Basterion, the kingdom of knights.
An ancient kingdom that boasted numerous prestigious swordsmanship families and was overflowing with powerful knights based on that foundation.
There were many famous and practical swordsmanship styles, but the one evaluated as the most perfect was undoubtedly the swordsmanship of the Basterion royal family.
Therefore, every king in the history of Basterion was himself a powerful knight-king.
However, the fourteenth king was different.
Leorant Rian de Basterion.
The last king of the fallen ancient kingdom, Basterion.
As the last descendant of the 11th king, he was a small prince born with an exceptionally frail body, unlike his brothers.
Perhaps for that reason, he had no interest in swordsmanship or chivalry from a young age; his only love was reading.
Among his books, he particularly favored magic tomes.
At the king’s request, Abellar Pavlenko, a Magician who was gaining great fame at the time, personally visited the royal castle to verify Leorant’s talent for magic.
Of course, having a small build and a love for magic tomes did not mean one could become a Magician.
Even the talent for magic was absent in the young prince Leorant.
Leorant was disappointed, but he did not despair.
In truth, it didn’t matter much to him.
The line of succession was clear, and the bond between his brothers was strong.
The king loved his children, and no one scolded him for being frail or uninterested in the sword.
It wasn’t a problem.
His father, the knight-king of that era, was wise and strong, and his brothers respected and followed such a father.
Though he had nothing he excelled at, he also lacked for nothing.
Everyone loved Leorant, and Leorant loved everyone in return.
A kind prince who loved his parents, his brothers, and everything about the kingdom.
That was why.
That was why he had survived alone until now.
He had survived alone even as his parents, his brothers, and everything he loved vanished one by one.
It began with an obituary.
The news of the death of the brave knight-king, who always stood at the very front.
The terrible news that the 11th king, Leorant’s father, had died in battle while personally heading out to investigate the Strange Entities.
It was a time when the term ‘Strange Entities’ was not yet officially known.
Because of the circumstances, the Succession Ceremony of the 12th king proceeded quickly.
Everyone involved wore suits of armor with swords strapped to their waists, standing in a silence filled with Killing Intent without a single common cheer.
“Everyone.”
If there was a reason for it.
“Draw your swords.”
This was a departure ceremony taking place simultaneously with the Succession Ceremony.
“I will not wear the crown.”
The new king of Basterion turned his back, leaving the granted crown behind without even placing it on his head.
The 12th king.
“I shall return and sit in this seat again only after completing my revenge for the late king.”
Of course, his words never came to pass.
He, who had set out to soothe his father’s grudge and avenge the late king, had his soul entirely tainted by the Abyssal Depths.
He met a hollow end, decapitated by a nameless knight who failed to recognize him.
“……How dare they!”
The 13th king was furious.
The remaining brothers were equally enraged.
Every citizen of the kingdom was also furious.
They were all citizens of the proud knight-king’s realm.
A country where knights lived, valuing honor more than life and protecting the weak.
And so, without even going through a Succession Ceremony, they headed straight to the battlefield.
“I shall never return until every single one of the Strange Entities is annihilated!”
The 13th king, Leorant’s second older brother, made that vow before the late king’s gravestone.
The enraged brothers all followed him.
Except for one person.
Only Leorant, who had always been frail, remained.
“Leorant.”
That was why the new king, Leorant’s brother, met Leorant’s gaze with steady eyes before leaving and delivered his words.
“It likely won’t happen, but if I do not return…….”
‘What should he have said then?’
‘What words would have made his brother’s heart even a little bit easier?’
“You are the king.”
That it wouldn’t happen.
“I am sorry for passing on such a heavy burden.”
‘Should he have replied that the strongest brother in the world and the powerful knights couldn’t possibly lose this time either?’
‘Or should he have cheered him on, telling him to go and that he could be trusted?’
Thinking that whatever he said would sound unreliable, and due to his lacking confidence, the words didn’t come out easily.
During that brief hesitation, the thirteenth king departed.
With that dependable back of his, without a moment of hesitation or a hint of fear.
And that became the last image of him.
Thus, the fourteenth king, the weakest king, was born in Basterion.
And so, Leorant spoke.
“Please take us to Tetradia.”
The new king of Basterion, the kingdom of knights in the midst of a war against the Strange Entities.
A small king without the drive, charisma, or leadership of a ruler.
Commonly known as the Weak King.
“I do not know the sword. I do not know chivalry.”
The fourteenth king was not a knight-king.
He had only held a sword a few times, and all he knew of chivalry was what he had read in books.
“I do not know how to command ten thousand knights with a single word like my father, nor do I know how to win the hearts of a million citizens like my eldest brother.”
He was ignorant of everything.
“I am not strong like my second brother, nor am I steadfast. I am saying that I am not a knight.”
He didn’t know how to command a battlefield, nor how to stand at the very front.
It was because he had always seen those strong backs, but had never stood before them.
However.
“I am the king.”
Even so, he was the king.
Even if he was the weakest in the world, he was the king.
“It does not matter if the whole world points their fingers at me, or if I am recorded as the weakest king in history.”
Though he lived every day crushed by the weight of the crown on his head, which was so heavy it felt unbearable—no, in truth, he felt crushed every single day.
“I am a king who knows nothing of honor, does not know how to manage subordinates, and has never even practiced governance.”
Though he woke up every day with nausea because the weight of his father’s blood, his brothers’ resentment, and the lives of his people were too much to bear.
“But even I have a belief.”
Even such a weak king had a belief.
Even he knew one thing.
“Is there not no use in it if one dies?”
‘What meaning could there possibly be in death?’
Because he knew nothing of honor, chivalry, or their spirit, he knew the opposite.
That there is no meaning in death.
That the pain those left behind must receive is worse than death.
“The noble knights are those who fear losing their honor and beliefs more than death. But I am not like that.”
Death is terrifying.
His own death was scary, and the deaths of those close to him were even scarier.
“I know. And surely you know as well. That our Basterion, lacking Magicians, can never win this war.”
Everyone would die.
Even if every knight threw away their life like a piece of straw, even if the greatest Master Magician helped, they would eventually fail to endure and be encroached upon by those cursed things.
Like his father.
Like his brothers.
“So, please…….”
Knowing this, he pleaded with desperation.
“Please take us to Tetradia, Lord of the Magic Tower!”
The king knelt.
A feat possible only because he was a weak king who knew neither honor nor shame.
It was possible because there was something in his heart more important than his knees, honor, or shame.
“As the king, as the king of knights who do not know chivalry, I must save them.”
‘How could he not know embarrassment?’
‘How could he not know shame?’
Despite that, there was no hesitation in his kneeling, and the will he spat out in words was more desperate than anything else in this world.
To ensure that everyone in the kingdom he loved did not die.
That was the weak king’s sole belief.
It was the desire he desperately wanted to achieve.
“So, Lord Pavlenko. Please…….”
Hio quietly closes his eyes.
However, the sorrowful tears that flowed along with that desperate gaze had already been etched as an afterimage, so closing his eyes was useless.
The king’s request to be taken to Tetradia.
Just how did Abellar Pavlenko, the Lord of the Magic Tower, respond?
‘What conclusion did he reach?’
“Are there too many people who must migrate?”
“Then I shall remain. Since the weakest king in the world will remain.”
Now he knew.
That his own answer could not provide any influence.
“Please let my knights, my people, live on without dying.”
He was a mere observer.
A follower merely retracing the memories of Abellar.
Even so, it was difficult to face that desperate and urgent expression, so he closed his eyes.
Because he could not bear to see the sight of him begging for the lives of his people, not himself, in the most pathetic form in the world, he did not open his eyes.
“……Lord of the Magic Tower……!”
It wasn’t long after that that he felt a change.
The king’s desperate cry gradually grows distant, and his vision blurs even though his eyes are closed.
The scene is transitioning.
‘What decision would Abellar Pavlenko have made?’
The greatest Magician of the era and the great Lord of the Magic Tower of Tetradia—would he have willingly helped the migration to Tetradia for the sake of the weak king and the countless people of Basterion?
To confirm this, he slowly opens his eyes.
The first thing that enters his view is, as expected, the figure of the king.
He was awkwardly mounted on a horse, wearing armor that didn’t suit him and carrying a sword that didn’t fit.
Under the blue sky, the king’s eyes, which didn’t possess a shred of majesty, were empty, and his gaze was fixed on a distant place.
“O Basterion.”
Because he followed his hollow eyes, Hio was also able to see the same thing.
The darkness rushing in from far away.
The Abyss.
A Great Catastrophe swarming in, encroaching upon the blue sky.
Underneath it, the things crawling around were the twisted ones.
The king welcoming them.
“Follow me.”
The most pathetic shout in the world.
The hollow echoing of one who knows the end.
It was clearly the appearance of one who had accepted death.
“I shall be with you.”
Abellar Pavlenko had ultimately refused the migration of the weak king and his people.
***
“Block them! Hold your ground! You must not be pushed back even an inch!”
The Space of Infinity.
The knights were still struggling desperately against the surging Abyss Monsters.
“Sirbert!”
Of course, the same was true for the Bingijas.
Although they were not directly facing the monsters body-to-body like the knights, they were supporting them with massive firepower from within the formation while under their protection.
If not for them, the formation would have collapsed long ago, and they wouldn’t have lasted this far.
“Why are they so persistent!”
However, even that was slowly reaching its limit.
So gradually that it was almost unnoticeable, they were being pushed back step by step, and the once wide circle had noticeably shrunk.
“Increase firepower! Raise the skill intensity!”
The Bingijas had also controlled their Magic Power as much as possible according to the plan, but it was no longer at a stage where they could do so.
The number of monsters that had piled up began to exceed the manageable range.
“If we increase firepower, we won’t last long!”
“We’ll be pushed back either way if we stay like this!”
It was a decision that felt a bit late.
However, from Daphne’s perspective, she had no other choice.
She didn’t know when Antipus and Hio Pavlenko would finally break out of the Space of Suffering.
Since they were both individuals with excellent information on the Abyss, she thought they would come out soon, but she didn’t expect it to drag on this long.
“Raise the firepower!”
At the decision, every Awakened began to increase the firepower of their skills.
Rumble—!
The blue light of the blue bow that symbolized Daphne, Laflicia, grew even deeper.
Abyss Monsters fell like stalks of straw with a single flash.
Sirbert’s Telekinesis, which had only slowed the enemies’ charge and restricted their movements, now began to clearly crush the enemies.
Flames erupted, ice poured down, and explosions occurred everywhere.
Boom—!
The effect was certain.
The offensive that had been clinging persistently loosened, and many gaps were created.
“Now! Push them back again!”
Of course, it was only for a very brief moment, and the empty spaces were filled with monsters again, but there was no one in this space so careless as to miss that short window.
The pushed-back formation was restored, regaining its sense of stability.
“Ha!”
They resumed their endurance operation, but everyone likely knew that the time they could endure would be shorter than before.
This was a recovery with a larger price than expected.
A temporary stability gained by pouring out the Magic Power they had been saving.
Thus, when several more hours had passed, the circle had eventually narrowed as much as it could.
They had been pushed back and pushed back until they were pressed tightly against each other.
“……Pour out all remaining Magic Power!”
Now there was truly nowhere left to go.
Abyss Monsters that kept appearing infinitely.
Those persistent bastards who rushed with all their might without looking back, despite their souls already being completely tainted.
This wasn’t a situation where they could endure by saving Magic Power, and if they were pushed back further, the coordination between the knights and the skill users would get tangled, potentially leading to the worst-case scenario.
It had reached a level where enduring was becoming meaningless.
Therefore, they had to secure space and clear a path by pouring out all their Magic Power.
“We must open a path! Move faster!”
However, the path was not opened.
The space was quite wide only in the direction where Vitalianus was, but he alone could not block all the infinite monsters, nor could he protect all three hundred people.
By that point, not only the Bingijas but even the strong knights were being crushed by the pressure that the infinity provided.
When the thought that this might never end started to fill their heads, the faintly spread energy of the Abyss began to dig into those small cracks.
No matter how strong they were, the energy of the Abyssal Depths that seeped in secretly when their bodies and minds were exhausted from the continuous battle was difficult to resist.
Then.
It was then.
When their Magic Power was hitting rock bottom and their bodies felt so heavy that even lifting a sword was a struggle.
When thoughts that they would eventually be swallowed by the infinity filled their minds and their heads grew dizzy—the darkness itself, which filled the world, shook.
Looking closely, something massive was trembling.
The giant Gates that stood tall on both sides.
It was one of the Spaces of Suffering.
“That is……!”
The Space of Suffering on the left was shattering.