How to Live as a Genius Knight in a Fantasy World

56.

As Rohan and Viscount Tigrun rushed towards the lich dragon, Duke Karl and the elves were still engaged in a fierce battle.

Enduring the elves’ magical rites and the duke’s attacks alone, Karl steadily reduced the numbers of the elves.

“This won’t end like this.”

Drawing dark magic from countless gems, and even absorbing the magic remaining in the lifeless bodies, the lich displayed overwhelming combat power.

“Kraaah!”

Elves ensnared in the lich’s magic screamed in agony as they plummeted.

The elves were not just taking hits without retaliation.

All kinds of elemental magic rained down upon the lich, but the shroud of darkness enveloping him steadfastly protected its master.

Duke Karl swung his sword relentlessly, yet it was futile against the shroud.

“It’s getting thicker.”

Even Karl, who had gone through countless battles, was shaking his head at the unbelievable defense the shroud exhibited.

The shroud itself possessed exceptional defensive capabilities, and with Harken continuously supplying dark magic, it seemed impregnable.

With the battlefield witnessing the deaths of nearly thousands of lives, the advantage that the lich held was shining through.

Instead of subduing the lich, the situation was seeing a dwindling number of allies.

Now was truly the time to make a decisive move.

The Duke’s gaze briefly turned towards the direction of the corpse dragon.

Despite being flanked by three senior knights, a spirit knight, and a knight who seemed to have reached the threshold of seniority, the dragon, reduced to mere bones, showed no sign of backing down.

Their swords may have been striking at the gaps in the dragon’s armor, but the wounds etched into its bones were superficial at best.

“Can we really defeat that monster without my help?”

As the Duke stared at the battle, a sense of worry crept into his mind.

If he were to pour all his energy into the fight and still end up defeated, there would be no future left for the kingdom.

In his heart, he yearned to immediately cut down the lich before him and join forces with them to deal with the corpse dragon.

But no matter how skilled one may be, facing a formidable enemy meant not everything would go according to plan.

There was no guarantee of their victory, but all he could do now was focus on the opponent in front of him.

“…Distractions only hinder.”

Suppressing the rising worries, the Duke gazed at his adversary.

As the Duke momentarily lifted his sword, the lich unleashed all sorts of dark magic towards the elves.

The tranquility in the Duke’s eyes, having shed any lingering emotions, caused the aura surrounding his sword to be drawn into the blade, disappearing.

What sets apart a senior knight from a master?

Certainly, from swordsmanship to magical prowess, and even physical abilities, masters held the upper hand in every aspect.

Yet, that alone couldn’t fully capture the gap between them.

Beyond simply wielding a stronger and faster sword, it was about momentarily imposing one’s will upon the world.

Only a knight capable of wielding an aura known as “O” with a single weapon, commonly referred to as the Art of Manifestation, could attain the title of master.

As the Duke slowly raised his sword, a simple line was drawn up to his chest.

A sword moving parallel to the ground, a mere straight line.

There was no overwhelming force, no speed surpassing sound.

To an onlooker, it may have seemed like a futile motion through the air.

But the outcome was far from light.

Starting from where the Duke’s sword swung, everything in its path was severed.

From the bodies of the monsters to the debris of collapsed buildings, even the tent in front of Harken could not withstand the Duke’s strike, finally reaching the lich.

Harken, who had continuously poured magic towards the elves, suddenly realized that the Duke, who had been relentlessly attacking to the point of being relentless, had fallen silent.

“Is he already exhausted?”

No matter how old he was, once reaching the level of a master, exhaustion was out of the question.

Suddenly, feeling a ominous premonition, Harken assessed the Duke’s condition through the dark magic scattered around.

The Duke, who had been displaying movements beyond human capabilities, stood still, his body seemingly surrendering by the sword, which had been entangled in it.

However, as the Duke’s sword moved slowly, Harken’s intuition, sharpened after becoming the lich, began to fluctuate more intensely.

The Duke’s sword, which had been blocked dozens of times, was different this time.

Feeling the danger, Harken’s body emitted dark magic as if smoke, violently bursting out.

In an instant, several layers of defensive magic surrounded his body, and the thickness of the remaining magical barrier increased rapidly.

A defense sturdy enough to survive in the midst of a grand spell.

But the moment the Duke’s sword swung completely, Harken couldn’t help but sense a deep sense of irrationality.

The shield, made of overwhelmingly dense dark magic, split lifelessly, and even the defensive magic enveloping Harken shattered like glass.

The attack that pierced through all obstacles swiftly cleaved Harken’s physical form in half and passed through.

“How…!”

Struggling to maintain balance and hold onto his crumbling body, Harken whispered inwardly.

The elven magic baptism, as well as the barrier that blocked the Master’s attacks dozens of times.

With an unimaginable amount of magic invested, the impact Harken received was far from small.

The attack possessed a force worthy of being called impossible, which raised his vigilance, but there was no time to ponder over past events.

Upon confirming the collapse of the Lich’s physical form, the elves began unleashing all sorts of magic towards his back.

Using dark magic to support his falling upper body, he managed to fend off their attacks.

The sight of the skull tainted black, floating through magic, was quite eerie, yet what made Harken uncomfortable was not his appearance.

“I can’t control my lower body at all. The dark magic that made up the shattered barrier has slipped from my grasp.”

Originally, both were unbelievable events.

After all, to Lich, his body was like a doll moved by magic, and as the master of dark magic, there shouldn’t have been any dark magic beyond his control.

However, if the opponent was the Master, the story was different.

A trick that could turn the impossible into possible.

Since he could use simulacra.

Lich’s gaze, floating in the air, turned towards Duke Karl.

Confirming the noticeably pale face of the Duke, Harken once again affirmed that he had used simulacra.

“It seems he’s consuming a lot of energy, as rumored. It looks like he won’t be able to use it again… but the effect seems to be on the cutting side.”

Having lived a considerable amount of time, Harken had never seen simulacra used directly before.

Although it was indeed a formidable force, the Duke’s seemed to be particularly unfavorable to his own.

Lich’s body, unlike ordinary creatures, wouldn’t die even if half of it was missing.

If he were to strike again, that might be another story, but for now, he could easily withstand the current blows.

Despite the significant magic consumption, there were corpses scattered everywhere, and facing the elves seemed manageable with the remaining magic.

Having finished his calculations, Harken inwardly chuckled.

The Duke’s movements noticeably slowed, seeming to have consumed a considerable amount of energy.

Dark magic intertwined on Lich’s hand, and the elves began to fall one by one again.

After the princess fell unconscious, Roan, who had been running towards the corpse dragon, felt deep uncertainty.

“Can I really be of any help?”

At first glance, the creature was incredibly massive, almost as tall as the high Duke’s castle.

Moreover, its huge body moved at a speed that didn’t seem to rely on the power of dark magic, so it didn’t feel strange that the buildings it touched were all collapsing.

While the Duke frantically dodged the creature’s attacks, the structures within the castle were all being destroyed, leaving behind a scene resembling ruins.

Despite creating such a scene, the creature showed no signs of weakening, relentlessly pursuing the king, the Duke, and the elven inspectors.

Although they seemed to have surpassed the realm of ordinary knights in terms of survival, launching an effective counterattack appeared to be challenging.

The occasional strikes of the sword did hit the creature’s bones, but they only caused minor damage, quickly healing thereafter.

No matter how he looked at it, joining forces with himself and Duke Tygrun didn’t seem like it would inflict significant harm.

Watching Duke Tygrun rush ahead, Roan sighed shortly.

“Is there really no other way?”

It was a courageous act beyond doubt, but it didn’t seem like a particularly effective method to bring down the corpse dragon.

“They’re fighting desperately over there too…”

As Roan stopped in his tracks, lost in thought, he noticed the elves fighting against Lich.

Though they were using magic frantically, the effects seemed similar to here, not yielding any significant results.

“But what’s that?”

Behind the griffins that covered the sky, a few flying objects in completely different forms caught his eye.

Without even using proper magic, they were merely beings wandering around Lich.

Before long, Rohan realized their true identity.

“Wyvern Riders?”

The Wyvern Riders who departed from Tigrun were still alive and roaming the sky.

The moment he noticed their presence, Rohan felt a sensation in his mind as if flames were bursting.

“This is it!”

It was a sudden thought, but it seemed more promising than blindly rushing like the senior knights.

Rohan swiftly leaped onto the ramparts and began gathering the torches that were burning on the ground.

Although the torches left behind after the monsters outside the walls met their end, they were now more valuable to Rohan than anything else.

Running alone along the ramparts, he tied the gathered torches with pieces of clothing stripped from the corpses.

The flames of the clustered torches merged into a large blaze, emitting a significantly brighter light than before.

In the midst of fierce combat, some of the knights who were slaying monsters turned their gaze towards Rohan.

But what Rohan desired was not their attention.

The bundle of torches in Rohan’s hand began to sway at his gesture.

Magic is a skill that demands sophistication and delicacy.

The Wyverns soaring freely through the sky were such rough terrain from a mage’s perspective that it was hard to express in words, and naturally, those selected as riders must have been individuals with exceptional qualities.

In that sense, the mage Karix of Tigrun was undoubtedly an elite.

Having delved into magic at a young age and becoming a Wyvern Rider before reaching thirty, it could be considered a natural evaluation.

However, Karix was currently experiencing conflicting emotions of despair and relief.

Having survived the bloody battle with the dark mages, his mana pool had been completely drained as a consequence.

The remaining mana was barely enough to control the Wyverns.

It was agonizing for someone who had lived as an elite all his life to be unable to contribute at such a crucial moment, but the fact that he wouldn’t risk dying helplessly facing monsters with depleted mana was a great comfort.

All he could do now was follow the Griffins around, occasionally using basic magic.

He had become nothing more than a shadow of his former self.

It was only natural that Karix, wandering aimlessly in the sky without any sense of presence, began to scan the battlefield.

Descending to the ground was too risky, and all he could do from the sky was wait for his mana to recover.

After spending a considerable amount of time like that, Karix’s eyes caught sight of Rohan’s actions.

The torches weren’t as bright as he thought, but in the dark night, bundling several of them together and shaking them made it even more peculiar that he couldn’t see.

The figure reflected in the torchlight was unmistakably human.

While the other Wyvern Riders showed little reaction, to Karix, that was undoubtedly a signal.

“He’s calling us.”

It might have been just his misconception, but after a brief moment of hesitation, Karix altered the Wyverns’ course.

Considering the monsters near the walls were almost wiped out, regardless of the sender’s intentions, handling the Wyverns without riders was impossible.

Even if there were ulterior motives, if Karix didn’t comply, there was nothing they could do.

As allies, it shouldn’t be too difficult to hear them out.

Carefully landing on the ramparts, Karix finally confirmed the identity of the other party.

“Sir Rohan?”

“Ah, Sir Karix!”

As the two confirmed each other’s faces, they smiled with relief.

Having faced each other in the midst of the march, they hadn’t had time to build a deep bond, but the fact that the other was alive felt like a small victory.

“You’re safe. I’m truly relieved. But why did you send a signal?”

“Oh, could I possibly get a wyvern?”

Upon Rohan’s straightforward question, a look of confusion crossed Carix’s face.

In the midst of a fierce battle, the request to ride a wyvern made Carix suspect whether Rohan was considering fleeing from the battlefield.

“A wyvern… you mean?”

“Yes. Just take me there.”

Confirming the direction pointed by Rohan’s finger, Carix’s expression became even more astonished.

“That area… is where the corpse dragon is.”

“Yes, that’s correct. Just take me up to that point.”

At Rohan’s clear statement of intent, Carix’s mouth fell open.