Chapter 19

I Became a Newbie Favored by the Transcendents Chapter 19

Shing―

The Moonlight Blade slipped out of subspace and settled smoothly into my hand.

Even at my sudden action of summoning a weapon, the princess showed no particular surprise.

Thud!

Even without seeing the killing-intent detection message, she must have already noticed from the heavy sound.

Something enormous was entering the cave.

“Uwooooooo...”

A beastly growl that seemed to boil.

The campfire illuminated a giant whose entire body was covered in snow-white fur.

No, more precisely, it reminded me of an ape like a chimpanzee or gorilla.

The problem was that it was three or four times larger and more muscular than any ape I knew.

“A-a Yeti?!”

Right on cue, the monster’s name escaped the shocked princess’s mouth.

A Yeti. Yeah, I had a feeling.

It was a name I had heard in games I played as a kid too.

The Abominable Snowman.

[Yeti Lv.18]

According to the information floating above its head, it was level 18.

Three levels higher than me.

But so what?

Considering my absurdly inflated stats, a mere three-level difference wouldn’t even make me break a sweat if we fought―.

“Ugh! There isn’t just one, Hans!”

Thud, thud, thud, thud!!

Beyond the one in front, four more Yetis squeezed through the narrow cave entrance.

...Hmm, with this many, I might at least work up a drop of sweat.

“W-why? We haven’t done anything, so why are Yetis coming after us?!”

“Does a beast need a reason to hunt prey?”

“You only say that because you don’t know, Hans. Yetis do not attack humans first unless someone causes trouble in their territory!”

Really?

If the princess was right, there really was no reason for the Yetis to target us.

All we had done was light a fire in a cave.

“Uwoooooogh!!”

While I was caught up in doubt, the pack of Yetis began charging in a frenzy.

Forget why they were doing this. First, we had no choice but to kill them.

I pushed the princess aside with one hand, then immediately kicked off the ground and charged toward the Yetis.

“Wait, Hans! Fighting Yetis head-on is...!”

Before the princess’s urgent shout could reach its end.

Whoosh―!

I swung my sword horizontally toward the right knee of a Yeti charging like a tank.

Crunch!!

The sword tip infused with Divine Power cut through the tough skin hidden beneath its white fur.

More precisely, it would be more accurate to say it blew it apart.

BOOOOM!!!

Because the wave of Divine Power exploding from the tip of my sword didn’t merely destroy the knee, but outright wrecked the Yeti’s entire right leg.

“Ugh―!!”

Boom!

After blowing away the head of the Yeti collapsing after losing its leg.

I stepped on the severed surface and leaped, launching myself toward the remaining ones behind it.

The confined space inside a cave.

Enemies with skin thicker than armor.

One against many.

There was a sword technique that would provide the best breakthrough under conditions like these.

God-King Style Sword Forms, First Form.

The chain of strikes swung along the sword paths burrowed into their vital points.

BOOOOM―!!

By the time exactly three swings had ended, not a single Yeti remained alive.

However.

[An enemy harboring killing intent exists nearby.]

Even though I had killed every bastard inside the cave, the killing-intent detection message still hadn’t disappeared.

Looks like there are a few more outside.

‘Staying here isn’t going to get us anywhere.’

I didn’t want to wrestle in a cramped cave with things twice my size.

I turned my gaze toward the princess.

“I’ll finish cleaning up the ones outside, so Your Highness, stay right here and don’t move.”

“...”

The princess said nothing.

She just stared blankly at me like someone under a spell.

What’s wrong with her now?

“Your Highness.”

“Huh? Uh, yes! Understood!”

The flustered princess added one more thing.

“But Hans, you... since when did you become that strong?”

“Is that important?”

“I’m asking because you haven’t seemed like the Hans I knew for a while now!”

Wow, you really hit the nail on the head.

Because I really am not the Hans you knew.

Thinking that inwardly, I was about to leave the cave.

Swoooosh―

Suddenly, black energy began rising from the eyes, noses, and mouths of the dead Yetis.

What’s that?

“My goodness!”

The princess apparently knew what the black energy was, because she reacted in shock.

“I wondered why the Yetis were attacking us... They were being controlled by dark mana!”

“Dark mana?”

It was my first time seeing it directly, but I also knew what dark mana was.

Mana stained by darkness.

Dark mana was the energy used when casting corrupted power known as dark magic.

“Someone used dark magic to drive the Yetis into a frenzy. B-but who in the world?”

“I don’t know who, but that means there’s a dark mage nearby.”

“Yes. And I cannot even guess why they would do such a thing to the Yetis. Could they be trying to put us in danger?”

“Did you do something to earn the resentment of dark mages normally?”

“Of course not!”

Fine, whatever.

Anyway, I thought the same as the princess.

I didn’t know why, but it seemed clear that this unknown dark mage had tried to put us in danger.

“Uwoooooogh!!”

“Uwoogh, uuuurgh...!”

At that moment, the roars of Yetis echoed from outside the cave.

But somehow.

Rather than roars, didn’t those sound closer to screams of pain?

“H-Hans?”

“I’ll go check.”

I left the cave to check the situation outside.

And through the scene that soon unfolded.

I realized what I had just heard really had been screams, not roars.

Fwoooooosh―!!!

A middle-aged man in robes was massacring the pack of Yetis.

Streams of flame extending from both of the man’s hands twisted and coiled like snakes, burning them alive.

“...”

I stood still for a moment and watched the robed man’s fight.

Fight? No.

That was just a one-sided massacre.

With only a few uses of the man’s fire magic, more than ten Yetis were unable to put up any resistance and turned into lumps of charcoal.

‘He’s strong.’

That was my honest impression.

Maybe even stronger than I was right now.

Fwoosh...

Only after every Yeti had been reduced to ash.

Did the flames wrapped around the man’s hands fade away.

That was also when our gazes met across the drifting sparks.

Just as I was about to speak first.

“Xenon!”

The princess came trotting out from behind me and shouted in delight.

Apparently she and this guy knew each other well.

“Your Highness.”

The man named Xenon gave the princess a warm smile.

“Xenon, what brings you here? Did Father perhaps send you?”

“Well, something like that.”

“I see. Father did...”

The princess showed a faint smile after hearing Xenon’s answer.

She looked somewhat moved.

Naturally, the princess began walking toward Xenon.

“With you here as reinforcements, I feel reassured. Hans will also have some weight taken off his shoul―.”

When the two had drawn close enough for Xenon to reach the princess if he extended his hand.

I moved.

The gleam of the Moonlight Blade swept past Xenon’s right wrist.

CLAAANG―!!

A sound far removed from that of a human wrist being cut rang out.

“Hans...?!”

The startled princess called my name as if asking what the hell I was doing.

But she soon realized the meaning behind my action and sucked in a breath.

Woooooo...

Around Xenon’s right hand, which had been moving toward the princess.

A sinister black energy coiled.

Dark mana.

“Oho, Hans.”

As I stepped in front of the shocked princess, Xenon sneered.

His smile now had a completely different atmosphere from before, as though he had become another person.

“I never realized you were such a perceptive man.”

Above Xenon’s head, wearing a sticky smile like a swamp.

Several lines of system messages appeared.

[Dark Mage Xenon Lv.38]

[A Sub Quest has occurred.]

[Escape from ‘Dark Mage Xenon.’]

______________

Princess Helena’s mind was in chaos.

She couldn’t understand a single thing about what was happening.

Why Xenon was wielding dark mana.

And why he, a royal court mage, had tried to attack her, a princess.

Unable to recover from the shock, Helena moved her lips.

“X-Xenon. How could you do this to me...”

“Get a hold of yourself, Your Highness.”

Xenon interrupted Helena.

The moment Helena saw his eyes, her body stiffened.

Because anyone could tell those were eyes of contempt directed at someone pathetic.

“At this point, shouldn’t you have figured out how the situation is unfolding? No matter how young you may be, if you are that slow-witted, it is only natural that even the royal family looks down on you.”

“...”

Cruel words flew one after another, utterly impossible to believe were coming from the Xenon she knew.

Was that truly the same uncle-like man who had once sat her on his knee and doted on her when she was little?

Just as Helena was at a loss for what to say or how to react.

Junbeom’s back completely blocked Helena’s view.

“Were you the one who sent the Yetis after us?”

“I needed to gauge your ability, Hans. We are strangers meeting for the first time, are we not? A mage must always act cautiously.”

Xenon glanced sideways at the blood staining the Moonlight Blade and continued.

“If possible, it would have been best if the Yetis had killed you outright... But I had not accounted for your martial ability being that exceptional.”

“Then why didn’t you just let us keep fighting? Why did you personally clean up the rest?”

“The Yetis had lost their reason and tried to attack me as well, so I had no choice.”

The dark magic Xenon had cast on the Yetis amplified their wildness. It did not control them like puppets.

“How could a royal court mage like you lay hands upon corrupted magic, Xenon!”

Helena, who had finally regained some of her composure, shouted angrily.

“You cannot possibly be unaware that dark magic is forbidden in the kingdom!”

“That damned ‘royal court mage.’ Because of that cursed position, I was destined to spend my entire life serving the royal family until I died. Without even having time to refine my own realm of magic.”

“What...?”

“That is why I turned to dark magic. A power that allows one to escape the limits of fate quickly and easily, even at the cost of corruption. That is what dark magic is.”

“What are you saying... If the royal family learns of this, you will not survive!”

“The royal family already knows that I turned to dark magic.”

A shock like being struck by a blunt weapon crashed through Helena’s mind.

But an even more unbelievable statement flowed from Xenon’s mouth.

“And they also know very well that I am here.”

“Just, just what are you saying right now, Xenon...”

“Your Highness.”

Fwoooooosh―

In both of Xenon’s hands, the streams of flame that had burned the Yetis to death began gathering once again.

“Asking many questions is a desirable attitude for a mage, but sometimes there are truths one is better off never knowing.”

“...Xenon?”

“Farewell, Your Highness.”

The streams of flame, heated to their absolute limit, shot forward.

Death that Helena, whose realm had not even reached the Third Circle, could never block.

Dodging would be meaningless too.

Because it was a homing spell that pursued its designated target to the end.

In the end, Helena would be annihilated before she even had time to feel the searing pain.

Xenon thought that was the only mercy he could offer as someone who had once served the royal family.

BOOOOM―!!

—Until he saw Junbeom cut through the streams of flame.

The exploding waves of Divine Power erased Xenon’s magic without leaving behind even a single ember.

“...You’ve been getting on my nerves for a while now, Hans.”

“What, should I quietly build a snowman next to you instead, asshole?”

Junbeom sneered while rubbing the flames clinging to his sword tip against the snow to extinguish them.

‘The system told me to run, but I’m killing him here.’

The reason the system demanded escape rather than elimination was obvious just from Xenon’s level.

38.

An absurdly powerful enemy for a Gate whose maximum entry level was 25.

But Junbeom had no intention of complying with the system’s demand.

‘That bastard’s eyes are subtly insane. He looks ready to follow us to the ends of hell.’

Being chased by a guy like that all the way to the top of the snowy mountain would be far harder.

Wouldn’t it be much simpler to just kill him now?

And the level difference wasn’t much of a problem.

What determined superiority between opponents wasn’t level, but stats.

And Junbeom’s current stats were high enough to close even such a vast gap.

He judged that while it wouldn’t be easy, it was more than possible.

‘I thought the escort of the Sixth Princess would be some nobody, but I was badly mistaken.’

Xenon also understood that the current battle was not completely one-sided in his favor.

‘He eliminated the five Yetis that entered the cave in an instant too. I can’t underestimate him. How did a knight with that level of skill end up escorting garbage like the Sixth Princess?’

Xenon changed his strategy.

He decided to set the princess aside and focus solely on killing Hans.

Flaaash!

While he was thinking, Junbeom closed the distance with lightning-fast movement.

A rapid step meant to end the fight quickly.

But despite that momentum, Junbeom had no choice but to slam on the brakes.

Saaaaaaah―!!!

Because the moment Xenon stomped the ground with his foot, black-green waves spread outward with him at the center.

He didn’t know what it was, but instinct told him that he absolutely should not step on it.

Whoosh!

Junbeom quickly backstepped, then grabbed the princess and retreated a great distance once more.

The circular black-green waves only stopped expanding once they reached roughly ten meters in diameter.

“S-‘Swamp’...! You truly have fallen to the very bottom of your soul, Xenon!”

Held in Junbeom’s arms, Helena stared in despair at the darkness rippling within the waves.

“Swamp? Is that the name of that magic?”

“It is not magic, but dark magic. Even if your ankles alone sink into it, it will instantly drag you beneath the marsh and melt even your bones. I read about it in a book.”

Helena knew not only its name but even its abilities.

Although she lacked talent in magic, apparently she did not lack knowledge.

‘Just like when she lit the campfire earlier.’

She was helpful in unexpected ways.

“I have no intention of trading blows at close range with a man carrying a sword. Come if you think you can.”

Standing in the center of the swamp, Xenon shrugged mockingly.

His trick was obviously to stand there and endlessly fire ranged magic.

For Junbeom, who still couldn’t even release a single strand of sword energy, there was no choice but to take it helplessly.

So he really had been a former royal court mage.

He knew how to manipulate the battlefield cleverly.

‘He can’t maintain that swamp all day, but I can’t just vaguely wait for it to disappear either. I have to somehow get close.’

As his thoughts continued one after another, Junbeom reached a conclusion.

He asked Helena.

“Can I interpret that as meaning it’s safe as long as I don’t sink up to my ankles?”

“Huh? Uh, probably?”

“‘Probably’ isn’t good enough. I need certainty.”

“...”

Helena thought for a moment, then soon nodded.

“As long as you do not sink deeply, you will not be dragged into ‘Swamp,’ Hans. That is the very nature of a swamp.”

“Then I’ll trust you, Your Highness.”

“But what are you trying to―.”

Instead of finishing her sentence, Helena had to scream.

Because Junbeom suddenly charged straight into the Swamp without hesitation.

“You’re trying to break through with speed before the swamp can swallow you?”

Seeing Junbeom’s action, Xenon chuckled and dispersed the dark mana condensed in his hand.

“If magic could be broken through with momentum, everyone who studied magic would be a complete fucking idiot. There isn’t even any need for me to attack from here...?!”

For the first time that day, shock and bewilderment spread through Xenon’s eyes.

Splash―

Because Junbeom was walking on the surface of the swamp.

As casually as if he were stepping through a shallow puddle.

At the insane sight that made them doubt their eyes, both Xenon and Helena were left speechless.

“H-how are you walking on it?! Why aren’t you sinking into the swamp!”

“It’s the miracle of Jesus Christ, asshole.”

Naturally, it wasn’t that.

It was simple.

He had merely matched the flow of Divine Power gathered in the soles of his feet to the direction of the waves.

The Divine Power riding that flow pushed against the surface of the swamp, exponentially increasing the repulsive force.

It was like the Water-Walking Art that often appeared in martial arts novels.

‘Miracle... isn’t entirely wrong, either.’

Before climbing the snowy mountain.

If he hadn’t practiced controlling Divine Power while crossing the deeply piled snowfield, this would have been impossible.

That practice had happened to bear fruit at exactly the right moment.

How could this not be called a miracle!

“Stay right there.”

With every step Junbeom took.

Xenon took one step back.

“I’m coming to take your head.”

Splash.

Splashsplashsplash!!

Junbeom charged like a lizard running across water.

To Xenon, there could be nothing more terrifying than that sight.