Chapter 60
Chapter 60
The sea breeze was cool, but the night air of Camelot Palace was bitterly cold.
As two moons illuminated the darkness, I stood facing Arthur at the center of the training ground.
It was a sparring match arranged on short notice, but judging by the message floating at the edge of my vision, it didn’t seem all that strange.
[Absolute plausibility is taking effect.]
This duel was an episode that couldn’t be left out of the original work.
It was the event through which the protagonist was acknowledged and took a step further forward.
But for some reason, that role was acting through me.
I didn’t know if it was because I had obtained Excalibur, but what was certain was that this wasn’t something that would harm me.
Whirik.
Saying he’d loosen up for a moment, Arthur lightly swung the wooden sword set out in the training ground.
It was a simple motion, yet even that alone caused an extraordinary momentum to burst forth from his entire body.
Arthur, too, was on the verge of becoming a Sword Master.
That meant he was at a realm similar to mine, but when it came to experience, there was a clear difference.
Up to now, he had gone through countless real battles, overcome innumerable adversities and hardships, and emerged as a man called the hero of Britain.
Even though I had the cheat key of knowing the future, he was already close to a completed monster.
‘He’s even more oppressive than the Sword Saint.’
Just standing in front of him made my palms soak with sweat.
Sparring with the Sword Saint hadn’t been nerve-wracking because the gap had been overwhelming.
The unknown was practically the same as ignorance.
But with Arthur, the visible gap made its weight all the more tangible.
If we clashed head-on, my chances of winning would be slim.
But this wasn’t a duel to win.
I intended to learn experience from him.
As the Sword Saint had said, the depth of my sword was shallow.
So if I could take something from his, which had reached a higher level of completion than mine, wouldn’t I be able to grow a bit more?
Suddenly, I turned my gaze toward a presence settling at one side of the training ground.
Perhaps having heard news of the duel, a few people had entered inside.
Looking at that, Arthur opened his mouth with a calm expression.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance. It’s just a matter of formal procedure, but is it alright even if they’re here?”
“There’s no problem.”
They were probably his confidants or senior figures of his house.
That meant they roughly knew my status and wouldn’t act rashly, so there was no issue.
As if he had finished warming up, he set the wooden sword down and drew his own blade, brought by a knight.
It was inferior to Excalibur, but it still emitted a chillingly cold aura sharp enough to be unsettling—surely a fairly renowned sword.
Having finished preparing, Arthur looked at me and spoke.
“I heard you obtained Excalibur. Could you hold it?”
At the suggestion rather than a command, I let out a groan inwardly.
If it were just the two of us sparring, I wouldn’t have minded, but there were eyes watching around us.
When I glanced around, Arthur seemed to grasp my concern and nodded, telling me not to worry.
“They are pillars of Britain.”
“…I will do so.”
The fewer people who knew the secret, the better, but when Arthur, the King of Knights, went so far as to say that, refusing to draw Excalibur could be taken as slighting his honor.
So I sighed inwardly, raised my hand, and lightly clenched the empty air.
“Come, Excalibur.”
The dazzling radiance I had seen countless times burst forth from within my grasp.
At the sight of the pure white holy sword revealing itself the people around us all let out exclamations of admiration.
“That is the holy sword Excalibur!”
“To think the legend would be realized in my lifetime.”
When I lightly gripped Excalibur, the knights around us gazed at it with deeply moved expressions, endlessly pouring out praise.
Seeing that, Arthur also nodded briskly and raised his own sword.
“If you’re someone worthy of being Excalibur’s master, shouldn’t you naturally prove your skill?”
“That was exactly my intention.”
“Ha ha.”
Arthur burst into laughter, seemingly pleased with my combative tone.
I had no intention of yielding easily.
Though half a year was a short time, I too had accumulated no small amount of strength while living in this body.
Aside from the time with Aloken, I had never truly clashed head-on with anyone.
Coincidentally, he was an opponent at a level similar to mine—perfect.
That was why I intended to go all out.
“That’s how it should be. Only then would you be suitable to entrust my daughter to.”
“…Pardon?”
“What are you hesitating for? Surely a man won’t go back on his word?”
Caught off guard by the sudden turn in direction, I couldn’t say anything.
Arthur seemed to take my reaction as silent affirmation; he widened the distance between us and prepared in earnest for the start of the duel.
“In all things, the beginning and the end come naturally.”
“…Ah.”
At the suddenly familiar line, I blurted out an exclamation without thinking.
That, too, was a line Arthur had spoken in the original work just before dueling the protagonist.
Back then, the protagonist had been too busy dealing with Arthur’s sword rushing in like a gale to ponder the meaning of those vague words, but I, feeling highly elated, opened my mouth.
“Then I will humbly accept it.”
Those words meant that I would continue the duel until he was satisfied.
In fact, his duel with the protagonist had continued from evening until dawn broke, so his words were by no means empty.
“Ha ha ha ha-!”
At my reply, Arthur burst into a hearty laugh, thoroughly satisfied.
Then, in an instant, he shifted his demeanor, looking at me with crimson eyes that pierced through the darkness.
“The warm-up ends here.”
At the same time, an oppressive momentum pressed in from all directions, crashing down on my entire body.
Even my well-trained physique groaned and creaked here and there.
But I couldn’t complain of weakness over something like this.
“…….”
When I drew up the mana slumbering deep within me, a threadlike blue aura bloomed around me and gently pushed back the momentum Arthur was releasing.
When strong fighters who had reached my level or Arthur’s clashed, the fight didn’t begin with mere swordplay.
For a swordsman, the most important thing was establishing one’s own domain.
I dispersed the momentum that had invaded my territory and solidified my own domain.
At that, Arthur’s eyes narrowed, and a deep fighting spirit filled his blood-red pupils.
“I thought you were no ordinary sort, but the Emperor has raised a monster.”
“You flatter me.”
Who was he calling a monster? I gave a small smile as I looked at Arthur, who was emitting an overwhelming momentum that sent chills down my spine.
Hwoong.
Arthur’s sword, like his build, was a broad greatsword.
Yet unlike its heavy appearance, it sliced through the air sharply as it was swung like lightning.
Its destructive force was no joke.
‘Deflect it? No, if I dodge carelessly, I’ll just leave myself open.’
Because the blade was long and massive, its trajectory was far beyond standard.
Ideally, I wanted to slip inside or retreat entirely, but Arthur’s momentum didn’t allow that.
So I chose to face it head-on.
I caught the falling blade, which came down solidly from above, with the tip of Excalibur.
Boom-!
“Ghk……!”
A heavy shock coursed through my entire body.
Unable to withstand the force, cracks spread across the training ground floor beneath my feet.
‘It makes you doubt he’s even human.’
The power transmitted through my grip felt like when I had blocked an ogre’s attack.
Considering this was just a warm-up where he hadn’t even raised his mana and was testing pure physical strength and technique, Arthur’s power was clearly on a different level.
But a fight wasn’t decided by strength alone.
Since I had taken his sword head-on, its momentum had dropped considerably.
Letting it slide off with an arm trembling in fine spasms, I thrust my sword into the opening that appeared in his body.
A simple counter with no technique or flourish.
It was the textbook attack of block and strike, but with such straightforward attacks, sticking to the basics often worked best.
Still, as expected, he lightly knocked it aside.
Watching the sparks that leapt up and vanished into the darkness, I switched to the offensive this time.
“Hup!”
Compared to Arthur, I was smaller and lighter.
If so, what I needed was a brief running start.
Since I had taken his attack head-on, I thought Arthur would do the same.
After all, the hero of Britain was that kind of man.
Indeed, he planted both feet firmly on the ground and, just as I had, laid his sword flat to receive my attack.
Boom-!
The sound was a bit lighter than Arthur’s, but it was a strike filled with my full intent.
Perhaps it was heavier than he expected, because Arthur’s knees buckled for an instant and he staggered slightly.
‘An opening.’
After taking my sword head-on like I had, he didn’t use the technique of letting it slide off.
In that brief gap that appeared, I drove my foot forward with all my strength.
A sharp kick struck his knee.
I thought that would make Arthur lose his balance and fall, but he deftly avoided my attack by pulling his leg back.
Crisis turned into opportunity—the pressure of my sword that had been pressing down on his own weakened, and the massive greatsword asserted its presence once more.
This time, instead of a cutting line slicing through the air, a broad surface pushed the space aside as it crashed toward me, pounding my entire body.
Boom-!
“……!”
I reversed my grip, raised my sword to shield myself, and blocked the oncoming greatsword with the flat of the blade.
Even so, the impact was far from light.
It felt like being hit by a speeding car—my breath was knocked out of me in an instant, and my vision went dim.
By the time I barely regained my senses, Arthur had already closed in right before me.
Shaaaak-!
I barely leaned my body back, avoiding the greatsword that was about to bisect me.
No, I had definitely avoided it, yet I was swept up in the monstrous sword wind and lost my balance, and from above that, Arthur once again brought his blade down on me.
Kwak-!
The greatsword pierced deep into the training ground floor.
Just before that, I had kicked off the ground and flung myself away, barely managing to widen the distance.
If I’d been even one second slower, I really would have crossed the river to the underworld.
‘In the original, it felt like he was holding back.’
Back then, the difference in skill between him and the protagonist had been so great that the duel had proceeded as an exchange of single attacks back and forth.
But now, it was a brutal slugfest where both of us sought each other’s openings and crushed down with sheer force.
Neither Arthur nor I could see even an inch ahead—an utterly crude exchange.
A brief standoff followed.
Even though we hadn’t exchanged many blows, the accumulated shock made my fingertips tremble in fine spasms.
But thinking Arthur must be the same, I gripped my sword tightly.
Thud.
He pulled his sword from where it was deeply embedded in the training ground floor and rested it on his shoulder.
Then, with a more serious expression than ever, he looked at me.
“…This is truly surprising. I never imagined it would be to this extent.”
The knights around us wore the same expressions.
Still, the sight of all of them standing there slack-jawed and dazed was rather amusing.
“I won’t feign humility.”
To do so would have been an insult to Arthur, who had crossed blades with me and offered sincere praise.
That aside, the atmosphere felt like the duel was slowly coming to an end.
Wasn’t it like that in martial arts novels? A master could grasp an opponent’s skill with just a few exchanges.
Someone of Arthur’s caliber must have roughly gauged my level, hence his surprise.
“…….”
So I looked at him with a small hope, but Arthur, looking as though he was enjoying himself, once again raised his sword upright.
“Now then, shall we really start having some fun?”
Woooong-
A crimson aura flared up over the massive greatsword, resembling something engulfed in flames.
Feeling the tingling energy radiating from it, I let out a sigh.
It seemed I wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.