I Became a Mythical Knight King

Chapter 111: The Lion King (2)

From the Barony of Baltin to the Galatein Fortress, it had been an arduous journey of continuous effort.

Using the commander’s orders and various magic, Alphonse was pushed to his limits. Whenever he faltered, René poured healing magic into him, forcibly maintaining top speed.

Even though his physical fatigue was relieved, the mental exhaustion remained. Alphonse reached a groggy state, but we managed to make it in time.

By a single moment.

Had we been even a breath late, the crown princess would not have been saved.

“Straight ahead.”

Yoo Seong didn’t look back.

He knew the crown princess was gravely injured.

Her left arm had been torn off, a sword was embedded in her chest, and there was severe bleeding from her back. Blood stains on her lips and neck suggested she had even coughed up blood.

But the crown princess was not dead.

Through an almost unnaturally heightened sense, he could feel her breathing.

She was alive.

She would not die.

Yoo Seong spread his senses wider, as if a spider sensing its surroundings through its web. Using this ability to gauge spacing, he discerned the number and positions of enemies nearby.

Seven in total.

Even the weakest among them possessed the strength of a second-tier knight.

No wonder the crown princess had ended up in such dire straits, even on a battlefield heading toward the fortress walls.

Crash!

Thunder roared in the distance.

But neither Yoo Seong nor anyone else turned to look toward the sound.

Manius, the monster with the head of a black panther, gripped his sword tightly, breathing heavily.

He had barely managed to block the blazing sword that suddenly flew at him, but it had been sheer luck.

Had he failed to block it, even by accident, his body would have been torn apart.

The man who appeared from the sky.

Who was he?

As Manius entertained the question, the answer suddenly came to him.

Though the color of the man’s eyes differed from the information he had, Manius’ instincts screamed the truth.

“The Black Knight of Lothian.”

It was him.

It had to be him.

Manius was bewildered.

It didn’t make sense for the Black Knight to be here.

Not just because of the physical distance.

Septimus.

Wasn’t he, a member of the Lion King’s family, supposed to be confronting the Black Knight of Lothian?

“Could it be…”

Septimus had been defeated by the Black Knight.

As a result, their ambush plan had been exposed.

Manius didn’t know what method the Black Knight used, but he had shown up to rescue the crown princess.

Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Thunder rumbled repeatedly.

Amid the thunderous noise, the shouts of soldiers and the sound of feet pounding the ground grew louder.

What should he do?

Should he push through the Black Knight of Lothian and ensure the crown princess’ death, or retreat now?

“Regardless, the Lion King is with us.”

The Lion King had only acted separately to facilitate their task. His presence meant that, Black Knight or not, the ultimate outcome would remain unchanged—

Clang!

A chilling sensation suddenly struck Manius, forcing him to hurriedly raise his sword to block a side attack. But his defense was incomplete.

The blade that had glided along his own sword suddenly shifted its trajectory and struck his back.

Sshhk!

The fiery blade tore through Manius’ back.

The Black Knight of Lothian.

The instant the black lightning struck, he was already at Manius’ side, and now he was behind him.

The choice wasn’t Manius’ to make.

No words were spoken but the Black Knight’s sword seemed to convey that message.

Boom!

Manius forcefully struck the ground, trying to create distance.

And in doing so, he saw them clearly.

The ones who appeared after the Black Knight.

A white-haired woman, a hulking old man, and ten swordsmen fanned out, ambushing the elite werebeasts.

They were strong.

Manius thought of the crown princess for a fleeting moment but charging toward her wasn’t an option.

A blonde woman stood in front of her, emanating a golden aura like flames.

It made no sense.

The sudden appearance of the Black Knight was strange enough, but where had such skilled knights suddenly come from—

“Ugh!”

Manius spun his body urgently, swinging his sword.

And Yoo Seong saw it.

He accurately read the trajectory of Manius’ sword and inserted his own blade into its path.

It was like magic.

Sword magic.

Manius’ sword path was completely disrupted by Yoo Seong’s ideology.

It was a technique he had learned from Morgan and honed through duels with Sir Kay.

“Rrgh!”

Manius roared in frustration, mustering all his strength but that was it.

Once again, Yoo Seong unleashed sword magic from his fingertips.

“Your Highness, I’m going to pull out the sword now. It’ll be fine, so don’t worry.”

Elisabeth exhaled sharply and focused ahead.

Her blurred vision caught sight of a woman with deep violet hair.

Though her sight was hazy, she could tell.

The girl was stunningly beautiful, even from a woman’s perspective.

And her golden eyes.

“Bal…tois…”

The answer left her lips reflexively, and the girl—René—nodded.

“Yes, that’s correct. René Baltois, the second daughter of the Count Baltois family.”

Though her injuries were severe, the crown princess still retained enough clarity for rational thought and reasoning.

This meant there was still hope for recovery.

René smiled brightly as she cast successive spells.

Though she couldn’t match Saint Jillian, René had learned a variety of spells through Camelot’s magical texts.

She sealed the crown princess’ wounds and restored her stamina.

As with Alphonse, the mental fatigue would remain, but her life was no longer in immediate danger.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t mastered the sensory-blocking spell yet.”

René offered an awkward smile, prompting the crown princess to muster a faint smile in return.

It was for René, whose nervousness was apparent despite her smile.

Strengthened by that smile, René swiftly pulled the sword from the crown princess’s chest.

“Ahh!”

The agony almost drove her unconscious, but the crown princess endured.

René immediately poured another healing spell into her, smiling gently.

“You’ll be fine.”

The sounds of battle were deafening.

Nearby, Yoo Seong and Camelot’s knights clashed fiercely with the monsters.

Blood spattered, and screams echoed but René remained calm.

She held the crown princess’s sole remaining hand tightly and spoke with kindness.

“The Successor is here. Everything will be okay.”

In truth, René was afraid too.

Not because of the monsters fighting close by.

But because of the thunderous roar in the distance.

More precisely, the lion’s roar that drowned out the thunder.

Beyond the barrier stood one of the seven kings.

There was no avoiding a confrontation with him.

Though not a knight, René could feel it.

No, the Lion King’s presence was so immense that even an ordinary person would sense it.

René took a deep breath.

Then she smiled again, looking at the crown princess.

Still conscious, she opened her mouth again to speak, this time with a slight hesitation before saying something rather unexpected.

“You’re very beautiful.”

She’s even more stunning in person than in her portrait.

It was a random comment to keep her conscious, but perhaps too random.

Elisabeth unintentionally smiled, causing her wound to pull and eliciting another pained groan.

“Ah! I-I’m so sorry!”

René Baltois.

The Black Knight’s mage.

Elisabeth felt herself growing fond of the girl before her.

“Your Highness.”

A voice was heard.

This time, it was a man’s voice.

She immediately recognized it as the voice she’d heard when she had prepared for death.

“The Black…Knight…”

The crown princess spoke faintly, her eyes shifting.

The Black Knight stood next to René.

Behind him were knights she had never seen before, each exuding extraordinary strength.

The monsters had been subdued.

The black panther-headed monster—Manius—had been slain by Yoo Seong, and five of the elite werebeasts fighting Hector, Morgan, and the elite sword corps had been killed. Two were injured and fled.

Yoo Seong didn’t bother pursuing them.

He had seen where they fled.

“Bis…ten…Count…”

The crown princess muttered haltingly, and Yoo Seong nodded.

“Your Highness!”

At that moment, a group of people ran toward them urgently.

They were knights and soldiers from the Galatein Fortress.

Some of those fighting on the walls must have come down to protect the crown princess.

They hesitated briefly at the sight of strangers surrounding the crown princess but quickly overcame their initial shock.

The knight at the front looked at Yoo Seong and asked,

“Are you, by any chance, the Black Knight of Lothian?”

In the kingdom of Silatein, Yoo Seong was already renowned.

Yoo Seong nodded in affirmation and interrupted the knight who was about to give a lengthy introduction, speaking firmly.

“Please take care of Her Highness, the Crown Princess.”

The frequency of the thunder beyond the walls was gradually decreasing.

Hearing Yoo Seong’s words, the knight seemed to sense something, swallowed hard, and approached the Crown Princess. After a brief bow to her, Yoo Seong turned toward the wall.

Beyond that wall stood the Lion King.

One of the seven kings beyond the barrier was roaring.

“Let’s go.”

Yoo Seong stepped forward, heading toward the thunderclaps.

Count Bisten understood the sentiments of the Guardian General.

A being truly deserving of the term “monster.”

Since reaching the level of Master Knight, it was the first time he had felt despair.

Count Bisten’s entire body was drenched in sweat.

Though he hadn’t allowed a single effective blow so far, this didn’t signify a successful defense.

One strike would end it.

If even one attack landed, it would mean his death.

There was about 30 meters between Count Bisten and the Lion King.

Count Bisten understood.

It wasn’t a distance he had created.

The Lion King was simply maintaining that gap.

He is gauging me.

The strength of a 3rd-tier knight.

The full capacity of a Master Knight.

It was as if he was measuring the limits of human power.

Between the fortress’s defensive forces and the lizardmen, there was no proper battle happening.

Everyone’s attention was captured by the fight between the Master Knight and the king beyond the wall.

‘I cannot win.’

Count Bisten admitted this calmly but he didn’t give up because of it.

He began to consider how, even in defeat, his loss could carry meaning.

Unfortunately, he had no time to come up with an answer.

In an instant, the Lion King’s momentum shifted.

When he took a step forward, the conceptual domain—Count Bisten “Stormy Night Domain”—began to contract, as if collapsing inward.

“Manius.”

The Lion King uttered something incomprehensible. Then, in the next moment, he pushed off the ground.

Count Bisten saw it.

He saw the Lion King charging at a transcendent speed, his sword carrying immense power.

Full force.

For the first time, the Lion King’s full might was contained within that sword.

Blocking it was impossible.

Dodging it would cause the fortress wall to collapse.

Faced with a dilemma where either choice led to ruin, Count Bisten steeled himself.

In a fleeting moment, he amplified the blue aura of thunder imbued in his power.

And just before impact.

At the very moment when power was about to clash—

“Among all things, there is nothing my arrow cannot pierce.”

A pure white arrow, wrapped in golden wind, rushed past Count Bisten’s ear and shot toward the Lion King.

BOOM—!

The Lion King tried to deflect the arrow with his palm, but he couldn’t.

The arrow pierced the back of his hand and embedded itself in his shoulder, slowing his charge.

The Lion King was startled.

Count Bisten did not miss that opening. He swung his sword, unleashing a burst of lightning.

CRACK!

The Lion King’s sword split the lightning apart.

The sheer force shattered the ground, and the shockwave spread like an earthquake.

But at that moment, a second arrow flew in.

The Lion King used his left arm, imbued with aura, to block the arrow while simultaneously turning his gaze.

He didn’t look toward the fortress wall where the arrow had been fired.

To his flank golden aura surged alongside black lightning.