Only My Magic Levels Up - Chapter 181



Only Noblemtl

Episode 181: The Origin (7)

Galen and Lilia were originally spending their time feeling like they were on vacation, so as soon as they decided to leave, they were ready to leave.

Received a meticulously sealed report from Anton, bearing the Archbishop’s seal.

I also exchanged greetings with Michael, who was relatively free as an outsider, although not as much as the two of them.

“I see. You’ve had a hard time.”

“It was hard. I just kept playing.”

“You did everything for just that one day. I’m the one who really did the talking. I’m so sorry that I made Anton suffer.”

“Hey, are you still saying that? It was an inevitable result of their despicable surprise attack.”

To be honest, my first meeting at the Vatican was not very pleasant.

But even then, they didn’t really really hate each other. Michael just muttered his slightly uncomfortable feelings, and Galen just reacted rudely because he was annoyed by the words that degraded Lilia.

The core of Michael’s distrust is ultimately his prejudice that the two are too young to be considered jewels and thus lack some skills.

In fact, it is true that the younger they are, the more likely they are to be criticized for being prejudiced.

If they had been like that until the end, they would have been incompatible, but after seeing the two people’s actions with his own eyes, Michael cleanly admitted that he had been wrong and was truly grateful for the grace of salvation.

Since the other person was acting like that, Galen had no reason to bicker any longer. Since they had mutual respect, it was only natural that their relationship would quickly recover.

“Anyway… Sir Michael, will you be leaving soon?”

“I still have a bit more work to do. To be exact, I guess the real work starts now.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“The Spirits are now more or less sorted out, but that doesn’t mean all the cleanup is done.”

Why would Ssullen have tricked the Spirius family into doing something about it?

Because the abilities of the Demon Sect are limited.

Is it possible to be so secretive that it is not noticed by the church, and yet boast a global scale? Absolutely impossible. It is possible to hide because it is small.

So, since I couldn’t do the heavy lifting of spreading the cavalry here and there by myself, I hired a collaborator.

Therefore, if it was the Spirius family, it would have at least had limbs, if not the torso. If it was cut off, it would be a considerable loss to the Demonic Cult.

“I’ve obtained a list of those who received the gift of horsemen from Spiritus. Fortunately, the selection criteria were quite careful, so the number is not that large, but it’s something we can’t leave alone, right?”

“We have to get rid of them all. I’m sure they’ll be very careful when they hear the news that Spierius has gone under.”

“Well, Anton will take care of that part. My role is to lend force.”

I only received one or two, not a whole warehouse full of them like the Spirius family, so if you were trying to hide them, they’d be nearly impossible to find, to be honest.

As Michael said, that was something Anton had to worry about. He could either attack them like lightning and wipe them out, or he could pretend not to notice and set a trap.

It won’t be easy, considering how far the aftershocks will spread. Politics is something that can’t be touched.

“Excuse me… Brother Michael?”

At that moment, Lilia opened her mouth cautiously and hesitantly.

“This may be a bit of a sudden request, but… … .”

“Please speak.”

“Can you have a sparring match just once before we break up?”

“Sparring?”

Michael asked in bewilderment.

“Suddenly?”

“It’s rare to have the chance to wrestle with a warrior. Not only with a jewel, but even with an ordinary person.”

“Well, I don’t really care.”

“thank you!”

Lilia laughed bashfully.

Back in the old days, when they were both silver, he had been pestering Galen to spar with him every single day, but it seemed that he had a hard time bringing it up to Michael, to the point where he had been keeping an eye on him throughout the vacation and only asked him to do so at the last moment.

If that means he was comfortable with Galen, then I can understand.

Anyway, they set out right away, pulling out the bull’s horns in one go.

The destination was Spirit’s home.

It was a little funny that they suddenly went into someone else’s house to practice, but since the atmosphere had already become half-ghostly, there was no one from the church to stop them.

The training grounds were not properly managed, but they wouldn’t fall apart if left alone for more than ten days.

The three of them chose a reasonably large training ground and entered it.

“But, Archbishop Lilia. Are you serious?”

“Huh? What is it?”

“You say you haven’t had a chance to fight with the warriors. It’s a bit surprising. You’re the archbishop who’s been the most active recently.”

“Oh, that’s right. Strangely, we didn’t meet much after the war, did we? I fought with Baek-eun a bit… I think I only fought with Hwang-geum once.”

“That much? Really?”

Surprisingly, it was true.

It was a strange world where there were far more warriors than priests and wizards combined.

As it turned out, the enemies I got entangled with were either evil spirits, cavalrymen, magicians, or evil spirits, so I never had a chance to fight a proper warrior.

Even the ‘proper’ Golden Warrior was an assassin who was more adept at surprise attacks than direct confrontations, the leader of the New Moon, Ilwol. It’s a bit much to call him a warrior in the true sense of the word…

Of course, if a priest belonging to a church were not doing his job and was fighting against the soldiers all day, that would be a problem too.

However, even so, it was extremely poor for an archbishop with such experience.

“Because you became an archbishop too quickly, these are the problems that arise. No, I should say that the talent that made you an archbishop is even scarier.”

Michael shook his head and thought for a moment before asking.

“Do you know the characteristics of each warrior’s rank? Bronze is just an entry-level level, so it’s nothing special, but Silver is the first.”

“Hmm… If it turns from bronze to silver, it becomes really strong… If it turns to gold, you can strengthen your weapon… If it turns to a gem, it becomes incredibly stronger… …?”

Lilia answered hesitantly. It was a really poor explanation, but Galen remained silent. In fact, that was all he knew.

“… That’s not wrong, but I don’t really know what I’m talking about.”

“I’m sorry… … .”

“There’s no need to feel sorry. You don’t come from a warrior family, so you probably wouldn’t have had to learn systematic knowledge. In fact, it’s not that complicated.”

Michael, who was laughing, explained it clearly.

“If I were to define the warrior’s aspiration in one word, it would be very simple. Strength. Or, to put it a little more sophisticatedly, the pursuit of the ultimate.”

“The ultimate?”

“The stage where you begin to pursue the ultimate of the physical body is silver. The stage where you begin to pursue the ultimate of weapons is gold. The stage where you begin to pursue the ultimate of martial arts is jewel.”

The reason why the Silver Warrior is much stronger than the Bronze Warrior is because not only is the range of physical performance that can be strengthened through air power much greater, but also because the strengthening can be concentrated instantaneously, allowing the body to be used much more efficiently.

The reason why the Golden Warrior is so much stronger than the Silver Warrior is because, in addition to the existing differences, by treating the weapon as a part of the body, the weapon’s performance can be greatly increased through aerodynamics.

The reason why the Gem Warrior is so much stronger than the Golden Warrior is because, in addition to the existing differences, the power of the martial arts they have learned increases several times.

“The power of martial arts increases?”

Lilia, who had been listening to the explanation quietly, tilted her head.

“Isn’t that an element that exists independently? Doesn’t the power increase when you swing it strongly, quickly, and accurately?”

Galen also had the same question in his mind.

There’s no way that real-life martial arts can have damage like a game skill. If it becomes a jewel, will the F-rank Samjae Sword Technique evolve into the SSS-rank Heavenly Demonic Art?

“Well… you’ll know once you experience it yourself.”

Michael said vaguely.

“Would you like to start first?”

“great!”

Lilia and Michael put some distance between themselves, while Galen stepped back to act as both judge and onlooker.

Lilia, who takes the duel seriously, took out her light sword instead of her sledgehammer, and Michael also took out his newly acquired sword.

“I will yield the initiative.”

“Okay, I’ll go!”

Without hesitation, Lilia flew first.

Thud!

A dull sound echoed as the steel sword and the light sword clashed.

Shhh shhh shhh shhh shhh!

In one breath, dozens of light trails appeared, aiming at Michael’s entire body, and even though the steel sword started late, it split into dozens of afterimages and blocked each of the light trails.

In the slowed time thanks to the acceleration of the accident, Galen watched intently the movements of the two people, which he could follow with his head even though his body could not.

‘hmm.’

What would he know about swordsmanship?

Judging solely by the exchange of offense and defense… Lilia was at a disadvantage.

Even though she is unilaterally attacking and Michael is only defending, she is unable to break through.

The speed of the steel sword that read its trajectory and flew later was faster than the speed of the light sword that flew first.

How could Lilia and Michael not feel what Galen feels?

“Please try writing a blessing too.”

“I guess so.”

Lilia took a moment to catch her breath while answering and then raised her spirits.

Papapapat!

Platinum flames envelop the entire body.

The seventh miracle, blessing.

A type of buff skill that consumes holy power and amplifies the effects of all miracles in return.

As the miracle of the body and the miracle of light were amplified, the specs of Lilia’s body and weapons finally rose to the same level as Michael.

You can take more damage and temporarily boost it more, but in a sparring match, you won’t need to do that.

Tata tata tata tang!

The exchange of sword strikes became more intense, with enough fierceness that they no longer targeted only critical points such as the neck or heart.

Now, Michael couldn’t just stand by and take Lilia’s fierce attacks. He had to deal with her with all his heart.

After a long and fierce battle like that.

“It feels like it’s almost over.”

“Right?”

The two men confirmed in a brief conversation that they were of the same opinion.

We’ve roughly divided up the amount that we can share without hurting either of us.

To go any further would mean risking injury or even death.

“Then I will show you what I wanted to show you and then I will end it.”

“Huh? Oh, that’s it.”

“Be careful.”

The battle between the two continued, even if the tempo slowed down a bit because they were talking.

With a brief warning from Michael.

Kwajik!

It ended abruptly when the Whi Kwang Sword broke in half.

“oh?!”

Lillia was startled and reflexively twisted her body.

The steel sword that cut the light sword passed her with a small gap. It was thick enough to be called a sheet of paper… It was because Michael had deliberately twisted the path of the sword.

“Phew.”

Taking a deep breath, Michael returned his sword to its scabbard.

Lilia, who had been staring at the half-bladed sword with rabbit eyes, finally came to her senses. The blessed flames surrounding her body had died down and the light had dispersed.

Michael spoke calmly to her, who still had a bewildered expression.

“I don’t mean to say this to the Archbishop, but you would have done well if you had chosen the path of a warrior. I am familiar with the swordsmanship of the Church, having seen it many times… You are almost perfect. Even without considering your age, you are amazing.”

“Oh, thank you?”

“But even if the perfection of swordsmanship is similar, there can be a difference in power between the Jewel Warrior and the Archbishop. Just like before.”

“What happened? It wasn’t the kind of impact that would break the sword.”

“In martial arts, what would be the ultimate cutting movement? Isn’t it cutting everything down?”

“Right… right?”

“That ultimate, I have realized it as much as I can. It is far from being able to cut everything, but it is sharp enough to cut a light sword.”

“… … .”

“To put it simply, it’s a kind of correction.”

Galen came closer and said while Lilia was reacting dumbfounded.

“Even if Sir Michael and Lilia swing their swords with the same strength and speed, it feels like Sir Michael is able to cut far better.”

“You can understand it that way. They are neither unique like wizards nor versatile like priests… but the way of a warrior is to ‘do everything you can to the utmost.’ Of course, this also varies depending on each Jewel Warrior’s personality and how well they do things.”

“… Then doesn’t that mean that a priest can never win in a head-on confrontation?”

Lilia asked sheepishly.

“How can you win if the results are not the same even when you fight with equal strength and speed?”

“There is a miracle of selection. We can respond.”

“Oh, can you release it with that?”

“If the ultimate martial arts technique is applied to each and every basic movement, then it would be invincible. This is a ‘technique’ that requires instantaneous concentration to the limit, and it consumes a fair amount of energy.”

Michael added that while it is theoretically possible to respond, it is not easy in practice.

When it comes to the fight between the Jewel Warrior and the Archbishop, it’s common for dozens of moves to be exchanged in the blink of an eye, just like with Lilia and Michael.

The warrior can only implement the ultimate when he wants to during dozens of sword strikes. Even if it is mixed just once, the priest will receive a critical hit.

The problem is that, from the clergy’s perspective, it is virtually an impossible feat to offset that momentary implementation with an equally momentary selection.

In the end, I had no choice but to keep fighting with the selection turned on, but this was draining my energy too much.

“In the end, it’s still hard to win… … .”

“In terms of versatility, you’re overwhelmed, so you should at least be good at fighting. If you’re worse than a priest, it’s too unfair for a warrior.”

Michael grumbled. Lilia kept her mouth shut, knowing that was true.

“Well, anyway… I heard that the two of you will be participating in the future demon subjugation.”

“That’s right. Is Sir Michael coming too?”

“I must make up for the disgrace I showed to Atma. I will come to my senses and prepare myself.”

“We also need to prepare hard.”

“I think you two can have some fun. Take it easy.”

Michael chuckled and gave a light example.

“I don’t know how many months it will be, but… let’s meet then. I’ll go first.”

“Yes. Thank you for your hard work.”

“I learned a lot today! See you next time!”

Michael left the training grounds after receiving greetings from both people.

Lilia, who had been looking at his empty seat for a while, let out a faint sigh.

“I didn’t know that the saying that priests are weak to warriors applied in this way. Before even considering the effort, their characteristics are incompatible… … .”

“But wouldn’t it be a little different for Lilia? Even if it costs a lot of Holy Power, she has the Star Crumbs Bracelet, so if we drag it out into a long-term battle, it would be fine.”

“You’ll have to actually try it to find out. But it feels like you’re winning by borrowing the power of a tool.”

“No matter how we win, we win. And Lilia is only twenty years old. If we had been superior in the duel, Sir Michael would have felt strange. Regardless of whether he acknowledged our skills.”

“Is that so?”

“Since we’ve just learned about the Jewel Warriors, if we study them, we might be able to find a way to win. Let’s think about it together.”

“yes!”

Yes, there is still plenty of time. As always, Galen may come up with a solution.

Lilia, who had been gloomy for a moment, soon smiled brightly.