Ch.3838. Honorable Warrior

# The Knight of Honor

Berger von Altrich, a decorated knight of Lindvale, suddenly stopped in his tracks, feeling an eerie chill run through his body.

“What’s wrong, sir?”

The young men following him asked in confused voices as they looked back. The passage was filled with pitch-black darkness, appearing no different than usual.

Yet Berger narrowed his brows as if seeing something beyond the darkness.

“We’re going back.”

After a long silence, Berger spoke. Without waiting for a response, he rushed ahead.

The young men looked at each other with bewildered expressions before finally moving their legs. Though they still didn’t understand, it was a squire’s duty to follow once a knight had made his decision.

And so, the group headed toward the ninth level.

***

The Minotaur did not know its name. It knew neither where it came from nor how it was born.

Its first memory began in an abyss where nothing could be seen.

A consciousness deeply submerged was awakened by a voice.

Fight.

That single word gave life to the Minotaur. It suppressed the primal instincts etched into its mind and granted it a faint intelligence.

When it opened its eyes, it was inside some cavern. But there was no time to enjoy the joy of beginning life.

It had to fulfill its given mission.

It had to fight. Against whom? That question vanished the moment it saw the golden-haired boy.

The Minotaur instinctively realized. That boy was the true reason for its birth.

Its heart pounded roughly with excitement, but there was a problem to deal with first. The scent of fear seeped through its nostrils. It turned around.

Vermin that would interfere with the glorious duel entered its sight. It didn’t take long to kill them.

“Are you ready?”

The Minotaur asked. The boy made a strange expression, and it asked again.

“Are you ready, young warrior?”

Only then did the boy nod. Sometimes hearts could connect even when languages differed.

This was one such moment.

The boy seemed concerned about his companion behind him. A needless worry. The Minotaur had no intention whatsoever of doing anything unseemly. Rather, it was truly delighted.

Because it could focus entirely on the boy alone!

The Minotaur raised its greatsword, suppressing its surging joy. Though this was its first time wielding it, somehow it fit perfectly in its hand, as if they had been together for ages.

On the other hand, it felt regretful. Even this ecstatic moment would soon come to an end.

The Minotaur wanted to enjoy this fight very slowly, at length. It earnestly hoped the boy would hold out as long as possible.

With such thoughts, it blinked.

A golden flash, bright as the sun, cut across the world.

***

What is holy flame? It is the flame manifested by a holy knight who has reached a certain level. Rex still didn’t know how he used holy flame. He simply moved as his body guided him. Still, he understood its effectiveness.

A weapon wrapped in holy flame becomes harder and sharper.

“Korr’zan!”

The Minotaur screamed. The wound carved into its upper body slowly opened, spewing purple blood.

Pain quickly turned into fighting spirit. The Minotaur’s arm swung like a whip. Rex stepped back, breathing heavily. At the same time, his extremely developed senses warned him. He quickly twisted his body as a piece of metal grazed his shoulder and plunged down.

Crash!

The Minotaur exerted force to pull its greatsword out of the floor. That was a clear opening. Rex’s extended blade pierced its solar plexus. As it dug into the flesh, a rib stopped the blade with a thud. Thus, it couldn’t reach the heart. Still, it must have been painful, but the Minotaur didn’t even blink as it retrieved its greatsword. A counterattack followed immediately.

Rex rolled on the floor. Once again, the Minotaur’s attack failed.

How much time had passed? If it had been 10 minutes, Elin would have already given a signal, so it must be less than that. He desperately wanted to ask how much longer he needed to wait, but there was no opportunity to look back.

Flicker. The holy flame wavered precariously, as if about to extinguish.

Many adventurers want to transcend the revelation stage. This flame was such a remarkable ability. Whether one could handle holy flame or not drastically changed the range of actions one could perform.

The fact that Rex could inflict damage on the Minotaur was all thanks to the holy flame.

But no power existed without a price.

Holy flame consumes divine power. And a lot of it.

Ordinary holy knights gain karma by defeating monsters in dungeons or performing special rituals. They settle accounts at sanctuaries and gradually accumulate divine power.

Rex was an exception.

The first blessing, Heart of Steel, makes its owner grow stronger as they overcome hardships and trials. In other words, he was becoming stronger at an incomparable speed compared to others.

Rex had never gauged how much energy he possessed in total. This was because he had received so much power in such a short period. Since he had never felt any lack until now, he had never bothered to find out.

Both manifesting blessings and physical enhancement were sufficient with what he currently had.

Not anymore.

‘It’s not enough.’

He could feel his divine power depleting in just a few minutes. Though it seemed like he was dominating on the surface, it was clear the situation would soon reverse.

There was only one reason Rex had been able to hold out so far.

[Usurper.]

A blessing that restores the body as one inflicts wounds on enemies. It was an ability he had recently received from Khaordix instead of the Wind God at the sanctuary. But even with the Usurper’s ability, it was difficult to sustain the power of holy flame.

Rex intuitively realized.

At this rate, it would be impossible to hold out until Elin’s magic was complete. The holy flame would soon extinguish. Judging by the rate at which divine power was depleting, it would last two minutes at most.

Naturally, without holy flame, he couldn’t inflict meaningful damage on the Minotaur. What would happen afterward wasn’t hard to imagine. He would be toyed with. Desperately focused only on dodging. The Minotaur, having regained its composure, would be far more threatening than now.

So what should he do?

The answer was obvious.

‘I must end this.’

Whoosh! A fierce aura like a storm spread around Rex. Seeing this, the Minotaur’s eyes also became resolute. Though they had met only for a moment, the intensity of the battle was different.

The Minotaur recognized Rex’s determination not as monster versus human, but as warrior versus warrior. Finally, the end. Though somewhat regretful, the Minotaur considered itself one who understood honor.

“Thrak’zul.”

Rex made a puzzled expression when the Minotaur suddenly stopped attacking and stepped back. But only briefly, as he aimed his greatsword Zweihander long beside his head and whispered softly.

“Here I come.”

The Minotaur answered.

“Druul, Khraal’nok!”

Come, brave warrior.

Rex took a deep breath and held it. Light flowed from his wide-open eyes. Then, an amount of holy flame incomparable to before surged from the blade. The flames left afterimages in the air, scattering like falling leaves.

Rex kicked off the ground and raised Zweihander upward.

Watching this scene.

The Minotaur suddenly recalled a memory that didn’t exist.

It felt as if it had witnessed such a sight before. The light emanating from the boy was so brilliantly splendid that an unbearable thrill ran down its skin. It let out a satisfied roar and swung its greatsword diagonally upward.

Clang—!

An ear-splitting noise erupted. The dust on the floor rose and was pushed back by the intense shockwave.

Each had summoned the maximum power they could muster, and they clashed precisely at the midpoint, beginning a test of strength—one trying to press down, the other pushing up.

Rex gritted his teeth as he felt his sword gradually being pushed back. Then, an unbelievable power surged from the pattern that had been as dry as an empty well. Rex unconsciously let out a battle cry.

“HAAAAAAAAAH!”

“GRAAAAAAAGH!”

A cracking sound of a blade fracturing was heard. The fine cracks spread like a spider web in an instant. The greatsword finally collapsed into countless fragments.

It was the Minotaur’s weapon that had broken.

Rex gazed at the Minotaur with calm eyes. What will you do now that you’ve lost your weapon? Will you charge again with that powerful body? That was the look in his eyes.

“Ghuur’vash. Grak’thul.”

The Minotaur calmly knelt down. At this unexpected action, Rex’s expression twisted.

It was truly incomprehensible. Was this creature before him really a monster? This behavior seemed more fitting for a knight defeated in a duel.

Though a monster, the Minotaur was also a warrior worthy of respect. With reverence, Rex tightened his grip on the greatsword. He intended to behead it in one stroke, giving it a painless death.

The Minotaur extended its neck and closed its eyes. Rex moved his arm, pouring out every last bit of his remaining divine power.

As the blade fell.

A soft laugh reached Rex’s ears.

—It was enjoyable, strong warrior.

Though it was clearly an unintelligible language, somehow its meaning was fully conveyed. Startled by this, Rex’s body flinched, but the blade had already swept through the Minotaur’s neck.

Thud.

The fallen head showed not a trace of fear. Immediately after, the Minotaur’s body turned into black ash and scattered into the air. As if it had never existed, the Minotaur completely vanished.

Only a blue crystal sphere remained where the body had been.

It was the object Conrad had used to summon the one-eyed creature. Though he didn’t know what it was, Rex didn’t want to leave it alone, so he stared blankly at the crystal sphere before stomping on it hard.

Crack!

The crystal sphere broke with disappointing ease.

Just as he was about to turn away, Rex staggered from a sudden rush of pleasure.

‘This is…’

A tremendous wave of divine power was surging in. Rex trembled at the shoulders, waiting for the new power to be absorbed into the pattern. Observing his interior with closed eyes, it was at least three times more than what he had accumulated so far.

Rex barely contained the divine power and shifted his gaze.

The companions, who had been watching with dumbfounded faces, drew in sharp breaths when their eyes met Rex’s.

Rex’s aura was overwhelming enough for even those at the revelation stage to notice.

Chloe hesitantly spoke.

“…Is it over?”

“Probably.”

Conrad and his men had already become cold corpses, and Rex had killed the Minotaur. It didn’t seem like anything else would happen here.

At those words, the companions let out sighs of relief, and Elin lowered her branch, muttering to herself.

“It was almost complete.”

She must be referring to the magic. Chloe explained.

“It just reached nine minutes.”

Rex nodded willingly. Indeed, his decision to make a decisive move had not been wrong. One minute in battle was not a short time. If he had made the wrong choice, the outcome might have been different.

“What was it…”

Chloe stared blankly at where the Minotaur had been.

Rex silently shook his head. This wasn’t a problem that could be solved by contemplation.

However, if there was one thing certain,

It was that…

Chapter 3 – Honorable Warrior (End)