Chapter 593: Knight (4)

Lyle.

An eighteen-year-old boy, and a member of the guild Warrior.

Lyle had neglected his studies and thrown himself into the game, gaining a high level. To him, the game had only ever been something he played because it was fun.

He had first started playing in middle school, and that same year, he joined Musashi’s guild.

Called the “youngest,” indulged, scolded at times, and loved at times, the user named Lyle had grown up that way.

And then.

This place will become our home.

The arrogant ranker.

The supreme figure of Japan.

Those words from guild master Musashi, who carried all kinds of epithets, told them that they had finally gained the one and only place they could call home.

The territory, which had been a complete mess, began to change as they cleared quest after quest.

[Territory Quest: Monster Subjugation.]

[Territory Quest: Transport Construction Materials.]

[Territory Quest: Befriend NPC Fram.]

[Territory Quest: NPC Rono’s Proposal.]

They subjugated the surrounding monsters.

They earned money for the barren territory, bought construction materials, and carried those huge materials together with the NPCs.

Sometimes they built a friendship with someone named NPC Fram and obtained what they wanted. Sometimes they helped a young baker named Rono propose to the woman who ran the flower shop.

When the young baker Rono succeeded in his proposal and shouted, “Thank you so much, Lyle!” Lyle finally looked back on himself.

He realized that he had changed so many things in this territory, one by one.

But the shop run by the newlywed young baker Rono and his pregnant wife—

A shop called “Bread and Flowers.”

They sell bread and flowers together? That’s ridiculous.

The shop Lyle had once stared at with an expression of genuine disbelief was burning.

FWOOOOSH—!

A Parion Empire soldier who had ridden in on horseback threw a rope shaped like a noose.

Snatch—

A guild member of Warrior, caught by the neck, was dragged across the ground by the mounted Parion Empire soldier, struggling all the while.

“Aaaaaaaagh!!”

Seeing the flames and screams rising everywhere, Lyle’s body trembled. He was still only eighteen.

The number of allies was rapidly shrinking, and as the enemy numbers swelled in contrast, he panicked so badly he could not move his sword.

He—

One of Japan’s rookies, a promising player expected to become a ranker who would lead Japan once he turned twenty.

But after witnessing the brutal sight of war, he realized it.

Can’t we just hand it over to the Parion Empire?

Come on, this is just a game. Why go this far?

Honestly, I don’t really understand the guild master this time.

He had known nothing.

How sad and painful it was to have something stolen by a powerful nation.

Why the Koreans Japan had once taken from had hated them so much.

Only today did he become ashamed of his own country.

Pushing that brief thought aside, he gripped his sword tightly and tried to move.

But.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

The force of more than 150,000 troops beginning to descend the mountain announced that this battle had been lost.

It announced that everything in Verd would be broken, would collapse, and would be reduced to ash until not even a handful remained.

Whoosh!

A noose-shaped rope was thrown toward Lyle as he stood there blankly.

He froze as it tried to wrap around his neck.

Just then.

Slash—

The rope split apart, and guild master Musashi appeared.

“It’s not over yet.”

Lyle could not understand why he said that.

There was certainty and faith in his eyes.

And at that moment.

A single man cut through the flank of the enormous column.

That’s impossible...

With the setting sun at his back, the sight of that man sweeping away enemy troops alone breathed a strange heat into Lyle’s chest.

Slash, slash-slash, slash-slash—!

Short black hair.

A long great blade.

And a firebird scattering red feathers everywhere.

The fact that the man clashing alone with an army of more than 150,000, eliminating them without being pushed back in the slightest, was only three years older than him made Lyle deny himself.

It also told Lyle, a rookie who had received attention from the Japanese server since childhood, served as one of the officers of Musashi’s guild, and had been arrogant beyond belief, that there were things he could never reach.

“Uwoooooooooh!!”

As the man roared loud enough for the sound to carry far into the distance, cutting and cutting again as he advanced, the army of 150,000 feared him.

And at last, Lyle came to understand one thing completely.

“I knew it...”

The reason guild master Musashi had said it was not over yet was because he had known that man would come.

“Watch carefully. We will be entering his guild now.”

Now Musashi was telling them that he admired him.

If it had been the old Lyle, he would °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° have said, “What kind of crazy talk is that? You’re saying we’re going under that guy?”

But.

“...Yes!”

Lyle answered with force.

He was not the only one.

One, two, three, four.

The members of the guild Warrior who had denied and despised him were watching him from afar.

And when they were being swept away, a rain of potions descended from the sky.

Those who caught them wondered whether drinking these potions would really help that much.

Lyle was the same.

There was also something he could not understand.

Did we not use potions because we didn’t have any?

No.

It was not because they had run out of potions. It was because the cooldown had stopped them from using them.

So using them at all should have been impossible.

But the people who caught the pouring rain of potions were bewildered.

“What is this...?”

“Huh...?”

“I’ve never seen a potion like this...”

[This is Alchemist Mandara’s Potion.]

[It restores HP and MP by more than 40%.]

[No cooldown exists.]

“They said a legendary alchemist lives in the nation of Hyun...”

It was an absurd potion.

It was worth five times, no, perhaps far more than ten times the value of an ordinary highest-grade potion.

Of course, the people who drank the potions were already decided.

They were the guild members in Warrior who were called high-level players or rankers.

About three hundred of Warrior’s strong members who had been nearly dead came back from the brink.

As they rampaged, they gained at least enough strength to resist the Parion Empire Army that had pushed inside again.

But everyone knew it would only be temporary, and Lyle was among them.

And then.

[20,000 enemy troops have been executed.]

Hyunsoo was still fighting alone on the mountain.

But the moment the vast armies above and below concentrated their attacks on him, he began to be pushed back sharply.

And at last, Commander Pedro entered Verd Territory.

With 170,000 enemy troops still remaining, they were quickly swept away.

“How pitiful. Receive the punishment for daring to raise a banner against the Parion Empire!”

Pedro’s martial prowess also surpassed common sense.

The older guys... The older girls...

Dozens of Warrior guild members were swept away in an instant.

Just then.

Musashi was set ablaze by Firebird.

His destination—

The middle of the battlefield.

Lyle mistakenly thought Hyunsoo intended to endure that army together with Musashi.

I have to fight with them too.

BOOM—!

Lyle had a skill that allowed him to move a great distance in an instant.

Lyle appeared from a nearby log and was able to hear the two of them talking.

“Hand over the monarch’s position, Musashi.”

“What do you mean, hand over the monarch’s position?”

Musashi was bewildered.

“Do you not know that handing over the monarch’s position is no different from handing over the territory?”

After he had fought so hard for the territory?

“Yes, I suppose it looks like it doesn’t matter to you if I hand it over. You’ve already done enough, earned enough EXP, and become enough of a hero!”

Musashi grabbed Hyunsoo by the collar.

But Hyunsoo, looking at the army endlessly swarming in around them, shouted.

“...Hear me out first, Musashi! The one you’re handing the territory to isn’t the nation of Hyun, and it isn’t the Parion Empire. It’s a ‘Monarch’ the Parion Empire can’t touch. Parion’s only rival, living in the world beyond the sea. The King of Stories!”

“......”

“No matter how I think about it, this is the only way. Even if we win, it’s the same. The Parion Empire Army will keep coveting this place. But if he is the owner of this territory, the story changes.”

“......”

After thinking for a long time, Musashi nodded.

And then he proclaimed it.

“I, Musashi, as the owner of Verd Territory, transfer the qualification of monarch of Verd Territory. The one who carries on the name of the new monarch. The King of Stories, Yi Sun-sin.”

[Monarch Musashi gives up ownership of Verd Territory and transfers the monarch’s position to a new person!]

Watching this, Lyle found it difficult to understand.

What is one man supposed to be!!

He wondered what one person could possibly change.

And Pedro, having detected something strange, was running through the air toward them.

Musashi and Hyunsoo were already surrounded by 90,000 troops and under concentrated attack.

Of course, Hyunsoo was strong.

But he had killed 60,000 people before coming here, and then killed another 20,000 troops afterward.

The combination of Grout and Plunderer’s Demon’s Gauntlet.

Through it, stealing MP and cooldowns had also reached its limit.

And worse.

[Heart of Parion appears.]

[Commander Pedro Lv598.]

[You are afflicted with the status ailment Helplessness.]

[You are afflicted with the status ailment Submission.]

Just looking at him, Lyle felt all the strength drain from his body as helplessness settled over him.

Of course.

[You have resisted.]

Hyunsoo and Musashi overcame it and fought fiercely.

But Musashi could not hold back the pouring army.

Even when Lyle joined in and cut, and cut, and cut again, the number of enemies flooding in did not decrease.

Worse still.

Slash—!

Pedro’s sword shattered and blocked the hundreds of engraved sword paths, then scraped past one of Hyunsoo’s eyes.

Thud—!

[You are afflicted with the status ailment Loss of Vision.]

Seeing Hyunsoo bleeding from one eye, Lyle began to realize that this war was over.

“A knight? You take this joke too far, Master Blacksmith Hyun!!!”

Pedro shouted, and his sword cut Hyunsoo several times.

Watching Hyunsoo’s HP plummet, Lyle felt hollow.

What the hell can one person even do!!!

Lyle did not even know exactly who the King of Stories was.

Only—

“Fire... Mmph!”

Pedro blocked Hyunsoo’s mouth as he tried to speak.

Furthermore.

BOOOOOOM—!

He struck Hyunsoo’s sword, sending the Twin Dragon Sword rolling across the ground.

Whirl—

Looking at the red great blade embedded in the ground, Lyle could no longer bear to watch.

Hyunsoo tried to mutter “Firebird” again, but Pedro blocked his mouth, so even that failed.

“It’s over.”

A tremendous sword energy gathered on Pedro’s sword as he tried to cut Hyunsoo’s neck.

Lyle stared hollowly at the sword embedded in the ground.

And at that moment.

A heavy voice settled over the battlefield.

“Firebird.”

That single, weighty word swallowed all the noise of the clamorous battlefield.

At the end of that chilling voice, Pedro felt such enormous pressure that he could not even move.

Twitch, twitch—

It also proved that the original owner of “Firebird” had not been Hyunsoo, but “from the very beginning,” that man.

Kieeeeeh—

A man walked through the ring of the burning firebird.

Thud—

Without saying a word, he placed a hand on Lyle’s shoulder in greeting. It made Lyle see clearly that this was him telling Lyle, Hyunsoo, and everyone in Verd Territory, “You worked hard.”

Furthermore.

The man gripped the handle of the Twin Dragon Sword embedded in the ground.

Then.

Lyle saw Hyunsoo smiling brightly.

Only then did Lyle understand.

For that one man.

For the man who had come to end this war.

For the man everyone believed in.

Hyunsoo had deliberately let go of the sword.

The man holding the Twin Dragon Sword took one step.

Only then did Lyle become aware of the name “Yi Sun-sin.”

He was the hero who had once saved Korea’s old kingdom by standing against the wrongs of Lyle’s own homeland, Japan.

He was the myth of a battle between thirteen ships and hundreds.

He was the hero who showed the world that there was no such thing as impossible.

And then.

“Firebird.”

With that murmur, a single Turtle Ship began descending from the sky.

On one side, a phrase was playfully engraved.

-Not from the nation of Hyun. Real one.

The people aboard it could also be seen, and Yi Sun-sin turned back to them and called out.

“Left State Councilor.”

That name—

It was Luxiu, who was pretending to be a knight of Story Island.

“Right State Councilor.”

That name—

It was Bella, who had become a knight of Story Island for today.

“Chancellor.”

“Knight captain.”

“Archer captain.”

“Cavalry commander.”

“Dragon captain.”

“Academy captain.”

One by one.

Those who descended from the enormous Turtle Ship at each call stood behind him.

“Knight Hyun.”

Hyunsoo, blood flowing from one eye, stood to his left and drew the Throne Sword.

“Knight Musashi.”

Musashi stood to his right, letting his Japanese sword hang low.

“And the boy.”

“...Yes!”

Lyle answered the call and stood behind him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Kill them!

Waaaaaaaah!

Seeing more than 100,000 enemies pouring in, Lyle shrank back.

There were 100,000 enemies, and they had barely twenty people.

However.

“......”

Not a single one of them showed even the slightest hint of fear or tension.

Everyone there looked with faith at the back of the man standing alone at the front like a great mountain.

“Let’s go.”

With no grand words, he simply spoke that one line, and dozens of people moved after him. Lyle, who had been wondering what they could possibly do against these overwhelming enemies, corrected his thought.

With just one man at the head—

We began to overwhelm the enemy.