The Ghost That Eats Iron (3)
The arena buzzed with murmurs.
Roban and I stepped forward together, announcing that we would spar using real blades.
“You two, perhaps it would be best to restrain yourselves. This is merely a sparring match. There is more than enough to evaluate without resorting to live steel.”
The professors, unable to hide their surprise, tried to dissuade us. But Roban was having none of it.
“Hah? Professor, I, Roban von Sorbe, merely wish to demonstrate my utmost sincerity by showing you a state as close to real combat as possible.”
It seemed Roban’s patience had finally snapped after my continued relaxed attitude and provocations. He held his head high and made his bold declaration. I wasn’t sure what business it was of his to show off his “utmost,” but once he put it that way, the faculty had little choice but to allow it.
This was no ordinary spar. The continuous duels had been ongoing without pause, yet this one drew an unusual crowd. So many reserve cadets stopped their own evaluations just to come watch us that it felt like someone had rolled out the red carpet.
I wasn’t particularly handsome or refined, so I knew the favorable reactions would all pour toward him. Still, I hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
Looking more closely, I noticed that Eclipse—the girl I had spoken to earlier—was among the spectators.
“Whoa…!”
She had probably grown curious about what kind of person I was after I left her with that meaningful remark.
“Prepare yourself, you stupid northerner. I’ll turn you into a honeycomb with the power of Azero.”
As I stood there blankly, Roban spat his threat. Even the gazes of the crowd felt sharp against my skin. I felt like the villain in a WWE match.
But those looks didn’t burden me in the slightest.
As if slicing through their contemptuous stares, I drew the thick northern-style blade from its sheath and leveled it at him.
“Stop yapping and get into position.”
In an instant, every eye that had been on Roban snapped toward me.
“Insolent savage!”
Clang—!
He drew his family heirloom Azero and pointed it at me as well. The fuse had finally been lit.
“Begin the spar!”
A fitting scenario came to mind. I would give the bastard a sliver of hope, then slam him straight into the ground with utter despair. That should be entertaining enough for the audience.
“No more talk!”
Boom—!
The moment the whistle blew, Roban sprang from his spot. In the blink of an eye he vanished, and when I looked down, the ground where he had stood was cracked like shattered glass.
“…!”
He was in the air. ‘He really is fast.’
As expected, Roban was a swordsman who specialized in speed. Even when I had faced him as Eclipse in the game, his velocity had been impossible to keep up with. Requesting a real-sword duel hadn’t been pure arrogance after all.
“Die!”
Without the slightest hesitation, he thrust the tip of Azero straight at me. The trajectory ended right between my eyes. This was clearly murderous intent.
A normal person wouldn’t draw this much killing aura over a simple roadside quarrel, but then again, I already knew what kind of man he was. The moment he opened his mouth, accusations and hypocrisy poured out.
‘I never expected anything better from him anyway.’
But to me, it was slow.
Some might call me crazy for saying it was slow after acknowledging how fast he was, but the truth was simple.
‘I can still see it.’
A sword swung without purpose by some street thug was nothing new. How many such attacks had I endured in the North? Even if he possessed absolute speed, as long as my eyes could catch it, I could respond.
“Two out of ten.”
“What?!”
Swish—
I shifted my body slightly to the side and rammed my shoulder into his torso.
Thud—!
“Guhk!”
He was sent flying along with his sword, tumbling spectacularly across the ground. Having taken the full force of the kinetic energy he himself had built up, the pain must have been excruciating. His face twisted in agony, then darkened with venomous rage.
“What are you asking? I said your swordsmanship gets two points.”
“Y-you—!”
Roban swallowed my provocation whole and charged at me again.
Clang—!
But there was no way the same trick would work on me after I had already seen the speed he was so proud of. The trajectories of his hastily thrust blades were child’s play to parry.
Clang! Clang—! Clang—!
No matter how fiercely he attacked, it was nothing more than a fireworks display of steel clashing against steel, sparks flying as blades scraped and ground together.
The reason was simple. A being who had trained exclusively in linear thrusts and trapped himself in a one-dimensional trajectory could never block a multidimensional existence. The gap in our levels was only logical.
To others it must have looked like some mysterious, transcendent technique. ‘…Time to throw him a bone.’
Once he realized that the sword style he had painstakingly created would never work, an attacker would naturally want to try something different. After boldly declaring he would crush me, ending the fight in total domination wouldn’t be very entertaining for the spectators.
So I deliberately created an opening for him to attack.
“A gap…!”
He happily took the bait, but—
“It’s not a gap. It’s a feint.”
The moment he bit, the real opening appeared on his side. In a real fight, I would have driven my blade through it and ended his life right there.
Thump—!
But today I was feeling generous, so I settled for a kick. Roban flew back about a meter once again.
“Krrgh—!!”
Clatter.
He even dropped his sword this time. By now, everyone would understand. The difference in skill between us was absolute.
Completely contrary to everyone’s expectations.
“You… fucking… commoner bastard…!!”
“Commoner, commoner… Is that all you can say?”
“Shut up! I’ll kill you!”
“Don’t act so vulgar. The more you do, the more I doubt you’re even a real noble.”
“Watch your tongue! I am Roban von Sorbe, eldest son of the Sorbe Barony and—!”
Ah, so noisy.
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that now? Do you even know my name?”
“That’s…”
“Right, you wouldn’t. Seems like you only care about what you have to say and never listen to others. In every way, you’re an unqualified noble.”
“You have no title, no status, nothing! You’re nothing but a commoner! There is no reason for me to remember your name!”
Pffft—
A burst of laughter made me glance over. Eclipse was laughing. Of course this would be ten times more entertaining for her. Watching a northerner get beaten and cry would be one thing, but seeing a proud noble who had arrogantly demanded a real-sword duel fail at every single action, get kicked around, and end up looking utterly pathetic? That was comedy gold.
But this farce still needed to continue. I had to dye not only his clothes but his face with the color of dirt.
“No, I’m not a man with nothing.”
“Hah?”
“Since the topic came up, allow me to introduce myself. I am the sole direct retainer serving Lady Karalin, the eldest daughter of the Vitagarte Grand Duchy.”
“V-Vitagarte…?!”
“And as a vassal of His Highness the mighty Rexas, I have been granted the honorable title of Steel Knight—Yohan Kim.”
“E-Eeeek! Damn it all…!”
Look at that face, turning the color of shit the moment he heard the name of the Grand Duchy. Of course he would know the Grand Duchy, but there was no way he would have memorized my name and title in detail. Central nobles were notoriously ignorant about the North.
But what did that matter? I was a retainer who served the lady, and by status, a proper knight. There was no changing the fact that I was not some vulgar “commoner” to be looked down upon. Insulting me was no different from spitting on his own dignity.
The spectators’ gossip spread like wildfire. Roban’s face gradually turned bright red.
“Enough… enough! Just because you insulted me doesn’t mean you’ve won! That’s a huge mistake!”
“Oh really?”
“O Goddess of the Lake, Azero, grant me the glory of healing…”
As Roban raised his sword, a blue aura swirled around his body, beginning to mend his bruises.
‘He used the healing ability.’
Azero possessed two abilities. The first and most basic was healing. By pouring in mana, it could cleanly restore minor wounds. The range depended on the user’s talent, but with enough skill it could even aim for high-level regeneration. As a utility, its performance was quite impressive.
“I will kill you here… Yohan Kim…!!”
Without even bothering to brush off the dirt, he rose to his feet. His eyes were bloodshot with rage as he chanted the incantation.
“O Goddess of the Lake, Azero! Kill that bastard! Bury this humiliation deep at the bottom of your abyss…!”
Boom—!!
Suddenly the air in the arena grew heavy. A massive circular shadow burst from the ground without warning.
“Ah, finally.”
When I looked up, a disk made of water floated in the sky. It looked like it could pour down at any moment, but it didn’t. Instead, the shadow it cast like a sunshade grew heavier and heavier, making my body feel sluggish, as if I were underwater. My breathing grew labored. No—it became impossible to breathe. It felt like I was about to drown. It was as if I had already sunk to the bottom of the lake.
‘The second ability… He’s pulling out the ultimate.’
“It must be hard to breathe, and your body must feel heavy. This entire shadow is the area of effect. Yohan, from now on you cannot move faster than me in this place.”
Looking around, it seemed the spectators gathered in small groups had also been caught in the effect.
“R-run!!”
“Kyaaa—!!”
Those who had entered the range tried desperately to escape the suffocating space, but it was too late.
“Defensive barrier deployed.”
It was fortunate the professors had been watching and instantly erected a barrier. Otherwise, there could have been real casualties.
‘Tsk, how dangerous…’
As expected, Roban had completely lost his mind in rage. This was Azero’s second ability and ultimate skill. It dragged everything around it to the bottom of a lake, stealing movement and breath, allowing only the user to swim freely within the space. In other words, it was a rather decent wide-area slow combined with the status ailment: Death.
“You son of a bitch, now you’ll either suffocate to death or die by my blade. You’re a rat in a trap!!”
Swish—!
Just like before, he charged at me with that lightning-fast draw.
Clang—!
“Khup…!”
“How about it? You can’t rate my sword anymore, can you? Hahaha!!”
This was the real reason he had trained in high-speed draws. With my body suddenly weighed down, I no longer had the leisure to dodge lightly and kick him away. The only option left was to pour all my strength into blocking his blade.
“How’s that? Powerful, right? Driving you crazy? Let’s see how long you can hold your breath!”
Boom—!
Whenever I knocked his sword away, he used my sluggishness to create distance, then charged again. Repeat.
‘Well… yeah.’
If this state continued, things would turn out exactly as he said. I would either drown or have my head pierced by that blade. Any ordinary swordsman would have died naturally, submerged in that lake by one of those two methods.
But there were two fatal flaws.
The first was that I already knew his ability. The second was that the source of this power came from that sword—Azero. Which meant there was only one thing I needed to deal with.
Clang—!!
‘Got it.’
“…?!”
All I had to do was hold my breath until the right moment. After reading his pattern a few times, I pulled our locked blades until they were practically touching our noses, then forcibly slammed his sword downward. I gripped Azero’s blade—which had been forced below my knee—with all my strength.
“You idiot! Are you crazy enough to want your fingers cut off?!”
Naturally, he tried to yank the sword back violently to slice off my fingers, but—
‘Eat.’
Ghost That Eats Iron
[“Kahahaha, kahak, kahahaha…! Sword…! It’s a sword…!”]
Crunch, crack, grind, snap, crunch, snap, crunch, crack, crunch—
Clink—!!
At my command, Burga, who had been waiting for the chance, devoured the spirit dwelling within Azero’s blade without leaving a single trace.
[“Kyahahahahaha!!”]
Crackle—
The blade of Azero, which he had cherished so dearly, turned to ash.
“W-what…?!”
Like cigarette ash, it crumbled at the slightest touch, scattering into bronze-colored dust on the wind.
“Haa—!!”
With that, the effect of his ultimate vanished.
“N-nooooooo!!!”
As I finally exhaled the breath I had been holding, Roban collapsed to his knees before me and screamed in a pathetic, pig-like voice.
“What the hell did you do to our family’s treasured sword!!!”
“What I did or didn’t do doesn’t matter. The spar isn’t over yet.”
“Y-you—!!”
When he saw me approaching with my sword drawn, murder in my eyes, Roban was terrified. He could only pull out the spare longsword he kept at his waist. But it was meaningless.
Grab— Crumble—
“W-what the hell are you?!”
Grab— Crumble—!!
“No, not my last sword…!”
Any iron that came before me was nothing but ash.
At that moment, the information of the Azero I had just swallowed began to flow hazily into my mind.
◈ The sword obtained when the first head of the Sorbe family fell into a lake and was saved by a goddess. The blue blade is charming, and the flesh was juicy.
◈ {ACTIVE 1} Cycle of Life — Consumes the user’s mana to restore vitality. Recovery varies with mana consumption. With extreme focus, limb regeneration is possible.
◈ ※Beware of excessive mana drain! May cause death!
◈ {ACTIVE 2} Banquet of the Abyss — Creates a massive disk-shaped pool of water above the user’s head. All beings within the pool except the user suffer slowed movement, suffocation debuff, and after sufficient time, their bodies collapse under pressure.
◈ ※Super scary! There are many ways to counter it though!
It was roughly the same as what I remembered.
“U-uaaah!! Give it back! Give it back!! That sword has been used by our family since my fifth ancestor! It is our family’s pride and glory…!”
Yes, yes. It really was a wonderful sword. Then let me try using such a wonderful thing myself.
“Use the same thing you just used on me against your former master, Azero.”
Gooooong—
Once again, a sunshade fell over our heads. This time, it was mine.
“Khuk—?!”
Roban’s face turned deathly pale, as if he had never imagined this could happen. He flailed desperately, trying to breathe.
Step. Step.
I slowly walked toward him.
“Was it really that honorable a sword? Then I’m glad.”
Step. Step.
“Because from now on, you will never forget the name ‘Steel Knight.’”
“Ugh, kek, krrk, krrrk…!!”
“Thanks to you, I had a decent meal after a long time.”
“M-match over!!”
The professor blew the whistle the moment he saw the now-defenseless Roban on the verge of death. At the same time, the arena erupted with gasps of disbelief and cheers from the crowd. It was a complete and overwhelming victory.
“This is impossible.”
The professors who had been observing were stunned by Yohan’s display.
“That… guy…”
In particular, Professor Babalk’s eyes began to sparkle with life once more.
Just how many years had it been since he last found a jewel like this?