Chapter 193: One Last Breath (2)

He only had one HP left. Surely this would be enough!!

Yes…

It should have been enough.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

My eyes trembled at what I saw, and my entire body followed.

That damned Golden Dawn Knight had changed the direction of his attack at the last possible moment again.

And this time, he had cut through the explosion itself.

A perfectly clean slash divided the flames erupting toward his face into two halves, forcing the inferno to spread harmlessly around him to the left and right.

He had stopped it.

He had even stopped the Flame Vent.

"JUST DIE ALREADY, GODDAMN IT!!"

Using the Ash of War contained within the Executioner's Sword, I pushed my telekinetic power to its absolute limit, reinforcing it with Night Lord's Aura until everything within a ten-meter radius of us began rising into the air.

Then I sent it all flying toward the Golden Dawn Knight at tremendous speed.

I threw everything I could find at him. Rocks, shattered pillars, and even the countless weapons he had scattered across the battlefield himself.

But it was useless.

The hand holding his divine sword moved at an even more terrifying speed, leaving behind so many afterimages that it looked as though he had created multiple copies of himself.

He cut through everything I threw at him.

Rocks were split apart, and weapons were effortlessly deflected, as though he were dealing with children's toys rather than attacks meant to kill him.

"Haha… Haha… Are you serious right now?"

A hollow laugh escaped my lips.

I knew he was strong.

Of course I knew.

He was a High King on the verge of becoming an Emperor, while I was nothing more than an Elite-rank hunter.

There were four entire ranks separating us, and I knew perfectly well that I couldn't defeat someone like him under normal circumstances.

But I only needed one hit!

ONE FUCKING HIT!!!

If I could land a single attack, he would die. So why the hell was I still incapable of doing even that after everything Asterion had put him through?!

The old man had fallen, lost an arm, and might even lose his life, all for the sake of creating this opportunity.

Was I really so weak that I couldn't even take advantage of it?

If only we were still inside the game…

Even at level one, I would've been able to land several hits on him.

'Who am I fooling anymore? This isn't a game. How much longer am I going to keep living in my own delusions?'

I almost felt sorry for myself. The strongest player, still clinging to a title that had become utterly meaningless in this world. I had run out of tricks far too quickly, and before I could think of anything else, a golden light filled my vision as the knight's sword came straight for my neck.

I had nothing left to counter it with. I simply wasn't his match, and the only option remaining was to release the restraints on Eventual Greatness and pray that the resulting increase in power would be enough to save me.

But just as I was about to make that decision, the sharp clash of metal against metal made me stop.

The golden sword was knocked aside by a rusted, worn blade that had appeared out of nowhere. I knew that sword all too well, and I knew the man holding it even better.

He was an old hunter on the verge of death, yet somehow, he had managed to stand again, determined to keep fighting until his very last breath.

"Asterion…"

With a horrifying wound in his chest, dozens of injuries covering the rest of his body, and one arm completely severed, the Uncrowned Emperor stood between me and the Golden Dawn Knight.

"Don't give up! We can beat him! TOGETHER!!"

Asterion tried to shout with his usual force, but his voice came out hoarse and weak, barely resembling the thunderous roar I had grown accustomed to hearing from him.

And yet, those few words gave me all the strength I needed.

"YEAH!!"

I shouted back before throwing myself into battle beside him.

Side by side, we charged toward the Golden Dawn Knight, attacking him with every ounce of strength we had left. Asterion's rusted sword moved swiftly, while my Executioner's Sword relied on its enormous weight to deliver heavier blows.

The old man could no longer unleash any large-scale attacks, nor could he fight with the skill he normally displayed. But the Golden Dawn Knight was in no condition to use his full strength either, and that gave us the chance we had been waiting for.

The final exchange didn't even last a full minute.

All three of us swung our swords at speeds that were neither particularly impressive nor extraordinary. Compared to the battle Asterion and the knight had fought earlier, our movements were almost laughably slow, and the fact that someone as weak as me could keep up with them was proof enough of how far they had fallen.

But for some reason, this final exchange was the hardest part of the entire battle.

My HP was sitting at one because of Night Lord's Aura. The Golden Dawn Knight also had only one HP remaining after losing his armor, and after everything he had endured, Asterion was barely clinging to a similarly small amount of health.

We were three corpses staggering along the edge of death, a precipice any one of us could fall from at any moment. Yet none of us was willing to let go of life, and we continued fighting with everything we had until the bitter end.

Strangely enough, Asterion and I moved in perfect harmony, almost as though we had spent years fighting hundreds of battles together.

Perhaps it was because he had trained me, or perhaps it was simply because we practiced the same swordsmanship style. Whatever the reason, it no longer mattered.

Our teamwork allowed us to gain the slightest advantage, and eventually, Asterion managed to create the opening I needed to end the battle once and for all.