Lantern (4)
Grade:Legend
Level:1
Penalty:None
Mana Cost:None
Effects:
• Proves the most noble chivalry.
• Protects one's king by any means necessary, surging with dramatic power 20~30% stronger than usual the moment the king is in crisis.
• Simply being in the presence of the king one is loyal to boosts all stats by 5%, as well as attack power, defense, and skill damage by 5%.
• When fighting to protect the king from great danger, one feels no fear or submission whatsoever.
• However, one cannot harm the king for any reason.
• If any foreign power is stripped away, something extraordinary may occur.
Description: A power bestowed by foreign influence, obtainable by only one knight.
Yet it stems from Lukio's innate nature.
This was the skill Lukio possessed.
To enter the inner sanctum, he had to pass through one more door, and doubts arose in Hyun-soo's mind.
'Loyalty created by some foreign power?'
Was it a form of brainwashing?
He wasn't entirely sure.
But Hyun-soo shook his head at the description's final note—that it stemmed from Lukio's innate nature.
'Even if some foreign power forced that loyalty, it's rooted in Lukio's birth, just as the description says.'
Yes, Lukio was born that way.
Willing to sacrifice even his life to protect someone.
Once he deemed someone his person, he gave everything.
A man who forged true chivalry from an innate quality that even knights longed for but could never attain.
Thinking back, Hyun-soo realized he didn't truly know the man named Lukio.
He only knew that he'd fought to protect his kingdom from the demon Gremory.
Lukio had never told Hyun-soo anything else.
Of course, the reason Hyun-soo had decided to confront this Enya Kingdom was the mockery from the Blood King and his ilk.
Hyun-soo was a man destined to become a king.
Would he just stand by while the Blood King stole Lukio away?
'If something like this happened again, would I keep yielding once, twice?'
A king couldn't be made through endless concessions and compromises.
Kwajiiik—!
The inner sanctum required passing through multiple doors.
As he smashed through yet another one, a message rang out.
The knight who once served you, Lukio, is in agony.
He has resolved himself even to death.
Hyun-soo's lips clenched as he bit down, a mix of shock and puzzlement washing over him at the sight of Lukio.
In the end, Lukio had broken free from his vassal status.
Yet these alerts still sounded.
'Ares doesn't send useless notifications.'
This had to be connected to the current situation.
Hyun-soo moved even more urgently, finally reaching the last door.
Knight Lukio is under the influence of black mage Lily's Brainwashing Orb...
'I need to smash that orb with a surprise attack.'
Hyun-soo prepared his most perfect Trinity.
In the process, he overheard the tale unfolding.
Another command from the king Lukio had innately cherished: to die.
'What would I have done in that situation?'
It would have felt like the whole world crumbling.
Hyun-soo loosed his bowstring.
Kuwhaaaaang—!
Crash—!
The castle gate tore open, and the arrow struck the orb in the Blood King's hand dead-on.
Black mage Lily's Brainwashing Orb shatters.
Lukio is freed from brainwashing.
To the stunned Lukio, Hyun-soo flashed a bright smile.
Lukio had been ready to embrace death himself. Hyun-soo wanted to give him relief.
Pushing past him, Hyun-soo's face twisted in fury. He still couldn't forget yesterday's humiliation.
The Blood King's expression, as if Hyun-soo wasn't even worth facing.
Now, that king was slammed against the wall.
***
The Blood King Brad had been disappointed.
The man who had sealed the demon Gremory and brought knight Lukio under his wing.
The moment he first laid eyes on him, Brad thought him an unexpectedly weak fool.
A mere lord of a small territory, no less.
To Brad, who had once ruled fifty million souls, he was little more than a green boy.
Brad hadn't even felt he was worth engaging.
And then, Lukio's plea to let him go free.
Brad had complied.
Of course, it was a false compliance.
He hadn't seen the need to reveal his true intentions to Lukio right then.
'After devouring Lukio, I'll return and subjugate that master craftsman.'
That had been his sinister plan. But the moment the arrow struck true...
-47,431 HP
Pain caved in his chest, and an irresistible force slammed him into the wall.
Even the brainwashing orb he'd cherished for so long was utterly destroyed.
The Blood King steadied himself on the ground.
"Lukio, the thing that oppressed you is gone now."
But Lukio hadn't changed before or after the orb's destruction.
He still gripped his sword but couldn't draw or swing it.
The Blood King knew why.
"The brainwashing orb merely helped make you more loyal. You've spent your life by my side, Lukio."
This came from certainty.
"...Even without it, Lukio cannot strike me down."
The Blood King knew it well.
It was Lukio's innate nature.
In this medieval world, no knight could easily cut down their king, even if he ordered their death.
The mindsets of modern people and those living in Ares were worlds apart.
In other words, even with the orb shattered, Lukio's loyalty to him remained unchanged.
"You bastard!"
"Do you even know where you are?!"
Sun, the knight commander, and hundreds of knights poured into the inner sanctum after Hyun-soo.
"...Lukio."
Even at Hyun-soo's voice, Lukio couldn't grip his sword and rise.
'To think that line in the skill description would play out like this...'
No matter how tragic or despairing, Lukio was innately destined to live and die for one king.
And the situation Hyun-soo faced was the worst imaginable.
Brad stood before him.
'Behind him, about 200 knights...'
Hyun-soo hadn't purified Sun or the other strong knights.
He'd inflicted heavy damage and broken through—that was all.
The biggest problem was the skills and MP he'd exhausted along the way.
'I thought if it was just the Blood King, I could grab Lukio and escape somehow.'
Now Hyun-soo was trapped with no way forward or back.
'There's no way I can take the Blood King and hundreds of knights alone.'
No matter what, Hyun-soo's level was just over 400.
Considering the Blood King's 540s, he was the strongest foe Hyun-soo had ever faced.
Chill—
Cold sweat trickled down his back, his muscles twitching endlessly.
Then Lukio spoke.
"How did you even get here?"
By Lukio's common sense, Hyun-soo couldn't have reached this place.
"...On horseback."
Lukio stared at him in disbelief, even in this situation, for cracking a joke.
"Called my friends."
Lukio furrowed his brow.
"Why go to such lengths...?"
"Who knows."
Hyun-soo swallowed the prickly words in his throat.
"...You know there's no chance of winning, right?"
"...Yeah, pretty much."
Quick admission.
The knights closed in, and the Blood King watched with interest.
So Lukio said it.
"Run away."
Hyun-soo didn't budge.
His broad back blocked Lukio's front. No chance of victory, clearly.
"Let's go home, Lukio."
But in that moment, he swapped from the Four Signs Sword to the Twin Dragon Swords.
The swapped Twin Dragon Swords pointed skyward, displaying unyielding resolve.
Break but Do Not Yield.
Even so, he wouldn't abandon Lukio.
Vow sworn to mountains and seas...
The loyal retainer's will endures from past to present.
The crimson inscription engraved on the Twin Dragon Swords.
The power of unyielding pride radiated outward.
Jejejejeje, jejejejejeje—!
Break but Do Not Yield
You've found a breakthrough in the moment of crisis.
The Twin Dragon Swords' effect is enhanced, shattering artifacts over a wider range.
Legend Grade: Blood King's Armor shatters.
Legend Grade: Blood King's Sword shatters.
Epic Grade: Natalie's Sword shatters.
Every artifact in the chamber bent and broke.
In that gap, Hyun-soo faced the incoming knights.
Seogeoeok—
Seogegogeok—
Moving at light speed, Hyun-soo cleaved through the knights without yielding an inch.
The Blood King eyed Lukio's hand.
Twitch twitch—
"Kuh!"
Every time Hyun-soo struck, Lukio's hand twitched.
He wanted to fight for him, but killing the seeds of the king he'd served was like killing himself—he couldn't move.
The Blood King marveled at this sacred loyalty and the tool he'd crafted.
So thoroughly steeped in brainwashing that he couldn't even swing his sword once—Brad reveled in it.
And so, he wanted to shatter that pathetic territory lord's convictions and justice once more.
He wanted confirmation again that Lukio was his eternal dog.
Soon enough, he'd become Brad's power and die anyway.
Life Drain begins.
Draining the dazed Lukio's power, Brad spoke.
"...Lukio, I wish to hear your oath of chivalry again, just like that day."
The day cherry blossoms bloomed in profusion.
When Lukio rose from soldier to knight and knelt before him, swearing his oath.
"It's my request."
Foolishly, right there, Lukio began to recite it.
The start of that recitation proved, even without the orb, he was still Brad's faithful dog.
"No, Lukio!"
Ignoring Hyun-soo's desperate cry, he continued.
The oath of chivalry.
"It is the path of destined fate."
That day's vow had been made while watching cherry petals fall.
"I, Lukio, kneel before one man on that path and pledge with resolute lips."
Today was different.
"Kuh!"
Amid the screams of the territory lord he'd briefly served, growing bloodier by the second against hundreds of knights.
Before the king smiling in delight while siphoning his life force.
"I, Lukio, shall become a knight for you alone."
HP drops below 27%.
The territory lord was dying, his life force stolen away.
"Luk...io! Let's... go home!"
"Kuhak, kuahahahaha!"
At the second oath, the Blood King burst into laughter.
"I, Lukio, shall become a sword for you alone."
"Unyielding, unwavering, I shall be your knight."
The Blood King was in awe.
The world's strongest knight performing a second oath before him.
Was there another king as great as he?
Watching those final lips part, he marveled.
"Become my power, Lukiooooo!!!"
He knew his name would come.
But...
Lukio's eyes, who had only gripped his sword without swinging till now, changed.
"His name—Hyun-soo."
Sugaaaaaak—!
The Blood King's thoughts froze.
His body split diagonally, and the kneeling man rose.
Facing the spraying blood, he gripped his sword with both hands once more.
Now Hyun-soo understood.
Every alert in this world had a reason.
The reason the system had warned of Lukio's peril.
His emotions had been shifting moment by moment.
Of course, even so, Lukio was born unable to strike his king.
It stemmed from his innate nature.
Innately advancing to protect one person alone, Lukio could never strike his king in his lifetime.
But the alerts that followed now made it possible.
The method was simpler than expected.
"...The lord I shall serve!"
The method: harboring a new lord in his heart.
With a new one embraced, he could strike any threat.
The Blood King Brad's eyes shook.
"No one can harm my lord!"
Passive skill 'Unconditionally Loyal to Brad' has changed.
Lukio, gripping his sword with both hands, raised it high.
He reveres you more than any knight and will never break to protect you!
Sugaaaaaak—!
To protect his new king, Lukio struck down the old one, and Brad let out a scream.
It will be recorded in history.
It began to be written.
The saga of a small territory's lord and the world's strongest knight.