260. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - King of Ten Thousand Weapons (萬兵之王) (9)
260. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - King of Ten Thousand Weapons (萬兵之王) (9)
***
Step, step.
The two of them slowly rose to their feet.
Once the short break ended, Serin walked down to the Colosseum arena together with Hamin.
Her fourth opponent was the Knights of Charlemagne's Astolfo, Ryu Hamin.
Since he was the very person she had been talking with just moments before, walking down together when it was time for the match was nothing out of the ordinary.
And so the two of them had simply moved to prepare for the match.
"..."
A woman with short blue hair seated in one section of the stands was watching them with a wistful gaze.
No, to be precise, her pupils kept trembling violently as she watched the two of them descend together, betraying her inner turmoil.
'What should I do?'
She didn't want to watch them chatting so amiably and moving together, but she couldn't bring herself to approach them and say anything either.
The fact that she had lost so anticlimactically in the previous match didn't feel light to Mina at all.
Moreover, now that she considered how Serin had deliberately acknowledged Hamin and spoken to him during the match, along with various other circumstances, she was even afraid that if she rashly approached, she might end up hearing something strange in front of Hamin.
She had been aware of her feelings for him for months now, yet she had never been able to properly reveal her true feelings in front of him.
Step, step, step.
As Serin descended toward the Colosseum and passed by Mina, she cast a sidelong glance her way, and their eyes briefly met.
It was a strange look between two people who seemed not to like each other, but even that strange tension vanished the moment Serin withdrew her gaze and walked on.
Immediately after, when Mina saw Hamin following behind Serin with a faint smile on his face, her thoughts simply stopped.
'Why are you smiling, Hamin?'
Seeing him smile at another woman made her chest ache fiercely.
They had surely only met for the first time today, yet the distance between them already seemed to have closed considerably.
"...?"
On the other hand, Hamin, who had been walking along behind Serin, suddenly glanced over because Mina's condition seemed off.
Pat.
Then he casually tapped Mina on the shoulder once and walked past, and Mina reflexively looked at him.
Hamin turned his head back and spoke offhandedly.
"Don't get too down about losing the match."
After Hamin said that as if to tell her to cheer up and descended toward the Colosseum,
Mina simply nodded as if entranced.
"...Okay."
I won't lose.
I will never let anyone take Hamin away from me.
***
The two who entered the arena immediately widened the distance and headed to their positions.
Snatch!
Then, as Hamin familiarly grasped the empty air, a straight spear wreathed in brilliant light appeared.
Countless geometric characters were engraved along the shaft, and the tip of the spearhead was as sharp as an awl.
The weapon he had drawn was the mythic-grade holy spear, Brionac.
The spear of light, which radiated dazzling brilliance merely by existing in Hamin's hand, flaunted its elegant form without reservation.
"..."
Serin, who had been watching his weapon, likewise gently clenched her right hand.
Then a strange pattern appeared on her right arm as if lines were being drawn upon it, and soon a golden cord settled there as if beautifully wrapping around her arm.
Finally, the white Crescent-Moon Weight Moonlight, imbued with an air of mystery, extended its pure-white blade and settled into Serin's hand.
The moment each of them drew their weapons.
—The duel will begin shortly.
A countdown began along with the duel-start notification.
"If Mina's attitude bothered you, I'll speak to her again later. She doesn't have a bad personality or any ill intent; she's just a bit overly competitive..."
When Hamin spoke first, sensing that Mina's attitude had been a little off, Serin blinked and then shook her head.
"No, it's fine."
Her attitude in the stands had certainly been bothersome, but it wasn't something worth making a big deal over.
In the first place, I had provoked her during the match, so the way she had just acted was something I had brought on myself.
'And she seems to really like that person.'
Looking at Astolfo right in front of her, she understood why Mina had stared at her like that.
From the way she had reacted so strongly to a small provocation during the match, to the way she had persistently glared at her ever since Astolfo approached during the break.
All of it pointed to one thing.
The very image of a girl in love.
Thinking about it now, her attitude actually seemed cute in hindsight.
She knew Mina was in her early twenties, so she understood why she couldn't control her emotions.
But understanding it didn't make everything okay.
'Still, that's not an age to be throwing tantrums.'
If you're a pro, act like a pro.
—1.
The countdown ended before she could even finish her brief musings.
Unlike the previous matches, this time she stayed in place and watched Astolfo's movements.
Thud, thud. With each powerful kick off the ground, he leaped from place to place in an instant as he surged toward her, and there was a certain composure in his movements.
Astolfo.
A spearman—no, perhaps it would be more accurate to call him a spear knight.
She could tell just from his movements that he had truly reached a certain realm with the spear.
There was something novel about the way the radiant spear of light moved swiftly, its presence flaring as if scattering light through the air.
'Interesting.'
When people discuss the King of Ten Thousand Weapons and the best weapon,
some say the sword is the best, while others—no—some say the King of Ten Thousand Weapons is the spear.
And if Serin had to choose between the two, she was on the side that thought the spear was worthy of the title.
The renowned spear knights she had actually encountered in Black Ark had possessed a certain oppressive presence just from being looked at.
Ordinary knights would often be pierced by their spears and die anticlimactically before they could even bring their swords to bear.
The spear knight was a class with an overwhelming matchup advantage in melee range.
'Probably, at equal skill, the spear would be better.'
No matter how much a swordsman tried to close the distance with aura, if the spear knight also used aura, closing the distance was just as difficult.
Moreover, the spear knight's distinctive swinging style and unique combat method of thrusting rapidly as if closing the distance in an instant—compared to the sword, the effective range simply couldn't be compared.
In exchange, the sword had the advantage of being freer and more flexible in its handling compared to the spear, so each had its own strengths and weaknesses.
Thud!
Even as she watched Astolfo reach close range before she knew it, Serin slowly tightened her grip on the Crescent-Moon Weight and did not move her hand first.
Staying still now wasn't an act of composure. She simply thought that against a spear knight, countering was more comfortable.
Swish!
And as if answering her expectations, Astolfo suddenly stopped on the ground and unfolded a skill.
After rapidly kicking off the ground, Astolfo suddenly halted his body upright, and in an instant, as if detonating his accumulated speed, he thrust his spear like light.
—Sun-Flash Vanguard Strike.
Brilliant light burst from the spearhead as if flashing, and the spearhead came thrusting at Serin's heart as if it had erased the distance in an instant.
And Serin, who had been preparing for the attack from early on, immediately swung the Crescent-Moon Weight upward diagonally and unfolded a skill.
—Jeolyeon.
A massive line of blood rose and met the line of light from the thrusting spear with blood,
Clang!
Their weapons bounced away at nearly equal force.
Neither of the two who had clashed questioned the result.
As if it were only natural, Astolfo recovered his spear and, as if using the recoil from the bounce, spun his body and extended the spear again, and this time the spear tip held a strange black light.
—Serpent-Head Phoenix-Slaying Strike.
As the spear tip surged forward, swaying ominously like the head of a giant snake shooting toward her, Serin calmly stepped back and likewise spun her body quickly.
—Bloodstained Constellation.
As she spun and swung wide, the bloodstained trajectory swept through the space, embroidering it in countless points of blood.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
The spear could not maintain its original trajectory amid the shockwaves of countless blood-colored explosions.
Whoosh!
Even as the black-light spear grazed perilously past her amid her silver hair scattering brilliantly, Serin did not so much as blink as she watched her opponent's movements.
Immediately after, the moment the extended spear shifted its trajectory and slashed wide to the side, Serin quickly raised her left hand and spread wide the golden cord of the Crescent-Moon Weight connected to her right hand.
Screeeech!
Along with a sound as if the cord were stretching to its limit, the spearhead thrashed fiercely as if to tear the cord apart.
Skid!
But Serin's body merely slid back along the ground, and the spearhead could never pierce through the golden cord.
After receiving the spear like that, Serin kicked off the ground with a thud at the end of absorbing the force, and she was pushed back greatly by that force, widening the distance from her opponent.
Whooosh!
The spear that had been slashing wide as if to tear the cord apart lost its target and instead carved a great semicircle through the empty air, kicking up wind pressure.
By then, Serin had already fallen far back.
Slither.
As Astolfo slowly recovered his spear and looked at her with a faint smile,
Serin, who had widened the distance, also faced him and smiled lightly.
They had only exchanged two clashes.
But the two of them were smiling as if satisfied with each other's skill.
And Serin was keenly feeling the confidence of Astolfo, who had asked her to change weapons during the break.
'He's worthy of being the team ace.'
After facing him directly, her impression of her opponent was just as expected.
If the player named Angelica whom she had faced just before had shown talent, then the player named Astolfo whom she was now fighting was displaying skill befitting the ace of the Knights of Charlemagne.
After that, Serin launched herself forward and instead took the offensive.
***
—Clang! Clang, clang, clang, clang! Whoosh!
Brilliant sounds rang out continuously, and the screen showing the two fiercely clashing was dyed in dazzling colors.
It was a spectacular exchange of blows that would not have been out of place as a classic match between famous pro teams.
But Seoyun, who was watching the match, spoke as if something were strange.
"Sua, is that person really a guy?"
On the screen, a person with a delicate impression holding a spear was smiling continuously while pressing the attack, and even on screen, that appearance was quite beautiful.
So much so that even if you brought in some famous idol or celebrity, the person on screen right now seemed prettier.
So the more Seoyun looked, the more she genuinely couldn't tell if he was really a man.
"He's probably a guy...?"
"Really? No matter how I look at him, he seems like a woman."
When Sua, who had been intently watching the fierce contest between the two, answered awkwardly, Seoyun replied as if it were strange.
And thanks to that unusual appearance, Astolfo had been a constant topic of discussion from the start of his career to the present.
So it was perhaps only natural for Seoyun, seeing him for the first time, to have doubts.
Even Sua found herself becoming uncertain for no reason as she watched the screen.
'He's definitely... supposed to be a guy.'
He had long since been confirmed to be male after causing a huge controversy.
But still, the appearance on screen right now was definitely pretty.
Pretty enough that even while clashing with her sister, who was famously beautiful by anyone's standards, his looks didn't fade.
"Sua, isn't Sis in danger here?"
"What do you mean all of a sudden?"
When Seoyun suddenly muttered that while looking at the screen, Sua looked at Seoyun, wondering what she meant.
"I don't know, something just seems off."
When Seoyun spoke vaguely as if she couldn't explain well, Sua suddenly wondered what she was talking about.
'Is she suddenly pretending to know something?'
The two on screen right now were evenly matched, fiercely clashing as they exchanged blows.
As far as Sua could see, even if it was an even match, Serin seemed to have more composure.
Just as she was looking at Seoyun and wondering what was going on.
Astolfo on the screen suddenly began to show irregular movements unlike before.