Chapter 349
Excellent.
It was a high praise that rarely came from Chris's mouth.
In truth, the Curse King, the Head of the Sorcery House, was considered the greatest formation expert in the Alliance.
Even though it was a small-scale formation deployed on the spot, it was as solid as an iron fortress.
Even a highest-ranking magus would not find it easy to neutralize this formation.
But there was one unfortunate fact for the Curse King.
‘This will be the last moment the Curse King is called the greatest expert in formations.’
The mana extending from Chris's hand began to draw a pattern in the air.
“What are you doing? Don't tell me?”
The Curse King, having noticed what Chris was trying to do, scoffed.
“Do you dare to face me with a formation?”
A formation showdown!
It was a duel where both deployed a formation at the same time, and the formation with the deeper principles would break the opponent's.
“How reckless.”
“To think he would try to face the Curse King with a formation.”
The spectating students thought that this time, Chris had truly done something foolish.
However.
As Chris's formation gradually took shape, the Curse King's face began to stiffen.
He was beginning to notice the true value of the formation Chris was deploying.
“Ah. There's something I didn't mention.”
Chris let out a smirk.
“I'm quite well-versed in formations.”
In his past life, after the Age of Ruin began, it was Chris who had surpassed the Curse King to be hailed as the greatest expert in formations.
‘Of course, at the time, I hadn't properly learned mana, so I was only well-versed in the theoretical aspects.’
Now, he had the ability to deploy that theory freely.
Paaaaaaah!!
The formation unfolded, and the Curse King's eyes widened as if they would tear.
A formation that contained death, life, and annihilation.
It was the exact same Life and Death Annihilation Formation that the Curse King had deployed.
“H-how do you know the Life and Death Annihilation Formation?! When did you steal our family's secret art?!”
“I didn't steal it.”
“Then how is it the same?”
“It's not the same. Look closely.”
The Curse King's complexion turned white as he examined Chris's formation.
Incomparably so to before.
“…It's completely different? But how can it be so much the same?”
Different, but the same.
It was a strange thing to say, but it was the truth.
The way Chris implemented the formation was completely different from the Curse King's.
But the manifested phenomenon was identical.
In other words, Chris had seen the Life and Death Annihilation Formation once and had completely recreated it in his own way.
An unbelievable feat.
“I told you, it's not the same. Take a good, close look.”
As Chris's formation began to manifest in earnest, the Curse King's complexion grew even paler.
Chris’s words, that it wasn't the same, were not a lie.
It was more perfect.
‘That can't be!’
Rumble.
The formations clashed, and the space where the two stood shook as if an earthquake had struck.
A formation is to manipulate space and phenomena to one's will through the transformation of harmony and direction.
Therefore, when two formations clashed, victory was decided by whose harmony and transformation were more refined, and right now, it was the Curse King’s formation that was being pushed back.
‘No. Still, there’s no way I can lose.’
The Curse King bit his lip.
He now knew full well that the whelp was an incomprehensible monster.
But still, when it came to formations, he was the best.
‘There’s absolutely no way I can be pushed back….’
But in that moment.
Fwoosh.
As Chris's formation embodied the meaning of life, death, and annihilation, the Curse King let out an involuntary cry of admiration.
‘…Ah.’
A similar reaction to the one the Radiance King had shown when he had knelt.
He had realized.
The greatness of the formation Chris had deployed.
‘A harmony closest to ultimate perfection.’
Because the Curse King himself had reached the peak of the art of formations, he could feel all the more keenly.
Just how absurd that harmony and transformation, and the meaning contained within them, were.
‘A state I can never reach in my lifetime….’
At the ultimate beauty, the Curse King blankly reached out his hand.
In that moment, the formation the Curse King had deployed collapsed, and with a loud crash, the surrounding space shattered.
The Curse King collapsed to his knees.
His eyes were blank and vacant, as if the shock had been too great.
“……”
At the sight, everyone in the hall swallowed hard.
They all could not accept the scene that had unfolded before their eyes.
“N-no way.”
“Did he really win?”
“Against all of the House Heads?”
Chris let out a smirk, then turned his gaze.
It was toward another Head of the Round Table, William of the War King House, who was standing frozen and pale at the side.
“Are you going to come at me, too?”
“…I'll pass.”
“Good. Then I have an order for you.”
A sound like a thunderbolt from a clear sky fell.
“Admit new students to the Keinper Training Center. The subjects will be those five House Heads over there.”
It was the moment the House Heads of the Round Table were reeled in as new suckers.
* * *
The trouble Chris had caused turned the houses of the Round Table completely upside down.
It was only natural.
For the House Heads to have to enter the training center as students and receive teachings!
“This is impossible!!”
“We must absolutely not comply!!”
The vassals of the Round Table shouted in anger, but the House Heads themselves were too ashamed to open their mouths.
Because even with all five of them working together, they hadn't been able to land a single finger on him.
Whatever they said would only make them more embarrassed.
‘Damn it, all of you, just shut up.’
But as if they didn't know the hearts of their lords, the vassals raised their voices even more.
“That whelp must have used some kind of trick!”
“That’s right. Otherwise, there’s no way our lords would have been defeated by him like that!”
The vassals who had not witnessed the duel sincerely thought so.
Because it was a situation too absurd to readily believe.
‘Please, just be quiet!’
The House Heads shouted inwardly, but they could neither deny nor confirm.
They couldn't deny the result of the duel, but to affirm it would be to lose face in front of their vassals.
In the midst of this, another incident broke out.
The whelp had sent this letter to each of the Round Table houses.
-If there is any house that does not accept the results of the House Heads’ duel, come and find me.
It doesn't matter how many of you there are, you can all come at me at once. If you can touch even the hem of my clothes, I will consider the results of the last duel null and void.
A letter that treated the houses of the Round Table like dogs.
The whelp had set another condition.
All who were defeated must receive his teachings.
To not rise to such a provocation would be a disgrace to a martial house.
“This time, we will show that whelp the greatness of our Round Table!”
The most prominent core powerhouses from each house threw down the gauntlet, and the result was as expected.
Everyone from the Round Table ended up in a state where they had to receive his teachings.
After bringing the last challenging house to its knees, Chris whistled to himself.
‘To think they’re this simple. I knew they were naive whelps, but still.’
In truth, the members of the Round Table were not bad people.
They were just full of pride and were arrogant frogs in a well. They hadn't committed any particularly great wrongs, and in the Age of Ruin, they had even fought on the front lines.
The fact that they were so simple and arrogant was a side of them that showed they were, in their own way, pure.
‘If they had been truly bad people, I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to put in this effort.’
After that, Chris spent his time bestowing his teachings upon the students and the Round Table.
At first, they were all full of defiance, but as time passed, little by little, the atmosphere began to change.
“…The teachings are not bad.”
A vassal of the Round Table said with a reluctant expression.
It was a surprising assessment.
How much had he gritted his teeth while receiving the teachings?
They were teachings full of atrocious hardships, as if he were deliberately tormenting them.
And yet, as time passed, he could feel his own skills improving.
“…Hmph, I-I’m still not sure.”
“…It’s plain to see that your sword has gotten sharper than before, and you’re still not sure?”
“Th-that’s…! It’s because I’ve recently had an enlightenment. Of course… I can't say the Hero's teachings were of no help at all.”
Marquis Lamed, the Head of the Flash Sword House, mumbled with a slightly reddened face.
Although he denied it out of embarrassment, Marquis Lamed himself was the one who felt it most keenly.
That the Hero’s teachings were making him stronger.
‘…Perhaps the Hero is really doing this for our sake.’
That misunderstanding (?) gradually began to sprout in everyone’s hearts.
Evan’s role in creating that atmosphere was also great.
“Get a grip. Is this all you’ve got? His Highness the Hero is putting in such effort for you, and you’re telling me you’re already tired?”
Evan served as the assistant who aided in the teachings, and at the end of every sentence, he would add on things like the Hero’s grace, the Hero’s heart, the Hero’s devotion, and so on.
At first, it was just annoying to listen to, but was it the effect of brainwashing?
Gradually, they began to think that it really seemed to be the case.
Of course, it wasn't that they were only grateful.
They were vicious teachings that seemed as if they were deliberately designed to torment them, so their resentment naturally surged, but.
“His Highness the Hero is doing all this for your sakes. If you understand even a little of that grace, get up at once and strive forward!”
‘Damn bastard!’
‘A devil even worse than the Hero!’
‘When I get stronger, I don't know about the Hero, but Evan, I will definitely land a punch on you!’
As Evan took on everyone’s hatred in their stead, the resentment toward Chris was relatively diluted.
In any case, things were progressing smoothly.
‘Not bad.’
Thwack!
Chris thought to himself as he once again dueled with the House Heads.
He was re-dueling the House Heads and the other powerhouses of the Round Table once every few days, and there was a reason.
The official reason was for the sake of teaching, but in truth.
‘It’s to make the secret arts of the Round Table my own.’
Chris had not forgotten his own objective.
Making the Round Table grow was also important, but what he had to focus on the most was becoming stronger himself.
-If you continue like this, your vessel will collapse, and you will meet your death.
As the Magus Chancellor had warned, he absolutely had to complete his power of light.
‘The problem is that this isn't easy for me, either.’
In truth, it was an arrogant thought.
The word ‘completion’ was not something anyone could use easily.
Even the Sacred Ones, who stood at a far higher state than Chris did now, would probably not be able to claim that they had completed the power of light.
‘In truth, there is no such thing as completion in any path.’
No matter how much one grew, one could only get closer to the ultimate state; there was no completion.
In other words, the completion Chris was talking about had a different meaning.
‘I have to establish everything about Stellar Radiance into my own worldview.’
The establishment of a worldview.
All of the super-powerhouses at the peak of 8-Star and above have each established their own worldview in their own way.
This established worldview later becomes the foundation for the 9-Star state, the Advent of Creation.
However, even if they were super-powerhouses at the peak of 8-Star or above, they could only establish a worldview limited to the field they had each mastered. But now, Chris was trying to establish a worldview that encompassed all of Stellar Radiance.
It was a story of incomparable recklessness, but he had to succeed.
‘To do that, I must experience as many of the Alliance’s secret arts as possible.’
The reason he had deliberately come to the Keinper Training Center and was bestowing his teachings.
While teaching, Chris was absorbing all of his opponents’ secret arts as his own.
It had already been well over a month since he had come to the training center, so he had already absorbed an enormous number of secret arts.
‘It’s still not enough.’
Chris shook his head.
‘I need the advanced secret arts of white magic.’
This was currently Chris’s weakest area.
‘I must obtain the secret arts of the magic noble house and the Magic Tower.’
Last time, during the duels with the House Heads, the head of the magic noble house was not present.
In the first place, the head of the magic noble house was not a figure who could be placed on the same level as the other House Heads.
Grand Magus Duma.
A super-powerhouse at the peak of 8-Star, one of the strongest figures in the Alliance besides the Sacred Ones. He was a being that even Chris could not take lightly.
‘I’ll need to put in a little more effort.’
Bringing the Round Table to its knees was merely preparatory work.
His real targets were the magic noble house, and the Magic Tower.
‘Because neither the Head of the magic noble house nor the Master of the Magic Tower are opponents to be taken lightly.’
For reference, the two were separate individuals.
The Head of the magic noble house was Duke Duma, the Grand Magus, at the state of peak 8-Star.
The Master of the Magic Tower was Heperlman, the Sacred One, at the state of 9-Star (entering).
These two were the most powerful white mages in the Alliance.
‘It should be about time for them to take the bait.’
It was in the moment he was thinking that.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
He had sensed a crisis.