Chapter 173
Where on earth could Lloyd be?
This was the question Javier had pondered most throughout the day.
More precisely, it was the question he had desperately repeated to himself for the past twenty minutes.
He wanted to find Lloyd.
But he couldn’t.
It had started at Count Namaran’s mansion.
He had left the guest quarters and dashed through the plaza and down the main street.
He had searched every alley and opened every door.
He had shouted until his voice was hoarse.
But there was no reply from Lloyd.
All that returned was the desperate groaning of the fallen citizens.
The more that happened, the more urgent he felt.
Because of the situation where he had to pass by the people collapsing before his eyes.
Because of the sense of duty that he had to find Lloyd as quickly as possible.
His heart raced desperately along with his quickening steps.
Then, at some point.
He sensed a place where Mana was gathering.
The ominous Barrier that surrounded the city.
He felt the Mana absorbed into that Barrier concentrating in one place.
He dashed off.
Perhaps Lloyd was there.
He ran with hope.
He arrived and encountered.
“……”
Cannavaro.
The instigator of this crisis.
The moment Javier spotted him in the distance, he drew his sword.
Swish!
The sword in the Swordmaster’s hand gleamed coldly.
At that moment, horror settled in Cannavaro’s eyes.
‘How is that bastard unscathed?’
His heart sank.
The silver-haired knight who had appeared in the distance.
It had started from the moment his eyes met his.
His heart pounded ominously.
Instinct screamed.
That it was dangerous.
‘The Barrier is acting strange now, and the Mana absorption has stopped… but until just a moment ago, it was working properly. So that bastard should have had all his Mana stolen by the Barrier, right?’
But he was standing there unharmed.
Breathing slightly heavily as if he had run in haste.
With eyes shining brightly, he was drawing a sword that shone even brighter.
That guy is dangerous.
The moment he realized that.
About one second after Javier’s eyes met his.
Cannavaro’s hand moved quickly.
“Hmph!”
His fingers and palms crossed.
They intertwined and released rapidly.
He wove, assembled, twisted, and unleashed Mana according to a certain pattern and arrangement.
And he threw it open.
Whooosh!
A gate to another space opened before his outstretched hands.
Darkness within darkness.
Perhaps the edge of another dimension.
Or a fragment of Hell itself. Something shot out from beyond the gate.
Swish, swish, swish!
Thirteen chains shot out.
Each one was as thick as the base of a giant tree.
And that wasn’t all.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Every space the chains swept through crumbled.
Because of the force?
No.
They rotted and decayed in an instant.
It was as if time was being accelerated thousands of times.
Everything that the chains touched aged instantly. Corroded. Crumbled. Collapsed.
The paving stones on the ground, the dirt, the carriages, nothing was an exception.
But Javier didn’t even blink an eye.
“……”
Nothing special.
That was the thought that crossed Javier’s mind as he watched the chains rushing toward him.
The next moment, Javier’s sword moved.
……!
There was no sound.
There was no flash.
Just a simple horizontal slash.
That single motion cleaved everything rushing toward him.
The chains that were aimed at him.
The hostility that the chains carried.
They were cut down by a single strike.
A brilliant radiance bloomed in the space where the sword light swept through.
Tzzzzzz!
Aura that had already bloomed completely severed the chains. It swept through the space and grew even more powerful.
It was the moment he witnessed that.
Cannavaro turned his body.
He ran toward the Assembly Hall.
He fled without looking back.
He had no choice.
Because he would die if he hesitated.
Because he had clearly realized that fact.
‘Crazy! Is that a Dragon or something?’
He burst open the doors of the Assembly Hall in a hurry.
Such thoughts arose naturally in his mind.
A Swordmaster?
No.
No matter how skilled a Swordmaster was, they couldn’t do something like that.
That is, to unleash Aura and cut down his most powerful Black magic with a single strike after having his Mana absorbed for dozens of minutes within the Barrier’s domain. Such an absurd feat.
‘That guy, whoever he is, is not just a Swordmaster. He might not even be human.’
That was the only thought that came to mind.
In fact, Cannavaro’s misunderstanding was understandable.
He didn’t know that Javier had come to this city.
This was because Lloyd had come to Namaran unofficially from the start.
Without revealing himself and his party. Mixed in with the entourage of the Namaran’s young lady. Without causing any commotion. That was largely thanks to meeting Count Namaran and proceeding with the construction order.
Therefore, Cannavaro didn’t know that a renowned silver-haired Swordmaster was staying in this city, that he was working at his free distribution center, or that he had finally come here to cut off his head.
However, he definitely felt a sense of crisis.
‘At this rate… I’ll be done for.’
He was certain.
That was the best magic he could use.
But it had been cut down with a single strike.
No matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to defeat that silver-haired man.
‘In that case……’
Cannavaro’s gaze moved anxiously.
To the center of the main exhibition hall of the Assembly Hall.
Toward the Fallen Angel statue placed there.
The statue was densely covered with the magical symbols he had previously carved with blood.
“……”
Hell Knight.
Should he summon it now?
The Barrier was distorted.
The gathered Mana would be insufficient.
There might be problems even if he summoned it.
‘But if I don’t summon it right now……’
I’ll die.
The deliberation was short, and the decision was instantaneous.
Cannavaro’s hand rested on the statue.
It was a statue for which all the magical preparations had already been completed.
It was only waiting for the final activation of the summoning ritual.
Activation was easy.
Cannavaro’s hand rested on the statue.
The slight amount of Mana he infused.
That was enough.
Kieaaaaaaaah-!
The blood-red symbols engraved on the entire statue emitted an eerie light.
At the same time, dozens of bizarre illusions floated around the statue. They flashed. They writhed. They surged and rose, screaming and convulsing.
And the statue was crushed and burst.
Crack-!
“Keuh!”
The bursting statue.
The fragments that scattered in all directions.
Cannavaro collapsed, struck by the fragments.
Blood flowed profusely from his burst forehead.
But he couldn’t even think of wiping away the blood.
He immediately raised his head.
He checked the appearance of the being he had summoned first.
“Hell Knight……”
Fsssss……!
Black mist flowed over the marble display stand where the statue had been crushed and shattered.
Red glints flickered within it.
Looking around in all directions with a single breath.
Clearing away the mist with two breaths.
Finally, the Hell Knight revealed itself.
But its appearance was a little strange.
“What……”
Cannavaro’s expression twisted.
His gaze urgently scanned the Hell Knight’s entire body.
The Hell Knight, which had finally revealed itself from within the black mist.
But it seemed to have a defect(?).
It wasn’t riding the Hell Steed.
It was missing an arm.
It was also missing a leg.
In other words, it wasn’t riding a horse, and it was one-armed and one-legged.
“Geeeeh! What is this!”
Cannavaro clutched his head with both hands.
It was ruined.
As expected, the problem with the Barrier’s Mana absorption was the cause.
That’s why he couldn’t gather enough Mana.
There wasn’t enough Mana to summon a proper Hell Knight.
‘Even so!’
The effort and funds he had invested over the past long period.
The great undertaking he had vowed to achieve in the future.
Cannavaro despaired, recalling them falteringly. He knelt down. He looked up at the imperfect Hell Knight with a dazed gaze.
It was then.
“Could it be that you stirred up all this trouble to summon that?”
A voice echoed inside the Assembly Hall.
Javier had already entered the Assembly Hall.
He was frowning, walking cautiously.
His gaze was fixed on the Hell Knight.
“……”
As he looked at the Hell Knight, the Hell Knight also turned to look at him.
Blue eyes and red glints.
Their gazes met.
The next moment.
The silver-haired knight and the Hell Knight were already clashing swords.
This was because they had realized that they were enemies from the moment their eyes met.
Clang-!
A silver Longsword and a black Two-Handed Sword clashed.
Brilliant Aura and corrupted cursed energy collided.
A battle of strength without compromise between opposing adversaries unfolded.
The moment the two swords clashed.
The aftershock swept in all directions.
Javier’s eyes widened.
“……!”
Power beyond imagination.
His sword almost got pushed back.
What was surprising was not just the power.
‘From my hand to my shoulder. My bones are chilling.’
A fierce wrinkle formed on the silver-haired knight’s brow.
He recalled the moment of impact he had just experienced.
Was it the instant the swords collided?
A chilling energy had penetrated through the sword’s blade.
It had instantly pierced his skin and seeped into his muscle tissue and bone marrow.
It had invaded his arm along his blood vessels.
If he hadn’t rotated his Mana Circle as soon as he realized it, if he hadn’t driven out the chilling energy with the strong pressure of Mana, his heart would have been struck in an instant.
‘A formidable foe.’
It wasn’t just a powerful Undead or Skeleton Soldier.
It was even more so not an opponent to be underestimated just because it was missing an arm and a leg.
A single clash.
Through that, Javier had grasped the Hell Knight’s power almost exactly.
‘Equal to me.’
It was an existence beyond a typical Swordmaster.
If it were a Swordmaster like Queen Alicia, two or three of them would have to stick together to be able to face it.
But what if that Skeleton Knight had all its limbs intact?
Even he himself wouldn’t have been able to handle it in its current state.
‘But not now.’
He could do it.
He was capable.
It was from the moment he had that conviction.
A fierce determination arose in Javier’s blue eyes.
His sword became more refined and, at the same time, more violent.
Clatter, clatter, clatter-!
A storm of iron-blooded strikes poured down.
He showed no mercy.
If he slashed, he would swing to the opposite side.
Just as he was about to swing, he would strike upwards, and if they reacted to block it, he would stab in the blink of an eye.
– ……!
The Hell Knight’s skull shook violently.
Were all humans in the surface world like this?
The Hell Knight felt confused.
This was because the first opponent it had crossed swords with since descending to this surface was none other than Javier.
– What……
It had heard that humans were weak.
Even if it had descended in an imperfect form.
So even if it couldn’t exert even half of its original power.
It had thought that there would be no human on this surface who could stand in its way.
Unfortunately, that belief was being shattered into pieces in less than a minute.
Along with the ribs that were being cut off by the sword.
Crack!
The silver Longsword sliced through the Hell Knight’s chest.
The severed armor and ribs scattered miserably onto the floor.
Of course, the Hell Knight wasn’t just going to stand there and take it.
– ……!
It shouted in the language of Hell and scattered its sword.
A black, curse-infused shockwave swept through the entire space in front of it.
But Javier didn’t avoid it.
Instead, he met it head-on.
Clang-!
Javier’s Longsword thrust at a speed that couldn’t even be seen.
The next moment.
A detonation like an awl was fired.
It pierced through the shockwave that the Hell Knight had scattered in an instant. It stretched further. It surged. Toward the Hell Knight’s skull. It penetrated. It pierced through.
Thwack!
The front of the Hell Knight’s helmet was pierced by the detonation.
The skull was pierced through front and back.
Finally, it was completely shattered.
– ……!
The Hell Knight’s entire body convulsed, having lost its head in an instant.
But that was only for a moment.
Clatter!
The Hell Knight dropped its sword.
The bones of its entire body separated. No, they disintegrated. It crumbled like a sandcastle.
The Hell Knight, a knight of Hell who surpassed even a Swordmaster.
It was the moment it was reduced to a mere pile of bones.
“What……”
Cannavaro could only gape, unable to even blink.
Javier and the Hell Knight’s clash.
An incredibly complex battle of wits had taken place.
But how did it look on the outside?
It hadn’t even taken a few seconds.
So, from the perspective of Cannavaro, who was watching, the Hell Knight, which he had summoned with so much effort, had been defeated and reduced to a mere pile of bones without even lasting a few seconds.
‘Am I… having a nightmare?’
Cannavaro’s legs gave way without him even realizing it. He collapsed to the ground. He raised his head in dismay. He looked at the silver-haired knight approaching him with a hopeless gaze.
“If it were a minor crime, summary execution would be desirable. But you have committed too many sins. You will have to be properly interrogated in the royal palace, not in a place like this.”
“……”
The Longsword that was already aimed at him.
Cannavaro swallowed hard as he looked at it.
‘Where on earth……’
Did such a monster appear from?
He couldn’t believe the reality even as he looked at Javier in front of him.
That was understandable.
His unscathed appearance inside the Noctanium Barrier.
The sight of him instantly eliminating the Hell Knight, even though it had a defect.
All of it felt so unreal that it was hard to believe even as he saw it with his own eyes.
‘Could it be a Dragon pretending to be a human? No, that can’t be. There’s no way a Dragon would interfere in human affairs for no reason. Then…… then…… wait, could it be?’
Cannavaro paused.
Desperately trying to regain his composure.
Desperately trying to rack his brain.
It was thanks to recalling one memory after making an effort.
‘Javier Asrahan.’
He had heard that name before.
A young Swordmaster who had appeared like a saint.
Rumor had it that he was more skilled than the Queen.
They said that his appearance was extremely handsome.
That he had silver hair like the Milky Way.
The monster approaching with a sword aimed at him.
That was exactly what he looked like.
‘But why is that bastard here?’
There was no way he wouldn’t know if that Javier Asrahan had come to this city.
Could it be that he had come here unofficially?
Could it be that he had foreseen their grand plan in advance?
He couldn’t know.
However, he didn’t feel despair.
This was because, just as he was about to despair, the scenery behind Javier came into view.
“Ha, hahaha.”
Cannavaro raised the corners of his mouth without even realizing it.
The place where his gaze was fixed.
Behind Javier.
The black pile of bones was already regenerating itself and rising up.
Crrrrrr… Crrrrr…!
The Hell Knight’s black skull helmet was restored in an instant.
An even more ferocious glint began to flicker between them.