How to Live as a Knight After the Ending

Chapter 167: Traces of the Past (1)

The red-haired man couldn’t understand what had happened to him for a moment.

The moment he reached out, Osian’s figure disappeared, and his wrist was severed near the forearm and rolled on the floor.

There was no blood gushing from the severed surface. This was because pure white frost was covering the wound and causing the skin to necrotize.

“Kraaak!”

The pain that froze even the blood vessels came belatedly like a wave and struck his entire body.

The red-haired man screamed in pain. Then, recalling what kind of unseemly behavior he had shown, he opened his eyes wide in surprise.

‘How could he, who wouldn’t even flinch at ordinary wounds, cry out in pain?’

The red-haired man frantically looked behind him.

If Osian were to launch an additional attack now, he might die.

But fortunately, or unfortunately, Osian didn’t take any additional action after cutting off one of his arms.

Instead, he eliminated all the red thorns that were restraining Loraine with a single slash.

When the freed Loraine was about to collapse, Osian supported her with his hand.

Osian examined Loraine’s condition.

She was covered in wounds everywhere and had broken bones.

But worse than that was her mental state.

Loraine’s gaze was fixed on the dead Fade.

Osian also quietly stared at Fade’s corpse.

With his eyes closed, what sight must he have seen before dying to have such a peaceful expression?

Osian silently patted Loraine’s shoulder once before standing up.

Although it was the perfect moment for a surprise attack, the red-haired man couldn’t move rashly.

His mind wasn’t working well due to the shocking events.

‘What was that attack just now? I couldn’t even see it properly. And what’s with that changed appearance?’

It wasn’t like he had simply changed armor; the armor itself had changed.

Not only had its form changed, but Osian’s movements had also become distinctly different.

‘Is it not just an artifact but something on the level of an ancient relic? If not that, then the Arc Parts that are said to be given only to executors?’

His head was complicated. Had it been a big mistake to dismiss him because he was wearing anachronistic armor?

The red-haired man gathered red magical power in his intact left hand and then seared it against the surface of his severed right arm.

The bright red magical power seared his wound as if it were flames, pushing away the Moon Scar’s coldness.

Though this alone would cause extraordinary pain, the red-haired man endured it.

Rather, his wavering eyes became a bit clearer.

The unnecessary thoughts retreated due to the pain, and what he needed to do now became clear.

“Haah. The heat makes my mind crystal clear. You, what’s your name? I should check before killing you.”

The red-haired man’s words were still arrogant despite his injury.

Osian, unconcerned by this, stated his name.

“I’m Osian.”

“Osian. Osian. Yes, I’ve definitely remembered your name. My name is……”

“No. There’s no need to tell me your name. You’re going to die anyway, and you’re not worth remembering to me.”

The red-haired man’s lips curved up crookedly.

If this had been mere provocation, he wouldn’t have gotten angry about it. But Osian wasn’t provoking him; he genuinely thought that way.

Knowing this, he became considerably irritated.

Not only had he cut off his arm, but now he was blatantly speaking down to him.

Even if he had the skills to back it up, it didn’t quell the existing anger.

“Fine. Then, let’s see you die at the hands of someone whose name you don’t even know.”

The red-haired man muttered coldly while surrounding his entire body with red magical power.

Osian quietly observed the red magical power rising like flames.

‘It’s definitely abnormal.’

The man was similar to a magician. But it was different from the magic used by magicians.

It wasn’t black magic either. Nor was it a mutant’s supernatural power.

‘There’s probably no need to categorize what kind of power it is.’

The techniques in this world aren’t simple enough to be categorized merely as magic, black magic, and supernatural powers.

Just look at his own power as a wandering knight.

The same goes for the red-haired man’s ability. Though its operation method was similar to magic, its power and versatility were on a different level from other magic.

The man raised his intact left arm to aim at Osian.

Just from that, crimson thorns shot up from the ground targeting Osian.

There was no sign of magical power flowing through the ground. He simply aimed his hand, and red magical power appeared there to target Osian.

However, before the thorns could touch Osian’s body, his figure disappeared hazily like a mirage.

The thorns pierced empty air, and bluish ice powder scattered in that empty space.

“Where are you!”

The red-haired man heightened his senses. His bulging eyes stared at the rain pouring down like a downpour.

An anomalous change caught his sight.

Whoosh.

The falling raindrops froze in midair and fell as ice.

Chilling cold. Upon confirming this, the man immediately stretched his arm toward that location.

This time, thorns didn’t surge up from the ground.

Instead, the jaws of a massive beast emerged and swallowed the surrounding space in one bite.

The man’s face, which had anticipated victory, soon twisted horribly.

‘There’s nothing here!’

He reacted as soon as he saw the rain freezing, but nothing was caught.

The man looked around. His sight caught the raindrops freezing and condensing in midair again.

‘This time I’ll definitely catch him.’

Thinking this, he stretched out his arm, and red magical power swirled and swallowed the surroundings. Naturally, Osian wasn’t caught.

‘What in the…’

When he thought he saw him and tried to catch him, he had already disappeared.

But when he came to his senses, he was showing himself somewhere again.

It felt like fighting an illusion. Or else Osian was blatantly toying with him.

It was an indescribably filthy feeling. The red-haired man twisted his face and burst out in anger.

“Stop playing around and come at me all at once if you’re going to come! Or are you scared?”

“You think I’m scared?”

Though he hadn’t expected an answer, surprisingly, Osian easily responded.

Close enough to be heard even if whispering, in fact.

“…!”

The red-haired man bulged his eyes and tried to swing his hand, but his hand aimed at empty air instead of Osian’s head.

His body tilted as one of his legs lost balance. He belatedly realized that one of his legs had been severed below the thigh.

“This time, one leg.”

Osian muttered indifferently as if he had just cut off one leg of a pig for slaughter.

“Kraa! You bastard!”

The red-haired man swung his hand while raging. Following that trajectory, red magical power spread in a fan shape, crystallizing as it tried to swallow Osian.

But Osian disappeared from his spot again.

The red-haired man bit his lips tightly while looking at his severed leg.

His right arm and left leg were gone. And Osian still didn’t seem to intend to kill him.

‘This bastard dares!’

By this point, it was impossible not to understand.

His gaze fell on the dead Fade. Right arm and left leg. These were the parts he had cut off saying he would recover the prosthetics.

‘Then next is.’

The moment that thought crossed his mind, a blue blade appeared in the air and was swung straight at his face.

It was aiming for the eyes.

The red-haired man exploded red magical power throughout his body.

The recoil made his body float in the air and get pushed back. The tip of the Moon Blade barely grazed his eyebrow.

The swung blade melted away into the air again as the puddles of water around had frozen.

The red-haired man raised magical power. The magical power twisted like yarn replaced his arm and leg.

Going further, he wrapped magical power around his entire body to create clothing and even put a hat on his head.

The surging red magical power began to dominate the surroundings. It was like watching fungi expanding their territory.

His eyeballs moved busily before fixing on one spot.

Right after, Osian appeared in the air as if parting an invisible curtain and swung his sword at him.

The distance between them was less than 1m.

It was a surprise attack at point-blank range and this time too, Osian aimed for his eyes but the red-haired man didn’t fall for it easily like before.

-Kagagagak!

The red magical power surrounding his entire body not only blocked Osian’s sword but pushed it back.

The man raised his hand made of magical power and firmly gripped Osian’s blade.

“You thought I’d be stupid enough to let you hit me when I know exactly where you’re aiming?”

His red coat tails surged and surrounded the area like high walls. Even if Osian tried to hide his figure now, there was no space to escape to.

Osian, who wielded the power of Moonlight, was certainly threatening.

How eerie was his ability to deceive opponents with illusions like mirages, and the freezing cold that froze anything it cut?

However, in a situation with no escape route, that power is reduced. The pure power output was higher on this side.

“I’ll do the same to you, no, that’s not enough. I’ll tear off all your limbs and scramble your brain so we can modify you ourselves.”

-Chijijijik!

The red magical power pushed against Osian’s blade while gradually exerting its influence.

“The moment you got caught here, you were finished!”

That’s when Osian answered.

“Is that so?”

“What?”

ARMOR CHANGE.

Osian’s appearance changed again. From the bluish uniform with added armor to the pure white full plate armor like when he first appeared.

The blade of moonlight that freezes to the bone changed into a sword of burning starlight.

The red-haired man was painfully aware more than anyone that it wasn’t just the appearance that was changing.

His proud power that had been pushing back Osian stopped at some point.

Beyond that, the pure white starlight rather pushed back his red magical power and gradually approached this side.

He tried to endure by gritting his teeth, but it wasn’t as easy as he wished.

The power output difference was nonsensically large. It wasn’t a clash of power against power holding steady, but Osian was unilaterally crushing his power while approaching.

After a brief power struggle, Osian cut one of the man’s eyes with the Starlight Sword.

“Aaaaargh!”

The man screamed at the terrible pain coursing through his brain. His face became terror-stricken as he staggered.

Until now, he had tried to maintain a calm mind somehow, but now that became impossible.

“Ge, get away! I said get away!”

He scattered the magical power wrapped around his body while crying out and struggling pitifully.

But Osian dispersed all such magical power with the Starlight Sword.

He raised his remaining intact arm to aim at Osian.

The action he took when faced with a life-threatening crisis was a kind of habitual trajectory he had often shown normally.

A movement that had cut off opponents’ breathing several times and brought him victory.

In other words, it meant that the opponent could also clearly read that movement.

-Slash!

The intact arm was cut off as Osian emitted blue eye-light from within his helmet.

“That ability requires hand movements beforehand to use. Either pointing with your hand, or flicking your fingers. I’ve seen it several times, did you think I wouldn’t know that?”

Unlike magicians, though he demonstrated abilities that transcended space, naturally there were conditions required to use them.

Namely, hand movements.

It was already an incredibly overpowered ability just to launch attacks of this magnitude with a single hand movement.

But those preliminary movements revealed what kind of attack he would make.

Osian had engraved in his mind those actions the red-haired man had shown several times, and lightly swung his sword to cut him down before he could even stretch out his hand.

Kwajik!

A knight’s kick was planted in the bewildered man’s abdomen.

The power was on the level of being hit directly by a car.

The man who rolled on the ground tried to get up, but Osian was faster in stepping on and breaking his one remaining shin.

Kwajijik!

“Kuaaaaaah!”

Osian looked down with a cold gaze at the man who screamed as if spitting blood.

Considering the pain this guy had given to Loraine, this was still far from enough.

“Moreover, that power of yours. It’s in my memory. I was uncertain at first, but now I’m somewhat confident.”

Osian’s sword dug into his body.

No matter how much magical power he concentrated to protect his body, it was nothing more than paper before the Starlight Sword.

The Starlight Sword that easily penetrated the guy’s body after pushing through slight resistance.

The guy screamed at the top of his lungs with veins bulging in his neck.

This was undoubtedly the first time in his life he had felt such pain.

“Answer me. Why do you wield the power of the Blood Flame Prince?”

Blood Flame Prince.

That was one of the boss monsters in the game Osian had played.

This guy he encountered today was using that power which should have disappeared in time by now.