Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint-Chapter 532: The Tiger Appears When Spoken Of
The tiger descends.
With a single roar, the sky rips apart. With a single step, the earth trembles. With a single breath, the trees and grass quiver in terror. The Mountain Monarch comes down, her tail flicking as her voice reverberates through the valley.
Even the grandest of kings who dwell in palaces dare not call their own name aloud in the mountains—lest the tiger mistake it as an invitation and descend upon them.
If that is the nature of ordinary tigers, then what of the Mountain Monarch, the King of Tigers?
Humans should be grateful that she chooses to claim only a single mountain as her domain. For if she had not, mankind would have never been able to falsely claim dominion over the land.
A beast beyond the reach of humans, the so-called rulers of the earth. Even kings—who despise the idea of another sovereign—freely refer to her as Mountain Monarch, without hesitation.
And yet—
Why is she here?
The King of Tigers carried no discernible presence.
Despite her tremendous power, there was an unnerving silence surrounding her. Real tigers, despite their massive size, move with an eerie quiet—and the Mountain Monarch, in human form, had not merely silenced her steps. She had erased her presence entirely.
But I know.
My mind-reading can perfectly analyze humans.
Which means—if someone’s thoughts are unreadable—then they are not truly human.
The sensation in my mind—
It was like staring at ancient cave paintings, drawn in blood by humans who did not yet understand words.
Even without knowing what they depicted, the horror and reverence they carried were undeniable.
Yet, the others had not yet realized the danger.
Marquis Raphaeno, already provoked by the Regressor and called out by Sapien, was furious—though he did not outwardly show it.
And the Mountain Monarch—in appearance—was merely a feline beastkin.
To Raphaeno, beastkin were enemies.
To Raphaeno, beastkin were beneath him.
To Raphaeno, beastkin were vermin.
And so, he made the worst mistake imaginable.
"What is this? Are you here to see that dead wolf?"
No.
Calling it a mistake would be too generous.
This was absurdity itself.
To call a human’s defiance against absolute power mere foolishness is to overestimate humanity’s significance.
No matter how strong, no matter how refined—
If one cannot overturn the world itself, then they will be crushed beneath it.
"Answer my question with what you know."
"If you want to see him so badly—I'll kill you first."
Without a moment’s hesitation, Marquis Raphaeno thrust his rapier at the girl’s heart.
The execution order had already been given.
If he hesitated now, then he would hesitate again for every kill afterward.
A mere beastkin girl—showing an example by slaughtering one meant nothing to him.
From Raphaeno’s perspective, this was pure logic.
The only emotional aspect of his decision—was his mercy in attempting to end it quickly.
But even that was the worst possible choice.
A single whisker of the Mountain Monarch twitched.
And just before the Master’s strike could land—
She waved her hand.
It was as if she had brushed ink across the air.
Had she dipped her claws in black ink before swinging?
The single stroke of the Mountain Monarch collided with the trajectory of Raphaeno’s sword—
And everything turned black.
Like an ink painting smeared away, the absurd force of her motion obliterated the attack.
Marquis Raphaeno felt a strange emptiness.
He had clearly stabbed forward.
Yet not only had his qi-infused attack vanished—
Even his rapier itself had disappeared—
Without even a sensation of impact in his hand.
"...What?!"
"Is she a Master? A Mage?"
Something that should not have happened—had happened.
Marquis Raphaeno, now cautious, immediately leapt backward.
Against Grull or the Regressor, he had been able to analyze their abilities instantly.
But against this girl—
He could not even grasp what power she had used.
And that alone was enough to make him tense.
...Yet he failed to realize.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
That his hostility was beginning to irritate the Mountain Monarch.
"General! The Black Tiger Seal is ready!"
"Perfect timing!"
Marquis Raphaeno welcomed the news.
The Black Tiger Army was the principalities' elite force, their core strength lying in their Master-ranked martial artists.
Against an enemy without Masters, they were unstoppable.
But relying solely on their martial strength would reduce them to mere infantry.
For this reason—
Elite forces like the Black Tiger Army wielded something beyond simple combat prowess.
They had Relics.
They had Unique Magics.
Even now, though no mages had been deployed, the Relic Black Tiger Seal remained in their arsenal.
And fearing Kito’s interference, an officer had already activated it.
Marquis Raphaeno gave the order.
"Stamp it!"
"Yes, sir!"
The officer slammed the Black Tiger Seal into the ground.
An invisible force descended, crushing the Mountain Monarch.
The air compressed, forcing dust and debris to scatter.
Crunch, crack!
The ground shattered beneath the force, as if an invisible stamp had pressed into the earth.
And at its center—
An engraved image of a tiger appeared, etched deep into the land.
Relics were the remnants of Unique Magics left behind after a mage’s death.
When a Unique Magic was powerful enough, it did not disappear.
Instead, it remained as a Relic—a fragment of power, detached from its original wielder.
And when a Unique Magic became a Relic, it often became even stronger, unbound by the limitations of its original user.
Such was the Black Tiger Seal.
Once, it had merely been a technique for imprinting seals from a distance.
Now, it compressed space itself over a 30-meter radius, creating a zone where even wind was frozen in place.
Within this domain, Marquis Raphaeno moved freely.
As long as one understood the pathways of the seal, they could maneuver effortlessly within it.
Even with his eyes closed, Raphaeno could navigate the maze of engravings.
'I didn’t want to use the Black Tiger Seal—but this is dangerous!'
'If that thing sides with Ende, we might actually lose! I’ll kill her immediately—before it’s too late!'
In place of his vanished rapier, he brandished a jet-black main-gauche.
It looked short, but concealed an invisible blade—a trump card against foes accustomed to his rapier’s reach.
Without hesitation, he unleashed his technique, slashing at the beastkin girl’s throat—
Not knowing he had already lost.
‘Continuous Slash—Secret Art! Fortissimo!’
Marquis Raphaeno unleashed the secret technique he had honed for years.
The past and present slashes overlapped, forming an inescapable assault. Normally, a single space could not hold multiple slashes at once.
But techniques defied logic—they were pure absurdity incarnate.
A never-ending, ever-renewing barrage was aimed at the Mountain Monarch.
However—
Absurdity itself nullifies the weapons of man.
The Mountain Monarch let out a low growl.
"Grrrrr."
No one saw what happened.
Not even I could witness it.
The process disappeared—only the result remained.
Marquis Raphaeno vanished.
When I turned my head, I finally saw his blurred form, already folded in half, sent flying through the air.
The shattered fragments of his broken sword followed him, keeping him company in solitude.
A beat later—
The thousands upon thousands of lingering slashes from Continuous Slash shattered like glass.
The remnants of qi-infused slashes, once hanging in the air, now twinkled like shards of broken glass in the sunlight.
As light scattered, the Mountain Monarch shook herself in irritation, sending the fragments flying like shuriken in all directions.
Marquis Raphaeno’s Continuous Slash left marks in the air—
But in the end, they were nothing more than force, infused into a sharp blade and swung with technique.
And against a far greater force, even that technique could be shattered.
Of course, that was easier said than done.
Even steel itself would have been ripped apart.
His final trump card, the attack that linked past and present into a single strike, should have been unstoppable—even against a King of Beasts.
But—
His opponent was the Mountain Monarch. The King of Tigers.
With fangs and claws, she tore through it all—and set her sights on the next prey.
"General! Kgh... The Black Tiger Seal—!"
Just as Raphaeno’s lieutenant reached for the Relic,
A massive forepaw appeared before him in an instant.
That was the last thing he saw.
His neck snapped, his flesh stretched, and his head was torn from his body, leaving his corpse behind.
Crunch.
The Mountain Monarch crushed his skull, turning it into pulp, then shook the blood from her paw.
The soldiers, once standing firm, reeled in horror.
"Lieutenant!"
Yet despite the gruesome death of their commander,
Perhaps because it had happened too fast to even process—
Or perhaps because they were seasoned elite warriors, too used to death—
They did not waver.
Instead, their eyes locked onto the Relic.
"Retrieve the Relic! We cannot let it fall into enemy hands!"
The Black Tiger Seal was a Relic—a national treasure, more valuable than even a mage’s spell.
The Black Tiger Army had been trained to recover it at any cost—even if it meant sacrificing several of their own.
Had they fled, they might have lived.
But instead—
They charged toward the Mountain Monarch.
She turned her head.
Hundreds of soldiers, weapons drawn, rushed toward her.
Her expression twisted in displeasure.
Hooooh.
A tiger’s last inhale before a hunt.
The final breath that claimed the souls of those about to die.
A mist-like haze formed at the edge of her open jaws.
And then—
The Mountain Monarch roared.
｢ ｣
A thunderbolt erupted from the earth.
A quake shook the land.
The roar of the Predator of All Things—the ultimate executioner’s cry.
Even though the blast was aimed at the Black Tiger Army,
The sheer force of the echo nearly split my body in half.
A ringing filled my ears.
Even I almost lost consciousness—I only survived by clinging to the Regressor’s will.
Many of the beastkin nearby collapsed on the spot, unconscious from sound alone.
There were fewer still who remained standing.
It was literal chaos.
The Mountain Monarch’s roar had the power to scatter souls into madness.
And even worse—
"Hah!"
Even the beastkin behind her were losing consciousness.
And those who took the roar head-on—the Black Tiger Army—
"Ah—"
They were all gone.
Were they dead?
Were they alive?
Even with mind-reading, I heard nothing.
The Mountain Monarch’s roar had twisted their qi, shattered their senses, and ripped their spirits apart.
They were no different from the dead.
Only a miracle could save them.
A miracle that would only happen if the Mountain Monarch allowed it.
"A wild beast has sought me out. Out of pity, I have come to take the wolf’s place."
And yet—
Even miracles had to end at her command.
‘This... this isn’t a Unique Magic...!’
‘This is pure power. A force beyond humanity. This is—this is the King of Beasts!’
By some miraculous chance, protected by his qi techniques and armor, Marquis Raphaeno still clung to life.
He staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth.
But just before he could fully rise,
A shadow appeared before him—
A phantom, standing at point-blank range.
The Mountain Monarch gazed directly into his eyes.
A predator’s glare.
No one could stand before death itself and remain unshaken.
Marquis Raphaeno, the Black Tiger General, a Master of Continuous Slash,
Trembled in absolute terror.
‘No... no, this can’t be happening. I—Marquis of Lilac Principality, Master of the Black Tiger Army—
‘I cannot die here...!’
Before he could even open his mouth to beg for his life,
The Mountain Monarch struck.
His shoulder collapsed inward.
The force was so overwhelming that his entire right arm snapped free, flung away in a grotesque arc.
His spine shattered.
His pelvis crumbled.
His limbs tore apart, scattering in all directions.
Once, he had been a force of absurdity, an unstoppable sword—
But now, he had met an absurdity even greater than his own.
Marquis Raphaeno—the Master of Continuous Slash—
Met his inevitable death.
And the Mountain Monarch spoke her final words.
"I have come to ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) fulfill my promise."
