How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 162: The Struggle of the Ghosts (1)

~Before Lorraine started fighting Fade~

Osian turned to Lorraine and asked.

“How are you going to find those ghost troops? From the sounds of it, they’re very stealthy.”

“I have an idea.”

Lorraine pulled a beacon from her arm.

It worked in real time, pointing to a location through a circular glass screen.

“When I fought them, I mixed in a beacon,” she said, ”and you can follow it.”

“A flare. Did they take it with both eyes open?”

“It’s not a regular flare. It’s a colorless, odorless compound that’s sprayed on the firing site. When the bullet is removed, the trace remains for three days, even in the rain.”

In the midst of all the drama, she didn’t miss her chance.

Osian looked at Lorraine again. As usual, her marksmanship and situational awareness were excellent.

It saved him the trouble of trying to locate the blurry phantom troops.

“What are you going to do?”

“Stop them.”

Lorraine didn’t hesitate, her eyes determined.

“I don’t know much about this side of things, but at least I know that if they’re full of evil and moving in an organized fashion, they won’t be stopped.”

“I know, because people who are willing to destroy themselves to accomplish something are not easily stopped.”

There was a certain realization in Lorraine’s expression that only those who have been there can show.

Osian asked her in an uncharacteristically curious tone.

“Does it have something to do with you working hard for your money?”

Lorraine smiled bitterly and nodded.

“That’s right.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Just, it’s nothing. I’m making a donation.”

“Donating?”

“Why? Are you surprised?”

Lorraine asked playfully, and Osian shook his head.

He shook his head, vaguely understanding why Lorraine was doing it.

“I’m just sending them to the Bengali orphanage, because I know better than anyone what it’s like to have no money. But that’s not the only reason.”

Lorraine stared at the firearm in her hand.

She held it because of her talent and love for weapons, but at the end of the day, it was meant to kill someone.

In fact, in her time with the 121st Rangers, she had killed many men with her sniper rifle.

Most of them were terrorist plotters, cultists, or others who would bring threats, great and small, to Tirna, but were they all?

Some would have been innocent, and the dead would have been someone’s lover, family, and dear friends.

She had already fallen into the quagmire…an endless downward spiral, an infinite spiral that she couldn’t escape even if she wanted to.

She had once thought she wanted to get out of it, but now she knew it was too late and couldn’t escape anymore.

However, other people were different.

At least the children, the orphans in her situation, she could stop them from doing the same, so she donated money to the orphanage anonymously.

She didn’t care how the money flowed or how it was spent.

When she earned money, she sent it, and she kept earning money by running from commission to commission.

Like someone with OCD. As if she was labeled as not worthy of life if she didn’t do it.

It’s not like anyone made her do it. Who could blame her for not doing it?

If she had told me she was doing it to be praised, I would have been more understanding but Lorraine wanted none of that.

She remained silent.

Like Sisyphus rolling a stone endlessly.

She pushed herself to clear the endless karma she had created.

‘I wonder if she really wanted to do that.’

The truth is, Lorraine could have made a lot of money if she wanted to, and she could have spent the rest of her life somewhere quiet.

Donations? That’s just an excuse. She could have done that and still enjoyed her life to the fullest.

Maybe it’s a kind of self-hatred.

‘A kind of self-loathing.’

She hates herself for abandoning her troops and going off on her own, so she deliberately throws herself into the waves of pain.

When she survives the waves and is washed ashore, she throws herself back into them before the water is dry.

And so on and so forth.

All the while smiling, lightening up, and feeling light and airy.

She keeps beating herself up.

“Hey, junior. Can you do me a favor?”

I wonder what else she’s going to ask.

“What favor?”

“If I ever fight Fade, please don’t get involved.”

Osian was about to ask if she was doing this just to die again, but the look in Lorraine’s eyes forced him to push the thought away.

The eyes of a dying man could never be that clear and bright.

“If that’s your will, then so be it.”

“Thank you. Instead, take care of the other guys.”

Lorraine smiled wryly. It was a weak smile, but at least it was the smile of a living person.

“Let’s go, then.”

Lorraine rose from the stairs and walked in the direction indicated by the beacon.

Osian, about to follow, paused and looked up toward the rooftop of the dark building.

There, he could see a black shadow darting about.

Ossian smirked and followed Lorraine’s lead.

*

Ralph Ravel, bodyguard of House Jaycee and former mercenary, gritted his teeth as the enemies poured in from the rain.

They knew we were coming and had set traps and were waiting.

They’re well-trained and elite.

‘I thought we were a formidable force, but compared to them, we paled in comparison.

At least they’re outnumbered. We’ll just have to hold a defensive line and slow them down.’

Ralph gave his men instructions. The surprise attack had taken some casualties, but there were still plenty left.

With the trained elite mixed in with the recruits to fill out the ranks, the movement was unified.

Those with ballistic shields stepped up to protect the perimeter, while others used their vehicles for cover.

They were about to launch a full-scale counterattack, but the situation was not optimistic.

Sniper shots pierce the bulletproof glass without making a sound.

One shot at a time.

The most dangerous one was holding them by the ankle.

The rain was pouring down so hard that he couldn’t tell where the sniper was shooting from.

He didn’t even make a sound when he fired, so he couldn’t tell which direction he was coming from. Meanwhile, one by one, his men fell, and he felt like he was fighting a ghost or a phantom.

Ralph took the closest enemy by surprise and ordered his men to be more careful with their fire.

‘We need to find the sniper.’

One well-trained sniper can do the work of 100 regular riflemen.

A single sniper could hold back a company-sized force but snipers weren’t always easy to find.

His bullets, which were fired regularly, took the lives of his men without fail.

The bastard was cunning and ruthless. Just when it seemed like this was the end, the sniper’s bullets stopped flying.

‘What happened?’

Ralph thought. The man who had been delivering death had suddenly stopped shooting.

Was it intentional? It couldn’t be. It didn’t feel like he was toying with his opponent.

Something had happened to the sniper that forced him to stop firing in this direction.

While this was good news for them, Ralph didn’t like what was happening outside of his perception.

Something happening in a place he didn’t recognize meant it was out of his control, and sometimes that can be an added crisis.

But Ralph was even more surprised by what happened next.

-Heeeeeeeee!

The sound of a horse neighing can be heard from somewhere.

Then, with the sound of pounding hooves, he saw something whitish approaching from beyond the darkness.

“What is that?”

Ralph was a man of the school of thought that things that happen outside of perception are the hardest to deal with.

But at this moment, he had no choice but to suspend his beliefs.

The reality he was seeing and perceiving with his own two eyes was making him even dizzier.

His men were surprised, and so were the phantom troops who calmly continued their killing spree.

-Pfft!

One of the Ghost Unit soldiers at the front collided with the Sacred Mark warhorse’s body and his bones were shattered as he was flung away.

A horse in the city of Tirna, let alone any other city, and the rider was a knight in full armor.

What his eyes saw, his brain stubbornly refused to recognize.

Even the most highly trained ghost troops froze in their tracks.

“Who are you?”

Ralph stammered, still unable to hide his surprise.

“Someone who has business with them.”

Ossian replied, staring at the ghost army.

They were bewildered, unsure of what to do.

Even the supporting fire was cut off because something happened to the captain.

The ghost troops exchanged quick glances among themselves and came to a conclusion.

Keep fighting.

Even if they tried to flee, the white knight on horseback would not allow it.

It was more of a rationalization than a resolution.

No matter what, the fight was still the same, and Osian smiled contentedly through his helmet.

“I will be your opponent from now on.”

Osian raised his longsword, now sharpened to a new level of precision.

He swung the reins of his crimson steed vigorously and rode forward.

“Everyone help that knight!”

Ralph, seizing the opportunity, ordered.

*

Bullet after bullet crossed in the darkness.

It was a duel of one-upmanship, each man aiming for the other’s vital spots.

Ironically, each knew where the other was aiming and could respond with minimal movement.

Fade’s high-tech prosthetic eyes read the trajectory of Lorraine’s bullets.

“So you’re still trying to take me down.”

Each of her shots missed their mark, aiming only for the parts of her opponent that would subdue them.

Are you saying that you intervened in your own noble fight with such complacent thoughts?

Fade’s irritation flared at the thought of being made a fool of.

“The price for ignoring me will be heavy.”

Fade pointed a gun at her, once a captain and an object of admiration.

Lorraine’s figure was hidden from view by the building’s rooftop railing.

Fade’s red prosthetic eyes clicked and moved. The aperture tightened, zooming in on the distant location, revealing her as a translucent silhouette behind cover.

Fade smirked and squeezed the trigger, the special penetrator bullet slicing through the brick chimney and railing in front of him, aiming for Lorraine’s heart.

Who could have predicted that her opponent would see her from beyond the cover, and that he would fire through it?

But Lorraine’s reaction was even more surprising.

She threw herself to the side, dodging Fade’s bullet.

Between the moment he took aim and the brief motion of pulling the trigger, she must have sensed something.

Fade looked stunned for a moment, then smirked.

“Yeah. It’s not fun if you’re weak.”

It was actually kind of nice. That bullet-dodging maneuver Lorraine was showing him was something he’d seen over and over again in the 121st Rangers.

Lorraine reacted to the bullets flying by surprise as if she could hear their voices.

“I thought you’d gotten rusty, but are you feeling a little nostalgic?”

Yes. That look really suits you. The look of hearing the sound of bullets and cutting off the enemy’s life more sharply than anyone else.

The name that friends and foes alike have given you in fear and awe of your ruthlessness.

“Isn’t that right, the witch of the battlefield!”

Fade’s shout cut through the rain in the distance, and Lorraine answered with a volley of bullets.

-Ting-ting-ting!

Three bullets flew out. But they didn’t hit Fade, and all of them struck nearby.

In the past, she would have pierced his brow with a single shot, but the rust hadn’t yet been removed.

And the wound to her shoulder must have played a part.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

She wasn’t at full strength, but this wasn’t a fair fight in the first place.

Fade scrambled to his feet and took off after Lorraine.

As they leapt over the rooftops of the building, Fade sped away.

There was a fine wire between the structures on the roof.

‘A trap.’

If he rushed in blindly, he would be caught in the trap’s explosion.

It’s a dark night, and it’s raining.

Most people wouldn’t have found it but not Fade, who had replaced one of his eyes with a prosthetic one.

He was still taking in all kinds of information with his eyes and relaying it to his brain.

He could see things that a normal human eye couldn’t see.

There was a price to pay, of course, but Fade was willing to pay it.

‘If you were targeting me with a trap like this, it was your own fault.’

Just as Fade was thinking that, there was an explosion beneath his feet.

“What?!”

At the same time, the floor of the rooftop caved in, sending Fade tumbling downward.