Love Letter From The Future-Chapter 378: Bread and Dagger (76)

Right before the clash, I sensed a strange presence.

For one, it wasn’t the elves. They were all keeping their distance, warily watching me. After all, Leoric had just demonstrated his power firsthand—it was a natural reaction.

The beam erased anything in its path.

Its destructive force was on a completely different level compared to wide-area magic, which could be finely controlled to distinguish friend from foe. If anyone tried to carelessly approach me, they could end up swept away by the beam.

And if that happened, they would be reduced to nothing more than a handful of ash.

Just like I would.

In the distance, I could see an elf nocking an arrow onto their bowstring, but they weren’t a direct threat for now. Hence, all my focus remained on Leoric.

Yet, despite that, something felt… off.

It was as if termites were incessantly nibbling at my nerves. Instinct compelled me to scan my surroundings because of that strange sensation.

Before me, there was only Leoric.

At least, until that moment.

Then, as if pulled by an invisible force, my gaze was drawn to a specific point—the bubbling mass of flesh Leoric was standing on. Several places in it were especially turbulent.

There were, in total, three such spots.

I had barely taken a few steps when, at last, something burst forth from the seething mass. A piercing shriek ripped through the air, sharp enough to tear at my eardrums.

Kiiiiieeeek!

It was a serpent.

Judging by its familiar triangular head, it was definitely a double-headed serpent. At that moment, I couldn’t help but question the intent behind their emergence from three separate locations, all far from where I stood.

Should I keep running forward, or stop?

The hesitation only lasted a moment.

As soon as the serpents snapped their jaws open, I froze on the spot.

Inside their gaping mouths were elven faces instead of tongues.

One of them was disturbingly familiar.

Betty.

Aviang’s younger sister—the elven girl who had been in Leoric’s arms.

I silently cursed and braced to hurl myself forward.

Because the elves’ heads had begun to glow with an incandescent light and resonate.

AAAAAAAAAAA!

Then, a storm of light carved through the air.

I tried to dodge, but it was already too late.

Even though I tried to concentrate aura on my blade at the last second, the beam grazed my side and I fell forward, the stream of blood from the wound followed by the sickening sizzle of burning flesh.

“…I’m done for.”

With a faint groan, I coughed up blood.

My aura was overpowered by the beam. Had I miscalculated even slightly, my sword might have entirely evaporated.

Still, it hadn’t been a complete loss.

At the last moment, the beam’s trajectory had shifted—just slightly, but undeniably so.

Aura refracts light.

My aura simply wasn’t strong enough.

A creeping pain slithered up my spine. I bit my lip, forcibly suppressing a groan.

Though my mana had blocked the heat,my insides were undoubtedly wrecked by the sheer impact of the blow. At least my flesh had been seared to the point that I didn’t need to worry about bleeding out.

As I staggered to my feet, the serpents’ eyes all turned to me in unison.

Leoric burst into a hearty laugh.

“Hahaha! Do you see it? Our unity? Our power?!”

“Cut the crap… What the hell did you do to Betty?”

At my low growl, Leoric responded with a kindly smile. To anyone else, he would have seemed like nothing more than a benevolent priest.

But, to the current me, it was nothing more than the grotesque grin of a monster.

Leoric spoke, as if it were nothing of concern.

“I’ve merely borrowed her power for a while. Not just Sister Betty—all our brothers and sisters who bear the ‘blessing’ can lend me their strength.”

“I wonder if Betty actually agreed to that.”

“If she hadn’t, how could I have possibly forced her? Receiving a ‘blessing’ means exactly that…to become a true part of us.”

Like a conductor guiding an orchestra, Leoric made a small gesture.

In response, the serpents once again opened their mouths, their skulls beginning glowing white as if they were lanterns.

A subtle tremor rippled through the air.

I focused my mana into my eyes.

Doing precise predictions through strict calculations was out of the question. I was no mage and, even among mages, only a select few could process such complex computations in the midst of battle.

A swordsman relies solely on instinct.

In a clash where each fleeting moment was divided into even smaller fragments, swordsmen had to make razor-sharp judgments every second.

From the trajectory of an incoming blade to the immediate counter that would follow.

It’s a battle beyond the speed of thought. A struggle so fast that the brain, trained through relentless repetition, made its decisions based purely on accumulated experience.

Just like this moment.

It felt as if an invisible trajectory was being drawn before my eyes.

After crossing the threshold of death multiple times, my senses had become sharper. Maybe it was thanks to the countless experiences of the ‘me’ from the future at first—but not anymore.

I could see it clearly now.

Whether this man truly walked the thin thread between life and death or not.

The moment I stepped forward, scorching beams of light seared through the air.

My grip tightened around my sword as my aura flared like wildfire.

As I took my first step, a sharp reverberation drilled into my skull.

AAAAAAAAAAA!

At the same time—swoosh—a scorching beam of light slashed through the air.

I channeled my stride’s momentum into my upper body and rolled. A faint heat grazed my back, but it wasn’t a fatal hit.

Immediately springing upright, I took another step forward, almost like rebounding.

Right, it was my second step.

As if lying in wait, another beam of light flared into existence.

Flash—my vision turned blinding white.

The angle was lower this time—a trajectory that couldn’t be avoided by simply rolling along the ground.

If that was the case, I’d just have to counter it with a leap.

My body soared through the air, spinning mid-flight. As I landed, a brilliant white beam scorched the space behind me, casting a shadow before me.

I took another step forward—toward that shadow.

Finally, it was my third step.

Then, I rushed forward as if flying—before I knew it, Leoric was right in front of me.

Of course, Leoric had been watching my charge the entire time.

There was no way he would so easily let me approach him.

The third serpent opened its jaws at that moment, and light began leaking from Leoric’s eyes and mouth.

Then, the skulls began to resonate.

AAAAAAAAAAAA!

They wouldn’t fire at the same time.

The blasts had never struck simultaneously so far. The beams were always fired only after the ground shook in a steady rhythm—boom, boom, boom.

But what if those intervals were shortened to the extreme?

Then there would be no way to dodge.

I tightened my grip on the sword I had been holding all along. The aura, which had been blazing like a wildfire, gradually subsided, condensing into a refined glow along the blade.

I had one gambit left.

That was when Leoric’s booming cry rang out.

“Immanuel!”

It was a trick.

The first to unleash a beam was the final remaining serpent. My steps faltered for the first time since I started my charge, and I came to an abrupt stop.

Time began to flow sluggishly.

In what felt like a frozen moment, Leoric’s crazed eyes were locked onto me. His sickly grin seemed to convey a single message.

You can’t dodge this.

So I, too, smiled back, offering a silent reply.

“I know that, you bastard.”

Then in the next instant—

Time, which had been flowing sluggishly, suddenly surged forward like a raging torrent. Thunk—a clash rang out as my sword’s flat met the beam.

Normally, the sword would have evaporated—or seen sent flying into the sky at the very least.

But the result was the exact opposite.

The beam couldn’t pierce through my aura.

The densely condensed mana was gradually pushing it back. And just as Leoric’s mouth prepared to unleash another blast, I gritted my teeth and twisted the angle of my sword.

And so, the beam veered toward Leoric.

In that instant, two beams clashed head-on.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The beam, once unleashed, seemed impossible to stop.

Leoric and the serpent let out pitiful screams. It could have simply shifted its maw—but if that were possible, it would have already reacted to my dodges.

Leoric’s face showed clear bewilderment.

This was the ‘shackle.’

I had hesitated until the very last moment, but its effect was undeniable. It was indeed worthy of being the secret art of the great witch who held a seat among the Masters.

Clenching my teeth, I took a step forward.

Then, carefully adjusting the angle of my sword, I took another step.

Boom—an explosive sound echoed out as the clash of the two beams ended in a stalemate.

“…Kuhak!”

Reeling from the impact, Leoric staggered backward.

Right into the silvery trajectory my sword was tracing.

The man crossed both arms to block my blade. From what I had seen before, Leoric’s body possessed the durability of steel.

Still, it didn’t matter.

Because there was another secret technique that followed ‘Shackle.’

Bang—both his arms exploded, splattering blood and flesh everywhere.

It didn’t look like they had simply been sliced by a sword—rather, as if they had been struck by a cannon blast.

That was ‘Liberation.’

It disrupted the binding force of matter itself, then forcefully drove the hardened flow created by ‘Shackle’ into it.

And now, the results of that technique were unfolding before my eyes.

His vacant gaze intersected with the silvery arc.

Within that suspended moment of severed time, blood gushed forth and scattered into the air.

It was my victory.

Leoric’s body collapsed with a dull thud, sinking into the bubbling mass of flesh.

And then—screams erupted from all around.

“Kya—Kyaaaaaaaack!”

“Lord Leoric! H-How dare a mere human—!”

Accusations poured in from all sides, yet, not a single one of them dared to approach.

Leoric had been more than just their spiritual pillar—his overwhelming strength made him the very center of their power.

And now, that very figure had been cut down in a single stroke.

It was only natural for them to be paralyzed by shock. I had to seize this opportunity and escape.

Taking a deep breath, I clutched my wounded side. The injury was still severe.

I don’t think I’ll make it unless I find a proper priest…

But first, I had to rescue Aviang.

Once again, a chilling sense of foreboding washed over me.

My eyes darted behind me in alarm.

And then, I noticed something strange—

The serpents hadn’t disappeared.

No, it wasn’t just the serpents. Even the bubbling flesh beneath my feet was still churning, expanding its domain.

It didn’t take me long to realize what was happening.

I’d encountered enemies like this far too many times before.

“…Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

I bolted, fleeing from the boiling flesh. I practically hurled myself in the final moments, afraid I might be too late.

And then I heard a sickening squelch behind me as something erupted upward.

“Aah, Immanuel! Praise be to the Lord! No—curse Him instead! My Lord… why do You deny me death?!”

It was another serpent.

No, it was four serpent heads squirming and shifting forms in real time—Betty’s face morphing into that of an unfamiliar elf, who then shifted back into Leoric.

Don’t tell me I had to kill every last one of these serpents.

“Th-this, l-life, be, sto-len… end, it, al-ready! End, it, a-lready!”

Even the serpent that carried Leoric’s voice was shifting from moment to moment.

Leoric was no longer in his right mind.

From the seething flesh, several tentacles shot out. One by one, they began to dragg away the elves who had been standing guard around me.

As it devoured each elf, the mass of flesh grew larger.

With every elf’s disappearance, another serpent appeared.

Stumbling forward, I gathered Aviang into my arms, desperately racking my brain.

How the hell am I supposed to beat that thing?

It was impossible no matter how I thought about it. I was injured, and more than that—I was alone.

I had fought alone countless times before.

Especially in critical moments.

Delivering the final blow had always been my role.

But in truth, I was the one who had needed my comrades the most.

They covered my back and protected the ones I held dear.

Without them, how could I have ever stood at the frontlines?

I was just a fearful, feeble human too.

A hero is never made alone.

I couldn’t even keep Aviang safe on my own right now.

Shuddering, I clutched her tight.

Was I just needlessly meddling?

Maybe the thought of protecting my neighbors, that tiny girl, and my precious comrades was nothing more than a meaningless fantasy.

But it was too late for regrets.

Actually, I couldn’t even afford to regret it.

I had chosen a life where I would abandon nothing.

It was I who declared I wouldn’t walk the path laid out by others.

So I once more steeled myself for the fight.

And just as I carefully set Aviang down and got back up—

“Judgment of Light!”

Boom!

Kieeeeeek!

A storm of lightning crashed down.

With each lightning strike, blue electric currents rippled across the ground like lingering afterimages. One of the serpent’s heads burst apart, spraying blood in a crimson fountain.

The mass of flesh, which had been snatching elves and growing bigger, suddenly halted.

The serpents’ eyes all turned on me.

More precisely, toward what was behind me.

Only then did I hear that familiar, long-awaited voice.

“…Master!”

It was Senior Elsie.

Unintentionally, I let a faint smile slip.

Because even now, Senior Elsie’s eyes were brimming with tears.

Anyway, she was unexpectedly quite the crybaby.

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken