Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Chapter 10.
The bright morning sun was dyeing the fields in golden hues.
“Gunter! Did you sleep well?”
Gunter gazed at the girl who greeted him and nodded.
“I slept well. You?”
“…Huh?”
Yor seemed momentarily taken aback by the warm response, her eyes widening, but she soon smiled broadly.
“I slept very well. You seem to be in a great mood today?”
“My mind is a little more at ease.”
“You look even more handsome when you smile….”
“Thank you for that.”
…Thank you?
Ryan, wondering what was up, muttered as he turned to Gunter.
“Why are you so kind today. Did you eat something strange?”
“What are you looking at, you punk.”
“Hmm, or not?”
It was then that someone suddenly approached.
Eddie.
Normally, harsh words would have been exchanged.
But he just stared at Gunter and walked past.
Leaving behind only a petty grumble that was too embarrassing to be called an argument.
“Hmph, still dawdling on the last day. The commission fee is a waste.”
“…Did that guy also sleep badly?”
Gunter looked in turn at Eddie walking away, Yor smiling with her chin propped on the windowsill, and Ryan with a displeased expression.
The scenes from his past lives quickly overlapped… and faded.
[The Ninety-Nine Overlord Knight King gazes upon you]
[The Red Street Pillar dramatically wipes away tears]
[The Addict Saintess says she wants to pat your back]
It had been a difficult journey.
Eleven deaths and battles.
Even for him, who possessed a stronger will than anyone, there were countless moments when he wanted to give up.
But he had finally arrived.
[Owned Karma: 653]
At the distant figure of 500.
Gunter looked at the status window with a face full of mixed emotions.
‘…Knight King.’
So now, it was time to go and see the end of this tiresome Act 1, Scene 1.
‘I will offer 500 Karma.’
.
.
.
[The Ninety-Nine Overlord Knight King has a very special proposal for you]
* * *
Rumble-rumble-rumble-
With the sudden vibration and noise, the members of the Silver Compass Merchant Guild and the mercenaries all raised their heads.
An enormous amount of dust was swirling just beyond the hill.
“…What is it, bandits?”
“They have the nerve to attack so close to the border city.”
Of course, no one was greatly flustered.
This was the Badlands.
Nothing that happened there would be strange.
“Let’s chase them off quickly.”
But their composure and fighting spirit did not last long.
The moment a dark flash shot out from the sword of a man who broke through the vanguard.
A cry of shock erupted.
“Holy Power!?”
Confusion spread instantly.
“…A Paladin, it’s a Paladin!”
“My god, it’s Lutian’s Army!”
“No, why are those guys…!”
What reason could the Holy Army possibly have for attacking an ordinary merchant guild?
Of course, it was well-known that the faithful despised heretics.
But launching such a large-scale attack in a neutral zone was ironic.
“Dad… are you okay?”
“Yor.”
Kalian looked at his trembling daughter.
The Holy Army was coming.
That meant his identity had been discovered.
He didn’t know why.
There might be a traitor in the Order, or his movements might have been tracked.
But the reason was not important now.
‘Why now…!’
He was on a journey north to cure his daughter’s illness.
Since it was a personal errand, not an organization operation, he had only mobilized the guild’s forces.
It was to avoid burdening the Order, which was suffering from a manpower shortage.
However, that decision had led to an irreversible tragedy.
‘…There is no way to survive.’
Kalian fell into a despair beyond words.
‘I must commit suicide.’
He could not be dragged to the Theocracy’s torture chambers.
He prided himself on his ability to endure physical pain, but the Theocracy’s torture was on a different level.
No matter how strong-willed he was, it would not take long before he spilled the organization’s secrets.
If that happened, the Order, which was just beginning to spread its wings, would suffer a great blow.
…I must absolutely not be caught.
Rustle-
With trembling hands, Kalian took out a small wooden box from his chest.
It was a pill for suicide.
He broke it in half and offered it to his daughter.
“…D, Dad?”
“…Swallow it.”
“W, what is this?”
“Don’t talk back, swallow it quickly!”
Kalian knew how cruel the Theocracy’s people were.
Even his daughter, who knew nothing, would be subjected to harsh torture simply because she was his blood.
‘This is right.’
The situation of giving poison to his daughter.
Every second was hell.
Kalian closed his eyes tightly and pushed his hand forward.
“Quickly!”
“Dad, calm down first….”
“I told you to swallow it quickly!”
“No, outside….”
“Yor!”
It was at the same moment that Yor threw the poison to the floor.
“No!!!!! Swallow it or not, just look outside!!!!”
“…Huh?”
Contrary to Kalian’s thoughts.
Something quite unexpected was happening outside.
* * *
[Skill, Knight’s Swordsmanship Lv.2 is temporarily converted to Knight King’s Swordsmanship Lv.10]
[Stigma, ‘He Who Raises His Head’ is temporarily converted to Stigma, ‘The One Who Looks Down’]
[New skills are temporarily acquired]
-Forced Defeat Lv.5
-Overlord’s Eye Lv.10
-Ninety-Nine Sword Emperor Lv.1
-Time of Extermination…
A cold, silver energy flowed through his bones.
The Stigma blazed across his entire body, starting from his fingertips, up his forearm, to his shoulder.
His heart pounded as if it would burst, and his vision repeatedly darkened and reopened.
But it didn’t hurt at all.
Instead, his body gradually grew hotter, and a storm-like power surged from somewhere.
Gunter, in a daze as if dreaming, grasped that power.
And swung it without mercy.
Screeeech-!
[Knight King’s Swordsmanship Lv.10 is activated]
Sword energy? Sword wind?
He didn’t know what to call what shot out from the tip of his sword.
An intangible force imbued with immense cutting power swept straight ahead.
Swish-
The Holy Army soldiers in its path simultaneously thought.
‘What is that sound?’
It was neither a metallic sound nor a sharp collision.
It was an incredibly smooth sound.
That sound, like shears cutting silk,
stood out amidst the clamor of battle and pierced their ears.
And then-
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Twenty necks fell.
“……”
“……”
For a moment, the battlefield held its breath.
Even allies were no exception.
They all stared at Gunter with wide eyes, forgetting even to swing their weapons.
“…G, Gunter?”
“No, what in the….”
“Crazy….”
The Holy Army soldiers were no different.
They, who had expected a one-sided massacre, were now just rolling their eyes and looking at each other.
Their expressions were like hunters who had been bitten on the neck by a rabbit.
But Gunter didn’t have the energy to care about them.
Ting-!
Ting-!
Ting-!
Dozens of notification sounds overlapped.
Gunter read the rapidly scrolling messages before him from the beginning.
[The Karma you offered seeps into ‘The Ninety-Nine Overlord Knight King’]
[A change occurs in the Divine Rank, ‘The Ninety-Nine Overlord Knight King’]
[His rank temporarily increases]
[He temporarily regains his noble form from the past]
It was difficult to comprehend.
Did Karma affect a god’s ‘rank’?
And what was this about his noble form from the past?
Then, one message particularly caught his eye.
[The elevated Divine Rank responds to your origin and descends into this world]
‘…Descends?’
Gunter finally came to his senses.
‘What just happened to me?’
After a few deep breaths.
As the heat and dizziness that had been pressing down on his body gradually subsided, Gunter finally realized his situation.
In the place where the center of his consciousness had collapsed, ‘something’ had settled.
Drawn to it, he called out its name.
‘…Knight King.’
[Gunter, you have regained consciousness sooner than expected]
The voice was low and deep with resonance.
It was not heard by his ears.
It penetrated his mind, imprinting a resonance that was neither thought nor sound.
Gunter gritted his teeth at that strange presence.
‘Am I in a Divine Possession state right now?’
[That is correct]
Gunter finally remembered what had happened five minutes ago.
[The Ninety-Nine Overlord Knight King proposes temporary Divine Possession in exchange for 500 Karma]
Divine Possession is the phenomenon of a god temporarily descending into a body.
The caster can become one with the god for a moment and wield its authority.
It was a function that existed in the game as well, but even Gunter had few memories of using it.
‘It never happens with ordinary offerings.’
It was an option only dreamable after completing a special event or the god’s scenario and becoming an ‘Apostle’.
‘…And I can do that in Act 1, Scene 1?’
No matter how high his affinity or trust with the Knight King, Divine Possession at this point was impossible.
…No, he had believed it was impossible.
‘Karma….’
Gunter swallowed a bitter laugh and lowered his head.
‘…What kind of ability is this that makes anything possible?’
At the dizzyingly dangerous sensation that ran down his spine.
[Act]
Gunter instinctively raised his head.
“Dieeeee!”
The Paladin’s sword, clad in black radiance, was rapidly plunging towards his crown.
There was no carelessness in his contorted face.
It was a blow condensed with all the Holy Power he could muster.
In his past lives, he would have had to give up at least a limb to barely survive.
…But not anymore.
[Overlord’s Eye Lv.10 is activated]
Whoooooosh-!
His vision twisted and distorted.
The world flowed slowly like a sluggish nightmare, but conversely, everything within it became piercingly clear.
At the moment when the sword strike, which was difficult even to follow with his eyes, felt as slow as a shadow in water.
Gunter encountered a strange scene.
‘This…?’
Red lines were wrapped around the Paladin.
Through the gaps in his armor, at his joints, along the artery below his neck.
Those lines subtly trembled, pinpointing his vulnerable spots and moments of carelessness in real-time.
They were not simply weak points.
‘It’s the most fatal weakness he failed to notice….’
Cognitive acceleration and weakness detection.
What a formidable ability this was.
But Gunter lowered his sword without cutting the ‘lines’.
‘I can’t let him go that easily.’
He had something better than a sword.
Click-!
“……”
“……”
A moment of silence.
The Paladin stared blankly at his sword, caught between Gunter’s fingers.
Gunter finally let out a refreshing laugh.
“Peek-a-boo.”
[The Bloated King hastily turns his back, avoiding your gaze]
Hiss- hiss- hiss-
The black radiance that had enveloped the enemy’s sword subsided.
The Paladin’s face turned pale.
The blessing of the god that had supported him,
the power he had believed to be so absolute,
now no longer protected him.
“G, God….”
It was just one word,
but it contained everything.
The despair of one who crumbles before the irresistible.
The fear of one who senses death.
It was what he had been giving to Gunter and his companions, enjoying it until his very last life.
“You bastard….”
Thwack-!
Gunter kicked the Paladin’s knee, forcing him to his knees, and grinned.
“Must be nice to only have to die once.”
His sword drew a cheerful arc.
.
.
.
Ting-!
[Congratulations! The Holy Army soldiers threatening the ‘Silver Compass’ Merchant Guild have been routed]
[Act 1, Scene 1 – Cleared!]
[MVP – Gunter Sirhe]
[Calculating clear rank…]
[Stage clear rewards will be settled soon]
[※ Due to performance exceeding expectations, additional rewards are being adjusted. Settlement may be slightly delayed]