Chapter 573 – #118_Betrayal(2)
#573
1.
The Shin Si-woo in the subconscious, the Black Knight, is far stronger than the actual Si-woo.
No matter how remarkable his growth has been, the difference in specs between the two at this point is significant.
He had fought the Black Knight several times, but had never won even once.
Moreover, the Black Knight, who directly intervened in the trial and created his own hunting ground, had even broken the restriction that he would ‘maintain the strength he had at the time of his first registration.’
The fact that he can interact with Si-woo to the point of having conversations and that the quality of the magic he wields has improved significantly supports this.
However.
-Crack!
The sharp sound of magic power exploding and the sparks of the distortion field.
Amidst the ribbons that were intertwined and torn apart, scattering incessantly, Si-woo had been confronting the Black Knight for over five minutes.
It wasn’t just luck.
It was because he was resisting more desperately than usual, as his actual life was at stake.
There was no detailed confirmation of ‘what would happen if he lost here,’ but it didn’t seem like a situation that could be brushed off with a ‘just kidding, it was nothing.’
The sense of crisis that his life was in danger was bringing out even the potential that had been dormant.
“Hoo!”
His lungs, which had taken in a deep breath, exhaled with a sound like a drumbeat.
The sharp tip of the spear, accelerated in a single rotation, pierced through the dense ribbons and struck the Black Knight’s helmet.
The Black Knight’s reaction to the unavoidable blow was swift.
He deflected the spear, which was heavily concentrated with the distortion field, using the curved surface of his helmet.
A typical witch would have suffered significant damage from that alone.
The distortion field and barrier that had entered through the circuits of the ‘magic’ armor would have caused a fatal short circuit, like pouring water on a delicate electrical circuit.
However, unfortunately, the Black Knight wields the same kind of magic as Si-woo.
He was also superior in his skill in handling the distortion field.
It was difficult to subdue him by relying solely on the advantages of his weapon.
However, Si-woo had a slight advantage in close combat, so he was relentlessly digging in, just like before.
The Black Knight was trying to shake off the opponent who was clinging to him like a leech and secure a distance for counterattacks.
The decisive reason why he was able to engage in a close battle with the Black Knight, who was unleashing all his power after breaking free from his shackles, was different.
It was the magic circle that surrounded him.
The Black Knight was allocating some of his power to the magic circle that he had to deploy to arbitrarily modify the trial.
Moreover, the fact that he was instantly feeding back and correcting the magic circle that was being destroyed in real-time by the aftermath of the battle was, in reality, a feat that Si-woo couldn’t even dream of imitating.
However, turning the ‘Cradle of Dreams,’ which was only a fleeting dream, into an arena where lives were at stake would require a massive amount of computation.
“Hup!”
To take advantage of this, he roughly stepped on the ground with his heel.
The moment the force that spread out in a circle along his heel shook the magic circle, he didn’t miss the fact that the Black Knight’s reaction was delayed.
-Swoosh!
The spear strike, which stretched out beyond the speed of sound, was aimed at his heart.
Except for the fact that his life was at stake, the pattern was the same as the previous trials, to the point of feeling monotonous.
He was planning to use the wave of the distortion field that he had newly established, but even Si-woo wasn’t bold enough to use a technique that he had only completed ‘theoretically’ in actual combat.
If he could just latch onto the timing when the Black Knight hesitated and induce close combat…
-Whirr!
The Black Knight responded to the straight blow by spinning his spear like a windmill.
As proven by many martial arts and gladiatorial combat, a straight attack is vulnerable to force coming from the side.
If this continued, the tip of the spear would graze his side, and he would lose the initiative.
He gritted his teeth and held back the breath that was about to escape.
“Sss…!”
He forcibly stopped the spear strike that was in the middle of thrusting forward.
-Creak
Of course, even if his body was strengthened by spirit and armor, the reverse motion put a tremendous strain on his body.
Along with a precarious creaking sound, a severe pain that made him wonder if his bones had dislocated ran from his knees to his entire body.
But he had caught it properly.
The turn hadn’t passed.
“Hap!”
At the same time as his shout, he slashed towards the blade of the spear so as not to be affected by the rotation.
The slash, which was swung in a large arc, had the Black Knight’s neck precisely in its trajectory.
He was sure of his victory.
And he realized that his certainty was too hasty.
-Crack!
A definite feeling of impact.
Si-woo’s spear had clearly struck the Black Knight.
But it didn’t feel like it had cut through flesh and armor.
It was because the Black Knight had instead charged towards Si-woo, throwing his body into the spear strike.
It was a defensive tactic that he had never expected, as he had only been trying to create distance until now, minimizing the damage by pulling the point of impact forward.
A long, swung spear strike is inevitably affected by centrifugal force.
The tip of the spear is powerful enough with sufficient acceleration, but the inside is much less powerful.
The Black Knight used the force of being hit by the spear strike to kick off in the opposite direction.
A human body, especially one wearing armor that easily exceeded 200kg, flew like a baseball.
The distance that he had tried so hard to maintain was instantly widened.
“What…?”
According to common sense, it was a method that anyone could easily think of.
But the reason why Si-woo was shocked was not just because he was caught off guard.
The spear that Si-woo was wielding was not a blow at the level of ‘common sense.’
Thanks to the power generation, the strengthening of his body with magic power, the armor that was no different from a powered suit, and the contract with the King of All Diseases, it was a blow that was technically perfectly executed.
Even if the force was greatly reduced on the inside, it was no different from throwing oneself into a running dump truck.
As proof, the Black Knight’s left arm, which was moving away while spraying shadows, was abnormally bent.
It was a clear open fracture, where the bone would have protruded if the armor was removed.
Blood droplets were constantly scattering through the gaps in the gauntlet.
But that wasn’t enough.
The risky move, which could have cost him his life, had given the Black Knight a favorable distance at the cost of his left arm.
“Bloom!!!”
There was no time to hesitate.
He belatedly chased after the Black Knight.
Now that the distance had widened this much, it was no different from the Black Knight’s turn.
Black ribbons that stretched out in all directions like blooming flowers, and red branches loaded as if they were bows.
All that was left was the time of heads or tails that he had experienced enough to be sick of it.
The Black Knight had survived at the cost of his arm, and Si-woo was left with only the choice of dodging to the left or to the right.
A red light flashed.
In a moment that could be mistaken for an illusion, he dashed to the right with all his might.
-Swoosh!
The trajectory of the red branch that was thrown with all its might.
The fine hairs on the skin in that area stood up all at once.
But even now, as he succeeded in dodging and was closing the distance with all his might, he was still uneasy.
During the last trial, the Black Knight had recovered the red branches that had been fired by some means and immediately reused them.
And at this very moment.
The red branch, which was emitting a vivid killing intent from the Black Knight’s hand again, as if it wasn’t a one-time bug.
“Bloom.”
A black flower that bloomed elegantly.
The Russian roulette was forced once again.
There was no second stroke of luck.
The goddess of luck had kissed the Black Knight.
Si-woo’s body, which had been flying into the air, was caught in the aftermath of the distortion field and crashed to the ground.
2.
Dorothy was sweating profusely, but she met the eyes of Luelle, who was looking up at her.
Even in this state, there was no hostility in her eyes.
Only bewilderment, pain from the injury, and a much greater shock existed.
As expected, no, it was a much more sloppy response than expected.
Dorothy’s magnetic magic was specialized for close combat.
She could be said to be among the strongest if she was within striking distance.
No matter how much it was a 23rd-level autonomous defense, she was confident that she could easily penetrate it as long as she had given up the distance, but…
She never expected that the autonomous defense wouldn’t even activate until the moment the blade was tearing through her abdomen.
It was a stark realization of how complacent Luelle had been.
“Dorothy…. Why…. Why are you doing this suddenly…. How dare you…. Me….”
Luelle was writhing and trying to get up somehow.
Her efforts were repeatedly in vain.
Only bloodstains were spreading on the floor that her hand, which was covering the wound, had scraped.
The wound itself wasn’t very deep.
If she used recovery magic, she would be fine with a few days of rest, and even if she didn’t, she would be able to recover completely in a month with the unique recovery power of a spirit body.
The problem was the location of the wound.
Dorothy had killed many witches and knew the best vital points to neutralize them.
The blade that had pierced diagonally through her dantian did not cause any significant damage to the brand itself.
However, Dorothy’s blade, which cut through the spirit body, had precisely cut through the core of the magic power circuit that extended from the brand to her entire body.
In this state, even a 23rd-level witch would be no different from an ordinary person.
“Foolish Queen…”
Dorothy quietly knelt at Luelle’s head, like a saint praying for the soldiers who had fallen on the battlefield.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay if you trust others so easily?”
“Is it… such a bad thing to trust a friend…?”
“Trust and carelessness are completely different issues.”
At that moment, the crew members rushed in from all around.
The moment they sensed that Luelle, the owner of Akula, had been attacked, they rushed in like white blood cells to protect their captain.
Luelle knew what choice the loyal crew members would make when they saw this scene.
“No, no…! Stop!”
But they were just familiars who were in charge of odd jobs.
On the other hand, Dorothy was a great witch who was well-versed in combat.
The result was so obvious that Luelle desperately tried to stop the crew members.
-Tap
“Okay, okay~ stop.”
The moment Dorothy flicked her fingertip, the movements of the crew members, who had been taking out their pistols with a menacing aura, stopped all at once.
Luelle also felt that the path that connected Akula and her had been instantly seized.
Dorothy, who had modified the submarine with the previous Nukelavi, was the one who did it.
At the point where Luelle’s magic power was cut off, taking away the contract of the submarine and the crew members belonging to it was as easy as eating a piece of cake.
“Bind her. Stop the bleeding in the affected area.”
The loyal subordinates, who had been rushing in with anger just a few seconds ago, instead bound Luelle.
Even when Luelle looked at their faces with a blank expression, they showed no signs of agitation.
They silently carried out Dorothy’s orders, as if everything they had done to support Luelle until now was just an act, and their true nature was just mechanical devices.
“It seems like you care a lot about these familiars, Queen~ Can you see? These guys are just parts. Your Nukelavi Kingdom play is just a game of make-believe.”
“No! They are all loyal to me…!”
“Then, try to stop my orders?”
“Anastasia, Natasha…”
Luelle pleaded, calling out the names of each of the crew members.
But what they followed was not Luelle’s desperate cries, but Dorothy’s cold orders.
Luelle stared blankly at Dorothy, as if she had lost the strength to resist.
Soon, her head was lowered.
Pearl-like tears dripped down her cheeks.
“Why, why are you doing this? Is it my magic that you want? Or…”
“Your magic is too different in system, so there’s nothing to refer to. But you have a pretty~ nice toy.”
Even in her confusion, Luelle realized that it was about Shin Si-woo.
“No…! What are you planning to do to him…!”
“I should use him for magic research, right?”
“No, no…!”
The threads of ominous imagination unfolded.
Dorothy stepped closer to Luelle, who was struggling more violently than when she had been stabbed with a knife.
“Queen.”
Dorothy slowly stroked Luelle’s cheek.
“This is the life of a public figure. Doing anything for magic, even stabbing a dear friend’s disciple in the back. A life filled with fleeting desires.”
Dorothy showed an unknowable smile as always to Luelle, who had unknowingly flinched back at the strange spirit.
“Isn’t it funny?”
