MTLNOVEL Chapter 284
Chapter 285. How to Protect What’s Precious (9)
Jordic couldn’t believe that Keter had returned alive. But no matter how closely he looked, it was undeniably Keter.
‘Wait, hold on…’
He didn’t even need to look closely. Even at a glance, Keter was severely injured. His body was riddled with serious wounds. The flesh on his left shoulder had been torn off, and blood was still dripping from the X-shaped wound on his chest. It was harder to find a spot on his body that wasn’t injured. The bleeding was so severe that a pool of blood had already formed beneath his feet in the blink of an eye.
‘Only his face is intact.’
Literally, only his face looked fine. From the neck down, he looked like a walking corpse.
‘He’s bluffing. This guy is bluffing right now.’
Jordic’s expression changed as he assessed Keter’s condition. The same went for the rest of the party.
Fidget.
Jordic, Tesla, Gargan, and Zion subtly shifted their stances, careful not to alert Keter. Rajis, however, broke the tension.
“Fight while maintaining your humanity.”
Rajis pointed his sword at the four, turning his back to Keter. Actions spoke louder than words. Rajis had learned that well from Keter.
“If not now, there’ll be no chance. Move aside, now!”
Jordic shouted urgently.
Keter was the kind of guy who could still function even after being stabbed through the heart. His regenerative abilities were so strong that you could literally see his wounds healing. Jordic had no intention of giving him even a minute, no, even a second of respite.
Rajis knew it too. Keter was a powerhouse who couldn’t be dealt with using common sense. But it didn’t matter. That was exactly what he believed justice to be.
“Sir Keter, who fought and defeated the nation’s criminal alone, is a hero before he is an enemy knight. On the other hand, can we truly call it honorable to attack a hero when he’s weakened after we stood by and did nothing?”
At that moment, Keter pushed Rajis aside.
“If you’re not going to fight, step aside.”
Keter was still dripping blood. The four noticed that his wounds were healing slower now. Their fighting spirit, which had cooled, began to boil again.
Keter chuckled.
“No matter how great I am, killing a Prime is quite difficult. My organs are crushed, my bones are broken. I’m weaker than I look. But here’s the thing.”
Thud.
The injured beast, who should have kept his distance from the archers, took a step closer to the hyenas instead.
“Just because I’m weakened, do you think you can defeat me?”
“……!”
“P-Pathetic bluffing! He’s just bluffing right now!”
Tesla shook his body as if he was about to charge, but only his lips moved.
Thud.
Keter took another step forward. The four instinctively took a step back.
“I’m in pretty bad shape right now. If I fight you guys now, I probably won’t be able to spare your lives. You know it’s harder to hold back than to kill, right?”
Thud.
Keter’s footsteps showed no signs of stopping. The four retreated until their backs hit a large rock.
“Huh?!”
“W-When did we get here?”
Pushed back by Keter’s momentum, the four’s faces turned red. Their pride as Grandmasters, as knights counted among the best in the nation, was crushed.
But their instincts told them. Pride was important, but not more important than their lives.
Keter grimaced while holding his stomach.
“I’m starving to death because of you guys. I’ll give you three seconds. Those who want to die, stay standing. Those who want to live, get down.”
Gargan, the leader of the Constellation Knight Order, flared up. His pride was deeply wounded. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but think.
‘Can you really kill me? I’m the knight commander directly under the royal family. If you kill me, who serves the Second Prince, not only you but even Sephira won’t be safe. Isn’t that why you’re sparing me?’
Keter can’t kill me. So, it’s okay to push back a little. Deluding himself, he finally opened his mouth.
“My life belongs to the Queen!”
Thud.
A finger-sized hole appeared in Gargan’s forehead. Gargan fell backward, still gripping his sword.
The remaining trio could only stare blankly at Gargan’s fallen body.
‘What on earth just happened?’
Gargan was dead. And Keter had killed him. That was all they knew.
Rajis, watching from behind, bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood.
‘He was really holding back.’
For a brief moment, he saw it. A flash of white light piercing Gargan’s forehead.
It was the white arrow ‘Baeklin,’ created by the authority of Eslow, the lord of the southern region.
Thanks to its unique effect of making it feel as if it wasn’t there even when it was right in front of you, those struck by Baeklin didn’t even know what hit them.
Keter didn’t even directly control Baeklin. Without moving a finger, Baeklin appeared from somewhere and pierced Gargan’s skull. This was the true power of the 7th form of the Celestial Infinity Technique, Drone.
Baeklin didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It had been circling Keter from the beginning. Then, without Keter needing to control it, it attacked the enemy on its own.
As a result, Grandmaster Gargan was killed in an instant. Even though he had been complacent, thinking Keter wouldn’t kill him.
The remaining trio quickly dropped to the ground. In truth, they had been deluding themselves just like Gargan.
‘He can’t kill us, right?’
But Gargan had shown them. Keter could truly kill us. He was just holding back.
Realizing the truth, the trio muttered to themselves.
‘Thank you, Gargan! We won’t forget your sacrifice.’
If Gargan hadn’t stepped forward, it would have been one of them. And they would have been the ones lying dead.
One was dead, and three had surrendered. The situation seemed resolved. But Keter turned around with a look that said it wasn’t over yet. There stood Rajis, holding his sword with a solemn expression.
“One move, please.”
Scratch.
Keter scratched the back of his head and pointed at the dead Gargan.
“Do you want to die?”
“I don’t want to die.”
“Then why are you attacking? For justice?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still think I’m the villain?”
“I don’t think you’re a villain. But if I don’t stop you here, an even greater tragedy will occur. I want to prevent that.”
“It’s okay if Sephira dies, but it’s not okay if Baydant dies?”
“It’s not okay. I’ll do my best to prevent it. So that Sephira can be safe.”
“In short, you’re stopping me because you think I’ll kill more people.”
“Yes.”
“Then if I say I won’t kill anyone else, will you side with Sephira?”
Rajis’s eyes flickered. He answered without hesitation.
“If you swear, gladly.”
“That won’t happen. I’ll kill anyone who stands in my way.”
“…Sir Keter. Those who love fighting will inevitably become unhappy.”
“Then, conversely, do those who hate fighting become happy?”
“That’s…”
Rajis tried to retort, but before he could, Baeklin flew at him from behind.
Clang!
Rajis deflected Baeklin. Keter whistled.
“Not bad. I’d like to play around, but I’m starving.”
Flick.
At Keter’s gesture, Baeklin accelerated. Chain acceleration increased Baeklin’s speed two, three, four times.
Whoosh!
The sound of wind tearing apart echoed.
But Baeklin wasn’t where the sound came from.
Rajis tried to follow Baeklin with his eyes but soon gave up and closed them. Then, he swung his sword.
Slash!
Blood splattered. His sword didn’t even graze Baeklin, which pierced through his right ankle.
“Ugh.”
Not only his eyes, but even his transcendent senses couldn’t keep up with Baeklin’s speed.
Keter took it a step further.
No-deceleration trajectory change.
Baeklin, with its absurd speed, changed direction without slowing down and launched a continuous attack.
Rajis gave up on sensing Baeklin and tried to counter with a wide-area attack.
Thousand Blades Form 4 ? Sword Tempest.
The sword aura spread in all directions, leaving no blind spots, but—
Slash! Slash!
It was far from enough to stop Baeklin. Ignoring the sword aura, Baeklin pierced through Rajis’s left ankle.
Losing sensation in both legs, Rajis finally knelt.
But he didn’t give up. Using only the strength in his waist, he lifted his upper body and swung his sword to the end.
Slash!
Both his wrists were pierced almost simultaneously. With the tendons in his arms and legs severed, Rajis slumped like a puppet with its strings cut.
“I can still hold my sword.”
Clang.
Rajis gripped the fallen sword with his teeth. Keter picked it up.
“Rajis, you’re still too valuable to kill.”
“…Are you pitying me?”
“Wrong. Just like there are people like me in this world, there need to be people like you too.”
“I… don’t understand.”
“That’s fine.”
Thud!
Keter, tired of the conversation, knocked Rajis out with a blow to the back of his head. Then, he took out an Elixir and healed his arms and legs.
‘My Supreme Elixir!’
Of course, it wasn’t Keter’s but Jordic’s.
Sephira’s command room, attacked by Gulrag, the Blood-Drinking. Thanks to Luke’s sudden intervention, Hisop was saved, but many knights and key figures were injured or killed, and Mail was kidnapped.
While everyone was in shock, Hisop regained his composure and shouted.
“Sir Luke. Pursue Gulrag.”
Not a request, but an order as the family head.
Luke, already exhausted and barely able to stand, placed a hand on his chest and bowed.
“I obey.”
Even though Gulrag was a powerhouse of Prime and his whereabouts were unknown, Luke, relying solely on his abilities, mounted his horse and set off in pursuit.
He vowed. Once this family war was over, he would leave Sephira.
‘If I survive.’
Even after the reliable Luke left, Hisop quickly organized the family. Then, as if nothing had happened, he calmly began receiving reports.
“Sir Pekda is breaking through Baydant’s 300 cavalry and heading north! The cavalry he broke through is in hot pursuit, but their numbers are less than 100.”
“The Constellation Knight Order is pushing back Baydant’s encirclement and causing it to collapse!”
Despite the consecutive victories, Hisop didn’t smile. After deep thought, he spoke.
“What about Keter and the five Grandmasters?”
“Their whereabouts are unknown. It seems they’ve completely left the southern region.”
“If we don’t know, they probably went to the forest in the eastern direction. Send cavalry there.”
“To support Keter?”
“Our cavalry can’t help in the Grandmasters’ fight. It’s for situational awareness.”
“I’ll send Nabakin.”
“Do so. Any news from Catherine?”
Leganon answered.
“We received a communication 11 minutes ago. She said Baydant’s main building had no knights, so she easily occupied the mansion. Currently… under Keter’s orders, she’s taking the vassals hostage and collecting valuables.”
“That must be Keter’s diversion. Thanks to the surprise attack, the encirclement has thinned. But I’m worried. How does the surprise team plan to escape the encirclement? Elder Leganon, send a communication to Catherine to see if she has the strength to escape on her own.”
“Yes, Lord.”
After that, Hisop continued to receive reports and issue orders.
Even without Jordic, Baydant was a major family. Even without a head, the body could fight on its own.
Then came a report that made Hisop’s hair stand on end.
“Lord! A communication from Sir Luke. He’s found Young Master Mail! But…”
The communication officer couldn’t continue, choking up. Hisop, and everyone present, clenched their teeth.