Chapter 102 : Awakening
Awakening
'If that man truly gave his best in that blow... there is definitely a chance of victory. All I need is to wound him.'
"You seemed careless."
He murmured briefly, and Gregory laughed as if he had lost his mind.
"Do you really think I was careless...?"
At that mutter, jehar felt a surge of anger. He was convinced Gregory was mocking him. However, as Jehar's attacks continued in the same manner, Gregory had already succeeded in analyzing them. Of course, this was only possible because Gregory was who he was...
Swiik!
Thanks to this, Gregory sensed from the change in the atmosphere that Jehar's playfulness had disappeared.
Pang-!
Kwaang!
'Phew... It's definitely become harder to react.'
He barely managed to dodge the attack. This swordstrike was filled with genuine intent, splitting the rock behind him cleanly in half.
By now, being able to dodge such attacks was possible only because enough information had been accumulated and through a sense of intuition. What remained was to simply wound Jehar...
'But how can I do that?'
Gregory quickly glanced around. Even if he had to use the surrounding terrain, or even if he had to catch up to Jehar's speed, he was searching for a way to confront him.
'I can't see... nothing stands out...'
But contrary to his hopes, he couldn't find any suitable features in the terrain. That meant the only option left was a frontal breakthrough.
During that time, jehar had slipped into Gregory's guard. Gregory believed it was Jehar's full speed, but that was his own misconception. Even as he tried to react quickly, jehar had become too fast to respond to.
Jehar seemed to flash in and out before Gregory's eyes, like a flickering light.
"Kgh."
In an instant, a deep wound appeared on Gregory's arm. Blood began to gush out. Gregory clutched his arm in surprise, thinking he had evaded it.
Nevertheless, it was fortunate that Gregory's attempt to dodge Jehar's attack had caused the blow to graze him. If not, it could have been a far deeper cut.
'Have I become numb from being in this body too long? Or is Jehar's movement now truly too fast for my eyes to keep up with?'
Still, no matter how much he had been influenced by this person, chilling pain from a blade was nothing new. In his previous life, Gregory's body was full of countless scars. What Gregory really wanted was to see Jehar struggling to finish the fight despite their overwhelming difference in skill.
"Is it your first time seeing such speed...? No, even just evading a series of attacks from this body is proof enough that you have value."
Jehar, apparently pleased with something, raised the corners of his mouth faintly.
But Gregory's response was cold. His eyes flashed with sharp light, and he remained silent.
'How many more times will such attacks repeat? At this rate, I'll miss the supply line... This could be the defeat that costs the war.'
Gregory was not afraid of Jehar standing before him. He worried instead that his current plan could become the fatal mistake of the war and end up harming his comrades.
He judged it was more righteous to leave a wound on Jehar and win than to exchange sarcastic banter.
Gregory infused Durandal with an even more intense surge of mana. A red gleam circled him, radiating a threatening aura.
Jehar snorted as if that red mana was nothing.
"What, just because your aura is strong doesn't mean you can win. Though, it's fascinating—this is my first time seeing red mana... but why do you fail to grasp the true essence?"
Still, Gregory kept his silence. In the meantime, jehar continued his taunts.
"Tch, how boring. It was fun to toy with you, but... I'll end it here."
Perhaps, thinking of his comrades made him realize this battle could overturn the tide. Or maybe, he simply wanted to finish the operation and return to his comrades safely as soon as possible.
Gregory immediately adjusted his grip on the sword. The red mana gathered in his right hand soon dyed Durandal's blade entirely red. This was the last resort that Gregory had reserved—the power of Durandal.
"Hoo... How fascinating. To think that mana is emanating from the sword itself."
Mana continued to gather and concentrate at one point on Durandal. A small gap existed between Durandal's hilt and blade—normally, the source for embedding curses. Now, however, a strange phenomenon was occurring.
Jehar sensed some unease and readied his sword as well.
"Good... This is thanks to you, I get to awaken as well."
Gregory whispered a short phrase. With his simple words, jehar's body was slashed here and there.
Durandal's ability was simple: using condensed mana to inflict wounds on the opponent. Of course, it might not seem all that impressive. But that was because Gregory was a 4-star knight. Normally, wouldn't using red mana mean reaching an even higher state? Durandal's power, however, originally could not apply red mana.
"That's what you call an awakening?"
Jehar shot back at Gregory's words. This time, the corners of Gregory's mouth faintly lifted in turn.
After becoming a 4-star knight, Gregory had gained experience, and through his battle with Jehar, he had reached his limits. The awakening he spoke of meant just that. He had awakened alongside Durandal.
Therefore, the effect he inflicted on Jehar with Durandal was at a five-star knight's level. Even so, it was still not enough to pierce Jehar's iron-like skin.
"Doesn't this mean I've won?"
It seemed Jehar was immune to such shallow wounds. He looked at Gregory with a displeased expression, but he seemed to understand Gregory's words. Indeed, although he hadn't lost as a matter of knightly fate, jehar's own words made it clear what Gregory meant.
"What... what did you do to this body?"
He couldn't close his mouth in shock. This situation felt so familiar that it was terrifying—no, rather than fear or awe, it was the realization he had lost the duel that unsettled him. Or perhaps, more than anything, he simply wanted to deny that he had lost to a much weaker knight because of his arrogance.
"Didn't you once say that if you were a true swordsman, you would keep your word?"
Gregory walked forward in triumph. Jehar seemed struck in the heart by those words, but, having some sense of honor, could not reply.
After much hesitation, jehar, blinded by ambition, denied Gregory's words.
"No... A simple promise with you isn't a problem to keep."
He immediately changed his attitude and drew his sword once more. He had already succeeded in inflicting a deep wound on Gregory's arm, and with their face-to-face battle, he didn't believe for a moment he would lose. It seemed the cleanest resolution was to simply remove Gregory here and now.
"Pathetic... Two-faced words from the same mouth."
Gregory looked at him with sorrowful eyes. In fact, he had already predicted that Jehar would display such unsightly behavior. And, of course, his prediction was spot-on.
Jehar rushed in, charging directly upward. Intense aura. He aimed to finish Gregory off with a single stroke of his sword.
Piyuuk-!
Tak!
But in that very moment, before anyone realized, an arrow flew from somewhere.
Gregory nodded his head without even looking back.
"Are you alright, Gregory?"
With a meaningful expression, Kylas had stopped Jehar's attack. Perhaps it was difficult to block Jehar's swordstrike with just an arrow. But Kylas had immediately spotted Jehar's weakness and drawn his bowstring rapidly at that spot.
Sensing the mortal danger, jehar corrected his posture in mid-air and landed quickly.
"Who are you people...?"
Then, others lined up behind Kylas.
Alessandro shouted proudly.
"We are the Dawn Knight Order!"
Jehar quickly sensed that there was something suspicious about this delayed reinforcement. He immediately realized that the knights guarding the supply base had not been able to lay a finger on this Dawn Knight Order and were defeated.
"Then... you mean the 7th and Eighth Knights have both been captured? This is impossible..."
Gregory had always known the strength of the Dawn Knight Order was no small thing, but witnessing them subdue the enemy so much faster than expected moved him.
And, among all the knights representing the Blandy Kingdom, three out of the top nine knights had now been dealt with all at once. This gave him hope that they could handle the rest as well.
Kylas called out to Gregory.
"Gregory! Leave things here to us and hurry, chase after them!"