Rumble-!

    “An earthquake!”

    “Evacuate! Evacuate!”

    The soldiers repeatedly barked orders to evacuate. Fear enveloped their hearts due to the constant earthquakes shaking the tunnel.

    Then again, it wasn’t a wonder that they’d feel that way. If the tunnel collapsed, they would die too.

    However…

    “I’ve told you to take care of the prisoners as well, haven’t I?!”

    “B-But Prince…”

    “Call me Sir Arren, not Prince! I’m on duty right now!”

    “Heup—!”

    “Disobedience will not be tolerated! Take the prisoners to run away with you!”

    “U-Understood!”

    Because of Arren Pendragon’s orders, the soldiers had to also take care of the prisoners.

    “L-Light…! Finally…!”

    “Hey, you punk in the front! Move quickly! Will you take responsibility if everyone else dies because of you, huh?!”

    “I-I’m sorry!”

    Meanwhile, the prisoners were too busy running away to be happy about the sunlight and clouds they had not seen in a long time. But, they still welcomed the fact that they were alive even though a natural disaster had befallen the tunnel.

    By law, even if the tunnel collapsed, they would not be able to escape since they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

    However…

    “I repeat, only those on this ‘list’ will be taken with us. If there are any strange people mixed in, execute them immediately!”

    “Understood!”

    The ‘Royal Bloodline’ had the power to overturn all of those laws.

    All the soldiers moved in unison at Arren’s order as he was cleaning his messy gray hair to reveal his silver hair—the symbol of the Pendragon’s Royal Blood.

    The soldiers were trembling with fear, but they didn’t utter a single complaint because the orders he gave were reasonable.

    “As expected of a royalty, His Highness is trying to prevent anyone from dying unjustly.”

    “Those on the list are innocent people, then…”

    “I’ve heard about the nobility of the White Lion. So it wasn’t a lie…”

    Among those who were trapped in the tunnel, there were a few who only did minor crimes, but received the ire of the nobles, and some who were even framed by them. The prince asked them to rescue those prisoners only, so the soldiers couldn’t be dissatisfied by his orders.

    Instead, they only see it as the righteous act of the prince’s.

    But, from the perspective of the prince himself—the one who received all the praises…

    “Damn it…”

    He actually felt humiliated.

    Because it felt like he was stealing someone else’s merits. He felt dirty for doing so.

    This isn’t my intention, I was ordered to do this—!

    A certain guy had given him the list—he threatened the guild to get it—and ordered him to rescue all the prisoners in that list. Also…

    -Remember, you miss one person on that list, I’ll hit you 100 times for it. 100 times for each person.

    …He had to do his best because that guy’s threat was no joke.

    ‘Why would a royal like me break the law and do something like that?’ He would love to voice out such a complaint, but he was too afraid of the consequences to do so.

    Also…

    “Thank you, Sir! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!”

    “T-They said I could meet my mother if I held out for a year, b-but… I really thought I’d die without being able to see her face! Thank you, Sir…!”

    “Thank you, thank you for saving my life…”

    …Damn it!

    He somehow felt something surge from the bottom of his chest as he watched the prisoners thanking him with such sincerity.

    What the hell is this feeling?!

    “Stop thanking me and just escape quickly!! You there! Your legs look bad, get on my back! Quick! Don’t make me tell you twice!”

    It was only much later that Arren realized that he did all that not because he was afraid of that monster, but because he was genuinely trying to help them.

    **** * ****

    “Well, his personality isn’t bad at least.”

    “That’s true. Right now, it feels like he really deserves the nickname ‘White Lion’.”

    “He really does look as brave and noble as a white lion right now, huh…?”

    Crunch!

    Meanwhile, Jake and Yord—who were in charge of helping the people to escape, just like Arren—were cutting down the ‘real criminals’ who were trying to escape by mixing in with the crowds without hesitation.

    Some of them had learned Combat Technique, so the knights assumed that they were members of the Blood Cross, or rather, the ones who had betrayed Blood Cross and tried to escape.

    “They have no sense of loyalty whatsoever.”

    “What do you expect from heretics—or rather, trash like them?”

    Whoosh-!

    Yord quickly swung his sword at the prisoner who was rushing towards him. It was a horizontal slash without any shred of hesitation that pierced the air at the speed of the wind.

    Slash-!

    He ended the guy with a neat finish.

    It wasn’t an exaggeration to call it an Extreme Swift Swordsmanship.

    He was fully showcasing why he was dubbed as the top recruit of the Silver Lion for the year.

    Of course, the senior knight didn’t lose out to him.

    Wooooong-!

    Bang-!

    “I’m not at the level of being able to deflect swords or arrows with my body like that guy, but I’m still pretty strong, you know?”

    Jake endured the enemies’ attacks with his body, but he wasn’t even hurt.

    Vajra Body.

    Way before Lee Han had taught the cadets Martial Power, he actually had taught Jake first. Although it made it seem like he was Lee Han’s test subject, as a full-fledged and excellent knight, he had a better learning ability than the cadets. Hence why he was able to utilize Vajra Body—the move that everyone thought only Lee Han could use.

    That was also why…

    “Don’t you dare to think of being reborn. The air is too precious for the likes of you.”

    The heretics could never hope to touch him.

    Slash-!

    A dazzling slash spread out from him. In an instant, the heads of all those who rushed at him were cut off. The cut was neat, as if he was cutting grain with a sickle. Such was the skills of a top-tier knight that mid-level knights couldn’t dare to even imagine.

    Jake let out a light breath and let his sweat dry.

    “Phew… How many of them have we killed?”

    “It feels like we’ve dealt with a lot, but… We’ve only taken care of a few of them.”

    “…It seems so, isn’t it?”

    The number of prisoners that Jake and Yord had cut down was only over fifty, but there should be at least hundreds of them left.

    Which meant, the rest of the prisoners were…

    “They are still inside, huh?”

    “So, Senior Lee Han’s words were true. There’s another passage somewhere.”

    Even in the face of numerous earthquakes and explosions, it seemed like the hundreds of prisoners had no intention of coming out.

    …Which led the two to think that they were hiding in a safe corner somewhere.

    “Phew, just how many traitors are there?”

    With that revelation, they came to know that there was a facility in the tunnel that the other prisoners didn’t know about. Not only that, they also came to know that a suspicious force was parasitizing the tunnel to expand their power.

    They weren’t just some random terrorist organization or cult. Someone was helping them from behind. Someone with considerable power…

    “… Let’s just focus on resolving the current situation for now. If we fight while worrying about other things, we might get stabbed and suffer…”

    “…”

    “Why do you look at me like that?”

    “…You sounded like Senior Lee Han, Senior…”

    “W-What? M-Me?”

    Jake was shocked.

    I sounded like that idiot…?!

    Does that mean I’m an idiot as well?!

    “I-I’m not as bad as him!”

    “No, no. You are the same as him, Senior. Hehehe.”

    “This rascal!”

    Jake could feel his blood pressure rising as he watched his junior laughing mockingly at him.

    This guy used to be a good and diligent honor student, why did he turn into this?

    It’s all because of that guy, isn’t it…?

    Lee Han.

    His friend—or to be exact, his bad friend.

    I swear, ever since I got involved with that guy, nothing had been going well in my life!

    “Haa…”

    However, Jake’s gaze was still directed towards the pitch-black tunnel, worried about the guy who was still fighting somewhere in that pitch-black darkness.

    Is he okay?

    He wanted to go help him, but he had no choice but to hold back because he knew he would only be a hindrance. After all, that guy was more effective when he fought alone.

    However, he was still feeling guilty. The fact that that guy was doing this much cleaning up himself made him realize his own shortcomings.

    “Tsk. It’s at times like this that I wish I am the Black Lion of the North…”

    “Black Lion of the North? Are you talking about the deputy commander of the Order of Black Iron?”

    “You know him?”

    “The words of his accomplishments aren’t only spread in the north but throughout the kingdom. Unless you’re talking about a different Black Lion who isn’t Maximus Iron de Lionel, the famous ‘Giant Slayer’.”

    Maximus the Giant Slayer.

    He was a skilled knight who had bested the Frost Giant all by himself.

    Even to the young knights representing the Southern Continent, he was someone whose achievements and fame were widely known.

    “…I’ve only heard about him, but is he really that strong?”

    “Well, I’ve only seen him once by chance, but…”

    “?”

    “That guy is strong. Incredibly so.”

    “…”

    It was a spectacle that Jake could never forget. Back then, he was training under his father—who was also his master—to become a knight in the north. On the way, he encountered the knights of the north, and among them…

    -Haha, what a great knight!

    ‘He’ was there.

    Even though he was only a teenager, his presence, size, and even his intense spirit surpassed that of his father, who was a seasoned knight.

    -Hahaha!! You are quite sturdy for a white cat. Do you want to try taking my blow? I can’t guarantee you’d survive though. Well, if you die, it can’t be helped. That’s just how knights’ fights go sometimes, hahahaha!!

    Jake had never seen anyone as strong as that guy back then.

    After that encounter, his father had told him about that guy.

    -The Light of Brilliance sometimes gives excessive blessings to one person every hundred years. Those people are called once in a hundred years talent. That guy in particular, is someone with a one in ten million years talent.

    -What about me?

    -You are someone with one in a hundred people talent, hahaha.

    -…

    -Anyway, don’t ever fight against someone like that. He’s still young but he’s already terrifyingly strong. From now on, he’ll only continue to grow stronger…

    He believed in his father’s words back then. Well, if anything, it would be impossible not to after seeing that guy’s presence and momentum with his own eyes.

    Back then, he had this thought…

    ‘Will I ever meet someone like that again?’

    But now…

    …My thoughts changed after meeting that guy…

    In some ways, he was more unique than that monster who was said to be born with a one in ten million years talent. In terms of skill, that guy wouldn’t lose to anyone. If Maximus was called a genius with heaven-sent talent, then that guy gained power through adversity and trials…

    Something that could be called as…

    A hybrid species? A chimera?

    That description suited him well as he was good in all sorts of unique—no, weird things.

    Pfft…!

    Jake snorted, thinking that calling a friend a hybrid species was too much, and felt sorry for doing that.

    I’ll buy him a beer later.

    After all of this is over, of course…

    Slash-!

    At that moment, Jake’s black blade once again harvested the head of the beast that was wearing a human mask.

    **** * ****

    Meanwhile, the monster that was supposedly born with a talent of one in ten million years and the hybrid species that gained strange powers through trials were…

    “So, why are you here?”

    “Hahaha, I was working as a spy for a while. But for some reason, they kept chasing me and calling me suspicious. I don’t know why and how I got caught…”

    “…I think I know why…”

    “Hmm?”

    Aiming their swords and axes at each other’s throats, as if they were hell bent to harvest their opponent’s throat.

    They maintained the standoff for a long time.

    Meanwhile, Derrick, who was looking at them…

    “Um, excuse me…? If we don’t get out, we might just be buried alive soon…”

    Rumble-!

    Pointed to the falling dirt and rocks and told them that they should stop fighting and escape.

    Unfortunately…

    “You, put down your sword first.”

    “Wouldn’t it be better for you to put down your axe first?”

    “…”

    The two didn’t seem to have any intention of giving in.

    Looking at them, Derrick had a sudden epiphany.

    …The reason men die early is because of their useless pride. It seems like it’s like that in this world too…


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