The Legendary Spearman Returns

Side Story Chapter 148

Side Story Chapter 148

An aura shot toward Lilith.

“How arrogant of you.” Aden’s eyes narrowed.

Two, three... Deadly crescents of black aura silently cut at Lilith, but none of them hit her. Watching it, Lilith felt like she was the Martial God.

-Let me apologize in advance.

‘Huh?’ Lilith didn’t understand what Joshua meant.

-After today, you’ll be bedridden for days again.

Lilith's eyes widened, but before she could react her body went flying forward against her will.

Aden swung his greatsword fiercely, threatening to cut her in half with one strike. Lilith—no, Joshua chose to meet the greatsword with his own longsword instead of dodging it. Aden staggered. Lilith’s longsword was less than half the size and weight of his greatsword, but he couldn’t push it away.

“I guess that matching you is the best I can do while I’m using the sword,” Joshua concluded.

“...What?”

Joshua kicked Aden in the abdomen, opening some space between them, and then threw his longsword aside without hesitation. Before it even hit the ground, Crevasse waved his hand.

“I’ll return this to you.”

The space near Joshua’s hand distorted, and spat out a long object. Joshua snatched the white spear from the air and quietly hefted it.

‘Hertonia’s divine spear!’ If Lilith had been in control of her body, her jaw would have hit the ground. Hertonia was the greatest blacksmith in the history of the continent, and this spear was his masterpiece. But there was only one reason why this spear had earned the grand name of “the divine spear”, and that was because the spear belonged to none other than Joshua, the Martial God.

“It’s definitely much better to use the weapon I’m familiar with.” Joshua nodded.

“Let’s see how much better you got.” Aden loosely gripped his greatsword and curled his finger at Joshua. “Come.”

Joshua was moving even before Aden finished speaking. Immediately, his spear had already left a scratch on Aden’s cheek, to the Dark God’s astonishment. It may be a simple scratch, but the fact that Aden hadn’t even noticed was enough to hurt his pride.

“...You little...” Aden’s powerful mana surged out of him, making the fight earlier look like he was playing around. His power fully unleashed made the air randomly explode, the floor churn, and exuded a pressure that was as godlike as his title suggested.

“Come to think of it, I never showed you the essence of the Agnus family’s sword technique,” Aden abruptly mentioned.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like just any other prestigious knight’s family. There is a technique that only the Agnus family’s head gets to inherit.”

The explosive wave of mana subsided like the calm before the storm as Aden absorbed all the nearby mana.

“Had you become the next Duke Agnus or had I bequeathed the seat to someone else before I died, this technique wouldn’t have died out,” Aden said.

“Babel is going to be quite disappointed.”

Aden burst into laughter. “Babel? You’re funny. Do you really think I would teach all of my sword techniques to him?”

“Well, you have a point. You raped a princess and tried to put the entire continent in danger just for your revenge...”

“What do you know? You’re just a boy. You don’t know that there’s no future for a family who forgets their roots.”

“You know what?” Joshua pointed his spear right at Aden’s neck and grinned. “I already told you that time still flows for me, unlike you.”

“What does that have to do with this?”

“I’m older than you now.”

Aden’s face crumpled up when he realized what Joshua meant. “You’re my son forever, regardless of our physical ages.”

“You’ve gotten quite talkative.”

“You’re cocky.”

“Anyhow, I realized that this revenge thing is pretty meaningless after I got it. Now someone else wants revenge against me...” Joshua trailed off bitterly.

The head of his spear began to hum.

Aden slowly advanced. “Enough with the silly talk. I’ll teach you the technique. Dark Moon Slash is about slaying the moon, so it’s only right to have a sword technique that can cut the sky.”

“How very grandiose.”

“You’ll understand once you see it. The technique is worthy of its name.” Aden straightened and held his sword above his head with its tip pointed down at his back. Although it was just an ordinary motion that any person would make preceding a vertical strike, Aden’s movements seemed to carry the weight to crush an entire mountain.

“Single Sky Strike,” Aden muttered.

“Shattering the sky with one strike, huh? I was right. It’s too grandiose,” Joshua commented.

Aden didn’t say a word in reply, but the pressure that he exuded was enough to show that he was using his full power to demonstrate this sword technique. In that case, Joshua needed a fitting countermeasure.

Aden's eyes widened. Joshua should have trouble breathing due to the pressure by now, yet he took a single step forward. And then he took another.

When Joshua took his second step, the very air cracked around the Aden. Aden could not afford to delay any longer.

Aden simply swung his sword downward, but that simple strike created an extraordinary outcome.

The world trembled like the sky was falling. The entire vault was wracked by an earthquake so powerful that it looked like it would crumble around them. The whole floor was undulating— the skeletons caught in the shockwave were reduced to dust.

“...You shouldn’t even be able to talk right now. You think you can still walk another step?” Aden sneered.

A normal man would have turned into pulp. No living being could exist under the shattered sky.

And yet, Joshua took one more step forward.

“How...?” Aden stared at him, wide-eyed.

“It’s certainly a remarkable attack.”

Aden was so shocked that he couldn’t find the words to retort. Joshua could not only afford to walk but also speak. Impossible!

“I must have executed the technique perfectly, though...?” Aden quickly took a look around. As he expected, no one around them could even hold up their heads. Even the prideful dragon had distanced himself with a frown on his face, making power of the attack easy to infer.

“...Hah, hahahahaha!” Aden burst into laughter. He had to admit it—he hadn’t become weak, this unlikely outcome was simply the result of his opponent’s supremacy. And his opponent was his own son, no less.

“How fascinating, my son.”

“Is that so?”

“I’ve never used this technique against a single target because no one could endure it if I so much as used that in the vicinity,” Aden explained, although no one asked. He lifted his sword again. “You can be the first.”

His sword dropped, and the sky heaved once again. A second Single Sky Strike had been delivered.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not just going to sit by and let you do that again.”

Aden flinched—the voice came from behind him!

“Utter ruination” wouldn’t even begin to describe what happened in the front of Aden. The floor shattered like cheap pottery, collapsing into the lightless abyss of a bottomless pit. Hundreds of skeletons fell into the pit and disappeared as thin cracks crawled up the walls of the vault as if the pit hungered to swallow the entire Palace. It was only Crevasse’s best efforts that prevented that from happening. Despite all of that, Joshua had managed to slip behind Aden without him noticing.

“...This is a surprise. You’ve gotten far stronger than I expected,” Aden said.

“There is one thing I’d really like to ask.”

“What is it?” Aden asked without even turning his head.

“Do you regret it?”

“Regret?”

“Your life was filled with anger and resentment and you dedicated your entire life to revenge. Do you want to restart your life?” Joshua calmly asked.

Aden chuckled quietly. “What is this drivel you? I lost my mother to the emperor right in front of my eyes—I think you, of all people, would know how that feels better than anyone else.”

“Would you still choose to live the same even if you could return to the past and lead a new life?”

“I would only try harder to perfect my revenge.”

Joshua shook his head. “Not me.”

“What?”

“I realized too late that the Joshua Sanders from the first life and the me right now are two different people.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” Aden tried to turn around but the intense murderous energy searing his back forced him to stop. “You...”

“The people around you are all the same, but the experiences, relationships, and memories I share with them are different. Are they still subjects of my revenge, then?”

“...You’re getting soft-hearted. I never raised such trash,” Aden snapped.

“But I would know what their true natures are better than anyone else...” Joshua trailed off, tightening his grip on his spear. “I’ll try to more actively avoid getting involved with that ‘trash’—including you, Father.”

“What...?” A vein bulged on Aden's forehead.

But before he could respond Joshua stabbed Aden—no, Kireua with his spear.

“...Agh!”