How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 109: Setting Sun (2)

The Guardian’s skills are, unsurprisingly, derived from the Wandering Knight.

[Killing Star] as opposed to [Starlight].

[Lunar Eclipse] as opposed to [Moonlight].

And the third characteristic was [Setting Sun] in contrast to [Rising Sun].

Sa-il (斜日). The word for sunset literally meant the setting sun.

Originating from the sight of the world turning red as the sun sets, this technique boasted vicious performances that lived up to its name.

The obsidian sword hovered in the sky, bathed in a crimson glow and formed into a single sphere.

It was like the sun burning away the dying world.

The Guardian spread its arms as its body floated lightly in the air, arriving at the base of the sun.

The black-armored creature stared down at Osian with a red sun on its back, its eyes full of life.

“Huh.”

Osian couldn’t help but chuckle.

The dark ruins were filled with a blood glow.

“I see. There’s a next phase, isn’t there?”

In the original game, the concept of phases didn’t exist for him.

If this was a change, it was a change that came with the territory.

The Guardian pointed a finger at Osian.

He didn’t need a sword now that he was dealing with the power of [Setting Sun].

Shush, shush, shush!

From the bright red sun in the sky, ominous swords shot out like bullets toward Osian.

That’s right.

That sphere in the air was the sword he was using.

Osian quickly retreated backwards.

Everywhere he passed, the red sword dug into the ground with a splash but it didn’t end there, the sword shuddered and then exploded in a brilliant explosion.

-Kwagwagwagwagwang!

Shockwaves ripped through the passageway after the explosions and Osian was not immune to the aftermath.

It was a good thing he was wearing his Starlight Armor, or his skin would have been scorched.

“Damn strong.”

It was a destructive force that I hadn’t felt when I was beyond the monitor.

The heat from the armor alone felt like it was cooking my skin. The acrid smell of something burnt reached my nostrils.

The Guardian reached out toward Osian again but Osian was too scared to check it out, so he threw himself aside.

Red blades flew out and impaled the spot he passed.

“Hmph.”

Osian ran across the ground, stepped on a wall, and leapt to the other side.

As soon as he hit the other wall, he pushed his legs again and jumped to the other side again.

And so, jumping from side to side, Osian soared until he was at eye level with the Guardian.

-Puhhhhh!

The pure white starlight in his hand burned brightly.

Osian raised his Starlight Sword to strike, but the Guardian seemed to know what to do next.

The Guardian raised his arms, and a red sun glowed.

The sun’s energy pulsed, and it shot a long line of flame toward Osian.

Osian, who had gotten within striking distance of the Guardian, was struck by the flames and sent flying backwards.

If he were bare, he would have been melted to the bone, but he was only saved by the Starlight Armor and Nebula Silk.

After being knocked to the ground, Osian lightly picked himself up.

The floor of the ruins was cracked as if it had been hoe-hammered, indicating the power of the flames from earlier.

‘It’s hard to get to.’

The moment he floats into the air to approach, he becomes its prey.

Knights can’t move in the air.

‘If I could open up the third trait in the same way, it would be a different story.’

That seemed unlikely at the moment.

The Guardian attacked as blades shot out of the red sun and toward Osian again.

Osian moved from side to side, dodging the blades as best he could.

He dodged as much as he could, and when he thought he might be hit, he deflected it with his Starlight Sword.

He tried to find an opening, but the Guardian was too strong.

It was relentless, attacking Osian as if it would never allow him to approach.

‘Strange.’

Osian assessed the Guardian’s condition.

The creature was lunging at Osian with a vicious intent.

‘I can understand his anger after the beating he took from me, but his obsession seems a little strange.’

Osian concentrated on dodging, but kept a watchful eye on the guardian over his helmet.

The tickling sensation was quickly replaced by a clear answer.

‘He’s exhausted.’

The others couldn’t tell, but Osian could.

The Guardian was exhausted now. His shoulders were slumping, albeit slightly.

‘I see, my attack did not only leave a small wound.’

He might look fine on the outside, but inside his armor, his body must be nearly destroyed.

That’s why he deliberately overextended his attack. If he collapses here, I will kill him.

Therefore, he was planning to kill me somehow before he died.

“In that case, the power you’re using now must be quite overwhelming.”

……!

Osian could feel the Guardian flinch at his straightforward words.

He tried to deny it, but he couldn’t hide it when he was already weakened by his injuries.

‘He’s already impatient, but I can sense that he’s becoming more desperate.’

Now that his injuries had been exposed, he had no choice.

If he bided his time, the Guardian’s injuries would worsen and he would collapse.

Osian didn’t need to fight, he just needed to leave him alone.

It was a simple fight, a simple matter of keeping his distance and watching until the creature collapsed from exhaustion.

The Guardian knew it, and the feeling of defeat washed over him.

His weakness had been exposed, and defeat was practically assured.

Osian looked at the Guardian and removed his holy armor.

The guardian was expecting him to retreat, but he did not.

Instead, Osian slowly approached the guardian, unarmored, with only a cloak draped over his shoulders.

‘…….’

The Guardian’s red eyes trembled like a candle in the wind, as if he were panicking.

It didn’t make sense.

Osian didn’t need to fight this battle. He should have taken the easy option, the easy way out, the one where he simply waited for the Guardian to collapse from exhaustion.

But Osian didn’t.

Instead, he stepped closer to the guardian, showing him with his body that he had no intention of running away.

The Guardian didn’t understand.

Why would he give up an easy fight? What good would it do him?

Osian gave the guardian a faint smile and gripped his sword.

“As it is, I can always bide my time until you fall. You can run away for a bit, there’s no need to risk your life and continue this dangerous fight.”

The Guardian, with the Sun of Death at his back, was now an impregnable fortress that no one dared to challenge.

It was madness to go toe-to-toe with it.

But why?

“But it’s not honorable.”

Osian’s sword turned blue.

The blue light soared to the limit, and Osian sliced it in two, clutching one in each hand.

[Moonlight Dual Blades]

“Fleeing with the enemy in front of you, how could a knight do that?”

His opponent was not an unstoppable monster, but a knight of similar power to himself.

And yet, in the face of such an opponent, he cowardly tries to buy time and escape?

What could be more shameful than that?

It was also a matter of gamer pride.

A boss monster that is much stronger than you.

He was squeezing out his last bit of power, and the final phase was about to begin.

And you want me to step down? The person who loved this world more than anyone else?

No.

He should face an enemy at full strength, to fight to the death, and to finish it off.

That was the victory he truly wanted.

“So don’t worry.”

He had a white cloak over his shoulders and in each hand, a pair of brilliant blue swords.

The Guardian stared straight at Osian, who wore the power of the stars and the moon at the same time to counter the power of the sun.

“I will not run away. I will break through you, right here, right now, head-on.”

There was no deception in his sincere voice.

The Guardian’s eyes changed, filled with surprise, panic, and nervousness.

The destructive red glow slowly subsided, and he stared at Osian with a calm expression.

Even though they were enemies who were after each other’s lives, at this moment, the Guardian recognized Osian as a foe and wished to honor him as such.

Even if it was a doppelganger that only mimicked his strength and abilities, the Guardian was a Knight, after all.

The Guardian held out his hand to Osian and snapped.

‘Come. I’ll let you play.’

Osian smiled faintly at the sight and nodded.

“As a challenger, I’ll accept your offer.”

He gripped his twin swords and lowered himself. The cloak around his shoulders shifted, sending a powerful spray of stardust behind him.

Lighter now that his armor had been removed, Osian ran like the wind.

At the same time, the path of ice on the ground accelerated his movement.

His speed was so great that even the Guardian lost sight of him for a moment.

But the Guardian was also the protector of these ruins, and was endowed with the power of a knight.

The Guardian immediately used the power of the sun to stop Osian.

The Sun of Death shone brightly, scattering bloodlight.

Blood-colored blades shot out, aimed at Osian.

Osian dodged the blades or deflected them with his twin swords.

The scorching heat of the blades was offset by Moonlight power, and they scattered in the air without exploding.

However the intense heat was still there, accumulating damage to Osian, albeit slowly but that was okay.

He only had to dodge the direct hit.

‘One hit and I’m defeated.’

Amidst the rain of attacks he had to squeeze through the cramped gap to reach his destination.

It was a tightrope walk between countless red lines, where the slightest mistake could cost him his life.

Osian dodged, blocked, or deflected the rain of destruction and kept going.

The Guardian’s momentum shifted.

The sun’s light intensified, and the blade no longer fell.

Instead, a sunspot-like thing appeared on the sun’s surface, and soon a huge explosion occurred along with a flare.

[Dark line explosion]

The huge flare was compressed into a single point.

It was like a narrow, slender laser.

It shot out dozens of feet in various places on the surface of the sun.

-Ziyiying.

The walls of the ruins that the blazing laser had scratched turned scarlet, then crumbled and melted, spewing out magma as they hummed from within.

Dozens of such rays swept across the surrounding area like glowing mirror balls.

Powerful enough to burn your lungs in their wake if you so much as breathed near them but Osian didn’t stop.

The red beam flew in a straight line toward him.

The moment it touched his body, it exploded with a boom and collapsed.

The Guardian stared at the scene for a moment in disbelief, then his eyes widened.

A bluish crystal shard was mixed in with the smoke from the explosion.

Around the beautifully sparkling crystal shards, Osian appeared.

Not just one, but nearly ten.

Their coldness clashed with the heat around them, creating a pure white vapor.

They looked like clouds.

[Wind Cloud Water Moon]

The panicked guardian scattered the power of the sun around him.

Osian’s alter egos either collapsed under the force of the sun or moved to avoid it.

Death rays fell, blood-colored blades rained down, and scorching flames filled the air.

One by one, the alter egos fell to the ground in a hellish environment where no man could live and move.

But in the end, Osian was able to reach beneath the Guardian.

Ice erupted and grew at an angle along the path of Osian’s sword.

Sliding across the ice, Osian slashed through it and leapt into the air.

The starlight from the cloak spraying from his shoulders rose to its maximum.

The Guardian reached out to the sun.

The sun converged into a single point, transforming into a blood-colored sword.

The Guardian gripped the blade and swung it toward the approaching Osian.

‘Here it comes.’

The power of that sun-compressed sword was nothing short of devastating.

To counter it, he would have to display an equal, if not greater, skill.

Should he use the Starlight then? No, he shouldn’t. The moment he switches to the Starlight, his head will be cut off.

He had to subdue it with the power of the Moonlight.

But how?

‘To create.’

The best sword technique for the moment.

Don’t think with your head. Follow your instincts.

At this moment, the knight’s body, pushed to its limits, blossomed with explosive potential.

Osian merged the twin swords in his hands into one.

The two blades lined up in a series, and a long stream of icy coldness surged from the empty space between them.

The particles of coldness caught the light and scattered seven colors around.

[Moon Frost Sword]

His own unique technique, created on the spot.

[Bright Moon Sword]

The two knights crossed in midair.

They landed still, their backs to each other, in the mangled corridors of the ruins.

Osian looked back.

“Good fight.”

-Tsk.

The Guardian’s sword cracked, then snapped in two.