Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Old Tales, New Knights, and Moonlight Pomegranate Stone (3)
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Kyle and Ray rolled their eyes as if telling me to speak.
I looked at the gigantic one-eyed creature and said,
“The eye beneath the pomegranate stone.”
Ray and Kyle nodded.
“Let’s stab that one-eyed thing. It’s big enough for the three of us to coordinate attacks anyway, so we’ll keep at it until it works. If not, I’ll climb up and stab it myself.”
“Can’t we suck it in?”
Ray muttered.
He was a child of the World Tree too. He said he’d tried suction plenty of times before.
But I didn’t like the idea.
I kept my mouth shut, gauging the distance the sword strike would travel, when Kyle spoke up from the side.
“At that size, suction won’t be easy.”
It was a pretty valid point.
“It’s brimming with energy, so the resistance will be huge. Might be flat-out impossible. Let’s face it with swords first.”
The sword strike flew.
While it closed the distance, we unleashed several attacks.
Boom, kwang!
The strikes that collided with the target scattered away futilely like the wind. I’d expected as much, but I hadn’t thought effective hits would be this nonexistent.
As suspected, the outer hide was way too tough.
Even steady attacks on the eye’s mucous membrane showed no real damage.
Guess I’ll have to charge in and stab the eye.
“I’ll go for the eye, so draw its gaze.”
“Got it.”
“You sure?”
Kyle agreed readily, while Ray turned to me.
I gave a faint smile, eyes locked on the massive creature.
“It won’t be harder than a dragon.”
Though back then, I’d really been one step from death.
My skills and stamina had grown since facing that dragon.
I narrowed my eyes, watching the creature’s movements.
“It’s heading left.”
I sprang to the left.
Ray and Kyle veered right and began their attacks. They moved the instant I dashed left.
Thanks to them, I swiftly scaled the left limb.
Grabbing what I figured was the front left leg, I hopped upward.
The creature thrashed to shake me off, but I dangled there and reached the eye.
“Stabbing!”
I drew my sword and shouted.
No reply came, but I didn’t care.
I thrust my sword into the eye.
Then shoved the tip deep inside.
Oh?
It touched something...
Kwaaaang!
An enormous shockwave hit me, and I tumbled across the wasteland.
For an instant, I couldn’t grasp what had happened.
But the crashing pain and the hard ground against my back quickly pieced it together. The eye had exploded. I leaped to my feet and frantically searched for Ray and Kyle.
Fortunately, they seemed to have partially offset the shockwave with their swords.
I spat blood and shouted at the charging knights.
“Block it from the village!”
The creature had shifted into a shape like amber melting between the rocks, slowly twisting its body.
Its eye had been amber-colored—maybe something had burst from it.
But there was no way effective hits would land on the main body.
I was about to tell them to dig a ditch to cut off the path to the village when Kyle’s sword strike sliced across the wasteland.
“Oh, nice.”
“You okay?!”
I was admiring the neatly carved ditch when Ray shouted.
I grinned at my slightly pale friend.
“So far.”
Ray started to say something but trailed off.
I didn’t press him and charged toward the giant creature.
Ray followed. We reached Kyle in no time, and from there, it turned into a chaotic brawl.
As expected, no effective hits. Even all three of us striking the same spot simultaneously had no effect. In a pinch, we gouged the wasteland and trapped the thing in a massive pit.
We’d trapped it, but it kept trying to climb out, and effective hits still weren’t landing.
I gazed down at the orange liquid staining the dark rock.
“Gotta stab the eye one more time.”
Kyle and Ray turned to me.
“It wasn’t totally ineffective.”
“Hey, it might explode again!”
“This time we know it explodes, so we block right after the stab.”
We’d tried attacking the eye from afar, but after the explosion, the rock creature had kept its eyes shut.
Up close, though, I could definitely stab between those closed lids.
Kyle narrowed his eyes beside the protesting Ray.
He eyed me before replying.
“Then I’ll do it this time.”
“You can’t climb.”
“Just jump down.”
Fair point—it was trapped in the massive pit we’d made.
“Get ready for the shockwave.”
He didn’t wait for our response.
The moment his words ended, Kyle leaped onto the rock creature.
Ray and I watched him head for the closed eye.
He couldn’t climb, but he was good at hanging on—he safely took position by the eye.
“Stabbing!”
Kyle adjusted his sword’s angle and spoke.
No reply needed.
Sure enough, the black-haired man plunged his blade in without waiting.
I could see it sink in properly.
But... nothing happened.
“Stabbed it?”
“Hit it a few more times!”
Kyle stabbed several more times at Ray’s shout.
But still, nothing.
What was the problem?
We were all puzzled for a moment.
Then we felt the sudden surge of pressure—all three of us flinched back at once.
It was exploding.
“Hey, dodge!”
Kyle vaulted out of the pit at my shout.
The instant he did, it blew.
Kwaaaaaang!
Our eardrums tore.
We slashed at the incoming shockwave with our bodies. But we didn’t block it all. Shock that our sword strikes couldn’t fully cancel slammed into us. Our bodies were shoved back along with our swords.
And the portion we hadn’t managed to cancel.
The part we couldn’t neutralize barreled across the wasteland toward the village.
This was bad.
At this speed and force, it would reach the village.
My heart dropped as I whipped around. Pale-faced, I chased the surging wave toward the village.
Then I spotted the figure standing between the village and the wave.
“Kisis?”
Why was he here...
The thought had barely formed when Kisis drew his sword.
Kwaang!
The wave vanished.
The shockwave barreling toward the village scattered. It was a supremely concise motion. Anyone with slow eyes would think he’d merely drawn his sword.
But a wave that powerful wouldn’t dissipate from that alone.
The Swordmaster had unleashed an attack while drawing.
Was that even possible?
Speechless, I watched the prince close the distance.
The prince grinned at our stunned faces.
“Good work mining the gem.”
He brushed past us and stopped at the pit’s edge.
“Nice job digging this in the meantime.”
Another sword strike followed.
A utterly silent attack. Not flashy like ours—clean. The opposite of his infamous reputation for debauched affairs and boiling whims.
But it was beautiful.
Beautiful enough to inspire no defeat.
I took in the sight of Kisis’s sword cleaving the air.
Sreung.
The rock creature split in half.
The impossibly tough epidermis that had resisted all our efforts shredded like paper.
“Chicks.”
The strike’s owner, Kisis, swept his gaze over us and smirked.
“You’ve got a long way to go.”
We stood in silence for a long while.
Gazing down at the lifeless creature.
Until the beautiful woman who’d come for Kisis drew a spatial transfer magic circle on the ground.
***
“Keep the sixth day free.”
“You’ve already seen my skills are nothing special.”
We returned to the empire using the power of the mage who assisted the prince.
The moment we arrived, I offered him the pomegranate stone. Kisis peered into my eyes and said that.
Kisis curled his lip, while Kyle and Ray quietly watched us.
Kisis took the pomegranate stone and tilted his head.
“Yeah. You’re sorely lacking. Though cutting my hair wasn’t pure luck.”
“Yes. As you see, I’m nothing special. So please withdraw your undue interest.”
“Undue interest?”
“Don’t I lack anything outstanding compared to the two colleague knights behind me?”
“Why would you?”
The prince gave a strange reply.
I couldn’t comprehend it and just blinked several times.
Why would I? It was true. Ray, Kyle, and I had remarkably similar skills. I wasn’t dim enough not to realize. We each had strengths and weaknesses, but overall, we were evenly matched.
Especially since all three of us were children of the World Tree.
He of all people should see that clearest, so why...
Kisis’s sword suddenly hovered at my throat.
Kyle and Ray, who’d been quietly listening, reacted at once.
“Sir Kisis!”
“You’ve got that look like you’ve got nothing to lose.”
Ray raised his voice, while Kyle gripped his hilt and furrowed his brow.
I held up my palm to tell them to stay put. The emperor’s bastard smiled as he stared straight at me.
“Like a lone survivor of the conquest.”
His purple eyes narrowed.
“No particular reason to live, right? You.”
Ah...
It was undeniable, so I blinked blankly.
Then slowly replied.
“Yes.”
“You didn’t particularly want to become a knight.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You just drifted into it.”
The sharp sword tip lifted my chin.
I didn’t resist.
Silence filled the tent. Kisis studied my expressionless face before deepening his smile.
A smile that reflexively made the nape of my neck prickle.
“For a masterless hound, the first to collar it is the owner.”
Nobles always phrased things in these bizarre metaphors.
“You wander because you’ve nothing to lose—so make something to lose.”
It was a commanding tone.
“Find it within the capital.”
Would that even work?
And even if it did, I doubted he’d be part of it.
I wasn’t foolish enough to voice my thoughts.
Instead of answering, I lowered my eyes and held my silence. Kisis didn’t chide me for it. He simply removed the sword from under my chin and turned away. After brushing the wasteland dust from his clothes, he left the tent without another word.
His presence faded into the distance.
We didn’t move until it was gone entirely.
Swallowing the belated sense of defeat.
***
“Money?”
“If you need it, just say so.”
One month after harvesting the pomegranate stone.
I was finally voicing the words I’d hesitated over to Kyle.
“I’ve got no use for it. Aren’t you sending your entire salary to those poor folks?”