradually decreasing.

* * *

Brionac. An artifact belonging to the mythological age. It was a weapon that separated into several strands, moving freely in all directions as if each had their own will. Seeing it in action, one would feel that they were looking at a large army of lights. Even the material it was composed of was Blank?um, a metal considered to be the best of the best for weapons on this continent.

Each spear blade emitted an immensely sharp energy before firing at a person each in unison. Sword Master, Kei Hajmaryun.

The most powerful swordsmen of this age.

Kei’s sword was a thing of legends, enough even to be referred to as a ‘Great Sword’.

However, it was not made from material as good as Blank?um.

It was easy to predict that if Kei’s ‘Great Sword’ and the Brionac made out of Blank?um were to collide, Kei’s sword would shatter.

*Kaang*

However, his sword was fine even after confronting Brionac head-on. The blade shone brightly and warped the air around it; due to Kei’s strong aura, the sword blade was unharmed His movement was graceful yet sharp; a paradox of something that was beautiful and rough. Countless sparks scattered everywhere like an afterglow, as the tip of his sword moved.

The spear of light divided itself into dozens of shards, but more than half of them had to be used to just defend against the sword wielded by Kei.

The remaining spears were free to press Kei little by little.

Instead of just being flung as projectiles, each and every one of these shards continuously fired beams of light powered by mana.

The problem was that unlike ordinary magic, their attacks fired nonstop. The shards seemingly gathered their own mana.

When an insurmountable number of beams poured down on Kei, he finally took a firm step and spread his aura around himself.

Following the trajectory of his sword, the now dispersed aura hung in the air before soon forming into a certain shape.

Their form started to resemble flowers in full bloom.

The whole building vibrated once again when the reformed spear of light collided with Kei’s flower-shaped aura.

Their fight was a transcendent battle beyond the comprehension of most human beings.

“Your swordsmanship has really reached the top level.”

The Prophet did not stop moving while expressing his admiration of Kei’s swordsmanship. *Ka-ang*

*Ka-ang*

“But why do you still wield your sword? Your king is dead, and your soldiers will all be hanged as rebels. Even if you succeed in this rebellion, no one will pardon you.”

There was no break in fighting as he talked. “Maybe you have a purpose I’m not aware of.” *Ka-ang*

The fight between the two was even.

Neither side had the upper hand, as they both fought while concealing their trump card, not daring to reveal their real skills.

It was the Homunculus who changed the circumstances of the battle. “Kraaaaaaaaaaaa!”

It shrieked loudly and all present felt something change imperceptibly.

Somehow, it felt like time had slowed down for just a moment. This wasn’t just the imagination of one or two people. Everyone gathered here felt it.