253
Flame of the Knights (7)
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen the blue sky. “Although half of it was stained red.”
A vacant lot in the headquarters square where not a single person remains. The Pharaoh’s mask spun its jewel eyes.
“Still, it’s the same whether it’s red or blue. “Maybe it’s the first time I’ve seen it since I entered the tomb.”
“You must have been frustrated, old man.”
“No problem. It was frustrating. “Three thousand years is not short.”
Edgar laughed softly. A lot of interesting things have happened recently.
I have known for a long time that there are relics of the Sandstorm Dynasty in the basement of the Knights Templar. However, I never thought that the ruins that had been dormant for thousands of years would now wake up.
But not only did they wake up after thousands of years, they even fought together against the dragon army.
The situation of chatting with an ancient figure from 3,000 years ago while facing an army of dragons was a scene that even he, the so-called guide, could not have expected.
“Anyway, are you really going to fight here? “What about the knights who follow you?”
“I am not the owner of the knights. They don’t follow me and they shouldn’t.”
Edgar shook his head when asked about the pharaoh mask. He reached out and felt around where he was sitting.
The familiar feel of the handle. The holy sword in the owner’s hand trembled.
“No one can choose how to be born except God.”
Edgar, holding the sword, slowly stood up and spoke. The Pharaoh Mask followed behind in silence.
Behind the two, an army of about a thousand golden scarabs was lined up. The giant statues, several meters high, were over 20 years old.
“But fortunately, you can choose how you die.”
The scope of the sacred law barrier was rapidly shrinking.
The extensive silver curtain that covered the headquarters and surrounding fortresses had already been reduced to barely covering the headquarters alone.
Soon, the boundary reached inside the walls of the main temple. Soon it reached the hall, the central axis of the barrier.
Kiiiiing….
Soon, the softly shining curtain disappeared inside the hall.
Before I knew it, the sky was completely red except for a spot of blue.
“Now it’s the beginning.”
“okay.”
“It’s a war with hundreds of true dragons. “This is an achievement I never imagined even in my lifetime.”
The pharaoh mask had a slightly excited tone. Edgar tilted his head and looked up at the sky.
Although I couldn’t see through my hazy eyes, turning my head also meant focusing my senses in that direction.
What you can catch with your remaining five senses are various shadows flying across the red sky.
The dragons’ flight was rapidly approaching. Thousands of spells filled the sky.
“I will block the spell. “It seems like you are more familiar with swords.”
“great. “I will deal with the dragons that fly into the square.”
As the roles were quickly distributed, the scarabs flew away and dispersed. It seemed to be drawing a kind of defensive magic circle using itself as a catalyst.
After leaving the Pharaoh Mask, Edgar raised the holy sword towards the approaching dragon.
They say that in the mind of a person who is about to die, memories of a lifetime pass by like a flash of light.
[The old monster of the knights!]
What!
There were also memories passing through Edgar’s mind at this moment as he twisted his sword to deflect the dragon’s claws.
***
The first time is always memorable.
First sparring.
The first formal knight investiture ceremony.
The cave where I first killed the demon. A meeting with the former team leader who proposed the position of vice-leader.
And…..
‘When I first cut down Cheongrin.’
That was the last memory I could see with my eyes.
The blood of knights flowing in the valley. The gruesome corpse of the former leader who served as a senior knight. Sunlight shining faintly inside the crack. The breath of Cheongrin blowing in my face.
He cut down Cheongrin, but had to give up his two eyes and one arm in return. It was a serious injury that was difficult for a prosecutor to overcome.
But Edgar couldn’t give up.
This was because the war god he served began to show a new picture inside his two hazy eyes.
It was the moment when two nicknames were given to him.
A one-armed swordsman. And guide.
[The old monster of the knights—!]
The dragon’s roar echoes right in front of us. Edgar quickly dug in and swung his sword.
Crackling—!
The scales break. The leather cracks.
The dragon’s blood drenched the streets like water pouring from a burst water pipe.
The first holy sword given to each knight commander was imbued with the ability to nullify the regenerative power of evil beings.
[Kaaaa!]
A scream that radiates to the fullest. The wind blows and hits my face.
[――! ―――!]
Recite a battle prayer to deflect the spell. Edgar, who was about to dig in again, lifted his head.
His hazy eyes were blind, but his sixth sense was warning him of the next attack.
Kugwagwagwa!
Quickly jump to the side to avoid the dragon’s bite. The end of the armor was torn off by the teeth that barely grazed.
The shock shakes your body just by brushing against it. I barely lost my balance and kicked my toes.
The feeling of your body bursting. A swing that extends as the body gets used to it.
A holy sword engulfed in white flame cut off the head of a dragon that failed to bite. The blood, which seemed like a burst water pipe, overflowed as if it had been released from a small dam.
Even though I killed a dragon, my body felt energized. The sacred tattoos all over his body began to awaken one by one.
Edgar took a long stride towards the second approaching wing.
The moment I take a deep breath, the broken light continues in my head.
“Whoa.”
Since when did it start?
I started tossing and turning in my sleep every night out of anxiety.
He rose to the 6th rank by facing the past, changing the present, and choosing the future he would face on his own.
He gave up all the power and pleasure he could enjoy as a transcendent and decided to fight off the devil’s forces in the corner of the world until the day he died.
But as the end came closer, Edgar knew. The fact that his sacrifice is meaningless in the face of a closed ending.
His struggle against the apocalypse was like blocking a river with just a handful of sand. The feeling of helplessness and anxiety I felt when I faced that was indescribable.
A conflict that could not be discussed anywhere due to his position as the leader.
My long-term anxiety ended when I met a warrior.
‘…Dallen.’
A warrior whom God pays attention to.
A human who captured the attention of heaven and hell at the same time.
Up until that time, on the outside, he was a man with nothing special. Because he was neither a leader with hundreds of thousands of troops under his feet nor a transcendent figure who achieved territory.
However, only a few months after their first meeting, Daelon defeated the great dragon Cheonglin, who had been lurking within the rift for a long time.
Over the next few years, he swept across the continent, killing demons and even striking direct blows at the incarnations of evil gods.
Edgar was sure.
That warrior is the most important key to overcoming this apocalypse.
Since both his foresight and his experience led to the same conclusion, he was able to welcome the picture revealed in his foresight not long ago.
‘It was my place to die.’
In fact, there were not one picture that Edgar saw, but two.
The first one was a picture of Dallen and his group going down a crack like I told people about.
The second picture is of him being left alone in the headquarters to fight against the dragon army in order to send them off, and being fiercely burned to death.
“Dragons! “Taste the brilliant technology of the Sandstorm Dynasty!”
[A ghost of a fallen ancient civilization! This is not the great desert where you are!]
“Ghosts, most of you are hundreds of years older than me! The Curse of the Scarab! “The fist of the Colossus!”
Quagwang! Kurrrrr!
Beyond my thoughts, I can hear the war of words between the pharaoh and the dragon. Edgar laughed and swung his sword in a trance.
Anyway, so Edgar decided to die.
He, too, is a life that ultimately collapses while facing the end.
If his death helped in the least bit to save the continent, what could be a more meaningful ending?
It was not a lonely death, as a distant, ancient king was with him as his final companion.
[――――!!]
Adverb.
The air trembles. It was a breath.
Edgar took a step forward. The movements that had been ingrained in the body for over a hundred years continued naturally.
The sacred tattoo radiated strong light. White footprints were clearly marked at each step.
Kwaaaa────!
[Moose…!]
A graceful movement that avoids the dragon’s breath from the front. A monotonous sword marks the end.
One more Jinryong’s head fell off. Edgar’s dance moves were not over.
The sword flashes and the wings are cut off. When it flashed again, a handful of flesh was torn off.
toes. Tail feathers. Spinal spur. Horns on the forehead.
Occasionally, a completely severed tail or foot would fall with a thump, and then the head would fly into the sky.
A sword dance performed alone against dozens, if not hundreds, of true dragons. The sparks on the sword splashed in all directions like water droplets.
The white flames scattered across the vast square looked as if flames were burning on a huge altar.
As if the crude shamans of a primitive tribe cut off the lizard’s neck and cut its stomach open on a wide stone slab.
A huge altar where a decapitated and dismembered dragon was thrown onto a thick white flame.
thud.
Dragon corpses pile up. Edgar took a deep breath.
At first glance, it looks like he is cutting down the dragon army unilaterally. But in reality, it was slowly being eaten away.
As time passed, the raids became more intense. The sharp senses become dull and small tremors in the muscles become worse.
Even sacred tattoos could not shine forever. There was also a limit to what the body could handle despite the infinite pouring out of divine power.
‘…Tsk.’
In the first place, because the barrier had been maintained for several months, his condition was not normal. This is a fight that would be impossible to win even if it were in perfect condition, so this might have been enough to endure.
Easy profit!
That was why, when I dropped the head of a dragon to avoid the barrage of spells, I did not notice the dragon’s teeth coming from a blind spot.
[Die, you old monster!]
The battle that explodes before your eyes. I could feel the flashing teeth and wide-open muzzle.
Edgar slowly closed his eyes in the face of death that seemed like it could swallow a carriage.
This would have taken enough time.
That was the moment I thought about it.
┴─┬┴─┬─
It was a bolt of lightning.
My ears are pounding. A tingling sensation felt throughout the body.
The dragon’s massive body fell down with a helpless thump. It was the one that was trying to devour him just a moment ago.
The head flew off far away, and a large hole the size of a gate was left in the chest where the dragon heart would have been.
Edgar lifted his closed eyelids. He looked back with hazy eyes.
It wasn’t difficult to recognize the sound of heavy footsteps.
The warrior who had been in his thoughts until just now. He was the protagonist of the prophecy who tried to burn himself.
“…Dallen.”
“You lied to me.”
said the warrior. The voice sounded a little uncomfortable.
“You didn’t think I would give up this experience bonus to you, did you?”