Chapter 425: The Woman Beyond the Gate

The Woman Beyond the Gate

"Then there’s no reason."

She sighed.

Victor looked toward the battlements again.

The soldiers had witnessed what happened.

They had seen their arrows become useless.

Yet they continued firing.

Again.

And again.

The cavern filled with the sharp sound of bowstrings.

Twack.

Twack.

Twack.

The noise echoed off the stone walls.

Victor shook his head.

"Stubborn."

Another arrow flew toward him.

He didn’t even bother moving.

His hand simply rose.

His fingers closed around the shaft.

The arrow stopped dead in his grasp.

Victor glanced at it for a moment.

Then flicked his wrist.

The arrow shot back.

It crossed the distance before the archer could react.

The shaft punched straight through his throat.

The soldier’s eyes widened.

His hands released the bow.

He stumbled backward.

Then disappeared from the battlement.

Another arrow came.

Victor caught it.

His expression didn’t change.

He sent it back.

Another soldier fell.

Then another.

The archers began to panic.

Their formation broke.

Some stepped away from the battlements.

Others kept firing, as if refusing to accept what was happening.

But the result never changed.

Every arrow they fired became a weapon against them.

One by one, the archers disappeared from the walls.

Victor wasn’t rushing.

There was no need.

Each movement was casual.

Almost dismissive.

He didn’t have to chase them.

He didn’t have to raise his voice.

He simply returned what they gave him.

The soldiers slowly began to understand the truth.

They weren’t fighting an enemy they could hurt.

They were feeding themselves to him.

The realization spread through the battlements like a sickness.

The leader understood it too.

His face went pale.

He looked at Victor.

Then at the bodies of his men.

His fingers tightened around his weapon.

For a moment, he seemed unable to decide what to do.

Then fear won.

He turned around.

"Report to the Marquis!"

He didn’t wait for a response.

He sprinted away from the battlement.

Victor watched him disappear into the fortress.

Diana noticed it as well.

"He’s running."

"Let him."

Victor smiled faintly.

"He’ll lead us to the person we’re looking for."

Diana glanced toward him.

She understood immediately.

There was no reason to chase the man.

Not yet.

The rain of arrows continued for a little longer.

But it was becoming weaker.

There were fewer bows.

Fewer soldiers.

Fewer men willing to stand on those walls.

Then the fortress gates suddenly opened.

A deep metallic groan rolled through the cavern.

The massive doors moved apart.

Victor’s golden eyes shifted toward the entrance.

The sound of marching boots followed.

A platoon of fully armored soldiers emerged from the fortress.

They were heavily equipped.

Their armor covered them from head to toe.

Their swords were polished.

Their shields were firmly strapped to their arms.

And their formation was surprisingly disciplined.

At first glance, they looked like trained soldiers.

Victor only needed a single look to see through it.

Almost nothing.

Their mana was barely above that of an ordinary person.

They knew how to circulate it.

Perhaps.

But they didn’t know how to use it properly in battle.

They couldn’t reinforce their bodies with it.

They couldn’t channel it into their weapons.

They couldn’t strengthen their strikes.

Their armor might have been useful against ordinary enemies.

Against Victor, it was little more than decoration.

The soldiers raised their swords.

Their commander shouted.

"Charge!"

The entire formation moved.

Boots thundered against the stone floor.

The sound shook through the cavern.

Diana stepped forward.

Victor stopped her with a glance.

"Let them come."

Diana paused.

She looked at the approaching soldiers.

Then back at Victor.

She understood.

Victor wasn’t worried.

Not even slightly.

The first wave came closer.

Ten meters.

Five.

Three.

Victor calmly coated his body with a thin layer of mana.

It settled over his skin like an invisible layer of armor.

Diana did the same.

The first soldier reached him.

He shouted.

Then swung his sword with both hands.

The blade came down toward Victor’s shoulder.

Victor didn’t move.

Clang!

The sound exploded through the cavern.

The soldier froze.

His hands trembled.

He looked at his sword.

The blade had broken.

Victor hadn’t even been scratched.

The soldier stared at him in disbelief.

He looked almost like a man who had just discovered that the world itself had stopped making sense.

Victor looked down at him.

His expression remained calm.

Then he raised one finger.

The soldier’s eyes widened.

Victor touched his forehead.

Just one finger.

That was enough.

The force passed straight through the helmet.

The soldier’s body went rigid.

A moment later, he collapsed onto the stone.

The remaining soldiers stopped.

Nobody shouted.

Nobody moved.

The entire formation seemed to lose its rhythm.

Victor slowly looked across them.

Fear was written across their faces now.

They finally understood.

They weren’t soldiers attacking an enemy.

They were simply waiting their turn.

Victor stepped forward.

But then—

He sensed something.

His expression changed.

He moved.

A blade of compressed air tore through the ground where he had been standing moments earlier.

Stone exploded.

Dust filled the air.

Victor landed several steps away.

For the first time since entering the fortress, his smile became genuinely vicious.

That attack hadn’t been created with mana.

It had been formed from Zenith Aura.

Exactly what he had been looking for.

Victor slowly raised his head.

Beyond the open fortress gate stood a woman.

She had green hair and purple eyes.

In her hand was a sword approximately three feet long, its double-edged blade radiating a mystical green glow.

There was something unusual about that weapon.

It felt alive.

Almost as though nature itself had been sealed inside the blade.

The woman stared at Victor with an arrogant expression.

Victor’s smile widened.

That attitude.

That confidence.

That strange Zenith Aura.

It was another confirmation.

This woman was connected to a transmigrator.

Because every transmigrator Victor had encountered seemed to possess almost the same temperament.

And now, at last, he had found the person hiding behind all those rumors.