Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: The Knights' Debut
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An enormous golden citadel. The city wall revealed on his left arm, without so much as a shield, seemed to block every attack.
Kwaaang!
Even as a shockwave like a collapsing mountain erupted, not the slightest repercussion could be felt.
A literal city wall.
Just as swinging a massive greatsword at an immense wall could only leave a scratch.
Kuuung!
The Knight of the City Wall, Go Woojin, enveloped in the golden citadel, boasted perfect defense.
“Ugh! Uwaaaah!”
The man called Byul let out a roar of frustration.
He slammed down his iron flails with both hands, flames erupting from his very skull.
“…Speak like a person!”
It was a stretch to call him human.
What Go Woojin was blocking wasn’t just Byul.
Tssaaek!
A whip breaking the sound barrier tore through the air toward Go Woojin.
Its speed and thunderous roar.
Kwaaaaang!
Were as intense as if a meteor had crashed down.
One Byul alone might have been manageable.
Grind.
But with the one called Timothy joining in, even Go Woojin began to be pushed back bit by bit.
But at that moment.
Paat!
A shadow leaping up from behind Go Woojin.
“This is enough.”
Go Minji spoke in a satisfied tone as she swung her sword.
Crimson mana flickering wildly.
And what stood out was.
“…That bastard Go Yohan. He’s definitely messing with me on purpose.”
Go Minji’s attire.
Babel’s 50th floor, the Hall of Appointment.
Unlike Go Woojin, who had seen Go Minji collapsed there, the sight Go Minji witnessed was.
-Minji.
Go Woojin, impaled by Ograk’s twin greatswords, dying.
Her family scattering and dying.
What Go Woojin recalled in that vision was the ‘city wall’.
The ever-steadfast protector of the bloodline.
What Go Minji recalled was.
“What kind of knight is this crap?”
Chwaaa!
Utter rage.
Frenzy.
A red wave rippled out.
It was different from Kim Sehyun’s.
Kim Sehyun, Apostle of Rage, wielded a calm, refined fury.
Like a terrifyingly still deep sea.
But Go Minji’s was.
“Oppa, you know?”
“…No holding back this time either?”
Unrefined, raw.
“You asking the obvious?”
“…….”
“We make a pretty good pair.”
Ripple.
A surging fury like a raging tsunami.
The Frenzy Knight, Go Minji.
Drop.
A sound like something snapping echoed in Go Minji’s mind.
Kwaaaaang!
Another explosion erupted soon after.
Within that blast of smoke.
“Grrr.”
The one howling like a beast was not Byul, nor Timothy, nor the demons’ apostles—it was the Frenzy Knight, Go Minji.
She let Ograk’s twin greatswords droop in her hands, red energy flickering in her eyes.
Wooong. Wooong. Wooooong.
A crimson glow spread from beneath her feet like a beast’s pulsing heartbeat, enveloping the surroundings.
And at its center, she appeared precariously covered only in the bare essentials.
-Frenzy Knight perk: Unable to equip armor.
One might question how that could be a perk, but.
-In cases of minimized magical interference or foreign substance detection, all stats greatly increase.
-Mana explosion and surrounding damage proportional to lack of interference resistance.
And.
-Frenzy state maintained.
Kwaaaaa!
Go Minji’s aura erupted like an explosion.
The moment Byul and Timothy recoiled from that energy.
Drip.
Blood trickled down.
From where Byul’s legs had clearly turned into swords, from Timothy’s chest.
Craaaack!
They split open, spilling everything.
A flash of blinding light.
And.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
The delayed explosion roared.
No mere whip—Go Minji had swung Ograk’s massive twin greatswords at supersonic speed, unleashing devastating power.
And its shockwave and sword trail.
“Kuuk!”
Extended even to Go Woojin behind her, who barely endured.
-Brother and sister will make a great pair.
-Perfect as two.
What Go Yohan had said while overseeing their training.
-A knight.
Crimson glow, golden holy light.
Kwaaaang!
Everything converged, erupting in all directions.
“Kraaaaa!”
Unable to bear the pain of being torn apart, Timothy bellowed like a monster, transforming his remaining arm into hundreds of whips and swinging them.
The whips easily surpassed the sound barrier and finally caught up to even Go Minji’s speed.
Goooong.
Just as they were about to shred her exposed flesh mercilessly.
Kwaaang!
A blast.
“Ta…nk….”
Bloodied Go Woojin stood protectively in front of Go Minji, blocking Timothy’s whips.
Wooong, wooong, wooooong.
Though Go Minji’s aura was ravaging his exposed back, it didn’t matter.
‘I am.’
Childish to voice aloud, but Go Woojin’s true heart.
‘A city wall.’
He would become a city wall.
*
*
*
Finally, the newly born players.
Appointed by two near-divine beings, Go Yohan and Yoo Sehua, the new existences.
-Knights.
The might of the knights who finally revealed themselves was.
“Waaaaah!”
Overwhelming.
Go Woojin and Go Minji.
The Knight of the City Wall and the Frenzy Knight were beings on another level from all players before them.
Kwaaang!
The diversity of classes, special hidden classes and their fitting skills.
It had been thought this would birth countless player types, combinations, and strategies.
But in reality, when player levels rose and the era of rankers dawned.
-What’s the point of classes?
The differences were negligible.
No trace of that supposed uniqueness.
Kwaaang!
But now, the gap between Go Woojin and Go Minji was clear.
-Defense specialized.
Their attack power could barely scratch Byul’s body, which seemed impossibly tough.
But their defense.
“Keuk.”
Withstood attacks from Byul and Timothy, the two demon contractors, while even covering Go Minji as she rampaged in frenzy without distinguishing friend from foe.
And.
“Krrrng!”
Go Minji, rampaging in frenzy—her flesh seemed fragile, but her destructive power was beyond question.
The transparent barrier that hadn’t even been scratched no matter how they raged.
Craaaack!
Now bore thin cracks from Go Minji’s strikes.
Victory seemed already decided.
The two demon contractors were reduced to tattered rags.
That was when.
Halt.
Byul and Timothy stopped abruptly.
“…….”
As if their hearts had finally stopped, they showed no more movement.
“Krrrng!”
The moment Go Minji, dropping Ograk’s twin greatswords, lunged to finish them.
Kwaduk!
Ograk’s twin greatswords, which had shredded the demon contractors like bread until now, were caught mid-air.
“Sister.”
Go Yohan—he had intervened on the battlefield.
“Put that on first.”
The moment light flickered in Go Minji’s crimson eyes.
Flutter.
She snatched a blanket flying in from somewhere.
“Seriously… what an annoying ability.”
Go Minji spoke as if her senses had returned.
A faint smile played on her lips as she wrapped the blanket around herself.
The penalty was embarrassing to show others, but its power and utility were exactly as she desired.
“Is it over?”
“Theirs ends here.”
The moment Go Yohan looked at the two halted demon contractors.
Ripple.
Black mist poured from them.
Kwaaaa!
It filled the transparent barrier.
“We should let the others have their debut too.”
*
*
*
Demon contractors—not mere traders or victims of demons, but those who formed equal pacts.
Even in Travania, they were exceedingly rare, and those who appeared.
“Kraaaaa!”
Became disasters for Travania, ones they thought they’d seized the advantage against with Michael’s presence.
Gulp, gulp.
Demonic power didn’t mesh with the mortal realm, so gaps were inevitable.
Even if something massive forced through a tiny needle’s eye, it was still limited by the needle’s size.
Even maximizing density for efficiency, they couldn’t wield the full authority, immortality, or origin of demonic might.
Kuwaaaaak!
But demon contractors were vessels like basins, able to receive it all.
“Ku…k!”
Previous demon contractors were the lowest tier, failures.
And.
‘They call themselves apostles.’
But in Go Yohan’s—no, Michael’s—eyes, these were different from true apostles.
“Mid-tier at best.”
Among countless failures, these were somewhat decent.
Kwaaaa!
The massive head took the form of an iron flail.
Its entire body swelled into a gigantic giant’s shape.
And the strands—veins torn apart like whips—were grotesque enough to induce vomiting just to look at.
Drip, drip.
Falling blood.
It.
Gugugu….
Took form and appeared.
The demons’ minions.
With their sudden surge, even with the barrier, citizens recoiled in shock.
“Knights aren’t just the two of you.”
Yoo Sehua’s voice rang out, as if to dispel the tension.
“Now I can properly introduce you.”
Ripple.
The black mist began to recede.
Puhwaaak!
Surging tree roots, resembling blooming flower buds.
From within.
Crunch, crunch.
Those permitted to be called knights began to emerge.
Sanctuary Union’s Yoo Baek and Kim Cheonseok.
The Church’s Choi Changsu, Park Doyoung, Shin Seulhui, Kang In.
Goldian’s Samuel and Richard.
Finally.
Gulp.
Even the tense Park Dongwook.
In the taut standoff, as if time itself had frozen.
Craaaackle!
The ground began to split.
Shwaaaaa!
Prismatic radiance burst from the knights.
Just as Go Woojin was the city wall, Go Minji the frenzy.
-Starlight, Shin Seulhui.
-Snowstorm, Park Doyoung….
-Black Sword, Kang In.
Knights who received their unique convictions and perks.
“Leave it to us.”
They passed Go Yohan, advancing toward the evils born of darkness.