Chapter 88:The Knight Longs for Battle (3)

Keldric was certain the moment he saw the scene inside the house.

‘These bastards!’

The ones who implanted the parasitic larvae in Lord Ortwin’s body were right before his eyes.

The things crawling on the floor were strikingly similar to the parasitic larvae he had seen before.

Moreover, the old man and the sturdy, bronze-skinned youth standing in front of them looked suspicious at a glance.

The bronze-skinned youth, looking at Keldric, had slightly dark golden eyes that gleamed.

His bright bronze skin and curly beard were impressive. Keldric didn’t know the purpose of the flame brand on his forehead.

Keldric immediately recognized that he was not an Imperial. The old man next to him looked like any other Imperial, but not the sturdy, bronze-skinned youth.

Come to think of it, the parasitic larvae were remnants of witchcraft cast by witches from distant pagan lands.

The thought that they might be pagans filled Keldric’s mind.

Keldric twirled the mace in his hand. The clattering sound echoed through the quiet house.

“Surrender now, and I’ll only break your limbs.”

The tension in the cramped house reached its peak.

It felt like Keldric alone filled half the house, and with two more people inside, it was suffocating.

“…Knight. We don’t know anything.”

In the end, it was the unidentified old man who spoke first. Keldric’s tin-can helmet turned towards him.

“You don’t know?”

“Yes. We were just doing as we were told, we don’t know exactly what these things are―.”

“What’s that in your hand?”

The old man looked blankly at the vial in his hand. A suspicious, grayish-white liquid sloshed inside.

“Th, this is…”

“There’s a cauldron over there that looks like it was just used. If it contains the same thing, then your words are false.”

Cornered, the old man moved his lips, searching for something to say.

But in this situation, there was no room for excuses.

“…Ah, damn it! Zamash! Kill the knight!”

Finally, the old man, his patience exhausted, shouted.

However, Keldric, already aware of the curved sword of the bronze-skinned youth called Zamash, quickly took a step back.

Clang!

As Keldric stepped back and raised his mace, the curved blade rushed towards Keldric’s face.

The blade of the curved sword was blocked by the mace, sending sparks flying.

‘Fast!’

Keldric looked at Zamash with slight surprise. The way he wielded the curved sword was extraordinary.

The speed was not slow for his size, and he was quick, so most people would allow the first attack before they knew it.

However, that only worked for clueless rookie mercenaries.

It doesn’t work on a knight, a heavily armored, unstoppable human tank.

Bang!

Keldric kicked Zamash, who was retrieving his curved sword.

Zamash quickly crossed his arms to barely block it, but Keldric’s strength was too much to completely deflect the impact.

“Keuhuk!”

Zamash, who had broken a table and flown away, barely had time to catch his breath before Keldric’s mace was swung like lightning towards Zamash’s head.

Terrified, Zamash widened his eyes and quickly ducked his head.

Thwack!

Dust and stone fragments rained down. The wall that Keldric’s mace hit was dented and cracked.

A shabby house in a gloomy alley. There was no way the wall of this dilapidated house could withstand Keldric’s full-force mace swing.

As soon as his first attack failed, Keldric immediately attempted a second attack.

“Heup!”

It was a punch filled with all his momentum. His left fist, faster than the mace, rushed towards Zamash’s side.

But at that moment, Keldric felt a chill and quickly retracted his fist, creating distance.

A stream of fire shot towards where Keldric had been standing.

Keldric looked at it with slightly narrowed eyes. Following the stream of fire, he saw the old man’s hand at its origin.

The old man, holding unidentified vials in his hands, shouted, wary of Keldric.

“Zamash! You idiot! Don’t try to fight him with strength!”

“Kueuk…!”

The youth named Zamash quickly regained his posture. However, the strength in his arm was weaker than before.

It must be because he hurriedly blocked Keldric’s kick, causing a problem with his arm.

That was good for Keldric. Keldric’s body, twirling the mace, shot out like an arrow again.

Keldric kicked off the floor and rushed not towards Zamash, but towards the old man.

The mace rushed in like an angry wolf. It was trying to bite the old man’s half-bald head.

However, the old man was not an opponent to be underestimated. The old man, hurriedly stepping back, threw the vial in his hand to the floor.

The vial shattered on the floor with a clang, releasing an unpleasant odor. Recognizing it, Keldric immediately moved away from the liquid spreading on the floor.

Sizzle-!

The grayish-white liquid that touched the floor emitted smoke with an ominous sound. The stone floor gradually cracked and melted.

He didn’t know what it was, but it seemed like armor wouldn’t matter if he touched that stuff. It would probably melt everything until it pierced a hole through Keldric’s body and out the other side.

Keldric heightened his vigilance towards the two men even more.

Fortunately, the liquid spreading on the floor was slightly viscous, so it didn’t splatter everywhere.

Suddenly, a sharp curved sword was swung at Keldric’s neck.

Keldric tried to avoid it, but changed his mind. It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to win if he kept dodging and fighting.

Even if he dragged out the time, Keldric’s stamina wouldn’t run out first, but he didn’t know what other strange attacks the unidentified Zamash and the old man might prepare.

Keldric’s rough grip firmly grabbed Zamash’s curved sword. The disadvantage of a single-edged sword was that it was useless if you grabbed the part that wasn’t the blade.

As if to prove it, Keldric, who had grabbed the back of the curved sword with ghostly precision, tightened his grip strongly.

“Y, you brute…!”

Zamash, who was trying to retrieve the curved sword, looked visibly flustered.

Indeed, no matter how much he pulled, the curved sword didn’t budge. It was as if it had stopped in mid-air.

Zamash, who was quick-witted, quickly released the curved sword. Then, he raised his clenched left hand and brought it to his mouth.

Keldric sensed that it was a very dangerous attack. Next to him, the old man was already trying to throw another vial.

But he couldn’t keep avoiding it. It was right to finish off at least one of them quickly.

“You knight bastard! Just die already!”

Whoosh!

At the same time as the old man’s shout, a flame like a dragon’s breath burst from Zamash’s mouth.

Sparkling powder crackled and burned within it. One of the vials the old man threw was cutting through the air towards Keldric.

In that instant, Keldric felt as if everything was moving slightly slower.

Extreme concentration infinitely expands a person’s potential.

That was the case with Keldric now. If he wanted to avoid both, he could lightly move his body diagonally, but he felt like he would miss both of them if he did that.

‘Can I do it?’

The flames spewed by Zamash crackled and approached menacingly like fireworks.

The vial thrown by the old man had already been thrown accurately at Keldric’s head.

Keldric’s body was already rushing towards Zamash without being able to dodge.

There was no time.

‘I can do it.’

However, it was more than enough for Keldric.

Whoosh!

The surging flames heated up right above Keldric’s head. While kicking off the ground, Keldric’s body was almost crawling on the floor.

Zamash’s golden eyes, belatedly following Keldric’s figure, widened greatly. It was an unbelievable movement.

The vial thrown by the old man slightly brushed Keldric’s left shoulder, causing its trajectory to be distorted and thrown out of the entrance without a door. The old man let out a silent scream.

They had coordinated their attacks many times, but he dodged them while running forward!

The two had no time to be astonished.

Instead of backing away, Keldric’s iron fist, having closed the distance and dodged both attacks, rushed towards Zamash’s side.

Thwack!

“Keoheok…?!”

Zamash’s face turned pale in an instant as he made a strange sound, and his bronze body tilted towards the floor. He had been hit accurately in the liver.

Keldric immediately turned his body towards the old man. In the process, the mace in his right hand whipped Zamash’s arm as he fell.

Crack-! 

A gruesome sound, as if a bone had broken, echoed chillingly.

Zamash’s eyes, unable to breathe, widened as if they would pop out. Keldric rushed towards the old man without paying attention.

“W, wait! Knight! Let’s talk first-!”

“Useless!”

Bang! Bang! Thwack!

Keldric’s mace was swung towards the old man, but the old man, skillfully rolling on the floor, barely avoided it.

The wall, hit three times in a row by the mace, cracked precariously.

The old man, glancing at it, swallowed hard. If he was hit by that, wherever it was, it would be completely smashed and his bones would be turned to dust.

The old man’s wrinkled hand, having hurriedly dodged, was already fumbling to take out a vial from his pocket.

He threw it at Keldric again, but Keldric dodged it by simply tilting his head without even seeing it properly.

The vial, hitting the wall and breaking, bubbled with a sour smell.

It was the old man’s last desperate attack. In the first place, all the old man, who had no talent for combat, could do was this.

‘Oh, shit…!’

The old man bit his pale lips tightly. Death, which had come close, seemed to flicker ominously.

The old man had killed three knights so far. One was a clueless knight from the Frank Kingdom, and the other two were all old Imperial knights.

Keldric in front of him was clearly different from them.

Although he was young, he didn’t let his guard down or become arrogant, and his strong body, which was not aging and was at its peak, didn’t give an opening.

He was not an opponent the old man could win against. No, it would be the same no matter who he brought.

“You goddamn knight!!”

The old man’s shrill voice echoed throughout the house. But immediately after, the old man trembled greatly and closed his mouth.

Keldric, who had strode towards the old man, was as cold as a piece of cold iron.

A killing machine wearing steel armor, trained from childhood to kill people. A butcher of the battlefield.

His face, hidden by the helmet, was even alien. When he killed people, no guilt would arise on the face inside.

Defining and killing the enemy was the knight’s honor, and the glory and privilege that only knights could enjoy.

Fear had been a weakness that had gripped people’s hearts for a long time, and knights entering battle did not succumb to fear but used it as a weapon.

Keldric was skilled at it. Each step he took, even the steps he took, were taken with heavy fear.

Was this, was this really the same person?

“Stay still if you want to live.”

“….!”

Keldric’s mace was raised high. The old man realized that it was meant to break his limbs, and shouted in a desperate voice.

“Zamash! Now!”

‘……!”

Keldric hurriedly turned his head. Zamash, who should have been lying on the floor, was already struggling to stand up.

Zamash’s eyes burned brightly with a golden light. The flame-patterned brand on his forehead was the same.

Keldric felt a chill run down his spine for the first time. What was running down his spine was clearly a warning of ‘danger.’

His body moved quickly. Before even going through his brain, his hand, moving only according to instinct like a beast, firmly grabbed the old man’s collar.

“Kehk! Kehehk!”

Whether the old man was gasping for breath or not, Keldric, having snatched him, quickly threw himself out the door.

The time it took to roll across the ground and get as far away as possible was about three seconds.

———!!

Immediately after, a tremendous roar struck Keldric’s ears.

As it was, he was wearing a helmet, so the sound echoed inside it. It was enough to momentarily disorient Keldric.

Following that, a massive amount of dirt and stone fragments rained down.

Fearing that the captured old man might die, Keldric instinctively shielded him.

The falling stone fragments struck the ground wildly, like raindrops. The thick dust had already blurred his vision.

After enduring that for a while, the continuous falling debris stopped.

Keldric slowly rose to his feet. His creaking greaves, having slid across the ground as he lowered his posture, were scratched and dented here and there.

“Cough! Cough! Kah…!”

While the old man, who owed his life to Keldric, coughed as if he were about to die, Keldric’s large hand fanned away the dust.

“What…”

After the dust had cleared somewhat, Keldric saw what had been ‘home’ until just moments ago.

The collapsed building was not just the hideout where the old man and Zamash had been hiding. Two or three buildings next to it had also collapsed completely. It was a miracle that the debris hadn’t buried Keldric.

Keldric stared at it with a bewildered expression.

Zamash was nowhere to be seen.

That Zamash’s body was the source of such a large explosion was something Keldric could tell without even asking the old man.

‘This crazy…’

The sudden battle ended in a way Keldric had never imagined.