Chapter 186: Shifting the Balance

—Ethan's POV—

I found myself at a dead end.

No matter how hard I pushed my mind, I couldn't come up with a single way to support Asterion in that earth-shaking battle.

And at the moment when I felt most helpless, the spirit of the Golden Dawn Knight appeared before me like a light at the end of a tunnel.

"What do I have to do?"

If there was even the slightest opening I could exploit, no matter how small or insignificant it seemed, I would take advantage of it without hesitation.

Even if doing so meant risking my life.

The Golden Dawn Knight stared at me in silence for a moment before turning his head toward the battle.

"First, forget the idea of fighting. Your current level does not allow you to involve yourself directly in a battle like this."

"Yeah… I'm not insane enough to challenge a High King-rank monster."

I nodded in agreement.

I understood the differences between ranks better than most.

Even powerful Blessings couldn't erase a gap of this magnitude.

If he were only one rank above me, I might have found some way to deal with him by using everything at my disposal.

But the gap between us was like the distance between heaven and earth.

"What you need to do is support the old hunter."

The Golden Dawn Knight watched Asterion through the destruction.

"If you give him a large enough opening, I believe he'll be able to break through my armor."

I took another look at Asterion after hearing that.

He was fighting with only one arm now, bleeding from several places, yet that bloody grin had never once left his face.

He looked like a genuine monster.

But his condition made me question the knight's words.

"From where I'm standing, he looks like he could collapse at any moment. Are you sure he can break your armor?"

"He is more than capable of it."

The Golden Dawn Knight answered without hesitation.

"In battles like this, between fighters of the same level, the scales can turn at any moment, no matter how hopeless the situation may appear."

"That old hunter most likely still has a trump card of his own."

His crimson gaze remained fixed on Asterion.

"He's simply waiting for the right moment to use it."

The Golden Dawn Knight sounded strangely certain.

Which made me ask the obvious question.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I still have one as well."

A chill ran down my spine.

This bastard still had a trump card hidden even now?

The Golden Dawn Knight pointed toward me.

"Your role now, Ethan Heart…"

His voice grew serious.

"Is to strip me of that trump card."

Strip him of his trump card?

How the hell was I supposed to strip a monster like that of anything?

I raised my human right hand in front of me.

My primary Blessing…

Legendary Weapons Master.

It was the only thing that came to mind.

"You understand quickly. That saves me the trouble of explaining everything from the beginning."

The Golden Dawn Knight nodded in satisfaction, somehow having read my thoughts.

But that didn't solve the problem.

"I don't understand how my Blessing is supposed to help."

I frowned.

"Maybe I can steal weapons with it, but physical contact is necessary to activate the ability, and I can barely even get close to you."

Legendary Weapons Master allowed me to steal my opponents' weapons if certain conditions were fulfilled.

The first required me to touch the weapon.

The second required the target to relinquish it.

Exactly like what happened against the Ember Hunter when he launched the Executioner's Sword toward me.

Both conditions seemed impossible against the Golden Dawn Knight.

He didn't throw away his most important weapons.

And I wouldn't be able to touch them in the first place.

Even if I somehow managed it…

What exactly was I supposed to steal?

That terrifying sword of his?

Or the armor covering his body?

"Don't misunderstand."

The Golden Dawn Knight interrupted my thoughts.

"You will not be stealing any of my weapons."

He paused.

"You will interfere with my entire Blessing."

"Huh?"

A small sound escaped my mouth before I could stop it.

"Your Legendary Weapons Master and my Golden Arsenal are different Blessings, but despite those differences, they operate according to the same principle."

"I create weapons from mana."

His gaze shifted toward my right hand.

"You steal weapons and turn them into your own."

"If you use your Blessing correctly, you should be capable of interfering with mine."

"Easier said than done."

I frowned as I looked down at the glowing blue rune surrounding my right arm.

"I barely know anything about this Blessing to begin with, let alone the limits of what it can actually do."

Until now, I had only used it to convert boss souls into weapons.

Occasionally, I had used it to steal their weapons as well.

Could it really possess another application that I knew nothing about?

"You were marked by the Demon of Balance."

I turned toward the Golden Dawn Knight.

His crimson eyes stared at me from behind his golden helmet.

"That means you received this Blessing, and the Mark was the price you paid for it. Correct?"

His words caught me off guard.

He had struck directly at the truth.

He really did know a great deal about curses.

"If the strongest Fifth-Level Mark is the price of this Blessing, then the Blessing itself must be extraordinarily powerful."

The knight's voice remained calm.

"Otherwise, you would never have been forced to pay such a price for it."

"And that is precisely why…"

"I believe it can overpower my Golden Arsenal."

The Golden Dawn Knight sounded certain.

At least, his voice did.

I could never truly read his expression when he had never once shown me the face beneath that helmet.

In the end, I decided to trust him.

It wasn't as though I had another choice.

The figure standing before me was a legend who had reached the pinnacle of his generation.

The fact that Asterion was struggling against his body even while it fought through instinct alone was more than enough proof of how extraordinary he had once been.

Following his guidance was the best thing I could do right now.

"Listen carefully to everything I tell you from this point onward."

The Golden Dawn Knight turned toward his physical body once again.

"I don't know how much longer I'll be able to maintain the connection between us."

"My Golden Arsenal is a Domain-type Blessing."

"It spreads across a fixed geographical area and brings that territory under my control. Within the Golden Arsenal's Domain, I can summon any weapon I desire, regardless of its type, and manifest it anywhere I choose as long as that location remains inside the Domain."

I listened carefully to his explanation.

Then I activated Wise Raven Insight.

The moment I did…

I realized he was telling the truth.

My enhanced vision finally allowed me to see his Blessing as it truly existed.

Golden threads spread everywhere from the body currently fighting Asterion.

They covered the ground.

The walls.

Everything.

The Domain was so vast that I couldn't even see where it ended.

It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say that most of the cathedral had already fallen within its range.

"The Golden Arsenal's Domain currently extends two hundred meters in every direction."

The knight continued explaining.

"Normally, I can extend it much farther than that. But my body has already consumed a tremendous amount of mana during this battle, limiting its current range to two hundred meters."

"That works in our favor."

His crimson gaze returned to me.

"You are already standing inside my Domain."

"Which means you can affect it from where you are."

"I understand…"

My eyes followed the golden threads running across the battlefield.

"All I have to do is touch these golden threads and activate my Blessing against them…"