Chapter 97. Blessing in Disguise (10)

The cracks widened to about the size of a palm.

"Now this is getting interesting," the knight in the blue armor remarked.

The knight drew his sword about the length of a single finger, instantly emitting a dazzling white light.

Whooosh!

A strong wind drew toward him. The exposed blade burned indescribably, radiating brilliance and illuminating the entire lodge.

Crackle! Crackle, crack!

The letters that had been aggressively creating cracks faltered. The scattered characters linked themselves together as if they were forming a defense, seemingly asking something of me for a moment, but I had nothing to give. Just gripping the dagger in my hand consumed all my strength and focus.

The linked white letters fought back, spreading cold energy to freeze their surroundings. The letters seemed to be trying to create a crack in the invisible barrier by battling against the heat of the knight's blazing sword.

The clash of the icy and fiery whites created eerie distortions in the air.

However, the balance didn't last long. The knight's radiant blade kept pouring out light without faltering, while the letters emerging from the black dagger seemed to consume themselves in the effort.

I have to end this quickly.

That was all I could think of.

Rip it apart. Shatter it. Focus all my strength into one strike.

There was no hope otherwise.

The letters hummed as if agreeing with my resolve. The bones underneath my armor creaked and burned as I stepped forward. Straining against the overwhelming pressure, cracks spread across my bones like spiderwebs. However, I had no choice because I had to make my move now.

There was no turning back. I swung the dagger forcefully, pain searing through me as if I were breaking apart. The blurry world tilted in front of me.

A violent gust of wind exploded.

Boom!

The troll's remains and the Skeletal Wolf Cub were swept off the balcony. The first letter burst into flames, shattering and scattering into the void. The second and third letters held on briefly, maintaining a tenuous balance, but soon wavered.

Crackle! Crackle!

The edges of the letters burned away, dwindling as they slowly turned into ashes. The fourth letter let out a grotesque cry.

Screech! Crackle!

It scratched at the transparent barrier, leaving a small crack in the white scabbard before exploding into pitch-black flames. However, that was the end. With a sharp snap, the fourth letter crumbled and fell to the ground.

Tap.

The knight in blue armor took a step closer to me. I clung to the weakened dagger with all my might, but I wasn't resisting at this point because I lacked the strength to let go. My shattered and burned bones could muster no more power.

The approaching knight casually brushed back his pale gray-blue hair.

Swoosh.

This was our second encounter. Unlike the first time outside the cave, his expression wasn't a scowl.

Instead, he wore a crooked grin, lifting one corner of his mouth. "That was refreshing. Should I thank you for making me exert myself?"

I couldn't respond. All I could do was hold onto the dagger as if it were embedded in midair. That was all I could manage.

Observing the crackling distortions around me, I realized something. The invisible barrier wasn't just around the scabbard. The knight in blue armor controlled the entire space. He could ignore the black dagger and strike me down with his blade if he wanted. The balance I had felt earlier had been an illusion. He had been toying with the dagger's power, drawing it out for amusement.

The knight pushed me to the ground, pressing his foot against my ribs. I had no strength left to resist. The dagger, now devoid of its letters, hung limply in my grip.

Calmly, he removed my mithril armor piece by piece. Once I was stripped of my protection, he crossed my wrists behind my back and locked them in iron cuffs. He then chained my feet and connected the shackles.

It was already evening. The cold autumn wind slipped through the cracks of my fractured bones. The knight collected the captain's armor, sword, and the mage's staff. He examined the blood Gith-Za-Rai had extracted, but he tucked it away without a word.

Throughout it all, he didn't ask me a single question. It was strange—eerily so.

Finally, I couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you ask me anything?"

The knight glanced at me briefly but didn't reply. Instead, he swung his scabbard at my skull.

Thud!

Everything went dark.

***

The sound of galloping hooves echoed loudly.

Clop! Clop!

Where am I?

My consciousness returned faintly, and the world slowly came into focus.

Clop! Clop!

Everything shook violently, but thankfully, I didn't feel dizzy. I moved my neck slightly, trying to grasp my situation.

I was tied to the end of a long pole. My arms and legs were twisted behind me in iron cuffs, and I hung from the pole like a flag flapping in the wind. The blue knight had knocked me unconscious and was dragging me somewhere.

Rattle!

I strained against the chains, but the cuffs didn't budge. Instead, a response came from somewhere else.

[Your bones are fractured.]

[Exerting unnecessary force may result in permanent health loss.]

[Recovery is currently restricted.]

Restricted recovery?

Seeing the message appear in midair, I let my arm and leg bones go limp. I couldn't do anything in this situation.

Clop! Clop!

The horse's head bobbed as it galloped downhill. Its black mane shimmered faintly with golden highlights. The horse was exceptionally tall—at least two heads taller than Blue Milo, the horse of the hammer-wielding and crossbow-wielding foes I had slain at the graveyard.

At first, I couldn't believe the horse had climbed all the way up to the lodge, but seeing it navigate the steep mountain trail, it looked capable of scaling sheer cliffs if needed. It descended the steep path with playful ease as if the incline was merely a toy. The horse effortlessly moved at twice the speed of a nimble mountain wolf.

Clop! Clop!

The knight rode the horse with the ease of someone reclining in a hammock. This man hadn't even stopped by Yublam. He had come directly to pursue me.

Was it all meaningless? Where is he taking me? How long had he been following me?

More than anything, there was one thing I needed to confirm. I recalled a conversation with Rena.

***

"You must be lucky if you saw one of the Empire's Four Swordmasters and survived."

"Swordmasters?"

"Yes. The white scabbard belongs to Seraphim the Swan. If the description fits..."

"The Blue Lions—they're said to cut down anything demonic on sight, right?"

***

Clop! Clop!

Could this knight in blue armor truly be one of the Empire's Four Swordmasters as Rena had suggested?

Still hanging at the end of the pole, I cautiously probed him. "Aren't the other Swordmasters coming?"

The knight didn't even glance upward. Instead, he calmly stroked the neck of his black steed, running his fingers along a sensitive spot.

The horse twitched slightly in pleasure and trembled.

"

Neigh!

"

As a result, I swayed violently from the pole.

Is it because of the items?

Thinking about it, this situation was inevitable. Pursuing me was worth it, even if it wasn't just for the items. At the scene of the emperor's assassination, I was the only entity that had walked out of that site. I had pulled off something absurd and taken a mage's staff, the emperor's ring, and mithril armor. The idea that I could escape unscathed was foolish.

Chirp... chirp-chirp!

The birds mocked me. I remembered the first time I had seen this man—a month after recruiting Rena as a companion—about two weeks from now. Even then, he must have been investigating the emperor's assassination.

As I mulled over my thoughts, something caught my eye. Ahead, on the ground, six hunters lay with their stomachs split open, their entrails spilling out slightly.

Clop! Clop!

We closed in on the distance rapidly. As we passed, I glanced at the hunters' faces. The hunters' eyes were bloodshot, their vessels having burst from agony.

The knight passed the grisly scene without a second glance.

He's the one who did this.

The evidence was unmistakable. This went beyond mere killing. Precise incisions neatly cutting through the abdomen alone would have sufficed—there was no need to extract their insides deliberately.

The truth would have naturally spilled from their mouths as their pale pink entrails were exposed to the air. The knight must have interrogated them about me—the one who had gone up the mountain.

Yet, he hadn't asked me a single question. I pondered the reason and suddenly realized that this man likely found no meaning in conversations without torture. He didn't know how to inflict pain on a skeleton. Since he didn't know how to torture me, he chose not to speak to me at all.

Clop! Clop!

The black horse swiftly descended the mountain. I dangled miserably from the knight's pole, but what weighed on me more than my wretched state was the horrifying gap in power between this man and me.

I felt ashamed toward Gith-Za-Rai and the fact that the letters etched onto the black blade had been obliterated, unable to fully manifest their power under my command. Absorbing the imperial guard's essence had made me arrogantly confident, but at the lodge, I had been subdued as easily as a scarecrow.

Still, there were some improvements over my previous life. In the past, I did not understand what was happening. Thanks to the black dagger's power, I had at least perceived the tangible force at play this time.

Second, I was caught alone this time. Even if I died, I would have no regrets. In our first encounter, Rena had been with me. After surviving in the cave for a month and escaping, I found this man waiting outside with an irritated expression.

The thought of what Rena might have endured back then made my vision go dark. Judging by what the knight had done to the hunters, he wouldn't have let her die peacefully.

I need to gather information.

The idea of a better life in the future arose in my mind. If I met Rena again in the next life, I wanted to teach her instead of relying on her.

"Clearing the labyrinth in one go—it seems you have some special abilities," I said, addressing the knight.

He probably thought of me as nothing more than a fish caught in a net. There was a chance his guard would drop. Even if I learned just one thing, it would be worth it because I had nothing to lose in this gamble.

I asked, "How long have you been chasing me? Who do you think had the strongest motive to kill the Emperor? The capital is far from here. Did you come alone without a mage?"

Clop! Clop!

To my dismay, the knight remained silent.

I taunted, "Moving alone? It seems like you've been cut off. Aren't you just planning to kill me? Keeping quiet like this... don't tell me you're unsure if you can handle me?"

The knight didn't seem intent on killing me immediately as he dragged me along. Even if he shattered more of my bones, it would be worth it to glean some information.

Swoosh!

Without shifting his posture from riding, the knight moved the iron pole. Tucking the pole under his arm, he reached out and grabbed my skull.

Snap!

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

With ease, he removed my jawbone from my skull and attached it to the right side of his saddle.

Clop! Clop!

The rest of my skeleton, still hanging on the left side of the saddle, swayed in rhythm with the horse's movements. My jawbone was gone.

The knight finally said, "Now, let me ask you something. If I put this back, will it reattach itself?"

"..."

"See? You're not answering either."