SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant-Chapter 424: The Fall of the Thal’zar [XXXVIII]

Chapter 424: Chapter 424: The Fall of the Thal’zar [XXXVIII]

The first wave rushed him without coordination, relying purely on numbers. Trafalgar exhaled once and swung Maledicta in a wide horizontal arc, releasing [Arc Slash], a dark-blue wave of mana that cut forward and tore through the front line before they could even reach striking distance. Bodies split mid-charge, collapsing into fragments as the energy continued several meters beyond them.

He stepped into the opening before it closed.

A heavier void creature lunged from his right, elongated claws twisting toward his neck. Trafalgar shifted his footing and answered with [Severing Fang], a diagonal pressure slash that parted both air and flesh with brutal force, cleaving through the creature’s torso and carving a clean line through the stone beneath them.

More poured in.

Pipin descended sharply, Aubrelle guiding him from above. Blue fire exploded outward in a controlled sweep, engulfing a cluster forming behind Trafalgar and forcing the swarm to recoil. The flames did not simply burn; they erased, leaving scorched gaps that flickered unstable in the courtyard’s broken light.

Trafalgar didn’t waste the moment.

When a second cluster tried to flank him from the left, he curved forward in a blurred motion, activating [Severance Step], his body warping through space before reappearing behind the group in one fluid strike. Maledicta carved through three torsos in a single pass, the cut so clean that their forms separated before they realized he was no longer in front of them.

He continued advancing.

The potion Valttair had given him still flooded his core with excess mana, allowing him to chain techniques without restraint. His [Primordial Body] sustained him automatically, pulling in ambient mana even as he spent it, while [Riftborn Feast ] accumulated quietly in the background, strengthening him incrementally with each Rift creature that dissolved at his feet.

A thicker wave formed ahead, bodies stacking over one another to block his forward momentum. Trafalgar planted his foot and drove his blade downward, releasing [Earthsplitter] in a two-phase cleave. The first impact fractured the stone beneath him; the second sent a mana shockwave forward, stunning the cluster and breaking their footing just long enough for Pipin’s blue fire to descend and finish what the shockwave had started.

The courtyard trembled again.

Another rift tore open near the eastern wall, then another beside the broken fountain, then two more near the collapsed stairwell. The air split with violent pulses as fresh void creatures stepped through without hesitation. The gaps between them no longer existed. The swarm thickened.

The number increased faster than they could reduce it.

To the left, a group of beastkin attempted to regroup around a fallen pillar, forming a half-circle defense. It lasted seconds. A surge of void creatures overwhelmed them, claws dragging two down while another was pierced clean through the abdomen. One of them tried to crawl back toward cover, only to be seized and pulled into the mass.

On the opposite side, human soldiers were forced backward step by step. A line that had held moments ago collapsed entirely when a larger void brute smashed through their shields. One man screamed as he was lifted and torn apart mid-air.

There was no formation anymore.

Only survival.

Trafalgar stepped forward again, reading the density ahead. A cluster thick enough to swallow movement entirely formed directly in front of him. He drew a deep breath and began the sequence.

[Morgain’s Requiem]

His blade moved in a flowing, controlled pattern, each strike carving curved arcs of dark mana into the air. The slashes layered over one another in rapid succession, forming crescent shadows that expanded outward in overlapping waves. Void creatures were caught within the pattern and shredded from multiple angles at once, their bodies torn apart as the curved mana constructs passed through them.

The space opened.

Briefly.

But it was already closing.

He shifted his weight forward and surged ahead, coating his blade in concentrated mana before driving straight into the densest section of the swarm.

[Morgain’s Linebreaker]

The charge was direct and brutal. A linear wave of cutting energy erupted outward as he advanced, pushing back everything in front of him. Void bodies were lifted, fractured, thrown aside as the impact tore through them. Several were knocked down entirely, their movement slowed as the pressure wave rippled through the courtyard floor.

The pressure shifted without warning.

A sharper presence moved through the swarm, and before Trafalgar finished cutting down the humanoid in front of him, a compressed arc of mana sliced across his side. The strike was clean, far more precise than the erratic lunges of the lower ranks.

The impact drove him half a step back.

Pain flared along his ribs as the edge cut through armor and flesh beneath. Blood spread across the dark plating, but he did not look down.

Another humanoid with a visible mouth stepped forward, jaw opening slowly as if savoring the moment. It moved with intent.

Trafalgar adjusted his footing and surged forward instead of retreating. Void Hounds leapt in from both sides, attempting to capitalize on the brief stagger, but he rotated through them and began cutting in a controlled sequence.

He flowed into [Morgain’s Requiem], Maledicta tracing curved arcs that layered dark mana shadows across the immediate radius. Each strike followed the previous one without hesitation, crescents overlapping and expanding outward in disciplined patterns. Void creatures were caught inside the sequence and torn apart from multiple angles, their forms collapsing as the curved mana cut through torsos, limbs, and necks in rapid succession.

The space around him cleared violently.

The higher-ranked humanoid advanced again, releasing another compressed diagonal strike toward his upper body.

This time Trafalgar answered without hesitation.

He countered with his own [Crosswind Edge], matching the structure and timing perfectly. The two pressure arcs collided mid-air and shattered outward in a violent burst of wind that knocked lesser void creatures off their feet.

He stepped through the turbulence and drove his blade forward, piercing through the humanoid’s chest before dragging the cut upward in a brutal finish. The body split and dissolved at his feet.

The body split and dissolved at his feet.

For half a breath, there was space.

Blue fire still burned across the fractured courtyard, casting unstable light over the scorched stone. Pipin circled overhead and released another controlled burst of flame, incinerating a cluster attempting to regroup near the edge of the clearing. The fire carved another temporary gap.

But the gaps no longer mattered.

Bodies were beginning to accumulate.

Void Hounds lay scattered in pieces. Humanoids collapsed in twisted forms before dissolving into black residue. Mixed among them were fallen beastkin, broken shields, torn cloaks, abandoned weapons.

And still—

The void creatures did not thin.

They kept coming.

At the edges of the courtyard, the rifts continued to pulse. Each one split the air open in violent surges of distortion, expelling more creatures into an already saturated battlefield. The tears did not shrink. They did not flicker. If anything, they seemed wider now, more stable.

Another wave stepped through.

Then another.

The swarm pressed closer.

The circle of blue flame around Trafalgar and Aubrelle grew narrower as the creatures tested the perimeter, stepping through dying embers without hesitation. The space they controlled was shrinking with each passing second.

Pressure became visible.

It manifested in how tightly the void bodies packed together. In how little ground remained unclaimed by movement. In how every cleared section refilled almost instantly.

Trafalgar cut down another pair in one clean motion and stepped back half a pace, measuring distance again. His breathing remained steady, but his eyes shifted briefly toward the far rifts.

’We won’t hold at this rate... they don’t stop coming.’

He adjusted his stance again as the next wave surged forward.

The number was not just high.

It was unsustainable.