Chapter 82
“Karl Reitz Meyer.
Should I call you Sir?
Or should I call you Baron Karl?”
He was smiling.
Marquis Baltimo was not like the Tarantulas I had met so far.
Karl sensed it instinctively.
But he thought that perhaps the man before him now might be more dangerous than them.
“You said Marquis Baltimo, didn’t you.”
“That’s right, Sir Karl.
I hear you are the third son of the Meyer family; although you received the name Reitz from the Duke of Somerset, I understand you don’t have your own fief.
Is that correct?”
“Is that important?”
“It is important, very important indeed.
How about it?
Wouldn't it be better to pledge loyalty to me and enjoy wealth and glory as the sword of the new Emperor, rather than dying?”
Karl understood why the man before him felt more dangerous than the Tarantulas.
This man was another ambitious individual.
At the same time, he was a man of skill.
And he possessed a clearer and grander goal than anyone else.
Since the death of the unifying Emperor, the throne had become vacant, and most of his children had died, with only a few scattered underground.
In an empire without an emperor, the feudal lords were vying for supremacy.
The desire to become emperor was something everyone likely harbored to some extent, but no one easily voiced such thoughts aloud.
That was the gap between a feudal lord and an emperor.
However, as time passed and the legend of the previous emperor faded, individuals like Baltimo, who revealed their ambitions, began to emerge.
Perhaps, he was advancing the story of the West Continent where Karl's progress had stalled.
“It’s an interesting proposal, but I’m not interested in the Emperor or the Emperor’s sword.”
“Do you insist on choosing death?”
“We’ll see if I die or live.”
“Do you believe there’s a way to escape death in this situation other than submitting to me?”
“Well, we can find out starting now.”
The Marquis' forces charged towards Karl, and Karl decisively cut down those who approached.
Thanks to the increased defense from the armor and the Gloves of the Seeker, he didn't have to worry much about most long-range attacks.
However, the accumulated battle fatigue from reaching this place and the continuously surging troops were not manageable.
And just as Karl reached the point of exhaustion, the Marquis slowly began to walk towards him.
‘A Master.’
The Marquis' skill known to the world was Superior, but now he stood at the threshold of Master level.
Amidst cutting down the relentlessly charging soldiers, the Marquis had somehow approached right in front of Karl.
And aura gathered on the Marquis' sword.
His aura was a crimson color mixed with deep darkness.
The blood-red aura flew towards Karl.
Watching the approaching soldiers and the flying aura, Karl instantaneously enveloped his body in aura.
For a moment, all the soldiers' attacks were nullified, buying a brief instant of time.
[Karl Meyer Style. Fourth Form. Heavy Pressure]
And in that fleeting moment, a massive sword made of golden aura surged skyward from Léctĭo.
The aura, seemingly at least 5 meters tall, enveloped Léctĭo, soared high into the sky, and then began to plummet straight towards the ground.
Like a huge mountain crushing a human head, the aura fell upon Baltimo’s head.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
The moment his blood-red aura and the massive aura collided, the surroundings were engulfed in an explosion.
“Cough…!”
Although he barely managed to block it, blood poured from the Marquis' mouth.
Even for Karl, he couldn't possibly perform such a feat multiple times.
The Marquis thought Karl must have exhausted all his strength with this attack.
And he was about to raise his head and shout the order to cut Karl’s throat.
“…You bastard!”
Right before the eyes of Marquis Baltimo, who thought he controlled everything, Karl threw himself off the cliff without a shred of hesitation.
Even while vomiting blood from internal injuries, Marquis Baltimo screamed a death cry and ran towards the cliff where Karl had fallen.
By the time he reached the cliff's edge, only the pitch-black abyss of the cliff below was visible; there was no trace of Karl.
“What a tenacious bastard…!”
As the Marquis walked to the edge of the cliff, peering down hoping to see Karl’s corpse, his advisor’s explanation reached his ears.
“Your Excellency the Marquis, haven't you heard of the Abyss Cliff said to be near Ulstein?
This is it.
That man made a foolish choice.”
Just as the advisor explained, it was indeed a cliff that no one seemed capable of climbing.
Strangely, the Marquis couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling.
“Go down and search.
Is there no way down the cliff?”
“This cliff is not connected by any path.
No one has ever seen the bottom.
If they had, they would have died immediately after.”
A dizzying cliff with no exit.
Looking down at the bottomless pit that seemed impossible for any human to climb, Marquis Baltimo nodded and turned away.
“…Tsk.”
As the Marquis turned away, for a very brief moment, a golden light flowed out from the depths of the cliff and then vanished.
However, everyone who had already turned their backs failed to notice the light.
***
Karl, having thrown himself off the cliff, slightly frowned at the madly blowing wind pressure and looked down.
It felt like he had been falling for a long time, yet the bottom was still not visible.
[Aura Step: Allows the use of all footwork and movement techniques utilizing aura.]
While falling down the endless cliff, Karl recalled the skill he had received as a reward this time.
Footwork and movement techniques using aura.
Karl's imagination was incomparable to the people of this world.
He had actually created many mysterious techniques inspired by martial arts novels.
Even in the moment of falling down the cliff, Karl's mind worked ceaselessly.
Techniques like walking on air were impossible, but making his body lighter was currently possible.
Karl made his body as light as possible, pressed himself against the cliff face, and drove his sword into the rock.
At some point, Karl's downward movement stopped.
Hanging from Léctĭo, Karl looked down.
He had fallen quite a distance, yet the bottom was still nowhere in sight.
‘Just how high is this thing?’
Karl pulled out Léctĭo, fell for a while longer, and then drove the sword back into the cliff.
If it had been any other sword than Léctĭo, this method of use would have broken it long ago.
Fortunately, Karl could utilize Léctĭo fully, and by applying the newly acquired Aura Step skill, he found it possible, albeit minutely, to step on the air.
Sometimes treading on the rock face, sometimes brushing against the air, Karl descended the endless cliff towards the bottom.
Gradually, Karl too began to run out of energy, reaching a point where he could no longer utilize aura.
The incredibly hard cliff was difficult to embed a sword into without aura, so Karl could only barely slow his descent, unable to stop completely as before.
With only a handful of energy remaining, Karl helplessly fell towards the bottom.
‘Should I have rather cut down one more enemy?’
A fleeting regret pierced his mind, and amidst the void, Karl thought death was now near.
It's too hard anymore.
Just as he thought that, Karl's back hit the ground.
Karl lay facing the sky, without the strength to lift even a finger, looking up.
From the top of the cliff, the dark abyss below was invisible, but looking up from the bottom of the cliff, the two moons and the stars in the night sky were perfectly clear.
‘How ridiculous.’
The two moons in the sky were a welcome sight.
And feeling a sense of relief at having survived, Karl closed his eyes as if fainting.
It was the result of the fatigue from the long battle and pouring all his energy into extreme concentration while falling.
Karl, who fell asleep as if fainting, didn't know, but the cliff walls around where he collapsed were filled with sword scratches, like scars.
It was a trace unfitting for the notorious reputation that no one had ever survived coming out of here.
***
[The Knight of the Lighthouse, Karl Reitz Meyer, killed the Mercenary King and fled with his third disciple, then fell into the Abyss Cliff.]
[It was the first disciple and Marquis Baltimo who killed the Mercenary King. The Knight of the Lighthouse fell into the Abyss Cliff while trying to clear the Mercenary King's wrongful accusation.]
A month had passed since Karl fell down the cliff.
Two conflicting rumors began to circulate on the continent.
The first rumor was spread by Kavar's side, the newly appointed Mercenary King, and the second rumor originated from among the people.
“Damn it, it’s been a whole month since that bastard Karl disappeared, why are stories like this still circulating!”
Kavar, seeing the story that he killed his master, the Mercenary King, gaining more weight, vented his anger towards a subordinate beside him.
“…The sources of the rumor are too diverse, it’s impossible to tell where it started.”
“Then shouldn't we just capture everyone talking about it and cut off their heads!”
“…Wouldn't that make people even more suspicious….”
Since becoming the Mercenary King, Kavar had shed his mask of a virtuous person to some extent.
As Kavar remained silent, contemplating for a moment, the image of his dead master suddenly flashed across his eyes.
‘It’s alright, Kavar, you became the Mercenary King.’
Kavar, casting a spell on himself, raised his head.
His eyes met the faces of his subordinates.
Anxiety.
That was the emotion residing in the eyes of the mercenaries looking at him.
But what expressions they were actually making did not register in Kavar's eyes.
“Marquis Baltimo.
Where is Marquis Baltimo!”
He looked around for a while and then shouted harshly.
In that instant, fear flickered in his eyes, seen briefly.
***
“Ugh…”
Karl opened his eyes and looked around.
Darkness enveloped everything.
He didn't know how much time had passed since he fell to the bottom of the cliff, but judging by his hunger, he could tell he had been unconscious for quite some time.
When Karl took off the Ancient King's armor and other equipment, his whole body was covered in deep wounds.
Taking out a potion, Karl poured it onto the injured areas.
‘The many potions I had are running low…’
The precious potions received from the Pope were nearing depletion.
Considering it the price for his life, it wasn't regrettable, but thinking about the value of potions in this world, it was true that it left a bitter taste.
He took out a piece of jerky from the subspace and put it in his mouth.
Chewing on a mouthful of jerky, he slowly surveyed his surroundings.
Walking slowly along the canyon floor, Karl discovered a cave.
The cave was crude, but it was clearly man-made.
The cave was quite long, appearing to be about 20 meters deep.
Upon entering, the width was also about 10 meters, suggesting it had been painstakingly excavated over a long period.
Slowly entering the cave, Karl was impressed more than anything by the firewood stacked deep inside and the food piled in a storage space even further in.
“It’s frozen.”
For some reason, the temperature inside the cave seemed to be below freezing.
The food ingredients were frozen solid, preventing spoilage.
It seemed that animals or other materials that fell down this cliff had been gathered and gradually stored here.
Karl carved pieces from a frozen deer leg among them, lit a fire with the firewood, and boiled a stew.
Thanks to the subspace bracelet, he had plenty of food supplies, and as someone who was always wandering, various cooking utensils were always prepared, allowing him to easily make food.
Thanks to the billowing steam and the warmth from the firewood heating the cave, Karl could rest his body somewhat comfortably.
Karl discovered a mark left by the owner of this cave in one spot.
When Karl fell here, he already knew what was at the bottom of the cliff.
[Below the Abyss Cliff, there is something I left behind. Please help Verpin.]
Recalling Bahamut's last words before death, Karl took a bite of the freshly boiled, warm stew.
Karl stared at the crackling firewood.