“Whoa, what’s going on!”

“What are you doing!”

People scattered in a panic when Juan suddenly jumped into the crowd.

Meanwhile, Juan hastily searched his surroundings. It had only been a moment since the stranger moved, but he had disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving behind only a faint presence.

Juan instinctively realized that the stranger was a strong opponent. He was definitely more skilled than Ethan, or perhaps just as powerful as Nigrato before he manifested into his complete form. One thing that Juan could be certain about was that the stranger was the most powerful man Juan had met ever since he was revived.

Juan ran along the faint trail that the stranger had left. The stranger was almost moving away at the speed of light. Although Juan had fully recovered from his injuries, concentrating to find the traces of the stranger and moving fast enough to catch up to him at the same time was still not easy. Juan wandered into an alley and finally narrowed the distance between them with difficulty.

“Ugh…”

However, the presence of the stranger disappeared all of a sudden when Juan was finally getting closer. The stranger was not only fast, but he was also skilled at hiding himself.

Juan couldn't stand the fact that someone so strong with unknown intentions loitering near the Order of Huginn.

Juan looked around his surroundings and jumped onto the bell tower that was still being reconstructed, as it was a suitable place to overlook the downtown of Hiveden.

After taking a deep breath, Juan decided to use Grunbalde’s gray cloak over a wide area. The fog began to spread from where Juan was standing.

The sudden wave of fog baffled people, but they were more curious than afraid; they had realized that it was simply a night fog that didn’t smell weird nor catch fire.

“Where are you…” Juan muttered.

The stranger hadn’t been too far away from Juan the last time he felt the stranger’s presence, and Juan assumed that he would be quietly hiding nearby. The fog flooded into every corner of the city seeping even into rat holes and the cracks between the brick walls to search for the opponent.

It didn’t take long for Juan to find his opponent.

Not long after, Juan felt a disparate presence as someone made a quick movement—the opponent was finally caught moving in Juan’s sight.

Juan didn’t miss his chance and used Blink to charge at the stranger like an arrow, aiming for his legs. But, the unidentified stranger expertly parried Juan’s sword and dodged his attack. Juan raised his eyes.

“The Baltic Sword?”

Juan positioned himself and glared at the stranger. The stranger stood his ground and faced Juan in a relaxed manner, almost as if he no longer had the intention of running away anymore.

The stranger was wearing a ragged black robe with a hood which covered his entire face. There was pitch black, ink-like darkness inside the robe that was long enough to prevent any exposure of the body, and even his hands and the weapons he was holding were wrapped in bandages.

‘He is definitely not a Templar. His spirit is completely different from everyone I have met before… is he a knight like Sina?’

Juan could only assume, but it was difficult for him to say with confidence. After all, the opponent’s spirit was also very different from Sina’s healthy and upright spirit—his spirit was distorted and disgusting, which would make anyone dizzy just by looking at him. Juan couldn’t understand how such a person could use the Baltic Sword at such a high level. Juan felt as if he was looking at himself.

“Take off the robe.”

The stranger didn’t budge at Juan’s words, only staring at Juan with observing eyes.

Juan found his gaze unpleasant. Without much movement, Juan and the stranger clashed against each other once again.

“If you don’t take off the robe, I’ll take it off for you.”

The stranger once again blocked Juan’s attack with ease. Reposition or preparation wasn’t required for attacks using Blink. As Blink allowed one’s body to shoot out from their natural position, it was hard for anyone to block the sudden attack. However, the stranger readily placed his sword in the trajectory of Juan’s sword and countered the attack as if he already knew Juan’s attack pattern. The stranger appeared to be familiar with Blink.

‘He is just observing.’

Juan distanced himself once again. No murderous intent could be felt from the opponent, which made it unbelievable to think of him as someone who had just been in an intense battle. Juan kept showing a gap to purposely give the stranger an opportunity to attack, but the stranger didn’t bother to make any attempts to attack Juan.

Soon, Juan gave up on overpowering the stranger. Juan felt like he would only be satisfied if he could at least figure out the identity of his opponent.

“You seem to be an expert.”

If the stranger was as skilled as Juan at the Baltic Sword, attacking using the same method would be meaningless.

Juan recalled Kamil’s explanation about the stages of Baltic Swordsmanship.

‘Did she say Ethan Etil was at stage three?’

Juan remembered Kamil mentioning that the strongest man of the empire was at stage four. Juan wondered what stage the stranger might be at.

“Let me see your skills.”

Juan held his short sword in reverse. Juan had never once neglected his training in the application of the Baltic Sword and research. If all of the currently existing swordsmanship in the empire originated from the Baltic Sword, it would be no exaggeration to say that Juan had mastered all the stages and was further developing it beyond even the current highest level.

The stranger was still quietly looking at Juan. However, Juan didn’t move an inch even after a long time had passed. At that moment, the stranger hastily pulled himself back.

Swish.

With a sharp sound, the stranger’s hood was narrowly cut. If he hadn’t pulled himself back in time, Juan’s short sword would have cut his entire face.

At that moment, Juan’s body moved like a fog and approached the stranger. Juan’s movements were smooth without allowing any time for the stranger to be conscious of the attack, and the stranger felt as if the fog was tightly suppressing his body.

It was the fourth stage of the Baltic Sword—Fog Solution.

Up until now, Juan could only perform the basics of the Baltic Sword due to his body being too small. But as his body grew, the number of moves he could use also grew.

“...!”

The stranger struggled to shake off Juan who charged toward him like a snake inside the faint fog. It felt as if dozens of snakes were biting his body, trying to drag him down no matter how hard he tried to shake them off. And this wasn’t an illusion—his ragged robe really was being torn apart.

As he could barely dodge Juan’s attack, the stranger ended up repositioning his body just like Juan.

Meanwhile, Juan sensed a sudden change in the stranger’s spirit as the stranger also began to perform stage four of the Baltic Sword.

Juan had already been aware that the stranger had a high level of mastery in the Baltic Sword.

As Juan had already predicted that the stranger could perform stage four of the Baltic Sword, he could easily predict the direction of the stranger’s attack.

As Juan’s short sword met with the stranger’s sword, the bandages wrapped around the stranger’s sword were torn apart.

When the stranger’s sword was exposed through the tattered fragments of bandages, Juan couldn’t believe his own eyes.

It was a black sword split like a twig. It was quite similar to the sword that Juan would never forget even in his sleep—a sword that had stabbed him in the back.

“You are…!”

The stranger swung his sword at the same time Juan shouted. Being perplexed, Juan made a ridiculous mistake; he was holding his sword backwards, but he mistakenly thought that he was holding it upright.

The stranger’s sword that was aiming for Juan’s heart flew toward him without any obstacles. Juan prepared for the fatal wound he was about to get.

The tip of the stranger’s sword shook for a short moment as if he also realized Juan’s mistake, and viciously swung his sword.

But what Juan felt was a dull shock rather than the sensation of his skin being pierced like he had been expecting.

Juan’s body bounced back as his chest had been struck. Juan couldn’t understand what had happened. Such a sword could have pierced his body even when he had been the emperor—it didn’t make sense that it couldn’t pierce through the weak and unstable body Juan had now.

When Juan looked toward his chest, he realized what had protected him.

It was the Nigrato’s essence.

The black lump had covered Juan’s body in the form of a cloak, and held the stranger’s sword. The black lump stretched like a sticky slime as the stranger hastily pulled out his sword, but it soon began to recover quickly to form a lump again.

At the same time, Juan realized what Ras had meant by saying that he wanted to be a help to Juan.

“■■■■!”

The stranger suddenly burst into an unintelligible shout. As soon as he shouted, a huge black crack appeared in the empty space with a loud cracking sound. The windows and jars nearby were broken at once due to the shockwave that even bounced off Juan’s body.

Juan already knew of the type of power that black crack had, which even distorted the surrounding space. In fact, Juan had seen something like it recently.

“No!”

Juan tried to grab the stranger in a hurry, but someone held Juan’s hand at that moment.

It was Anya. Anya was shaking her head with a pale expression.

“Don’t go any closer, Juan!”

Anya seemed to know the identity of the black crack.

While Juan was being held up by Anya, the stranger quickly jumped inside the crack. Before the stranger entered the black crack, he muttered something while staring at Juan.

Juan was filled with questions upon hearing the unfamiliar name that came out of the stranger’s lips.

At that moment, the crack slowly closed. The space remained distorted for a long time even after the stranger left, and then gradually disappeared.

Juan looked at the place where the stranger had disappeared with a devastated look on his face.

‘Qzatquizail?’

Juan was confused by the unfamiliar name murmured by the stranger. He couldn’t quite figure out the reason why the stranger muttered such a name while looking at him. However, the opponent who had the answer to Juan’s question had already left. Juan looked back at Anya, who was still holding his hand.

“Do you know what that was?”

“Juan.”

“I asked if you know.”

“It’s the power of the Crack,” Anya answered in a calm manner. “I’ve been to a lot of places and have seen many things, Juan. I also know that no one has ever come out looking normal after entering the Crack carelessly. It ends with either you becoming a lunatic that does nothing but harm himself, or you return as a mixture of bones and flesh. Whichever way it would have been, I had to stop you.”

“That stranger who just went inside the Crack might be…!”

‘My son.’

Just as Juan was about to shout that the stranger might be his first son Gerard Gain, Juan managed to calm himself down.

There was no evidence the opponent was really Gerard Gain, other than the fact that he was holding the same sword that Gerard had stabbed Juan with. The stranger’s sword was not Gerard’s in the first place—which could only mean that Gerard had something to do with the Crack after all. It also meant that Gerard really did betray him. Because Juan had been hopeful that he was mistaken about Gerard after finding out about Ras’ innocence, he didn’t want to acknowledge Gerard’s betrayal by saying such a fact out loud. Juan slowly took a deep breath.

“Thanks,” Juan said to Anya.

Anya did not answer.

Juan didn’t wait for a reply anyway, as he was thinking about something else. Whether the stranger really was Gerard Gain or not, it was true that he was a dangerous man. It was also clear that the stranger had come to find Juan, not anyone else.

Juan’s existence was attracting danger for those around him.

It was time for him to take his leave.

***

It was a deep moonless night. Just until a few weeks ago, walking the streets of Hiveden alone at night was considered crazy. This fact also applied to Opert, who was the head of the smugglers.

Although there was no longer anyone who said that the streets of Hiveden were dangerous at night, Opert habitually hid his body as he walked to avoid Anya, the captain of the Order of Huginn.

Opert held his breath and hurried along. Not far away, he caught sight of the city wall of Hiveden. He looked around and searched his surroundings to find the person who was waiting for him. Then, he saw a lump of darkness wriggling and moving. Opert flinched, but soon breathed a sigh of relief upon recognizing the face that appeared within the darkness.

“Juan.”

Juan was wearing a black cloak that blended into the dark night. Opert knew that Juan’s cloak wasn’t just dark clothing, but darkness itself. The essence of Nigrato was a source of unholiness which Ras once wore on his body to summon many undead. That essence now became Juan’s coat. Grunbalde’s gray cloak and the essence of Nigrato had smoothly fused with one another, almost as if they were originally a single item.

“It seems like it’s been stabilized now,” Opert said.

“It seems so. It looks pretty good as a cloak. Maybe it’s because they have similar attributes. It also feels like the Grunbalde’s cloak has become even more powerful.”

The value of the item created by merging the two precious weapons was priceless. Suppressing his scholarly aspirations, Opert handed over the horse and the luggage to Juan.

“I did try my best to escape from Captain Anya’s watch, but I’m not too sure if she fell for it. I think I’ve gotten used to hiding my presence, but I’m not particularly good at acting.”

Juan remained silent for a while, then shook his head.

“Anya didn’t follow you.”

“...You must have checked already. You continue to surprise me every time. Your ability is quite something.”

“I just have keen senses, that’s all. Anyway, don’t you have the other item I asked for?”

“Oh, yes. I brought it with me, although it did take me a long time to find it.”

Opert pulled out a pouch from his pocket. When he slightly opened the pouch with caution, shattered pieces of purple gem filled Juan’s sight.

It was the Indeterminate Polyhedron.