‘As I thought, a person must live life with prudence…’
Kim Song-cheol felt the truth of those words more than ever.
What if he had destroyed the Spirit back then?
Fern might have labeled Kim Song-cheol as an enemy and reported him to the knights first.
At the time, it was just a minor incident of a ‘Spirit flying in,’ but thinking about it now, it had been a dizzying turning point.
“Did an answer come?”
Frank pressed him.
He had heard everything Kim Song-cheol said; all that remained was the other party’s response.
Frank’s palms were sweaty.
Two scouts leaving a group of eight knights?
That was a true game-changer.
His heart pounded as if revenge were already right before his eyes.
Flutter!
Noticing the shift in emotion, Sylph flew in front of Frank’s eyes.
It was as if she were telling him to calm down.
Kim Song-cheol listened to the faint breeze.
The cool wind was delivering Fern’s voice.
[Mister Vigel wants to ask. Is ‘Aerial Disintegration’ really possible?]
Only Kim Song-cheol could hear that voice.
Consequently, the other team members looked at Kim Song-cheol’s mouth with anxious anticipation.
“I am confident. I can state that for certain.”
Kim Song-cheol spoke without a hint of hesitation.
[Please wait a moment.]
“What did they say?”
Frank asked again.
“They asked if I was really confident, and I said I was. It seems he’s discussing it. With that Ranger.”
Kim Song-cheol answered as best he knew without acting annoyed.
It was because he understood Frank’s feelings.
“Damn it.”
It was just as Frank was roughly ruffling his hair.
[We can’t fight. We’ll be far away. Mister Vigel says to tell you one more thing. Because of some strange Magic cast on us, we’ll end up attacking him even if we don’t want to if we’re nearby. And… you absolutely have to deal with those guys. That’s the condition. Otherwise, everyone will be in danger.]
“I know. Don’t worry.”
[…Then, I’ll give you the location.]
“Understood.”
Kim Song-cheol nodded while looking at Frank.
It meant the negotiation had gone well.
“Good. Things are working out.”
Only then did Frank crack a cold smile, gripping the hilt of the sword in his hand so tightly it made a creaking sound.
“Then what should we do, Big Brother?”
Kang Hye-seong, who had remained silent until now, asked.
Lee Yong-chan and Bak Hui-su were also blinking as they looked at Kim Song-cheol.
Those three hadn’t uttered a single word, waiting calmly.
They were waiting until a direction was decided and Kim Song-cheol gave the order.
“We’re going with an ambush. They said they’d give us the location. The situation has been completely reversed.”
If they had been the ones hunting until now, it was now their turn to be hunted.
By having the scouts defect, they had lost their eyes.
The right to the first strike belonged to Kim Song-cheol’s team.
“Sounds good, Big Brother.”
Bak Hui-su nodded with a smile.
Kim Song-cheol’s confident attitude inspired confidence in the team members.
“Since there are two, two, and two… For convenience, I’ll refer to them as two A-class Swordsmen, two B-class Swordsmen, and two Mages. Can you take one A-class Swordsman? You just need to hold him off.”
Kim Song-cheol asked Frank.
“Doesn’t matter. As long as I can see those bastards die before I do.”
“Good. I’ll start by cutting down one Mage. If Hye-seong’s Magic works properly too, the Mage line is finished. That leaves one A-class and two B-class. I’ll take the A-class. The rest of the Swordsmen take one each, and Hye-seong, you provide support wherever needed.”
“Understood, Big Brother.”
The team members nodded immediately.
“Then let’s move.”
Team 24C and Frank began to cut through the forest.
The destination was clear because Sylph was guiding them from the front.
While they were walking for a while, Frank suddenly spoke up.
“It doesn’t matter to me, but are you really confident?”
“Why? Is something strange?”
“You were so cautious before.”
“Because the situation I was worried about has disappeared. Like there being four A-class Knights, or eight of them launching an ambush.”
“So if it’s not that, you can handle anything?”
Frank smirked and asked back.
It was half a joke.
“At the very least, I can pull back. Without injury.”
However, the reply that came back was quite serious.
“Without injury? You guarantee that?”
“By my calculations.”
“It’s no fun talking like that with Big Brother. Just watch him use Magic in a bit. That’ll be the fun part.”
Lee Yong-chan chimed in with a joke.
If Kim Song-cheol hadn’t waved his hand as if telling him not to talk nonsense, he would have surely rambled on for a few more words.
After moving for a long while, Kim Song-cheol came to a halt upon hearing Fern’s voice.
Following that movement, all the team members hurriedly slowed down and became alert of their surroundings.
[There are 300 meters left. East-west, no… where? He says northwest. You’ll see a large rock as you go, but since that place is too suspicious, he says you can catch them off guard by hiding somewhere else besides that rock.]
The Ranger’s assistance was quite professional. Judging by the way he spoke, it seemed as if he had memorized the entire terrain.
“Understood.”
After conveying Fern’s words, Kim Song-cheol began to move while suppressing his presence as much as possible.
Not long after, the terrain the Ranger described appeared.
Next to the large rock, there was a wide path. Naturally, it was the path the targets would pass through.
Kim Song-cheol positioned the team members using hand signals.
Frank was behind a tree closest to the path.
Lee Yong-chan and Park Ha-su were behind trees about 30 meters to the left and right of the path.
Kim Song-cheol took a position with Kang Hye-seong behind a small rock further to the south.
They waited for about three minutes.
With the sound of clanking, a group of Hunters walked into view.
As expected, two knights in flashy armor stood at the very front, followed by two knights in shabby armor, with the Mages following behind them.
“Why can’t we see those brats? They went ahead to scout the location.”
“I’ll have to give them a stern lesson when they get back.”
They were walking exactly in the direction Fern had guided them.
There wasn’t a hint of suspicion.
It was as if the thought of being hunted had never even crossed their minds.
And their peace was shattered into pieces by Kim Song-cheol.
“…!?”
The moment the knight at the very front sensed the flow of Mana.
Rumble!
Thunder struck from the sky.
The knight hurriedly looked back.
One Mage was already collapsing.
Following that, as the space above the other Mage’s head seemed to shimmer, extremely compressed air plummeted down onto the Mage’s head.
“Watch out—”
The knight shouted first, and the Mage barely managed to cast a 1st Circle Defense Magic.
Crash!
However, it was not enough to block a 3rd Circle Air Hammer.
The Defense Magic shattered the moment it touched the Air Hammer, and the Mage was slammed into the ground after being struck on the head.
At least the Defense Magic reduced the power enough to prevent his neck from breaking, but he still took a significant impact.
“It’s an ambush!”
Only then did the knights draw their swords.
One of the A-class Knights shot forward accurately toward the direction where Kim Song-cheol was.
At the same time, Frank blocked the path of the other A-class Knight, while Lee Yong-chan and Bak Hui-su rushed toward the B-class Knights.
“You must be dying for a trip to the grave!”
The A-class Knight shouted at Kim Song-cheol as he stepped out from behind the rock.
Aura was already surging from his sword, and the distance closed by several meters every time he kicked off the ground.
‘A familiar setup.’
A charging Swordsman.
Kim Song-cheol standing tall.
It was like a player-versus-player combat class.
“Thunder Strike.”
There was no need for mercy.
Kim Song-cheol dropped the lightning immediately.
However.
Crackle!
The moment the lightning was about to touch the knight’s crown, light burst from the armor and neutralized the Magic.
There was a reason why the armor was so flashy.
Kim Song-cheol’s hands grew busy. 3rd Circle Magic was fired in succession.
It was then that the knight’s expression changed.
A Mana Blade thrust in, lightning fell from the sky, an Air Hammer aimed for the back of his head, twelve large Stone Missiles flew in a row, and a strange point appeared and began to pull at the metal.
It was a casting speed unbelievable for a 3rd Circle Mage.
It was at a level where he couldn’t even move forward.
Magic was literally pouring out.
More than anything else, he couldn’t understand how twelve Stone Missiles could be flying at once.
Surely the limit for a 3rd Circle Mage was five or six, so how was he manifesting the maximum limit!
‘At this rate…’
To have his charge halted by a mere 3rd Circle Mage.
It was a situation he had never even imagined.
There was a limit to the defense Magic engraved on the armor, and there was still a long distance left.
It looked like he would collapse before even getting to swing his sword once.
‘One use remaining. I’ll bet everything on this.’
Like an excellent knight, he seized an opportunity and kicked the ground forcefully.
He drew his Aura to its limit, and his speed was the best he could muster.
One could even hear the sound of his body cutting through the wind.
Whoosh!
A Mana Blade blocked his path, but the flashy armor glowed brightly, disintegrating the incoming Mana Blade.
At the same time, an Ice Awl sprouted from the ground.
‘What cunning tricks…!!’
An attack that utilized the opponent’s speed.
Not a single one of them wasn’t sharp.
The knight charged forward, prepared to take injuries.
The Ice Awl tore through his armor and pierced his thigh, but he didn’t stop.
And there was a harvest for sacrificing his thigh.
The distance narrowed sharply, and he reached a point where his sword could strike.
‘If I can just swing it…!’
However, Kim Song-cheol didn’t just stand by and watch.
Suddenly, a Magic Circle appeared beneath his feet, and a powerful wind surged out, launching Kim Song-cheol upward. He had launched his own body using Air Blast.
‘…!?’
The knight faltered for a very brief moment.
He hadn’t expected the target to go up into the sky.
He used that split second of time to lift his head, and after confirming Kim Song-cheol’s position, he immediately leaped up.
If he missed this chance, it was over.
He thought he should deal with him while Kim Song-cheol couldn’t move in the air, but that was a miscalculation.
A Magic Circle formed beside Kim Song-cheol, and it launched him sideways again.
It was true three-dimensional aerial maneuverability.
He manipulated the power of the Air Blast so delicately that it almost looked like he was moving by kicking the air.
Thanks to that, the knight who had leaped toward Kim Song-cheol became like a dog chasing a chicken.
He didn’t have a means to move through the air like Kim Song-cheol did.
The knight surging from below and Kim Song-cheol positioned higher above him.
The eyes of the two men met. Kim Song-cheol’s gaze was calmly sunken.
He might have been looking at the knight’s future.
Kim Song-cheol gestured with his fingers in mid-air.
First, a bolt of lightning struck him.
Rumble!
He took the hit helplessly.
He endured by drawing his Aura to the maximum, but the problem was that he couldn’t do anything more than endure.
Rumble!
Another bolt of lightning struck down.
While rising to his maximum height, the knight was struck by lightning three times, causing his eyes to roll back.
Beside him as he lost consciousness, a cold Mana Blade drew near.
Squelch!
The two-meter-long blade sliced through the knight’s neck along with the space itself.
The knight’s body and head underwent Aerial Disintegration in mid-air.
Subsequently, Kim Song-cheol began to fall.
Just before he hit the ground, a Magic Circle appeared beneath him, and a moderate gust of wind surged up, sharply reducing his falling speed.
After landing on the ground, Kim Song-cheol immediately surveyed the battlefield.
The battle was not yet over.