The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 46. First Strike
A sight that seemed impossible—a man sent flying dozens of meters after a single slap.
The stratagem of “First Strike” that he himself had proposed was unfolding exactly as planned,
yet Muno found he couldn’t smile at the sight.
If anything, cold sweat was trickling down his spine.
‘What the hell is this monster?’
Inside the Truth Investigation Team’s first carriage, he sensed an entity radiating a dread Magical Energy unlike anything he’d experienced before.
The sheer magnitude of that Magical Energy—vast enough to crush the entire Inner Castle in a single stroke if it passed through the City Gate—was condensed within a single being riding in that carriage.
And then.
“If you’re going to come out like that, we cannot hold back either!!”
A small man with a swollen left cheek led the charge, radiating lethal intent as he drew a Great Sword nearly as tall as himself.
Behind him, four high-ranking knights—not quite as overwhelming in presence, but formidable nonetheless—and roughly a dozen escort knights unsheathed their blades.
And in response,
“You dare insult me and Trian, then draw steel first?!”
Clang!
With Enoch Trian’s thunderous roar, the entire Trian Knight Order assembled before the Inner Castle drew their swords in unison.
But Muno remained frozen, his whole body rigid under the crushing weight of that vast Magical Energy,
until Lasmia beside him shook his shoulder and jolted him back to awareness.
“Muno, what’s wrong? Don’t tell me—”
“Yes. There’s a monster in the first carriage…”
“Truly?”
“What are you saying, brother?”
Anan, the priest of the Goddess of the Earth—”Rue”—who had healed Collid, furrowed his brow and asked.
“I explained this beforehand, Priest.”
At that, Lasmia glanced sideways and answered in a low voice on his behalf.
— Since the 5-Star Knight was a Mage, Aslan may have extended its sorcerous reach further.
— If the Truth Investigation Team contains a Mage or sorcerer, and you expose them, we can turn the pressure on Aslan instead.
Even as Count Enoch Trian accepted Muno’s reckless proposal to provoke them first, he had devised one more stratagem.
Of course, neither the count nor Muno himself had held much hope for this possibility.
The sorcerers of the Demon Cult, if they possessed any sense, would never thrust their hand into the already-raging chaos.
Not if they wished to avoid having their roots torn out.
Still, one had to prepare for unlikely contingencies.
So the count had paid a handsome price to summon a high priest and stationed him beside Muno and Lasmia.
“…Surely you don’t expect me to believe that jest?”
But the elderly priest Anan merely frowned at Lasmia’s words,
unable to accept the fact that Muno could sense Magical Energy more keenly than himself, a Priest, or Lasmia, a Spirit Mage.
“You must believe it, Priest. Muno has proven it many times already.”
“Even so…”
For Muno, listening to their exchange, the frustration was unbearable.
He could feel the oppressive presence of that terrible Magical Energy,
‘They can’t feel this? Truly?’
The effectiveness of whatever Veil technique was at work became newly apparent.
And at the same time, something about the cult’s actions seemed off.
‘They’re committing such a reckless move by deploying a monster like that? Why?’
Based on the scale of Magical Energy he’d never encountered before, this had to be at least a 5-Circle Mage.
A high-level sorcerer of a caliber rarely seen even in the empire—there was no way such talent was abundant in a mere cult.
And yet.
‘To catch just one of me? No, that can’t be. It shouldn’t be…’
It could simply be to add to the chaos,
but Trian was already at odds with Aslan, so sending a Mage would have been the wrong play.
‘…Unless the organization isn’t entirely staffed with fools.’
In that case.
‘Is it really me they’re after? Does that make sense?’
When the sorcerers had approached speaking of Test Subjects, he’d been surprised but hadn’t thought much of it.
But if they were going to such lengths to target him, there had to be a reason.
If he forced himself to speculate,
‘Has my ability already been exposed…?’
— If your ability becomes known, every Mage in the world will hunt you down and kill you.
— To them, your very existence would be a desecration of the sacred.
‘That would make sense. Damn it all…’
He had used his abilities several times in every battle he fought against mages.
But since he’d deceived even his own side by calling it an Artifact, he was confident no one would know…….
‘No, it’s too early to assume. If I were the target, they wouldn’t have sent just one, no matter how monstrous that thing is—it wouldn’t be at Seven Star level…….’
The Magical Energy was difficult to gauge objectively, but compared to the Count’s presence, it seemed a notch below.
He tried to etch that fact into his mind, soothing his turbulent thoughts.
“Compose yourself, Captain Evan.”
With a voice clear as jade rolling, a woman descended from the carriage and drew every eye in the gathering.
“Oh……!?”
“How could…….”
“Heavens, in all my days I never thought to see a beauty rivaling the Lady Roanna…….”
Exclamations burst forth from friend and foe alike.
This sudden outpouring caught Muno off guard.
The appearance of this woman—rounder-faced than the admittedly cute Roanna—had unleashed an utterly absurd torrent of praise.
‘What is……?’
He found it even harder to adjust than with Roanna, and it still made no sense to him.
Of course, there was a far more pressing issue than this disparity in perception.
“That woman is a Mage. At least 5-Circle or higher.”
“What?”
Lasmia responded immediately at those words, her stance turning wary.
“Brother, baseless accusations only breed discord between our territories. Show restraint.”
Anan, the Priest whom the Count had prepared as his counterpart, was in fact openly condemning Muno.
“Priest, shut your mouth.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
Anan’s jaw fell open at language he had never heard in his life.
As Muno’s eyes met those of the woman presumed to be the Mage, he found himself swallowing hard.
‘……Will my ability work on her?’
With his second evolution complete, he was confident he could face a 4-Circle Mage alone, but this one gave off no sense of anything.
‘At least 5-Circle…….’
He found himself troubled again by that faint wisp of power he had dismissed when Moeno had exploded.
It was then he had truly understood that the Demonic Devourer had its limits.
The Demonic Devourer rang its alarms ceaselessly in his mind, and cold sweat ran down his spine once more.
But then.
“You’re certain, Muno?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Her face is unpleasant anyway. Convenient.”
Lasmia’s eyes narrowed openly on the woman as she drew Mana to her core.
When that current—invisible to ordinary sight—stimulated Muno’s perception and senses.
“Lasmia, surely you’re not……?”
“Spirit Mage, what are you attempting……?”
“Muno, do what you can do as well. Priest Anan, if you interfere, I will have you reported to the Temple for colluding with a Mage.”
“No, that’s not what…….”
Lasmia hurled a vicious warning at Anan and truly unleashed her full power.
That decisive action determined Muno’s own choice.
And then.
“Who are you, exactly?”
“I am Kalin, Administrator of the Aslan Duchy.”
“This is no place for an administrator to intrude…….”
“Even if a duel were permitted, I believe protocol requires a neutral arbitrator not belonging to either house.”
“Eh?”
All eyes fixed on Kalin in the moment her audacious words froze the 6-Star Knights in their tracks.
Whiiiiing.
With the faintest sound of wind, blades of air cascaded down above her head.
The subtle Wind Spirit Magic that would have been nearly invisible even to those who wielded Mana—let alone ordinary folk—appeared crystalline to Muno’s gaze.
‘Magnificent.’
Wind surged upward from above Lasmia’s head into the heavens, amplified tens and hundreds of times as it passed through the upper air hundreds of meters aloft, falling down like a torrent of power.
Tens of thousands of wind spirits answered the call, pouring their strength into an enormous cascade of wind blades that seemed to fall upon a single head.
This was incomparably mightier than the methods she had used piecemeal against the 5-Star Knight Collid.
From the moment of casting until it rained down upon the enemy’s head, it left almost no trace to be seen.
This was the true power that Lasmia, a 4-Class Spirit Mage, unleashed when she resolved to strike.
Yet even then, Muno’s eyes caught the faint smile playing across Kalin’s expression.
And then.
“What!?”
The moment the woman looked up at the sky with a voice feigning surprise.
Evan Orgus, who had drawn close to her position, lifted his head.
“Not a chance!”
He began swinging a Great Sword as large as his own body like a thunderbolt.
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash.
Crackle-pop.
As if to prove the epithet “Thunder Sword,” the man of remarkably slight build for a knight tore through the space above Kalin’s head with his blade, each stroke violent as lightning.
At the same moment, lightning erupted from his cherished Artifact—the Thunder Sword—completely shattering the wind blades that Lasmia had unleashed.
In that brief instant of collision, as the wind blade and the thunderous Great Sword clashed, a small Black Dagger streaked silently through the gap between them.
“A trick…!”
Bang!
Evan’s Thunder Sword, which had pulverized the wind blade, swatted the Black Dagger aside.
But in that same instant, the dagger split into two, slipped past the Great Sword, and surged straight toward Kalin.
Witnessing this, Muno felt an inward roar of triumph.
‘It worked…!’
He had never truly expected this ploy to kill that monster outright.
He had simply believed that with such a deadly threat looming, she would have no choice but to resort to magic in front of everyone watching.
But in that moment.
Kalin, whose eyes met Muno’s, wore a smile that didn’t match the situation at all.
‘What…?’
The instant an icy chill passed through his chest.
Muno’s Black Dagger had already driven deep into her body.
Whoosh.
“Ugh… ack.”
With holes torn through her throat and heart, Kalin turned toward where he stood, her eyes widening in disbelief as she reached out her hand.
“Kh…”
Thud.
With a pitiable expression, she collapsed where she stood, blood pooling beneath her.
In that instant, silence fell over the Inner Castle courtyard, which had been so loud moments before.
Friend and foe alike turned their gaze toward the fallen Kalin, then immediately shifted their attention to Muno, who had been the last thing she looked at.
‘Damn…?’
How could he possibly explain this bewildering sensation.
“This is…”
Even Lasmia, standing beside him, couldn’t conceal her shock.
A moment too late, a cry tore through the air.
“…Kalin!?”
Evan Orgus, the Thunder Sword, let out an anguished scream and dropped to his knees before Kalin’s fallen body.
His eyes stared blankly, tears streaming down his face.
A dark premonition flickered through Muno’s mind—could she have been his lover?
“Kalin! Kalin! How dare you, how dare you, how dare you…!?”
His body trembling violently, Evan rose with Kalin’s body cradled in his arms and roared toward Enoch Trian.
“Count! What is the meaning of this!? How dare you kill an emissary in broad daylight!?”
His words were disrespectful, heedless of rank.
Yet even Enoch Trian, known as the Bulwark of the North, could not help but be taken aback in this moment.
And then.
“I’m taking both their lives now! Interference means war, Count!”
Evan’s eyes, flushed crimson with rage, fixed upon Muno.
“I’ll tear you to shreds!!”
His form vanished from Muno’s sight in an instant, leaving Kalin’s body behind.
And almost simultaneously.
Crash—–!
Before Muno’s eyes, the Thunder Sword of Evan Orgus and the Rock Wall Sword of Enoch Trian, called the Bulwark of the North, collided with a thunderous roar.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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