Surviving as a Knight in a Trash Game

Chapter 160

Karl, who had called for the 11th challenger, still stood on the arena stage with an indifferent expression.

His breathing, his posture, were all the same as at the beginning.

From his appearance, standing without a single drop of sweat, people felt a strange sense of pleasure.

“That’s our Lord…!”

Even though people knew it wasn't their own doing, they were feeling a strange catharsis stemming from a sense of belonging.

Just as the emotion commonly called vicarious satisfaction was greatly enhancing the loyalty of the Arthur Domain residents, the 11th challenger, who was not on the schedule, stepped onto the stage.

The challenger wielded an axe that was slightly smaller than a two-handed axe, yet too large to be called a one-handed axe.

It was a single-bladed axe, crescent-shaped rather than double-sided, and the sharpness felt from the blade and its apparent strength seemed vastly different from ordinary ones.

“It’s Tuva. My challenge day is tomorrow. I don’t know the order. I just came up.”

His strong presence, fighting spirit, rippling muscles, and the long, braided hair characteristic of southern barbarian tribes, along with his bronze skin, were impressive.

“My master said so. The axe techniques of the Hexler school are the best. So, I will defeat you and prove it.”

Tuva had come here to earn money, but upon seeing Karl on the arena stage, he now stood here as a warrior who had completely forgotten his initial purpose.

“I heard you came to become a knight?”

“I don’t know. Such things are not important.”

Unlike Karl, who seemed like a calm and tranquil sea, a strong fighting spirit, filling the entire arena, emanated from Tuva’s entire body.

“That would be fine too.”

After Karl’s short remark, Tuva kicked off the arena floor and leaped into the sky.

Floating in the air looked spectacular at first glance, but it was a dangerous choice because it meant voluntarily abandoning the option to ‘dodge’ an attack from the person below.

That was a technique used to kill an opponent in one blow, utilizing the gravity of falling along with the leap.

An attack that disregarded defense.

That was the will Tuva was showing.

Whoooosh!

With a sound like the atmosphere trembling, the axe, imbued with a darkish aura, fell towards Karl’s head.

“He’s a Master!”

“A Master, he says!”

Not only the people cheering for Tuva upon seeing his aura, but also many knights in the arena, shot up from their seats.

It was true that the appearance of Master-grade knights had suddenly increased compared to just a decade or so ago, but Master was still an extremely rare realm when looking at the entire continent.

“Interesting.”

A smile touched Karl’s lips.

He had known for a while that he was a Master.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

Karl’s sword, advancing to meet the axe flying with powerful momentum, was a straightforward sword without any particular finesse.

A contest of strength against strength.

Kwoong!

The sound of the axe and sword clashing, making people’s hearts pound, heated up the arena.

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

People screamed like crazy as they watched the exchange of offense and defense that surpassed roughly 50 clashes.

“His Lordship isn’t losing, is he?”

“The Red Axe is strong, though!”

Judging by outward appearances, it seemed like Tuva was relentlessly pushing Karl.

Karl merely appeared to be blocking the incoming axe.

“…Isn’t the Commander being pushed back?”

Even Expert-grade knights worried if Karl was perhaps being pushed back.

On the other hand, knights of Superior-grade and above, unlike the reactions of those around them, watched the duel with keen interest, arms crossed.

“Really… The Commander isn’t human.”

“Does it make sense to leisurely block that axe head-on?”

Tuva’s axe techniques were powerful blows, each imbued with his soul.

Among those gathered here, there were few who could receive even a single blow of that axe.

Even if they did, they would have to block it with all their might.

Karl was receiving all those brutish attacks with one hand.

“Heok…! Heok…!”

The gap between the two began to become noticeably apparent as the duel surpassed 70 clashes.

On the arena stage stood Karl, wielding his right hand with the same indifferent expression as at the beginning, and Tuva, drenched in sweat and unable to even maintain proper breathing.

Even in a situation where it seemed he could finish it with just a little more push, Karl still maintained a distance, giving Tuva time to recover his breath.

“Amazing! You are! Truly strong!”

Watching Tuva, who was laughing purely and shouting heartily, Karl thought he liked him.

‘Pure.’

Whether as a knight or a mercenary, people inevitably lost their purity as they lived by the sword.

But Tuva was truly pure.

Like a clean child, perhaps.

“I will bet everything on the final blow!”

Tuva shouted loudly and began to enlarge the darkish aura on his axe even more.

Thus, the darkish aura, which had initially soared to about 3 meters, at a certain point actually decreased in size, clearly settling into the shape of an axe about 1 meter long.

“Mahba!”

Then, the fellow shouted a strange word.

“Mahba! Mahba!”

Every time he shouted, the distinct blood vessels on Tuva’s body twitched, and aura began to form around his torso.

A type of body fortification technique covered his body, and once again, he leaped into the sky.

Tuva, who had risen high into the sky, reached his maximum height and then rapidly descended with his axe.

“Foolish.”

It was an attack focused solely on power, utilizing the force and speed of the fall.

A hard, compressed aura, seemingly difficult to pierce with any ordinary aura, enveloped Tuva’s entire body and axe, making Tuva fall right in front of Karl as if he were a meteor.

‘What should I do.’

He could have dealt with it using swordsmanship.

It was possible to deflect it gently, dodge it, or gradually dispel the fellow’s aura.

However, strangely, seeing the fellow’s purity made him not want to do that.

Only strength.

Just like when he first faced Tuva’s axe, Karl enveloped his entire body in a golden aura and flared up the aura on Léctĭo.

The moment the dazzling golden aura, bright enough to blind, completely enveloped him, Tuva’s axe and Karl’s sword collided.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

With a tremendous clash incomparable to before, the arena floor couldn't withstand the fierce impact and burst apart.

People, feeling their bodies pushed back by the momentarily felt pressure, squeezed their eyes shut, and among the knights standing closer to the arena than the spectators, some were even blown back by the storm of aura.

“What happened!?”

“What!? What’s going on!?”

People opened their closed eyes and looked at the arena, but they couldn't immediately see the center of the arena due to the dust cloud raised by the shattered stone floor.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Then, as the dust cloud cleared, cheers erupted from the mouths of the people who first saw the arena.

There stood Tuva, collapsed on the floor in a spread-eagle position with his axe, a satisfied look on his face, and Karl, still with an indifferent expression, his sword lowered.

“That’s enough for today.”

Karl, looking at the collapsed arena, uttered a single word and left the place, and people, cheering even louder than before, chanted Karl’s name.

***

“Hmph, acting all cool and mighty, really.”

Kelvin felt a strange tremor in his hand as he watched the duel between Karl and Tuva that had just taken place.

Though he grumbled, there was a romance in the duel that was hard for a knight to ignore.

“Heh heh heh. Unlike usual, it was crude.”

Bastien, who was at the highest realm here, could accurately see Karl’s response at the end.

‘To feel such a tremor at this age… Am I really going senile?’

He was long past the age to retire from the front lines.

He had thought his heart would no longer race at such duels or confrontations.

However, even he, who had become a legend, found it hard to suppress the sudden surge of the emotion called fighting spirit.

“It’s been a while; I should warm up my body. Kelvin, the time will soon come when we too must fight as knights. How about we cross swords in the training ground?”

“Excellent!”

Kelvin thus turned his back without a second glance and walked towards the training ground with Bastien.

As the two left for the training ground, Rogério and the remaining members also rose from their seats.

“If you show us something like that, how can we just stand by?”

With Rogério’s monologue, all the members of the Lighthouse Knights left the arena and walked towards the training ground.

And this phenomenon was not limited to the Lighthouse Knights; other knights who had watched the match also felt a stirring emotion in their chests and moved towards places where they could wield their swords.

The Arthur Domain Knight Grand Tournament was thus igniting a fire in the hearts of many knights.

***

After the day Karl showed a spectacular match with Tuva, his remaining matches ended easily.

Although Tariq, the Vice-Commander of the Stefano Knights, put up a good fight in the final duel and showed another spectacular match, the duel with Tuva had left such a strong impression that it didn't create a bigger issue.

As the first grand match of the Arthur Knight Grand Tournament concluded, Tuva and Dennis, as initially expected, joined the Lighthouse Knights as new members.

Tuva received the position of Karl’s exclusive chief bodyguard. Although he had no authority to command the knight order, considering his skill as a Master-grade knight, it was decided to treat him as equal to a Vice-Commander.

Dennis, as a Superior-grade knight, started at the team leader level, and considering his young age, arrangements were made for him to gain experience more quickly.

And after the individual matches concluded, what followed was the knight order rotation battle, with the honor of the entire knight order at stake.

“The second grand match is already the final game.”

The Lighthouse Knights, welcoming a new wind of change, had already won three of the total four 50 vs 50 knight order rotation battles by an overwhelming margin.

Perhaps because of the painful memory of finishing second in the Somerset Knight Grand Tournament last time, the Lighthouse Knights thoroughly crushed their opponents, as if determined not to record a single defeat.

And their attitude, paradoxically, served as an opportunity to further arouse gratitude and competitiveness in the participating knight orders.

Other knight orders also knew well how difficult it was to give their all in every match while fighting four rotation battles in the morning and afternoon.

“Prepare to charge!”

In the considerably large arena, 50 knights mounted their horses and raised their respective weapons.

“Kelvin at the lead! All units, charge!”

Kelvin, the Knight of Holy Light, who had now become another symbol of the Lighthouse Knights, began to gallop at the head of the Lighthouse Knights, emitting a white aura.

Behind him, knights emitting a faint white light galloped.

As they rushed forward, forming a dust cloud, the Stefano Knights were also rapidly riding their horses towards them from the front.

Dudududududududududu!!

The two groups of knights, riding their horses at top speed until just before impact, drew closer to each other, and their weapons clashed.

Kwang!

Kwaaang!

Kwang!

The sound of metal clashing from all directions and the hot fervor of falling knights filled the arena.

Rogério blocked a mace flying from his side with his shield and then struck the face of a Stefano Knight standing next to him with the raised shield.

After a long and fierce battle, as the evening sun was setting, the referee’s whistle echoed through the arena.

Tweeeeeeeet!

“Winner! Lighthouse Knights!”

The 10 Lighthouse Knights remaining among the 100 knights in the arena raised their hands high, and the people roared as if the arena would be torn apart.

After the Lighthouse Knights’ strong performance, the Arthur Domain also won the 3rd grand match by an overwhelming margin, and the 1st Arthur Domain Knight Grand Tournament concluded successfully.