Chapter 170 - THE ROAD NOT TAKEN (1) (1/2)

Correction: I found out that the line, “a thunderbolt that was faster than the wind,” from episode 165 was actually an attack name. This was the first step of Thunderbolt Twelve Steps that Jude used in his fight against First Sword. So I’m naming the attack as Hyper-Fast Thunderbolt from now on.

***

Jude had his moment in his fight with First Sword, so it’s Cordelia’s turn to shine now!

In the game, the Palace of Mirrors was a fairly popular dungeon.

Because the battle against oneself, who took a different path, gave players some room for thought.

Did I choose the right job? Should I have chosen another skill tree? Perhaps another job is better than this job?

Whoooosh!

Flames were added to the violent wind. An intense heat filled the stone chamber, and the vortex of fire headed towards Jude.

It was strong and fast.

Moreover, the surrounding air was burned at a terrifying speed. Therefore, Jude understood what the other was planning.

The goal of the mirror man – the wizard Jude, was not to burn Jude directly with the flaming wind.

It was to actually induce suffocation by filling the surrounding area with a huge swirl of fire while making it look like he was only planning to burn the real Jude.

‘He’s cunning.’

Or rather, should I say that he’s vicious?

Jude praised the familiar tactic he had seen before, and immediately used his golden whirlwind.

He pushed away the flaming wind with his golden wind and rushed over the wall of flames, towards the wizard Jude.

Whooooooosh!

The wall of flames split. The wizard Jude was reflected in the eyes of Jude who kicked the ground at that moment. He narrowed his distance to wizard Jude and sent a punch at the same time.

Black Dragon Cross Strike!

Roooar!

The energy of the Black Dragon roared as it soared. And what happened afterwards was something he expected. Just before the Black Dragon Cross Strike hit the wizard Jude, the air seemed to fluctuate, and the wizard Jude disappeared.

‘Blink!’

A short-distance space leap magic.

He had quickly responded since had predicted it. As soon as he turned around and spread out his senses, he found the location of wizard Jude.

‘As expected, it’s the back!’

<Blink> users liked to leap behind their opponent’s back.

Because they could gain advantage if they headed for the back at once.

Furthermore, while the place was quite spacious, the space was still limited.

The wizard Jude had to move to the other side in order to widen his distance from the real Jude.

“Bingo!”

The wizard Jude shouted, and powerful curses was cast over Jude’s entire body in an instant.

<Slow>.

<Fear of Banshee>.

<Weakness>.

<Mind Break>.

Four simultaneous magic spells that were simple yet powerful.

So how did he do it?

Even if it was the real Jude himself, it would be impossible to simultaneously cast four magic spells at a fast speed.

The answer was actually simple.

The real Jude had seen what the wizard Jude had done at the moment he turned around and was beset with curse magic.

‘Scrolls!’

Just because he was a wizard didn’t mean he no longer used scrolls.

Rather, he was able to make even more advanced-rank scrolls because he had become a wizard.

“<Waterfall!>”

In the instant Jude’s knees weakened because of the curses, the wizard Jude loudly cried out before an immense amount of water poured over Jude’s head.

Shaaaaaaa!

The high-speed chanting continued!

“<Gravity!>”

An invisible force crushed Jude. It made Jude completely kneel on the floor that was completely wet because of the water that fell.

And as Jude had expected.

If wizard Jude had used <Gravity> after casting <Waterfall>.

Then it was obvious on what wizard Jude would do next.

“<Levitation>.”

The wizard Jude soared from the floor after using magic that made him float. He then tore a magic scroll again.

He invoked the punishment from the heavens.

A thunderous white lightning!

“<Lightning>.”

The wizard Jude’s words quickly became reality.

A white lightning struck the ground and spread throughout the water that covered the stone chamber’s floor.

***

Flap!

The mirror woman flew up, but Cordelia ran forward instead of stopping. Because she instinctively had a hunch on what the mirror woman – the warrior Cordelia, was planning to do.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Booming sounds were heard in succession as daggers stabbed the spots where Cordelia had been standing earlier.

Their impact was so powerful that it broke the stone floor.

“Angel Mode!”

The Cordelia in front of her was a warrior.

She did not take the wizard route, nor did she learn witchcraft. One could say that she devoted everything into her Angel Mode.

‘She’s strong.’

Because angels were beings that surpassed humans.

It wasn’t just their mana that was stronger. Their basic physical abilities were significantly different.

Cordelia could also use Angel Mode. But it was impossible to become an angel like the warrior Cordelia in front of her.

‘Battle Angel.’

Among the angel classes, they were a kind of knight who specialized in hand-to-hand combat.

They possessed tremendous physical abilities.

The warrior Cordelia smiled.

She smiled brightly and beautifully, throwing a dagger again which Cordelia evaded in response.

Boom!

The roar caught Cordelia’s attention again.

But she did not look back.

Because she felt that there was no need to do so.

And her beast-like instincts were correct again this time.

Shortly after throwing the dagger, the warrior Cordelia took advantage of her wide wings’ ability to fly freely and dived down, rushing towards the real Cordelia in a low position like a snake slithering on the floor.

Her move was so swift and silent that it would feel that the warrior Cordelia ‘disappeared’ if the real Cordelia had turned her head for a moment because she was surprised by the roar.

Cordelia opened her eyes.

She had clearly seen it, but warrior Cordelia was too fast. So she left it to her instincts instead of her thoughts.

As soon as the warrior Cordelia dropped sharply, she spread <Grease> on the floor.

‘Trip!’

Slip on it.

The warrior Cordelia would definitely slip the moment she stepped on the floor that had its friction coefficient lowered greatly.

But the warrior Cordelia was still Cordelia.

Her combat sense surpassed that of wild animals, making her a real beast.

She stepped and slid on it.

But she didn’t slip. Her body seemed to spin in the air, but she balanced it like a cat and beast. And instead of kicking the ground again, she slid her body and dashed as if she was skating on ice.

“Fu-”

The real Cordelia didn’t have the time to completely let out a curse. She threw her body backwards and swung the detonating cord at the same time.

And in one move.

Shwaak-!

The detonating cord was split.

Before it had ignited and caused an explosion, the sword wielded by the warrior Cordelia had sliced it.

It was quick and accurate.

She moved one step ahead as if she saw the future.

The Cordelia who became a warrior.

The aloof beast who raised her wild instincts to the limit!

“Khooong!”

The warrior Cordelia bellowed as she pursued the real Cordelia who retreated.

Her cry was not something simple, but was actually ‘chivalry,’ the so-called magic used by knights.

Booooooom-!

The sound exploded, causing ripples in the air. It struck Cordelia who had jumped backwards, making her lose her footing.

“Kya?!”

Cordelia lost her balance and fell onto the floor.

The warrior Cordelia was then in front of her. The moment Cordelia raised her head, the warrior Cordelia swung her sword.

***

Boooooom!

Lightning struck.

The white lightning covered the ground, causing a series of small explosions.

Water.

A conductor.

Lightning filled the stone chamber.

The curses ate at the real Jude.

Gravity magic held him down.

The wizard Jude truly was like Jude, blocking all possible places to retreat as he checkmated the real Jude.

The wizard Jude smiled.

And at that moment, Jude strongly stepped on the ground. The energy of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors exploded!

Baaaang!

The water that covered the ground splashed upwards. The electric current in the water caused by the lightning was negated in that instant.

And he activated Hyper-Fast Thunderbolt.

He went against the suppressing force of gravity.

He escaped the trap with a force stronger than it.

Bang!

Jude soared high. He escaped from the gravity magic and jumped nearly 20 meters or more, and caught sight of the entire stone chamber at the same time.

He saw the wizard Jude.

And the real Jude thought.

‘He’s also a cheat.’

The wizard Jude’s magic chanting was too fast.

He also simultaneously used more than one magic, and erased the blind spots of his spells by using advanced-rank scrolls.

He was what Jude would be if he had become a wizard.

A wizard who made the most of his inhuman calculation ability.

He was strong.

He was impressive.

But a smile came to Jude’s face instead of regret.

He had no choice but to do that.

‘Imperfect.’

The wizard Jude wasn’t perfect.

He failed to fully utilize the talents of his present and previous lives.

The only thing he could use was his previous life’s talent, Outboxer009’s talent.

So he was imperfect.

Therefore, he couldn’t reach the current Jude’s talent.

‘Cheonmujiche.’

The incarnation of martial arts from the heavens.

The wizard Jude couldn’t properly utilize his Cheonmujiche.

Even though he was born with the finest jewel in his hand, his failure to utilize it was no different to throwing that jewel into the trash.

‘No, it’s not just Cheonmujiche.’

The Jude of this present life.

The Jude from the original Legend of Heroes 2.

He wasn’t as strong as the present Jude now.

He couldn’t be as strong as the present Jude now.

What would happen if the original Jude had his Gueumjulmaek cured as soon as possible and began walking on the same path that the present Jude had walked?

Would he be able to have the same strength as the present Jude?

‘Impossible.’

It was unattainable.

His Cheonmujiche alone would not be able to reach the present Jude’s level.