Chapter 78

"It's Lambert Delacroix!? To dare impersonate that Lambert in front of me, who reveres Lord Gailof! You deserve to die a thousand deaths!"

Manshi shouted, tightening his grip on the book of Gailof.

"No, I won't kill you easily! I'll use Lord Gailof's magic to turn you into a mere puppet of flesh, and keep you alive for years, even decades, to taste endless pain! Just because you managed to slay a reinforced undead, you think you can get away with it!"

Lambert ran towards Manshi.

Manshi, supporting the book with his left hand, pointed his right hand at Lambert.

"Flame, consume all!"

Through the medium of Gailof's book, the magic was activated.

From the tip of Manshi's hand, flames rose higher than two hein (approximately two meters), scorching both the floor and the ceiling.

Manshi's magic was slower than Lambert's movements, and the flames followed in his wake.

"Ha ha ha ha! That armor will sear your flesh and become your coffin!"

"What is the scale of that magic...!?"

The adventurer of the 'Dancing Sword' let out a stunned voice.

Manshi's magic was incomparable to that of ordinary mages.

The time it took to activate, the scale, the power, and the activation interval.

Most importantly, the total amount of mana required to cause such phenomena was overwhelmingly overwhelming.

Among magics, those that create something from nothing consume a great deal of mana.

Therefore, many mages manipulate earth or wind to turn it into attacks.

Those who handle fire can, at most, release a flame ball the size of a palm.

If an ordinary mage were to produce that amount of fire, they would quickly run out of mana and become unable to move, and it could even be life-threatening.

Manshi was manipulating magic through the grimoire of Gailof, a historical monster and alchemist.

Gailof's book had been optimized to the extreme in terms of mana efficiency through complex magical circuits, reaching a nearly perfect form as a medium for magic.

While the power of the book certainly contributed, the scale of the flames was due to Manshi's overwhelming total mana.

"This isn't something a mere adventurer can handle... That magic is on par with the five great court mages."

Fand, who was fighting the reinforced undead and commanding his companions, watched the battle between Manshi and Lambert from the corner of his eye, sweating profusely.

"Why, with such skill in magic, would he join a forbidden magic organization! It's impossible to get close to him!"

Fand's words contained three errors.

First, Manshi's specialty was necromancy, and he lacked the means to use corpses to obstruct Lambert, so he had no choice but to use methods outside his expertise.

Second, Manshi did not stray from the path of a mage; he had long since broken down as a human being and became more evil due to his powerful abilities.

Lastly, for Lambert, who was facing Manshi, the flames were not a significant problem.

Lambert avoided them at the last moment, but his movements were still relaxed.

By deliberately drawing him in and then closing the distance at the last moment, he was closing the gap to Manshi in the shortest possible route.

"Is this all you can do with Gailof's book?"

Manshi's fat-covered face contorted with deep wrinkles, revealing his anger at Lambert's evaluation.

Even the magic of Manshi, who was on par with the peak mages of the kingdom and had terrified Fand, felt far below what Lambert had experienced from Gailof's magic.

Finally, Lambert's greatsword caught Gailof within reach.

Their eyes met.

"I will destroy that book."

"Fool, you will die!"

Suddenly, a headless dual swordsman clad in pitch-black armor appeared in front of Lambert, raising his right sword.

It was a Dullahan, one of the thirteen spirits of Gailof, who had been guarding Manshi's side and then vanished.

The sudden strike was blocked by Lambert's greatsword.

"The sixth Dullahan of Gailof's thirteen spirits. It's been two hundred years."

Lambert's sword clashed with the Dullahan's, pushing against each other.

The Dullahan, using dual swords, unleashed inhuman sword techniques at Lambert.

Lambert defended against the rapid sword strikes, faster than sound.

For nearly thirty exchanges, Lambert was on the defensive against the Dullahan's sword techniques.

Even Lambert, one of the magic generals who had conquered the Legion Kingdom during the Eight Nations Unification War, found it difficult to defeat Gailof's thirteen spirits.

Lambert kicked off the ground and leaped backward.

"I see, you've grown stronger while I was asleep."

"..."

The Dullahan, silent, readied his dual swords.

The Dullahan's swords were different.

The right sword was a thin blade, crafted from magic silver, balancing lightness and hardness.

It was the main weapon for the Dullahan's rapid strikes.

The left sword was entirely black, with a misty appearance.

It was a cursed magic sword from the netherworld, part of the Dullahan's body, capable of piercing and severing life through the body, a cursed magic sword.

The reason Lambert was on the defensive was largely due to this magic sword.

A tangible magic silver sword and an intangible, unblockable magic sword.

Dealing with one would be easy.

However, the godspeed strikes from these two completely different swords made the battle difficult for Lambert.

Manshi had used the Dullahan in almost all the suppression of the adventurer guild in the city of Baraila.

With a spirit swordsman like the Dullahan wielding a cursed sword, even a major guild could be suppressed in no time.

Manshi also wanted to conserve mana.

If he were to fight head-on, even Manshi could not continue to suppress a major guild without taking damage.

Additionally, the Dullahan's sword, which did not damage corpses, was convenient for Manshi, who wanted to use them.

Summoning spirits above the seventh rank required elaborate rituals and posed a risk to Manshi.

Therefore, Manshi preferred to use the sixth Dullahan.

The Dullahan, who could instantly kill any swordsman with its inhuman sword techniques, was Manshi's greatest sword.

However, it was also too powerful and boring, so it was often used as a last line of defense or insurance.

Since obtaining Gailof's book, Manshi had never been in mortal danger thanks to the Dullahan's power.

The sight of the Dullahan struggling was a significant source of stress for Manshi.

"What are you struggling with! Enough playing around! No more capturing alive! Kill him! Kill him! Finish him off!"

At Manshi's words, the Dullahan lunged forward.

The inhuman duel, beyond the realm of human perception, resumed.

Manshi, with a twisted smile, waved his arm to join the battle.

"Flame, consume all!"

As a spirit, the Dullahan would return to the netherworld if its body was severely damaged and could no longer exist in this world.

Therefore, Manshi decided to burn both the Dullahan and Lambert.

The two swordsmen were enveloped by Manshi's flames.

"Ha ha ha ha! I did it, I did it! I killed him! Ha ha ha..."

Manshi laughed.

From the flames, a black sword, carrying a miasma, was ejected.

"Ha...!?"

In the next moment, the Dullahan was kicked out of the flames and fell against the wall.

His hands were empty, and the pitch-black armor was split vertically, beginning to fade as it could no longer maintain its existence in this world.

"Why!? Why..."

From the pillar of flames, Lambert, with his greatsword at the ready, appeared.

"I don't know if you were trying to support him, but the one who lost focus was your spirit."

Distracted by Manshi's flames, the Dullahan's intricate dual-sword strikes momentarily dulled.

It was enough time to decide the outcome of the battle.

As a result, the one who emerged victorious from the intense battle was Lambert, clad in pure magic gold armor that did not succumb to ordinary magic, and who also had the mental edge.