Chapter 233
Legend’s Second Coming (1)
Hestia didn’t even know that the prince had swung his sword. She just involuntarily closed her eyes because of the sudden flash, and immediately afterward, she heard a banging blast.
Hestia was deafened.
‘Reeeee,’ she heard an uncomfortable ringing in her ears. She felt dizzy, as if her sense of balance had disappeared. It felt like all the blood had been drained from her body as if she would fall over right away. Her initial determination to watch the Crown Prince’s battle and to judge the possibilities and potentialities of the Leonberg kingdom in a cool manner had long since disappeared.
Hestia didn’t dare to even open her eyes. Even with her eyes closed, the presence of the prince could clearly be felt. The power contained in the unrealistic phenomenon caused by the Crown Prince prickled her skin. She was utterly terrified, and there was nothing she could do other than stand there, her hard beating ever faster.
This wasn’t the knightly fight she had first imagined. The fantasy of swords striking and beautiful flashes of light arcing through the air proved to be nothing but a fiction drummed up by her imagination. This fight was far more bloody than that and several times more terrible. To put it in words, Hestia would say it was close to the rampaging of fierce monsters.
It was a fight beyond the range of cognition, so much so that ordinary humans could not even look at it with their eyes open. The rushing wind struck her delicate body, and the shapeless spirit shook her fragile soul at random. Hestia couldn’t even tell whether she was standing on the ground or in the air. Her consciousness became distant. Her body, which had endured up to this point, could do so no more and started to sag. Then, a hand grabbed onto her shoulder. At the same time, the monstrous presence that had shaken her body and soul faded away.
“Uncle?”
Hestia carefully opened her eyes.
“Ah…”
She had first thought that it was her uncle, but the person she encountered remained unknown to her. The beautiful woman looked like a person not of this world, with her roughly torn dress and longsword in one hand. She was looking at Hestia. Was there such a beautiful woman among the princesses? Why didn’t I see this woman yesterday, Hestia thought? Maybe this was the elf she had heard of.
Thoughts continued to flow, but Hestia’s mind wasn’t working that well.
“Who- Who..?”
After struggling to get a grip, the words Hestia muttered were messy and sounded ridiculous to her. Her pronunciation was murky, and her voice frustrated as if she was mumbling underwater. Fortunately, the unknown woman didn’t ridicule her even after hearing her stupid voice. She just spoke on with an anxious face.
“…! …?”
Hestia could not hear the woman over the ringing in her ears. She frowned. It was as if she was watching a pantomime; there was no sense of reality. The woman’s unrealistic appearance aggravated that feeling.
“…!” The woman frowned.
Hestia was fascinated by the beauty of even that frowning appearance.
“…!” the woman shouted something as she gripped Hestia’s shoulder harder.
‘Hwaak!’
Heat rose from the woman’s hand and flowed into Hestia’s shoulder, and the slight heat raged like a wildfire in an instant. Then, at some point, it had become unbearably hot. It seemed like Hestia’s body would burn out if she stayed there. Hestia became agitated and screamed.
“Ouch!”
Heat escaped through her open mouth. That pain that seemed as if it would immolate her whole body disappeared at once. At that moment, a sound came into a world that had been filled only by a ringing of the ears. At the same time, Hestia’s sense of reality returned.
‘Bang, bang!’
Loud sounds constantly began hitting her eardrums.
“Are you awake?!”
A particularly clear voice came through the deafening noise.
“The situation is urgent, so I had to be a bit hard-handed with you! Please understand!”
Hestia opened her eyes and looked at the woman.
She felt as if she was wandering through a nightmare as her distant consciousness returned to its original state, but the sense of reality she had lost in the midst of the confusion has now become fine. The woman’s appearance was still surreal. Hestia stared at her blankly and then widened her eyes – she was Leonberg’s Quad Knight who had defeated a Rosethorn Quad Knight.
She was the Crown Prince’s knight who Hestia had unwittingly cheered for when she had seen her proud appearance as she faced rough men in the ring. Although unlike that time, she now wore a dress and light makeup, yet the great strength and dignity that Hestia had seen in her remained unchanged. Didn’t they call her Arwen Kirgayen?
Hestia only then remembered her name and decided she would express her thanks right away.
“The fights between knights who have risen to this stage can sometimes hurt your brain just by looking at them, so please keep that in mind.”
However, Arwen Kirgayen spoke before Hestia could even begin to express her gratitude.
“Well then.” The Master glanced behind her and then turned without giving Hestia the chance to speak.
“Ah…” Hestia sighed as she looked at Arwen’s back and suddenly turned her head. Duke Seymour was there. His face was as hard as it could be; it was a pale, tired face. Hestia’s expression, which had softened only moments ago, now hardened coldly.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded. “Here are so many of Teuton’s knights, shouldn’t we be helping our foreign allies?”
“Sorry.”
Hestia frowned at the duke’s soulless answer. The most powerful knight in the west and of Teuton was showing how weak he truly was. It was such a contrast with Arwen Kirgayen and her strong figure, and Hestia could not help but cluck her tongue.
“I will serve you.”
Only then did Duke Seymour guard her front. A bright glare flashed over the shoulder of the duke. Just seeing the light flashing over his shoulder for a moment made Hestia’s heart beat faster. She feared that her mind would become confused again, so she turned away, not looking at the light for a long time. She also tried to ignore the loud sounds that ceaselessly resounded through the hall.
Instead of seeing the battle between the prince and the black knight, she sought out Arwen Kirgayen with her eyes — with envy or admiration in her heart, and without knowing where else to look. Leonberg’s champion didn’t even know that Hestia was looking at her, as she was utterly focused on the battle of her master.
‘Thuk!’
A knight near Hestia suddenly stamped onto the ground — that was the beginning.
‘Thuk!’
Hestia turned as she heard more stomps. Knights who had introduced themselves as Templars were thumping their feet against the floor.
‘Thuk!’
This time, a heavy metal sound came from farther away. It was the palace knights who banged their large iron shields on the floor.
‘Thuk! Thuk! Thuk!’
Knights of the Leonberg Kingdom had begun stamping their feet and bashing their shields down on all sides. It was an action that held no meaning for Hestia. All that she could tell was that, after they had started stomping, the air around them started to seep out energy.
The air in the banquet hall, which had already become torn in the catastrophic battle, now screamed wildly.
In addition, at the center of it all was the prince of the Leonberg Kingdom.
* * *
Shortly after the battle started, I found out on my own: the difference between four rings and five rings is not simply the addition of one ring.
“Urgh.”
I realized this when I started vomiting blood. I glanced at my blood-soaked chest. Obviously, the wave from the rings would have been resolved when sword touched sword, but instead, when I snapped awake, the energy from the rings was invading my whole body.
And in the next moment-
“The light on your sword seems too weak to beat me back.” I stepped back for a while, still thinking, and the black night spoke to me. “It’s not too late now. If you hand them over to me, you will have the same tomorrow as yesterday.”
The knight spoke as if he had already defeated me. Instead of answering, I wiped the blood from my mouth. I fixed my sword before me and stabilized my breath. “Woo.”
My mana, which had then been disturbed by the wave of the rings, quickly returned to its original state. My Aura Blade, which had been shaking unstably, also began to shine brightly again. The black knight readied his greatsword and looked at me.
I took a few short breaths, at the same time charging across the floor. Then, I struck down like crazy. Morte blocked my assault using his greatsword.
‘Klang! Klang!’ Whenever the sounds came of our swords colliding, the light forming along the edge of Twilight was cut into chunks. Riding all along the edge of my sword, the energy waves of my foe’s rings broke through without hesitation.
However, instead of retreating, I matched my blade against his blunt sword and turned my mana to dissolve his ring wave. His attack continued, then something snapped, and I again retched blood.
“I expected more from your heart. Now I’m just disappointed by your weakness.”
The black knight sighed as he saw me like that. Regardless of his words, I settled my dizziness and readied my sword in an upward position.
“Because you don’t know when to retire, it shows you to be a useless man. Because you don’t know how to think, it shows your foolishness. You are just a little fiercer than the others.”
Despite the blatant ridicule, I ran at Morte without worrying about it — and retched blood many times.
“I can’t find a reason to continue this meaningless duel.” The black knight suddenly swung his greatsword violently. I gripped Twilight with both hands and stopped the attack. The power contained in it was so dangerous that I could not stop myself from being pushed back.
‘Qrrsck! Duk!’
Only by dragging my sword along the floor was I able to brake myself. I straightened my back and spat blood from my mouth.
“Stay back — before that modest heart of yours is broken to the point where it will never have mana again.” The black knight glared at me, his greatsword hanging relaxed in his grip.
“This is my last mercy to you-” the black knight suddenly stopped talking. “Why are you laughing?” he asked.
I quietly touched my lips at his words. It was as the black knight said: I was laughing. My grin almost stretched to my ears; it felt as if my mouth would tear open.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s fun,” I said as I fixed my sword again. “I can barely stand the joy of knowing that there are conditions in the world that I haven’t been through yet.”
The mana released from my heart reached the tip of my sword after surging through my body.
“I am so joyful because it is fascinating to know that an enemy who has achieved such a level is right before my eyes.”
Mana clung to my blade- ‘Hwaak!’ and converted into an Aura Blade.
‘Woow!’ My Aura Blade became a blazing flame.
“Also, I can’t bear it because I am happy to think that such an enemy will soon fall in front of me.”
“Have you forgotten your own situation?” The black knight laughed mockingly at me. His helmet rattled as he did so. Let him try it then! Twilight was at the ready as I walked toward him. Morte lowered his posture and raised his energy. I just kept moving. When I was a certain distance from him, I then stopped.
“From here?” I asked myself and stretched out my hand. Foreign energy penetrated my fingertips.
“Obviously, the wave that invaded with the sword attack was resolved. But I didn’t understand how the flow of mana kept cutting out.”
Unless… it was a secret wave that cannot be felt unless you were aware of it.
“After knowing of it, it’s nothing.”
I clenched my fist.
‘Quap!’ I broke the energy that had invaded my hand.
“It’s quite understandable. Even after weaving five rings, all I had to do to counter them was to fall back ten steps, outside of the area of effect.”
“You’re talking as if you have discovered a great fact,” said the black knight, as if it was no big deal. He then asked if anything changed just because I had gained a new fact.
He was right — eventually, the fight had to be fought closer than ten steps within his territory. Because of this, I decided to enter that area.
‘Thuk!’ Someone timed the stomping of their boot with my footsteps.
‘Thuk!’ The sound of iron bashing against the floor followed.
‘Thuk! Thuk!’ At first, it was only one sound, but it quickly increased to dozens or hundreds.
It was the same sound I had heard when I was fighting the High Elf. My knights were telling me to move forward again. The sound of their stomping was the sound of them pushing back, and the sound of their metal shields became a sound that led me on.
I stepped forward, taking two steps. A mighty energy rose around the black knight like a wall, and extreme pressure began to weigh me down. An intense wave penetrated into my body of a magnitude beyond comparison to those before.
“The era of mana hearts is over,” the black knight declared – as if he found me pathetic.
Seeing him, I stepped forward again, three steps this time. Morte raised his energy even more fiercely, as if not allowing me further access. Right then- ‘Thuk’ the sound of an unusually heavy footstep hit my ears. I knew whose it was without having to look. It was a fierce energy similar to that of the Templars, and it belonged to York Willowden, their commander. It was obvious that he had come out.
That was the beginning – heavy, threatening, and sharp waves erupted from all over. The palace knight commander, the old knight who had faced the Warlord, and an unknown champion — each one of the kingdom’s champions was watching the situation and helping me by stomping their feet and bashing their fists against their iron armor.
Arwen stood together with them.
‘Woow!’ The resonating mana unleashed by the kingdom’s champions became overlaid on my heart. I felt a feeling of fullness that I had never felt before come over me. So ecstatic did it make me feel that I stopped and laughed.
My enemy had five rings that were pressing against my entire body, and the number of champions who supported me was five. The coincidence was too convenient for me to ignore.
‘Chin!’ I stepped forward without hesitation — and I finally got into the knight’s space.
The black knight looked down at me, and I looked up at him. We looked at each other for a long time before swinging our swords simultaneously.
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