Side Story Chapter 306  

The moment Hawke noticed the ray of blindingly bright light shooting toward him, he thrust his fists out. Unlike the first punch, a rain of aura strikes was fired toward Selim—the ray of light—hitting him head on.

Instead of dodging Hawke’s aura strikes, Selim chose to parry them.

“You idiot!” Hawke sneered.

The biggest advantage of a spear was its attack range, but Selim had voluntarily given that up and closed the distance between him and Hawke! His mistake had painful consequences. Before Selim could swing his spear, he noticed an aura strike right in front of him and quickly turned his torso. Nevertheless, the aura strike brushed his waist.

“Urgh…” Selim groaned quietly and had to wipe blood off of his face.

A long weapon like the spear was strong, and that had the advantage of reach however, it also had a distinct disadvantage because its length and weight made it slower. In contrast, Hawke used himself as a weapon. Even though his attack range might be short, he was nimble, which he continuously used to get inside Selim’s reach.

“I’m not done!” Hawke leaped and spun in the air to demonstrate a technique that had even impressed Bel.

Hawke turned into a hurricane. His fists, legs… His entire body was his weapon. His fists were more deadly than any sword ever made, and his legs could deliver attacks that struck like a halberd. His faith in himself would drive him to destroy his enemy.

Mach Storm. That was the Martial Emperor’s ultimate technique.

Selim didn’t even have time to use the Magic Spear Arts techniques as he could barely manage to block the barrage of attacks, but he continued to recall the exquisite principles of the Magic Spear Arts and utilized his mana hall accordingly.

However, Selim ended up coughing up a fountain of blood, like a person who surfaced after spending a long time underwater. Hawke’s eyes gleamed when he saw this he felt certain that his victory wasn’t far away.

But instead, Hawke was startled by Selim’s blood splashing right on his face. The sticky blood blocked his view. Hawke was unable to hold back a grunt.

‘Was he planning this from the start…?’

Nevertheless, it wasn’t the time to stand around like a fool. Even if his eyes were covered, he still had his ears and nose to detect the changes in the air. Hawke focused on his other senses while quickly distancing himself from Selim, but no matter how long he waited, Selim didn’t make another attack. Hawke finally wiped the blood from his eyes and nearly fell over as soon as he saw what Selim was doing.

The air trembled like an earthquake, with Selim Sanders standing in the epicenter. Selim pointed his spear at Hawke, blood still dripping out of his mouth.

“What are you trying to do?!” Hawke’s instincts warned him that he was in serious danger. He wasn’t a fool, so he launched an aura strike immediately.

However, Hawke’s giant tiger vanished before it even reached Selim. His concern grew.

“What in the world…?”

Selim breathed out a white plume. In contrast to Hawke, Selim forgot about everything around him, including the situation he was in. It was time for him to finally finish climbing up the stairs and surmount the wall that had been in his way for a long time.

‘The Magic Spear Arts Level 8: Infinite Spear.’ Selim narrowed his eyes.

A series of attacks with an end wasn’t infinite. But by that logic, the three techniques of the Magic Spear Arts Level 8 were infinite.

Selim finally leaped high into the air. Hawke stiffened for a moment, but he quickly swung his fist. ‘How is he this fast?!’ Hawke bit his lip.

Selim was quicker than Hawke. Before Hawke could exclaim, Selim drew a big circle in the air with his red spear. Hawke was baffled. Despite the golden opportunity Selim had, he had chosen to swing his spear in the air meaninglessly.

“Did you give up?!” Hawke smirked at Selim, but a growing sense of incongruity quickly silenced him.

‘He’s showing his back during a battle…?!’

Hawke thrust his fist toward Selim, but his heart immediately sank. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t move his lips at all the same went for his hands, feet, and everything else. In fact, the world around him was completely silent, as if he had lost the ability to hear.

‘What in the world…?’

The only thing Hawke could manage to move was his eyes. He painfully rotated his eyes and found himself, to his shock, in the center of Selim’s circle. The world within the circle looked completely different from the outside, like a world detached from where he had been.

“Infinite Circle.” Selim tapped the floor with the end of his spear before he went down on one knee.

His stamina was exhausted by the technique he had just used. This ultimate technique allowed Selim to sever space itself, trapping his opponent in a spatial rift. It earned its name because its victims were stuck in the rift forever.

‘…Ah!’ Hawke saw a ray of light as darkness swallowed the world around him like ink staining paper. A smiling man stood in front of him, untouched by the abyss.

“…Sir Bel,” Hawke muttered.

The rift’s gate closed behind Hawke, sending him outside this world.

***

The unexpected arrival of the death knights made the Martial Knights’ captains grit their teeth. Even without engaging them, the captains could feel the death knights’ strength from the suffocating energy of death alone.

‘They aren’t just monsters. Each and every one of them is equal to us, so our chances of winning are unclear even if we use all of our true mana…!’

Where in the world had such monsters been hiding?

“His Majesty said that he needs you and the others to stay here for the time being.” Kireua smiled bitterly.

-Ah… that is a bummer. It’s been some time since I looked around the palace.

While the Wild King mumbled to himself, the death knight beside him came forward, the light in his eyes waving from side to side.

-My master is cruel. Even if I look like this, I used to be a prince.

“Oh, yeah. I heard a lot about you, Your Highness…”

Kireua tried to bow but the death knight waved his hand to stop him.

-It’s embarrassing to be addressed like a prince now. I’m old enough to be your grandfather if I were still alive. The death knight’s name was Kasselon ben Britten. He was the prince who had tragically perished in the schemes of Kaiser ben Britten. In the Britten family, Kasselon used to be the greatest martial artist.

-Wild King, you and I will be enough to take care of them on our own, yes?

Without answering Kasselon, the Wild King smiled as he released more of his demonic power. As their allies, the Black Knights let out a cheer in contrast, the Martial Knights’ faces darkened.

“…Houl, as their leaders, we have to make a decision,” one of the captains told the other.

“What? What decision?

“Only one of us has to get out of here. Once we manage to let Sir Bel know the situation, we’ll be able to turn the tide of the battle instantly. ”

Their voices were quiet, but their conversation was loud enough for the surviving Martial Knights to hear them.

“Captains! We’ll stop them!” freeweɓnovel.cøm

With their eyes burning with fighting spirit, the Martial Knights released the last of their true mana, pushing away the demonic power that the death knights exuded.

“…One of us had to stay with them,” the captain quietly said.

“Decker!” Houl screamed.

Decker joined the other Martial Knights. “Let’s go!”

Before Houl could stop them, the Martial Knights charged toward the legion of death. Houl cussed out loud. His fellow knights were risking their lives—the more time he wasted here, the more meaningless their sacrifice would become.

“Captain Houl! This way!”

“Clear a path so that Captain Houl can reach the exit! Don’t worry about anything else!”

“Urgh!”

“C-Captain, please tell Sir Bel…!”

Houl’s knights collapsed to the ground one after another in a desperate bid to help Houl reach the exit. Houl gritted his teeth and leaped through the battlefield.

Kireua looked up after cutting down another of the Martial Knights and noticed Houl’s attempt.

“Stop him!” Kireua shouted. “We can’t let anyone get out of here!”

The Emperor of Avalon trusted him with this job, and there was no knowing what would happen if he and the others let the Martial Knights go. Kireua couldn’t afford to fail.

-I got him.

Just as Houl reached the exit, the Wild King stood in his way.

The Wild King flung his chained, sawtoothed sword toward Houl, who threw himself toward the exit anyway.

Although Houl tried to dodge the attack, the Wild King could feel his sword bite into his target when he pulled his sword back, the sawteeth around the blade tore out Houl’s flesh and bones.

Houl used his sword to cut off the affected chunk of his shoulder and kept going without a second thought.

-…Hmmm…

The Wild King frowned. He found himself at a loss he wanted to go after Houl, but Kireua had told him that his master wanted him to stay in the vault for the time being.

-…I guess there’s no other choice.

The Wild King gave up on chasing Houl and rejoined the battle intending to slaughter the remaining Martial Knights so that no one else would slip away like a weasel.