The Knight Who Protects the Weak

Chapter 019: Drawing a Snowflower

I saw one of the Crimson Flame Leader’s eyebrows twitch upward.

“…Weren’t you supposed to submit?”

“No chance of that.”

Seven on each side.

Even while keeping my gaze fixed on the Crimson Flame Leader, I could accurately count the number of mages lined up on my left and right.

I sensed the mana they began to warm up as they openly displayed their hostility.

‘This, too… is a step beyond my previous life.’

I gently closed my eyelids.

If I were to describe it in terms of sight or sound…

In my past life, in a situation like this, I would have felt something akin to ‘thick fog’ or ‘thunder roaring from all directions.’

Now, it’s different.

Tiny flickers of light, like fireflies, form in my vision, one for each of them, and the sound of rhythmic percussion taps at my eardrums.

Of course, this is merely an analogy.

This sensation transcends the five senses, making it hard to find even a remotely fitting comparison.

‘Sixth Sense Open, Mana.’

The second ability of the Benkou Swordsmanship’s second stage, following ‘Clone, Ejection.’

‘To reflect in the midst of a battle’s prelude. Truly, you’ve grown, Bihen.’

I praised myself inwardly and opened my eyes.

“Ha, haha… Ahahahahaha!”

The Crimson Flame Leader laughed like a madman.

The echo carried his insanity raw and unfiltered.

Whoosh!

He thrust out an open palm.

From his fingertips, red vapor streamed out, strand by strand.

The red vapor morphed into something between flame and blood, then surged forward with the force to engulf the entire room.

Crack-crack-crack!

A fissure split the ground beneath my feet.

I kicked off the floor in an instant.

BOOM!

My back felt scorching.

A ferocious pillar of fire erupted from where I’d been standing.

But I was already three steps from the Crimson Flame Leader.

I’d been ready to charge from the start.

I locked eyes with his shocked gaze.

“Speak. Are you the mastermind who brought blood magic to the Kingdom?”

“You…! I didn’t permit you to close the distance, yet you so easily…!”

“Whatever atrocities you’ve committed, the fact that you’re fundamentally a mage doesn’t change.”

Well, I’ll know once I cut you.

I swung my sword horizontally.

Even to my eyes, it gleamed with a deadly sharpness.

Slash!

“Urk!”

Confirming the Crimson Flame Leader’s body split in two, I immediately turned around.

The mages below were the real issue.

‘The one with the fastest mana flow first.’

I held my stance and created a clone.

At this distance, the clone’s dash would be faster than me charging directly.

Screeeech!

The clone pierced through the fire pillar the Crimson Flame Leader had summoned and charged.

They surely hadn’t expected a surprise attack from this angle.

The necks of two mages, caught completely off guard, flew off almost simultaneously.

There wasn’t enough time to take out another, but…

Jayden swiftly finished off one mage who’d frozen while focusing on the clone.

Zzt-zzt-zzt—

As the clone returned, an inexplicable exhilaration surged within me.

The purple ghost aura seeping from the blade made my hair flutter.

‘…As fast as possible.’

I advanced toward the mages on the opposite side.

“Conquer sin with the flames of retribution—! Carry out your master’s will!”

“We’ll burn even your soul to ashes!”

The ones spouting such nonsense couldn’t even distinguish good from evil.

I’m not in a position to call myself a saint, but I can guarantee these guys aren’t either.

My sword sliced through their flames in chunks.

“No, how…! Why!”

Cutting down the mages in front of me took less effort than keeping an eye on Jayden.

Based on the mana I sensed with my sixth sense, these mages were likely around the 4th or 5th Circle.

Given Jayden’s level—roughly mid-to-high Sword Expert—he shouldn’t find them too difficult to handle.

“Insolent—!”

A roar came from behind.

“Pathetic vermin—!”

The Crimson Flame Leader was floating, arms raised as if propping up the air.

His severed lower body had been replaced by a writhing mass of blood, pulsating as if alive.

‘…Not even close to his peak, let alone a real threat.’

After finishing off a mage at my feet, I charged toward the Crimson Flame Leader again.

Just as I closed in, my head turned toward a growing heat approaching from outside my field of vision.

At the same time, a voice like boiling phlegm rasped out.

“Come, then! Into the embrace of truth!”

From the rear, a barrage of projectiles shot toward me.

They were grotesque, sharpened blood infused with heat.

‘The angle of approach is a blind spot.’

For most, reacting quickly to such an angle would be difficult. M

oreover, if I took the hit, the Crimson Flame Leader himself wouldn’t escape the blast radius.

Swish-swish-swish-swish!

I swung my arm in various arcs.

Blood droplets mixed with sparks scattered in all directions along the path of my sword.

I had no choice but to turn my back on the Crimson Flame Leader, and just then, he stretched out an arm wreathed in flames.

“What kind of monster are you? You!”

Whoosh!

I pulled my left foot back in a semicircle and struck at his neck.

Thud.

“Hahaha…”

“Still alive after losing your head?”

“You, Imperial. What are you? Breaking magic with a sword? Is that possible? Was it a magic I didn’t know? Imperials shouldn’t have mana.”

The Crimson Flame Leader, speaking with his eyes rolled back like a gutted fish head, was a bit unsettling to look at.

I glanced back and saw Jayden catching his breath after dealing with his assigned mages.

I looked down at the Crimson Flame Leader again.

“Blood Mage? Laughable. Where is he?”

He couldn’t have mastered blood magic on his own.

“Don’t dare speak of sublime truth so lightly.”

“Right. I didn’t expect you to answer willingly anyway.”

“One question. Why go this far? This has nothing to do with you, does it?”

Nothing to do with me?

Thump, thump.

‘No.’

Following the pulsing deep in my chest… my lips slowly curled upward.

“It’s not unrelated.”

I raised the sword I’d pointed downward.

The Crimson Flame Leader kept his gaze on the blade’s tip, chuckling faintly.

“Even if the time spent seeking new truth was lengthy, the karma I’ve built hasn’t vanished.”

“Your last words?”

“Have you ever imagined the agony of burning to the bone?”

“No.”

“You’ll find out soon, Imperial.”

BOOM!

A deafening roar shook my mind.

My vision wavered.

Instinctively, I looked up.

‘…!’

No matter how great a mage, I’ve never been intimidated by them.

I know their magic poses no threat to me.

‘That’s…’

Fireballs poured from the dark ceiling.

It was as if a volcano’s peak had been flipped upside down.

I’d seen all sorts of supernatural phenomena caused by mages, but this level of power was unprecedented.

It was large enough to engulf this entire space and more.

“Jayden—!”

A moment stretched endlessly.

The acceleration of my thoughts pushed even the roar aside, spinning countless scenarios in my mind.

‘Can I cut through all of that?’

Even if I could, I couldn’t guarantee Jayden’s safety.

Rumble-rumble-rumble—

To make matters worse, the door was closing.

A sinister red glow pulsed across the stone wall’s surface.

‘They plan to collapse this place entirely!’

I reached Jayden and steadied my breathing.

This time, I had to focus every ounce of my mind to aim for the perfect trajectory.

Most people facing death wear a vacant expression, and Jayden had that look now.

Of course, I had no intention of dying.

‘I still have too much to do.’

The fiery pit above was now roughly twenty paces away.

I suddenly understood why this group was called the Crimson Flame Cult.

It was as if a demonic beast, cloaked in blood-red flames, was charging with its maw wide open.

Why was my head turning to the side? I thought I heard something.

A white flash sparked through the narrowing gap of the door.

“Teacher—!”

Maserin hurled herself toward us.

As she rolled to a stop at my feet, the door slammed shut with a thunderous boom.

“Ma, Maren…!”

When Maserin stood beside me…

The flames were about ten paces from my head.

I glanced at her with just my eyes.

Her already sharp pupils burned with a strange hue, contrasted against the flickering firelight.

“…I’m already busy enough, so why crawl in here and make more work for me?”

She was silent, as if out of her mind.

To act so recklessly, disregarding her own life, her bond with Jayden must be stronger than I’d imagined.

‘Still, better than nothing.’

The searing heat that could melt my body clashed with the cold aura Maserin unleashed, both wrapping around me.

I raised my sword vertically.

KABOOM—!

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Opposition and immunity are different concepts.

My innate Curse of the Spectral Body grants resistance and repulsion to supernatural phenomena wrought by mana, but it doesn’t make me immune to collateral damage or natural disasters.

Even I’m not numb to heat or cold.

I feel the pain of burning and freezing just as much.

“Cough, cough…”

Maserin’s faint coughing came from nearby.

She’d managed to survive somehow.

“Maren! Bihen! Are you alright!”

Jayden seemed fine too.

Not surprising, since I’d focused more on protecting him than myself.

Clack.

I slowly lifted my eyelids. I was still standing.

“Hack!”

Acrid smoke stabbed at my lungs.

My body swayed.

I barely steadied myself and struck my temple hard.

The ringing in my ears gradually faded, but my blurred vision refused to clear.

The area was thick with smoke. Only scattered embers were faintly visible.

“Bihen, are you alright!”

“Yeah, well… more or less.”

“…My God, I thought we were done for, but to survive like this. Hack! What are you, really? How could you…”

“No, more importantly…”

Neither Jayden nor I had the energy to speak, coughing incessantly and barely able to hold a conversation.

“Let’s get out of here!”

We leaned on each other and moved toward the closed stone gate.

Breathing was an issue, but the floating dust and ash made it hard to even keep our eyes open.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jayden pounded on the stone wall desperately.

Finding a gap to pry open was a struggle.

“Damn it, it won’t budge!”

Jayden’s lament mingled with the sound of Maserin conjuring ice.

Crunch!

With everything shrouded in a hazy white, the light from the ice crystals almost looked like white flames.

“Please, please…!”

Maserin’s trembling voice sounded pitiful.

She’d squeezed out what little mana she had to do something, but she was at a loss for what to do next.

“Hack! Maren! Find a way to scatter the ice finely!”

Watching their desperate efforts, I clung to my fading consciousness.

To escape burning to death only to suffocate—frustration brought tears to my eyes.

‘Find a way to survive.’

Blood burst from my bitten lip.

The metallic taste lingering in my mouth at least kept me alert.

I looked at Maserin.

She understood Jayden’s advice in her head but couldn’t put it into action. Her face, despairing at her own limits, was clear even through my hazy vision.

…I’m not in a position to meddle. It’s not like I fully understand how magic works either.

‘Magic, how it works.’

I quietly repeated the words floating in my mind.

‘Focus mana to manifest elements… or is it the other way around?’

Doesn’t the first step involve envisioning the phenomenon you want to create?

‘If I could use sword aura… I’d slice through this stone wall in one swing.’

Imagining that, I alternated my gaze between the sealed door and Maserin.

‘…!’

A burning sensation flared in my left eye.

The sudden pain startled me more than it hurt.

The sting, like a graze from a flame, subsided, and when I lowered the hand covering my eye…

A strange sight appeared.

‘This is…’

I saw blue veins stretching from near Maserin’s heart to her limbs.

‘Mana.’

This wasn’t comprehension. It was intuition.

‘I can… do this.’

That thought alone struck me.

As if my will controlled my body, I gripped my sword.

‘Ghost Eye.’

The left eye I’d named so began to heat up.

I couldn’t confirm it now, but it was likely flickering with blue ghost flames.

I slid my left hand’s index and middle fingers along the blade.

Crack-crack—

White ice crystals formed where my fingers passed.

By the time my fingers reached the tip, the blade blazed with vivid white light.

I didn’t even know what I was doing.

But I craved life.

Like at the end of my previous life.

“You, you…”

“…!”

Facing the stone wall, I ignored the gasps of the two behind me.

The sword, cloaked in cold, glowed vividly.

‘Cut.’

There was no need to shatter it in one blow.

Like when I first learned swordsmanship.

One stroke, one stroke, with utmost care.

The cold swept through where the blade passed, and frost formed in its wake.

Thus, I drew a snowflower on the stone wall.

Cracks spread along the snowflower’s strokes…

Rumble-rumble-rumble—!

Finally, the stone wall collapsed.