Chapter 206
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 206
Chapter Title: How Many Do You Think There'll Be?
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“W-What's going on now?”
Alex was flustered.
He'd just barely caught his breath thanks to someone sweeping away the shadow monsters climbing the walls.
But why had London suddenly been engulfed in fog?
And the anxiety of what new disaster this might bring was too much to bear.
It wasn't just him, either. The players from the Makers Guild were watching the fog with the same uneasy eyes.
At that moment, a familiar sound echoed for everyone.
Ding—
“That sound...!”
“No way?”
The players, Alex included, froze in shock at the bizarre bell toll that sounded like a thousand metal chunks clashing.
But soon their faces twisted strangely.
Ding— Ding— Ding—
It wasn't just that the tolls, which should have rung at steady intervals, were coming far too rapidly.
On the hillside that had been pitch-black with shadow monsters moments ago, now shrouded in fog, eerie shadows began to emerge.
Shadows shaped like monsters, but unmistakably human forms—ghosts of London.
From one of the thirteen leading shadows among them, a strange intent echoed across all of London.
I ask you, witch.
Is this a righteous battle?
“Yes.”
Is this a battle for the weak?
“Yes.”
Is this a battle to vanquish evil?
“Yes.”
Can you swear this to be true before the gods?
“I can't swear to the gods, but I can pledge it on my soul and honor instead.”
Then so be it. By the ancient pact, we shall draw our swords to defend this land.
At that instant, Alex's eyes nearly bulged out in shock.
Not just because the London ghosts, who had looked like mere hazy shadows in the fog like the monsters moments before, were sharpening into clear human forms.
A thousand knights, each clad in gleaming metal armor, swords in hand.
Among them, the thirteen standout knights—and especially the crowned knight at their forefront—sent tremors through Alex's pupils.
“...That one.”
A crowned ghost?
The British Empire had dozens like that. Several kings who shone as knights.
But as far as Alex knew, there was only one king who wielded that sword.
“N-No way! That's... Ex... Excal...!”
Krroooom!
Unfortunately, Alex's shout was swallowed by the air.
The moment the crowned knight swung his sword, starlight exploded from the blade's tip, sweeping away hordes of shadow monsters.
But that was only the beginning.
A knight wrapped in sun-like light charged, and monsters burst on their own. One clutching a glass-clear sword met eyes with a monster, turning it to ice shards.
An archer knight loosed an arrow that zigzagged, piercing heads; a one-armed knight thrust his spear, its blade growing ninefold to impale beasts.
Others wielded flaming swords or bounced attacks with raw muscle.
The thirteen knights rampaged with bizarre weapons—swords, spears, armor, and more.
Alex swallowed dryly, watching the thousand knights battle alongside them.
My God.
The metallic chime he'd taken for a twilight bell was the clash of their arms and armor.
But above all, realizing the identity of those thousand shook him to the core.
They were figures passed down more in myths and folktales than history books.
Representatives of the Silver Age's might, who ruled the world until the dragon revived to usher in the Bronze Age.
“—Magic Knights!”
Magic Knights are actually real?! Not just fairy tale stuff?!
“Of course they are.”
Circe chuckled.
She tossed another item from her pouch into the magic circle and continued languidly.
“The world at the end of the Silver Age was a total mess. Even great witches or saints could lose their heads in an instant.”
Though great witches and saints were the Silver Age's absolutes, they were desk-bound scholars at heart.
Magic's costly nature left them vulnerable unprepared, and avatars spelled utter disaster.
“So we had no choice but to find guardians who could fight our enemies and protect us.”
Human weapons armed to counter witches and priests with all manner of magic arms and artifacts.
Thus, legends were born—as faith's guardians, witch hunters, witch champions, or heretics—masters of combat.
Those were the Magic Knights.
Until the Seven Dragon Society's experts appeared, they were unmatched in close quarters, the Silver Age's strongest warriors.
So Magic Knights were like Silver Age super-soldiers, decked out in cutting-edge enchanted gear? Like powered infantry?
“If you must compare, they were closer to cyborgs. Back then, it was trendy to craft superhumans with magical blessings or curses.”
That's cheating!
To the horrified Yuna Kyung, Circe replied innocently.
“What's the big deal? They were at best high-level player tier by today's standards.”
Turning normals into high-level players is the cheat part!
“Sadly, mass production didn't pan out.”
You even tried mass production?!
“Naturally. But only one in ten fully trained knights survived without rampaging or self-destructing, so elite squads it was.”
Sis, what the heck did you guys do back then?!
“Nothing much. Just dreamed of world conquest, that's all.”
Yuna Kyung shook her head in disbelief at the Silver Age demon queen's fitting words.
She stuck out her tongue at the over thousand Magic Knights driving back tens of thousands of monsters surging up the hill.
Anyway, seeing this, I get why London Counter-Summoning was the Silver Age's strongest spell.
Though varying by blessings or artifacts, each of those thousand-plus Magic Knights wielded power rivaling high-level players, no doubt.
Otherwise, they couldn't sweep shadow monsters like that.
Especially the thirteen leaders—duke-level in their 80s or grand-duke tier in the 90s.
This force could clash head-on with a top-ten guild or a single Seven Dragons clan.
If they could summon such knights in that distant Silver Age, it deserved the title of ultimate spell.
That's why.
Yuna Kyung could only gape blankly at Circe's next words.
“What nonsense is that?”
Nonsense?
“The Counter-Summoning hasn't even fully activated yet. What makes you say that?”
...Huh?
At the cryptic words, Yuna blinked in confusion, but Circe pointed ahead.
Yuna followed her finger absentmindedly—and yelped.
Knights of the Azure Dragon Clan.
Makers Guild players.
And ancient Magic Knights.
The massive force guarding Viscount Cy-Serpent's castle had failed to breach, and now the shadow monsters were massing toward the witches' towers.
As Yuna swallowed hard at their charge that would topple thick beanstalks in seconds—
AxeJoT (Reverse).
BOOM!
With a bizarre echo, the world flipped upside down, sending charging monsters plummeting skyward.
Yuna stared blankly as they soared into the distant heavens, becoming stars—then startled.
The pillar built from five stacked houses where Circe and she waited.
At one corner, atop a mirror chimney peeking out, a short, freckled woman's ghost sat smiling sweetly.
But that was merely the start.
DiKaBra (Rewind).
A cold-faced woman ghost atop the clock house's chimney chanted, and the monster wave reversed like footage rewinding.
RaroRurir (Bon appétit).
A ghost in cotton-candy hat turned a monster clinging to the gingerbread house into a cookie.
AhvaCo (Look out).
At the bespectacled ghost's chant, monsters' eyes blackened, turning on each other.
Ozrs (Unravel).
A key-bundle-wielding woman ghost appeared, and limb-puzzled monsters tumbled apart.
Thus, five women ghosts swept charging hordes with single chants each.
And they weren't all.
From the 23 witch towers and their 27 core magic houses, more women ghosts emerged, banishing monsters with mere incantations.
Not stopping at 27, but 54, 81, growing exponentially—Yuna gawked, beak agape.
Circe chuckled at her.
“Think about it. As if I'd lose to some spell summoning a handful of sword-swingers.”
At the pinnacle of Silver Age legions, magic knowledge, and depth—even she couldn't overcome Counter-Summoning—Circe drawled on.
“Avalon isn't mere necromancy. It's the pinnacle of soul and space-time magic.”
Space-time magic?
“Yes.”
When does a person die?
When the heart stops?
When the soul leaves the body?
Or when it crosses to the afterlife?
It exploits that gap, twisting boundaries of life-death, this-world-that, past-future into a space.
That's Avalon.
Her simple explanation left Yuna dazed, so Circe continued lightly.
“In short, Avalon creates a pseudo-afterlife.”
Pseudo... what?
“You know myths? Eden or Peach Blossom Land—realms that are real but not. Magic recreates that.”
No clue what that means...
“If it's hard, just think of it as a space infinitely close to the afterlife.”
Circe chuckled at Yuna's triple-dazed look.
“So no need for tricky necromancy here. Pay a small toll, and they come on their own.”
They?
“All souls from past to present with the will to defend this London.”
Tolls being pricey, future souls are tough to glimpse.
Dumping another pouch item with a meaningful smile at her chilling words, Circe asked,
“So, how many souls do you think will lend their strength to protect this London?”
Yuna didn't need to answer.
The souls of past Counter-Summoning witches—now in the thousands to protect descendants.
And the blue shadow sweeping millions of monsters like a tsunami already gave it.
“Remember: Magic demands a price, but with enough, it achieves anything—a miracle.”
They'd guarded this place for centuries.
Returned to guard again.
Tens of thousands... no, hundreds of thousands of blue-cloaked knights.
Staring at the Azure Dragon Clan's souls, Yuna could only think blankly.
What kind of witch was Silver Age Circe, to face such broken cheat magic and end up merely sealed?