Chapter 144: A Knight’s Pride (1)

Regan, the commander of the Zepirus knights, pursued the Sefira brothers along with five three-star knights.

The Sefira brothers already have fourteen badges? If I take them all, I can get twenty.

Although Regan was currently chasing Sefira under the orders of the patriarch of Zepirus , his real goal for participating in the tournament was to win it for himself.

If I score seven points in the battle royale and place second in each of the next two tournaments, I still have a shot at winning.

Regan’s mind was preoccupied with strategies on how to take second place in the tournaments. The two Sefira archers he had to defeat first didn’t even register as a threat. If he ran into them, he would simply cut them down cleanly—nothing more.

At that moment, a voice echoed in his mind—the voice of the mage informing him of Sefira’s position.

—They have noticed us. Evacua...

Thud.

One of the knights running beside Regan took an arrow and collapsed.

“Huh?”

A three-star knight taken down in one shot?

“Fool.”

This isn't because Sefira is impressive; this knight is simply an idiot.

Thud!

It took two more knights falling for Regan to acknowledge them.

“Damn it! What are you fools doing?! Can’t you block a simple arrow?!”

But the fallen knights were already out of the fight. There was no point in hearing excuses from them now.

Regan accelerated, surging to the front. Immediately, an arrow came flying at him.

Such a blatant shot... why can't they block it... huh?!

He clearly saw the arrow. It was moving at a speed his eyes could track, but then it accelerated.

“Ha!”

Clang!

Normally, arrows decelerated after being shot; that was common sense. But Sefira's arrows sped up mid-flight. The other three-star knights were struck because even if they had noticed the change, they weren't able to react—the arrow was simply too fast.

However, Regan managed to respond. Though he shouted in surprise, he reacted.

–Another one is coming!

The mage offered unhelpful commentary.

Regan roared, “Get out of my head! You're distracting me!”

Thwack thwack thwack!

Having realized the arrows accelerated, Regan managed to shoot down the successive attacks.

“Sefira’s arrows accelerate after being fired. If you know that, you can deflect them.”

Regan shared this discovery with two of the remaining three-star knights. But even after being warned, they couldn’t block them.

Boom!

“

Gah?!

”

One three-star knight, thinking it was a normal arrow, tried to block it, only to be launched into the air. It sounded like he had been struck by a catapult.

“How can an arrow have this much power?!”

“We underestimated them. Slow down and focus purely on defense!”

With powerful arrows mixed among the fast ones, the knights couldn’t regain their composure. Even Regan could easily deflect the fast arrows, but every time he blocked one of the heavy arrows, pain shot up his wrist. Plus, the interval between shots kept getting shorter. Until finally...

Thunk!

The sound of a bowstring snapping came from right in front of him.

Regan turned his head just in time to dodge the arrow and shouted, “Impressive archery... but now that you’ve revealed your position, our victo...ry?”

He paused. He saw Anis drawing his bowstring again, but alone.

Why is he alone? He should be with Taragon.

Thunk!

Anis silently shot another arrow. It was a wooden arrow. It was crude, but the finely controlled aura reinforced its durability and power.

The two remaining three-star knights didn’t underestimate it, as their comrades were defeated by those arrows. They opened their eyes wide, poured aura into their swords, and swung to deflect.

Squelch!

One of the knights at the front managed to deflect Anis’s arrow, only to have a second arrow strike him in the shoulder from behind.

Regan clenched his teeth as he deflected another arrow aimed at him.

“He circled around behind us?!”

Taragon had quietly moved into their rear flank. Regan was surprised that even he hadn’t noticed him moving.

At this point, we’ll have to accept some sacrifices.

Regan used the two remaining knights as shields and closed the distance to Anis.

“Don’t hate me for this.”

Then, using his comrades as cover, he swung his sword at Anis’ right arm with power surpassing that of a three-star knight.

At that moment, Anis made a bold move. He ducked low and rolled forward, dodging the strike and slipping inside Regan’s guard.

“What?!”

A knight rolling on the ground?

What was even more shocking was that Anis caught Regan’s sword wrist with his bow and twisted it.

“

Ack!

”

Regan instinctively twisted his arm to shake him off, but Anis pushed in the same direction. As a result, both Anis’ bow and Regan’s sword flew off into the distance.

Regan immediately tried to grab Anis by the collar and slam him to the ground, but...

Thud!

...Anis was faster. He struck Regan’s torso with a punch imbued with aura. Though Regan had activated his Aura Armor just in time, he couldn’t stop himself from being pushed back.

Anis continued to attack relentlessly, buying time for Taragon to finish off the other three-star knights. Under the nonstop blows, Regan finally spotted a gap in Anis’ footwork. He grabbed him at the waist and tried to trip him, but Anis only staggered slightly. In fact, he countered, hooking Regan’s foot and flipping him to the ground.

Thud!

“

Agh!!

”

Rolling across the ground, Regan's face flushed not from pain, but from shame—humiliated at being defeated in close combat by an archer.

Meanwhile, Anis, wearing an inexplicably fresh and cheerful expression, murmured, “Your legs are weak.”

* * *

The Magic Control Room in Eslow’s fief was kingdom-employed mages and mage civil servants operated and managed the magic needed to run the city. The magic for the Sword of the South Tournament was also controlled from here, including the giant screens displaying the matches for the spectators.

“They are fighting far better than expected. I need to change the screen.”

The mage in charge of the screens, who had taken a hefty bribe from Count Eiwen, hurried to switch the view away, as Anis and Taragon were putting up too good a fight against the Regan, a four-star knight.

But just then, the chilling sensation of cold steel on the back of his neck froze him in place.

“Return the screen to where it was.”

The mage realized that the cold presence behind him was the blade of a sword.

“Wh-who are you?! Where are the guards?!”

“I am Sir Jeffrey Edmund, Captain of the Twenty-Second Division of the Order of the Immortal Knights.”

The Order of the Immortal Knights was the order directly under Eslow’s command. It wasn’t that the guards had been defeated; they had simply stepped aside. Who would dare block the path of a royal knight?

“W-why are you doing this to me?!”

“I’m acting under orders to broadcast Sefira’s fights.”

“Who would give such an order...?!”

Even as he spoke, the mage realized how foolish he sounded. There was only one person who could order Jeffery.

“Lord Eslow himself? Why would he... support Sefira?”

Drip.

Blood trickled down the back of the mage’s neck. Jeffrey had lightly released his sword aura.

“Do not presume to guess Lord Eslow’s intentions.”

“U-understood! I’ll do as you command, just please lower your sword!”

The mage had no loyalty or sense of duty. It was an order from the lord himself. Without hesitation, he switched the screen back to Sefira.

The audience, who had been angrily complaining about the sudden change of view, erupted in cheers when the screen returned to the Sefira brothers, unaware of the backstage drama that had just taken place. Thanks to Jeffrey’s intervention, the audience didn’t miss the highlight: the fierce close-combat between Anis and Regan.

What Anis muttered when flipping Regan over was broadcast loud and clear to the tens of thousands of spectators. The reaction was explosive.

“An archer beat a swordsman in close combat!”

“That's right. Lower body strength is everything for a man!”

“Who knew Sefira could be this gutsy?”

“Anis! Anis!”

The crowd chanted Anis’s name in a frenzy. However, the cheers didn’t last long.

Regan had only been knocked down—not defeated. He quickly got back on his feet, and the second round began.

Bam bam bam!

Regan and Anis punched at incredible speeds, blocking and dodging in a furious exchange.

Slash!

Regan’s elbow grazed Anis’ cheek, and a thin line of blood appeared as if cut by a blade. Now fully fired up, Regan began to overwhelm Anis.

As the tide turned, the spectators also flipped their opinions instantly.

“Well, of course. How could an archer beat a swordsman in close combat?”

“He just got lucky and tripped him once.”

“It’s not realistic for an archer to be good at close-range combat anyway.”

The situation worsened for Sefira in real-time before everyone’s eyes.

Meanwhile, the knights who had recovered with elixirs rejoined the fight, and Taragon, having run out of arrows, began using Aura Arrows at mid-range instead.

Normally, the broadcast wouldn’t focus on a single participant for so long, as people would want to see others as well. But today, for some reason, the screen stayed locked on Anis and Taragon for over ten minutes.

Yet nobody complained. Nobody protested. Everyone simply watched, silently and intently, as the Sefira brothers fought for their lives. Not everyone was calmly observing, though; someone was clenching his fists so tightly that blood seeped from his palms.

“Anis, behind you!” Myle shouted instinctively, spotting a knight sneaking up behind Anis.

He knew Anis couldn’t possibly hear him, but he couldn’t help yelling anyway. Luckily, Anis seemed to have sensed it. He generated an Aura Arrow and threw it over his shoulder, but Regan’s interference knocked it off course.

The Aura Arrow struck the ground. It was a dangerous situation.

Thunk!

“

Kuk?!

”

The knight trying to ambush Anis collapsed due to the surprise attack. The arrow had struck the ground and bounced a stone upward, smashing into the knight’s chin and knocking him out.

“Nice!”

Myle thought it was pure luck, but Keter knew better.

He learned that from me.

It was a trick that Keter had once beaten Anis with: striking the ground to bounce a stone into a surprise attack. Of course, normally, a knight using aura could easily block a stone. But if they weren’t anticipating it, and a fist-sized stone slammed into your jaw at high speed, even a knight would see stars.

Anis had brilliantly improvised to survive, but the overall situation was only getting worse.

“Over there!”

“Group up!”

More knights were joining the battle. Though they were only two-star knights, their growing numbers put enormous pressure on Anis and Taragon.

Keter clicked his tongue.

“They knew they shouldn't drag this out, but they got caught up in the fight and forgot.”

Emotions clouded reason; even when they knew better, emotions could overpower rational thought. The moment they had landed a hit on Regan, they should have immediately pulled back. Even if retreating wasn't an option, they should have forced the battle into more favorable terrain. Instead, buoyed by the excitement of scoring a blow against a four-star knight, they failed to assess the battlefield properly.

“If you make a mistake, you have to pay for it.”

Mistakes were inevitably made, and what mattered was how one recovered from them. If one refused to acknowledge their mistake or tried to fix them without paying a price...

“You'll end up paying ten thousand gold when one gold would’ve been enough.”

For an ordinary life, mistakes weren’t fatal. One could afford to stumble repeatedly. But for a warrior—for someone who lived by the sword—one mistake could cost your life.

It was then that Keter, staring at the screen, noticed something. He smiled.

“Things are about to get even more interesting.”

Rajis, the Sword Dragon, was heading straight toward Anis and Taragon. They were already struggling against a four-star knight and multiple three-star knights, and now a five-star master was joining the fray? This would be the end. Escape wouldn’t be easy either.

However, Rajis acted differently than Keter expected.

Crash!!!

A massive wave of sword aura split between Regan’s knights and the Sefira brothers. Landing in front of Anis, Rajis pointed his sword at Regan.

“Aren't you ashamed to call yourself a knight?”

Rajis, Sword Dragon of Garcia, Regas, was protecting Sefira!

The sudden and shocking move left not just the people, but even the nobles covering their mouths in astonishment.