Chapter 49

Chapter 49. I’m an Attention Seeker (3)

Jordic, unaware of the curse Luke possessed, wasn’t surprised by his attacks.

However, the power behind the arrows was unexpected.

“Not bad.”

No conversation was needed.

Unlike Keter, Luke had plenty of arrows. He drew three arrows at once, nocked them all, and fired.

Jordic charged at Luke, thrusting his spear.

His spear intercepted all three arrows.

But something was off. Three more arrows flew in faster than he could block.

“Huh?”

Firing arrows faster than he could deflect them?

In the end, Jordic couldn’t block two of the arrows and had to spin his spear to use it as a pivot, dodging them.

Luke kept retreating as Jordic closed in, continuously firing arrows.

Jordic struggled to close the distance. Even his high-speed spear rotation tactic didn’t work. Luke’s arrows precisely targeted the spear shaft, preventing continuous rotation.

This was a completely different kind of strength compared to Keter.

Then it happened.

An arrow pierced Jordic’s chest, something he had been dodging or deflecting until now. Luke had fired the arrow horizontally, tricking Jordic’s eyes.

But the wound wasn’t deep. Jordic had already deployed his thick “Aura Armor,” realizing he couldn’t deflect or dodge the arrow.

“I thought you were just a servant, but you’re a proper knight. I apologize for underestimating you.”

Jordic stomped the ground.

The earth flipped and rose.

He swung his spear wide, and the aura at the tip transformed into a slash, surging toward Luke.

Even with a short range, knights could perform long-range attacks through aura. “Aura Flight,” a technique symbolic of a 3-Star Knight.

The devastating slash crushed Luke’s arrows as it advanced.

Wide horizontally, waist-high vertically. The only way to dodge was to either flatten oneself or jump high.

No matter the choice, Luke would lose the opportunity to attack and be put at a disadvantage.

Luke chose the latter, jumping high.

With an arrow nocked, he fired at Jordic, who was leaping toward him. It was a trick similar to what Keter had shown—shooting arrows mid-air.

*Clang!*

Even Jordic’s aura-infused spear couldn’t easily deflect the arrow. Luke’s arrow was equally concentrated with aura.

At that moment, a knight from Baydant, who had been watching the fight, spoke.

“The commander seems to be enjoying himself. He’s deliberately prolonging the fight instead of finishing it.”

It wasn’t just that knight’s observation. The other knights agreed. Jordic seemed to be deliberately letting the arrows graze him, dodging and blocking.

But Arbold had a different opinion.

However, he couldn’t bring himself to tell his subordinates. He realized Luke had completely grasped Jordic’s movements.

The Jordic he knew wasn’t the type to hold back, especially against an enemy.

‘How is Luke reading all of the commander’s moves? No, this isn’t just reading. It’s foreseeing.’

It’s a well-known fact that people have patterns in their actions.

In battle, the one who first identifies and exploits the opponent’s patterns gains the upper hand.

Luke seemed to have perfectly understood Jordic’s patterns.

Even when Jordic lowered his spear, Luke already knew he would attack high. He predicted whether Jordic would thrust three or four times.

This was beyond just pattern recognition. A strong fighter like Jordic wouldn’t easily reveal his patterns.

But that didn’t mean Jordic would lose.

‘The commander is thorough. Even when the opponent is weaker, he pursues a perfect victory.’

Whether he realized it or not, Jordic was using arrows like water.

Luke never fired just one arrow. Even with two quivers, rapid firing quickly depleted his supply.

Jordic didn’t push himself, waiting for Luke to exhaust his arrows.

*Twitch.*

For the first time, hesitation appeared in Luke’s hand as he attacked. The number of arrows he felt at his fingertips had decreased.

Only four arrows remained. All he had managed were minor injuries to Jordic’s cheek and shoulder.

Jordic didn’t miss this opening.

He closed the distance in an instant, unleashing a furious assault. These weren’t light attacks; even a graze would cause serious injury. Staying calm under such a barrage would be difficult even for a seasoned veteran.

“……!”

But Luke dodged them all. Just like Keter, by the narrowest of margins.

Yet, it felt different. Jordic, the one attacking, felt it most.

‘This guy dodges as if he already knows where I’ll attack.’

Keter dodged after seeing the attack.

But Luke dodged without even looking. Yet, he seemed similar to Keter because Luke was slower.

Jordic, who had been attacking without pause, suddenly leaped back. As if expecting this, Luke fired an arrow like lightning.

Jordic deflected the arrow aimed at his vitals and became certain.

‘This guy knows everything I’m going to do.’

He decided not to dwell on how that was possible. If he wanted to kill, there was nothing stopping him.

‘I never thought I’d have to use a secret technique here.’

The Baydant family’s secret spear technique, Moonlight Spear Style.

The Black Panther and Silver Leopard Knight Orders were granted four techniques.

First Form, New Moon Spear.

Second Form, Half Moon Spear.

Third Form, Reverse Half Moon Spear.

Fourth Form, Full Moon.

But the family’s direct lineage was taught the ultimate technique.

The Fifth Form, Moon Eclipse.

This was the first time Jordic used it in actual combat.

Moon Eclipse couldn’t be practiced in sparring. Its power was too great, making control impossible. So, Jordic had practiced it against mountains, not people.

The secret of the giant moon-shaped carving on the Baydant family’s mountain. It was a trace left by Jordic practicing Moon Eclipse.

Jordic’s hair stood on end. The aura emanating from his body momentarily turned the surrounding space weightless.

Arbold urgently shouted.

“Everyone, fall back! It’s Moon Eclipse!”

The Baydant knights hastily retreated.

Karn of the Birang Tribe crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes but not retreating.

Luke didn’t retreat either. No, he couldn’t.

‘This can’t be dodged or blocked.’

His curse was telling him.

No, this was no longer a curse.

An intuition that foretold misfortune. That intuition had allowed him to fight Jordic on equal footing.

And now, the intuition was telling him. No matter where he went or what he did, it was meaningless. All that remained was despair.

“What the hell am I supposed to do?”

Luke cursed instead of crying.

Knowing it was futile, he decided to act like a Knight of Sephira. He avoided meaningless fights, but once started, he never backed down. Even now, he wanted to do his best as an archer.

He nocked an arrow and aimed at Jordic.

In response, Jordic, holding his spear with both hands, swung it from a distance. His spear curved like a crescent, eventually forming a perfect circle.

Luke poured all the aura he could muster into the arrow and fired it along the optimal trajectory.

But it was futile.

Luke’s arrow and aura turned into a handful of dust and scattered. Then, Moon Eclipse engulfed Luke’s entire body.

*Kwaaaaah!*

The space, even the air, was sucked in, and a storm swept through, scattering dust and bean husks.

Jordic, with his spear planted in the ground, caught his breath.

“…It’s over.”

The secret technique of Moonlight Spear Style, Moon Eclipse, could carve deep caves into cliffs. If a person were hit, not even bone fragments would remain.

A deep, fan-shaped pit now marked where Luke had stood.

“Arbold!”

Jordic called for his adjutant to handle the aftermath.

But Arbold didn’t respond.

Jordic’s brow furrowed. Arbold always responded immediately when called, no matter what. That’s how he was trained. But even after 3, 5 seconds, there was no answer.

Jordic felt a sense of déjà vu.

A familiar feeling. Like when he had stabbed Keter.

Jordic turned his head to where Keter’s body had been.

But Keter wasn’t there. One might think he had been caught in Moon Eclipse and died, but Jordic was certain that wasn’t the case.

“Keter! You bastard!”

Keter wasn’t dead.

It was clear he hadn’t fought seriously from the start. Jordic had been unsure during the fight, but now he was certain.

Why? Why?

He didn’t know. All he knew was that Keter had deceived him.

“Out of the way!”

Jordic used his spear to clear the dust obstructing his vision.

What was revealed.

On the vast bean field. Only two stood. Himself and Karn.

But Karn’s condition was strange. He was clutching his neck as if injured, but upon closer inspection, there was a deep wound from his neck to his navel.

*Thud.*

Karn collapsed.

Jordic quickly searched for his subordinates and soon found them.

“What is this?”

Jordic’s eyes widened as he rushed to his subordinates.

Their bodies were torn apart. Fortunately, or unfortunately, no one was dead, but all were seriously injured and in urgent need of treatment.

“Why?”

Jordic had clearly seen his subordinates move out of Moon Eclipse’s range. And these wounds weren’t caused by Moon Eclipse.

Then who did this?

“Ugh.”

Then, a groan reached Jordic’s ears.

It wasn’t from his subordinates.

Luke. He was struggling to rise from the pit.

“……!”

Jordic’s eyes were already wide, so instead, his mouth fell open.

Luke being alive was already unbelievable. But Luke was unharmed. Covered in dust, but not a drop of blood.

Luke, who had taken Moon Eclipse head-on, was unscathed, while the others were on the verge of death?

In his confusion, Jordic did what he had to do. He charged to kill the still-living Luke.

“Stop right the-!”

An annoying voice, followed by an arrow flying from behind. Jordic hastily turned and deflected the arrow.

*Clang!*

“Ugh!?”

The spear that blocked the arrow shot high into the sky. Jordic’s body also lifted slightly before landing.

An arrow of tremendous power.

And Keter, perfectly fine, aiming his bow at Jordic.

Jordic wondered if this was all a dream.

* * *

Is this the first time in this life? Having a hole in my body.

It’s refreshing, so having it open like this isn’t so bad.

I didn’t forget to relax my pupils as I fell. Luke wouldn’t hear it, but for perfection, I even stopped my heart.

Having a hole in your stomach doesn’t mean instant death. But to a rookie with no combat experience, it would look like I died.

*Thud*, my face was completely buried in the ground.

Of course, I’m not dead. I didn’t suffer a fatal injury. Just before the spear pierced me, I moved my organs to avoid it. What Jordic pierced was just my flesh.

“You…….”

Did Jordic notice?

That wasn’t directed at Luke, but at me. Well, you might not fall for this.

But the one I’m trying to fool isn’t you, it’s Luke.

Not working? Luke’s awakening, is this not enough?

Can’t break through the ceiling with my death?

I’m curious too. About Luke’s ability. Even in Ruquer, where there’s no shortage of abilities, finding a true “ability user” is really hard.

All the ability users I’ve seen had cheat-like abilities. There’s even a saying that there’s a cheat lineage above the cheat race.

There’s a guy named Marhan in Ruquer, and he’s an ability user too.

He can replace someone else’s eyes with his own. Then he can use the abilities and techniques of the eye’s owner. Swordsmanship, magic, everything.

He can even use two abilities simultaneously if he replaces both eyes.

That’s why his nickname is the Eye Collector. He collects the eyes of anyone unique or strong.

He asked for one of my eyes, but when I said 100 million gold, he gave up.

‘What is Luke’s ability?’

It’s not that he’s not an ability user, and it’s all my imagination.

At least, I believed so. I’ve awakened someone else’s ability in Ruquer before.

A strong mental shock is the condition for ability manifestation. That guy was like that, so Luke should be similar.

Just as I thought my death might not be shocking enough, I heard the sound of a bow.

It’s done. Success. Luke fired an arrow.

But it’s too early to rejoice. Whether this is second or first place is important.

“Not bad.”

With Jordic’s words, the attention shifted away from me. Now I can openly watch.

Without moving my hand, I used mana to stitch up the hole in my body. That’s enough. My body isn’t that of an ordinary human.

Fighting in Ruquer, I couldn’t stay unscathed. I’ve had fingers and limbs cut off.

Back then, I underwent body modification surgery from a chimera surgeon, risking my life. Thanks to that, my blood contains troll blood, allowing me to regenerate even if my organs are destroyed or my body is severed. With my medical skills, I can self-heal, speeding up recovery.

After stitching up, I just turned my head slightly to watch Luke and Jordic’s duel.

‘Oh? This kid’s fighting pretty fiercely for a brat.’

Jordic was careless at first, but now he’s seriously fighting. So much so that he didn’t notice me slowly moving.

I hid in the bean field and started watching seriously. After seeing them exchange a few moves, I roughly understood Luke’s ability.

‘Probably precognition.’

About 0.3 to 0.5 seconds.

The reason I think so is that Luke completely sees through Jordic’s moves.

If there’s an overwhelming difference in skill, it’s easy for the stronger to read the weaker’s moves.

But Luke, no matter how good, is only at the level of that Arbold guy.

Yet he reads all of Jordic’s moves? That’s an ability.

What magic can’t replicate, that’s an ability. After all, magic’s origin is abilities.

Anyway-

‘If that’s all, it’s a bit disappointing.’

Future sight is indeed a cheat ability. But it’s not enough to qualify as my subordinate. Frankly, that level is common in Ruquer.

Replaceable abilities lack rarity. And, look at this. Jordic noticed. Luke’s ability.

The atmosphere was reaching its climax. Jordic was openly preparing a big move.

“Everyone, fall back! It’s Moon Eclipse!”

Seeing the Baydant remnants retreat, it must be an area attack.

Is it my turn to step in now?

Luke’s ability isn’t top-tier as I hoped, but I can’t just let him die. Old man Jacques would be sad. Then he couldn’t be my butler. Can’t have that.

But, huh?

Luke must know. That Moon Eclipse, which seems like Jordic’s ultimate move, is something he can’t handle.

‘But he’s not dodging? Not even scared.’

Then I can’t step in.

If he’s bluffing, then just die now, Luke. That would be the less unfortunate path.

I retreated just a step from Moon Eclipse’s range.

Then, Jordic’s Moon Eclipse hit Luke directly. Until the moment of impact, Luke didn’t seem to do anything.

“Ugh!”

“Gah!”

What’s this now.

Suddenly, screams echoed from everywhere.

From Karn and the Baydant remnants. Curiosity got the better of me, so I peeked to see the situation.

Everyone but me had major wounds. As if clawed by a beast.

Did someone ambush them?

No way. It’s just us here. But when were they attacked, without me noticing?

“Cough, cough.”

A very faint voice reached my ears.

It’s that kid’s voice.

He’s alive? Just from the coughing, I can tell he’s tired but not injured.

How is that possible? That Moon Eclipse would separate flesh from bone even if I took it head-on.

‘Could it be… is that it?’

Jackpot?

That’s the only answer now.

Luke being unharmed is due to his ability. I’ll have to figure out the principle, but the immediate phenomenon is… he “reflected” the attack.

A reflection ability, considered top-tier even among ability users.

This changes things.

Luke, you’re my friend now.

“Ugh.”

Such a clueless friend. Making noise like that, Jordic will notice. Since the job’s done, the death act is over.

“Stop right the-!”

I jumped up and fired an Aura Arrow.

My Aura Arrow is a bit different from others. Coated with mana, the aura doesn’t dissipate while flying.

“Ugh!?”

Jordic, who blocked my arrow, was startled. Must’ve been surprised by the new spiciness.

Both Jordic and Luke looked at me. With wide eyes, as if seeing someone back from the dead.

If you’re going to stare so intensely, I have to introduce myself.

I’m an attention seeker.

“Call me the Immortal of Sephira.”