Chapter 276

Episode 277. How to Protect What’s Precious (1)

As soon as Keter appeared, Jordic’s heart raced as if it would burst, but he quickly scanned his surroundings.

‘This madman! Did he really come alone?’

Without Jordic even needing to give orders, the area was already swarming with knights, and the Grandmaster of the Tessa Unit had also joined upon sensing Keter’s presence.

They weren’t flustered by Keter’s sudden appearance. In war, you prepare for every possible scenario. That’s strategy and tactics.

The situation of Keter barging in alone was no different. They had already planned how to respond.

The 6-Star Grandmaster would hold the front and rear. Behind them, 5-Star knights would form a second encirclement, and those below 4-Star would form a third. The outermost layer would be held by 3-Star knights, creating multiple layers of encirclement.

The series of movements was so clean and perfect that, in the blink of an eye, a flawless encirclement was formed around Keter.

Keter looked at the seamless encirclement with a face that seemed to say, ‘You prepared a lot, huh?’ Jordic bit his lower lip so hard it bled at Keter’s relaxed expression.

“Did you come to talk?”

Jordic pointed his spear at Keter but didn’t make the first move. It wasn’t because he wanted to talk or because of Arbold, who had been taken hostage.

’10 minutes. Just 10 more minutes, and the Grandmasters from the left and right flanks will join.’

They were pouring all their strength into decisively dealing with Keter. This was also part of the prepared strategy.

“We’ve talked enough. I came to deliver a notice.”

“A notice…?”

Thud!

Arbold, who had been kicked in the butt by Keter, was handed over to Jordic.

“It’s cold. On days like this, sitting by a warm bonfire, tearing apart a charcoal-grilled salted whole chicken with both hands… that’s what I call living.”

The encircling knights couldn’t help but imagine it. The crispy skin. The juicy chicken they were tearing into. Beside them were family, lovers, and comrades, and with beer to top it off… the word “happiness” naturally came to mind.

Smirk.

The knights unconsciously smiled. Then, they all thought the same thing. Once this war is over, they would definitely eat the charcoal-grilled whole chicken Keter mentioned. By a warm bonfire, with their precious people.

In the midst of such happy imaginations, Keter threw a dagger.

“Most of you are daydreaming about my words. I’m talking about death here. I only want to kill those who are ready to die. I may look like this, but I’m a gentleman. So, I’ll offer this once and for all.”

Snap.

Keter cracked his neck, interlaced his fingers, and raised his arms above his head, summoning Amaranth.

“If you don’t want to die, get lost.”

Whoosh-

The aura rising from Keter’s entire body spread quietly and quickly like fog.

At the same time, the encirclement loosened. The hands holding spears lost strength, and the knights stepped back as if facing a sea of fire.

“He’s not as crazy as the rumors say.”

Then, a man stepped forward. At the same time, Keter’s aura slightly faded. It was Gargant, the 1st Unit Leader of the Tessa Unit, belonging to the royal family.

Jordic signaled Gargant with his eyes. ‘Don’t fight unnecessarily, buy more time.’

But Gargant ignored Jordic’s signal and took another step toward Keter.

“He doesn’t seem as strong as the rumors say either.”

“Am I not more handsome than the rumors?”

“What does that matter? No matter how handsome, you’ll soon be a dead man’s face. Heh heh heh.”

Sssshing.

Gargant drew his sword. Despite it being a simple action, a blade-like aura surged toward Keter like a wave.

Crack!

The ground where Keter had stood split into a cross shape.

But what remained there wasn’t Keter’s torn body, but empty air.

‘Fast.’

Gargant tensed up seeing Keter’s movements, which were faster than his own sword speed.

But that was short-lived. At the end of his gaze, following the afterimage, an absurd scene unfolded.

Thud!

Keter, who had slipped into the knights, was randomly scattering arrows. The knights were dying left and right from those arrows.

Jordic couldn’t believe his eyes. It felt like his entire life was being denied.

The knights dying from Keter’s arrows were all 3-Star knights or higher. On average, they were over 30 years old, with some young knights in their mid-20s. They were all elites who had trained as knights since childhood.

They had spent decades sweating on training grounds, swinging spears thousands of times to build muscle, and honing their skills until their bodies remembered.

And now, those knights were dying. So pointlessly. Without even swinging their spears once, with expressions of confusion.

‘Ghetto, Iz. Bamaran.’

Most of the dead knights were ones Jordic knew by name. Even if he didn’t know their names, he recognized their faces.

‘Is this… war?’

Jordic’s eyes trembled.

He had prepared himself. But facing the reality of war, he realized his preparation had been vague.

He had to charge forward. Only the Grandmasters could stop Keter. But even though his mind understood it a hundred, a thousand times, his feet wouldn’t move.

Gargant, the Tessa Unit Leader, was also chasing Keter but couldn’t recklessly swing his sword.

‘How can he be so calm and bold at that age? He can’t possibly have that much experience.’

Keter wasn’t just slaughtering knights. At the same time, he was always keeping his back to Gargant, preventing him from swinging his sword.

Thanks to that, Gargant couldn’t swing his sword easily while chasing Keter. Even when he occasionally swung, the controlled sword strikes couldn’t pierce Keter’s shield.

‘This defense is absurd. Is he really an archer?’

It was abnormal from the start for an archer to choose close combat. Gargant judged that only a sword master-level strike could pierce Keter’s shield.

The problem was, using a sword master-level strike would inevitably fatally wound the allied knights. They would surely be caught in it.

“Lord Jordic!”

At Gargant’s call, Jordic snapped out of it and met his fiery gaze. They understood each other without words.

“Everyone, fall back! Break the encirclement! Get far away from here!”

Jordic urgently commanded the knights.

The knights, who had been holding their positions due to honor, fear, and various reasons, quickly retreated from the battlefield at his words.

But Keter was relentless. He scattered arrows at the fleeing knights and grabbed one by the back of the neck, throwing him at Gargant.

Gargant locked eyes with the flying knight but then took a deep breath, as if resolved. His sword was imbued with a sword aura.

Slash!

The knight’s body was cleanly cut, and the strike went on to sever Keter’s arm.

‘I cut his arm…?!’

Gargant couldn’t believe it. He had clearly cut Keter’s arm, but it didn’t reach the bone. Not even the muscle was completely severed.

‘Even if it wasn’t a perfect sword aura and there were obstacles, what is this?!’

It felt like cutting through a mountain. The only difference was that Keter was bleeding.

But even that healed in the blink of an eye. With monster-like recovery, Gargant gritted his teeth.

‘Should I have listened to Lord Jordic? That it would take six Grandmasters to take him down.’

He couldn’t understand why Jordic was so afraid of Keter. But after fighting him directly, he understood in just a minute. Why Jordic was so terrified of Keter.

Keter was a monster. A monster in human form.

“Uwaaaaah!”

There was no time to regret. Jordic, who had shaken off his regret and fear, joined the battle.

Keter also stopped killing knights and began seriously facing the two Grandmasters.

* * *

“What’s wrong? You’re staggering.”

At Keter’s mocking tone, with Amaranth slung over his shoulder, Jordic, leaning on his spear like a cane, spat out blood.

“Haa, haa.”

Even the Grandmaster of the Tessa Unit was gasping for breath. His entire body was covered in blood, and his armor had long lost its function.

Keter wasn’t unscathed either. He was covered in wounds. But his stamina, and even his mental strength, showed no signs of weakening.

Facing two 6-Star Grandmasters, Keter was overwhelming. If it weren’t for the occasional intervention of a master-level knight from the Baydant side, one of them would have already been a goner.

“Hey, Jordic. And you, mister whose name I don’t know. I don’t know what it feels like since I’ve never breastfed, but squeeze out even the strength you used to suckle. Is this it? Then, I’ll kill you now?”

Keter spoke as if he could kill them anytime but was just playing around.

The two had no strength to retort. They were catching their breath to recover even a little more stamina.

Whoosh.

A black arrow of mana formed on Keter’s Amaranth. The smell of death pierced through the freezing cold and stabbed Jordic’s nose.

Ting.

What seemed like a single arrow split into two upon firing, targeting Jordic and Gargant simultaneously.

Jordic felt a sense of déjà vu. It wasn’t a flashback.

‘It’s the same situation as when I killed the Sword Wing Tribe.’

When he killed the Sword Wing Tribe brothers, Deo and Drant, Keter had killed both with a single arrow.

‘Am I going to die too? Like them?’

The power imbued in the arrow was that of death, but it was something that could be blocked or deflected.

However, the excessive tension clouded Jordic’s judgment.

An excessive amount of sword aura erupted from Gungnir. At the same time, Jordic took his stance.

Moonlight Spear Technique’s ultimate move: Moon Eclipse – Full Bloom.

Jordic revealed the ultimate move he had prepared to deal a fatal blow to Keter.

Gargant resented Jordic for using his ultimate move so recklessly, but if he backed off now, it would be over.

He too struck his sword with his fist, activating his ultimate move.

Sword Master’s ultimate move: Sword that Swallowed Lightning.

Jordic’s wide-ranging ultimate move obscured the front view, and Gargant aimed for Keter’s abdomen from the blind spot.

A sword strike at a speed incomparable to what he had shown before. The sound of the sword tearing through the air echoed belatedly.

Boom!

Crash!

Although it wasn’t a coordinated strike, it was the ultimate moves of two Grandmasters. Even Keter couldn’t come out unscathed.

“If it had hit, that is.”

“Huh?!”

“…Tch.”

The shockwaves from the techniques caused dirt and snow to pour from the sky. Amidst it, Keter’s unharmed voice was heard.

As if reading their minds, Keter answered. The only damage was his disheveled hair, which he calmly fixed.

‘This is really dangerous.’

Gargant felt defeated.

Keter had always fought head-on. Responding to strength with strength, speed with speed. But this time, he just dodged.

But even Gargant would have done the same. Jordic’s “Moon Eclipse – Full Bloom” was wide-ranging and powerful, but slow.

He had tried to compensate for that weakness with “Sword that Swallowed Lightning,” but the obscured vision from “Moon Eclipse – Full Bloom” affected not just Keter.

‘To dodge the ultimate move the moment he saw it. What kind of reaction speed is that?’

As a result, the two’s ultimate moves exploded in mid-air. Already exhausted, their lips were parched.

Then, Jordic suddenly started laughing.

“Huhu, hehehehe. Hahahaha!”

“…?!”

Gargant thought Jordic had finally lost his mind. If so, he would die too. It didn’t seem like Keter would let him escape.

But soon, Gargant also started laughing.

“Kukuku, hehehehe!”

Keter clicked his tongue at the two who seemed to have gone mad.

“No matter how much you don’t want to die, I won’t let you off for that.”

“Keter. The arrogance of not killing us earlier, pay the price for it.”

“Huh? Ah!”

Keter clapped his hands as if he just realized.

“They’re already here.”

The Grandmasters of the Baydant family, divided into left and right flanks, had finally arrived.

Whoosh!

A long whistle sounded, and spears of aura rained down from the sky like rain.

Keter dodged them all with just his reflexes. But the rain of spears was just the beginning.

Crack!

The ground was crushed. At the same time, a giant sword descended from the sky.

Heavenly Sealed Blunt Sword.

The overwhelming presence of the Garcia family’s ultimate move, the Blunt Sword, made Keter smirk.

“I can’t dodge this.”

The Blunt Sword was slow but unavoidable. Such “authority” was embedded in the technique itself.

The only answer was to break it head-on.

Milky Way was drawn on Keter’s bowstring. Though it looked no bigger than an adult’s forearm, the explosive power it contained could easily blow away a village.

And that Milky Way wasn’t just a single shot.

Whoosh!

Ether Wing.

Thirty Milky Ways spread out like wings on either side of Keter.

Jordic and Gargant, who had experienced its power before, were horrified.

“He can use such a technique without any burden?”

Even without Gargant’s horrified explanation, the arriving Grandmasters could feel the potential of Milky Way.

Tesla, the Storm Knight Unit Leader of the Ruvan Marquis family, the White Panther Knight Unit Leader, and the Black Panther Knight Unit Leader of the Baydant family unleashed their ultimate moves to stop Keter.

And at the moment the five ultimate moves collided.

Beep-

For a moment, light and sound disappeared from the world. Only emptiness remained.

But reality quickly restored itself.

Crack!

With the sound of a tightly drawn string snapping, Jordic, who had briefly lost consciousness, sprang up.

But something was off. It was clearly winter, with a biting cold, and they were fighting halfway up a mountain, but the surroundings were flat, and instead of cold, it was hot.

‘A dream? Am I dreaming now?’

Even his senses were hazy. Jordic genuinely couldn’t tell if this was reality or a dream.

“Ouch, my head.”

If it weren’t for Keter’s voice, he might have thought this was a dream forever.

Keter walked out of a massive pit he hadn’t seen before, clapping his ears.

“Ah, ah. My ears are ringing.”

“Kete… ugh!”

The Gungnir he had been holding was nowhere to be seen, but Jordic, who tried to charge forward, clutched his chest and collapsed.

He didn’t need to be examined to know. He was seriously injured. Bones broken, organs crushed.

He tried to get up, but his legs trembled like a newborn animal.

“Lord Jordic. Don’t get up.”

Then, the voice of Sword Dragon Rajis was heard. Just hearing his voice made it clear that the injuries were severe.

“Rajis…”

“Just listen. Sir Tesla, Sir Zion, and I are fine. Keter is acting calm, but he’s also seriously injured. This is our chance.”

Zion was the name of the White Panther Knight Unit Leader. Jordic didn’t bother asking about the other Grandmasters’ conditions. He didn’t want to know.

“Please.”

Jordic passed out. He’d rather be unconscious and recover quickly than be half-awake.

“Six Grandmasters ganging up, isn’t that too cowardly?”

Keter said as if for Rajis to hear. It was something Rajis, who championed justice, would agree with, but for some reason, he shook his head.

“People don’t call it cowardly to use weapons to kill an elephant.”

“At least call it a dragon if you’re making a metaphor.”

“Surrender, Keter. No matter how calm you act, I know you’re seriously injured.”

“Yeah, that’s right. There’s no part of my body that’s intact. Bones broken, organs crushed.”

“I heard you went to the royal palace and became blind. Aren’t you going to act blind?”

“The timing never came. Boring.”

“Not everything in the world goes your way. Like right now. Stop stalling.”

Whoosh!

Rajis threw handcuffs at Keter. They were high-level magical tools that sealed aura and mana.

“If you put those on yourself and kneel, I’ll guarantee your life.”

At those words, Tesla and the White Panther Knight Unit Leader frowned as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

“Keter must be killed. He can’t be left alive.”

“Even now, he’s a monster. In a year, he might become a Prime and appear before us.”

If Jordic had been awake, he would have foamed at the mouth and shouted that it couldn’t be, but Rajis spoke without hesitation.

“Have you forgotten the sixth rule of family wars? Soldiers or knights who surrender must be guaranteed unconditional survival and given the best treatment. This is a sacred law set by the princes.”

“Ugh…”

Rajis strongly insisted, citing the law. Tesla and the White Panther Knight Unit Leader had no choice.

No one could subdue Keter alone now. It would take all three of them to kill Keter completely. If Rajis, the most intact, backed out, the situation might reverse.

But Keter shrugged.

“Thanks to your pointless persuasion, I’ve recovered a lot of stamina. Thanks, Rajis.”

“If you’re going to fight to the end, I can’t show any more mercy.”

“No, I’ll stop now.”

Keter turned his back.

Rajis couldn’t believe it.

“I’m going to run away now.”

Keter said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.