Ch.109109. Psychic Knight

# ‘The Knight’

This monster, a member of the ‘Named’ beasts who are repeatedly sighted across battlefields and reappear with new bodies even after being killed, is one of only five monsters that was both the first to be sighted by humans and has no confirmed record of successful extermination.

When an Armored Moon was destroyed during the Earth invasion by a ‘Doomsday-class’ Hive Ship.

Among the 201 ships escaping from there, ‘The Knight’ first appeared on the largest vessel carrying the most people, and proceeded to turn 195 ships into ghost ships single-handedly before disappearing after being hit by a space nuclear torpedo.

Naturally, everyone thought ‘The Knight’ had died there, but as if mocking that belief, ‘The Knight’ appeared again in the middle of the Quen System conquest—

A psychic user who had participated in both battlefields revealed that these two instances were actually the same entity, and ‘The Knight’ added to its infamy by killing more than 20 high-ranking mercenaries in this conquest alone—and continued to be periodically sighted on various battlefields, claiming countless lives.

Observed over approximately 30 millennia, it has killed “at least” 1 million humans, and considering aliens and indirect kills, the death toll approaches 100 million.

This is the black-armored monster walking toward John right now—’The Knight.’

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why, why is such a notorious monster invading an ordinary cargo ship like this?!!!’

The situation is desperate enough for John to inwardly scream profanities.

This monster has killed at least several thousand high-ranking hunters, and once easily blocked a coordinated attack from 12 First-Class Hunters—a monster among monsters, considering it’s remarkable to find even 5 First-Class Hunters on a single planet.

And it’s precisely because John has reached a certain level as a psychic user and martial artist that he can recognize this monster’s true caliber.

The psychic energy equivalent to a destroyer-class ship—despite most of it being contained with only a small fraction leaking out—yet exceeding John’s total psychic energy; control so perfect that there’s no physical impact on the surroundings despite such enormous energy; and martial arts skills of an unfathomably high level evident in its mere gait.

John isn’t confident he could defeat ‘The Knight’ even with a truckload of copies of himself. Being sliced in half would happen faster than any attempt to escape.

In this impossible situation, just as John anxiously tried to aim his weapon—

“………..”

‘The Knight’ effortlessly deflected gunfire from crew members behind it while raising one hand and clenching it tightly in the air—

—CRUNCH!

At that moment, as sounds that were presumably crew members’ bodies being crushed came from behind, John felt tremendous pressure on his entire body, as if he would be crushed at any moment.

“Kh, khhh!”

Air escaped from his physically compressed lungs, his psychic energy circulation and enhanced muscles and bones creaked under strain, and cracks formed in his protective metal plates.

Though his abilities as a psychic user were several levels higher, the monster’s finesse in controlling telekinesis was incomparably superior. No matter how John tried to counter the telekinetic restraint, the opponent easily blocked his attempts using psychic power.

Trapped in this impossible situation, John determined he couldn’t win through conventional methods—so he gambled.

Click.

Using telekinesis, he pulled the pin from an anti-psychic grenade among the many auxiliary weapons holstered at his waist and detonated it.

KABOOOOOOM!!!!

With a deafening explosion, anti-psychic powder rapidly filled the surroundings, and the telekinetic force compressing his body naturally dissolved like melting snow, breaking down into psychic energy upon contact with the powder.

The telekinetic force that had been crushing him served as a shield against the explosion’s pressure, while the psychic-neutralizing powder… being from an inexpensive grenade, had already exceeded its effective duration (5 seconds) and turned into harmless powder.

“Hnngh!”

WHOOOOSH—WHOOOOM!

Having escaped the restraint through his bold gamble, he immediately launched a powerful overhead slash, even using the one-time rocket booster on the back of his blade in an attempt to do something, but…

—Tap.

‘The Knight’ easily defended against his all-out strike by simply catching the blade between its thumb and index finger.

“Wh-what strength…!!!”

Despite straining with all his might to either strike down or retrieve his sword, the greatsword caught in ‘The Knight’s’ hand didn’t budge an inch.

Like it was embedded in what he’d only heard described as a “sucking cliff,” the sword didn’t move at all.

Normally in such a situation, John would immediately abandon the weapon and retreat, but right now he couldn’t even think that far.

It was like a camper suddenly facing Jason in a hockey mask—maintaining rationality would be the stranger response.

So when John, after struggling to retrieve his weapon, finally remembered he could simply abandon it, the fact that he immediately let go of the sword and stepped back proved he was indeed an excellent veteran solo mercenary.

…Shing.

Stepping back, John immediately drew a backup sword about the size of a longsword from the space-expanded scabbard at his waist and glared at ‘The Knight.’

CLANG!

As John channeled psychic energy into the blade, he saw ‘The Knight’ silently drop the greatsword it had been holding. Immediately, he leaped forward, attempting to thrust his sword into ‘The Knight’s’ neck.

Using even the gas propulsion built into his still-intact metal greaves, it was an attack worthy of being called his ultimate strike, but…

Whoosh—SLASH.

CLANG!

‘It—it cut through?’

‘The Knight’ drew a zweihander-like greatsword from thin air, sliced through John’s blade with a swing, and then—as it seemed to withdraw the greatsword—swung it again at a speed John could barely react to.

‘—Did I dodge it?’

As John hurriedly leaned his upper body backward and began to fall, he thought this while trying to use a breakfall technique to create distance.

‘Wh-what’s happening…?’

But for some reason, his body wouldn’t move at all.

In this bizarre situation, John tried desperately to look around, but even that proved difficult, adding to his confusion—

‘—Oh.’

The moment he saw a headless body falling backward, John finally realized his own death.

※ ※ ※

THUD!

As the headless corpse collapsed and the severed head rolled away.

‘…Another one-hit kill, huh.’

Toward the high-ranking mercenary who had seemed to put up grand resistance only to lose his head in a single strike—someone ‘The Knight’ had actually been looking forward to fighting—’The Knight’ felt inner disappointment.

[Come on, how many monsters in this universe could actually beat someone like you? You expected too much from a mere Rank 3 mercenary.]

And in response to ‘The Knight’s’ disappointed grumbling, the zweihander—Anitheos—openly mocked ‘The Knight’—Seri—while complaining.

[Besides, Seri~. If you’re that desperate to fight someone strong, why not go find the Commander-in-Chief or my sister?]

“I don’t want to be one-sidedly beaten up, nor do I want to fight your sister who isn’t even a swordsman! I just want someone equal to me—”

[—Yes, yes. You want to cross swords with a swordsman equal to you. How many times have I heard this complaint now?]

Seri, who had become a battle-crazed maniac over about 8,000 years, and Anitheos, who had grown unnecessarily talkative and chatty, continued their internal conversation while cutting down mercenaries and combat crew members blocking their path toward their objective.

‘Ah. Anitheos, give me electricity.’

[Aye, would I ever refuse~?]

The two (?) who had spent thousands of years together moved as if they were one body, easily breaking through the coordinated attack of a high-ranking mercenary duo hired to protect the ship, while bickering internally. Eventually, they reached their destination.

‘Is this the place, Anitheos?’

[Yes, and please try to memorize these things yourself instead of making me do it.]

‘My sword talks too much.’

[Hey!]

Cargo Hold Zero, located right next to the ship’s engine—one of the most heavily guarded places on the ship.

Retrieving the Psychic Knight—called Moonstone (月光石) in ancient times—stored here was one of the reasons why the esteemed ‘Knight’ personally raided this civilian fleet.