“Dakia-style Secrets.”
Transylvania grasped Dakia’s curved sword.
His aura had clearly changed.
The power he had been pretending to lack surged through him.
An enlightenment beyond the limits of swordsmanship glimmered at the tip of his sword.
Yerina’s eyes widened in shock.
She had thought him an ordinary Blood Ghoul.
She assumed that with a mundane body, he merely trained weak swords using the power of time.
Little did she know that his efforts over such a long period had shattered the wall of talent long ago.
‘Though it may not be the secrets Dakia dreamed of, it’s still a path I created myself. It’s not fake! It’s another secret!’
To provoke the Frost Duchess and showcase the true value of the Frost-style, a flimsy sword was out of the question.
She had to overwhelm from the very start with her secrets.
As Transylvania stepped forward, the ground caved in dramatically.
“Iron Blood Storm Slash!”
Shreeeek…!
Transylvania’s sword covered the surroundings, creating a dense whirlwind.
It was a technique mimicking Yoo Jin’s secrets.
However, while it looked similar, its essence was completely different.
Yoo Jin’s Iron Blood Storm Slash sent each sword aura shooting straight out, weaving an unavoidable net.
Conversely, as Transylvania’s wind collected, each affected the others,
Finally intertwining, it flew off in strange, erratic trajectories.
“Ugh…!”
The tornado-like gust of wind brushed dangerously close to Yerina, shattering the carriage behind her.
Yerina gasped in horror.
Transylvania smiled bitterly, disappointed.
‘As expected, Iron Blood Storm Slash is too much for my secrets.’
Though somehow imitating the technique allowed her to launch amusing sword strikes,
The power and speed were pitiful for having swung the sword hundreds of times in such a short span.
Instead of trying to follow Yoo Jin, it might be better to strike each blow one at a time.
‘Here it comes, without giving me a chance!’
Surprised by Dakia’s secrets, she hesitated for just a moment.
Yerina charged forward without a word.
It seemed she had read that the efficiency of Iron Blood Storm Slash was poor.
Transylvania countered with a flurry of three consecutive slashes, infusing them with his secrets to hinder her approach.
‘To create such sharp winds with a sword? And this isn’t magic?!’
Though it was an unfamiliar technique with perplexing range and trajectory,
Yerina quickly grasped the characteristics of Dakia’s secrets and began to counterattack.
It was instinct rather than reason.
Before she could even think, her innate combat instincts guided her body.
Following came the series of swift strikes.
The even faster, more vicious attacks were nearly invisible to the eye, yet
Yerina closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds and the pressure of the wind, parrying them all without a scratch.
‘Oh? Perhaps it can truly be called genius. Not sure if she’s superhuman yet.’
She had never seen a swordsman counter so accurately and quickly against an unfamiliar technique.
Such a feat was only possible if all five senses surpassed their limits.
Could anyone possess such heightened awareness and still live a normal life?
As Transylvania pondered this while retracting her sword, Yerina had somehow closed the distance, standing right before her.
“You thought you’d win in close combat? Let’s see you block this with your boastful Frost-style!”
“Ugh…?!”
At that moment,
Transylvania’s body exploded into acceleration.
In an instant, Yerina’s iron shoes, braces, and rings began to block Transylvania’s strikes, turning the tide.
The relentless barrage from Transylvania had no patterns or consistency.
It felt like a novice swinging the sword haphazardly, with barely any order to speak of.
Yet amidst that chaos,
Transylvania’s strikes wove together beautifully, smoothly chaining attacks.
At first glance, it seemed random, but that was far from the truth.
‘How do I block this?!’
She couldn’t.
While their physical speed may have been similar, a stark difference lay in the mastery of technique.
Mistakes piled up, and genuine wounds from unblocked blows increased on Yerina’s body.
If even a single unblocked strike had been empowered, she would have suffered fatal damage.
Transylvania, clearly toying with her, viewed her as a joke.
Yerina’s eyes clouded with anger.
“Hahaha! How does it feel? I want to hear your thoughts on the history of swords spanning hundreds of years! Never seen anyone withstand this barrage for so long! Oh, you’re not blocking half of it but still standing? Ahahaha! You’re still dealing with vital points, so I suppose you can keep fighting!”
“This won’t do…!”
“What? Giving up? I still haven’t tasted the essence of your Frost-style! Bring it on! There’s gotta be depth even in an animal’s sword skills, right?!”
“Let’s end this, murderer.”
“Huh?”
Yerina let out a soft sigh.
Her eyes shifted, now filled with the ferocity of a beast.
And in the next moment,
Yerina vanished as if blinking out of existence.
“Huh? Huh? What?”
Lying in the grass,
Transylvania worked hard to come to grips with her situation.
And soon, a sound approached through the brush.
“You damn Blood Ghoul! I wasted an hour thanks to you! I lost Alicia…!”
“Haha.”
Yerina Frost, with her disheveled hair, seethed with rage.
Her once-dignified clothing was torn and drenched in blood.
What stood here was not King Palana, but a beast and an investment.
“The second round…!”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Crack!
The moment she reached to grab her lost sword,
Yerina lunged, stepping on Transylvania’s hand, crushing bones.
Then, the tip of Yerina’s sword grazed Transylvania’s throat.
Closing her eyes tightly, Transylvania spoke.
“I’ve lost.”
Defeated.
It was a complete defeat.
There was no room for rebuttal.
“Ha. I didn’t expect this to happen.”
It was bothersome to seek out Palana in the boonies, but news of King Palana nearby had led her here.
She had managed to provoke a 1v1 match with the desired King Palana.
Yet, it was beyond Transylvania’s expectations to lose to her.
She had believed herself unmatched among the current generation.
Transylvania had mastered all sword techniques long relegated to history—the very story of swords.
She could counter any technique and pierce through any defense.
With piles of mana training making her body quicker to its limits,
Only someone who had transcended the boundaries of swordplay and realized their secrets could stand against Transylvania.
At least, that was what Transylvania believed.
But as Yerina let out a breath,
The moment the human reason faded from her eyes, giving way to the eyes of a beast,
Her stance and aura shifted entirely.
In those first few seconds, her speed was impossible to track visually.
She had landed a strike on her throat.
Yerina halted her sword just in front of Transylvania’s neck and smirked before stepping back.
It seemed like a vengeance for her earlier leniency.
Ultimately, Transylvania had to fight with every ounce of her power.
Not just any power, but an emergency measure that would tear her body apart.
Even so, Transylvania’s response to Yerina’s animalistic onslaught was merely passive.
Unable to endure for even an hour, she crumbled.
Her body reached its limits.
“That beastly girl was nothing less than a beast itself…”
“Shut it. I didn’t expect I’d lose my composure over a mere Blood Ghoul. Tsk.”
“Not just beautiful! Like a wolf dancing with a sword!”
“Zip it. Or I’ll tear you apart first.”
Yerina, covering her tattered clothes with her arm as if she were ashamed,
In that moment, Transylvania found her conviction.
Beast Mode.
A unique power that draws forth the primal strength of beast-folk for a brief time.
A rare talent that only appeared in some beast-folk.
Having thought of it as a legendary ability, witnessing it firsthand was hard to believe.
‘That’s why I lost!’
A superhuman born once every thousand years.
That was Yerina.
What was more, she hadn’t even realized her secrets yet, and her sword skills were still underdeveloped.
With her body being inherently powerful, the mere existence of her skills made one wonder what her might could later unfold.
But that was for a future far ahead.
Transylvania had to survive here to witness that future.
“My time wasted brings a heavy price! Are you prepared to pay it?!”
“Cough, Ugh! Cough!”
Grapple.
Yerina mounted Transylvania, squeezing her neck.
Yerina struggled to suppress the urge to twist it right off.
Time had passed significantly, and the residual mana had almost entirely faded.
Chasing after Alicia with only the remnants was nearly impossible now.
And after an hour, with Alicia using wind magic, she’d have more than enough time to escape.
It was all thanks to this murderer that she had lost both Alicia and Yoo Jin.
Thinking this made her blood boil, and she felt an overwhelming urge to kill this creature.
“I feel entirely wronged! You’ll pay for it with your body, murderer.”
“Urk?”
“You’re my slave now. My sword and slave. There are two I’m pursuing—a rabbit and a man. From now on, you’ll assist with the chase.”
So unjust.
Since she had lost Yoo Jin because of this creature, she decided to use them to track him down.
Gritting her teeth, Yerina placed her hand near Transylvania’s heart and cast a spell.
An icy chill spread, forming a slave contract within Transylvania’s heart,
And now, with only Transylvania’s consent, it would take effect.
Of course, Transylvania wouldn’t willingly consent.
If needed, she would beat her into compliance.
At that thought, as Yerina clenched her fist,
“If you refuse, I’ll kill you—!”
“Perfect! Absolutely perfect!”
“…?!”
Transylvania chuckled with a wicked grin as she finalized the slave contract.
“The very thing I wanted!!!”
Wasn’t this a rare opportunity to witness a superhuman’s sword up close?
If she could taste that bliss, being a slave was nothing.
Her curiosity for swords had overshadowed Transylvania’s pride.
