The battle around Prince's mansion continued, with the two armies still tearing into each other across the open ground.
However, Simon was having a hard time concentrating.
Even though the strange sensation from earlier had already faded, he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling it had left behind. For that brief moment, when an invisible wave had swept across the battlefield, Simon had felt something so terrifying that his entire body instinctively trembled.
It was difficult to describe. He hadn't sensed any attack, nor had he felt any Darkness being directed toward him. Yet for some reason, he had been overwhelmed by the feeling that something was watching him, something that made even the possibility of death seem frighteningly close.
And he wasn't the only one who had felt it.
Pier, Prince, and Manus had all experienced the same sensation. Even with their experience as Ancient Undead, none of them could identify where it had come from or what had caused it. They had briefly searched their surroundings, trying to locate the source, but found nothing unusual.
Unfortunately, the battlefield wasn't going to wait for them to figure it out.
The Shadow Soldiers continued advancing, and the zombies and skeletons under their command were still being destroyed. With enemies pressing against them from every direction, Pier, Prince, and Manus had little choice but to put the strange sensation aside and return their attention to the battle.
Simon was forced to do the same.
The strategy he had adopted earlier was also still working.
However, Simon didn't allow himself to relax. Even if the frontline had stabilized, he could still feel zombies disappearing from his control every few seconds, while many of the shadows they managed to bring down would eventually return from the darkness.
At this rate, they were only buying time.
While Simon was thinking about what else he could do, something caught Manus's attention on the opposite side of the battlefield.
Shing.
It was the sound of metal sliding against a sheath. Under normal circumstances, such a small sound would have disappeared beneath the chaos of thousands of undead fighting around him. Yet Manus's instincts as a swordsman made his head turn almost immediately.
His gaze crossed the battlefield and settled on the black-armored knight standing behind the Shadow Knights. The tall knight who had remained still since the beginning of the battle had finally drawn his sword.
Igris began walking forward.
Unlike Tusk, there was no explosion to announce his movement. No enormous magic circle appeared above him, nor did a wave of power suddenly sweep across the battlefield. He simply stepped toward the frontline with his sword held naturally at his side.
However, his soldiers noticed immediately. The Shadow Knights directly ahead of Igris began shifting away from his path. Those beside them moved in to cover the openings they left behind, and the change continued through the formation without disrupting the battle around them.
Before long, a path had opened through the fighting army.
Igris walked straight through it, and Manus's attention shifted completely toward the approaching knight.
As someone who had spent his life with a sword, Manus didn't need to exchange blows with Igris to understand that he was dangerous. Very dangerous.
The closer Igris came, the tighter Manus's grip became. Eventually, he called out without taking his eyes off the approaching knight.
[Pier.]
Pier was several meters away, cutting through the Shadow Soldiers that had reached their position. He heard the unusual seriousness in Manus's voice and forced the enemies around him back with a heavy sweep of his greatsword before turning around.
At first, he looked toward Manus. Then he followed his gaze.
[...He's finally moving.]
Pier's voice had none of its usual playfulness.
[Yes.]
Manus slightly lowered his sword.
[And judging by his direction, he's coming for us.]
Pier fell silent. He had already sensed how abnormal Jin's four elites were when the Eighth Legion first appeared. At that time, he had even warned Simon that the strength he felt from them surpassed what he himself had possessed at his peak under Yona.
Now, one of those four was approaching them alone.
Pier moved toward Manus instead of waiting for Igris to reach them. Once he arrived beside the Ancient Skeleton, he raised his greatsword with both hands and focused completely on the knight ahead.
[We'll face him together.]
[Agreed.]
Neither of them considered fighting alone. As the distance continued to shrink, several zombies wandering across Igris's path noticed him and rushed forward. His sword flashed once, cutting through them without breaking his stride.
A group of Manus's skeletons attacked soon afterward, but another short movement of the blade sent broken bones scattering across the ground.
Igris continued walking until he reached the center of the battlefield. By then, the soldiers closest to him had already begun moving away. Shadow Knights shifted toward other enemies, while Simon's zombies and Manus's skeletons were either cut down or redirected elsewhere, gradually leaving an empty space between Igris and the two Ancient Undead.
Once the space was clear, Igris stopped. His violet eyes moved first toward Manus, then toward Pier, and after taking in both opponents, he slowly raised his sword in front of him.
Manus responded by lowering his center of gravity and adjusting the angle of his blade.
Pier stood several steps beside him, both hands wrapped firmly around his greatsword as Darkness gathered along its edge.
For a brief moment, none of the three moved. Then Igris spoke.
[Come.]
Pier and Manus remained silent. The fact that both of them were standing together against one opponent already showed how seriously they were taking him.
Their confrontation didn't go unnoticed for long.
When several zombies near Manus suddenly moved away from the same area, Simon instinctively shifted part of his awareness there to see what had happened.
That was when he saw Igris.
Simon immediately recognized the tall knight who had appeared alongside Jin earlier. What caught his attention even more, however, were the two figures standing opposite him.
Pier and Manus.
Both of them were preparing to fight him together.
"...Pier."
Simon stared for a moment before another sensation from the crown forced his attention elsewhere. Several zombies had just been destroyed near the center of the battlefield, and another group was already struggling to hold back the advancing Shadow Knights.
He quickly issued new commands, sending reinforcements toward the weakening formation. Even while doing so, however, part of his attention remained fixed on the confrontation between Igris and the two Ancient Undead.
Then a sharp metallic crash cut through the noise of the battlefield.
CLAAAAANG!
The clash came from Pier's Greatsword of Destruction meeting Igris's longsword. Pier had attacked from the front with the full weight of the massive weapon behind him, while Manus was already moving around the black knight's side, waiting for the moment Igris committed himself to blocking the heavier blade.
Rather than meeting Pier's strength head-on, Igris slightly changed the angle of his longsword and guided the Greatsword of Destruction past him. The larger blade struck the ground beside his feet, and before Pier could pull it back, Manus immediately stepped into the space created by the attack and thrust his sword toward Igris's exposed side.
Igris shifted his upper body just enough for the blade to pass beside his armor. His feet barely moved as he turned his longsword toward Manus and redirected the follow-up slash, then returned his attention to Pier as the Ancient Undead finally pulled the Greatsword of Destruction free from the ground.
Pier attacked again, this time sweeping the massive blade horizontally across the area. Manus moved with him from the opposite direction, and for the next several exchanges, the two Ancient Undead began coordinating their attacks rather than approaching Igris separately.
Pier used the size and reach of his greatsword to limit where Igris could move, while Manus repeatedly entered from the angles left open by those wider attacks.
Yet the longer the exchange continued, the stranger it became. Igris remained near the same area where the battle had begun, responding to Pier's heavy swings and Manus's faster attacks with movements so small that Simon initially had trouble following them from a distance.
Sometimes Igris shifted only half a step. At other times, he merely turned his shoulders or tilted his body enough for a blade to pass by before his longsword moved to intercept the next attack.
Pier and Manus gradually increased their pace, but the result remained the same. Whenever Pier tried to force Igris toward Manus, the black knight stopped the attempt before the formation could close around him, and whenever Manus tried to exploit what looked like an opening, Igris's longsword was already there waiting for him.
It didn't take long for Manus to notice the problem. As a former Swordmaster, he understood better than most that Igris wasn't desperately defending against two opponents. There was no unnecessary movement in his footwork, no rushed adjustment in his guard, and no moment where he seemed forced to choose between Pier's strength and Manus's technique.
Igris was simply dealing with whichever attack reached him.
That realization made Manus change his approach. He pulled away from Igris and called out to Pier, who immediately understood his intention and created distance as well. Rather than continuing the same pattern that had failed to accomplish anything, the two Ancient Undead separated toward opposite sides and began gathering Darkness around their weapons.
Igris didn't interrupt them. He simply waited until the two Ancient Undead were ready, showing no intention of stopping whatever they were planning.
Pier and Manus moved almost at the same time. Darkness gathered around both of their weapons as the two Ancient Undead leaped from opposite sides, using the height they gained to add even more force to their attacks.
Pier raised the Greatsword of Destruction with both hands, while Manus held his sword above his shoulder, and after reaching the highest point of their jumps, both descended toward Igris from two different directions.
Against two attacks carrying that much force, avoiding them would have been the obvious choice. Pier had expected Igris to move the moment they entered his range, while Manus was already watching his feet, ready to adjust his attack depending on which direction the black knight chose to escape.
However, as the distance between them rapidly disappeared, Igris showed no intention of going anywhere. His violet eyes followed the two descending blades, and only when they were about to reach him did his right arm finally move.
Without changing his stance or bringing his left hand anywhere near the hilt, Igris simply raised his longsword above his head.
CLAAAAAAAAANG!!
All three weapons collided.
The combined impact shook the ground around them, sending cracks spreading out from beneath Igris's feet. Dirt and broken stone flew into the air, while the Darkness covering Pier and Manus's weapons scattered from the collision and spread across the battlefield.
With their blades now locked against Igris's longsword, Pier and Manus immediately pushed down with everything they had. Their combined strength, added to the momentum from their fall, should have at least forced Igris backward, so both of them continued pressing their weapons down without giving him any room to recover.
But the longer they pushed, the stranger it felt. Their weapons weren't moving. Pier's Greatsword of Destruction had stopped against one side of Igris's longsword, while Manus's blade pressed against the other. Both Ancient Undead were still above him after their attacks had been stopped, yet no matter how much strength they put into their weapons, the knight beneath them didn't seem bothered at all.
As Manus stared at the unmoving longsword, he finally realized what was happening.
Igris was holding both of them back with one hand.
His right arm remained raised above his head, the longsword steady in his grip even with two weapons pressing down against it. His knees hadn't bent, his stance hadn't changed, and although the ground beneath his feet had cracked from the impact, Pier and Manus hadn't managed to push him back even a single step.
[WHAT?!]
Pier couldn't hide his shock, while Manus stared at Igris in disbelief. As a former Swordmaster of the Talhern Empire, he knew exactly how powerful their combined attack had been. Blocking it was already impressive enough, but stopping both of them with one hand without even being pushed back was on a completely different level.
As that realization sank in, Manus's eyes moved from their locked weapons toward Igris himself. That was when he noticed something else that made the situation even harder to believe.
Igris's left hand was still hanging freely beside him.
Since their fight began, the black knight had never once needed to hold his sword with both hands. Even now, with Pier and Manus putting everything they had into forcing his weapon down, Igris showed no sign that he needed the extra strength.
Before Manus could think any further about it, however, Igris finally moved. There was no burst or any special technique. He simply turned his wrist and pushed his longsword outward.
CLAAANG!
Pier and Manus were still in the air, leaving them with nothing beneath their feet to support themselves. The sudden push knocked both weapons violently to the side, and before either of them could react, their swords were ripped from their hands and sent spinning through the air.
Losing their weapons should have given them a moment to fall back and recover, but Igris didn't give them that chance. Their bodies hadn't even reached the ground when his empty left hand was already moving. His armored fist slammed straight into Pier's stomach.
BOOOOM!
Pier's body folded around the punch, and before his feet could touch the ground, he was sent flying like a cannonball. Igris didn't even look in his direction afterward, because the movement of the punch had already carried his shoulders and waist into a turn.
That same turn flowed naturally into his next attack. As Manus fell within range, Igris's right leg came around with the rest of his body. Manus barely had enough time to notice the movement before the armored boot was already in front of him.
BAAAAAAM!
The kick slammed into Manus's side and sent him flying in the opposite direction. There was almost no delay between the punch and the kick, with the first attack flowing straight into the second as Igris completed his turn.
Manus bounced across the ground several times before crashing near what remained of the mansion's outer wall. Pier landed just as violently on the other side, tearing a long trail through the dirt before finally disappearing inside a cloud of dust.
While the two Ancient Undead had been sent flying in opposite directions, their weapons hadn't gone with them.
Pier's Greatsword of Destruction had landed several meters in front of Igris, its massive blade half-buried in the broken ground.
Manus's sword had fallen closer to his other side, leaving Igris standing between the two weapons while their owners were still lying far away.
That position gave Igris more than enough time to finish either of them, but he showed no interest in doing so. Instead, he simply lowered his longsword and waited, his violet eyes briefly moving from Pier to Manus as the dust around them slowly began to settle.
Neither Ancient Undead moved at first, leaving Igris alone in the middle of the space their battle had created.
Several seconds later, movement finally came from Pier's side.
[Urgh...]
He planted one arm against the ground and slowly pushed himself up. Farther away, Manus was recovering as well, forcing himself onto one knee before raising his head toward Igris.
As soon as they recovered enough to look around, both of them naturally searched for the weapons they had lost. Their eyes quickly found the two swords near Igris, but before either Ancient Undead could make a move toward them, the black knight lowered the tip of his own weapon.
Shhk.
Igris calmly planted his longsword into the ground.
The unexpected action immediately made Manus narrow his eyes. Igris had just put aside the weapon already in his hand, but instead of using the chance to attack them while they were still getting back up, the black knight turned toward the two swords lying nearby.
He reached Pier's weapon first and wrapped his right hand around the hilt of the Greatsword of Destruction. The massive blade came free from the ground without any trouble, and while holding it in one hand, Igris reached down with his left and picked up Manus's sword as well.
By the time Pier managed to stand properly, Igris was already holding both of their weapons.
[You...]
Pier's expression darkened as he stared at his greatsword in Igris's hand, but whatever he wanted to say stopped when the black knight suddenly swung Manus's sword.
The blade cut cleanly through the air. Rather than attacking, Igris adjusted his grip and followed the first swing with a diagonal slash. He tried several more movements after that, changing the angle each time as he got a feel for the sword's weight and balance.
Watching those movements, Manus gradually understood what was happening. Igris was testing his sword, and once he was done with it, he naturally turned his attention toward the Greatsword of Destruction in his other hand.
The huge difference in size didn't seem to bother him at all. After shifting the smaller sword slightly to the side, he lifted Pier's greatsword with one hand and gave it a short swing.
FWOOSH!
The massive blade tore through the air and blew away some of the dust around his feet. Igris changed his grip slightly before trying a wider slash, then swung it again from another angle as he tested its weight and reach.
Seeing his own weapon being handled that easily only made Pier's expression grow more tense. The Greatsword of Destruction was a weapon he normally used with both hands when putting his full strength behind it. Igris, however, was testing the massive weapon with only one, and even though this was his first time holding it, none of his movements looked awkward.
If Pier had a 'deep understanding' of certain novel genres, he might have realized that he was dangerously close to getting NTR'd right in front of his own eyes.
After a few more swings, Igris seemed to have seen enough. His violet eyes moved between the sword in his left hand and the greatsword in his right. He looked at both weapons for another moment before finally turning his attention back toward their owners.
[Good swords.]
The unexpected praise made Pier and Manus pause. There was no sarcasm in Igris's voice, nor was he trying to mock them. His words sounded like a simple, honest opinion from someone who had just tested both weapons himself.
However, the way his gaze shifted from the weapons to their owners made it clear that his judgment wasn't finished yet.
[But their wielders...]
Igris left the sentence there for the moment and moved his right arm.
SHWOOOSH!
The Greatsword of Destruction spun across the battlefield before slamming into the ground directly in front of Pier. Its blade sank deep enough to remain standing, and before Pier could even reach for it, Manus's sword had already left Igris's other hand.
SHNK!
The sword stabbed into the ground beside Manus. Igris had simply returned both swords to their owners, placing them close enough that Pier and Manus could easily take them back.
With their weapons returned, Igris turned around and walked toward his own longsword. He wrapped his right hand around the hilt and pulled it free from the ground in one smooth movement.
By the time he faced them again, Pier had already taken back the Greatsword of Destruction, while Manus had picked up his sword and was slowly returning to his stance.
Igris waited until both of them had their weapons ready again before finishing what he had started to say.
[A swordsman who loses his weapon while the battle is still being fought is unworthy of the blade he carries.]
There was still no mockery in his voice. Igris didn't laugh or look down on them, and his stance remained just as serious as it had been from the beginning. Rather than an insult, his words sounded more like a swordsman simply telling two other swordsmen what he thought.
For Manus, that somehow made it worse. His fingers tightened around the sword Igris had just returned to him. He and Pier had attacked together with everything they had, combining their strength and experience into a strike that Manus had been sure would at least force Igris to dodge.
Instead, Igris had stopped both of them with one hand.
And that single block was only the beginning. Igris had disarmed them with one movement, hit both of them before either could land, and then waited for them to get back up instead of attacking while they were down. Even after all of that, nothing about him made it seem like the fight had pushed him anywhere close to his limit.
Pier seemed to realize the same thing. He tightened both hands around the Greatsword of Destruction again, but this time, he didn't immediately charge. The confidence and aggression from earlier had disappeared, replaced by caution as he stared at the black knight in front of them.
For the first time since their fight began, neither Pier nor Manus was thinking about how they could overwhelm Igris. After everything that had just happened, a much more troubling question had taken its place.
Just how far above them was this knight?
Standing several meters away, Igris watched the two Ancient Undead return to their fighting stances. He had already seen their strength, tested their swordsmanship, and even examined the weapons they carried. As they prepared themselves for another exchange, his violet eyes moved between them one last time.
Then Igris slowly lowered his longsword.
Manus noticed the movement immediately. The black knight's posture hadn't changed much, but something about the way he held his weapon made the former Swordmaster instinctively tighten his grip.
[Pier, watch out!]
Manus shouted as Igris took a step forward.
Pier immediately turned his attention toward the black knight, but in the next instant, Igris disappeared from his sight.
His eyes widened. He had been watching the knight the entire time, yet he hadn't seen him move. One moment, Igris had been standing several meters away, and now there was nothing in the space where he had stood.
[What the...?]
A faint sound came from behind him.
Shing!
Pier immediately tried to turn, but before his body could follow, something cold passed across the back of his neck.
For a moment, he felt nothing. Then his vision suddenly shifted, and the battlefield began tilting in a direction he couldn't understand. As Pier tried to figure out what was happening, he caught a glimpse of his own body still standing several steps away.
His head had already been severed.
[Pie...!]
Manus's voice broke off when Igris appeared beside him. The former Swordmaster reacted immediately, raising his blade toward the black knight, but before his sword could reach its intended position, Igris's longsword passed through his guard.
SHING!
Manus froze as a thin line appeared across his chest, extending through the armor and bones beneath it. An instant later, his upper body separated from the rest of his skeleton and collapsed onto the ground.
His sword fell beside him.
CLANG!
Both Ancient Undead had fallen within seconds of each other. Pier's severed head lay several steps from his body, while Manus's broken remains were scattered across the ground near his fallen sword.
Neither of them moved again.
"...Huh?"
Simon stared at the scene through the eyes of a nearby zombie, struggling to understand what he had just witnessed. Only moments earlier, Pier and Manus had been standing together against Igris, and although their opponent was clearly stronger, Simon had never expected their fight to end so suddenly.
Yet now, Pier's head was lying on the ground, while Manus's body had been cut apart.
"...Pier? Manus?"
Simon waited for an answer, desperately hoping that one of them would move or at least respond to his voice. They were Ancient Undead, after all. Surely, something like this wouldn't be enough to kill them.
But neither of them responded.
"No way..."
Simon's face grew pale as he continued staring at their motionless bodies. His hands had begun trembling, and he was about to call out again when he noticed Igris turning away from the two fallen Ancient Undead.
The black knight's violet eyes moved toward the remaining Seventh Legion soldiers, and as he began walking forward, several zombies immediately rushed to intercept him. Manus's remaining skeleton soldiers followed shortly afterward, moving alongside the zombies to block his path.
Simon instinctively tightened his grip on the crown. However, before the approaching undead could reach Igris, the black knight stopped and slowly raised his longsword toward the sky.
Violet light began gathering along the blade, growing brighter as he held it above his head.
"What is he...?"
Simon stared at the unusual movement, but before he could finish his question, Igris swung his sword.
SHING!
To Simon's eyes, it looked like a single downward slash. In reality, Igris had swung his sword countless times in that brief instant, moving so quickly that Simon couldn't distinguish the individual movements.
A heartbeat later, enormous violet sword waves erupted across the battlefield.
SHWOOOOOOOSH!
The waves tore through the approaching undead, cutting apart entire ranks of zombies and skeletons as they swept forward. Those caught directly in their paths were instantly shredded, while others farther away were struck by additional slashes before they could even react.
BOOOOOOOM!
The ground split apart beneath the attacks, sending dirt, broken stone, and countless severed limbs flying into the air. Within seconds, the enormous horde that had been rushing toward Igris was reduced to a field of scattered remains.
Through the crown, Simon felt hundreds of connections disappear almost simultaneously, followed by thousands more as the sword waves continued tearing through his army. The sudden loss sent a flood of sensations through his mind, leaving him staring blankly at the devastation unfolding before him.
"..."
All those zombies, all those skeletons, and the formations he had struggled so hard to maintain had been destroyed in a matter of seconds. Simon could barely comprehend what he had just witnessed, especially when he remembered that, from his perspective, Igris had only swung his sword once.
Meanwhile, the black knight calmly lowered his longsword as the violet light surrounding its blade gradually faded.
Simon remained frozen for another moment, his mind still struggling to process the destruction of his army.
But when he finally snapped out of his daze, the battlefield before his eyes had already changed. The countless undead fighting moments earlier were nowhere to be seen, replaced by an enormous wave of violet light rushing straight toward him, threatening to swallow everything in its path.
"...Eh?"
Before Simon could even understand what was happening, the violet light engulfed him, filling his entire vision as everything around him suddenly disappeared.
And just like that...
Everything went black.
First Death: Killed by Igris