episode_0189

“Qu… !”

Avoid the sword being struck by rolling to the side as if bouncing.

The steel sword sank deep into the place where my head and heart were.

If I hadn’t avoided it, I would have died instantly.

“Haaa!”

The place where I took refuge was also full of knights.

He quickly got up, swung his sword, and parried their attacks one by one.

“Kahar!”

Block the long sword coming down with your shoulder armor.

“He’s a weightlifter!”

A spear blade digging into the side.

I swung the Durandal and bounced it away. The tip of the spear that missed grazed the armor.

“… … !”

I grab the sword silently aimed at my spine with my left hand and break it.

The expression on the knight’s face after losing his sword was filled with astonishment.

“Are there eyes on the back of your back?”

“Attack all at once!”

Six swords attacking from all directions.

He swings his sword, strikes away two, and rolls through the gap to escape.

The missed sword strike scratched the armor and sparks flew.

The knights’ attacks pour in one after another.

Like a spider web that captures its prey, endlessly entangling me.

“Where has the person I was fighting with gone? Maybe it’s because I’m old, but my eyes are dim and I can’t see at all.”

Oh, that poor bastard… !

My molars were ground apart.

—-

Wallenstein was walking leisurely among the knights, without even a sign of running towards me.

Relaxed to the point of exasperation.

“Snow! It’s far away! I can’t fight or anything! The name ‘First Sword’ is a waste!”

There wasn’t enough time to shout as they were trying to block the knights’ attacks.

Each attack wasn’t that threatening, but… .

It was extremely difficult as there were ten or twenty swords attacking at the same time.

If I could kill it, I would have easily escaped.

However, the biggest problem was that it couldn’t be done.

The number of knights currently attacking me is about 20% of the total, and the rest have not yet made up their minds and are only maintaining the siege.

In that situation, what would happen if I started killing other knights?

As their colleagues are being turned into pieces of meat, they will not just sit back and watch the situation.

They’ll all attack at once without even looking ahead.

Most of them are knights who are simply devoted to protecting the empire.

They were just deceived by Wallenstein and Isabella, but they were innocent.

Slaughter all of those people?

Durandal trembled slightly.

My hesitation was fully reflected in the swing of the sword.

If it were bug knights, they would cut it down without hesitation… They weren’t even coming close.

If I were to give up on Leopold and try to break through on my own, they would probably come together to block us.

Or perhaps he is wary of Durandal’s blessing being activated if he gets close to me.

Durandal. This seemingly capable but incompetent sword was nothing more than a sharp sword to me right now.

Even though the opponent is a villain who joined hands with a witch, he is still a human… Because it didn’t even show any signs of unleashing its proper abilities.

In the end, you can’t kill them all, and you can’t borrow the power of the sword.

It was like fighting with my hands and feet tied.

“If you fight head on, you’ll be nothing special. Such a lame method… !”

He gritted his teeth and swung his sword.

“… Is that so?”

A soft whisper.

A chill passes over the back of my neck, as if I had been doused with ice water.

A horrifying sense of crisis ran up my spine.

“Wow… !”

Durandal, who swung reflexively, was blocked with a collision sound.

When I turned around, Wallenstein, who had approached me without any trace, was smiling while facing his sword.

Have we reached this point before we know it?

It was so hidden that I didn’t even notice it.

If he hadn’t spoken to me, he would have been cut straight.

– Kagagagagang!

We split the sword strike five times.

The ground is torn apart with an explosion.

The knights surrounding him hastily retreated.

“Do you still think that way?”

“Ah, yes!”

I shake off the guy’s sword and kick it away.

My legs had enough strength to hit even a bear with one blow.

“That power is always surprising. However, if you don’t get it right, it means nothing.”

Before my toes could touch, Wallenstein slithered backwards.

It was a movement that left no sound or trace, like a ghost.

Wallenstein’s presence disappeared again in an instant.

Unlike before, the knights were not coming towards me.

“Are you trying to hide by baiting your subordinates again? Can you still call him a knight?”

He criticized loudly and urgently looked around.

Once the presence disappeared, you couldn’t even confirm its existence unless you saw it directly.

“Bait, how can that be possible?”

left.

A reflexive flash of frost pierced the empty space.

“They just swung their swords reflexively when the princess flew in. Actually, aren’t they just staying still now?”

right.

… There was nothing that could touch the blade that was swung.

“In the first place, why would I use them as bait? Against an enemy like this.”

back.

I quickly turned around, but Wallenstein was nowhere to be seen.

“The princess couldn’t even come back to me, so I even came here to find her.”

What’s this… !

Cold sweat drenched my back.

Even with my heated body and five senses sharpened to the limit, I was unable to capture Wallenstein.

Several meters around me felt as clear as my hand, but only his traces could not be detected.

Recognition itself was impossible.

This was not possible for humans.

Even if you can avoid my eyes by moving at a square, there is no way you can fool my other senses.

But it was actually happening.

“Your expression is stiff.”

– Pow!

I was hit on the back with the hilt of a sword. The blunt impact caused my body to bend forward.

The sense of smell was meaningless.

Let alone the human body odor, I couldn’t even smell the smell of fabric and metal that I should have felt.

“Where did the confidence from earlier go?”

– Quad deuk!

The shoulder armor is torn long. Even Asha’s armor could not withstand Jin-eun’s blade.

Hearing was also useless.

Because I couldn’t hear anything until right before I got cut.

It was incomprehensible.

You can silence the sound of footsteps and stop breathing, but how can you get rid of the heartbeat?

“Are you just going to stand still?”

Even the air flow was calm.

How is it possible for an object the size of a person to move faster than I can turn my head and not create a single gust of wind? .

“You look like you’re possessed by a ghost. Yes, Orhan had that look too.”

Wallenstein showed himself again.

From my perspective, it was as if a person had suddenly appeared from nowhere.

If there is someone who can move through space without using magical power… Wouldn’t it feel like this?

“As expected, he resembles Orhan from top to bottom. Transcendent physical abilities and keen senses… Especially the fact that I fight only trusting in my body.”

Wallenstein calmly aims his sword.

There was a cold sneer at the corner of his wrinkled mouth.

“… You seem to know my father very well. There was a lot of talk about this and that earlier. I guess you’ve become a secret friend? Oh, is there any reason why he didn’t have a wife until he was that old? ?”

“It looks like the princess’s mother married a sodomite?”

“… … .”

I tried to make fun of it and got double the amount back.

Actually, there wasn’t even the slightest damage to me.

Orhan and Aimela, neither of them were my parents.

“Orhan was a surprisingly tough enemy. There was only one duel… I still remember it clearly. Because of the body that the blade could not penetrate properly, there was no sign of falling even when cut… .”

Wallenstein muttered softly.

In the languid tone characteristic of an old man reminiscing about the past.

… Iza had a fight with Orhan?

It was my first time hearing this story.

Well, they are the Empire’s greatest knight and Ka’har’s strongest warrior, so if the two countries were at war with each other, it would be natural for them to face each other… .

“Seeing as you were called a bubble by your father, you must have lost pathetically. Looks like you were lucky enough to survive, right?”

“I guess Orhan didn’t tell you? Yeah, that’s understandable. An ugly defeat where he was cut without even a single drop of blood, and then retreated when the situation became unfavorable… It must have hurt my pride to tell this to my daughter.”

Wallenstein answered calmly and raised the long sword lying on its side to shoulder height.

“… My father lost?”

“It held up well. However, how can you defeat me if you can’t even land a single blow? Back then, I didn’t get tired as easily as I do now.”

Wallenstein’s presence began to disappear again.

Even though you are clearly standing in front of your eyes, the sounds and smells are slowly disappearing.

… What on earth does this mean?

Even though I was looking at him face to face, I couldn’t understand him.

If so, I have no choice but to keep bumping into it.

“Do you think we fought this fiercely back then? Concealing your presence and hiding like a thief!”

It kicks the ground and rushes like an arrow.

Durandal, who had advanced through the headwind, was aimed at the guy’s head.

If it disappears the moment you take your eyes off-

All you have to do is hold on to it so it doesn’t get out of sight!

“Barking like a scared dog. Are you afraid?”

Wallenstein drew an arc with his sword.

– Kaaaang!

The strike, which extends like a thunderbolt, bounces off helplessly.

“Kaaaat!”

Grasping the hilt of the sword with both hands, he forcibly returns the twisted sword blade.

The subsequent slash.

A blue line fell toward Wallenstein’s head.

“A father or a child, it is no different from a wild boar that has been paid in advance.”

Wallenstein raised his long sword at an angle and knocked out Durandal.

As if flowing and natural, Durandal’s sword body slides to the side.

I tried twisting my wrist and weaving the blade under the blade, but Wallenstein was superior in terms of technique.

The two long swords twisted strangely and fell apart with a clear sound.

“I learned imperial swordsmanship well. However, application skills are lacking.”

“Oh, that’s right!”

I swing my sword faster than I can answer.

– Ka-ga-ga-ga-ga-gang!

Instead of a powerful strike swinging with all its might, it is a speed-oriented, cutting strike.

The endless storm of slashes is blocked and struck down, scattering brilliance in a dizzying manner.

“The attack is light. Are you afraid of falling out again and becoming distant from me?”

Wallenstein calmly hit the nail on the head.

“Ha, you must be nervous because you can’t fight well!”

Unless we figure out the principle of the ability to eliminate presence… The best solution was to hold on and hang on like this.

If you make a big attack for no reason and get pinned down like before, you will lose sight of him.

I planned to stick around and fight like this, waiting for the guy’s stamina to drop or for the fire imprint to activate.

Hell, if you set fires everywhere, he won’t be able to hide anymore.

“That can’t be possible. Everyone who fought with me came out like this.”

Wallenstein smiled, showing his teeth.

Next moment,

His sword curved like a wave.

“What… !”

The curved tip of the sword shoots past Durandal.

The reaction to the unexpected phenomenon was half a beat late.

– Sigh!

The cut shoulder gushes blood.

As I felt the pain of my flesh being torn off, my gaze unconsciously turned towards my shoulder.

“Where are you looking?”

Oops… !

I made a mistake.

I hurriedly returned my eyes, but Wallenstein’s figure had already disappeared.

“Human instinct is always like that. You can endure the pain you had prepared for in advance, but when you get an unexpected injury, you tend to check the wound without even realizing it. The princess is no exception.”

A cold sneer hovered in the air.

I couldn’t even figure out where the sound was coming from.

“Did the ghost sword seem light enough to be incapacitated in close combat?”

“Ghost Sword… ?”

What is that?

I asked back, suppressing the bleeding in my shoulder with my strength.

“Okay. I was in my 40s when I gained the undeserved reputation of being the best sword of the empire. Before that, everyone called me that. I, too, liked that nickname more than the Imperial First Sword.”

Invisible death.

Ghost Sword Wallenstein.