Smiling Knife and Dream Streak did not doubt they would have been obliterated if they had been caught in the blast.
The power of the blue flames was so frightening they felt it was even more fearsome than the Black Rose Transcendent Witch’s black flames.
After all, even though they had never personally encountered the Black Rose Transcendent Witch’s black flames, her flames would still fall within the realms and logic of Rank 5 beings.
Summoning the black flames would stir both the mana within the Black Rose Transcendent Witch and her surrounding.
On the other hand, the blue flames appear without any sign or mana movement, like it was spurred into being when needed.
The most important detail they discovered while observing their opponent was that the blue flames always appeared in sync with the person’s will.
Smiling Knife and Dream Streak had also thought that a higher-stage High Witch had been assisting the person, possibly even a Transcendent Witch.
However, it was unlikely for such a person to escape their detection while assisting their opponent, not to mention the power of the blue flames most definitely surpassed the Transcendent Rank.
‘A power that transcended the Transcendent…’ Smiling Knife and Dream Streak’s expressions turned terribly grave.
They had been wrong about their opponent’s strength from the start! The person wasn’t relying on the assistance of any witch; the blue flames were his own power!
And the blue flames didn’t consume any mana because it wasn’t magic power but divine power!
They were challenging a god!
…
While various thoughts raced through the two S-rank Witch Hunters’ heads, Vaan glanced at the destruction he had created with Descending Fire Dragon Slash.
The devastation wasn’t actually widespread; the destroyed ground only reached a five-meter radius around him.
However, the pit was very steep, nearing a hundred meters deep.
Still, that was only the result of striking the ground with only the tip of the heavy greatsword. The power of his slash was concentrated into a powerful drilling force.
If he had used the whole blade, the hole wouldn’t have been as deep, but the lord’s estate and several surrounding buildings would have been swallowed in the fiery destruction.
‘Hm?’ Vaan narrowed his eyes with a frown.
After Smiling Knife and Dream Streak witnessed his strength, they actually turned around to flee from him!
Vaan was immediately disappointed that his fight was cut short. He had revealed too much power and scared off his opponents.
“Did I say you could leave?!” Vaan bellowed.
Numerous blue flaming spears were summoned before Vana fired them at the two fleeing S-rank Witch Hunters, targeting their arms and legs.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The flaming blue spears shot through the air like ballistic missiles and reached Smiling Knife and Dream Streak within a few breaths.
Although the two sensed the incoming threat behind them and tried to evade the flaming blue spears, Vaan’s fire attacks tracked whichever direction they took.
The flaming blue spears wouldn’t stop until they hit their targets.
“No—!” Smiling Knife and Dream Streak cried at the inevitable outcome.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
The flaming blue spears skewered their limbs and burned their flesh, causing rapid disintegration. Within a short breath, half of their limbs detached from their bodies.
After losing their mobility, Smiling Knife and Dream Streak still tried to escape, using their chins to crawl along the ground. But, alas, they could only move at a snail’s pace.
At the same time, they heard Vaan’s footsteps in the distance. Each step closer was like a hammer on their hearts and spirits, diminishing their hope bit by bit.
After Vaan reached Smiling Knife, he didn’t speak a single word to the person, having lost interest. He grabbed Smiling Knife by the hair and dragged him to Dream Streak’s location.
Then, he dragged the two back.
“Please don’t kill me…”
“I’ll be your dog if you let me live.”
Dream Streak and Smiling Knife both pleaded for their lives along the way. They tried to persuade Vaan with various offers, even willing to submit themselves to him.
However, Vaan ignored their pleas and continued dragging them. Still, seeing how low they had fallen after being defeated was interesting.
‘The older and stronger one is, the more they value life and fear death, huh?’ Vaan thought amusedly.
After returning to the lord’s estate, Vaan collected the dead bodies and spoils into his Heaven-Swallowing Space.
Then, he proceeded to create a long spear mold with Earth Manipulation, melted a few pieces of equipment with blue flames, and finally cooled the temporary weapon with Kinetic Energy Manipulation.
Once Vaan was done, he skewered the two surviving A-rank Witch Hunters and two S-rank Witch Hunters, turning them into a kebab stick before taking off for the Red Goblin Mountain north of town.
Some potions and mana stones were left behind to help Silvaria, Solana, and Dahlia recover their strength when he informed them that he’d be gone for a bit.
She had never seen such a powerful man before.
“Right.” Silvaria suddenly recalled before anyone could answer and glanced at Cyrena. “You were calling him Teacher. How did—”
Before Silvaria could finish asking, she suddenly felt the town becoming brighter.
When she turned around to look, she immediately noticed a high wall of blue flames had sealed off the entire Sunpeak Town, preventing anyone from entering and leaving.
A few moments after, two new spatial portals opened before Astoria and Aeliana appeared, landing in the central town area.
“W-What happened here?” Astoria and Aeliana were startled. Astoria also wondered if she was too late.
“Headmaster Astoria! Aeli! It’s great to see you both!” Solana quickly rejoiced at the appearance of the familiar figures. She ran up and embraced her baby girl. “It’s good that you’re alright, Aeli!”
“Sorry for making you worry, Mother,” Aeliana apologized, revealing her rare soft side before she glanced around. “By the way, what happened here?”
“Come, I’ll fill you in on the details inside,” Solana dragged Aeliana back to the lord’s estate.
…
Meanwhile, Vaan did not head too far north of Sunpeak Town with his human kebab stick since he needed to maintain the fire barrier.
Seeing that the forest area was quite dense, he settled for the location with a nod and knocked out his prisoners.
“Didn’t think I would be using this so soon,” Vaan muttered, taking out the large black cube.