City of Desire: Chapter 1041 Against Viremont (Patreon)

I pulled out my blade and spread its power across the battlefield. Heralding the beginning of the all-out battle.

“You still haven’t revealed its name,” said Leila, looking at my blade.

I smiled and looked at Viremont and the two charging toward the wall with an army of eighty thousand behind them. All three were Lv. 40+ and powerful.

My eyes focused on Kav Barisol, an empire mercenary.

Like Helda earlier, he was supposed to be fighting on the empire's front, but he was now here, charging toward me with Viremont and his General.

Selveren remained in place; he is a mage and doesn’t need to come closer.

“There are four of them, only two of us.” She said, worried.

“Don’t worry about it.”

With those words, I leaped down from the platform and landed on the wall, not far away from General Azalia, where she was fighting the three.

This is the longest she had ever controlled the golems, but here she is pushing.

In the heat of battle, her control seems to improve over them. Not to mention how she fights; the golems are becoming more and more a part of her.

She is an above-average fighter, but with these golems, she has become one of the best.

The way she moves, times, and combines her attacks with the two Golems is a revelation. She seems to be born for it, and I hope she holds them.

Her engaging of the three is helping tremendously, and it continues. If she couldn’t, it could turn the entire battle.

I watched for a moment longer before turning to Viremont. He and the two began to climb through the moat, his army separating as he did.

I did nothing other than wait; the man would be here in a few seconds.

I despise him for what he did, and he will pay for it.

A few seconds passed, and I looked up.

They had to begin. Leila and Seleveron; their spell crashed in the sky. Like Azalia, she must hold Seleveron occupied. He is a Great Mage; he could do massive damage.

I looked at their battle for a few seconds before looking ahead.

Nobody is attacking me; they are not even approaching me. I don’t know whether it is because of my power or the suppressive force my blade is emitting.

At last, Viremont arrived and stood before me. The man was clad completely in armor, with loose raven hair and intense dark eyes.

He is ruggedly handsome. Tall, with wavy raven hair and piercing blue eyes that give him a suppressing intensity.

“Surrender, Lord Silver. It still is not too late,” he offered, his deep voice carrying over the din of battle.

I met his cold, hard eyes and saw the ambition burning behind them. He would climb a tower of corpses if that was what it took to reach his goal.

I had studied his life, and nothing in it made him the man I wanted ruling Greltheaven. Arenthal—or even Grimvale—would be ten times better than him.

“I will say the same to you: get out of my dominion,” I replied.

The man shook his head and sighed. “The hard way it is,” he said, then came at me with his general and the mercenary.

He is fast, but more than that, every movement of his is filled with power. The presence radiating from him filled me as if I were not fighting a person, but a monster.

He unsheathed his blade; it was a long saber with a grey stone blade and a coppery handle.

Erynstone Blade.

The artifact he had acquired in the war.

I only glanced at it before turning to the large, thick lion-headed pauldrons on his shoulders. Pauldrons of the Roaring Lions; their ancient name is the Mantle of Bronze Nemean.

It is said to have been crafted from the heart of the Nemean Lion.

It was an imperial artifact until a few centuries ago, when it was gifted to his house for protecting the young emperor. Since then, it has been the main artifact of House Viremont.

The artifact grants the abilities of the Nemean Lion—immense strength, incredible speed, powerful defenses, heightened reactions, and extraordinary endurance the complete set.

Then, let’s see how powerful he is.

I thought and activated Dominion Surge as I moved toward him.

As I reached him, I activated Might of Harmony and Beast Strength, my newest skills. One is a master skill that enhances my aspect, while the other provides me with monstrous strength. 

Greater than Lion’s Strength.

I reached him and activated Tempest Razor and Sundering Blade before swinging my blade toward him. He did the same, activating his offensive skills, including the inheritance skills.

It’s easy to sense because of its presence and the way the air surrenders around it.

Our blades closed in, and he didn't avoid them. His moved toward mine, wanting to test his might against mine.

Well, he isn’t the only one.

Suddenly, surprise appeared in their eyes. His General and Barisol suddenly turned as they noticed two cloaked figures appearing beside them.

Did they think I would let them gang up on me? That would be a death sentence.

Those two will handle his General and Barisol.

They are powerful, but my men aren’t weak. It's why I didn't even glance; all my focus was on the man in front of me and our blades that were about to clash.

My blade reached his, and they clashed.

I felt as if my blade had clashed against the boulder; it stopped my blade, but also shook me. He seemed surprised by that, likely expecting more.

“Indeed, you are powerful,” he said before turning to the two, where two of his men clashed against mine.

Their hoods moved back, and it was none other than Hugo and Garzong. I hated Garzong moving away from the Forgebase, but I didn’t have a choice.

“And prepared,” he added, turning back to me.

“What else did you expect? That I would just wait for you and hand you my home.” He did not react to the taunt and looked at me with his cold, calculating eyes.

“You are stronger than I expected, but don’t think you can defeat me.”

“In a decade you might have, but not now,” he said, and the next moment the golden bronze pauldrons on his shoulders shone, and I felt his presence getting stronger.

It is not just the presence that changed, but also his looks, his hair and eyes.

They turned Golden Bronze.

This is one of the rare artifacts that affect appearance; this kind of artifact is powerful.

As he changed, he came at me, and I knew this attack was going to be far more powerful than the last. He was using the power of his artifact, and not a little bit.

My lips curved, and I leaped forward, while the power of my artifact filled me.

Total physical enhancement.

The second power of my artifact. I could consolidate it after my battle with the golems. It was difficult; it took me nearly two years to consolidate the Nihility.

That is what I am calling the power, as I understood its nature better.

The total physical enhancements are like his, except for the fact that mine didn’t bring any physical change.

It enhances not just strength and speed, but resilience, reaction, and other things.

If I had consolidated this power during my fight with the necromancer, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat him at death’s edge.

Weapons clashed, and this time, I remained in my spot, unmoving.

I could see the shock in his eyes.

He shouldn’t assume too much. People have a tendency to be shocking, especially in this world, where an artifact as well as a single level and skill could make a huge difference.

…

Count Viremont

“It seemed like your information about me had been a little outdated!” Silver taunted.

Usually, I am above it, but today, it stung.

The information is a forte of my backers, but they failed utterly in it. They did not give us the correct information on Silver’s numbers, nor their abilities and/or the damn artifacts they have.

Even the two who joined have the artifacts.

All, of course, like before they are state artifacts of Oksall, which they generously let Silver borrow.

Not to mention those freaking Golems; they are keeping three of my powerhouses occupied. The powerhouses that would have given me control of the wall by now and Silver in my custody.

Still, the biggest information gap is about Silver himself.

They said he is in his mid-40s; they mentioned nothing about him having a powerful strength skill. Most importantly, they said nothing about his artifact providing complete strength enhancement.

That is the ability of my artifact, and it’s not the only ability his blade has.

They warned me it was at least a Grade III imperial artifact, which mine is.

They said it might be Grade II.

“Information is indeed outdated,” I accepted.

“Though it won’t change the result.” With that, fractals of Tenaris’s Might formed around me—the sight, body, movement, and offense.

I didn’t stop at that; I integrated Tenaris’s Blade with Cutting Razor, Tenaris’s Sight with Crystal Vision, Tenaris’s Movement with Explosive Rush, and Tenaris’s Body with Noble’s Strength.

And finally, I activated War Count’s Victorius Dual; my house’s greatest inheritance.

It’s a powerful skill that shows a path toward victory, but there are conditions. The greatest being that it will be a duel; I will have to fight him without assistance from others.

As the skill activated, I moved, pouring aura into my blade, making it sharper.

He moved immediately; I sensed the difficulty of defeating him increased more than I expected as he brought out his aura methods.

We moved closer to each other when a surprise flashed in his eyes, and my lips curved a little.

I am going all out, using my strength as well as my powerhouses. I have brought out everyone except for one. Who had just revealed herself, appearing right behind the General.

Silver is the greatest target, but the bastard is powerful, and I don’t want to use my card on him and lose the element of surprise.

I’d rather use it on the General, because it will bring the same result.

The victory.

She has been waiting and watching for the perfect chance to strike, and she has now got it, right when Loxley and Valebrook could box her.

She would succeed.

I had just thought that as her dagger was inches away from the general, when suddenly a sword came in its path—stopping the blade.

The one who stopped it was a cloaked woman, whose hood moved back, revealing her face.

The Otonian gladiator.

They had given me information about her. They said the woman hadn’t fought in a war for nearly two decades and had no desire to, despite getting offers with enormous sums of money.

Now, she is here, stopping my assassin.

Still, I had counted her among the powerhouses that would fight, as I had even counted those in the jail.

What I didn’t expect was her fighting here in Panar.

It made me want to curse, and I nearly did, when my skill warned me, and I turned back to Silver—seeing the bastard trying to slip his blade toward me.

I controlled my emotions and adjusted my blade, blocking the path.

Relief filled me; I was distracted for a fraction of a second, but he used that and nearly slipped his blade.

I will not let that happen again. I promised myself.

A moment passed, and our blades clashed, creating a shockwave so powerful that it threw the soldiers fighting around us.

I didn’t even glance at them as I shook and looked at him, shocked, at the place where our blades clashed, where his aura blade crushed mine.

“How is this possible?” I asked, shocked.

“Integration, you are not the only one who knows it,” he replied with a grin, but I kept staring, and the grin widened. His Integration is shocking, but that is not the reason for my shock.

“Ah, the power of my artifact, pretty good, isn’t it?” he asked and came at me.

I reacted immediately while trying to understand what in hell the power of his artifact was. It is definitely not suppression, or even erasure. It’s something else!

‘Loxley, use every card you have and finish her quickly; I need you here!’ I said to the man.

There is no doubt left in my mind. Silver is my equal in power, and that artifact of his had made the battle dangerously unpredictable.

I still did not believe he could defeat me. But experience had taught me one lesson above all others: never take chances against enemies like him.

There was only one correct response to such a threat: end them quickly, by any means necessary.