Chapter 41

Serpens’s heart was pounding.
A sword wielded by someone he had just met was aimed at his neck.
If his opponent decided to, he could die a meaningless death.

It felt like standing on a collapsing cliff.

“Haa…….”

The boy breathed roughly.
He was not as exhausted as the sound made him seem.
A small psychological game he was trying to play.
It was the boy’s courage, born from the belief that a supervisor would not attack an exhausted candidate during an examination.

“That sword you use. Who did you learn it from?”

Along with the question, the longsword came even closer.
While Serpens stalled for time.

“Heup!”

Another candidate aimed for Croxon’s opening.

When Croxon lowered his body and avoided the attack.

Kang!

Serpens knocked the longsword away and rolled his body to create distance.
At the same time, a short-haired woman swung her sword at Croxon.

‘Is this the best we can do?’

Serpens bit his lip.
He could not expect a one-on-one match like at the Academy.
The difference in ability was severe.
Croxon was not giving it his all.
Even so, he had not allowed a single effective hit.

‘One more time!’

Serpens put strength into his grip.

This time, a different method.
He would use the other candidates’ attacks.

“Damn it! Since when was the restricted wandering knight examination this damn hard!”

The shout came from the young man who had already been sent flying for the fifth time.

Serpens ran out at the same time as another person.

Croxon had one sword.
One sword could not block every direction.

The two looked at each other and nodded.
In that brief moment, a wordless agreement formed between them.

The candidate increased his speed and drove his sword down from the front.
Serpens matched him and targeted Croxon’s back.

But.

Cut.

“……!”

Croxon blocked both attacks from either side.
The front with his longsword, the back with his sheath.
He blocked what the boy had considered his decisive strike with ease.

‘This does not work either! I’ll create distance and aim for another opening-’

Grab.

“The same pattern?”

Croxon’s hand gripped the boy’s arm tightly.
At the powerful grip that felt as if it would crush his arm, Serpens’s face twisted.
A tremendous force pulled the boy’s body in.

Whoosh-

Croxon swung his arm wide.

“What- Ugh!”

Serpens was lifted into the air.
His vision swayed.
A fierce wind brushed past his ears.

Boom.

The boy’s back collided with the candidate he had coordinated with.
Then his body rolled across the ground and bounced away.

“Kuh…….”

His breath caught.
Unable to speak because of the pain rising from his spine, he twisted his body as if convulsing.

Tadat.

Footsteps closing the distance in an instant.

Serpens’s eyes flashed.
Even while his mind was hazy, his instincts screamed.
He had to dodge.
But before his body could react-

Crack.

The attack drove into the boy’s abdomen.

“―!”

Serpens’s mouth opened.
The oxygen disappeared from his lungs.
Instead of air, boiling blood violently surged back up.

Kwaak!

A red arc sprayed through the air.
The boy’s body folded, and his knees hit the ground.
His consciousness faded for an instant, then returned.
His ears rang, and in his blurring vision, Croxon’s silhouette appeared doubled.

“I had expectations, but is this all?”

The armored knight turned away.
Serpens couldn’t raise his body.
The candidates began to fall one by one.

Those whose eyes wavered were not only the ones challenging the restricted knight examination.

“What’s with the difficulty of this examination?”

Those whose turn would come once this examination ended.
The people watching from a suitable distance sighed deeply.

“Kheuk!”
“Kyaaak!”

Brief screams burst from the candidates.
After a short while.
After confirming that no one else would rush in, Croxon put his sword into its sheath.
Croxon looked at the people sprawled out once again.

Until last year, they would all have passed.
If one was skilled enough to catch monsters of a decent level.
One could become a restricted wandering knight.

All the fallen people had at least that level of skill.
One or two had shown somewhat lacking performances, but it was strange to look for perfection in a restricted knight examination.

‘The raised standard held them back.’

Croxon had not raised the examination difficulty because of personal feelings.
It was all the imperial court’s directive.
More precisely, it was the directive of House Levvels, which managed military power.

‘Raising the level of knights to counter monsters that are increasing and growing stronger…….’

Croxon generally agreed with House Levvels’s directive.
The influence of monsters continued to grow without end.
At this rate, the human side would eventually be devoured.
There was a need to raise the overall level of knights.

Perhaps this year would be the first time no restricted wandering knights were selected.

Step.

Croxon turned around.

“Now, everyone, stand up! Since no one landed an effective hit on me, all of you fai……”

Feeling something strange, Croxon turned back without finishing his sentence.

“…….”

Then his eyes narrowed.
What was he seeing?
Thinking he might be seeing wrong, he even adjusted his helmet.

The boy who had shocked him the most was standing.
Legs half drained of strength.
Eyes that had lost focus.
A sword dragging along the ground without aim.

At a glance, he was in no condition to fight.
But the boy walked forward one step at a time.

Goooo.

Black Aura wrapped around the boy’s body.
Croxon turned his head and looked at the reactions of the others.

People murmuring without being able to take their eyes off him.
That meant he had not seen wrong.

‘He’s using Aura? At that age?’

No, age was not the important thing.
Being able to handle Aura meant one had reached the Expert stage.
From what he had shown just now, there had been no sign of Expert-level skill.

The standard for having reached Expert was the use of Aura.
That was what was known, and yet…….

What was that supposed to be?

“I have to. Or I’ll be abandoned. I have to. Or I’ll be abandoned…….”

Serpens walked forward while muttering as if his soul had left him.
The irregular flickering of Aura.
His acrobatic movements, as if he would fall but never did, made Croxon tense.

Clack.

Croxon drew his sword again.
If the boy before him was using Aura, his combat power might increase by more than double.

“Candidate. Can you hear my voice?”

Serpens’s feet gradually quickened.

‘Can he not hear me?’

He had not expected it anyway.
Were those half-glazed eyes not what appeared when someone’s rational thought was breaking down?

Croxon took a stance to unfold his swordsmanship.
Since things had come to this, he had become curious about the Aura the brat was using-

Kang!

Before he could finish the thought, Serpens suddenly rushed in.
Croxon knocked the sword away with force.

Tat-

His massive foot kicked off the ground.
Serpens reacted to the sight.

Kagang!

Croxon had a huge build.
But his movements were not heavy.
It was typical longsword swordsmanship, maintaining proper distance and pressing hard whenever an opening appeared.

Kang!

But the strength that came from his massive build was extraordinary.

Every time their swords clashed, Serpens’s arm muscles twitched as if screaming.
Even so, the boy stubbornly kept attacking.

“Uwaaaah!”

The boy’s sword gradually gained more force.
Blood was slowly leaking from the boy’s clenched mouth.

However, Croxon’s sword was solid.
Even if he grew stronger, the wall of Expert was high.
Serpens could not properly handle Aura.
But Croxon could.
That difference was very large.
Even without using Aura, he could block the boy’s attacks.

―or so Croxon thought.

“……?”

In that instant, Croxon’s movement stiffened.
A split second.
The boy disappeared.

“Kuaaa!”

The sound cut in diagonally.
Serpens dug into his blind spot with explosive acceleration.

While Croxon faltered.
Serpens’s Aura spread along the blade.

Whoosh-

The sword snapped out in a diagonal swing.
Croxon twisted his body, but.

Kgeugeuk.

A clear scratch was carved into the surface of the silver armor.

“Damn!”

Crack.

Croxon reflexively thrust out his fist.
The massive force drove into the boy’s face.
Serpens fell to the ground as if his neck had snapped.

‘……Damn it. I panicked.’

Croxon regained his reason and examined Serpens.
His fist had landed properly.
He had failed to control his strength.

Serpens was unconscious and twitching.
Blood flowed from the boy’s nose.

Croxon frowned.
The problem was not simply that blood was flowing.
The boy’s twisted nose.
It seemed his nose had broken from the impact just now.

The boy’s symptoms worsened.
Blood came out with his pain-filled coughs.
The muscles of his overstrained body began to convulse.

“Hey! Bring a medic!”

Croxon shouted to his subordinate.
It was a movement driven by instinct.
It was clearly an impact too difficult for a thirteen-year-old boy to endure.

‘I made a mistake.’

He lowered his gaze.

The area around the boy gradually became stained red.
What measures should he take?

Croxon immediately looked around.
Was this not the Academy’s recommended candidate?
Then there should be a guardian as well.
He could not use healing magic.
For now, he could only hope the guardian could use magic.

‘Where is the guardian-’

Grab.

A sudden weight.
Serpens grabbed Croxon’s arm.
Croxon’s brow narrowed slightly.
No way.

“……Cough.”

Serpens vomited blood.
He was already unable to fight.
And yet the boy was trying to get up.

“……This brat.”

Why was he going this far?
Until now, he had seen countless knight aspirants.
There were many who struggled desperately to pass the examination.
But no one had ever done this in the restricted wandering knight examination.
There was another chance next year.
He could develop his skill a little more and achieve it then.
Just what was making this child stand up?

“Kuu……gh.”

The hand gripping Croxon’s arm shook violently.
As if pushed by something.
No, it was a movement as if he was trying to stand even if he had to go against something.
That trembling gradually grew worse.

“…….”

Croxon’s fingertips stiffened with hesitation.

Aura was originally a power handled according to the user’s will.
But now, the Aura flickering around this boy was as if…….
Was it not like a beast trying to escape control?

The candidates murmured and stepped back.

“What…… is that?”

It was an extremely normal reaction.

The black energy surged as if tearing the air apart.
It was enough for even those who couldn’t handle Aura to instinctively sense danger.

He could be certain.
This was dangerous.

He instinctively raised his sword.
But he could not make a decision.

What would this boy become if he grew?
Would he become a sun that illuminated the empire?
Or a monster that devoured the sun?
He was a boy far too young to judge.

If he became a sun, he would certainly be a tremendous fighting force.
But…….

If he became a monster.
Could he be stopped?

“Cough……!”

The boy pushed himself up.

Croxon had to make a decision.
He could swing his sword and say it could not be helped, for the safety of everyone else.
He would receive a great punishment, but considering the dangerous future, it was a sacrifice he could accept.

And the moment he gripped his sword.

“I told you not to use it before you were trained.”

An unfamiliar voice came.

Thud!

Serpens was struck precisely on the nape.
The boy’s body collapsed.
The Aura that had been surging violently also slowly settled down.

Croxon’s eyes flashed.

“……What?”

A man stood where his gaze landed.

A man wearing a black robe.
A man with an unkempt, rough impression, but carrying a massive greatsword with a rugged charm.

Lucas.
He caught the unconscious Serpens as if it were nothing.

Croxon stared at him blankly.
Soon, he shook his head and tried to shake off his confusion.

“Could it be…… you are……?”

He had not noticed when he first saw him.
He had only thought of him as someone who used a large greatsword.
He had not even imagined that it was this person.

Croxon slowly lowered his sword.
Seeing him up close, it was clearly a face he knew.
His hair and beard were long, but it was unmistakably a face he knew.

Croxon put his sword into its sheath and offered a proper salute.

“Croxon Stone, vice-captain of the imperial court’s Fourth Platoon, greets Lord Lucas Liberator, former Knight Commander of the First Battalion.”