Narberal's Letter

by Finalfinish02

Ainz notices Narberal's hatred for humans. To get her to have a better opinion of them, he sends her off on several missions alone. As she goes on her adventure, she begins to understand humanity and herself.

19. Chapter 15 part 2

"So, Vesture."

Tension grew in both of their eyes. Vesture held his hand insight and stared at the list of possibilities he had to win this fight.

But knowing those two. That would not happen. He would have to pay the full price to buy those books.

"Alright, you win."

"Hm, I told you Vesture, you can't win at bargaining with me."

Currently, Vesture was shopping at Quirky Valley. The school was running low on essential equipment. So, he was tasked to get some. None of his co-workers were free around this time.

And Aqua had just broken one of his costly equipment. Granted, it was already in terrible condition. He was hoping it would last a few more weeks.

But of course, things don't always go as planned.

Still, the hammer shouldn't have broken or had that reaction when the child wielded it.

"That was weird."

Yes, Vesture did help the child a little by using Blood Bane.

It might have been a weapon malfunction why it acted that way. And regardless, it broke in the end.

Vesture had better things to worry about, such as spending his time wisely. Quirky Valley was quite far from the school. And with the day being at peak hours, the village was quite busy.

In fact, more than usual. Something must have recently came forth.

"Hey, " Vesture asked, "Do you know why the streets are so busy?"

"You don't know?"

Vesture shook his head.

"One of the newest Adamantite adventurers came here recently and bought something."

"Ah,"

Vesture already had an idea who that was.

"So, what happened, did she buy everything you had?"

"No. She came here during the night. So she only brought something at the merchant guild."

"Was it something expensive?"

"No, have you seen her? Her black hair, posture, everything about her can be described as beautiful and noble-like. She must have come from a foreign country."

"Well, you don't see people with black hair that often."

"That's right. Nemel took advantage of that and was able to sell her a horse. And now, many people who saw that adventurer associated that purchase to this village."

"Hm, so now there's an increase in popularity around here."

"Exactly!"

Vesture nodded to that fact. At first, he did underestimate the influence Nabe had on the country. Even though she hasn't done anything internationally, the commoners still favored her.

But it seemed that the people here were over-exaggerating the influence her group had.

No one seemed to know that Nabe was a pretty hard person to get along with. Vesture already knew that. Some other people likely knew that as well.

But she was still young-looking. She had plenty of time to improve. If Vesture had to estimate, she looked around 18 years old. Not only that, wasn't she teamed up with another person?

"Do you know anything about Momon?"

"That guy? You don't know yet?"

Vesture shook his head. He has been quite busy these past few weeks.

"That guy's strength is monstrous, he was able to kill an entire army of the undead, two skeletal dragons, and the squad of magic casters all in a single night."

"Hmm, that does sound impressive."

No wonder Nabe's strength was so prominent despite being a mage. When they dueled, It was outright unexpected when he first felt her attacks.

Pure warriors would have a hard time achieving the strength she held.

And now, if Momon was Nabe's teachers, that spoke even more of his power.

"Vesture no offense, but it sounds like that guy might be stronger than you or even the Warrior captain."

"Haha, you might be right."

If what Momon's said achievements were true, that would make him stronger than Gazef. While he would be able to do that feat, that was only if he had the kingdom's national treasures with him. Gazef wouldn't merely have enough stamina to defeat an entire army of the undead.

And for himself, that question was obvious.

"Well, it was nice meeting up with you."

"Yea, come back later and give me more money!"

That merchant seemed quite excited from all the profits he earned today.

But that was to be expected. It was busy today after all. The streets were filled with villagers. From time to time, he'll see several middle-class citizens walk down the street.

"Hm,"

He better check on the child. With all of these people around, it would be easy to get lost. But, it appeared he wouldn't have to worry about that.

Across the crowds of people, a blond child was running through the crowds.

That was a little surprising. Aqua had a cold look on her face. Did something happen?

"Vesture!"

The child yelled out that name.

"Hm, what's the matter?"

"The Merchant's guild."

"Oh, is it closed?"

If it was, then Vesture would have to come here next week to get the supplies. And that would be a pain.

Yet the child shook her head.

"That's not the problem, it is an emergency. Nemel…"

"Nemel?"

Aqua lend closer to Vesture's ears.

"She is the owner of the guild, and someone kidnapped her."

"A kidnapping?"

Not only that, but in broad daylight? That was certainly strange.

More so when you consider this was a village. News travels fast around here. In that case, he and a few others should have heard of this news.

But since this was not the case, the kidnapping must have been recent.

No wonder why the child was secretive about telling him this information. Talks of kidnapping could cause panic. And if the kidnappers were still here, it would make a great coverup to escape.

But again, Vesture didn't understand the reason why people would want to capture Nemel.

While they did have some loans and money to pay back. It would be unusual for one to go that far.

"Don't worry, I'll get help and make some preparations to save her, okay?"

Her face turned dark. There was something else to worry about.

"No, you don't understand, a mage named Alaric is already on his way to save her, but he is going to do it by himself."

There was only one name; one person who would be crazy to do that.

"Hm, that makes things a bit more complex. He might kill himself."

Vesture said that with a slight happy expression on his face. He wanted to calm the child down, yet that was not working. Obviously, he used the wrong wording.

"He will get himself killed, the people who kidnapped Nemel were professionals."

"Professionals?"

"Yes, the crime scene. They placed a dead body there to make us think she was dead."

That brought a surprise to Vesture. If the kidnappers wanted Nemel to pay back the money she owned, they would have made a runaway note. But in this case, they wanted to make people think she was dead.

Clearly, this wasn't an act of lust. But something else. And that made Vesture feel a slight discomfort.

"If it is whose people, then Jet wouldn't stand a chance. Nor will I."

"Do you know where Alaric went?"

"He said they were at the nearest cave from here."

A small sign of relief came from Vesture. If they are in that location, he might be able to get there in time.

"Listen, Aqua, this might become dangerous, but no matter what, do not tell the guards."

"The guards?"

"Yes, this might be too big for them to handle."

If it is them, no, it is them. All the strange events that had been happening lately. There was no reason that the Black Scripture had came here at last.

Knowing them, they were gathering information on him before they finally strike.

And Nemel was one of the first stones to that plan.

"This is my fault."

No, it was not entirely his fault. It still wondered Vesture why they were after him.

Numerous possibilities came up in his head, but none seemed valid enough.

He could only assume the worst-case scenario that they were here to kill him, but that possibility was little.

However, he could not disregard it. If that was the case, It'd be best to escape and create a new identity. Yet, he still had to worry about his students and Nemel.

If Jet comes in there with the lust of killing, that will create some problems.

Therefore, to stop that. Vesture must go there.

If he doesn't, Jet and Nemel might lose their lives. What's worse is that they could go after one of his students next.

Surely it was a lousy situation Vesture could not leave alone.

"What are you going to do then?"

Vesture looked at the confused child.

"Well, I serve as a village guard. It is only natural I'll save them."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

Currently, Vesture did not have the best gear on him. But that could be easily solved. This was a booming village with many trades and items now being on sale.

Of course, none of the items here rivaled national treasures. But they were still better than nothing. The only thing he'll have to worry about is his budget, the armor, and potions.

He didn't need to buy any weapons since he already had one.

Not counting the sword on his hip, he had a talent able to store about a few dozen items at once.

Every seated member in the Black Scripture had at least one unique talent. And ever since Vesture was born, he always had this strange ability.

From what he remembered from the Black Scripture, only gods, or rather the race called "Players," could access this ability he had.

It was called [Item Box].

The gods were said to be able to carry and store hundreds of items with this ability. But for Vesture, his ability worked differently. First off, his talent only allows him to store up to 100 pounds of equipment.

That was a big downside, but it does have its uses, such as storing money and swords. Armor would be too heavy to be placed in there.

But fighting the Black Scripture head-on without equipment was a death wish.

That was an understatement, even if he had all the preparation in the world. There would only be a good chance of him saving Jet, Nemel, and clearing suspicion of his students.

In terms of him surviving combat with them, that was a death wish.

So to improve that chance, he prepared his wallet, and to make things faster, it would be best to have the child's help.

"Aqua, can you go to the potion store and buy me some?"

"Yes."

"Okay, give me a moment. I have to write down a list."

Vesture couldn't merely rely upon the child remembering everything he'll say. The list of items he'll need was long. The Black Scripture is very unpredictable. He could be going into a fight that involved poison, traps, arrows, or hunger in that matter.

So to make sure the child got things right, a list was needed to be made. All of those potions would likely cost 30 gold coins.

While Vesture was an Adamantite adventurer in the past, it's been dozens of years since he had that title. Even that much money would hurt his financial income.

Yet, he gave the coins to the child.

This would be a very bad idea for obvious reasons.

But Vesture had to hurry.

The first store he went to was the blacksmith.

It was quite small. There were only two rooms in the building, but it was filled with all types of equipment ranging from copper to platinum plate armor. Besides the merchant guild, this was the best place to buy body protection.

While there were better deals out there. There was no time to look for other trades. As a result, this was the best choice.

"Sell me your best armor."

The merchant was surprised at first, but happily agreed to Vesture's demand.

"Wise choice."

"Yes, can you go over the details of the armor very quickly?"

"Of course, It is mostly made out of Mithril, but Orichalcum is mixed into the armor to provide extra defense. Because of that, it still has the quiet movement that Mithril provides. Including the lightweight features."

"Okay, how much is it, and will it fit me?"

"Yes, the armor will change its shape to adjust to the wearer. And It only cost 100 gold coins."

"That's a lot of money."

Vesture does make a salary far beyond the norm. The protection services he offers were one of the primary sources of income, but Vesture still had to split all of that money to his co-workers and such.

Thus, he only had a yearly salary of 100 gold coins when including all the ways he earns money.

So in other words, this would be a year's worth of salary he'll be spending.

That price would genuinely be a punch to his wallet. Even more so since he didn't have all that money on him. Therefore, he had to use his [item box].

If it functioned like how the gods used it. A small portal would appear from Vesture's hand. But in his case, that did not happen. The most differentiating feature of his talent is that he's able to instantly summon items at any place on his body by merely thinking of the object he needs.

The opposite was true when he needed to store an item. If he simply touches an object, Vesture could instantly transport it to his [Item Box], depending on its size.

So if he wanted to transport a larger object such as a shield, that would take about 7 to 12 seconds.

Hence, if he wanted to, he could possibly steal the item, but those days were far behind him.

It's best to summon gold coins in his hands instead of doing the latter.

The payment was already on the counter.

"Hm, going on a dangerous adventure?"

Vesture quickly raised his head.

While it was true he was in a rush, Vesture didn't even take the time to look at the merchant. His face was young-looking, there were no signs of wrinkles on his cheeks or eyes. He was likely a family member helping out the business.

Usually, an acquaintance of Vesture would be serving at this shop, but it appeared that was not the case. Yet he still answered truthfully.

"Yes,"

"Hm, my father was a fan of you back in the day, and this armor perfectly fits your style, right?"

There was a small nod.

Back when Vesture was an adventurer, he always wore full plate armor. Many people knew him by that appearance. However, that style of choice was not on purpose.

Since Vesture always used his human appearance, he had to keep watch for mages who could bypass his illusionary appearance.

But since his retirement, he became more casual about it.

Venture briefly touched the helmet.

"This brings back memories."

"Hm? You don't have your old equipment anymore?"

"No, I sold it a while ago."

"Damm, that armor must be worth a ton since you once wore it."

"It is, and this will be my next one."

The merchant laughed.

"If that's the case, go make my father's work of art famous. I'll even give you a discount of 20 gold pieces."

And of course, Vesture took that offer. But in reality, that piece of art would not become famous. This full plate armor would surely be destroyed in combat with the Black Scripture.

"I'm in a rush, can you help me equip it?"

"Right now?"

There was a moment of silence, but the merchant understood it immediately and grabbed his tools.

"You got yourself in deep trouble, haven't you?"

"I did."

There was no point in lying. There was a significant chance of him dying in this fight. He might as well get a messenger in case of his defeat.

"If my friends ask me where I went, tell them I had to go to the Slane Theocracy."

"That place?"

"Yes,"

"Well, I will do that, but don't blame me if they misunderstand."

The Slane Theocracy is the most powerful and "safest" human nation around. For Vesture, saying he is in a hurry to go there in full plate armor would undoubtedly be questionable.

But his friends would know why it is not. Anyone inside the Black Scripture would have that mindset. The Slane Theocracy has many kept secret even the top officers do not know.

Thus, Vesture quietly thanked the blacksmith when he was geared up and headed out of the store.

Aqua was waiting outside the building. He still had to worry about the child.

"I have all the potions you need, but I think the seller ripped me off."

"That's fine, do you have the change?"

"No…"

"Ah, I suppose they are a little more costly around this season."

The child's looked slightly guilty.

"Don't worry, I'll get Nemel back."

Now that he got everything he needed, he must get the child to a safe spot.

Of course, if he had more time, he would instead get better equipment, but that was not the case.

He still had to consider that the child couldn't be here by herself. Therefore, he should leave the kid at an inn.

"Here is some money to stay at a nice inn. I'll show you where it is."

"No, that will take too long time, go save Nemel and Alaric."

"Hm, you are right, If I don't come back by tomorrow or by nightfall, then use the extra money to hire a guide to go back to the school."

The child nodded, and Vesture went ahead.

And there he quickly grabbed his horse, and made it to the cave.

Part 4

The tiring state of the horse was now apparent, it ran as fast as possible towards the destination.

The cave was in a location where many trees were present. With the sun already dying down, it was already dark where Vesture was. Yet, the sparks of light flooding inside the cave told a different story.

So was the echoing clash of magic and fire.

Because Vesture was of a different race, his hearing was much more pronounced than most.

That was why he was able to hear about Nabe's ability to control shadow demons when he was in a different room.

So was the reason he knew the battle of magic was happening. Since Jet was lasting this long, there shouldn't be too many of them inside.

Either that, they were simply toying with him.

He shouldn't be able to survive much longer if both of the situations were true.

It would be best to prepare.

"How long was it again."

It's been a while since he left the organization. Most of the people he knew back then likely retired. Yet the rules were probably the same.

And their mission statement was also still consistent, from what he heard.

That included their fighting style.

For example, if one member were to go rogue, the scripture responsible for that person would often be the one to kill or capture that person.

Of course, since they were all connected to the Slane Theocracy, the scriptures helped each other out if needed.

Vesture had to be careful if that was the latter.

And there, he went off the horse and tied it to a nearby tree. It was too tired to be useful in battle.

Well, even if it was at full strength, It would not affect the outcome of the fight by too much.

It was only a village-trained horse. It was in no condition to be brought in battle.

Therefore, Vesture headed inside the cave alone.

Not in a quiet matter, but in a way that enemies could hear him. On his way, he used up several enchantment potions.

There was no reason to sneak his way inside. What's important is to end this conflict with a selfless-sacrifice.

On the way, he used the martial art [Alert Field] to check his surroundings for traps and ambushes. And [Eyes in the Back] alerted his brain if something was coming from behind him.

It could have been the Black Scripture plan to lead him inside this cave. It would be less expensive to simply defeat himself, instead of his entire school.

But if that were the case, then that would be for the best. This wasn't his student's fight, nor was it Jets.

Thus, he ran faster.

He could hear the fight was nearing its end.

The rushing of their footsteps told him that.

Someone was running away.

It was likely Jet.

It had to be.

Echoing clash of chains followed their footsteps.

They were close.

Since it was dark, Vesture couldn't see them at first. He didn't have night vision equipment on, and he had to continue by using one of the potions the child brought.

After drinking it, Vesture moved forward, he was able to see in the dark.

He unsheathed his blade, a whip was coming in fast.

It was moving beyond the speed a normal human could react to.

The user definitely belonged to the Black Scripture.

At the end of the whip, it appeared that a beating heart was laying at the tip, Vesture couldn't tell what enchantments it contained.

When a member of the Black Scripture is deployed, it is the law that they must be equipped with one of the best items the country has to offer.

Sometimes they do not have to if they were only on a scouting mission.

But Vesture couldn't count on that fact.

He raised his sword.

It was well made, one of the most durable blades he has, but because of that, the cutting power was slighting below average.

There was no chance at destroying that whip. Its body was covered in metal.

So he simply parried it while making sure not to hit the tip.

If he was not careful in redirecting the weapon, the whip could end up tying him up regardless.

That is why he had to time it correctly and aim near the tip.

The whip bounded off his sword as if it crashed into a sturdy helmet. It was then redirected to the walls. Normally one would not expect too much to occur after a parry.

But the crashing of stone grew. A small explosion bloomed at the site where it landed.

It was made up of 3rd tier magic. Vesture could already figure out the mechanics of how that magical weapon worked.

Every time the whip's tip hits something, an explosion appears. But it seemed there was a time limit to make that explosion occur.

Vesture didn't figure that out merely looking at the weapon.

It was only that once, he used a similar weapon when he was in the Black Scripture. Weapons similar to the one he just parried were scarce in this world.

Based on how the Black Scripture ranks items, it was likely classed Legacy. Or to be more exact, The Slane Theocracy classifies items based on how the Six Great Gods powered scaled them.

It went by Low Class, Middle Class, High Class, Top Class, Legacy Class, Relic Class, Legendary Class, Divine Class, and World Items.

However, this way of describing items was only used by the Black Scripture since they were the only ones who used such equipment above Legacy. Other scriptures are allowed to use these items, but that was only in exceptional cases.

The use of the best gear was also only given to the best of the elites. Vesture was once a seated member. In fact, he rivaled the former 3rd ranking member. But even he had never seen an item above the class Legendary.

Instead, he had only been given items below that tier.

It was probably to the fact items above Legendary were very rare. So much so that the highest-ranking officers kept information about them a secret.

That was an understatement. Even the equipment given to them is still considered classified. Yes, the Black Scripture does provide them with the equipment, but no one besides the top officers knows what they really are and why they are so strong.

That proved the fact the Black Scripture was here.

If Vesture had to rank his equipment, at best, they would be considered Top class. While it was possible to still win a fight despite the equipment difference, it would be very hard.

Especially since there were two of them.

Through the shadows, there were two men. One would not be able to see them unless they were using night vision.

Both of them had a very tall body filled with raging muscles that ran upon their structure.

If Vesture had to guess, they would be over 7 feet tall, which towered over his short height by an enormous amount.

He felt slightly relieved. While they were looking very intimidating, at least they were not wearing Relic class items.

Plus, he knew one of them.

While they were not friends back then, Vesture should still thank Cedran for all the times he helped him when he was still in the system.

Yet, it looked like he was growing old now.

Because of that, it was apparent that the other members had grown old.

New members were likely selected. Vesture did not know the man behind him.

"Hey, Cedran, it's good to meet you again."

A tall old man rose from the shadows.

"I should say the thing. However, we are not here to chat."

"I see,"

What followed Cedran was a man who wielded that whip. He looked rather young despite having a full-grown beard.

"So Vesture, are we just going to leave Jet alone then? You know what will happen if he reports this news."

"Don't worry, I will take care of it. Now, I suppose you didn't simply come here to visit me."

"That's right."

Vesture hands were now on his sword.

"Don't worry Vesture, If you do as we say, then no fighting will occur."

"Why did you guys come here then?"

"It is because it is starting soon."

Again, the silence appeared once more. Vesture had left the organization dozens of years ago, but knew precisely what Cedran was referring to.

"While you guys did not tell me an exact date. I expected it was coming soon because of all the strange events that have been happening lately. "

That were the events of Gazef's assassination, the appearance of powerful vampires, and the adventurer group Darkness.

"It's strange how all of her predictions are coming true."

"That's right. The next arrival of the players are here."

Vesture murmured. The race, players, is a very sensitive term spoken in the Slane Theocracy.

To be more exact, this term was only spoken between the Black Scripture and to the top officers in the Slane Theocracy. This was for the fact that the Black scripture is the most powerful military formation in the country. It was only natural the greatest secrets would be hidden between them.

But even Vesture did not have a grasp of what the race "players" were from. The country had kept that secret even to him and had only given him information on the due date.

Yes, they appeared every 200 years, and they were said to have the strength to conquer countries.

No, they had the strength to conquer the entire world for that matter.

For the due date being near, this was probably the reason why the Black Scripture came here. It was to recruit Vesture and many other of the strongest beings on this planet.

However, the recent events somewhat contradict that statement.

"I have questions, what was the purpose of attempting to kill Gazef?"

Killing Gazef only serves opposite to their statement.

"Not only that, why massacre all of those villagers?"

"You should know why Vesture."

His eyes looked downwards. From what Vesture knew of on the attempt of Gazef's assassination, only the Sun Scripture was involved. And in the event, that scripture killed multiple villagers to lure in Gazef and kill him.

Usually, the Slane Theocracy wouldn't authorize meaningless slaughter, even for an assassination mission. On top of that, killing high authorize figures like Gazef often required at least another scripture to help them, such as the Windflower, but that was not the case. Only one scripture was involved in Gazef's assassination.

That was, of course, foolish.

Hence, there may have been another reason for Gazef's assassination. That was likely to use those villagers.

Vesture nudged.

"That was cruel. To capture the villagers and for them to die in the end by the use of Blood Bane."

"It's only natural, we are running out of time."

"Then, the use of the old method was used?"

What they were referring to was Blood Bane.

An ability to increase one's ability far beyond what humanity is capable of.

This was one of the sole reasons the Slane Theocracy had been able to continue on for so long in a world filled with players and demon gods.

Yet, this ability is kept a secret between the Black Scripture and the highest authority in the Slane Theocracy. It was simply done to avoid political conflicts.

Even the other scriptures, the next highest military formation, were not told of this information. This is due to the fact that if their true power were to be shared, the upcoming arrival of players could instantly target the Slane Theocracy as they would be one of the only threats that would be able to stop them.

That was the reason why the Black Scripture had their members lie about their strength. For example, they were asked if they could destroy an army of Death Knights, they would say it would be impossible. But in reality, the Black Scripture could do such a feat.

Yes, Blood Bane was an ability that improves one's ability by that much.

If one used it, that person would be able to grasp the strength of a battle rating of around 150 for some time. However, even with that power level, one would still be easily defeated by a player.

Vesture had been in combat with many of those types of monsters and knew that was a fact. In a one vs. one situation, at best, a seated member would only do a small amount of damage towards a player. Therefore, one might question why gather the most talented heroes in the world if they were still ants compared to the gods of this world.

And to answer that question, it was because it is still possible to win against them with the use of the combination of Blood Bane, World Items, and powerful talents.

Vesture didn't entirely understand how Blood Bane worked. He only knew that for someone to get this ability, they had to inject the blood of the gods or Godkins inside of them.

And there are three methods of doing this.

The easiest way is to be born having that ability. That is the unique skill Godkins are born with, but many of them are weak. This was because to use their abilities, they must awaken their hidden potential.

And that was very hard to do. From what Vesture remembered, there were only two people alive who had done that in the last 200 years.

One was a small boy. He was likely around the age of a young adult now. However, he only half-awakened his abilities.

Because of that, he had not reached his full potential but still had a base form stronger than a monster with a battle rating of 150. And with the combination of Blood Bane, he can briefly tap into his fullest potential and rival True Dragon Lords.

And the second person Vesture knew who awakened was kept a secret even to him, yet he had heard rumors of her.

She is the only person in recent history who had been able to fully unlock their innate ability.

That is was why the Slane Theocracy could not merely rely upon the chance of genes. The percentage of Godkins to awaken was very rare.

For this reason, other ways to obtain this skill arose.

The most common way to get the ability involved injecting the blood of the gods into a person. But often that blood ends up killing a person, even if they are strong.

That was why another way to obtain this ability was created.

The third way of obtaining this ability was by slowly giving a person bits of the god's blood. In fact, this method can be done even without physically touching the person, for example, by the use of air travel.

That was how Vesture was given this ability.

It also had a 0% fatality rate. However, the downside is that one would not see changes in their strength for a very long time.

And it was not even a guarantee that the trainee was becoming stronger.

To clarify, it meant that a person would not notice if the blood was mixing into themselves until years later.

Because of that condition, the second method was usually used. It would create faster results.

However, only 1 out of 100 people whose strength rested upon Mithril would usually be able to survive the injection. If you were stronger, then the chances would quadruple. However, if you are weaker than a Mithril adventurer, then your chances would greatly decrease.

If you do that math, that was a meager chance of survival. There are only around 300 adventurers whose strength rests above Platinum in the Re-Estize Kingdom.

So, one could say it would take the combined population of one country to produce two users of Blood Bane in the span of 10 years.

And even if you survive, unless you were a Godkin, there are several conditions you must meet before you can use and activate Blood Bane.

The most important thing was wild magic. You must wear something that is enchanted with wild magic.

Otherwise, you would not be able to access this power.

That was why items enchanted with Wild magic were extremely rare and were often not given away. There were a few exemptions to this case, such as when Rigrit gave that ring to Gazef.

So, hypothetically Gazef could activate Blood Bane on his own.

Yet, Vesture didn't teach Gazef how to activate it.

This was because it was a rule not to tell anyone. Even if Vesture tried to share the secret, he'd be killed instantly. This was because once a person joins the Black Scripture, they are forced to be bound to a magic spell to never tell this information to others.

Well, even if Vesture was not bound by that spell. He probably won't even be able to teach Gazef in the first place. Finding the blood of players was very rare. The other reason was because Vesture did not understand the topic to a great extent.

Such as the reason why someone must use gear enchanted with wild magic to use Blood Bane. From what he heard, it was simply a rule that has been founded in the Black Scripture since the beginning.

Those who used it did not question the mechanism similar to how magic could create thunderstorms.

Hence, time evidently passed and only three conditions were found and needed to use it.

Wearing items enchanted with Wild Magic was the most important condition. Unless a seated member went rogue, every member is forced to be equipped with that enchantment.

Without it, they cannot active Blood Bane and could be easily killed, such as Clementine. Despite everyone in the special ops having a base form in the realm of heroes, the seated members can be very vulnerable without their best equipment.

And the other two conditions involved the user themselves. A person must be physically and mentally stable when using it. While it was still possible to access the ability, it would be less effective to a very great amount.

So much so, one might not see a difference in strength if they are not in the correct mindset.

That is why every seated member is highly valued.

Everyone chosen to be in the Black scripture were those who survived the injection and were trusted to keep the ability a secret.

Similar to how the Baharuth Empire choses their best warriors. The Slane Theocracy does have strict beliefs in religion, but when it comes down to picking their best warriors. They do not care about the race or the background where one came from.

Only the thing that matters is if they can survive and could be trusted.

"Then I suppose there is going to be a mass injection?"

"That is right, even if they are weak, they still have a chance to survive."

"May I know the name whose going to be responsible for this?"

"You should already know, Mr. Smith is carrying out this operation."

"So those villagers and now this. You don't mean he is going to use the experiment again on another settlement?

That question drove beyond authorization. Yet Cedran still answered,

"Yes."

A slight discomfort rose in Vesture's eyes.

"Why are you telling me all of this."

"It's only because you are going to know this sooner or later."

Vesture then raised his sword.

"You should know that I am against this idea."

The two others, then rose their weapons. Despite the cave being dark, the touches that surrounded the cave reflected light off their faces.

"Vesture, it is meaningless to fight. The operation is already underway, and we have bigger things to worry about."

His eyes soften.

Vesture nudged to himself, then smiled.

"I know."

"Without the Black Scripture equipment, there will be a huge power gap between us."

"Yes, I know."

Cedran already noticed Vesture wasn't wearing any equipment enchanted with Wild Magic.

Yet his eyes did not fall.

"What are you thinking? Since we were not here to kill you, have you gotten overconfident?"

"No, I simply want to full-fill my duties as a retired Adamantite adventurer. That is all."

"If you decide to fight us, you will undoubtedly lose. There will be unnecessary pain."

"I understand."

Cedran stared at Vesture, then nodded to the man beside him.

"Hm, very well. You have always been stubborn."

Cedran then placed down his shields, and on his back, he grabbed another one. It was different.

An average person would think it would be less useful in a fight. However, that was entirely false. The duel shields he wielded were powerful in defense, but not in attack power.

The small round shield Cedran was using now provided less defense, but provided the ability to be deadly in close combat.

Usually, this would be a bad idea to use this style of fighting. However, Cedran was well-trained in this "martial art."

"Before we get started, The man behind me is Beaumarchais. He's one of the younger members. And since you cannot use Blood Bane at the moment, we won't use it unless the situation calls for it."

Beaumarchais stood up

"Eh? Why aren't we going to use it?"

"Give me a break Beaumarchais, if we use Blood Bane, that will ruin our warrior's pride,"

Beaumarchais signed, so that was his name. It was true, if they go all out, Vesture would most likely lose the fight in a few moments. Yet, because of Cedran's warrior pride, both of them would not use it.

This might be because of the rivalry that once existed between Vesture and Cedran. While they were not enemies, they were from the same training class when they first joined the Black Scripture.

While it was meaningless to frown upon the past. Vesture and Cedran were now the last two members alive from that training group. It is only fitting that they fought to see who is the strongest after all these years.

Of course, Vesture is stronger than Cedran. He was once considered a rival to the 3rd seat after all. That was why Beaumarchais was standing next to Cedran. And it seemed they were whispering something to each other.

This was a duel, but not a formal one. There would be no start or finish signal.

It was only honor that they were not attacking each other. But that act was now done. Vesture should take this moment to plan and strike.

[Capacity building, Ability Boost]

An ability to increase his body's overall power level.

[Body strengthening, Physical Boost]

The next two martial arts helped in a body's natural defenses. While he was wearing full plate Mithril armor, the weapons they were using could easily break through it.

In response to Vesture's preparation, the two others cast their martial arts as well. The fight was starting.

It'll be wise for him to take out Beaumarchais first.

This is because Cedran had a talent that all warriors feared. While Vesture did not know what Beaumarchais's talent was, Cedran would surely be a big problem to deal with regardless.

This was because Cedran had the talent to absorb any physical and magical attacks.

A perfect talent for one who serves as a tank.

No, he did not absorb the attack itself. If Vesture hits Cedran, he would still get hurt.

Simply, once a person attacks Cedran, he can absorb and store all the damage that was done to him and redirect that damage towards a target.

That was why Cedran was still not retired. And besides his special talent, his skill and experience are still highly valued as a tank.

But there was a problem with his talent.

If there is an attack too powerful for him to handle, such as 10th tier magic, he could get instantly killed before he could have a chance to absorb and redirect that energy.

That was how Vesture was planning to defeat Cedran.

He could not use 10th tier magic, but another way to prevent him from using his talent was to simply disable his arms. For Cedran to activate
his talent, he needs the use of both of his hands.

Thus, it would be wise to first finish off Beaumarchais. There was no chance Vesture could defeat Cedran in a single hit with another man to worry about.

Plus, if Vesture tries to slowly take down Cedran. He would simply absorb his blows and sooner or later redirect a powerful attack towards him. That is why it would be meaningless to attack him.

He would only be giving Cedran more power.

Hence, he prepared a stance and aimed his sword.

They were 10 meters apart.

But Vesture covered that distance in a blink of an eye. He was not faster than Clementine. Yet his overall base stats were considered hero class. Combined with his martial arts, his swords should be able to reach Beaumarchais or at least touch him with the inhuman speed he was displaying.

Yet, that was false, Cedran was specialized in defense, his speed would surely be lower than his. But Beaumarchais was specialized in assassination. He was faster than him.

Using the previous martial arts he activated, he sensed Beaumarchais was already behind him. In this case, Vesture would have to parry his attack, but Cedran was in front of him. He would be attacked on both fronts.

"Tck,"

They already knew that he was first planning to take out Beaumarchais.

It would be best to retreat to a better position. He ran several meters away from both of them. But he still had to worry about long-range attacks.

The crack of a whip grew. Vesture barely dodged that blow. Usually, he would be able to counter the enemy as the whip would be now moving in a different direction.

Yet, it was not, the whip was redirected towards him.

Blow after blow, the onslaught of attacks would not stop. Every time Vesture redirected the tip of the weapon, no matter what, it would not change direction.

There would be a sudden moment of rest between the strikes, but nothing worth wasting energy for. If this keeps out, both of them will become tired.

No, only he would become tired.

While Beaumarchais was doing all of this work, it was because of the skilled use of every finger. Vesture, on the other hand, was using every muscle in his arms to counter each strike.

The tradeoff was in favor of Beaumarchais.

But the trading blows could be stopped if a sudden use of great power was present. Vesture had many martial arts that could produce this result. The most famous of these attacks was the [Sixfold Slash of Light].

However, Vesture's body was already under stress from several passive abilities. Adding [Sixfold Slash of Light], a move that cost as much pressure as 3 martial arts would surely make him tired.

But he still used it.

A slight discomfort appeared in his muscles, but six red lights appeared in the air. Similar to how a sword produces an air slice, the [Sixfold Slash of Light] has identical results.

However, the difference was that the six strikes had equal power to the original blade. And it quickly overpowered the strength Beaumarchais had been outputting.

He was open, the whip was forcefully moved to the walls, and the tip exploded. This was his chance. There would be a cooldown before the weapon would be able to produce more bursts of explosions.

But Cedran had appeared.

Despite him specializing in defense, his pure hand to hand combat skills were mighty. In fact, you could say they rivaled Zero.

While his skills were not as excellent as a pure monk. It would still be hard to counter his attacks. Especially since he was using a shield.

It would be deadly if Vesture were to get hit by it.

This was due to the powerful blunt force it held. And even if you don't include that, the edge of the round shield would produce a more deadly result than most people would think.

One full-powered rush could break through his armor.

And on top of that, Beaumarchais was coming in close again. All of his sides were covered, there was nowhere to escape but to jump.

He flew high into the air. As a rabbit man, their movement speed was generally better compared to humans.

"Eh?"

But, Cedran was in the air. The deeper part of the cave had a roof height of 4 meters. For Cedran, a man wearing more armor than one could imagine, to be jumping and moving this swiftly said something about his strength.

From what Vesture remembered, he wasn't always this fast.

He was simply hoping that Beaumarchais would jump to counter him.

Since the chains' magical enchantments were still on cooldown, that would be a perfect way to defeat Beaumarchais.

But instead, Cedran jumped. And there he threw several punches. They were in close quarters, a disadvantage to Vesture, who was using a longsword. He was too slow to block and crashed into the floor.

The blow was not sufficient enough to hurt Vesture, but he could feel his armor being indented from Cedran's punches.

And Beaumarchais, the cooldown for his weapon seemed to be over. A whip appeared out of nowhere.

It would be over if he gets caught, but thankfully his reaction time was sufficient enough, but not his movement speed. The tip hit the ground, an explosion appeared. Vesture was caught in it and flew back several meters against the wall.

That enchantment spell was not made up of 3rd tier magic. Parts of his armor were starting to crack just from the sheer explosion of the whip.

And again, Beaumarchais attacked.

Vesture jumped from place to place to keep afloat. But every time he did, Cedran would come behind him and throw his round shield around.

It was in a way that could hurt the enemy and protect the user. It was indeed a hard attack pattern to beat.

Since Vesture did have access to the talent [Item box], he could possibly defeat this fighting style, but he could not adjust since Beaumarchais was here.

It was truly a one-sided battle.

But of course, the chance of victory was still present.

Cedran hit Vesture with his shield, yet it was reflected because of his armor's strong angles

Mithril is still a strong metal, and with that attack, he was wide open.

But Vesture retreated a few meters. He could not forget about Cedran's talent. Yes, there was a small chance to cut off Cedran's arm to point where it'll be unusable.

However, he still had to consider if he had high tier healing items on him.

"Hm, Vesture, have you gotten rusty all these years?"

Cedran was questioning him.

"You are not the same. Back then, you used to be so aggressive in your fighting style."

"It's only because you guys are so strong, I can't be as aggressive."

He listened but still continued.

"Not only that. You became more passive over the years."

A deep blow appeared from the shadows. Cedran threw his shield, Vesture dodged, and Beaumarchais placed a blow with his whip.

Before it landed, Vesture used {Fortress}.

A skill that softens a physical attack.

While he could use [invulnerable Fort], it would cost his body much stress.

If Beaumarchais's weapon were not on cooldown, Vesture would imminently resort to using it, but that was not the case. Thus, he decided to use the latter.

But it was still a devastating blow.

The kinetic energy broke through his martial art, but Vesture was still on his feet. It was just enough.

But Cedran came rushing forward with his round shield in front.

Full-on contact.

He took the entire hit.

Armor cracked, the wind passed by, and the stone walls made way for Vesture.

There was nothing he could do to soften the hit.

The reinforced metal on his swords disappeared into the air. And the view of a beating heart appeared in the sky.

It was the whip. It was not on cooldown.

Once Beaumarchais uses the weapon to tie up Vesture, the tip would slowly circle inward to the center where Vesture would be.

And then an explosion would bloom into action, and once it disappeared, the whip would go inward again, and the cycle of explosives would continue until its cooldown is finally met.

This was probably Beaumarchais's prized combo.

If Vesture counted rightly, 6 explosives would be landed on him. It would be best to move away.

But warriors couldn't move mid-air unless they had the spell flight.

And that was not the case. This was the end.

Well, If this were Vesture 30 years ago, he would have been defeated at this moment.

[Shukuchi Kai]

A martial art he learned while traveling to the Baharuth Empire. He learned it from a man saying he was stronger than Brain, but that information irrelevant right now.

What matters is that skill's ability.

That martial art enables one to be able in any direction without the use of arms or legs. It was an instantaneous movement.

As a result, he was able to dodge the tip, but not the wall.

Instantly, his muscles were shaken from the impact. Thankfully, his armor took most of the force. However, there was no guarantee it would survive another hit.

The whip appeared again. This was the moment.

He needs to take advantage of it. The weakness.

Using his talent [Item Box], Vesture instantly summoned a knife and threw it flawlessly at the tip of the whip.

Thus, the flames bloomed. The whip recoiled.

Vesture was launched straight forward from the blast of flames and grabbed onto the whip's chains.

"Hm."

It was covered in poison, most likely to harm anyone who tried grabbing it.

If Vesture weren't wearing full plate armor, his hands would have been cut into pieces.

And when Beaumarchais saw his weapon had been grabbed onto, he froze.

Just as planned.

Did he realize he just made a big mistake? He was more experienced than Vesture thought. Now that he had the weapon, he just needed to keep a hold on it for a few seconds.

It was successful, the chains disappeared. Vesture just used his talent [Item Box]. It could also be used in combat as well. The reason he could not use his talent before was because it takes a few seconds for the item he wants to go into his "inventory."

With that time limit to meet, Vesture couldn't merely spam and steal everything that an enemy has. But with this, now it was possible.

Beaumarchais froze, Vesture had to restate that previous statement.

He probably did not have much combat experience.

The fact an enemy grabbed onto his prize weapon surprised him, and that will be his end.

{Sixfold Slash of Light]

Red lights arose from his sword and sheared neatly through Beaumarchais's muscles and bones. He was finished, his arms and legs were unusable at this moment.

He wouldn't be able to use high tier healing items since he was disabled.

But it would be a waste to kill one of the Black Scripture members. That was not Vesture's goal. It was only to change their course of action.

"Come on, Cedran!"

Beaumarchais screamed with a hint of anger. "Enough with warrior's pride, just use Blood Bane and capture this guy,"

"Beaumarchais, if you didn't freeze up, you wouldn't have ended up with all those injuries."

"Shut up,"

Vesture smirked, not in an aggressive, but in a way that he was showing sympathy in Cedran's actions.

"Hmm, Cedran, are you acting as a trainer too in the Black Scripture?"

"Yes, since I'm turning old, I thought I might do something else."

"Hehe, I understand, It's hard to train young adults into the best person they could become."

After training many strong warriors, he certainly understood the problem a lot of teachers faced. While many of them, such as Gazef, are very much of a nobleman today, back then, they were not as friendly as everyone knew of them.

Yet, there was a reason why most teachers become teachers.

"Is that's why you left the Black Scripture? Because of Lubina and that man?"

Cedran asked that question. Usually, Vesture would hesitate to talk about this topic, but he responded with a nod.

"You are stubborn as always, is that way you cannot join us again?"

"Yes,"

"If you win this fight, are you going to fight Mr. Smith and his armies to stop the mass production of elite warriors?"

"I told you already."

"I wanted to make sure we're on equal terms. You know I can not allow you to interfere."

Cedran walked over where he left his other weapons.

"Obliviously since Beaumarchais is down now. I cannot beat you in a fair fight Vesture, so this will be the end."

He then grabbed onto the duel shields once more.

"Don't worry, If I beat you, we will be taking you back to the Black Scripture. Your students will be unharmed."

"Understood, I also agree it is time to end this."

Blood Bane, Cedran, was going to use Blood Bane. To power scale it, if Cedran used it, his strength would only be 2nd to the demon gods that ran throughout the world 200 years ago.

There would be no chance Vesture would be able to win after Cedran activates that form, this was the end.

In other words, he would be defeated.

But he still raised his sword.

As Cedran was activating Blood Bane, Vesture activated his own martial arts.

[Possibility sense]

It was a skill that can tell the user the chances of victory in battle. And when every millisecond passed, Vesture saw the possibility of winning growing smaller and smaller.

In the end, there was only a dims light of victory.

Back then, he did train in several situations where he had to fight opponents with a monstrous strength advantage. And every time they fought, Vesture and everyone else would lose.

Unless the person using Blood Bane was wearing basic gear or did not meet every condition, every time, the results were visible.

The outcome of this fight should be obvious as well.

There was a slim shade of red in Cedran's eyes. The blood of the gods was flowing in his veins.

The first move was made.

Vesture couldn't move away.

That was not an exaggeration.

The pressure inside the cave grew tight, and the air pressure grew dim. Cedran was not specialized in speed, but he was moving far faster than Vesture.

In fact, Vesture's legs could not even react to his movements. It was only his eyes that could still respond to everything that was happening.

Yet, his body was too weak to react.

The only way to dodge the attack was to use that martial art.

[Shukuchi Kai]

There was a ringing clash of metal, Vesture dodged in time, but he was partially caught.

Only his sword touched the bashing of shields.

That was dangerous. It would be wise not to get hit.

Yet, before he could regain footing, Cedran was already heading in his direction again.

There was no time to dodge.

[Impenetrable Fortress]

Vesture braced his arms and legs for an intense impact. As one of the highest forms of defense one could learn, he would usually be able to defend against any type of attack with no problem.

Yet, as he stood, a gust of wind blew onto him. He was losing balance, and his arms were losing strength in them.

As the force of impact grew onto him, he was nearly blown away from the attack.

However, he was only knocked back several meters.

Vesture was lucky he did not receive any major injuries.

Now that was an understatement.

Yes, while he did not lose a limb or break a bone. His arms were lacking in protection now.

The appearance of blue metal covering his hands was no longer present.

It must have been cracked and blown to pieces from the impact of the blow. Everything that was on arms were now destroyed, including his illusionist bracelet.

Vesture grind, he used the highest defense skill he knew. However, Cedran caused that much damage. The Mithril plate armor was broken through like butter.

He was serious.

Vesture would instantly be knocked out in three, no possibility in a single direct hit.

Even if he used [Impenetrable Fortress] again, that defense skill would likely not save him.

Perhaps it might keep him alive, but that was not good enough to win.

There was only one technique that might be able to grant victory to Vesture.

Yes, Cedran's defensive stats were already far superior to Vesture. Adding Blood Bane would only lengthen that gap.

But if Vesture plays his cards right, he might be able to bypass that defense with his trump card.

And it was not the [Sixfold Slash of Light] nor his [Item Box].

Cedran's shields and armor were too big in size. It would take too long for Vesture to transport those into his inventory.

And [Sixfold Slash of Light], was not powerful enough. It is strong when all of the six strikes hit. Many people confuse this martial skill to be Vesture's strongest attack because of that. But even with that skill, it is not enough.

Instead, Vesture trump card was a skill that only he and one other person were able to master.

Yes, that name is Gazef. Only he and Vesture had been able to master this technique.

But it was not guaranteed that he would have a chance to pull out that skill.

Cedran was moving too fast for Vesture.

However, there was an idea.

About 30 meters from his location, there was a trap mechanism that could blow up the rooftop of the cave.

If he can get there, he might have a chance.

No, this was his only chance at victory.

Cedran, at his current level, would be able to easily break through that wall of boulders.

However, it would give him enough time to prepare for the technique.

The only problem was that Cedran would not allow him to reach there.

Yet, Vesture still had to gamble on that chance.

Thus, he placed all his strength towards his legs and ran.

A few meters into running, he was hit.

His legs.

Cedran aimed for his legs. Vesture's leg plating immediately bust on impact, and pain grew intensely.

It was then, he was sent several dozens of meters into the air.

Yet he still had conscious and was heading towards the location where that trap was.

It was at this moment, he summoned a throwing knife and hit the explosive mechanism.

It landed, the rocks fell behind him, and he landed safely to the ground.

Unexpectedly, he was not hit too hard, he did not feel too much pain in his upper body.

However, his legs.

They were broken.

Quickly, Vesture gobbled up the highest healing potion he had.

Yet only after drinking it, he could only stand and not run.

"Did the child get the wrong stuff?"

The potions he drank felt as if it was only made of 2nd tier healing magic.

Granted, the magic stores around here did not offer that many good potions.

"Could be that 2nd tier healing potions were the best they had?"

That was likely the case and Vesture grind.

"So, that's why the child looked guilty."

Vesture couldn't dwell on that topic for too long, Cedran would be coming soon.

Hence, he made his preparation.

His legs were not in good enough condition to run fast. Therefore, he will use the martial art [Shukuchi Kai] to make up for that.

And for the preparations, he had to activate a list of martial arts.

As Vesture mentioned before. Each and every black scripture member had a unique talent.

In fact, the top five members of the Black Scripture always had talents that can be considered top 10 in the world.

Vesture's talent did not fit that category. Instead, the reason why his strength rivaled the 3rd seat was for the fact he had a second talent.

People who had two talents were extremely rare. Thus, many people do not consider Vesture has two, but instead a unique ability.

The skill to use twice as much martial arts for one's level.

Typically, someone on Vesture's level would only be able to use 8 martial arts at once.

That was because martial arts required the use of tense mental focus. But because of his innate ability, he can use up to 16 and so onward.

However, many martial arts that involve the use of the blades did not exist in books.

That's why Vesture created this technique.

The breaking of boulders appeared, he had to hurry.

After chanting all of his previous said buffs, Vesture stored his primary sword and summoned another sword from his unarmed hand.

It was made out of Adamantite and Orichalcum. The reason why Vesture was quite poor was that he spent most of his funds on these blades.

He had 23 of them. They were made to have an extremely sharp edge.

The downside of having a sharp edge is that a sword starts to become thinner. Thus, its durability rapidly decreases.

In other words, a copper sword could be as sharp as the world's strongest blade. However, since copper is weak, the edge would break from the slightest touch.

Hence, Vesture's Adamantite blades were made to be sharp to that extent. The point after 5 uses they would be destroyed.

Yes, the strongest metal that humanity knows of to be destroyed in a few hits. That alone speaks to how sharp and fragile these blades were.

That was why Vesture did not use them at the start of the fight.

First off, it would have been pointless to use them on Beaumarchais, as a normal blade would be able to hurt him.

Secondly, if both of them saw him use his trump card, both of them would have immediately resorted to using Blood Bane.

That was why getting Beaumarchais out of the way was essential.

Having to face two monsters with a battle rating of 150 was death itself.

Thereby, the point of having these swords was to produce the most potent attack all at once.

Once the sword breaks, Vesture would instantly summon another one.

And there was a 100% chance the swords would break. This was because he will be using a martial art Orlando Campano created.

While he is still a student in his school, Orlando developed a martial art that involved breaking one's weapon to increase its power output several times.

As a result of that skill, this was the perfect martial art for these blades.

If they were to be broken, they might as well be.

Thus, Vesture raised his sword.

Cedran burst out of the wall of boulders.

Yet he was stuck. This was perfectly going into the plan.

Using Beaumarchais's whip, Vesture swung and tied up one of Cedran's freed arms from moving. Despite the strength difference, the whip was still Lecady class. It would take some time for Cedran to break off of it.

One might have to worry about its ability to explode. However, Vesture cut off the tip of the whip's end beforehand.

And once the whip was placed tightly on Cedran's arms, Vesture used threw one of his normal swords to secure the endpoint. He then stabbed the handle of the whip to the ground.

Both of Cedran's arms now unusable. One was stuck in the boulders, and the other was tied up by the whip.

Now Vesture only had to get through his full plate armor instead of his monstrous shields.

Consequently, that meant he could win. Before, that was not possible because there was no way Vesture could have broken through those shields.

Therefore, using [Shukuchi Kai], Vesture summoned two swords and launched the attack.

The previous preparation was not the trump card he had taught Gazef.

In truth, the ultimate technique was simple, yet very hard to imitate.

That was [Eightfold Slash of Light].

However, instead of a barrage of eight slices appearing. Vesture developed a way for one to continually use [Eightfold Slash of Light] after the initial swing.

In other words, after Vesture swings his sword with the use of [Eightfold Slash of Light], he can swing again using [Eightfold Slash of Light] and onward.

This is possible by instantly using the martial art [Instant Counter].

It is an ability that corrects the balance of the user, allowing them to attack continuously. Now, [Instant Counter] is not a hard skill to master. It simply almost impossible to active it right away after using [Eightfold Slash of Light].

This is because, usually, after the first use of [Eightfold Slash of Light], the user would feel off-balance and would not be able to relaunch any other martial art.

But with this, it was now possible.

Now the difference between Gazef's trump card is that he only uses a single weapon.

In Vesture's case, since he could use twice as much martial arts as his student could. He can do this feat with two swords.

In other words, after one strike of his dual swords, an equivalent of 16 hits would be placed on Cedran.

And that was not including the fact Vesture had another ability.

With the combination of Orlando's martial art. After his swords strike, they would turn to dust in exchange for the strikes being several times more deadly.

But that was no problem as Vesture could simply summon another sword and attack.

Yet it was not enough.

As Vesture continually swung with all his might, Cedran's armor and skin were still intact. This was the weakness of his trump card.

The stroke of Gazef's master was enough to cleave any Mithril adventurer into sixteen pieces.

Yet, [Eightfold Slash of Light] is an attack that was not accurate. Vesture had mastered the skill to the point where it would be more precise.

But it was not enough.

Cedran kicked Vesture's stomach. One of his legs broke free.

His breastplate armor instantly splattered. The energy had nowhere to go. Thus, the sound of his ribs breaking grew.

Yet he continued.

He had to go faster.

Simultaneously creating and breaking swords. Vesture continued to dispatch his swords.

Dozens of red lights could be seen from where the battle was taking place. So much so, if this was a talent show, people would be cheering for the light show that was being displayed.

But there was no time for that. The attacks Vesture did were inaccurate to the point the cave and its surroundings were being destroyed.

Walls were coming down, the rooftop was falling.

The surrounding trees were being chopped in half.

Yet, he continued.

His arms and legs started to become shaky. The side effects of using these many martial arts were starting to appear.

The reason why Vesture and Gazef do not often use this technique was because they would faint after using these many skills continually.

Thereby, it was normally used as a last resort.

The battle would usually end right then and there, but for this situation, it did not.

The voice of fatigued began to fill his ears. Vesture desperately wanted to take a break, but if he did, Cedran would use his talent to defeat him.

Yet, it seemed he would not have to worry about that.

One of Cedran's hands broke free and grabbed hold on one of Vesture's arms.

It was then twisted and shattered.

Vesture nearly coughed in pain.

Was this it?

The combination of all these martial arts meaningless?

No, it was not. Vesture lunged forward.

This was his last blade. The final attack. In the event, he must use all his energy.

[limit breaker].

The number of martial arts he could use increased. Thus the onslaught of swords continued.

[brief seal, grand power strike].

A skill he heard and learned from one of Buser's kids. That king, Buser, was a demi-human who specialized in weapon and armor destruction.

As a result, that increased the power output of the swords even more.

And for the next martial arts.

[Cutting Edge, Fatal Edge, Full Throttle].

And lastly, [Eightfold Slash of Light].

The armor was broken through.

A total of more than 150 strikes were placed on Cedran, and only with Vesture's final blade was he able to break through.

The giant fell, Vesture had to make sure he was down.

Thus, he summoned several daggers to cut through his muscle tendons.

And there, he went on his knees.

The cave was destroyed.

The fight was over.

The use of these many martial arts caused much stress in Vesture's mind.

He could hardly stand and drunk up several stamina potions.

Not that he needed to drink them to get their effects, it was only that he was thirsty as well.

And once his eyes regain sight, his helmet was left on the ground. The night sky was present.

The moon shined light between the two of them.

It was late.

---

Cedran was still laying on the ground, his arms and legs were brutality cut, and his body was slowly losing blood.

If his muscles were still functional, he might have been able to move around and activate his healing enchantments that were on his armor.

Well, his armor. He probably couldn't activate them because it was destroyed. Cedran was injured to the point where he could not even move his neck.

Yes, Vesture's trump card. Cedran had heard that Vesture developed a martial art that surpassed the [Sixfold Slash of Light].

But for the attack to be this powerful, it was ridiculous.

Cedran's armor had a defense level around the class Relic. Not only that, his stats far surpassed Vesture when using Blood bane.

For those martial arts to close the gap between the level difference only spoke how dangerous they were. Yes, Cedran had activated several martial arts himself, but they mainly enchanted the defensive value of his shields.

If his arms didn't get stuck, he could have defended against that attack with minor trouble. Yet, he did not, he was defeated.

Anyone with a high level could be defeated if they simply stood there while their enemy constantly attacked them. Yet the armor he was wearing should have lasted to the point he could regain use of his arms.

But they did not. That only spoke how powerful Vesture's martial arts were.

Cedran is a warrior, himself. He should have already known how much power martial arts could give someone. The fact he was defeated by underestimating Vesture only spoke of his carelessness. Yes, while he did have strength rivaling demon gods the 13th heroes once faced. They were also defeated by heroes on a similar level as Vesture due to their carelessness.

Cedran should have known this fact, but he did not care for it. Thereby, after Vesture kills him and when the Black Scripture revives him again. They would not likely deploy him on solo missions for a long time despite his experience.

Dying twice in a row in a month is the reason. Not only that, it was his fault that Vesture discovered their hideout, not Beaumarchais.

Even if he does not lose his benefits. After Vesture kills him, he would not be able to be deployed for a long time due to the loss of levels he has to recover.

It was already hard trying to recover from his first death. This time, it will probably take a whole year to regain his strength.

Yet, failure was just a part of this job. There was no use in dwelling on his failures.

It would be faster simply to wait for this death.

Yet, instead, he felt the splash of liquid on him.

Was it raining?

When Vesture used that martial art, half of the entire cave fell apart due to the destruction of its support system.

Therefore, the rooftop should be clear to the sky.

Cedran was expecting more raindrops to come. But that did not happen. Instead, his arms and limbs started to regain strength. A healing potion was used on him.

Did Beaumarchais manage to get up? That was not likely, his injuries were too severe. One of the Windflower members they had brought likely gave them a healing potion.

However, they should have left instantly when they got the message both of them were defeated. So it confused him why he was regaining his strength.

Yet that answer was easily solved.

He opened his eyes.

Now the rooftop of the cave was gone, but he did not see Beaumarchais.

Only Vesture.

"Now, who's the stubborn one now?"

There was broken glass on his body. Vesture had thrown a healing potion at his body.

Yet the healing effects were only to the point of him able to stand up once more. Probably to make sure he doesn't attack him. Cedran still did not use his talent. Therefore, if he regained full use of his arms, he could instantly one shot Vesture.

But it seems Vesture that into consideration as well. Cedran was now only wearing his basic clothing. All of his equipment was gone. And when he looked towards Vesture, he was now equipped with his enchanted wild magic armor.

"Tck"

While most of it was destroyed. His rings still contained wild magic.

Vesture probably took the equipment when he was knocked out. Thus, even if Cedran used his talent, Vesture could probably survive it since he could simply activate Blood Bane to tank it.

"Ah, so it's this type of situation,"

Vesture was likely going to torture him to get some answers.

"So when is it going to start?"

"Hm?"

"You know what I mean."

Cedran was trained to withstand any torture methods to the point which the people trying to get answers would likely give up before he dies.

One could say this was his 2nd talent. His mind is rock solid. Even in the face of intense pain, he will still be able to act and fight at full power.

Yet, knowing Vesture, he could have a mind-reading device that he hid somewhere for all these years.

"No, I didn't heal you up for that reason."

"Then what do you want?"

"Well, I don't see Beaumarchais anywhere, your friends probably took him away and retreated when they saw me defeat you."

Vesture then frowned.

"So, that's why I need you to sent a message to them."

"You know, even if my arms and legs aren't healed, I could still try and beat you to the ground."

"Yes, but I trust you, Cedran. Plus, I already won the duel against the two of you."

"If you trust me, can you at least tell me what martial art you used?"

"Not yet, it's a secret."

"Then, I suppose none of your students could use that technique?"

"Well, I did teach that move to one of my students."

An annoyed face appeared on Cedran.

"Gazef….. with that move you created, you could probably take out an entire army."

"Yes, but I didn't develop that skill by myself,"

"Oh, so you took inspiration from other martial art masters then?"

Cedran stared at Vesture intensely. While they were talking casually, this was a normal thing to happen between warriors of all types, even those with no humanity. It was only natural, one would want to learn more to improve their skills, even if it cost anything, such as killing someone. Since the Black Scripture had no record of anyone using a similar technique Vesture used. He likely had to kill several martial art masters to learn this skill.

"No, it was my students."

"Your students? Impossible."

"In fact, they are the reason why I was able to create this technique in the first place."

Cedran looked into Vesture's eyes. He was not joking.

"That is quite a surprise. I never thought you would become a person like this."

"Everyone has a changing point. It was only about time I found mine."

"But with that technique, you could probably beat that man now, especially since he's quite old now."

"No. It is meaningless to fruit over revenge. Especially since that was over 30 years ago."

Cedran's face froze.

"For you to stop babbling over revenge. Teaching those students had truly changed you."

The last time Cedran saw Vesture was just before he left the Black Scripture. During the years they trained together, Vesture was always the type to be cold and serious as he was always constantly training himself to kill that man.

But, now, he looked to be quite carefree.

However, that opinion of Cedran quickly changed. Vesture eyes narrowed towards him.

"I'll love to talk about the past with you more Cedran, but let's get down to business."

"Right."

Was Vesture still the type of man to drive into torture? Well, even if he was, Vesture should already know that torture would not work on him. Thus, he likely had a mind-reading device somewhere hidden in his {Item Box}.

His talent was very useful in hiding very important stuff. That was likely the case, Vesture's hand rose above his chest. And then he pointed at the ground.

"Help me gather all of the Adamantite and Orichalcum dust on the floor."

"What?"

Now that Cedran noticed, when Vesture activated his martial arts, all of his swords turned into dust after they were used. They also looked quite expensive too.

"Was this the reason you healed me?"

"Of course, I cannot collect all of the metal dust by myself. This is my life savings we are talking about."

Vesture summoned a bag.

"Here, use this to collect the metal dust before the wind blows them away. I know a blacksmith who might be able to reverse the effects of this."

Cedran signed.

"Fine, but aren't you a little worried about the rays lights coming from the capital city?"

Over to their sides, rays of lights arose from the capital city. Their height was toppled the height of the massive walls that surrounded the capital. No magic or technology of humanity could produce something like this. That was unless an outlier existed.

"Hey Cedran, don't tell me that's your doing."

"No,"

"Then everything might be fine. Gazef is the warrior captain, remember?"

"He is. But It troubles me if the players are in that city."

"Why would the players be in the capital right now?"

"Just a thought experiment."

"If you are trying to convince me to join the Black Scripture. It's not going to work."

"No, simply. Recently, one of our highest military investigation teams made a breakthrough on the identities of the newest players that arrived here."

"You are going to tell me that information?"

"This is just between the two of us. That player's name is Ainz Ooal Gown."

"I heard from Gazef he was saved by a powerful magic caster by that name. I figured that he must have been a player once my student told me the details of that event. The investigation team must have found out more than that correct?

"Yes, but instead, the kingdom of the Re-Estize Kingdom could be in trouble."

"Hmm, why is that? It seems the latest players that arrived here seems quite friendly."

"No,"

Cedran glared towards the floating lights in the city.

"To cast a spell like that, I believe at least 7th tier magic is required for it."

"What are you going towards?"

"I'm saying Ainz Ooal Gown may be behind those walls and attacking the city as we speak."

"And what makes you believe that?"

"Do you know the adventurer Momon?"

"Yes, he was the one who killed Clementine."

"Correct, but his pather, Nabe meanwhile fought skeleton dragons."

"I think I know where this conversion towards. But, in the public report, I heard they were weaker than average and could be easily defeated by the use of 5th tier magic."

"Yes, but that was incorrect. Simply the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy could not calculate what truly happened at the time. The skeleton dragons were actually at full strength."

Cedran signed. "And do you know about the vampire Momon fought?"

"I do, I simply heard Momon used a very powerful item to kill it."

"Was that from the public report again?"

"Hm…. right, of course, I don't believe everything that they say."

"That is wise, did you know that the Black Scripture encountered that same Vampire Momon killed? In fact, more than half of the seated members were there. And we still could not deal with the vampire."

"Even with the use of Blood Bane?"

"That vampire moved so fast that most of us could not activate that ability in time. I will not get in too much in-depth about what happened or what else the investigation team found. But based on the 11th seat calculations, it would be impossible for Momon to kill that vampire we encounter even with the use of Divine class gear since even the current captain of the scripture could not do such a feat."

Vesture's face grew cold. Cedran could tell that by looking at his skin.

"You mean that they are connected?"

"Simply, it is a fact that Momon is Ainz Ooal Gown."

---

Note: Finally finished this chapter. It was pretty fun writing this part of the story. It is the first major fight scene in this story where Nabe or the enemy doesn't one-shot everyone. But it did take a while to finish it. I had to rewrite this chapter 3 times because I didn't like the first draft that I had for this chapter. The first draft was in 1st person view. I wanted to try out a new style of writing, but in the end, I decided I just stick with the 3rd person view. The 2nd draft was written in 3rd person view, but I didn't like how the fight and how the events played out. Thus, here's the final draft that I had.

Now for the fun facts and possible questions, you guys might have. Canonly, Vesture is not this powerful. The author stated that he is weaker than Remedios and Gazef. However, for this story, Vesture's base stats rivals Pe Riyuro, who is around level 38. Which is also the reason why Vesture beat Narberal is close combat a few chapters ago. Narberal health and defensive stats are much greater than Vesture, but her physical strength nor swordsmanship skill is not to that height.

And, in this story, every Black Scripture member has the ability to use Blood Bane to get a battle rating of 150. That is equal to the Pleiades' level. Now, I'll leave it up to your opinion if they could beat them or no. Oh, yea.. I'm also aware that even with Blood Bane they would be ants for Lord Ainz to deal with. Thus, you might think the Black Scripture's mission to capture Nabe would be meaningless.

And for that, I have to said just keep reading to find out if the story is going to head in that direction or not.

And how Vesture beat Cedran, I might not have explained it clearly, leave a review if that is so, but the only reason why Vesture was able to beat Cedran was because he just stood there while Vesture constantly used Eightfold Slash of Light. Plus, Vesture was using an op Marital Art Orlando Campano developed.

Yes, most of the martial arts Vesture used in this fight are actually canonly used in Overlord. Including the martial that involved breaking one's weapon to increase its power output several times. We never saw Orlando used his op marital art because he got rekt by Demurige in Vol 13 before he could use it, so that's why I kinda wanted to mention his name.

Yes, and Gazef. The light novel mentioned that Gazef and Vesture had mastered a technique that surpassed the [Sixfold Slash of Light]. Brain mentioned this fact in season 3(incoming spoilers for the anime), but Gazef got one-shotted by Lord Ainz before any of that was shown. So, I simply took inspiration for that idea, and for this story, doing consecutive [Eightfold Slash of Lights] is their trump card.

Also, in season one of Overlord, when Clementine was fighting Lord Ainz, she stated that his strength was only second to the captain of the Black Scripture and Zesshi. Well, for this story, Clementine was only referring to everyone in their base stats without using Blood Bane. I might just add in this fact in the text, so I don't have to put in in the note section.