The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 86

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

Chapter 86. 2nd Class
Red wind.
By the time Munno became aware of his arrival, Anthony was already wielding his sword in the center of the first floor.
‘What in the…’
A speed that appeared only as a blur even to his accelerated dynamic vision.
The problem was that the blade, being swung so fast that the naked eye couldn’t follow it, was already aimed at ordinary people whose ‘judgment’ had long since finished.
‘What is he doing…!’
Just as Munno tried to move reflexively within that accelerated time to block the sword technique.
Whissh.
With nothing more than a faint whisper of wind, Anthony’s blade was already sheathed.
And Munno saw it.
The sword wind unleashed by the Blood Knight had carved minute lacerations across the bodies of dozens of people standing in tense stillness—wounds they hadn’t even noticed themselves.
‘What is…?’
The moment that question surfaced, an unpleasant sensation struck him simultaneously.
‘This is…?’
Screeeee.
“Ha…?”
“Found you, loach.”
The instant Anthony’s expression darkened.
His blade, drawn like lightning, struck the throat of a hatted man who was belatedly releasing Demonic Energy.
Whissh.
Spray.
Thud.
Roll, roll, roll.
The moment the wide-eyed man’s head bounced across the ground.
Hisssss.
His body was seen rotting in real time before their eyes.
“Caught one. So they really do each leave one behind.”
He chuckled darkly, then vanished up the stairs.
Of everyone present, it was undoubtedly Munno who was most stunned by the sight.
‘A Dual Illusion? Like that woman?’
But the Demonic Energy the dead man had briefly exposed at the end was at most 2nd Circle.
The shadow they’d caught in the Drasen Southern Forest had seemed to be at least 5th Circle.
‘No, that’s not the issue.’
How had the Blood Knight even seen through that Dual Illusion?
‘I did sense Mana faintly…’
That curiosity only deepened, and before he knew it, Munno was charging toward the upper floors where Anthony had gone.
But immediately.
Bang!
Before he’d even finished climbing to the second floor, he found himself face-to-face with the Blood Knight coming back down the stairs.
“Ha. That was the only one. You really are something, Black Knight.”
The red knight moved as if wrapping wind itself around his body.
In that brief moment, it seemed he’d already executed that same sword technique across all six floors above and come back down.
And moreover.
“Lord Anthony, exactly what is that method of yours…?”
“Ah, don’t ask. Right now we’re rivals, remember?”
He gave no proper answer to the question, simply passing by.
Then vanished outside the building in a whoosh.
Munno stared blankly after him for a moment.
Hiiiing!
– Lord Anthony! What about here…!?
– That’s one for me! The rest of the twenty-five—the Black Knight took them all…!
– Wait, slow down…!
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Only when he heard the voices receding northward did he snap back to his senses.
“Damn.”
Overwhelming on his own pace, a character with at least a touch of courtesy?
Though bewilderment at being swept along by such an Anthony lasted only briefly, Munno too bolted outside the Trade Post after him.
‘If Lord Anthony went north, then that Silver Knight…’
He turned his gaze hastily and scanned the surroundings, but saw nothing.
Then, for now.
“I’m heading east!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
Munno launched into a sprint without even waiting for the Iron Knights’ reply.
If crime was exploding across the Capital and they hadn’t caught the culprit, the most likely accomplice would be—
‘The Guard.’
And among those, the nearest one from here would be—
‘The Eastern Gate Guard.’
Anthony had gone north, and the Silver Knight was nowhere in sight either—he was probably targeting the Outer Gate Guard by now.
If Munno mopped up the Eastern Gate first and then rushed to the South Gate, he’d secure at least two key positions faster than Anthony.
“Please don’t overlap with me, Silver Knight.”
Clinging to that fervent hope, Munno leapt toward the rooftops of nearby buildings.
Bang.
Except—
His mind might’ve been a Spider-Man, but his body in reality was nothing but a heavy Chain-wielder.
Crack-boom.
Oh no.
“Urgh!”
“Run! Get away!”
The chimney that Munno had wrapped with Metal Chains to vault across the wide Plaza simply crumbled, leaving the entire area in ruins.
He’d smashed the chimney on landing to prevent casualties, but there was no stopping the stone fragments scattering in all directions or the dust clouds billowing up.
“Cough. Cough.”
“What in the world is happening…….”
“I saw something black for a second.”
……My apologies, blast it.
“I’m performing official duties! Bill the Iron Knight Order!”
Munno forced himself to ignore the sting of conscience and bounded back onto the rooftops.
Of course, in the process—
Bang.
“No! My house……!”
Each time he landed on a roof and it buckled, or a chain-wrapped beam or chimney took damage—
“Bill the Iron Knight Order……!”
Invoices from the Iron Knight Order flew right along with him.
Naturally—
“Munno!!!”
“If you keep doing this……!”
The Iron Knights chasing after him grew increasingly grim, but—
Whoosh.
Built on countless sacrifices (?), the Chain-wielder soared through the air once more, and as the Eastern Gate Guard’s barracks drew nearer, he lapsed into thought.
‘Right…… Whether the Royal Palace or the Holy Temple can see through Dual Illusion—the Cult would’ve needed to verify that.’
So it made sense they’d only released a few Pyramis who’d barely mastered that one technique.
Of course, it bothered him that someone with only a 2nd Class Circle was using a method he’d thought only high-ranking Mages could manage.
‘Still, it won’t be something anyone can do. If it were, they’d all be using Dual Illusion by now.’
That one line of reasoning let him shed some of the worry.
What really preoccupied him now was something else.
‘How do I test that Sword Technique?’
That strange Sword Technique Anthony had displayed at the Trade Post wouldn’t leave his head.
It couldn’t—because that bizarre technique had sliced through a Dual Illusion that Munno himself couldn’t fully see through.
‘He seemed to be handling Mana too, but how did he do it? Wound and Mana, wound…….’
The answer hovered on the edge of his thoughts but never quite surfaced, and it was starting to frustrate him.
Then, arriving at the Eastern Gate Guard—
Boom.
“Salute!”
“The Eastern Gate Guard receives the Royal command.”
The moment Munno landed in the spacious training yard, he was greeted with unexpected formality.
As he’d already seen from above, the well-arrayed soldiers’ gazes all turned toward him.
“Do you know who I am?”
“News is spreading through the Communication Channel—the Blood Knight and the Silver Knight, and the Black Knight are moving to apprehend the Cult Mages. We’re honored to meet you, the Black Knight, the sacred one of the kingdom.”
Silver Knight?
‘Ah, that Silver Knight.’
The mustachioed middle-aged man extending his hand with a smile carried the unmistakable bearing of someone of high station.
Even his compact frame seemed to contain a density of mass that made his martial prowess all but obvious.
‘4th Class…. Just as I thought….’
Though urgency gnawed at him, he couldn’t simply state his business and leave after receiving such courtesy.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Munno Drasen, your junior. Forgive me, but your name is…?”
“Tuuren. Tuuren Gail, Munno. I’ve been given the honor of commanding the Eastern Gate Guard of the Royal Castle.”
Tuuren seemed pleased by being addressed as a senior.
He clasped Munno’s hand with a warm smile.
“Delighted, Tuuren. But as you know, I’m in a race against time. Might I attend to my business right away?”
“Of course. Ah, though naturally there’s no reason there should be any Cult Mages in our guard….”
Before Tuuren could finish his sentence.
Bang.
Munno’s body launched forward like an arrow, hurtling toward the gathered guardsmen.
“Now—?”
Tuuren’s brow twisted as he moved to follow, but in that same instant.
Whish-whish-crack.
Metal Chains unspooled from both of Munno’s hands, engulfing two of the guardsmen standing in formation.
Those two had been restless since his arrival, and now they lurched to respond—but.
‘Too slow.’
Their clumsy movements couldn’t possibly block his chains.
Whish-whish-crack.
“No!”
“Aagh!”
Whish-crack.
The chains bound the mages fast.
Munno wrenched them from the guard’s formation and dragged them before his eyes, then.
“…What in the gods’ names—!”
He ignored Tuuren’s approaching voice and swung his blade with lethal speed.
Sk-sk-sk-sk.
But his blade only grazed the skin of the Cult adherents, their eyes squeezed shut as they awaited their end.
“…?”
“What are you doing, Munno! This is contempt toward my soldiers!”
A moment too late, Tuuren grabbed Munno’s shoulder.
“Ah, I understand now.”
A strange smile crossed Munno’s face as he jerked the chains with sudden force.
Crack-crack-crack-crack.
The Cult mages’ necks snapped, their tongues lolling from their mouths.
“What is the meaning of this—!”
Tuuren’s wrathful shout was still echoing when.
Pssssst.
“Huh—?!”
“The stench….”
“Is that…?”
“Rowell—!”
The two corpses were already blackening and crumbling, reeking of decay.
“Wha…?”
Tuuren’s hand fell from Munno’s shoulder as he stared in dumb shock at the disintegrating bodies.
Munno, meanwhile, had already moved past the corpses and was scanning the area.
‘Far too few.’
Even amid the chaos, the Eastern Gate Guard maintained most of their formation.
Their ranks numbered well over three hundred.
Yet only two mages had been hidden among them.
‘Have the Cult mages pulled out of the guard almost entirely?’
Given that over twenty mages had emerged from the Trade Post, the number was disturbingly small.
Which meant, most likely….
“…Are there not soldiers on duty today who requested a shift change?”
“Pardon?”
No matter how intentionally the Cult left these expendable pawns behind to gauge the royal response, those pawns would still follow their instinct to survive.
“Men who weren’t originally scheduled today but suddenly requested a reassignment. Where are they now?”
Munno’s eyes gleamed as he pressed Tuuren for answers.
“I’ll verify it myself. I’ll check it directly……!”
“Suit yourself. Let’s go.”
Tuuren lunged forward, bloodshot eyes blazing, with Munno tearing after him.
Yet Munno’s demeanor now seemed far more composed than when he’d burst recklessly into the Eastern Gate Guard’s training ground.
His resolve hadn’t wavered.
He was simply turning over in his mind the hint he’d caught just moments ago—the Silver Knight’s method.
‘Injecting Mana into the blood vessels to see if Repulsion occurs.’
The principle was far simpler than he’d expected.
But logically speaking, it would require enough Mana to be expended to trigger such Repulsion.
Yet the Silver Knight’s Sword Technique had contained far fainter Mana than he’d anticipated, and still managed to verify against dozens of opponents in an instant—which suggested there must be some secret method to maximize this principle.
That would be the Royal Castle’s own developed technique, no doubt.
‘Even so, it would still depend on the person using it.’
A method that only an Enhanced Body User or Spiritualist capable of handling Mana could employ.
Because Munno fit both those conditions, he could infer it so readily.
But knowing the principle didn’t mean he could necessarily reproduce the method itself.
Still, he couldn’t help but be drawn to it.
‘This isn’t the time to fixate on such things…….’
That wall, which had seemed on the verge of crumbling for so long, finally felt as though it might break through.
That very feeling kept his mind tethered to these thoughts even in this urgent situation.
‘Mana, Repulsion, small quantity, brief moment…….’
Keywords concerning the Silver Knight’s method swirled dizzyingly through his thoughts.
“……Still, you should have reported this to me first, and asked permission before acting. Munno.”
“Pardon?”
“No matter how you justify eliminating Cult Mages, there is a proper procedure.”
“No, wait. Before that.”
“You should have sought permission first. Permission!”
Ah!
Tuuren’s sharp reproach struck through his mind like lightning.
Of course, that didn’t mean he accepted it.
– Mana is the force of nature. We simply borrow such natural force.
‘Mana’s permission, and Repulsion.’
That single word brought Rashmia’s words back to him, and in that moment, the third Spell—which had hovered on the edge of completion all this time—crystallized sharply in his mind.
And that meant.
‘2nd Class.’
His growth as a Spiritualist.
Whooom.
The Mana roiling inside his body wrought a new transformation.

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