Surviving as the Fallen Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 4: Half-Knight

Flaaaash!

I dashed across the inner walls of the duchy castle at breakneck speed.

Then,

Swish, swish, swish!

A dozen elite soldiers pursued me closely.

"Catch him! We must not let the Grand Duke escape!"

They charged at me relentlessly, like hounds in a fox hunt.

Clank!

As they hastened their steps, the clanking of their heavy armor echoed.

'Damn it. Their equipment is no joke...'

Just from the sound alone, I could tell how much investment had been poured into these elite troops.

After all, there were already three of them who had reached the Expert rank.

With this level of force, they could have come to overthrow the entire duchy.

Tap, tap!

The Northern Grand Duke's long legs were well-suited for sprinting, allowing me to run at incredible speed even without infusing mana into them.

And finally,

Whoosh!

Leading a dozen assassins,

I entered the grand hall of the duchy castle, which lay empty.

The immense darkness of the unlit hall swallowed me whole.

Meanwhile, fierce battles were unfolding throughout the duchy castle.

Swooooosh! Shuuuuung!

"Aaaaargh!"

Near the outer walls, the duke's soldiers were engaged in a siege battle.

"Damn it. This is seriously messed up..."

Count Trotsky’s daughter, who had been sold off to the Grand Duke, was deeply moved by the ridiculous turn of events that had greeted her upon arriving in the Duchy of Axen.

"What the hell is going on? I just got here, and..."

No matter how she looked at it, she was cursed with terrible luck. She had never faced such misfortune in her life.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, she tried to look at the situation as positively as possible.

At least that Johan Kraubitz was the Northern Grand Duke...

"He should be good at fighting, right?"

The title of Northern Grand Duke wasn’t something one earned by gambling.

So, she thought she might place some trust in the weight of that title.

But then,

"No, wait, didn’t they say that bastard can’t even use mana?"

Rumors she had heard before suddenly resurfaced in her mind.

Yes, she distinctly remembered hearing such things.

Among the noble ladies of the Empire, gossip about prominent figures often made the rounds.

According to what she had heard, the Northern Grand Duke's body was somewhat defective.

What was it again?

Something about being born frail and unable to properly wield mana...

"Then he's just a total dud, isn't he?"

If his face looked like a wild boar, he should at least be good at fighting.

But it seemed he was just a giant who couldn’t even brawl properly.

So,

"Surrender? Or run away?"

Erina Trotsky was also fighting her own desperate battle.

Meanwhile, near the rear mountain of the duchy castle...

"Drive them toward the watchtower!"

The knights, led by their commander Victor, were locked in fierce combat.

Victor, the loyal Knight Commander of the Duchy of Axen, roared like thunder.

"Drive them toward the watchtower and coordinate with the crossbowmen's support fire! Stay alert. They may not know how to use aura, but they aren’t pushovers."

"Yes, sir!"

After issuing his command, Victor checked the positions of the order’s top fighters, Krum and Mangala.

'Good. They are stationed on both flanks, so they can provide support as needed.'

With that in mind, he continued fighting in a stable manner.

Tap, tap, tap!

Then, he noticed some suspicious movements in the distance.

'Over there... That leads to the grand hall?'

A dozen figures were rushing in that direction. At that moment, a thought flashed through Victor’s mind.

"Your Grace!"

Yes, the knight’s keen instincts sent a chilling sense of unease through him.

'I have to go.'

Even if he wasn’t certain, he needed to confirm his lord’s safety immediately. So...

Whoosh!

He launched himself toward the grand hall at full speed.

Swish! Clanggg!

But five knights suddenly blocked his path. One of them sneered and spoke mockingly.

"Victor, Knight Commander of the Duchy of Axen..."

Smirk.

"Looks like you’ll be staying here with us."

At that moment, Victor realized he had walked into a trap.

Hoooooo...

The thick darkness filled the grand hall.

The ceiling was so high it seemed endless, and the distance from the entrance to the throne was nearly a hundred meters long.

Not only that, but the figures of past Grand Dukes were carved in massive reliefs along the walls.

This was the space where, for centuries, the heroes of the Kraubitz lineage had ruled over the Duchy of Axen.

Not a single ray of light touched the duchy hall now.

Fwoosh!

Peter, one of the knights who had pursued the Grand Duke into the grand hall, raised a torch.

And then, he surely called out to Johan, who must be in this hall.

"The name of the Northern Grand Duke weeps. Why don’t you stop hiding like a rat and come out?"

Then,

Hoooooo...

The dense darkness answered only with silence. Peter signaled to the knights nearby.

"Find him."

Immediately, fifteen knights scattered in all directions to search for the Grand Duke.

Their swiftness was like the wind, and the energy emanating from their swords was as chilling as the blue autumn moonlight.

But then,

"Aaaaargh!"

A scream echoed from the corner of the hall.

"What?"

Realizing that the scream came from one of his subordinates, Peter quickly rushed toward the source. But soon,

"Guh... Grrrkk!"

A gurgling sound of someone having their throat pierced came from behind.

Fwoosh!

Peter raised his torch high and shouted.

"Where is he? Where the hell is the Grand Duke...?"

And at that moment,

Swoosh! Clanggggg!

His instincts, honed through years as a knight, saved him.

A sword had emerged from the darkness, aiming directly at Peter’s head.

Had he not raised his own sword in time, his skull would have been split open instantly.

"Grand Duke!"

Peter called out to his attacker.

In response,

Ssssshh...

Two glowing blue eyes, resembling those of a beast, shone menacingly in the darkness.

Crunch!

The Grand Duke pressed down on his sword with sheer force.

Peter, realizing his entire mana-reinforced body was being overpowered, was stunned.

'What? My mana-enhanced body is being pushed back? What kind of monstrous strength is this...?'

This was no time to be in awe.

If he kept locking swords for even another second, he’d be overpowered and cut down.

Peter quickly twisted his body to deflect the Grand Duke’s attack.

"Ugh!"

A small groan escaped through Peter’s clenched teeth.

Soon, the knights scattered throughout the hall gathered around him.

"The Grand Duke is here! Seize him!"

It was shameful for so many knights to gang up on a mere seventeen-year-old boy, but their mission was clear: assassinate the Grand Duke.

Pride had no place here.

As they slowly closed in on him...

"Seize me?"

The boy at the center muttered in a chilling tone.

"Me?"

Then, in an instant, he lunged toward one side of the encirclement. His massive frame, draped in a black fur cloak, moved like a mountain wolf in full sprint.

Raising his enormous longsword, he struck at one of the elite soldiers.

"Ugh!"

The soldier quickly raised his sword to block the attack.

Boom! Crack!

The Grand Duke’s strike not only pushed the soldier’s sword back but...

Slash!

It split his face open.

A moment of silence filled the hall.

'He pushed through a sword block and cut him down?'

It was unthinkable.

How could something like this be possible?

Unless an adult was fighting a child who had barely learned to walk, such an overwhelming strength difference shouldn’t exist.

Moreover, the one who had just been cut down was an elite soldier of the Empire.

Yet,

Crunch! Crack!

When the Grand Duke’s sword tore through another soldier, they realized this was no illusion but reality.

A cripple who couldn’t use mana, a mere seventeen-year-old brat.

The man they had mocked for his ugly face...

Was now demonstrating overwhelming strength against them all.

Seeing this, Peter immediately shouted.

"Gather your mana!"

"What?!"

"Don’t hold back—generate aura! You cannot fight him with ordinary blades!"

"Yes, sir!"

Peter had wielded a sword ever since he had taken his first steps.

And from the moment he had developed self-awareness, he had survived countless battlefields as a veteran among veterans.

There was no way he couldn’t understand what was happening before his eyes.

'We cannot match him in raw strength.'

He had no idea how it was possible, but the Northern Grand Duke was undoubtedly stronger than all the knights here.

'They said he had the blood of giants... Could that be true?'

The sight before him was so overwhelming that Peter even recalled an old and seemingly absurd legend.

However,

'He cannot withstand aura.'

No matter how monstrous his strength was, he could not possibly overcome aura-wielding knights, who were rare even within the Empire.

Aura is such a thing.

A sword imbued with aura becomes an asymmetrical force so powerful that mere swordplay loses meaning.

So that barbaric brute strength of his ends here.

Hooooo...

The moment I saw the attackers’ swords gleaming with aura, I took a brief breath.

And then,

Bzzzzzt...

Clenching my teeth, I injected a slight amount of mana into my arms and legs.

“Grrrk.”

Pain surged through my frail body.

Just letting mana flow through me felt like my muscles were burning away.

On top of that, my defective mana heart pounded wildly from expending even a handful of mana.

What a useless body.

As I looked at the knights wielding swords imbued with aura, I was once again reminded of how unfair this world was.

Now, I could no longer rely on overwhelming brute force.

The enemy had enveloped their swords in aura. I could no longer dominate through sheer strength alone.

However…

“A knight’s sword isn’t defined by strength alone.”

If victory in life and death battles depended solely on a sword’s might, then why would knights train daily in swordsmanship and duels?

Why would they focus on anything beyond mana techniques and aura generation?

So I had to survive. I had to live faster and sharper than anyone else here.

Thump, thump, thump. Thump. Thump.

My heartbeat and muscles accelerated at an insane rate.

In a world that flowed at a steady pace...

I moved alone at an entirely different speed.

Swish!

I could see it.

No matter how masterfully they swung their blades, their movements were still visible to me.

So,

Swish. Slash!

I dodged and severed the tendons behind my opponent’s knee.

Splat!

Immediately, three more swung their swords at me.

None of them wielded aura.

That meant…

Whoosh!

I reversed my grip on my longsword, spinning my body to deflect all their attacks.

Those who are repelled tend to create openings. So…

Crack!

I simply needed to thrust my blade into that gap.

That’s what combat is. Blocking each attack and striking back in turn.

'Damn.'

But the new coordinated assault heading my way now… I couldn't block them all.

Three Experts charging at me, their swords radiating aura. I couldn’t deflect that.

'Two of them are lined up straight.'

So, gripping the handle and blade of my longsword, I intercepted both of their swords simultaneously.

And the third?

Squelch!

I took the hit.

How could I possibly block all of their monstrous strikes?

In the end, I had to sacrifice flesh.

“I got him!”

The knight who had stabbed me grinned in vile delight. But…

“You seem to have forgotten something.”

Yes,

“Who I am.”

I am Johan Kraubitz, the Northern Grand Duke.

The ruler of the Northern Duchy of Axen, the one rumored to carry the blood of the Giant Tribe.

So,

Crack!

I twisted my body, forcing the knight to lose his grip on his sword embedded in my flesh.

My body was far tougher than they thought.

“This… this lunatic…!”

The joy in his face turned to horror in an instant.

I,

Swoosh!

Drove my longsword straight into the disarmed Expert.

Splurt!

His face and torso split in half.

The two remaining Experts lunged at me, but…

'Naryotagon!'

I had no shame.

I rolled across the ground to evade their strikes.

Roll, roll.

Thud!

I crashed into a pillar of the grand hall and barely managed to stand back up.

Hah.

Blood trickled from my lips. But now, only six of the fifteen enemies remained.

That was a better situation than before. I murmured, blood filling my mouth.

“In Stana’s Three Kingdoms Online…”

“What?”

“…hero units don’t die easily, you extras.”

Flaaash!

Summoning every last ounce of strength, I surged toward them.

The two remaining Experts exchanged glances before charging at me together.

Of course, the other four followed suit, aiming their swords at me.

Tremble.

My limbs, pushed beyond their limits with mana, trembled violently.

As if to remind me that for a half-broken knight like me, this much mana use was excessive.

But,

I had spent twelve years surviving as a cripple with a shattered mana heart. I knew exactly what I had to do.

“Haaaah!”

Pouring out every last ounce of strength.

That was my chosen method of survival in this world. I had vowed to keep fighting like this.

So,

Swoooosh!

Facing the two charging Experts,

Boom!

Crack!

I staked my life on this clash.

'I'm too late.'

Why did I… Why did I simply obey my lord’s command to defend the rear mountain?

'It was my duty to protect my lord.'

Knight Commander Victor sprinted toward the grand hall, regret heavy in his steps.

And soon,

Clang! Boom!

He smashed through the grand hall doors, charging inside. His voice rang out urgently.

“My lord!”

In the thick darkness, he searched desperately for his master.

Then, moments later, he saw it.

A single flickering torch, the only light in the vast, shadowed hall.

And beside it, the corpses of more than a dozen men…

“Cough!”

Johan Kraubitz, the Northern Grand Duke, sitting wounded, spitting blood, barely holding himself upright.

In that moment, Knight Commander Victor truly came face to face with the ruler of the North.