Ch.88Chapter 88 – The Lion King (5)

For a moment, Kyle couldn’t understand what Shin Jaehyuk was doing. What is this? What’s his angle? A lure? Is he deliberately exposing a weakness?

Shin Jaehyuk was just as wary of Kyle as Kyle was of him. The Shin Jaehyuk that Kyle remembered was still frozen in his image from hundreds of years ago, and that solemn holy knight had always given his all in duels and matches, not the type to turn his back and flee from an enemy.

Unable to grasp Shin Jaehyuk’s true intentions, Kyle hesitated to act rashly and remained in place, quietly observing Shin Jaehyuk’s actions. But when he continued running even after distancing himself fifty meters, then a hundred meters, with no sign of stopping, Kyle belatedly realized he had been deceived.

“How dare you!”

To turn your back and run away during a duel?

This was an insult to his opponent, something unthinkable for an honorable knight. The black knight, engulfed in rage, launched forward like a rocket. Boom! Each footfall created craters in the ground, scattering concrete fragments in all directions.

‘So he’s finally starting to chase me?’

Of course, Shin Jaehyuk wasn’t fleeing mindlessly. If that had been his intention, he would have torn a scroll for teleportation long ago. This was merely a temporary and strategic retreat.

Shin Jaehyuk was determined to defeat Kyle. He felt it was his duty to do so. He couldn’t bear to see his old friend corrupted by evil, wandering around killing people.

But confronting him head-on offered little chance of victory. Through countless sparring experiences, Kyle knew Shin Jaehyuk’s spear techniques well. With that experience, Kyle overwhelmingly dominated their exchanges. The more their weapons clashed, the more disadvantageous it became for Shin Jaehyuk. With Kyle’s talent, he might even decipher all of Shin’s holy spells after just a few more engagements.

That bundle of talent couldn’t be confronted with conventional methods.

He needed to create an opening.

And with just one opportunity, he had to finish him off.

‘Easier said than done… How do I deal with that monster?’

Glancing back, he saw not a knight but something more akin to a berserker charging forward, scattering dark energy everywhere. A sharp red light cut through the darkness, leaving a trail like a meteor’s tail.

‘He’s really pissed… Well, even back when we used to spar, he would complain that using dirty tricks fit for mercenaries was dishonorable.’

Reminiscing about old memories, Shin Jaehyuk ran with all his might. Yet his mind never stopped working.

His immediate plan was this: Create a commotion with this game of tag to attract the Sword Ghost. Just as a sparrow wouldn’t pass by a mill, the battle-hungry Sword Ghost, after hearing about Kyle from Kwak Taewoo, would surely be burning to join the fight.

He simply didn’t know their current location, but once he knew where Kyle was, it was obvious he would rush over even alone without his guild members. He thirsted for battles with the strong.

For this reason, Shin Jaehyuk was causing a disturbance while leading Kyle toward their rendezvous point. So the Sword Ghost could easily detect their position.

And once the Sword Ghost joined him, it would be over. Alone it was difficult, but with the Sword Ghost, Shin Jaehyuk was 100% confident they could defeat Kyle.

The problem was…

‘What if I don’t meet the Sword Ghost?’

He needed to think of a way to capture Kyle alone. Shin Jaehyuk furrowed his brow, thinking hard. In his mind, whenever he took an action, the black knight would counter it, retaliate, or evade. There seemed to be no effective strategy…

‘That sword energy is so damn broken. It makes defense meaningless. And I can’t even take hits directly because of the dark energy. Is there no other way? A technique that can’t be countered or evaded… Wait?’

Shin Jaehyuk’s eyes looked upward. A skyscraper over fifty stories tall stood piercing the sky. His eyes flashed with inspiration.

‘Yes! At that height…’

Shin Jaehyuk changed his route. Planting his left foot firmly, he pivoted his body, causing dust to explode around him like a shell impact.

‘His escape route has changed? This actually reduces the gap between us, which should be disadvantageous for him. What are you planning, Longinus?’

Kyle remained vigilant despite Shin Jaehyuk’s seemingly irrational choice. There must be some hidden intention behind this apparently illogical behavior.

So Kyle refrained from hastily closing the distance and made a careful decision. He issued a mental command to the undead in the area.

-Come here. Block the holy knight’s escape.

Guooooo-

From a distance came the intermingled groans of the dead. Hundreds of ghouls and death knights rose to block the holy knight’s path.

Normally, involving third parties in a duel would be dishonorable, but it was Longinus who first chose the dishonorable path of fleeing. Kyle wasn’t trying to defeat Longinus with his subordinates’ hands but merely tightening the encirclement to prevent his escape.

Displaying a flexible sense of chivalry, Kyle pressured Shin Jaehyuk like a hunter herding prey.

‘Tsk! Trying to hold me back?’

Shin Jaehyuk clicked his tongue as he kicked away a death knight that suddenly lunged from a dark alley. Monsters that hadn’t been visible before were now slinking out and attacking from all sides.

Yet noticing they weren’t displaying the typical ferocity of demons, Shin Jaehyuk could deduce that Kyle was using his minions to bind his feet.

Like proper demons, they popped out from unexpected places. From narrow alleys, sewers, trash cans, and parked cars. Especially chilling were the corpses that fell from rooftops in suicidal attacks.

The undead frequently emerged from one particular direction, and Shin Jaehyuk could guess why.

‘They’re coming more frequently from the gate’s direction. So they are guarding the gate after all?’

This reinforced his earlier speculation that Belphegor had not yet been summoned and that undead were guarding the gate, the intended summoning site. But that didn’t matter right now.

Just as Shin Jaehyuk was beginning to struggle with the flood of undead, fortunately, he reached his target location. It was a high-rise building with one side entirely made of glass, making the emergency staircase clearly visible from outside. Without hesitation, Shin Jaehyuk slipped inside.

“Finally given up on running!”

When Shin Jaehyuk entered what seemed like a dead end, Kyle believed his encirclement strategy had been effective. However, he didn’t rush into the building, instead summoning undead to surround it. Even a cornered rat will bare its teeth. Kyle wanted to hunt Shin Jaehyuk cautiously.

After death knights had thoroughly encircled the building, leaving no gaps for escape, Kyle used the undead’s murky vision to track Shin Jaehyuk’s life force. A massive energy was moving around inside the building. Where was he heading? The answer was easy to discern.

‘He’s going up.’

It was visible even from outside the building. Through the glass windows, Shin Jaehyuk could be seen climbing the towering staircase to the skyscraper’s summit.

“Setting up a last stand, are you?”

Indeed. He wasn’t just fleeing but seeking tactically advantageous terrain. Kyle stroked his chin, interpreting Longinus’s intentions. Perhaps he found the constantly emerging undead burdensome and was seeking a stage where they could duel one-on-one.

“Still, to flee without a word is most vexing… Does this mean you view me as a ruffian who would use numerical advantage to dispatch you? Most displeasing.”

So Kyle decided to indulge in a bit of mischief. He bent his knees, gathering strength in his thighs and calves. Dark energy concentrated, making his legs flash bright red. The next moment, his body shot into the air with a thunderous sound.

With transcendent strength, the black knight’s feet touched the building’s exterior wall. With the amazing balance of a sword master, he lightly stepped onto the slanted wall, then powerfully pushed off again. Shin Jaehyuk, who looked out the window upon hearing the thunderous sound, was horrified.

“Insane. He’s climbing the wall?”

The black knight, his body crimson as if bathed in blood, was running along the wall, shattering glass windows as he went. With mysterious balance, he moved almost vertically, as if unbound by gravity.

Before long, Shin Jaehyuk found himself running at the same height as Kyle. Unlike Kyle, who could move in a straight line, Shin Jaehyuk had to move diagonally as he climbed the stairs. Facing the eerie black knight glaring at him through the window, Shin Jaehyuk readjusted his grip on his weapon.

The next moment, the black knight’s greatsword flashed.

No sound was needed for glass to be cut. The blade, wrapped in sword energy, sliced through the building as smoothly and effortlessly as through water. So cleanly was it cut that the glass didn’t even realize it had been severed, maintaining its uncut state until the black knight stepped on it, causing vibrations that made it crumble like a sand castle.

It was a feat any swordsman would admire, but for the one on the receiving end, there was nothing to admire. Inside the building, Shin Jaehyuk had to both climb the stairs and evade these terrifying attacks.

‘It’s okay! Just four more floors to the roof…!’

Shin Jaehyuk aimed at the black knight visible through the glass window and hurled his mace with a bang. He didn’t expect a significant hit, but at least it might buy him some time.

But that was a miscalculation. The black knight firmly embedded his zweihander into the wall to anchor himself, then, still gripping the sword, nimbly performed a somersault like a cat to avoid the throw. Then he pulled his arm to reattach himself to the wall.

This extraordinary evasion took less than five seconds. The black knight resumed running vertically along the wall, scattering sword energy into the building.

With the dark night sky as a backdrop, the black-armored knight’s dance made it seem as if darkness concealed the knight, leaving only the reddish sword to rampage—a sight both fantastical and terrifying, like a fire festival.

“Argh! You son of a—!”

The fiercely penetrating blade managed to sever one of Shin Jaehyuk’s wrists. But even while bleeding profusely, Shin Jaehyuk dared not stop. Standing still meant losing his head. Losing just a wrist was fortunate…

Sacrificing his left wrist and mace, Shin Jaehyuk finally reached his destination. The rooftop door burst open as Shin Jaehyuk’s body was thrown through.

“Ugh— damn it, how dense is that dark energy! It’s not regenerating… Hurts like hell.”

While Shin Jaehyuk tore his clothes to hastily staunch the wound, Kyle, who had climbed the building in an impossible manner, landed lightly on the rooftop like a skilled acrobat.

“You kept running away, so I indulged in a little mischief.”

“…It’s not running away, it’s strategic retreat and tactical repositioning, man.”

“Your mouth is still lively even as you sweat profusely.”

Kyle chuckled and walked to the edge of the rooftop, seemingly unconcerned with the fallen Shin Jaehyuk. He murmured as he looked down at the street illuminated by streetlights.

“A street that need not fear darkness. A splendid view. Such a developed city… The people here must surely have been happier than those in Eden.”

Shin Jaehyuk was about to retort but held his tongue. Rather than interjecting needlessly, he focused on driving the dark energy out of his wound.

“The top of such a city. A fitting stage for our final confrontation.”

Kuung-

A heavy pressure emanated from the sword. As Kyle held the sword in an upper stance, its weight shifted above his head. It was as if the center of the world had moved above him.

Crimson lightning crackled threateningly.

“Only one of us will descend from here.”

“Heheh.”

Shin Jaehyuk let out a laugh that didn’t match the atmosphere. Kyle frowned.

“…What’s so funny?”

“Ah, sorry. I just find it amusing that this absurd strategy actually worked.”

“Strategy?”

“It’s all over, man… The moment I, and you, set foot on this rooftop, my victory was assured.”

“What do you—?”

KWAAANG-!

A powerful shockwave erupted from Shin Jaehyuk’s body.

“What-! You didn’t even recite an aria—!”

As if to reaffirm Kyle’s shock, another shockwave burst forth. Before he could anchor himself by stabbing his sword into the ground, the holy and powerful wave struck the black knight’s body. He was lifted off his feet and sent flying toward the edge of the rooftop.

“…I knew from the start that you were strong in exchanges. So I deliberately created confusion in your information.”

Even as Shin Jaehyuk spoke, shockwaves continued to erupt. Thanks to shadowless casting and the characteristics of his achievement <Divine Blood>, Shin Jaehyuk could cast holy explosion spells without an aria—the only effectively unblockable technique against the undead Kyle.

However, a single holy explosion wouldn’t be enough to finish Kyle on the ground. So Shin Jaehyuk devised a trick. He deliberately made Kyle think that casting holy explosions required time, then lured him to the top of a skyscraper with nowhere to escape.

After making him let his guard down…

“You, holy knight—!”

“Only one of us will descend from here, you say? You fall. I’ll walk down.”

KWANG-! KWANG-! KWANG-!

Shockwaves that allowed no chance for reversal repeatedly pummeled the black knight’s body. Knocked off the rooftop, Kyle lost his grip on his sword and flailed in mid-air. But there was nothing for him to grab onto, nowhere for him to step.

The black knight’s body, pulled by gravity, plummeted a hundred meters below.

“LONGINUUUUUUUS-!!!!!!”