The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 88

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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 88. What…?
“The dead here don’t seem connected to any mage. At least the corpses are… intact.”
Calling bodies split in half or torn apart by metal shards “intact” was darkly amusing.
But it was certain they hadn’t begun rotting the moment they died.
“Well, just because it’s a mage organization doesn’t mean it only has mages and magic knights.”
The Steel Knights seemed to be concluding this must have been the Cult’s doing as well.
‘No…’
Munno’s thinking ran differently.
Those Cult bastards couldn’t have avoided a clash with the Royal Court in this situation.
And it was strange that while they’d left only small fry elsewhere, they’d sent enough force to easily assassinate 3rd-4th Star Class Knights — only against him.
Of course, given the grievances already accumulated between them, motivation alone wouldn’t be lacking.
‘That woman tried to capture me alive back then. But now?’
Certainly, the Cult’s policy might have changed now that even that 6th Circle Mage was dead, but his suspicion leaned toward something else entirely.
Assassins with no Demonic Energy, targeting only him specifically, yet still trying to avoid a clash with the Royal Court.
It smelled like the handiwork of someone else who held a grudge against him.
The timing of orchestrating this specific moment was probably…
‘If I die now, it’ll be reported as a casualty in the Cult suppression operation.’
Without the synergy between Spirit Magic and his Unique Ability, these would have been opponents strong enough to finish him.
Someone powerful enough to mobilize warriors of this caliber and subtly make a move during a Royal Court event.
No matter how he thought about it, there was only one possibility.
‘Aslan…’
His eyebrows twitched involuntarily.
As his suspicion hardened into certainty, anger surged up — but he couldn’t share this reasoning with the Steel Knights just yet.
“Hah…”
The masked corpses weren’t likely to have left anything proving their allegiance.
‘It’s all circumstantial.’
And even if he could prove it, this wasn’t the moment for that.
So.
Screech, screech, screech.
Clang.
‘First, finish this competition.’
Munno gathered the metal around him and reformed his “blade” anew.
“Wow!?”
“Is that the Artifact…? Remarkable.”
…No, listen up, you lot.
“Then, I’ll head back toward the South Gate Guard Post.”
“Yes. Ah, but again, please try to restrain yourself from damaging property! When did we ever say we’d compensate for all that? If the Commander finds out…”
He tuned out the pang of conscience in those words.
“Thank you for your hard work!!”
“…Munno!?”
Patter-patter-patter.
He burst into a sprint before the Steel Knight could finish speaking.
The assassins had already cost him unnecessary time.
Cleaning up enemies’ forces took priority, no matter how small the fry.
Especially when the reward came from the King himself.
‘Whatever — I’ll finish this competition first, then figure it out.’
Uneasy but uncertain suspicions were shoved to a corner of his mind, while he focused all effort on what he could do right now.
And also.
‘They won’t just give up because they failed once. Will you, you little bastards?’
The provocation he threw inwardly wouldn’t reach them, but the assassins would likely reappear.
So.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
‘Make myself an even bigger target!’
He wrapped metal chains around a distant chimney in the distance and pulled.
Crash-boom-crack.
— Munno! Hold on!!!!!
The cries from the Steel Knights behind him went in one ear and out the other as he launched himself into the air once more.
“Hyah!”
It wasn’t as though he found this Spider-man, or rather Chainman play genuinely entertaining.
Absolutely not.
And his prediction came to pass far sooner than he expected.
Not long after he’d left the ambush site and started toward the South Gate Guard Post.
As he attempted to vault across the plaza again, a familiar sight materialized before him—like déjà vu made real.
Bang!
A masked assailant striking metal chains wound around a chimney.
And an arrow, silent as a ghost, streaking toward him as he lost his balance mid-air.
Yet what Munno hadn’t anticipated
was that his own hands had begun to tremble.
Faint tremors he could feel coursing through his fingers.
Screech.
Crash.
He barely managed to deflect the arrow with his unique ability.
If the archer possessed any real awareness of their own skill, they would certainly have noticed something amiss.
‘Damn. I wanted to keep this hidden for a while longer.’
Thud.
The moment he landed hard on solid ground, the unmistakable presence of a throwing dagger hissed toward the back of his neck—silent as a whisper.
It was far too identical to the last attack.
But.
Bang!
His slash, executed in a preemptive spin, was intercepted by the dagger itself.
“Ugh!”
Neither the dagger shattering and scattering through the air, nor the masked figure flying backward with a broken arm, satisfied him.
The attack he’d already experienced once was being recreated identically, yet he’d failed to eliminate his opponent in a single decisive move.
‘Damn it all!’
The exhilaration of a battle where life and death hung in balance had made him forget, if only briefly.
The aftereffects of using Blade Explosion while simultaneously unleashing Wind Cutting—his third spell—hadn’t yet fully recovered.
“Tsk!”
Bang.
The moment he charged at the recoiling masked attacker, an arrow arrived precisely near the back of his skull—as if calculated to account for his very momentum.
It was completely identical to before, with only one difference: his own physical condition.
If that was the case.
‘I might not manage to capture even a single one this time.’
Twang!
Munno deflected the arrow once more and pursued the trail of his most dangerous opponent.
‘At least I’ll catch the archer!’
His body pivoted with the speed of lightning.
He roughly triangulated the firing point based on both the arrow that had struck him in mid-air and this one’s trajectory.
Then he fixed his gaze on the upper portion of the opposing building where the enemy likely lay.
Bang!
Whoosh.
Ignoring the other masked figure rushing from behind, he launched himself straight ahead.
Yet another arrow materialized before his eyes like a phantom.
Crash.
‘Well, I know this one’s pattern!’
He immediately employed his unique ability to slip past the arrow, then pushed all his senses to bear, searching for metal ahead.
Specifically, those small triangular bits of metal that resembled arrowheads.
But.
‘Nothing!?’
His Metal Detection ability now had an effective range of nearly a hundred meters in radius.
Though it was less than one-tenth the range of the Demon Devourer’s demonic aura tracking.
Thump.
When he stood motionless and concentrated in a single direction, he could detect nearly twice that distance.
Yet there wasn’t a trace of metal that resembled an arrow.
And yet, what appeared before him
was an arrow gliding silently into his field of vision once more.
‘What in the…’
Crash.
He deflected this arrow too, then refocused his senses in that direction again.
But the result remained unchanged.

‘Is he a real ghost? No, magic?’
No, that couldn’t be it. His ability to detect magic was far superior to his Metal Detection skill anyway.
In that moment of bewilderment.
Munno sensed the presence of small throwing daggers rising silently from both sides of the low building whose roof he stood upon.
‘These things.’
Clang-clang-clang.
The instant his will moved, Metal Chains shot forth from both ankles.
Those chains simultaneously coiled around the necks of masked figures who had begun appearing soundlessly atop the roof from both sides of the building.
And immediately after.
Crack.
“Urgh!?”
He snapped their necks just enough, then hurled them onto the roof.
They appeared to be 3rd-Star class or higher Enhanced Body Practitioners—paralyzed entirely but not quite dead.
Thud-thud-thud.
He’d meant to leave their mouths intact; they might lead him to whoever was behind this.
Thunk.
With barely a whisper of sound, arrows were already embedded in their hearts.
“This damnable bastard—!!”
This time the shots hadn’t been aimed at him, so he barely registered them.
Truly ghostly archery skill.
But in that instant, Munno’s eyes caught a single shadow moving like a phantom far to the south.
‘Roughly four hundred meters? Insane!’
Whoosh.
Regardless of his shock, his body moved of its own accord.
The enemy was moving far too fast, and the distance was immense.
Then.
‘Accelerate!’
I’ll catch him no matter what.
Even as his stamina flagged, his body surged forward, fueled by rage.
The moment he did.
Whoosh-whoosh.
More arrows came hurtling through the air in complete silence.
What was most aggravating was that two of the arrows curved left and right respectively, streaking toward his vital points from different angles each.
A trajectory as if calculated for his sudden burst of speed.
But.
“Not a chance!!”
As long as he possessed Metal Control, projectiles like arrows were useless against him.
Without moving blade or hand, he deflected the arrows and pressed forward, finally bringing his target within his sensing range.
‘Twelve arrows. Found you.’
The triangular metal shards clustered together raced swiftly—he felt it clearly.
And the distance between them narrowed rapidly.
‘Hmph!’
Boom-boom-crash!
He anticipated the enemy’s direction of movement and surged ahead.
And when he finally felt the enemy’s presence in a building beneath his feet.
Crash-bang-bang!
Munno plunged through the roof and tumbled down amid the rubble.
He’d meant to ambush the enemy.
But what greeted his eyes was a slender masked figure already aiming a bow directly at him, as if anticipating his arrival.
Four arrows came streaming down in succession.
‘You damnable—!’
A curse escaped him, but only briefly.
Whoooosh.
His Unique Ability responded instantly, and the arrows curved away from his body.
He felt the enemy’s eyes—barely visible through the mask’s translucent weave—widen in shock.
And Munno, still descending, crushed the figure beneath him.
Slam!
“Aah!”
Crackle-crackle-crackle.
The enormous weight of his armor and body collided with the enemy and the floor, but.
Crack-crash-rumble.
As the stone floor shattered and fell away into the level below, the masked figure somehow managed to roll upright and hurl herself toward the window.
‘Hmph!’
Whoosh-clang-clang.
Four metal chains shot forward at her command, meant to bind the enemy’s body.
But the masked woman spun through the air like lightning, her limbs and bow moving in concert to deflect every chain.
Clang-clang-clang!
As the chains snapped back violently, Munno’s body — which had been about to land on the lower floor — lost its balance and stumbled.
‘Damn. Better than I thought.’
Judging by her reaction speed, her movements, her defense — everything considered — she was at least a 4-Star Class Hard Body Practitioner.
Trying to capture her had been a mistake.
But.
‘Even now.’
Even as his stance collapsed, Munno reached out and seized the “blade.”
The Two-Handed Sword maintained its original mass while compressing into the form of a throwing dagger.
“Ha!”
And he hurled it at his opponent.
Whoosh-boom.
A lethal strike aimed at the enemy’s neck as she fell through the window into the air.
A killing blow charged with the intent to pierce straight through, even if she managed to block it.
And yet.
Bang!
Slice.
The enemy, moving like a thunderbolt, struck the “blade” down with her bowstring — and the impact sent it flying out the window, its trajectory carrying it clean through her mask and tearing it away.
And in that instant, when her face became visible, Munno’s eyes went wide.
‘A woman? Black?’
Sharp, refined features, an angular face, gray eyes, long dark kinky hair, and for someone of her complexion, rather bright brown skin.
Her red lips bleeding, her expression fierce as she glared down at him, and for a moment he froze.
Damn!
“No, wait——!”
Splash.
He realized his mistake too late — he’d given her a precious opening — and tried to leap out the window after her.
Whistle-hiss.
‘Damn it!’
By the time he reached the window of the four-story building, the woman had vanished without a trace.
Yet.
‘Arrowheads!’
His senses detected arrowheads hidden cunningly just inside the window frame of the second floor.
Whoosh-clang.
Crunch.
Bang.
He moved his metal chains mid-fall and drove back into the second floor.
Thud.
“Aaahhh!”
All he saw and heard was an ordinary middle-aged woman and her scream.
And beside her, scattered on the ground.
An arrow quiver.
“……Hell.”
It was proof that the escaped woman understood his Unique Ability perfectly.
And undeniable evidence that he’d failed to capture her.
‘Damn it all.’
One ability he’d wanted to keep hidden from an enemy he’d made had been completely exposed.
Strength drained from his limbs.
“Hell, since it’s already come to this……”
He muttered irritably to himself and turned away.
“P-please, please save me……”
Only then did he notice the frightened middle-aged woman.
Sigh.
“…..My apologies. I’m a knight carrying out a Royal Command. I was pursuing a terrorist and……”
“A-a knight?”
“Yes. I assure you, no harm will come. As I said before, it was an accident that occurred while we were pursuing the terrorist.”
“Ah, yes, I see…….”
Once she heard that explanation, some courage seemed to return to her, and the middle-aged woman finally allowed her gaze to settle on the shattered window and broken furnishings.
Where fear had dwelt in her eyes before, indignation now began to take root.
And so.
“Of course, the Steel Knights will cover all damages for you.”
Munno had no choice but to guarantee a thorough settlement.
His ears felt oddly itchy at the promise, but that concern paled beside what had occupied his mind moments before.
Honestly, a vile feeling.
And yet, amid it all, one thing had left a striking impression.
‘A mixed-race Black woman in the north of this continent? Slave-born?’
The gray of that woman’s eyes wouldn’t fade from his mind.

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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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