The Genius Son-in-law of the Swordmaster Household—Blessed by Authority Chapter 92

Deserted Island Attack (4)

The demon who had lost his right arm screamed silently.

'Wh-what on earth...! What the hell just happened!!'

He had thought he could toy with that boy as if he were playing with a flimsy toy, but instead, he had lost his right arm, and three of his companions had turned to dust and disappeared in an instant.

'The situation!! How did things change like this all of a sudden...!!'

From the demon's perspective, his resentment was understandable.

How could he have predicted an irregular like Ian?

A fourteen-year-old student, summoning a sword with magic and wielding a master's enhanced energy.

It was something so far beyond common sense, a variable the demons could not have imagined in their wildest dreams.

'W-What on earth is this...!'

Charlotte, too, was just as stunned and confused.

'What on earth is all this...! Wh-what did he just do!?'

She had thought Ian might have a plan, but she never imagined he would show something this shocking.

Charlotte had no idea how to understand or accept what she had just witnessed.

A technique to summon a sword with bare hands.

The power to turn three demons to dust in a single blow and overturn the earth in front of him.

If Charlotte wasn't mistaken, what Ian demonstrated was clearly...

Magic and enhanced energy.

'B-but...!'

How is that possible!?

For a direct descendant of the Greysel sword family to use magic.

And Ian had summoned a sword at such an incredible speed, without even an incantation.

She had never seen such fast, instantaneous casting, even from the mages of the Heavenly Tower.

And what else?

Enhanced energy?

Enhanced energy is the symbol of masters, proof of a top-tier swordsman.

Did Ian really wield that level of enhanced energy?

Then that meant Ian was at the master level.

'That's impossible!!'

Even Yuria, said to possess the greatest talent in history, was only at the entry-stage of Expert at fourteen.

Even Ragnar, renowned as the greatest swordsman of all time, only reached the master stage at age eighteen.

But now what?

Enhanced energy of a master at fourteen!?

This was so far beyond common sense.

It was something that didn't appear even in the most exaggerated and glorified legends.

'This...! This can't just be explained as having good talent!'

No matter how transcendent one's talent might be, there was no way someone could achieve such mastery in both magic and aura by the age of fourteen.

That was physically impossible.

'What on earth are you, Ian Greysel!?'

Why, with such overwhelming power, had he hidden himself behind the shell of a "half-wit who can't even use aura" until now?

And why was he now suddenly revealing himself, displaying his strength without reservation before her eyes?

'Ugh, urgh...!'

Charlotte's head throbbed with heat.

Ian was absolutely not an ordinary fourteen-year-old boy.

A person who could unleash such extraordinary powers so casually—how could he possibly be an ordinary boy?

'I completely misjudged Ian!'

Charlotte's estimation of Ian was once again revised.

Until now, she had thought of him as merely a genius on par with Yuria.

She had thought her father, Heavenly Sword Lord, had brought Ian into the Heavenly Sword Palace solely because of his incredible talent.

But now she saw that was a completely mistaken assumption.

'Ian isn't just a simple existence like that!'

Both the former image of Ian as a "half-wit who can't even use aura," and the reputation this year of a "genius to rival Yuria" were just masks.

There was definitely a real core hidden beneath.

'D-dad, what have you...! What did you bring into the Heavenly Sword Palace!?'

N-no way...!

Was Ian a secret weapon that dad had been hiding and raising!?

Is that what this was!?

Then why did he place such an important existence by my side!?

G-gasp!

Could it be, thinking of me as the successor...!?

'Haaah!!!'

While Charlotte allowed her imagination to run wild like that—

"Then, I'll wrap things up now."

Ian had just finished questioning the demon.

"Your targets were me, Charlotte, Yuria, and Kargon. Four in total."

"Y-yes! Th-that's correct, sir!"

"And you have four remaining teammates. Among them, the leader is at the early-stage of master."

"That's right, sir! Yes, sir!"

Ian raised an artifact that looked like a compass.

It was the target location tracker the demon had possessed.

"You can locate the targets with this. Yuria is the golden arrow. Kargon is the red arrow."

"Y-yes! Yes, that's all correct!"

"I see."

—Then, fwoosh!

Ian stabbed the demon's torso with Vladiark, expressionless.

"Keugh!?"

The demon looked up at Ian with a gaze full of disbelief.

"W-why...!?"

He had given up everything, answered every question as asked!

Wasn't the atmosphere such that he would be spared if he talked!?

"......"

Ian didn't bother to answer.

He simply stared down, cold as ice.

A creature who, until just moments ago, had tried to wield a blade at him and Sophia—there was no way he would spare him just because the demon was acting a little pathetic now.

And—

Ian had no intention of sending off someone who leered at Sophia without any pain.

—Kwaaaah!

Ian used aura to stimulate the tendrils of Vladiark.

—Squirm! Squirm!

"K-kyahhhhh!!?"

Vladiark's tendrils burrowed into the demon's body like roots.

—Shluuuurp!

At the same time, Vladiark began to greedily suck in flesh and blood at a tremendous rate.

"K-kkk!? Kkhk!?"

The demon squirmed in agony as if every vein in his body was being sucked out like noodles, unable to even scream properly.

—Grrrrk! Grrrrk!

It took about ten seconds for Vladiark to devour every last scrap of flesh with greedy, writhing tendrils.

Ten seconds in which the demon must have felt excruciating pain, but as punishment, it was a rather short time.

If you called it mercy, it was mercy.

Mercy for having obediently revealed all information.

"H-huff...!"

Charlotte, watching Vladiark's ravenous feasting, involuntarily covered her mouth.

Her eyes were full of mixed fear and astonishment.

'W-what is that!'

A greatsword that devoured people whole!

What Ian had demonstrated with just magic and enhanced energy was enough to make her faint, and even his weapon was terrifying in its own right.

'If this is just what Ian showed in about five minutes...'

How powerful must the true body hidden beneath that tiny tip of the iceberg be!

Goosebumps rushed over Charlotte's entire body for a moment.

—Shwick!

Ian returned the sated Vladiark to its subspace.

"Eep!"

He could hear Charlotte gasping behind him, but he ignored it.

Ian now looked at the tracker the demon had left behind.

An artifact shaped like a compass.

Four arrows, each of a different color, pointed in different directions.

Each arrow indicated the tracker implanted in each target's belt.

Yuria was the golden arrow. Kargon was the red arrow—that's what he had heard.

—KWAANG!!

Just then, Aris's enhanced energy clashed with the barrier again, making another thunderous boom.

"Khh..."

Powerful enough to cleave a mountain in two.

But despite her repeated attacks, the barrier still held firm.

'Even for Aris, it will take at least another ten minutes to break through this barrier.'

Barriers used by the Demon Cult are durable enough that even masters struggle to break them.

Moreover, judging from the intense crimson color, this one was of exceptionally high quality.

Since Aris was at the lower end of the Grandmaster rank, it would likely take her at least ten minutes to break it alone.

'Ten minutes.'

A short time to the demons, but a long time to Ian.

'The demons will hurry up and make their move. They'll try to abduct Yuria and Kargon within ten minutes.'

That meant Ian had to move quickly as well.

Within ten minutes... No, within eight minutes, he needed to secure Yuria and Kargon if he wanted to protect them from the demons for certain.

'Yuria comes first.'

Yuria's location—the tracker's golden arrow—was pointing east.

"Sophia. Lady Charlotte."

Ian turned and called out to the girls.

"We need to move quickly now, so I'll carry you both."

It would be faster to go alone to Yuria, but protecting Sophia and Charlotte was just as important as securing Yuria's safety.

He couldn't just leave them alone on an uninhabited island where the enemy ran wild.

Sorry, but there was no time to ask for consent.

Ian immediately hoisted both girls onto his shoulders.

"W-what!? Young Master Ian!?"

"Kyaa! Young Master! That tickles!"

"Hold on tight!"

Ian drew as much aura into his toes as he could.

—Paaang!!!

—Shweeeeeee!!

In a single leap, the scenery changed entirely.

"Kyaaah!!"

"Young Master Ian!!!"

Literally as fast as the wind.

Ian dashed forward, tearing through the air without stopping.

* * *

Deep in the forest of the uninhabited island.

"Yuria Hisperion... Found her."

The leader of the demons and his trusted lieutenant had located Yuria.

"She's alone. Lucky us."

"Huh?"

Yuria looked up at the demons in the trees.

"So it was because of me again?"

When the sky had suddenly turned crimson and Aris's enhanced energy was being fired from outside the barrier, she'd had a bad feeling that something was wrong.

She had never imagined someone would be targeting her for another ambush.

Similar things had happened so many times in her life, even from a young age, that it was no longer even surprising. Now, it just felt tedious.

Who sent them this time? Her sister? Her brother? A side-branch? Nobles? Foreigners? Criminal organizations? The Demon Cult?

Given the foul stench she'd sensed for a while, the odds favored the Demon Cult.

"'Again?'"

The demon leader stared down at Yuria.

"It's as if you're saying this has happened often."

"Pretty much? Not all that uncommon."

Yuria smacked her lips bitterly.

She was reminded of Dellen, who she had lost just a few months earlier.

"So? What are you here to do? Are we just going to stare at each other?"

"No."

—KWAANG!!

The sound of Aris's enhanced energy crashing into the barrier echoed again.

Time was short for the demons.

—Shing!

The demon leader drew his sword from his waist.

"I've come to take you."

"Hmph."

Yuria clenched both fists.

"It won't be easy, you know?"

One of the reasons Yuria trained so diligently every day was precisely because she didn't want to be easily taken down by the likes of these people.

"It would've been nice if you'd just come quietly. But it seems we can't take you without injury."

The demon leader infused his sword with demonic energy.

—Wooosh! Whoosh!

A blood-red flame ignited along the leader's blade.

Then soon—

—PAAAAAAANG!!

The blood-red flames condensed, compressing until they shot up as a pillar, like surging lava.

"E-enhanced energy!?"

Yuria grimaced.

'M-master level is still a bit much for me...!'

To make matters worse, Yuria was unarmed.

Maybe if she'd had the Divine Sword Genesis right now, she could have tried something, but Genesis currently slumbered in the vaults of the Heavenly Sword Palace.

'S-should I... try that!?'

Among the many abilities of Divine Sword Genesis—

Summoning.

—PAAAAANG!!!

"......"

Yuria glanced at the demon leader.

He stared at her coldly, enhanced energy flickering. Killing intent emanated sharply from him.

If she showed even the slightest opening, he looked ready to pounce immediately.

Truthfully, the gap in power was so wide that the moment he attacked, Yuria wouldn't be able to resist, but her reputation had spread enough that the leader was being cautious.

He didn't want to be careless.

Which made the situation all the more dangerous.

'Summoning will take some time...'

But with a demon like that facing her, fighting bare-handed would only ensure a crushing defeat.

It was better to try summoning while he was hesitating like this now.

—FLASH!

Yuria thrust both hands forward forcefully.

"Hmm?"

The demons watching Yuria tensed their eyes.

—Zzzt!

White sparks jumped from Yuria's hands.

"What?"

"B-boss! That girl is doing something! Give the order!"

"Wait!"

A white magic circle began to form in front of Yuria's palms.

"That's—"

The subordinate demon shouted.

"Divine Sword! That girl's trying to summon the Divine Sword, boss!"

It was information they'd learned while investigating Yuria.

Those chosen by the Divine Sword could summon it whenever and wherever they wished.

It was one of the many functions of Divine Sword Genesis.

"N-now's the time to attack while she's defenseless!"

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

The subordinate, who was about to strike Yuria, was held back by the demon leader.

"What are you doing, boss! We need to grab her before she picks up the Divine Sword!"

"Wait. Let her summon it."

"Huh?"

"This is our chance to capture not just Yuria, but the Divine Sword as well. Take both."

Divine Sword Genesis was a threatening weapon, but if the wielder was only at the early-stage of Expert rank, the demon leader didn't see it as much of a danger.

To use a human analogy, it was like a five-year-old wielding a sharp kitchen knife.

He told his subordinate to stand back, and as long as he wasn't stabbed, he'd be fine.

He had a sword too, so if he managed the distance, he could subdue Yuria and claim the Divine Sword as loot.

But then—

—CRASH!!!

The magic circle radiating white light shattered before it could be completed.

"Haaa... damn it."

Yuria exhaled deeply and clenched her molars tight.

The summoning had failed.

She still lacked sufficient resonance with Divine Sword Genesis.

"Um..."

Yuria spoke, a little sheepishly.

"I'll try just one more time. Could you give me a moment?"

—KWAANG!

Aris's enhanced energy shook the barrier.

There was no time for the demons.

"Pathetic. So much for your natural talent. You're no different from any other clumsy child."

"Ugh!"

"L-let's just take her, boss! We're running out of time!"

"Yes. We'd better."

He would have liked to secure both Yuria and the Divine Sword here, but if he waited for the summoning, he couldn't predict when the barrier would break.

—KWAANG!!

Aris shook the barrier again.

"There's really no reason to insist the Divine Sword be summoned right here..."

He could take her back to their lair and force her to summon it there.

"Alright! I'll cut off a leg first!"

"Do it."

—Shing!

The subordinate demon drew his sword.

He shot forward like an arrow, aiming to slice Yuria's thigh, when—

—CHIMINGGGGGGG!!

A sound like tens of thousands of bells ringing at once came from behind the demons.

"What!?"

"Huh?"

The demons instinctively turned toward the sound.

"H-huh!?"

"W-what is that!!"

What entered their field of view—

Was a magnificent, silver field of blooming flowers unfurled in the sky.

—SHWEEEEEEE!!

Tens of thousands of petal-blades began to cascade toward the demons like a torrential downpour.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Scatter - Senbonzakura!

I mean, Spirit Sword Release - Flostilla!

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】