Chapter 281 – Reunion.

It seemed like my brain went blank. I couldn’t think of any way to get out of this situation. Do I have to die here like this? Is this the only thing I have learned from Krikaliev and Donar? Why is he so powerless? His disappointment and futility seemed to consume him from the tip of his legs. It was then. He realized the presence of a small hand holding his own clothes. That hand was weak, but it was definitely pulling him.

Usher put down his shield. It was strange. He wouldn’t be able to stop the heavy swords coming from both sides with only his rapier, not even a shield. Even thinking so, Usher grabbed the upper part of the rapier with his hand where he let go of his shield. Did he not think he would lay down his shield? The knight’s hand holding the shield was disturbed, and the sword extended from his wrist was also disturbed. Using that as an opportunity, he uses the blade of his rapier to get the sword blocking his and Erica’s retreat. But that’s not the end.

A thick triangular sword was still aiming at them from the upper right. Usher pulled his hilt higher, holding the blade on his left side closed. Obviously, the rapier was lighter than other swords, but in the end it was a lump of metal. And, like a longsword, a sword that is weighted underneath. And at the end of the handle of the rapier is a small but heavy permal. Even so, he wasn’t sure he could stop it. Even if his triangular black hand were spread out, he couldn’t cover it, but the permal was smaller than his fist.

But it was not the time to question whether it was possible or impossible. Because there was a girl behind his own.

[Tell me your wish.]

At that moment, a girl’s voice passed through her mind, whispering coldly but worriedly.

“‘I hope I can protect you from any pain…!'”

Usher had opened his mouth involuntarily and was shouting.

“Her.”

A voice close to a sigh came from behind the knight’s helmet.

“Really, that’s ridiculous.”

Kane was dumbfounded by the sight of Usher blocking her own attack. Even the decision to boldly let go of the shield was not enough, so he held the rapier blade high to compensate for the lack of strength, preventing the sword in his wrist from choking his breath, and using the permal to block the stabbing sword. She was not enough to praise her for that alone. He bent his right arm and tried to push the rapier’s blade away, but it didn’t. This much could be attributed to Usher holding the rapier’s blade high, but the problem was that Kane lowered the sword with her left hand.

The sharp tip of the sword was blocked by the round furmal and did not budge. He must have thought it a surprise that she had blocked his own sword in this way, but at once he intended to slip the blade of her blade into the furmal and stab Usher in the throat. But no matter how hard he tried to move his sword while riding the permal, wouldn’t he be pushed back? Clearly, what was blocking the tip of the sword right now was nothing more than a round furmal, but the sword was solid without slipping or pushing. Hearing the words Usher shouted and the feeling of sticking a knife into a huge wall, he was convinced.

“Have you already awakened your magic?”

The girl he thought was thrown as bait wasn’t just bait. He gave up pushing the rapier with force and backed off. Then, as if the fact that he did not move was a lie, a blank laugh flowed from the swords that moved according to his will.

“Now that it has come to this, I will have to admit my mistake.”

What was in front of him was not a poor child tossed as bait, but a paladin like him.

“So I’ll do my best. ‘It’s not about winning.'”

Light streamed out at the same time as Kane said something. Light streamed in through the open door, but not enough to brighten the space. It suddenly started to light up around him. It was no different, because the two swords he was holding started to glow and were swaying as if blazing with heat. Usher instinctively realized that it was dangerous and looked for a shield, but he couldn’t see the one in front of him.

“Looking for this?”
“Ugh.”

Usher heard Kane’s words and found the shield in his right hand. Anyway, the sword on his right hand was not held by his hand, but it was fixed on his wrist in a way that covered the back of his hand, so he took the shield with him as he withdrew. He seemed to have come to use magic, but it was a moment when he was thinking about what to do.

“What?!”
– Empty!

What he suddenly missed and dropped his shield to the ground with a painful noise. He thought he was lucky, but he couldn’t figure out why. When he watched, blood was dripping from his hand holding the shield. Even though the gauntlet wrapped around his hand showed no sign of it. Kane clicked his tongue when he saw the shield that had fallen in front of him.

“Could it be a magic tool?
“Hey, you’re doing well by taking out your child’s stuff.”

The only thing that came from behind him was Krikaliev’s voice.

“Mister!”

When Usher looked back with delight, he found Krikaliev standing beside him.

“You fought well. But you can’t be careless.”

At the moment, Usher looked sadly as the light brightened and felt the heat approaching, but there was already a blazing fire in front of his nose. Because of this, he instinctively closed his eyes and hugged Erica, but somehow, the heat didn’t come close! There was only the sound of iron striking. So when Usher opened his eyes again.

“Keugh!”

Kane, who had come close to them, was holding his arm as if in pain and backing away.

“It’s not a bad tactic, but for a short time like this, it’s okay to wear leather armor. It’s just a simple trick.”

As Usher listened to Krikaliev’s words, he seemed to realize how rough the paladin was dealing with him. Just in case, he tried to keep his eyes on them fighting even though he shuddered, not knowing what would have happened if he had given all his strength from the beginning.

“How about a golem?”

Krikaliev was still wearing the mask he had taken off to let his light shine through.

“It’s a golem. It makes sense to think so.”

As Kane charged again with his sword, Krikaliev grabbed the sword from his wrist with his hand.

“But I can’t stand being called a golem!”

Chaeng-Geurang! Usher didn’t know what to say at the sight of him breaking it.

“…What do you mean by that?”
“Sometimes it comes out without thinking. Listen to it.”

Kane broke into a cold sweat as he watched Krikaliev having a trivial conversation. Seeing him break his own sword with his hand, he knew he couldn’t do anything with force.

‘Where on earth did this monster suddenly appear?’

Golems, their identities, were guardians of the legacy of the Tsushima era. But why is the golem, which should have been silently fulfilling its mission, moving like that with its own will? Even assuming that it was a golem guarding the holy ground would be too heterogeneous.

‘Wouldn’t it have been better to deal with the dragon?’

Even though a spear knife could get stuck in a dragon, it was questionable whether the opponent in front of him would be able to lift his own sword. Although he was of human size, his odds were low when one of his swords was already broken. But he couldn’t back down either. I didn’t know what would happen if I sent the inhabitants of the underground upstairs. At least something bad was certain to happen. So if you’re not strong enough.

‘I have no choice but to compete with technology.’

Kane lunged at Krikaliev again. She stabs a relatively flimsy joint this time with the sword in her left hand. No matter how hard the golem is, the parts connecting the joints are a little weak. Then Krikaliev noticed the sword pointing at his joint and thrust his body like hard armor instead. He expected it to be an effective way to block the sword. Krikaliev’s sword was huge. And being gigantic meant that the more you dig into your bosom, the more disadvantageous it is. However, when he thought about his power, he might be able to kill himself by force, but he was already prepared.

‘If only she could protect her even at the cost of her life!’

Because she had someone he wanted to protect. Therefore, he used even the remaining part of the broken sword to pierce Krikaliev’s hand so that he could not move it, and pierce the tip of the sword while moving along the armor that was touching the sword. It was the moment he thought that at least he would be able to take one of his arms even if he was going to die. He felt his body ricochet as the wind let go of his sword.

“Keureuk! Unbelievable.. Unbelievable..!!”

He realized it the moment the wind blew and his eyes flashed. Krikaliev turned a large sword with one hand like a windmill, cutting between Kane and himself, deflecting his swords that were about to pierce his joints, and shook him off.

‘Did I deliberately let them dig in!’

You should have noticed when he held a huge sword but didn’t even swing it to keep him in check until he got close. He was flying towards the wall, and in the meantime he could only watch Krikaliev’s actions. He lightly stepped on the curved part of the shield that had fallen and lifted it up. As the shield drew closer, he passed out.

“Dead, are you?”

Usher asked, looking at Kane knocked against the wall and knocked down by Krikaliev’s shield. He was in a state of collapse against the wall, so he couldn’t get close in case he jumped up and attacked them.

“Don’t worry, I’m not dead. I just passed out.”

As I listened to Krikaliev, I could clearly see his chest rise and fall with the sound of breathing over his helmet.

“Could you lend me this for a moment?”

Then, when I heard his words, I looked at him and saw him holding a shield.

“That, it doesn’t matter. Are you okay?”
“Eh? Rather, I’m just saying what I want to ask.”
“…Or else it’s fine.”

Usher asked, thinking of Kane holding up his shield and bleeding.

“By the way, where will you use it?”
“Of course I’ll use it to block it. I’m planning to run. Get on my back quickly and hold on to the cloak.”

Now I saw that on Krikaliev’s back was a cloak I had never seen before.

“Where did you get the cloak again?”
“I borrowed it because it looked useful.”

He said that, but Usher had a hunch that this was probably taken from someone who stopped him.

“First of all, don’t talk nonsense and get on your back. I’m going to run a little faster and go find the little girl first.”
“Belka?”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t be taken hostage in any case.”

There was nothing wrong with Usher, so he and Erica jumped right on his back.

“Are you meeting Verdi now?”

Erica asked, with her youthful greyness, the anticipation of her meeting if she held onto her cloak as if to cover her in case her girl couldn’t hold on and fall.

“Huh.”
“If you don’t want to bite your tongue, keep your mouth shut!”

Usher gave him a nod, and Krikaliev spurred the door of the dark space and ran out.

“It’s the door over there!”
“Did Kane get hit!?”

Glancing over Krikaliev’s shoulder at the sound of the people’s voices, the voices resounding in his armor, along with the wind blowing through his hair, Usher immediately recognized that they were also paladins. There was a knight riding the waves as if driving a wave, and a knight gliding on a rock and moving toward us quickly, even though there was clearly no room for water here. Seeing them holding spears and maces, it was a while to worry about whether they could pass through them.

“Ouch!!”
“100 million?!”

Rather, Krikaliev rushed in the direction they were coming and threw the shield he had borrowed from Usher to hit the surfer. The knight tried to block the fiercely flying shield with his spear, but eventually lost his balance and fell. At least the knight who was moving his rock stood in front of him with a rock to block it, but the knight next to him did not expect the shield to bounce off and fly towards him, so he was struck sideways and lost his balance.

“Seriously! I told you not to disturb me!”
“You’re the one who blocks in front of you, what?!”

They were shouting at each other as if they were reproaching each other, but looking this way, each of them was trying to stand up with his own weapon. But Krikaliev was already in front of them, and he brushed past with the shield he had thrown.

“”What?””

The knights ignored them and looked back at those who passed by, but Krikaliev was running faster. They didn’t even think of chasing after them, so they looked blankly this way and disappeared from sight.