Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Flame #6
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A flurry of thoughts rushed through his mind.
How could a ship fly through the sky?
Why had Silvan appeared so suddenly?
Of all the ways to attack, why had Silvan chosen to ram the giant with the ship's prow?
The answers came just as quickly.
That flying galleon—an airship—was a treasure of the Dark Elves. It was the same vessel Silvan, the self-proclaimed Captain of the Skies, always sailed in *Knight Saga*.
But seeing it in a game and seeing it with his own eyes were two completely different experiences. Unlike an airplane, a ship was meant to sail on the sea. Even for Ingong, who was used to flying machines like airplanes, the violation of common sense was jarring.
He couldn't be certain why Silvan had appeared.
While not as inseparable as Chris and Caitlin, Silvan and Felicia were also incredibly close. Moreover, the family-oriented Dark Elves were known among the demon races for their strong familial bonds. He didn't know how, but he could only assume Silvan had come looking for Felicia.
Finally, the ramming charge.
He couldn't find an answer for that one. The scene that unfolded immediately after wiped his mind blank.
The giant's torso exploded. To be precise, it shattered into pieces, centered on the point of impact.
But there was no time to cheer. Silvan's airship hadn't pierced through the giant's torso. The giant's torso exploded faster than the ram could make contact with its chest.
An evasion by division.
The airship passed completely through the giant. The airship, having accelerated to ram the giant, now drifted aimlessly in the air, while the scattered fragments of the giant reassembled as if reversing time. Felicia's scream tore through the air.
“Silvan!”
The giant's arm struck the rear of the airship. The giant had not yet fully reformed, so the attack was clumsy, but it was still a blow from a giant. The staggering airship lost its balance completely and plummeted toward the ground.
It was a crash landing straight out of a movie. With a violent crash, the airship skidded across the ground. It tore through the earth, felling dozens of trees as it continued its momentum.
Amid the roar and the earth-shaking vibrations, Felicia shouted something again, and Ingong quickly looked up at the sky. The white giant, now fully formed again, was assuming its fourth bombardment stance.
Ingong had a feeling.
This was the final blow.
*Boom!*
A pillar of blue light struck the barrier. The barrier, already covered in cracks, couldn't hold any longer. With the sound of shattering glass, the barrier broke, and the blue light scattered, blanketing the sky and ground.
The barrier was broken. The chill of the night air suddenly tightened its grip on his entire body. The white giant looked down at the ground.
*Boom!*
Another roar erupted as the white giant exploded. It wasn't from an attack. Rather, it seemed the white giant had reached its limit maintaining its current form.
The exploded white giant split into about twenty pieces and settled on the ground. These masses, like chunks of white clay, soon took their own forms and began to emit a white light from their entire bodies, just as the giant had.
They varied in size. Not only the amount of light they emitted, but also its intensity, differed among them.
“Guardian spirits.”
Ingong said without realizing. Each and every one of them was a guardian spirit. As Amita had said, some were mad and some were fallen, but they were all clearly nature spirits.
In their midst, one being stood out.
While all the others radiated white light, this one alone emitted a blue glow. Unlike the other guardian spirits, which were mostly animal-shaped, this humanoid figure was engulfed in the undulating power of death.
The monster of purple malevolence, united with a maddened guardian spirit.
The creature raised its hand. And the forest changed. The illusion that had enveloped the entire Spider Forest under the green moon dissipated.
The forest returned to its original size. The vile magic that had paralyzed their sense of direction also vanished.
The reason for retracting its power was simple. Its target was now in sight, so it had to focus its strength. Instead of defensive measures to repel intruders and prevent escape, it had to pour all its power into attacking.
Purple energies rose up from behind the white guardian spirits. Appearing as specks, they began to approach, one by one.
Yesterday and today, there had been none among the maddened beasts and monsters that emitted a purple aura.
It had been holding them back.
For this very moment.
Someone swallowed dryly. As if the barrier's destruction had affected her, Amita still had a dazed expression. Naturally, everyone's gaze turned to Ingong, and Ingong made a decision. Without hesitation, he drew his dwarven dagger.
“Under the King's Banner!”
The moment he shouted and struck the ground, a phantom of pure white light appeared behind him. As a massive, white king's banner unfurled against the night sky, a blessing of white light descended upon everyone around Ingong.
Under the King's Banner was not just a buff that enhanced combat power. It also affected the minds of those under its influence. It fostered loyalty and goodwill toward Ingong, and helped them maintain composure and calmness, the most crucial elements in battle.
Amita finally came to her senses. Felicia, who had momentarily lost her reason out of concern for Silvan, also gritted her teeth and stared ahead.
Caitlin quietly clenched her fists. And in that moment, there was a change among the enemies.
The white guardian spirits began to merge once more. This time, they didn't grow larger. It was as if they were being compressed, each one becoming denser.
The monsters of purple malevolence filled the empty spaces left by the white guardian spirits. In just a few seconds, the twenty white guardian spirits had become only two. One still radiated the blue power of death, while the other had turned gray, as if a result of the compression.
“Fel-i-ci-a!”
A booming voice echoed from the distance. There was no need to ask whose voice it was. It was clearly Silvan's.
“Silvan!”
Felicia's shout was the signal. The gray guardian spirit charged toward the direction of Silvan's voice, while the monsters engulfed in purple malevolence rushed toward Ingong's party.
Felicia stepped back and gave an order. Daphne, holding Amita, ran toward the small shrine in the center of the forest before them—where the guardian spirit of the Spider Forest and the Final Flame were hidden—followed by Seira, Karak, and Delia.
Instead of following them, Caitlin unleashed a dark blue aura. Ingong also stood his ground, radiating a pure white aura. The blue-glowing guardian spirit watched the two of them silently.
A roar exploded. The clash between the gray guardian spirit and Silvan seemed to have begun. The Dark Elf crew members who had emerged from the airship and were running this way collided with the monsters of purple malevolence, and the group positioned in front of the shrine also began to fight.
The blue-glowing guardian spirit took a step forward.
Despite the clamor of battles raging on all sides, a silence seemed to hang around the creature.
Instead of taking a step forward to meet it, Ingong and Caitlin clasped hands. Ingong spoke in a low voice, and Caitlin, instead of wavering, nodded. It was because she trusted Ingong with all her heart.
The blue-glowing guardian spirit took another step. Ingong and Caitlin released their hands, and Ingong opened his mini-map. Caitlin flared her aura once more.
The blue-glowing guardian spirit kicked off the ground. Caitlin also kicked off the ground, charging toward the spirit. It was a formidable enemy, perhaps on par with Gerard, but there was no hesitation in her charge.
And Ingong turned around. Instead of facing the guardian spirit with Caitlin, he dashed toward the nearest monster of purple malevolence.
Felicia, who was trying to keep the entire battlefield in view, was startled by Ingong's unexpected action, but instead of shouting anything, she glanced toward Caitlin. She, too, trusted Ingong, just like Caitlin. He surely had a plan.
A chaotic battle unfolded everywhere. Ingong stuck to his one-hit-kill strategy. He formulated his attack pattern while rushing toward a monster and executed it perfectly, aiming for vital spots like the head or neck. Immediately after felling a monster, he used all his senses, including his sight, to find the next target.
By the time Ingong had defeated three monsters, Caitlin had endured five of the guardian spirit's attacks. Caitlin had become much stronger after mastering the Sura God Fist and forming her Sacred Light Core, but the guardian spirit was still an overwhelming opponent. Far from counterattacking, she was struggling just to dodge or block its attacks.
The blue-glowing guardian spirit was puzzled by Ingong's actions, but for now, it focused on Caitlin. If the enemy was going to act foolishly, it would simply take advantage.
A fierce blow, steeped in the power of death, whipped toward the side of Caitlin's head. Caitlin hurriedly raised her arm to block the attack, but the guardian spirit didn't care. The attack was made with the assumption it would be blocked. It unleashed its power with the intent to strike not her head, but the arm that blocked it.
Overpowered, Caitlin's stance crumbled. The spirit immediately swung its left leg at Caitlin's waist, and Caitlin managed to block this time as well. But this time, her stance broke the instant she blocked.
The Beast God Fist was a martial art focused solely on offense, utilizing explosive momentum. It wasn't well-suited for defense in the first place. The Sura God Fist, based on the Beast God Fist, was not much different.
The guardian spirit unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks. The opening in Caitlin's defense, created as her stance broke, widened with each consecutive attack, and by the seventh blow, she failed to block it. She barely managed to twist her body, letting the attack graze past her.
And finally, a perfect opening appeared. The guardian spirit, having learned how to fight by merging with the one who led the monsters of purple malevolence, felt a thrill at the opening it had created. Without hesitation, it unleashed a carefully aimed strike into that opening.
The guardian spirit's fist slammed into Caitlin's abdomen. Instead of screaming in pain, Caitlin tried to lift her body to lessen the impact, but it was useless. The spirit's left arm, whipping out again, seized Caitlin's shoulder.
With Caitlin unable to escape, it thrust a palm strike toward her chest.
A deafening roar erupted. The aura Caitlin had hastily concentrated for defense clashed with the blue light and exploded, sending her flying backward.
The guardian spirit tensed its legs to pursue Caitlin. And then, Ingong reappeared in the spirit's vision. Covered in the blood of the purple monsters, Ingong caught Caitlin in mid-air and swung his left arm as if throwing something. The White Eagle equipped on his left arm unfolded its metal plates and shot forward like a crossbow bolt.
The guardian spirit crossed its arms to defend. But it was a pointless gesture. Instead of flying toward the spirit, the White Eagle veered sideways and struck a nearby monster of purple malevolence. The monster, already half-dead, died instantly as its head exploded.
Why.
Though mad and fallen, it had once been a high-ranking guardian spirit.
The blue-glowing guardian spirit had watched all the fights from yesterday and today. Ingong was the strongest in the group, and he was a rational fighter.
Why was he acting like this now?
Why had he left Caitlin to fight alone, knowing she was no match for it?
Why was he obsessed with the monsters of purple malevolence instead of it? Why was this last attack also directed at a purple monster and not at it?
Could it be that he was too afraid to fight it?
Was he trying to push the fight onto the strong Dark Elf who was battling its other half?
It couldn't understand.
And it was only natural that it couldn't.
Caitlin gasped for breath in Ingong's arms. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
Holding Caitlin tightly with one arm, Ingong cast a healing spell. And with that, the conditions were finally met.
The number of monsters he had defeated while Caitlin faced the guardian spirit: eight.
The monster he had just killed with the White Eagle: one.
The minuscule amount of experience gained from casting a healing spell on Caitlin.
And the nearly two hundred beasts and monsters defeated over the past two days.
[You have leveled up.]
A pure white light enveloped Ingong's entire body. His stamina, depleted from the arduous battle, was instantly replenished.
But that wasn't the reason. He hadn't pushed Caitlin into a deadly fight and obsessed over leveling up just to restore his stamina.
Level 25.
One of the levels with special significance in *Knight Saga*.
A level where class changes and promotions became possible, and for some characters, hidden features were unlocked.
Ingong wasn't aiming for a class change or promotion.
Nor was he hoping for some hidden feature whose existence he couldn't even confirm.
The two protagonists of *Knight Saga*, Zephyr and Locke, had different classes. But they shared a few things in common.
One of those commonalities.
A skill that both of them, as if by agreement, learned at Level 25.
[Ultimate Skill Control Lv. 1 acquired.]
Zephyr's beloved sword, Dragon Slayer, had Dragon Strike built into it.
The Hero's Sword, the very symbol of the Hero Locke, had the finishing move, Hero's Sword, built into it.
And the two pieces of equipment Ingong possessed.
‘Master!’
Green Wind cried out in a mix of bewilderment and joy. A series of luminous messages appeared before Ingong's eyes.
[The Great Enkidu's Earthquaker]
[Awakening Skill - Annihilation Formation acquired.]
[Watcher Ainkel's White Eagle]
[Awakening Skill - Absolute Domain acquired.]
“Shutora.”
Caitlin said softly. Ingong held her tight with his right arm and raised his left. The White Eagle flew toward Ingong, and the blue-glowing guardian spirit, just as the white giant had done, brought its arms together in a bombardment stance.
The White Eagle settled onto Ingong's arm.
To dispel an unknown sense of crisis, the blue-glowing guardian spirit fired a pillar of blue light.
Ingong saw it. Hearing Green Wind's whisper, he activated the awakening skill.
“Absolute Domain.”
A green light erupted from the White Eagle.