Surviving as a Knight in a Trash Game

Chapter 168

A taut tension flowed between the two groups confronting each other.

It was Patrick who broke the long, suffocating silence.

The monster units, far from waiting calmly, couldn't hide their excitement and struggled to charge forward.

“My Lord.”

Patrick, who had been looking at Karl in the distance, quietly looked back.

1,500 human soldiers, 1,500 monsters.

A force that vastly overwhelmed the enemies before them.

The problem was that despite possessing such a force, a strange anxiety continuously welled up in Patrick’s heart.

“My Lord…?”

Rakshasa focused her gaze on her lord, who was staring at the enemies without any reaction.

“Prepare for a charge.”

Even without his words, Patrick’s army was already itching to charge forward.

“All forces, prepare to charge!”

The commanders’ orders were given, and the tension between the two opposing forces escalated to its peak.

At that moment, following Patrick’s hand gesture, the Postasia army began to rush forward in unison.

“Charge!”

The vast plain filled with the sound of humans and monsters running.

In that moment of mixed shouts and roars, the two groups collided head-on.

“Kraaaaargh!”

"Kuwaaaaah!"

“Uwaaaaaaaah!”

Human shouts and monster roars spread everywhere.

The cutting sounds flowing from the swords of the knights at the head of each group invariably claimed the lives of the opponents before them.

The confrontation between knights and monsters was even more fierce, with the sound of tearing leather and crumpling armor spreading like screams.

“Uruk warriors, engage only the enemy knights!”

With appropriately timed commands interspersed, the battlefield situation changed in an instant.

As the knights who were initially slaughtering monsters were halted by Uruk warriors, the majority of the horde flowed around both flanks of the unit led by Karl.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

At that moment, with a tremendous explosion, an old general wielding a massive greatsword devastated the area.

“Let’s see what you’ve got!”

The dignity of the old man, with his white beard fluttering and a massive blue aura exploding, was a sight rarely seen.

“Kukuba!”

As the airflow around the old man’s position subtly shifted, Patrick urgently called out to one person.

“Take care of that old man!”

The person called Kukuba was an oddly shaped individual with his hair tied up in a bun.

In his hands were two short spears, a type of weapon rarely seen in this world.

With a short nod to Patrick’s command, he rushed forward, his hair fluttering like a gust of wind.

Simultaneously, Kukuba’s short spears and the greatsword of the white-bearded old man, Bastien, clashed.

A tremendous shockwave raged, and the soldiers around the two men were swept away by the airflow.

“As long as I am here, there is no place for you to stand!”

The moment Bastien was blocked, a handsome knight with fluttering blond hair, who seemed to have appeared from nowhere, swept the surroundings, scattering white flashes everywhere.

“Rakshasa!”

Even before her lord spoke, Rakshasa had already noticed who she had to deal with.

As Rakshasa, wielding a short sword, rapidly approached the blond knight Kelvin, a void formed in the surrounding area.

Patrick slowly stepped into the space created by the storm of aura, which ordinary soldiers found difficult to approach.

His body was covered in a massive crimson aura, and a similar kind of energy surged from his sword.

Jeobeok. Jeobeok.

With calm footsteps that contrasted with the chaos of the battlefield, the black-haired man approached Patrick.

“Why? Why do you appear and interfere with everything I do?”

Born as the third son of the Gloster Imperial Family, he had tried to save the crumbling empire.

However, what returned to him, the third son, was ridicule, questioning what an unqualified person like him could possibly do.

The more he moved, the more everything around Patrick collapsed.

People he cherished died without a sound, and those who tried to help him had to face near-ruinous consequences.

Eventually, cornered, the only choice he had was to flee, and after that, to overturn the world.

There was no other way for Patrick to make his mark on the world.

The reason he summoned a demon was because there was no other method.

He wasn't exceptionally powerful, nor did he have a faction.

Being merely the third prince of the Gloster Imperial Family was not enough to change anything in the world.

So, he decided to rely on a demon.

He grew stronger through wealth.

He believed that if he borrowed their power and changed the world, he could then pay the price and disappear, and that would be all.

“Foolish words.”

Patrick disliked the man before him, who, unlike himself, always stood with the same expression and the same face.

“It wasn’t me who blocked you, but you who were a nuisance in my path at every turn, wasn’t it?”

“…”

A face that seemed to think nothing of it, perhaps even like looking at an insect, and the indifferent words he uttered.

Patrick felt that he wasn’t paying much attention to him.

“And this time, you’ve truly crossed the line.”

It was then.

A tremendous, unprecedented power emanated from his body, which until moments before had felt as empty as his indifferent expression.

It wasn’t even a brilliantly golden aura.

The moment a faint aura seemed to envelop him, Karl’s body was instantly in front of Patrick.

Kuung!

A single punch delivered upon approach.

With that one attack, Patrick felt the illusion that his entire aura-clad body was shattering into pieces.

“Keoeok…!”

Blood gushed from his mouth.

‘This can’t be. I received the power of a demon. Moreover, I offered numerous sacrifices and received Decarabia’s power directly.’

The power Decarabia had given him was a power that human strength could not dare to overcome.

At that moment, the demon’s authority healed Patrick’s body.

Then, his body began to change as if covered in a black shell.

Reconstitution of the flesh; the human body was gradually synchronizing with the demon’s body.

And as that synchronization progressed to a certain extent, an indescribable, immense power surged from his body.

‘Yes… I borrowed the power of a demon that should not dare to exist in this mortal world!’

Patrick, elated by the endlessly-welling power, kicked the ground a few times and then shot towards Karl with explosive speed.

Karl, who was indifferently observing him with his body relaxed, seemed surprised by his current speed, his eyes widening more than before.

He dodged his incoming body by moving backward and then delivered another straight punch.

Kwaaaaaang!

In that brief instant, their fists collided, the surrounding ground exploded, and a shockwave of Qi erupted in the area.

“Amazing! To withstand the power of a demon with a human body!”

A voice, whether Patrick’s or Decarabia’s, it was unclear, echoed throughout the area.

At that moment, Karl, who had firmly planted both feet on the ground, stepped forward with his left foot, lowered his stance, and thrust his fist towards him.

[Karl Meyer Style. Fist Art. First Form. Destructive Strike]

At that moment, a massive golden aura tore through the air and flew towards him.

“What kind of barbaric…!”

It was merely a simple straight punch, and the emission of an Aura Fist imbued in it, but the power contained in his fist was too immense to be called just a single punch of aura.

Patrick’s crimson aura collided with the fist that flew in, distorting all the surrounding air.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

A deafening roar, doubtful if it could even be heard in a human fight, spread across the entire plain.

At that moment, Patrick, caught in the shockwave, flew backward like a kite with a broken string.

Dust flew in all directions, and the airborne Patrick tumbled helplessly to the ground.

“Keuleok…!”

Having spewed out a considerable amount of blood, he lost control of his upright body and staggered.

“This… is impossible…! I… I… possess the power of a demon, so how can a mere human stop me!”

How could a human, with their own strength, possibly defeat the power of a demon.

“Decarabia! If this is all the price of the contract, then I cannot fulfill the contract! Giving me a power that can’t even defeat a single knight and then reaping my soul doesn’t add up!”

Patrick, having gotten up, screamed at the top of his lungs.

His appearance, shouting at the empty air, looked almost like that of a madman.

[If you receive any more of my power, your body will not be able to withstand it.]

“Don’t be ridiculous. Isn’t that just an excuse because you can’t give any more power.”

[Humans always fail to see even one step ahead. If you add more power there, demonization will proceed, and your body, unable to withstand the power, will burst and shatter into pieces.]

“I’ll take care of that, so just give me the power. Wasn’t that the condition of the contract? You give power, and I eliminate that guy.”

Patrick’s gaze fixed on Karl, who was still looking at him with an indifferent expression.

Unlike himself, who was covered in blood, he looked exactly the same as before, observing him intently.

Moreover, Karl hadn’t even drawn his sword yet and was facing him bare-handed.

[Very well. Everything that follows is the result of your choice.]

He might not be able to kill the agent of Essus, but collecting the souls of those who had accumulated all sorts of evil deeds was not a bad thing for him either.

At that moment, from the top of Decarabia’s star-shaped head, streams of black light flowed down and poured towards Patrick.

‘Why did I make a contract with that thing? What am I fighting that guy for?’

Patrick couldn’t remember at all how he had ended up here.

Only the thought of having to kill Karl dominated his mind.

‘Was there ever even once?’

Cause and justification.

Had he ever truly possessed the values he had spoken of while gathering people for over a decade?

‘What a load of crap.’

He had never once had such thoughts.

It was merely a hollow justification created to use them.

He had always lived only for himself.

“Karl! Meyer!!!”

The moment Patrick shouted, his body grew about 1.5 times larger than before, and his body color changed completely to black.

His golden eyes also turned crimson, and at that moment, his body moved towards Karl at a speed imperceptible to the eye.

A black light sword, which appeared in Patrick’s hand at an unknown moment, approached Karl at a speed that even a Master-grade knight would find difficult to follow, and slashed towards Karl’s neck.

Kwaaang!

It was a strike that an ordinary Master might not have been able to react to properly and would have been severely damaged, yet Karl lightly took a step back, mitigating the impact and dispersing the force of the sword.

After one fierce strike, Patrick’s sword now fell from above.

The sword falling towards Karl’s head had crackling black lightning gathered on it, and as it slashed downwards, the lightning split into several branches, simultaneously targeting various parts of Karl’s body.

[Karl Meyer Style. 6th Form. Ascension]

The scattered aura particles and lightning clashed, and the aura particles, which had always dispersed the opponent’s attacks, were pierced by the black lightning this time, and the lightning struck Karl’s torso directly.

“Heup…!”

Karl’s body, shocked by the black lightning that pierced him from the front, rolled for a long time and flew backward.

Seeing Karl being helplessly beaten, only the thrill of battle and the ecstasy of being able to trample Karl remained in Patrick’s mind.

Patrick, his black flesh writhing and cackling even while covered in blood, bore no resemblance to his former self.

“Our lord was a demon…?”

“What are you talking about?”

“If that’s not a demon… then what on earth…?”

Even the soldiers following him became confused upon seeing the completely transformed Patrick.

Regardless of their agitation, Patrick, intoxicated by the greater power received from Decarabia, lost his reason.

And he shot towards Karl once more, who was staggering and getting up from the recent collision.