Chapter 174: Who Stole My Bones? (5)

While Louis’s performance was indeed overwhelming, it shouldn’t overshadow the contributions of the Twins and Flame siblings. It’s just that Louis’s exploits were so remarkable that they made everyone else seem like they were trailing behind.

“Hey, that’s mine!”

“No way, I hit it first!”

The Twins’ bickering created a steady stream of brain lightning around the Transcendent, causing it to stagger with each bolt. This repeated scenario eventually led to…

THUMP!

The Transcendent’s knees buckled, defeated by nothing more than the Twins’ brain lightning alone.

“Hooray! I got it!”

“What’re you talking about? I did it!”

The Twins continued their squabble, with the fallen Transcendent still lying between them. Meanwhile, the Flame siblings now found themselves unexpectedly in charge of three Transcendent prodigies.

Whoosh.

A powerful heat radiated from the center of the duo.

The heat was so intense that the snowstorm buffeting them completely evaporated around the pair.

Craaackle.

Kendrick and Tania were facing off against two Transcendent with a rank of 4.

It was commonly believed that five Tier 3 trainees were needed to take on a single rank 4 Transcendent.

Conventional wisdom had it that a rank 3 Transcendent was equivalent to two Tier 2 trainees, and a rank 2 Transcendent was on par with a Tier 1 trainee.

Thus, despite being considered the ‘Big Three’ among rank 4 Transcendent, they posed no significant threat to Kendrick and Tania, who were both Tier 2 warriors.

In fact, the pair was overwhelming the Transcendent with their superior abilities.

Bam! Crackle.

With each punch, Tania’s fists crackled like exploding bombs, driving back the Transcendents.

Klang!

Each swing of Kendrick’s sword left a scar on their armor.

Though Tania and Kendrick fought differently, they shared one common trait:

Fizzle… Fizzle…

The wounds they inflicted on the Transcendents glowed fiery red.

Bam! Klang!

The Flame Siblings relentlessly pummeled the machines.

Thanks to their heroics, they finally brought down the last Transcendent.

Thud.

It took less than five minutes to dispatch all five Transcendents, including the top-secret second-rank model treated as a national strategic asset.

”…”

Silence enveloped the battlefield.

The thirty members of the order, excluding Pablo, could only stand agape.

It was said that each Transcendent 5th Stage wielded the power to reduce a mid-sized domain to a mere patch of wild grass and conquer it. In other words, Louis and his companions could turn a moderately sized domain into a barren field within five minutes.

Clang.

As they froze in shock, they heard the sound of metal falling to the ground. The warriors’ eyes turned toward the source of the noise. There stood Louis, dismantling a 4th Stage Transcendent with his bare hands.

“Ah…!”

“Huh…”

Finally, the warriors of the order came back to their senses. At the same time, they realized that everything they had witnessed was real.

At that moment, Louis’s voice rang out.

“Oi, you lot.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Yessir!”

The warriors froze at Louis’s call and answered quickly.

Swish.

Louis easily tore off a metal plate and threw it toward where the order’s warriors were standing. The plate landed precisely in front of Pablo.

“Do you recognize this crest?”

The plate appeared to have been from the shoulder area. It had originally been painted white, but due to the battle with the Flame siblings, much of the paint had worn off, revealing the underlying design. Despite being bent and dented, the emblem was still clearly discernible.

As Pablo examined it, his eyes widened.

“…Is this…?”

“Do you recognize it?”

“…It’s the crest of the Kanburk Kingdom.”

Louis proceeded to tear off similar plates from other transcendent shoulders one by one. However, no other crests were found. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“The Kingdom of Kanburk…” Louis muttered, his lips curling slightly.

“Well, should I believe this or not?”

“What was that?”

“If you were attacking someone, would you boldly display your affiliation on your shoulder like that? Even if it was painted over?”

“…”

Pablo couldn’t say anything to Louis’s words. He remained silent for a moment before opening his mouth.

“If our goal from the start had been extermination…this could actually happen.”

“Huh?”

“We were able to deal with it so easily because of you and some others, frankly…if we were caught in a sneak attack like this, we’d all be dead.”

“Well, can’t you fix it?”

Pablo looked indignant as Louis wore an expression akin to This is so easy, why can’t he do it?

“Is it really that easy to take out?”

“Why not?”

“Even within the confines of a powerful kingdom, few nations possess a 2nd class Transcendent as a strategic weapon. As I understand it, the widely accepted doctrine states that you need at least two tier-1 martial artists to stand a chance against one of these?”

“Is that so… Hmm… I must admit, it’s rather sturdy. It moved quickly and showed impressive strength.”

“That’s true… at least, by Mr. Louis’s standards. But it’s been said that even a single tier-1 martial artist could be matched against a 2nd class Transcendent piloted by a skilled operator.”

“Oh, really?”

“When I observed the movement of that ‘Transcendent’ earlier, I didn’t get the impression that its pilot was particularly inept. If I had faced it myself, although it wouldn’t have been easy, I likely wouldn’t have lost…”

“If you get bogged down by this one, the other Transcendents will join their fellow before you know it and slaughter their way through.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I was trying to say!”

“Hmm… you do have a point.” Louis nodded in agreement.

Currently, there were twenty tier-3 and ten tier-4 order warriors engaged on the battlefield. Although they were clearly immensely skilled for a group of this size, they were no match for five Transcendents.

Indeed, just as Pablo had suggested, if these creatures’ goal was annihilation from the start, they wouldn’t bother sparing the effort to disable the sentry gun, since there would be no witnesses left alive to speak of it.

“Well, we’ll find out all we need to from the ones we capture,” Louis remarked, confidently striding forward without hesitation.

His subsequent actions matched his resolute gait, lacking any sense of restraint.

“Is this about where the boarding ramp should be?”

Krrrsh.

Louis’s hand penetrated the rear armor of the Grade 2 Transcendent.

Keekeegik!

With a strange noise, the iron plate peeled off and tore away.

“What an incredible strength…”

“Was a Transcendent supposed to be so easily torn away?”

“What nonsense! The hull of a Grade 2 Transcendent only got a scratch from Sungang’s attack—how could it be torn away so easily?”

While the Order’s warriors looked on in awe, Louis swiftly tore off the rear half of the Transcendent. As he did, the cockpit interior was revealed. His eyes flickered when he took it in.

Take a look at this?

The cockpit was quite spacious and everything was shining silver. Devices needed to pilot a Transcendent were nowhere to be seen.

Louis recognized the reason immediately.

No, it was impossible for him not to.

After all, he had laid the foundation for precisely this kind of structure.

The mind conversion material!

In the past, Louis had valued this substance so highly that he’d signed a contract with its creator and enshrined it within the Tower of Wishes.

Reflecting on his decision’s splendid outcome, Louis felt a sense of satisfaction.

Next, his gaze turned toward the pilot seated in the cockpit, who appeared to have collapsed.

Like the interior of the cockpit, the pilot wore eerie silver armor.

That suit is also made from mind conversion material. By connecting the suit to the cockpit, they’ve evolved the way to control the Transcendent.

That was the limit of his contemplations.

Louis examined the limp body of the pilot. His face hardened.

”…He’s dead, isn’t he?”

The pilot was no longer breathing. Louis grasped the back of his head and dragged him outside.

The sight of the body Louis hauled out darkened the expressions of those who saw it.

“He’s dead.”

“How did he…?”

”…It must be poison.”

Judging by the dark crimson blood flowing from the mouth of this second-rank Transcendent and his turquoise lips, death from poison was the most likely cause.

Meanwhile, the twins had gone around to check the other Transcendents, but their conditions were all identical. Every single one had met their end for different reasons, however. Third-rank Transcendent pilots had been electrocuted while fourth-rank ones suffocated from exposure to high temperatures.

“Oh dear… they’re all dead,” Louis remarked, observing the bodies piled together.

He asked the warriors, “Do you recognize any of these faces?”

”…”

There was no response.

Pablo sighed and said, “In the end… we’ve gained nothing.”

They should have uncovered the mastermind behind this incident through the mouths of the raiders, but even that seemed to be futile.

However, Louis had a different perspective.

“Why say we’ve gained nothing?”

“Pardon?”

“One thing is now certain.”

“What’s that…?”

“Someone wants you dead. And that ‘someone’ is the one who stole the holy relic. Moreover, whatever that bastard desires, it won’t end with just the relic.”

Pablo clamped his mouth shut.

Why is this happening…?

For 150 years since his return, his daily life had been peaceful, but with Louis’s coming home, everything began to unravel. It felt like fate had been waiting for this moment. Everything started when Louis came back.

Come to think of it… mishaps always seem to happen around Louis.

It was truly uncanny. Yet no matter what occurred, Louis always managed to resolve matters perfectly.

Once again, Pablo placed his faith in Louis.

With a concerned expression, he asked, “So… what should we do now?”

In response, Louis extended his senses without hesitation. After briefly closing his eyes and analyzing the situation, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Nothing out of the ordinary here.

He detected no peculiar energy within a radius of several kilometers. It seemed these Transcendents might be all the adversaries had sent.

True, isn’t it?

The corners of Louis’s lips twitched as he spoke with evident delight.

“What can you do about it? We just wait now.”

“…Pardon?”

“If they had planned this ambush and were expecting either Pablo or you to die, then if we return without any casualties…”

At these words, a glint flashed in Kendrick’s eyes.

“They wouldn’t be pleased, no matter who they are.”

Tania picked up on his thought. “Or they might react differently, too.”

“That’s exactly it!” Louis nodded with a smile at his disciples’ words. He lightly snapped his fingers.

Crack.

A clear, crisp sound echoed through the air, and the scattered remains of the ships and bodies of the Transcendent soldiers floated into the air. As if they were nothing more than smoke, they began to be sucked into Louis’s pocket.

Vwoom.

“Whoa?!”

“What’s happening?!”

While the warriors of the order were distracted by this strange situation, the previously cluttered surroundings had been neatly tidied up.

Even after rubbing their eyes, they couldn’t believe what they saw with their own two eyes.

Louis looked around with a satisfied expression. “I just want to tidy things up for now.”

“Should we clean up any remaining traces or maybe scout the area?” Pablo asked.

Louis shook his head at Pablo’s question.

“No, leave it as is. Don’t do anything.”

“Why not?”

“Think about it. We let the creature we were supposed to eliminate go, and now there’s no sign of any disturbance? How do you think they’ll take that?”

“…I’m not sure?”

Seeing Pablo’s perplexed look, Louis smiled slyly.

“They must be wondering what the hell happened. It’s certain something occurred, but they have no idea what. Perhaps we should wait and see how they react?”

A light flashed in Louis’s eyes, which curved gracefully like a crescent moon.

Two days had passed since the attack of the Transcendent.

Louis had returned safely to the Order and was rummaging through his room when he picked up a sphere that was noisily vibrating from his pocket dimension.

It was a communication stone as small as a thumb nail.

Recognizing who it belonged to, Louis quickly infused it with attribute power.

Then he heard a voice.

“Sis Louis!”

From the lively and proud sound of Fin’s voice, Louis could tell she had succeeded.

Sure enough…

“I found out what the old codger is hiding!”

As Fin continued her story, Louis’s eyes sparkled.