Chapter 370: The Knight's Banquet (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 370: The Knight's Banquet (7)
The Winchester ducal estate was home to one of the most beautiful gardens in all of Europe.
The first Duke of Winchester, claiming it was blessed with the breath of fairies, had named it Ellaria Garden.
Of course, some madman had now turned it into a complete mess in his attempt to forge the shortest path to the banquet hall.
The trail of destruction led straight to the main entrance of the hall.
CRASH!!
Without a moment's hesitation, Kang Hyun-woo smashed through the entrance to the banquet hall.
Several nobles were sent flying by the impact, suffering injuries, but he couldn't care less.
Kang Hyun-woo quickly scanned the hall, assessing the situation.
As expected, the Duke was nowhere to be seen, and the bodies of guard knights were scattered everywhere.
In the center of the hall, an injured Gawain was on the ground, surrounded by Lancelot and Tristan, who stood as if to corner him.
Kiiiiing!!!!
The moment he saw the scene, the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword unleashed an inky Aura, asserting its presence.
Its power spread in an instant, seeming to dominate the entire hall.
Tristan instinctively turned, sensing the intense killing intent rushing toward him.
In that moment, his gaze met Kang Hyun-woo's.
Tristan's eyes filled with bewilderment.
‘Wh-Why is that bastard here?!’
Less than a minute had passed since Kang Hyun-woo had cut down Tristan's doppelganger in the garden. This was far too fast for a 5th Circle mage who couldn't even use Fly magic.
Even for someone who had awakened their aura.
Above all, Tristan was utterly flustered because he had never imagined that a mere mage would dare to attack him, a Knight of the Round Table.
He tried to pull back in a hurry, but it was already too late.
Slice—
The blade, clad in aura, sliced Tristan's body in half as if it were tofu.
Innards and blood erupted like a fountain, defiling the banquet hall.
But seeing this, Kang Hyun-woo silently clicked his tongue.
The slightly dull impact, the somewhat crude display.
He knew at once that he had just cut down another doppelganger.
“You again, you bastard!!" Tristan screamed, his lower body gone as he collapsed to the floor, glaring at Kang Hyun-woo.
But Kang Hyun-woo didn't even spare him a glance.
[Mega Flare]
BOOOOOM!!!
A blazing fireball materialized in the air, flew toward Tristan, and exploded.
“Gaaaaah!!”
The doppelganger felt no pain, but the unpleasant sensation of its flesh burning in the flames still affected Tristan's mind.
Just as the doppelganger vanished, a refined killing intent washed over Kang Hyun-woo.
He swung his sword reflexively.
CLANG!!!
Sparks flew as Lancelot's sword clashed with Kang Hyun-woo's Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword.
The collision of intense energies sent a fierce wind whipping through the hall.
Kang Hyun-woo quietly stared at Lancelot.
The dark-tainted Lancelot—no, Count Greymont's—eyes had long since lost their clarity.
Only a strange, bizarre pattern remained.
“Aren't you a little old to be wearing colored contacts?”
“...You bastard, what is your identity?”
“Who knows.”
Kang Hyun-woo sneered, looking at Lancelot with a humorless expression.
“Care to take a guess, Count Greymont?”
The previous goodwill was gone from Lancelot's eyes.
What remained was clear hostility.
Further conversation was unnecessary.
All that was left was for each to do their best to kill the enemy before them.
—!!!!
A moment later, the two figures vanished, and a shockwave erupted in the banquet hall.
Lancelot pressed Kang Hyun-woo, wielding a greatsword wreathed in an Aura Blade as if it were an extension of his own body.
His sword, befitting the successor to the title 'Knight of the Lake,' was heavy and true.
It exquisitely blended the principles of the blunt sword and the heavy sword.
His heavy, crushing blows were powerful enough to shatter Kang Hyun-woo's barrier in a single strike, yet at the same time, they seemed absurdly slow.
Slow, hence a blunt sword.
But if it were merely slow, it couldn't be called a blunt sword.
His swordsmanship, having reached the pinnacle of prediction, dominated the space, blocking all of Kang Hyun-woo's attacks.
CRASH!!
After dozens of clashes in the span of an instant, the two retreated.
In the silent standoff that followed, a single drop of cold sweat trickled down Lancelot's forehead.
It wasn't a matter of stamina.
‘...Was he a knight, not a mage?’
He had known for a while that Kang Hyun-woo was an unusual mage who had awakened his aura.
But crossing swords with him directly, he realized the man's swordsmanship far surpassed his expectations.
It was no wonder Duke Winchester had taken notice of him.
“Arondight.”
“...?”
“The legendary, unbreakable sword that separates light and darkness, wasn't that it?”
At Kang Hyun-woo's gesture, the air seemed to split open.
Seeing him pull out holy water from the space beyond, Lancelot felt a shock, as if his common sense was being directly refuted.
It was impossible for a 5th Circle mage to freely manipulate a subspace.
Clank—
Kang Hyun-woo planted his sword in the floor and knelt on one knee, slowly pouring the holy water between the lips of a fallen maid.
Only then did Lancelot realize that Kang Hyun-woo had intentionally been pushed back to get closer to the princess.
“But I've heard a legend that it breaks if used for a wrongful cause. I suppose that was true. Unless you sold it to a local pawn shop.”
As Kang Hyun-woo said, the sword in Lancelot's hand was not Arondight.
It was a sword crafted by a master blacksmith and regularly polished by Baronet Sheffield.
While it was a fine sword in its own right, to Lancelot, who possessed the blessing of the lake, Arondight was like a part of himself, irreplaceable by any other blade.
“...That is none of your concern.”
“You're changing the subject because you have nothing to say.”
Kang Hyun-woo chuckled softly and checked the princess's pulse.
Confirming she was merely asleep, he cast a barrier over the sofa where the princess and the maid lay.
Then he took out another bottle of holy water and tossed it to the fallen Gawain.
“Heal yourself.”
“...I am ashamed.”
Gawain dragged his battered body and painfully drank the holy water.
Even seeing this, Lancelot made no move to stop him.
If he attacked Gawain now, Kang Hyun-woo would surely exploit the opening.
He could harass him from a distance, of course, but dragging out the fight was exactly what Lancelot wanted.
Even as they spoke, the demonic authority unleashed by Crow Mask was steadily encroaching upon the ducal estate.
The nobles in the banquet hall were the first to fall, followed by the estate's knights and soldiers.
Thanks to his vast mana, Gawain seemed to be holding on, but his slower-than-usual recovery was proof that he, too, was already under the authority's influence.
And Kang Hyun-woo was no exception.
In ten minutes at the shortest, twenty at the longest, he would surely find it difficult to wield his mana.
Furthermore, since someone else was already moving to secure the target as planned, Lancelot had no reason to feel rushed.
Of course, if the Duke returned earlier than expected, the story would change, but there was no need to worry about that either.
To prevent such a variable, they had invested not only top-grade artifacts but even a holy relic in two of their executives.
In other words, if he just stalled for time, victory was assured.
At least, that's how it should have been.
“...What is that?”
Lancelot unknowingly furrowed his brow at the sight of Kang Hyun-woo pulling a staff from his inventory.
“Is it strange for a mage to use a staff?”
“...”
Lancelot was momentarily at a loss for words.
His opponent, who had just displayed master-class swordsmanship, had suddenly pulled out a staff?
Grind—
Lancelot took this as a mockery and a provocation directed at him.
Though he had forgotten his duty as a knight and chosen the path of a Corrupted One, he hadn't discarded his pride.
Wooooong!!!
A murky blue Aura Blade flared to life on Lancelot's greatsword.
He charged toward Kang Hyun-woo.
Kang Hyun-woo moved a step faster.
[Chain Lightning]
From a magic circle that appeared in the air, a bolt of lightning shot toward Lancelot.
At that moment, the ring on his ring finger emitted a mystical light and blocked the spell.
It was the Fairy Ring, given to the successor of Lancelot.
Seeing this, Kang Hyun-woo clicked his tongue.
He wanted to draw his sword, but for some time now, he'd had a gut feeling that he couldn't rely solely on martial arts forever.
His inner self and his astral form were founded on harmony.
But ever since meeting Vajra Divine Monk, he had been neglecting magic and dedicating all his time to martial arts.
To escape that contradiction, and furthermore, to reach the Flower Realm in its truest sense, he needed to elevate his capabilities as a mage.
‘Shall we test just how much you can block?’
Fwoooosh—
Countless magic circles appeared behind Kang Hyun-woo.
Though it was just a spare staff he carried, the difference between having equipment and not was stark.
Lancelot was taken aback by the dozens of magic circles aimed at him, but he quickly made a decision.
‘Increase the ring's output.’
Woooong!!
The Ring of the Lake began to devour Lancelot's mana at a tremendous rate, and soon, a barrier even thicker than before was formed.
And then—
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!!!
A barrage of 2nd Circle magic, composed of the four elements of fire, lightning, light, and darkness, poured down on him.
Even amidst the high-powered, precise bombardment, Lancelot advanced, trusting his barrier.
The moment Kang Hyun-woo was within his range, his greatsword, wreathed in an Aura Blade, split the barrier in two.
But Lancelot's greatsword failed to land a direct hit on Kang Hyun-woo.
Crrrack!!
“...An Aura Shield?”
He had somewhat expected it since Kang Hyun-woo could use an Aura Blade.
But witnessing a mage actually deploy a barrier and an Aura Shield simultaneously, Lancelot couldn't help but be stunned.
And that brief opening led to a fatal result.
An unusual amount of mana gathered, and a crimson magic circle appeared beneath Lancelot's feet.
‘?! Is he planning to self-destruct?!’
Sensing the prelude to a large-scale spell that would injure him even through the ring's barrier, Lancelot looked at Kang Hyun-woo.
[Illusion Field]
But all that was there was a translucent illusion of him.
Realizing he'd been had, Lancelot tried to escape, but he was a step too late.
In Iris's world, the treatment a battle mage received depended entirely on whether or not they could use this spell.
A 5th Circle flame magic.
Piiiiing—
[Hellfire]
—!!!!!
A torrent of super-heated flames erupted from the magic circle, engulfing Lancelot and soaring upward in an explosion.
The pillar of fire, radiating overwhelming heat, pierced through the banquet hall's ceiling and shot toward the night sky, leaving a crimson flash in its wake.
*
Even after the Hellfire subsided, the temperature inside the banquet hall was nearly 40 degrees Celsius [104 degrees Fahrenheit].
Gawain stared blankly, his mouth agape, at the ceiling that had been melted away by the flames.
It was already unbelievably shocking that Kang Hyun-woo, a mage, had fought on par with Lancelot, a Knight of the Round Table, in swordsmanship. But he had even used an Aura Blade and an Aura Shield.
Based on that scene alone, one would have thought Duke Winchester's interest in Kang Hyun-woo wasn't to take him as a disciple, but to appoint him as the next successor to the Round Table.
But he was also a first-rate mage.
Not only had he cast Hellfire, a 5th Circle spell notorious for its long casting time, in an instant, but in that urgent moment, he had also precisely controlled the spell's range to avoid harming those who had collapsed around the hall.
It was a level of mana control that bordered on the divine.
And as the range narrowed, the power intensified.
No matter how powerful Lancelot's Ring of the Lake was, without Arondight, there was no way he could have survived those flames.
At least, that's how it should have been.
Step, step—
In the middle of the ruined banquet hall, a familiar figure emerged from beyond the hot steam.
It was Lancelot.
Vicious burn marks were clearly visible all over his body.
But that wasn't what was important.
Scales had sprouted on Lancelot's face, and his ears had transformed into something like fins.
Seeing a form that could no longer be called human, Gawain felt a sense of utter despair.
“So, after making a deal with a demon, the head of House Greymont has been reduced from a Knight of the Round Table to a stinking fish head. Didn't grow a tail, did you?”
Unlike Gawain, Kang Hyun-woo mocked Lancelot.
At the same time, however, he didn't let his guard down, sensing the dense demonic energy emanating from him.
Having made a pact with a demon, it wouldn't be strange for him to possess any number of bizarre abilities.
“I wonder how long you can keep running that mouth.”
Rumble—
At that moment, Lancelot's murky blue Aura Blade began to emit an intense light.
The compression of demonic energy and mana caused space itself to distort.
Kang Hyun-woo tried to move away quickly.
But only for a moment.
“?!”
“La-Lancelot!!”
The two men were horrified to see Lancelot raise his greatsword toward the sleeping Ophelia and the maid on the sofa.
The output was incomparable to before.
There was no way the temporary barrier could block it.
“Have you truly no pride left as a knight?!”
“My pride remains. So does my competitive spirit. That is all that matters.”
Kiiiiiiing!!!!!
An enormous Aura Blade formed above the greatsword.
There was too little time to stop it.
Without a shred of hesitation, Kang Hyun-woo rushed toward Ophelia.
“Now, disappear, you young monster.”
Immediately after, the distorted space following the arc of Lancelot's swing surged toward Kang Hyun-woo, generating pressure like a massive tsunami.
—!!!!!!
Kang Hyun-woo's vision went completely white.