CHAPTER 304: THE WEIGHT OF THE CODE

 

~Aun POV~

The deepest part of Tengu Valley.

The instant I dropped from the rock ledge into the circular basin carved out of the valley floor, the density of the air changed.

The air was heavy.

It felt like the wind itself was pressing down on my head from above.

At the far end stood the chief of the Tengu clan, Tenkei, planted there like an unshakable guardian king.

He had not moved a single step.

And yet, the whole valley pulsed in time with his breathing.

…Yeah. This guy’s strong.

It was not just a matter of raw magical power. The crushing weight of a man who had borne this valley on his back for years overflowed from Tenkei’s body.

「You carry no weapon?」

It was a quiet question, not a threatening one.

「Yeah. I’m just out for a walk.」

I tossed the answer back with a trace of sarcasm.

Still, there was no question he was the kind of monster who made me wish I had Shiranuemaru with me.

But there was no point whining about that now.

I already talked big in front of Kunimitsu too. No way in hell can I go back and say, ‘Sorry, I couldn’t bring back the Bukō’. I’d die of embarrassment first.

「I see. Then regret having set foot in this land… and die.」

In the next instant, the ground around me sank.

My feet bit into the earth, my lungs compressed, and the blood flow through my entire body stalled.

…So he manipulates gravity too.

And he was not doing it crudely, either.

By strengthening the pressure around me and weakening the pressure at the center, he was cutting off every possible escape route.

「This valley is not a place one enters with half-hearted resolve.」

At those words, the gravity intensified even further.

Cracks split through the ground, and my bones creaked.

…So he’s serious from the very start.

Fine.

Then I would not hold back either.

「【Thunder Drum】, 【Swift Gale, Flash Thunder】… 【Thunderclap】!!」

Right from the opening move, I stacked two enhancement skills and activated one of my trump cards, Thunderclap.

It was a bad situation to trigger it from, since I could not properly relax my body, but I forced my muscle fibers into motion anyway.

The gravity was placing a burden on every part of me, but now that I had evolved into Enma Ruler, my stats had risen dramatically.

At my current level, I could endure it.

A little strain is well within tolerance.

My body gained explosive propulsion and blasted straight through the ground beneath my feet.

But then—

A wind blade shot in from the side at a speed too fast to follow, grazing my left cheek and slicing it open.

At the same time, an invisible mass of air pressure dropped from above.

The pressure was enough to cave in the valley floor itself.

If my reaction had been even a moment slower, my organs could have been crushed.

「What a pain in the ass way to fight!」

Reading the flow of the wind, I kept dodging the wind blades slashing at me from every direction and the compressed air blasts raining down from overhead, using 【Sky Dance】 to stay alive.

After landing once and taking four more steps, the crushing gravity pressing down from above ramped up another level.

My body sank, and the air around me felt as heavy as lead.

「Struggle as much as you like. Within the bounds of my art, it is all meaningless effort.」

So this is one of those area-control techniques Ciel and Garcia used during that showdown in Wislo.

With nothing more than a slight motion of his steel fan, Tenkei ruled over the very space around him.

And this was not merely gravity magic.

It was an advanced application of dual-attribute mixed magic, fusing wind and gravity together.

He had perfect mastery over this terrain and had honed his fighting style specifically for defensive battle in Tengu Valley.

It would not be an exaggeration to call this a completely dominated domain.

There’s nowhere to run. Not above, not to the sides.

A few moments after that thought crossed my mind, impacts overlapped again and again. The surrounding rock shattered, and the air in my lungs was violently forced out.

He’s strong.

I thought that honestly.

Even among all the monsters I had faced so far, he ranked near the top.

In this Bukyo Country, where powerhouses were everywhere, he had more than enough strength to make an entire region feared as a danger zone.

「What protects the valley is not emotion. It is discipline.」

Tenkei spoke as if stating something self-evident.

But then his tone dropped, just slightly.

「…And yet, when I was young, I was like you.」

Even while he spoke, the wind only grew more violent, and I could hear my body groaning under the strain.

「I loosened the code and opened the valley.」

The gravity deepened again.

As though he were forcing the emotion of regret itself down onto me.

「The result was invasion. …Many of our young died.」

Weight and passion mingled in his voice.

This was the quiet cry of a man who had failed to protect what mattered.

「Once order collapses, it does not return so quickly. More than that… the dead never return.」

So that’s how it is.

That’s why he sealed it shut.

That’s why he crushed every question.

That’s why he took Magarasu’s wings.

So that’s what this is.

I understood the feeling.

Back when I was human, I failed to protect what mattered too. I lost so much.

…But that still doesn’t make it acceptable.

「…And because of that, you bound away your entire clan’s freedom?」

I slowly rose to my feet.

Wind blades pierced through my equipment and cut into my body, but that did not matter.

It was not that Tenkei had stirred me on purpose.

But this surge of emotion was not something I could hold back anymore.

I always tell my comrades to fight however they want.

Drake, Shinku, and Nelfie… the reason they’re all trying to overcome their own walls right now is because of one thing I told them: ‘Decide for yourselves’.

I’ve watched those idiots struggle forward, awkward as they are, trying to face what’s ahead.

I… I want to build a place where the people I care about can take a step toward the future without fear.

Something no one can take away from them. Something no one can obstruct.

That’s why I came to Bukyo—to gain the power to force my selfish will through.

If I break here, then that’s the same as denying Seiha itself.

If I can’t even stand by the words I’ve said, then what the hell kind of clan master am I!?

「【Matsuribayashi】」

The blood flowing through my body burned hot, like it had begun to boil, and my heart pounded hard like a great festival drum.

「A code made for the sake of binding people…」

As the ground shattered beneath me, I forced one powerful step forward.

「…is called a cage!!」

「Call it whatever you wish. I will not bend my beliefs. If you wish to force your will through, then surpass me.」

「Then I’ll show you! I’ll show you what my selfish will looks like!」