‘Such mediocre swordsmanship. I expected more from a prodigy of the Empire. Turns out my assumptions and worries were for naught.’

Lancelot dodged another one of Arnold’s slashes, effortlessly.

It was painfully slow.

‘I can’t believe I was so on guard against this simpleton.’

Arnold von Berkley was said to be one of the strongest young knights of his generation. Yet, this was all he had in him?

‘Is he hiding his power or is he too tired from his battle with that dragon?’

Lancelot had coincidentally seen Arnold when they fought with the orcs in the forest. He didn’t attack immediately since it would be troublesome if others knew that he took a person hostage from another country.

To create a distraction, Lancelot chased the dragon out of the forest. When the perfect moment came, he used the teleport magic on Arnold.

“Ugh!”

Lancelot kicked Arnold in the face which sent him flying.

How long had it been? The constant back and forth of their exchanges had made him lose track of time.

“Why do you keep getting up? Are you so blind as to not see the disparity in power between you and I?”

Lancelot lifted Arnold by his hair. His face was battered and his body was bruised from constantly being kicked. At some point, Lancelot had ceased using his swords and instead used physical blows.

Even after all that Arnold was still conscious.

Instead of answering Lancelot, Arnold spat the blood in his mouth at Lancelot.

Lancelot’s eyebrow twitched under his mask. He took a deep breath before grabbing the holy sword and plunging it into Arnold’s shoulder.

“Gyaaah!!!”

An unrestrained, painful shout came out of Arnold’s mouth. The wound started sizzling.

‘Hm? That’s strange.’

Lancelot, who was taken aback by that suddenly sensed danger behind him. He hurried gained distance.

Arnold’s Aura Sword had flown back to his hands. Arnold, different from before, was covered in a blue essence.

Aura.

‘Interesting. So that sword is bound to its wielder. Aura is a very curious concept.’

In the Theocracy, there was no mention of what aura truly was. Every book pertaining to training only mentioned divinity and mana. Aura was said to be the embodiment of the demon race. It was passed down to the humans and other races after the whore princess, Lilith slept with the First Kings of all races. Thus, the people of today who could harness aura were known as her offspring.

The concept was something Lancelot wanted to study, however, that would go against his religious beliefs.

‘Should I capture him and study his body to learn more about aura?’

It was only his curiosity so he wouldn’t actually go through with it. Torturing someone for one’s own benefits were against the teachings of Melis, the human God.

To force down his curiosity, Lancelot repeated that phrase in his head.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

When he heard Arnold spoke, Lancelot raised his guard. That was because the current Arnold seemed far different from before.

That ghastly dark blue aura was giving him a sort of ominous look.

Arnold swept back his hair and looked at Lancelot with icy cold eyes and murderous intent.

His Aura Sword seemed to have shrunk in size in comparison to earlier. Also, the blade was severely darker than before.

Lancelot could tell that there was a massive amount of aura focused in that blade.

‘So he will not yield.’

The show was indeed astonishing, however, Lancelot didn’t bat an eye even as Arnold’s presence increased immensely. He grabbed the second sword floating by his side.

A green essence covered Lancelot’s body again. The swords were also surrounded in its radiance. It created an ethereal sight and one wouldn’t be able to turn one’s eyes away from the beauty of his power.

Lancelot got into the same stance from earlier.

Arnold charged at Lancelot at that moment.

Although he could still see him, Arnold was much faster than before. The way he moved also changed. It was like a completely different person had taken over his body.

Their swords clashed.

‘Oh?’

Arnold twisted his neck to the side to avoid Lancelot’s sword. Lancelot used one as a feint and actually attacked with the other. Yet Arnold was able to successfully dodge that despite it being outside his vision.

Sparks flew. Sounds of metal slashing metal resounded. The ground they stood on was slowly breaking apart.

‘He really is different from before. His swordsmanship which I mistook for an amateur was actually a guise for the real thing. This sword style he’s using…It’s truly beautiful.’

Such a shame that you will die before perfecting it, thought Lancelot as he activated a martial skill.

[Holy Cross Dual Strike]

Two golden arcs shot towards Arnold. He gritted his teeth and roared.

His violent blue aura shut him in a cage-like barrier.

‘He is indeed tired from that fight. His aura is slowly shutting down his body.’

Lancelot’s arcs of light managed to pierce the barrier and create a fatal injury on Arnold’s eye. Blood leaked from his eye as he clutched it. The second arc of light had a far weaker affect that the first one.

Wasting not a single second, Lancelot charged at Arnold with both swords in front of him. He slashed, but his swords were stopped by Arnold’s sword.

‘What kind of sword is that? It can even stop two Star-class weapons?’

Arnold was slowly showing signs of fatigue. His eye was burning from the earlier slash. His left arm was trembling and he was losing blood by the second.

Although his body was giving in, albeit slowly, his violent aura was still going crazy. Even though the user wasn’t moving, his aura was spreading out appendages and attacking Lancelot.

‘I can’t get close unless I strip him of his aura. Although I can brute force my way through. That would be unwise.’

Lancelot knew that being too hasty would come back to bite him later on. Who knows? His opponent might even have an ace up his sleeve.

Arnold charged at Lancelot after shooting out aura slashes. Lancelot didn’t attempt to block them and only dodged. The landscape took most of the damage when the aura slashes exploded.

The two swordsmen clashed with their weapons. Arnold with his Flow of the Tide swordsmanship and Lancelot and his dual arts.

The Aura Sword in his possession has the ability to record martial arts and all sorts of weapon styles. It made it possible for him to use Arnold’s default swordstyle in the game.

Of course, if he ran out of aura then the Aura Sword—which was allowing him to use the swordstyle—would disappear.

Lancelot noticed that Arnold was staggering and was seemingly out of breath. His sword was nowhere to be found so it was probably laying somewhere.

Arnold’s entire body was covered in blood. His wyvern armor was completely destroyed and the gauntlets that protected his wrists were shattered.

‘He’s not moving.’

Taking that chance, Lancelot approached Arnold and activated his divinity. Several spears of light manifested behind him.

Lancelot suddenly heard cracks when he was about to close in on Arnold. When he looked up, he noticed that he was below a cliff.

His eyes widened when he saw that Arnold’s sword was stabbed into the side of the cliff and was literally eroding the minerals with aura alone.

Several tons of rock fell and was threatening to crush Lancelot.

“You...!”

‘This bastard! I should’ve known that something was amiss when I didn’t see his sword!’

Arnold smirked.

Lancelot fell for his trap.

When Lancelot was about to try and dodge the falling the rocks, Arnold activated the only martial skill he knew how to use.

“[Storm of the Water Dragon]!”

Far different from the one that killed Ruduli. This one had a whole body instead of just being a head. The sword was in the middle of the aura-manifested dragon that was the size of a giant tree. The dragon wasted no time as it headed for Lancelot.

The destructive power of its footsteps shook the very ground they stood on. The manifested creature was no different from a predator going in for its prey.

Lancelot gritted his teeth and took out a crystal.

“-----!!” Arnold muttered something in a strange language. There was a smirk on his face as he showed Lancelot the middle finger.

“What!?”

When he tried summoning the angel within to take the damage, the crystal shut down.

‘Did he just speak our nation’s founding language to put a delay on the angel’s summon!? No way! That is a language only known to the Pope and the high priests!’

Completely taken aback, Lancelot forgot to block the giant monster that clamped its jaws on him.

Part 2

“Haa…Haa…”

Arnold collapsed on his knees after the dragon exploded while dragging Lancelot’s body around in its mouth. The shockwave made Arnold’s hair flutter and the mountain get blown away by the sheer power of the blast.

“All that’s left is the barrier…”

He looked up at the green dome that blocked most of the sun’s rays. For some reason, birds could fly through it.

But what was the reason for it being cast then?

‘Maybe it’s only meant for a single target? That would make the most sense.’

“Ah….I want to lay on Victoria’s thighs and eat her delicious food.”

Arnold turned around, however, he stopped when he was about to take the first step.

“Haha…Haha…You gotta be kidding me…”

There he stood.

Lancelot tore off the tattered robe on his body, revealing his upper chest. Not only was he unscathed, but it seemed that the martial skill Arnold used only pissed him off.

The half of his mask was shattered and Arnold could see sharp and strong jawlines and a high nose. One green eye peeked out of the destroyed mask.

“Where are you going? This fight is not over yet.”

Lancelot’s entire body leaked green essence. Arnold’s body shuddered.

‘I want to get away. But…it seems that this is my end...’

He looked at the state of his body. His left arm was immobile since it was twisted and his shoulder blade shattered. His right eye was completely gone at this point and there was a large slash wound on his chest.

The holy swords had cut through his wyvern armor like it was butter.

‘Is there still something I have that can work against this guy?’

“Ugh…It burns…” Arnold’s wounds was burning for some reason. Particularly the slash wounds from the holy swords.

‘You gotta be kidding me. Is my negative karma that high that even the Divine Realm classifies me as a demon? Since it’s divinity, it should only burn those with impure souls.’

Liam couldn’t help but frown bitterly. Even the gods were looking upon Arnold with reproachful eyes. He had that kind of feeling.

His throat was dry and his lips were chapped. Arnold gripped his Aura Sword and tried infusing aura into it.

Nothing.

He had used all his aura in that final attack. All he had left was the strength in his body.

‘Wait a second…There’s still something.’

His brain went into overdrive to try and remember a certain thing. That message that told him that his death flag was eliminated.

Yes, there was still that.

‘System! I need help! Give me that Star Draw now!’

--….

He received no answer.

Lancelot was still approaching Arnold. There was no doubt that he would be cut down without hesitation.

Biting his lips, Arnold screamed within his heart again.

‘System! Where the fuck are you!? Hah!? Fucking heed my commands you bastard!’

-….

Still nothing.

“Have you finally come to accept your demise? Will you die by my hands so that I can prove to my goddess that I am still righteous?”

“Hah….” Arnold glared at Lancelot with his face covered in blood. He pointed at Lancelot while looking at him in disgust. “There you go again. Spewing shit about your goddess like some crazy psycho! You, that bastard Pope and the Theocracy’s High Priests are a bunch of hypocrites. Even that bitch of a goddess ought to get her screws checked—”

Slash. A fast movement from Lancelot suddenly caused Arnold’s finger to get cut off.

“Uwaaack!” Arnold, noticing the pain only a moment later, screamed as he held onto his hand.

“Do not hurl insults at the Father or the nation which raised me. And especially not to my goddess, you demon scum.” Although his face was a blank as ever, one could hear the venom in Lancelot’s voice.

Arnold gritted his teeth as he clenched the finger that was literally cut in half.

“B…Bastard…!” Arnold’s cursing sounded more like a little child trying to seem intimidating.

He crawled backwards like a frightened little animal. Lancelot was too powerful. Even against the overwhelming aura of post villain Arnold, he was able to effortlessly beat it with his power alone.

Arnold felt empty air behind him and he stopped.

“!!!!”

He could see the clouds so this was definitely one of the highest mountains of the Culb forest.

Arnold wagered whether it was better to jump. Since the mountain was deep in the forest, there was no doubt that there were many monsters down.

To him at this moment it was better to deal with monsters that are out to eat him than it is to fight the real monster before him.

“Fuck…Where’s the player rescue teleportation when you need it…”

If any of his friends were still in the game then he could simply send a message and they’d instantly teleport to his location. Whether Lancelot was on the level of a level-cap player remained to be seen.

Arnold gritted his teeth as his remaining arm fell powerlessly to the side.

“W-Wait, Lord Lancelot! I’ll tell you! I-I’ll tell you where Flora is!”

Lancelot stopped and narrowed his eyes.

“I’m listening.”