## Chapter 839 – The Black Knight

The snow-white winter forest was so vast that it felt like the perfect hiding place for crazy murderers. There was even an unofficial study by the Adventurers Guild that most people who entered such winter forests were serial killers.

Indeed, shitty places were bound to have shitty people.

The temperature was low, which only fueled the ominous thoughts.

A considerable amount of snow had piled up on the bizarre trees that still had leaves, making them look less skeletal and more like they had just finished sucking the blood of freshly dead corpses, which felt incredibly grotesque.

Nature always welcomes human death.

The forest would welcome the murderer and oppress those of us who were tracking him. That was the nature of a winter forest.

I wondered if those damn winter spirits would show up.

If Nayas-like bastards appeared, I wanted to brag that we had eaten their Spirit King. I wondered how they would react.

Anyway, after arriving at the entrance of the forest, we unfolded the map we had received from the church and went inside, checking the path.

“Hilde, do you feel anything?”
“Um… well, I think it’s a bit far away? I don’t really feel anything. I’m trying to concentrate as much as possible, though.”
“Okay? Don’t push yourself too hard.”

It might be because we were still at the entrance.

ㅡSwish.

I drew Vugal. Maybe this bastard would react to something evil. Come to think of it, this thing has been strengthened quite a bit already.

Please let me know if there’s anything suspicious, you useless bastard.

ㅡThump, thump.

As we walked, Ari went to a tree ahead and placed her hand on its bark. Then, like a doctor placing a stethoscope on a woman’s chest, she closed her eyes as if trying to sense some unknown energy.

“…As expected, everyone’s weak because it’s winter. I can’t really feel anything.”

Ari shook her head, opening her eyes.

How dare they!!!!!!!!

“These bastards are slacking off!! They should be giving strength to our Ari when she’s talking!!!

Enraged, I immediately pointed my finger at the tree and scolded it. How dare these bastards shut their mouths when Ari is talking!! All these useless plant bastards should be turned into firewood!!!

“Hehe, Father. Calm down. They probably can’t understand what ordinary people say.”
“Damn it!!”

Ari hugged my arm and stopped me.

“That darkie is so energetic. Both at night and during the day.”
“Hehehe, that’s Katt’s strength.”
“That’s true. He’s so energetic at night, too.”

The women laughed and shifted their gaze towards my lower body.
These lewd women.

Anyway, neither Hilde nor Ari could detect anything right now.

ㅡRustle.

I unfolded the map again, found the right path, and moved forward.

Even though there was no progress in the pursuit, the cleared areas were clearly marked, so we could avoid those parts. This was very convenient. We just needed to focus on areas that the pursuers hadn’t touched yet.

“Let’s go this way. If we go straight, we’ll reach the garrison. It’s better to avoid that.”
“We should.”

Karin grabbed the map I was holding and said,

“The Black Knight is frequently sighted near the garrison, right?”
“That’s what it says.”

Apparently, sightings occurred quite often near the military garrison.

“That means he’s hunting for prey. Besides the sightings, people have been disappearing one by one. If there’s a straggler or someone who’s a bit separated, he just snatches them away.”
“That’s fucking scary.”

The Black Knight was lurking around the military, and if there were any stragglers, he would snatch them away and kill them. But he was so fast that they couldn’t catch him, and when a force of a certain size appeared, he would just run away, making it a troublesome situation.

“But well, that probably means he’s not that far away. Looking at this troop deployment, it seems like they’re starting to build a siege.”

He hadn’t run far away, but was nearby.

And looking at the placement of the garrisons, it seemed like they were trying to create a siege. Since his goal wasn’t escape but hunting, it would be easy to find him soon. He was showing up on his own, so it would be easy to find him.

Karin responded to my words.

“But considering that they can’t find him through direct pursuit, his stealth skills must be very good. Is he using magic? Witch. Is there any obviously evil stealth magic, like hiding in the shadows?”
“If such a thing were used, this one would be able to recognize the traces. But a Black Knight using black magic? That sounds amazing.”

It wasn’t that there were no warriors who used magic, but warriors and mages had different ways of accumulating mana, so using both wasn’t very efficient. It would be more efficient for a mage who had mastered swordsmanship to use Strength magic as well.

“Anyway, if we can’t find him right away, we’ll have to go further in. Let’s go, darkie.”
“Okay.”

As Winia said, we moved again.

ㅡCrunch, crunch.

All that appeared was snow and trees. Damn it, the Karga Kingdom had too many mountains and forests in its territory. Wherever you go, there are many mountains like this, so criminals, bandits, and monsters are bound to be rampant.

We should push these mountains away and turn them into farmland.

“Katt-nim. If the Black Knight appears near the garrison, does that mean the probability of him being far away is low?”
“He’s probably lurking somewhere nearby, so he’s hanging around. He can’t do that if he’s far away.”
“But considering that he’s not being caught by my detection… maybe he’s not related to demons after all.”
“Ah. That’s true.”

That could be the case.

“But well, if he’s good at stealth, he might not get caught, so. Hilde can’t detect everything, right?”
“I don’t know for sure, but probably not.”

This didn’t need to be worried about. It would be good if Hilde’s detection worked, and if not, we could just find him ourselves. We continued our exploration while chatting like that.

“But how strong is that Black Knight?”

Liz-noona said, touching her lips.

If he could subdue a paladin in a defensive formation in an instant, he must be really strong. He was so strong that you wondered where such a strong person came from. I wasn’t confident that I could do that against paladins either.

“Hmm… Maybe he’s not as strong as the Spirit King?”

Claudia replied.

“That was really strong. I wonder how he endured the combined attacks like that.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll kill it if we attack together.”

Winia said, taking off her hood.

“Winia, are you hot?”
“Yeah. I’m just walking, but I’m hot. The elixir must be working well.”
“That’s really good.”

Black Knight… He probably wasn’t stronger than the Spirit King. That was really strong. Like that, we moved along, marking the path we had taken on the map.

* * *

Of course, there were no particular gains on the first day. We just wandered around the snow-white forest for a few hours before returning. We didn’t feel any signs of the Black Knight, and we couldn’t find any traces of someone moving alone.

There was a high probability that he felt our energy and just ran away.

Even though we tried to hide the energy flowing out from the middle, it was like that. Hilde and Ari didn’t gain anything either.

In the end, from the next day, we looked at the data and maps as if we were banging our heads against the ground, picking out points that seemed likely and searching them, but we only got the impression that the forest was safe, and we couldn’t see even the shadow of the Black Knight for several days.

“This fucking bastard.”

That’s how things usually are.

While tracking, we continued to visit the church and receive copies of the data created by the pursuers. Originally, it was a bit difficult to just ask for it raw, but since they were members of the same Brass Saints Order as me, they shared information with me very well.

I was so grateful that tears almost came out.

Anyway, the data I received recorded the damage situation in recent days.

“We can’t just stand still.”

The paladin sitting across from me in comfortable clothes said with a very tired face. His dark circles were almost down to his chin. I could feel his fatigue all the way here.

Right now, the paladins and priests were coming to the church one by one on a daily basis to take turns resting.

“We have to make an effort while doing something.”

He explained the damage situation to me, who had come to request data just before going to sleep. He looked tired, but there was no sign of discomfort. Rather, he welcomed me.

“We found traces of people coming from outside being massacred while crossing the forest, so that’s the current state. The Black Knight is running rampant.”

Even when we were wandering around without any gains, the damage was accumulating.

“There were cases where small units of soldiers were briefly deployed to build a siege, and they were all found dead…”
“Such a terrible thing…!!!”

I couldn’t bear the anger as I listened to the story.

“That’s right. It’s a very terrible thing. I didn’t want to, but… I tried using a method of keeping a strike force nearby and using bait. As expected, it only resulted in sacrifices. We couldn’t defeat him.”

Various operations failed, and soldiers were being lost. The paladin said that in a very heavy tone.

“It’s truly a terrible thing… The Black Knight is mocking us. He’s killing people while mocking us. I don’t know what his purpose is, but it’s really something that shouldn’t be happening. We must catch him and kill him as soon as possible.”
“Of course.”

I got up from my seat.

“That’s why I came here. I can only say thank you for sharing information with me when you must be tired.”
“If I’m giving information to a paladin without sleeping for thirty minutes, it’s a cheap deal. I heard that you’ve been exploring since you came here. I appreciate your hard work.”
“It’s not me who should be saying that.”

I listened to the paladin about the recent trends and information, and then went outside. After coming out, I stopped by various shops and returned to the lodging.

* * *

“He’s too cautious. He madly searches for only the guys he can kill when he sees them, and then quickly kills them and runs away. He’s very skilled. He has too much practical experience. He knows how to play with the military.”

After I came back and told her the story, Karin said that while trimming her nails.

“If he’s not doing it for money from someone, it’s really a waste of time. I don’t know what benefit he gets from doing this. Is he an idolater who enjoys killing itself? It’s my first time catching a guy like this, so I can’t say anything.”

I was thinking something similar.

“Katt, what should we do in this case?”
“There’s nothing we can do about this.”

At Claudia’s words, I opened my backpack.

“Let’s split up the forces.”
“Split up?”
“This, I bought it on the way here?”

There was an alchemist’s shop on the way back from the church, so I bought various things.

I immediately took out a flare from my backpack.

The paladin said that he used tactics using bait, and there were no gains and only sacrifices, but the Black Knight definitely reacted to the bait.

He said that he even found and killed small units that were deployed like ghosts.

That meant that bait was needed after all.

“I’ll be the bait. Take one of these flares each, divide into teams, and wait.”
“What, the darkie will be the bait?”
“If we can’t find him, we have to lure him out. What else can we do? We can’t stay here until spring.”

You just need to have one of these flares each, and I’ll be the bait.
The rest can be divided into two teams.

Those two teams will be the strike forces.

Kim Katt, who is hiding his strength, will be loitering around, and if the Black Knight appears, he will immediately fire a flare and tell them to come to me. The reason for having one flare each is in case he appears on that side.

“If you see a flare shot into the sky, run towards that side immediately. Got it?”
“No, Katt-nim! That’s too dangerous!”
“That’s right! We don’t even know how strong he is!”

Hilde and Liz-noona shouted.

“It’s okay. I won’t be too far away. Just come right away when you see the flare.”
“Still…!”
“Take one of these each. If you find the Black Knight, shoot it into the sky right away. And these are copies of the maps I got, so each team should have one.”