Ch.138The Lost One (5)

The Helm Knight did not draw his sword.

The chain-wrapped greatsword remained tied at his waist, its blade still sheathed. Instead of drawing it, he pointed the spear he was holding at Najin. Najin stared at the spearhead aimed at him.

It was a uniquely shaped spear. It looked like a cross-shaped star stretched upward, not a conventional spear design. A spear capable of both thrusting and slashing. Najin’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Tak, tadak……

Sparks leap up and fade away. New sparks fly from the campfire, then fade again in that moment.

Thud.

Najin stomped the ground. His heart beat rapidly, accelerating his blood flow and mana. The constellation that bloomed like a flower above his sword became thorny vines that wrapped around his blade. The sword energy compressed on the longsword’s blade.

Widely dispersed sword energy is useful for cutting magic, blocking, or intercepting ranged weapons. In close combat like this where weapon meets weapon, compressing sword energy was more efficient. Especially when facing someone stronger than oneself.

‘I need to increase the density of the sword energy.’

Sword energy compressed to its limit. White and golden flashes constantly flickered from the blade. A brilliance incomparable to the light from the campfire. The moment the Helm Knight’s body moved slightly in that flash, Najin kicked off the ground and charged.

Tick.

The time it took was just over a second.

By the time a spark leaped up and faded, Najin was swinging his sword toward the Helm Knight. From the start, Najin attacked with full force. His opponent deserved nothing less.

The blade cut through the air, diving forward.

While it felt like a perfect strike to Najin…

CLAAANG!

The Helm Knight saw otherwise. Compared to Najin’s dramatic movements, the Helm Knight’s were light. Light but unwavering. The gray aura blooming over the spearhead completely caught Najin’s sword.

Then, a spin.

He rotated the spear shaft. Najin’s sword, caught in the cross-shaped spearhead, rotated with the shaft. With Najin’s torso exposed, the Helm Knight extended his leg toward the opening.

Najin switched from holding his sword with both hands to one, simultaneously extending his hand to catch the Helm Knight’s kick. With a grinding sound, his fingers screamed in pain under the greave, but it was bearable.

Using the momentum from being pushed back by the kick, Najin spun in place. His sword, previously caught between the spearhead, scraped free with a “KAGAGAGAK!” The motion of pulling out the sword, retreating, and spinning in place flowed naturally. Because it was so natural, adding one more movement wasn’t particularly difficult.

An attack following the evasion.

The blade, empowered by centrifugal force, immediately struck toward the Helm Knight. Predictably, he counterattacked. With a KAANG, sword energy and aura collided. Najin was pushed back by the repulsive force. He looked up as he was forced backward.

The Helm Knight’s and Najin’s gazes met.

An exchange completed in an instant. Just a few collisions. But enough to gauge each other’s level. They both burst into laughter simultaneously. The Helm Knight gripped his spear with both hands and stepped forward.

“Here I come.”

“By all means.”

Duel, commence.

2.

When the Helm Knight switched to offense, what Najin felt was surprise. And simultaneously, bewilderment. Not just from the brute strength generated by a body twice Najin’s size, but something more.

Thud, the Helm Knight stomped the ground and thrust his spear.

Written as a single sentence, but Najin’s eyes could read what existed in the spaces between those words.

The depth of his foot digging into the ground with a resonant thud. The precise movement of arm and shoulder. The angle of the spearhead and the extension of his arm, and the exquisite distribution of force. All these movements meshed like gears. Nothing excessive, nothing lacking. Each movement was perfect, so the strike they created together was perfect as well.

SWAAAACK!

Najin widened his eyes before the approaching spearhead. He was pushed back the moment he blocked the strike. And his opponent didn’t stop at one blow. Movement flowed into movement. Each strike combined to create a flow.

Clang, KAANG!

Sword energy and aura collided, sending sparks flying. Lightning flashed before Najin’s eyes too. Not the physical flashes created by the collision, but danger signals sent by his heightened senses.

‘Insane.’

Najin groaned and simultaneously marveled.

Even with Najin’s rapidly moving eyes, it was difficult to follow the Helm Knight’s movements, and even harder to read them. Considering Najin’s dynamic vision and talent for “seeing,” this was astonishing.

Most movements he could decipher after seeing them once. It was rare for him to fall for the same attack twice, and he immediately understood how to perform those movements himself. That was Najin’s talent and the advantage he had always relied on.

But it didn’t work against his current opponent.

He needed to see the same movement two or three times more just to barely understand it. He could understand but couldn’t replicate it. The exquisite distribution of force created by near-perfect bodily control was still beyond Najin’s reach.

‘Transcendent. Superhuman.’

Those called Masters, who have mastered a single weapon. Najin couldn’t yet replicate their techniques. The man before him was the same. Even if he wasn’t currently a transcendent, he clearly had been one in the past.

Even if stars, auras, and sword energy might erode.

The techniques they’ve built up never do.

The Helm Knight’s technique was perfect. He pressed Najin relentlessly. Najin, blood vessels bulging in his eyes, withstood the Helm Knight’s attacks. Then, breaking the flow, he began to counterattack. Simply taking hits didn’t suit his temperament.

CLAAAAAANG!

Sword energy and aura collided and repelled each other. When Najin began to counterattack, the Helm Knight burst into laughter. As if he’d been waiting for this, he began to showcase different techniques.

As if saying, try to handle this too.

Najin rose to the challenge. SWAAAACK! He caught the spear that cut through the air by holding his sword at an angle. The moment spear and sword connected, he twisted his sword to match the Helm Knight’s movement as he switched from thrusting to slashing with the spear shaft. He twisted the trajectory of the spearhead.

WHOOSH! The spear shaft passed over Najin’s head. A spearhead already swung once—the larger its range and power, the larger the opening created when a strike misses. It should be large, but.

CRACK!

The Helm Knight stomped the ground and firmly gripped his spear shaft. The tendons in his arm, visible through broken armor, stretched taut. Then he swung his arm downward. The trajectory of the spearhead, which had been drawing an arc, changed. The trajectory bent and struck downward like a hammer.

When an attack misses, it creates a larger opening than other weapons. That’s a disadvantage of spears. A warrior who has reached transcendence would certainly know this weakness and would have developed techniques to overcome it.

THUD! Najin’s knees creaked as he hastily raised his sword to block the spear. He felt like he would be crushed under the pressing weight. But he endured. Endured and counterattacked.

Clang, KAANG!

Several exchanges occurred in a single second. Each read the other’s movements and thought about their next move. Sometimes those predictions were right, sometimes wrong. Each time, improvisation and split-second judgment filled the gaps.

SWOOOSH!

Najin slid backward after blocking an attack. But he immediately regained his stance and charged toward the Helm Knight again. This was different from Najin’s usual tactics.

He didn’t hide. Didn’t use the terrain. Didn’t run away or create distance. Didn’t look for variables. He simply faced his opponent head-on with dignity.

Not the combat style of Ivan’s hunting dog.

But the combat style of Ivan’s descendant and knight.

Despite being at a disadvantage, despite clearly being weaker than his opponent, Najin didn’t back down. He faced the Helm Knight honestly, directly. The Helm Knight understood this fact. Though his face was hidden by his helmet, he wore the same expression as Najin.

Expectation of the opponent. Excitement. And leaking smiles.

This was a life-or-death battle. A savage combat where blood sprayed, bones broke, and flesh tore. But so what?

This was a duel. A duel conducted after declaring each other’s names.

There was an obligation to face each other with fairness, honor, and pride. Who would call this duel barbaric? As long as the two approached the duel seriously, it was sacred.

CLAAAAAANG!

No fight is without variables. Victory and defeat are determined by small details. Battles where one completely overwhelms the other through sheer force rarely happen. Yet, many warriors and knights desire such fights.

That’s why duels exist.

Thud, THUD.

Piles of stones collapsed, obscuring vision. Until the dust settled, neither Najin nor the Helm Knight attacked each other. They merely swung their weapons to clear the dust. Seeing each other’s actions through the settling dust, both exhaled with smiles.

Then, spear and sword crossed again.

It was stubborn. Even childish fighting.

There were no established rules. Implicit rules, rules that no one would complain about if broken. Despite being a life-or-death battle, both maintained courtesy toward each other. They observed the rules.

Some might mock it as stupid, point fingers at its stubbornness, but… that’s what chivalry is. Honor, pride, and romance are just a hair’s breadth from childishness.

This is a duel.

What did others’ opinions matter? Nothing was important except the opponent clashing spear against sword before their eyes.

CLANG!

The two observed each other’s sword energy.

Ka, gagagagak!

Najin’s sword energy was a brilliant white line with golden sparkles connecting the lines. Sword energy resembling a constellation. Uneroded by time, it shone brilliantly.

THUD!

In contrast, the Helm Knight’s aura was gray. Ashen. An aura faded by time and countless experiences, like looking at old, rusted armor. But when it collided with Najin’s sword, his aura shone mournfully.

As if crying out, I can still shine!

‘Can you handle this?’

‘Not yet. Is this all you’ve got?’

They displayed techniques to each other. With each of Najin’s movements, the Helm Knight revealed one technique after another. As if to see how far Najin could follow.

The precarious tightrope walk continued. After it went on and on, the Helm Knight took a breath.

The air changed.

He showed a stance different from before. Najin sensed it. A major technique was coming. Najin widened his eyes, taking in the Helm Knight’s movements.

He stomped the ground. Holding the spear with both hands, he tucked it against his side. Lowering his stance, he twisted the hand gripping the spear shaft. His armor made a clamorous sound, and his muscles could be heard creaking. It looked as if he was compressing power to its limit.

Then, the compressed power was released.

The Helm Knight thrust his spear. Najin couldn’t see the movement. It was too fast. Like wringing out moisture, he twisted his entire body as the spear extended forward. The compressed power exploded from the spear tip.

The most basic technique, thrusting.

A technique simple beyond compare.

However, the basics (基本) performed by a Master-level warrior are anything but simple. The essence of martial arts (武) he had accumulated was loaded into the spear tip.

SWAAAAAAACK!

Air wrapped around the spearhead. The feather decorations tied to the spear swirled like a whirlwind. Though the spearhead didn’t rotate, the wrapped air created rotation. Najin couldn’t properly react to this strike. Raising his sword to block was the best he could do.

“…!”

The moment the storm bursting from the spear tip collided with Najin’s sword, his body floated in the air. Najin’s vision changed rapidly. The rocks surrounding him quickly left his field of vision. The Helm Knight standing right in front of him grew distant.

It wasn’t that he had moved.

Najin had been thrown backward.

KWAAAANG!

After flying for quite some time, Najin crashed into a large rock. As the rock crumbled under the impact, Najin coughed out a blocked breath. His back stung. His shoulders, arms, and fingers screamed in pain. Something was definitely broken.

Grr.

Gritting his teeth, Najin cleared away the pile of stones and stood up. The duel wasn’t over yet. He had to respond. Sure enough, the Helm Knight had closed the distance in an instant and was extending his spear toward Najin.

Najin raised his sword. The sword held by his broken arm trembled. To keep it from shaking, Najin reinforced it by pressing his arm against the flat of the blade. Even if he blocked like this, another arm would break, but that was better than having a hole punched through his body.

What next? What should he do next?

Najin’s mind raced.

But that worry was meaningless.

The next attack didn’t come. The Helm Knight’s spear had stopped in front of Najin’s sword. When Najin blinked and looked at the Helm Knight, he said with a smile:

“I’ve won. You’ll accept that, right?”

He gestured to Najin with his chin. A signal to acknowledge defeat. When Najin realized what the Helm Knight was saying, he burst into laughter.

Not all duels separate life and death.

When one acknowledges defeat after both have given their all, the duel ends there. There’s no need to separate by life and death when victory and defeat have been decided.

Just as Najin had turned the Helm Knight’s hunt into a duel, the Helm Knight had turned a life-and-death duel into an honorable contest.

“Yes, I’ve lost.”

Najin nodded and lowered his sword. The Helm Knight also lowered his spear and extended his hand to Najin. Grasping that hand, Najin stood up.

What remained at the end of the duel was not prey and hunter.

Nor was it the dead and the living.

There were only victor and vanquished.