Chapter 102
Chapter 102: Not Feeling Sad For The Knight’s Death, Even For A Moment
“Hey, you three, you can’t be serious! Are you just hiding there?”
The blonde woman turned around to see the trio of red, pink, and white, who were still standing there, raising their shields and unmoving.
For a moment, she felt both angry and amused.
Iris, hiding behind her partner, held Illya in her arms and replied without changing her expression.
“Had you not recklessly touched that fruit, we wouldn’t have been dragged into this.”
“I…”
“Demi!”
The blue-haired warrior, Wolrit, abruptly embraced the upper body of the blonde woman and rolled them both to the ground.
Then, the Black Knight riding the unicorn charged at them with his spear.
After Wolrit and Demi dodged, the Black Knight quickly shifted his target to Naya.
The long blue horn of the unicorn collided with Naya’s shield, which was glowing faintly red.
“Bang!”
The explosive sound echoed, shaking the ground.
Yet Naya remained as still as a mighty tree.
“Ugh!!!”
The black knight immediately squeezed the unicorn’s sides, forcing it to turn.
“Maritis, charge!”
Realizing that Naya was a tough opponent, the Black Knight quickly redirected his target to the Paladin and her daughter.
They deftly dodged the attack, leaving the unicorn to collide with empty air, which was much better than hitting Naya’s unyielding form.
He had nearly shattered his horn just moments ago.
After several attempts to chase the Paladin and her companions on the unicorn, they began to feel exhausted.
The guardian, fueled by the energy of the earth vein, showed no signs of fatigue.
The Black Knight raised his spear once more, causing the storm above to swirl, and said:
“Six thousand years ago, the Dragon God descended upon this land. We humans spilled countless blood and paid an immeasurable price to slay the Dragon God here. Only then did the energy of the earth vein gather in this place. Stand up, challengers, and face the judgment from six thousand years ago!”
The Black Knight swung his spear downwards.
“Thunder Tribulation!”
Golden lightning rumbled down from the stormy sky, indiscriminately striking every challenger present.
“Ice Crystal Magic Shield!”
The green-haired warrior raised both hands, conjuring an ice shield above them to block the descending thunder.
Demi curled up behind the green-haired warrior, pulling the blue-haired warrior tightly, fearing they might accidentally extend their limbs and get electrocuted.
“This guy is on a completely different level than the ones we faced before! I’m sorry, everyone, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t been so impulsive, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
“Don’t lose heart, Demi. There has to be a way! The Paladin is still here! We must trust the Paladin.”
The Black Knight squeezed the sides of the unicorn, roaring.
“Maritis, speed up! Charge!”
The unicorn accelerated toward the trio.
“Ice Blue Cross Slash!”
The blue-haired warrior swiftly stepped forward with his longsword raised, slashing twice, and a cross-shaped sword light appeared before him.
However, his attack was useless against the unicorn, it simply charged through all obstacles with its sharp horn, barreling straight toward him.
He gritted his teeth, using his body to shield his teammates from the crushing blow.
“Clang!”
The blue-haired warrior was pierced through, and his two teammates were sent flying.
The unicorn shook its head, tossing the blue-haired warrior off its horn.
As it raised its foot to stomp on him, a massive golden sphere of light approached and then exploded violently, sending the unicorn flying.
Seizing the opportunity, the green-haired warrior pulled the blue-haired warrior away from the unicorn, dragging him far away to heal him after he had been impaled in the stomach.
Demi stepped in front of them.
Golden lightning continued to rain down from above, and they could only create a thin layer of insulation around their bodies with their magic.
They sought to avoid being paralyzed by the lightning, but the impact was still there, they had to endure the pain of this thunderous punishment.
“Good teamwork, good cohesion. Before you, I have already slain ten challengers. However, compared to the past from a thousand years ago, those souls lost in this war are merely an inconsequential number.”
Demi fixed her gaze on the Black Knight, who looked down at them from above.
Listening to his incessant monologue, Demi swallowed hard.
Her heart raced with anxiety.
She quietly began to chant a spell.
“In that distant age, to defeat the Dragon God, humanity invented an alchemical technique, sacrificing the lives of an entire nation, merging millions of souls to forge a weapon.”
The Black Knight paused:
“Humans called it the Black Abyss, and the Knight King, the Radiant Knight, came with this weapon to subjugate the Dragon God.”
Demi’s gaze turned to the black spear in the Black Knight’s hand.
Noticing Demi’s question, the black knight shook his head.
“No, it is not this. The Black Abyss returned to this land after vanquishing the Dragon God, its energy was consumed by the earth vein, and a small portion became a relic of the earth vein.”
“Then who are you? How do you know these things?”
“I am the Radiant Knight.”
Demi looked at the Black Knight in disbelief. Where were the characteristics of the Radiant Knight?
She gritted her teeth.
“Prepare yourself, Radiant Knight. The light of the heavens will dispel all darkness!!!”
With a flick of her delicate hand, countless light rings lit up behind her.
White rays of light shot out from the magical circles, all aimed at the black knight riding the unicorn.
After all, she was an Archmage.
Given this long time to chant, she was determined to make the Black Knight suffer!
The Black Knight raised his spear.
A black sphere at the tip of the spear continuously rotated and expanded, while Demi’s released laser beams were absorbed into it, with not a single ray striking the black knight himself.
“Is that all the power you have, challenger?”
Demi felt as if she could see the contemptuous gaze from beneath the Black Knight’s dark helmet.
Her body went limp, and she knelt on the ground.
This was simply not possible to win.
Although the white holy light continued to bloom from the sky behind her, her Archmagic had now become nothing more than a laughable display of fireworks.
Gradually, the holy light display ceased, and all the laser beams were absorbed by the black sphere at the black knight’s spear tip.
“Black Star!”
The Black Knight issued a cold command.
He hurled the black sphere, which had absorbed Demi’s Archmagic, in her direction.
“Take this!”
Like the sun, the Paladin descended from the sky.
With one sword strike, she shattered the Black Star, and the chaotic darkness instantly vanished.
She stood between Demi and the Black Knight, raising her longsword.
“O Sun, bow to me!”
The rumbling thunder was instantly silenced, and the clouds above parted, letting a bright ray of dawn shine down.
“Radiant Knight, your name has been passed down among our Casimir family. You have always been the aspiration of our Casimir knights.”
White light enveloped the longsword held by the Paladin, and she gripped the hilt tightly with both hands.
The legendary Knight King, the Radiant Knight.
The one who could defeat the Dragon God was now seen with her own eyes.
The Paladin felt her soul tremble with excitement, yet she was also saddened that the Radiant Knight had become the guardian of the earth vein.
“Your junior, the Paladin Semiya, formally challenges you!”
“Junior, is it? Then give it your all, defeat me, and seize the relic of the earth vein from my hands, so that the glory of the knights may be passed down!”
The black knight pushed off the ground, shouting, “Maritis, charge!”
In the distance, watching the battle, Semira tightly clasped her fingers, her furrowed brow filled with tension.
There were three others who had remained spectators from the beginning.
Hiding beneath Naya’s Holy Shield, no matter what lightning or sonic blows fell, they would not be affected.
Thus, although there were eight people in the arena, the other seven were merely watching as the Paladin faced off against the black knight alone.
Semiya truly was the Paladin.
Whether it was close combat with cold weapons or magical confrontations, the Paladin never fell behind.
During the brief intermission, the Black Knight began his rambling again.
“Challengers, I hope you remember that the gods are watching over us humans. Do not fear any hardship, do not bow to any race, including the dragon race. We should take pride in being human. The energy of the earth vein is the best gift bestowed upon us by the gods, the torch of our human heritage. Every deceased human’s soul is buried within the earth vein, watching over the living and blessing humanity.”
The Paladin’s chest heaved violently as she gasped for breath, her clear golden hair sticking to her sweaty forehead. After the recent chaotic battle, she was beginning to feel exhausted.
However, the Black Knight showed no signs of fatigue, his words still resonant and powerful.
It was as if, for him, this was not a battle, but a teaching moment for his junior.
“Get back up, paladin. Feel the surge of the ley line energy, and try to harness it for yourself.”
The paladin gritted her teeth.
“I can’t feel it!”
She raised her sword and swung.
The Black Knight reined in his mount and dodged.
“Ugh, ugh!!”
The Black Knight turned the unicorn back to face the small paladin again.
“Very good! Paladin, ignite your fighting spirit. The ley line will not betray your glorious knightley faith!”
The Black Knight lunged forward with his spear toward the paladin.
The battle continued.
“Mother…”
Semira glanced once more toward Naya, who still showed no signs of moving to help.
Would Mother win?
Why did it seem like the black knight was going easy on her?
She had to be winning, right?
“Go for it, Mother!”
Meanwhile, Naya, watching from the side, began to feel something was off.
The Black Knight often paused to talk, giving the paladin a chance to catch her breath.
In fact, during the fight, he had been holding back.
But interestingly, the Black Knight maintained a stalemate, while he was holding back, he wasn’t allowing the paladin to gain too much advantage either.
“Iris, do you think the Black Knight is being partial to his junior?”
“I don’t know…”
Iris stared thoughtfully at the black knight.
Having a knight capable of slaying gods serves as a guardian? Wasn’t that a joke? How could any human defeat the legendary Knight King?
No, this knight king was merely a fragment of the former Knight King.
He wasn’t the Knight King himself.
Suddenly, the Knight King halted his unicorn and looked down at the paladin standing ten meters ahead.
“Paladin, you disappoint me.”
What’s going on?
Had he changed his mind?
“It’s time to end this. The stage must be given to the next challenger.”
The black knight raised his spear, dark energy beginning to swirl around him.
[He’s absorbing ley line energy. At this rate, he’s really going to deliver a fatal blow to the paladin. Host, will you save her? It’s still not too late to let Iris transform into a dragon.]
The system prompted in Naya’s mind.
“Iris, the paladin is really going to be killed! What should we do?”
Naya tightened her grip on her red spear, carefully asking for the opinion of her partner behind her.
“Are you really that concerned about her?”
“Not really, I just think it would be a shame…”
“The strongest human paladin, is this all she has? Capable of slaying dragons, but still far from me. I don’t quite believe the paladin is this weak.”
Iris chose to continue watching.
On the other side, Semira was on the verge of collapse. Watching the dark energy spilling from the Black Knight, she knew what was about to happen, tears filling her eyes.
“Mother!”
Finally, the Black Knight transformed into a dark, ominous mass.
“Maritis, unleash!!!”
A hoarse roar tore through the sky, and the dark energy shot toward the paladin with incredible speed.
“Ex-curry stick!”
Just as the dark energy was about to engulf the paladin, she shouted an incomprehensible slogan, and dazzling golden light burst forth from her sword.
The golden light actually matched the dark energy in a stalemate.
[She has learned it!]
The system continued to explain in Naya’s mind.
[Learned what?]
[She learned to surpass her physical limits using ley line energy, as the black knight taught her! I should have had Iris make her move earlier. Now, the main character is truly going berserk.]
“Ugh!!!”
The paladin’s scream echoed in the skies, magic continuously surging from her body, blowing her single ponytail apart, her long hair cascading over her shoulders, and her armor began to crack from the surge of magic.
The golden light gradually pushed back the black mist.
Until the paladin’s armor exploded completely, the golden light finally gained overwhelming advantage.
“Pierce!!!”
The radiance would ultimately pierce the darkness.
Dawn arrived at that moment.
Golden light pierced through the black mist, shooting straight into the sky, illuminating the entire firmament in gold.
At last.
The black mist was dispelled, everything returning to nothingness, and the sky was completely clear.
The ruined ground gradually became blurry.
“Did we win?”
Demi knelt on the ground, staring blankly at the paladin, who now wore only a few strips of white cloth. The paladin seemed overloaded, smoke rising from her body.
She hung her head, her once radiant golden hair now wilted to a dull yellow, the sword in her hand turning to powder in the wind.
“Mother!”
Semira excitedly ran toward the paladin.
Her mother had defeated the final guardian knight!
Her mother truly was the strongest human on the surface!
Tears streamed down her face as she embraced her mother’s warm body.
“Mother! We won!”
The paladin leaned her head against her daughter’s shoulder, her throat nearly hoarse, joy indescribable as she closed her eyes, feeling her daughter’s small yet warm embrace.
The cycle of despair gradually began to shatter, until all the scenery within returned to nothingness, and everyone returned to reality.
Meanwhile, the brown fruit on the golden flower quietly bloomed.
Resting atop was a golden Holy Sword.
“Ley line sacred artifact!”
Demi realized.
Did the paladin still have the strength to fight?
Demi looked at the Holy Sword, feeling eager yet fearful that the paladin could still battle, fearing that recklessly confronting her would lead to disaster.
“Finally, the moment has come.”
That voice? Demi turned to see the red-haired dragon girl, step by step walking toward the ley line sacred artifact, her dragon features becoming more pronounced with each step.
Red vertical pupils, dragon horns, pointed ears, tail.
“Dragon race?!”
Iris didn’t stop for Demi’s astonishment, she directly walked toward the flower, blood-red wings sprouting from her back, her body gently floating upward toward the holy sword.
“Stop, dragon! That is the fruit of my mother’s victory!”
Without a moment’s hesitation at the dragon’s appearance, leaping up to snatch the ley line sacred artifact was—
The paladin’s daughter, Semira!