Chapter 47: The Knight Descending from the Sky (2) Sssshhh—
The faint vibration of ocean waves hummed through the steel walls.
Emulen, a mid-level executive of the armed organization Zentra, cautiously turned his head to look beside him.
"Are you ready?"
He had to tilt his head far back just to see the face of the massive man standing there. It was Dune Khan, a practitioner of the Iron Heart Style whose physique and musculature were unnaturally gargantuan.
He was Zentra's core combat asset.
"...."
The man merely looked down at Emulen without a word. His silence was an intimidation in itself. Emulen swallowed hard.
"Please, continue to rest. We will arrive shortly."
This dark, cramped space was the interior of a shipping container bound for the harbor. Zentra's agents were currently being 'delivered' to their target location, disguised as cargo.
It wouldn't be long before the operation commenced.
Dune Khan was going to crush the Empire's hounds into dust.
*
At the third harbor on the southern side of Kalen Island, the afternoon breeze, thick with the scent of salt, swirled between cranes and containers.
Tiana, Julian, and Leon first gathered in the control room.
"I will explain the escort route."
A company representative in a suit outlined the plan. The security force consisted of a hundred men, including seven mercenary teams—Acarius among them—and the company's own guards.
"This shipment escort will continue for three weeks, and—"
Once the briefing ended, everyone took their assigned positions. Tiana stood atop a stack of containers, looking down at the chaotic harbor landscape with a smirk.
"…It's the same here, I guess."
It was her impression of the Kanilan Independent State. They might not have formal social classes, but the invisible hierarchy was even more rigid. The only metric was money. Those with wealth wielded more power than any aristocrat.
One only had to look at the behavior of the mercenary guards to see it. The members of Acarius, famous even in the Empire, held their heads high like a formal knight order, while the others walked on eggshells around them. They even compared annual salaries, treating anyone who earned less like a servant.
— Tiren. Can you hear me?
Leon's voice came through the communication device in her ear.
"Yeah. What is it?"
— Just checking if the comms are working.
According to intelligence, Zentra's raid would happen tonight or tomorrow night.
"Mr. Ulator. What do you think? Maks should be up there by now."
Julian, using the alias Ulator, gave a short reply.
"Thoughts from the sky belong to Maks. What matters to us is the ground."
Julian quickly walked off. His route involved constant patrolling. Like a residential security guard, he would likely circle back in about thirty minutes.
— Tiren, I am curious. How exactly are they going to pull off a descent?
"I don't think we'll be the ones seeing it firsthand."
Zentra was certainly a powerful armed group, but the ones they were supposed to face were mid-level executives. Even considering variables as Maks had suggested, Julian's presence was more than enough.
"—You sure talk a lot. Out for a stroll, are we?"
A grating voice suddenly cut in. A mercenary in the Acarius formal uniform looked at her, wiggling his eyebrows.
"This is a small world, sweetheart. If you slack off and can't land your next job, what are you gonna do?"
Was this the typical mercenary power play?
"Don't worry about me. I can handle myself," Tiana shot back with a bright smile.
"Haha. Well, I'm sure you can. If you're okay with it, how about we trade numbers?"
...It wasn't a power play; it was flirting.
"So I can see just how well you work."
"Hahahaha. You're a funny one."
The man laughed, running a hand through his hair in a greasy gesture, while Tiana refocused on scanning the perimeter.
The tedious waiting continued.
"Hwaaaa-am."
A yawn escaped her involuntarily. Even Julian, visible in the distance, was reading a book while on patrol.
Maybe I should have bought a book too.
Tick. Tock.
As night deepened and dawn approached.
Tiana suddenly felt a shift in the air. Tensing up, she adjusted her grip on her sword just as Julian began his twenty-sixth patrol.
Whirring—
In the distance, a cargo ship docked at the harbor. A crane reached down, picked up a container, and lowered it onto the pier.
Thud— Thud—
She was watching the scene, which looked like a giant claw machine game, when—
Skreeee—
A faint vibration, like something being scratched or torn open, echoed through the air.
—— BOOM!
An explosion erupted from one of the containers. Immediately after, other containers were ripped open from the inside, and armed men poured out.
A Zentra raid. All security personnel rushed toward the site.
"Enemy contact!"
Tiana leaped across the tops of the containers, first observing the flow of battle. The mercenaries engaged them first. The words of the security captain encouraging the fight were quite peculiar.
"—Triple pay for initial suppression, including hazard pay! Depending on the enemy's strength, escort bonuses will be paid up to ten times the base rate!"
Perhaps motivated by the pay, the mercenaries held their ground well. The Zentra agents moved with organization, but the mercenaries' individual skills were nothing to scoff at. The Acarius members were particularly prominent. The black-haired swordsman who had flirted with Tiana moved nimbly between containers, cutting down enemies.
Slash! Schlick! Clang—!
Bang! Bang—!
The sound of clashing steel, gunshots tearing through the air, and the wet thud of rending flesh instantly filled the harbor.
Tiana quietly identified the enemies. Even amidst the combat, her only goal was the executive, Emulen.
— Tiana. Look to your left.
Following Julian's direction, she turned her head and saw Emulen. A bald man with large prayer beads around his neck.
"Confirmed."
— Confirmed.
All three had locked onto their target.
— Engage.
At Julian's signal, Tiana kicked off the container.
It was at that exact moment, as she leaped high to strike at Emulen—
CRASH—!
A container was pulverized as a massive figure revealed its presence. Tiana looked toward the source. It was the Acarius mercenary she had spoken with. Standing before him was a dark-red giant, exhaling a heavy breath.
The mercenary swung his sword, but the giant parried it with his bare hand and lunged forward, grabbing the mercenary's face. The man's head was caught in that massive hand like a piece of fruit.
Crunch—!
His head exploded. The man who had said things like 'How about we trade numbers?' became a corpse in an instant. The blood-splattered giant's eyes locked onto Tiana.
Tiana rolled across the ground. She detonated mana at the soles of her feet to force a change in her trajectory. The enemy slammed his fist into the spot where she had been about to land. The ground buckled and shattered like a spiderweb.
K-boom—!
He tried to lunge at her again, but Julian dropped down beside her in an instant. Julian extended his sword, blocking the giant's fist.
Clang—!
The shockwave of fist meeting blade rang out. Julian's feet skidded across the pavement. The enemy threw another straight punch, and Julian swung his sword.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Sword and fist collided in rapid succession, throwing off sparks. It was an exchange of blows too fast for the eye to follow—a battle between masters.
A faint smirk played on the giant's lips.
"A strong one."
The man's stride was unimaginably fast. He adapted to Julian's swordsmanship in an instant, closing the distance to bury a fist into Julian's solar plexus. Julian took the opening to thrust at the man's jaw.
"Urgh!"
Julian was sent flying. This time, Tiana stepped in to block him. She aimed for the enemy's jaw, which Julian had wounded, but—
Sssssss—
The wound healed instantly. A fist flew toward the bewildered Tiana.
One beat, two beats, three beats.
Three strikes hammered against the flat of her blade simultaneously. The vibration from the blade rattled her entire body. The enemy exploited her broken stance to deliver a fourth and final blow toward her chin.
Tiana barely managed to twist her body.
"Gah—!"
Instead of her jaw, her shoulder was shattered, but she narrowly avoided a fatal blow.
Tiana gasped for air, struggling to catch her breath. No, the fact that she was even given time to breathe was strange. Looking back at the battlefield, she saw Julian and Leon. Julian had already returned, and Leon had crossed over from the other side to engage the monster.
Clang—! Sh-sh-ring—!
Tiana clutched her shoulder, assessing the situation. The Zentra executive, Emulen, was nearly overwhelming the mercenary guards, and the monster that had suddenly appeared was a handful even for Julian.
The tide of battle was turning for the worse. The problem was that dark-red freak who had appeared out of nowhere.
She pressed her hand to her ear.
"Maks!"
The ally variable, who had ascended to the sky to account for enemy variables.
"Do something!"
The moment Tiana screamed—
——.
A brilliant white meteor streaked across the firmament.
*
'Listen, martial artists must always be at least half a step faster than swordsmen. Otherwise, their fists have no meaning.'
Priya's voice echoed in my ears.
'They have the advantage because they utilize their entire body as a weapon.'
A martial artist uses their fists. Therefore, the speed at which they execute the brain's commands is far superior to that of a swordsman. Thus, they must always be half a step faster. If they aren't, the advantage of the fist disappears.
'To put it another way, you only need to be...'
"Faster than him for a single moment."
As dawn approached, at that same hour in my memory, I launched the transport plane. I wore a form-fitting drogue suit. It was an item far better suited for a knight than an unstable parachute.
ROAR—!
Right on time, an explosion erupted among the containers stacked at the harbor. Flames lit up the night air.
The battle had begun.
I took a deep breath and stood up.
"Opening the ramp."
Screech—
With the sound of grinding metal, the transport plane's rear ramp opened fully. Pitch-black darkness and a violent wind rushed into the cabin.
I quietly closed my eyes.
'Maks. Answer me now. What did I step on to move through the air?'
I recalled the question Priya had posed, a lesson from her class.
'...It was mana.'
She hadn't stepped on the ground. She stepped on mana she had spread thinly—more accurately, mana she had layered beneath her feet. Therefore, the answer was mana.
'Correct. A knight steps on that which cannot be stepped upon.'
Stepping on mana. Using mana as a foothold to gain propulsion once more in mid-air. In that process, no unnecessary disruption or rupture of mana occurs. This is because the Ebenholtz mana is inherently calm and refined.
'To do that, you must be able to perfectly control your physical body under any circumstances. As long as you can master your body, as long as your two legs can stand straight, it doesn't matter where your body is thrown.'
I must be able to control my body in any situation.
Meaning—even at such a staggering altitude.
— Maks!
Tiana's voice rang out through the communicator in my ear.
I opened my eyes.
— Do something!
Feeling the cold wind rushing deep into my lungs, I lightly kicked off.
Without hesitation, I threw myself into the void.
Thump—
First, a strange sense of liberation, as if my consciousness were becoming free. Soon, the suffocating air resistance rushed in. It felt as if my very existence were drifting away from the world.
There was no need to fear.
I radiated mana. Silver particles trailed beside me as I descended. My body shone coldly like a falling star.
Whirrrrrrrrr—!
Time in the sky is very long. The terminal velocity is actually comfortable. Long enough to think so many thoughts.
I tilted my body, gauging the angle and distance of my fall.
From this high up, everything on the ground looked like nothing more than tiny dots.
However, my body continued to fall, the distance closing rapidly, until the figure of that man became clear.
A body stained black. Pitch-black eyes without whites.
One of my many nightmares...
—— Tick.
Time slowed down. At this moment, as my fall seemed to stagnate, I straightened my body. I locked my gaze onto the target.
I leaned my upper body forward, extended my lower body straight, and gripped my sword.
The stance for drawing the blade.
In that state, I 'stepped' on my own mana spread through the air.
Tap—.
It felt like stepping on transparent glass. In an instant, the space beneath my feet shattered, and mana particles exploded in a chain reaction, propelling me forward. My body was fired toward the ground once more.
KABOOM—!
All the force accumulated from a high-altitude drop from thousands of meters in the air,
Concentrated into a single point at the tip of my sword,
I descend.
————!
A sword path was etched into the night sky. Silver light formed into shards. A rupture cleaved the area, and I reached the ground. Dune Khan's eyes were right in front of my face.
...Looking into his eyes, I recalled my memories.
Before my regression, the pathetic version of myself had looked down on the mercenaries here. Inflated with the pride and ego of being a Sentinel, I had thought they were pitiable.
But when Dune Khan actually appeared, I was nothing more than a burden. The sword I had summoned the courage to swing once was effortlessly blocked by his fist, and a single return punch crushed my ribs.
That impact turned me into a near-cripple. I was so paralyzed by fear that I couldn't move, and Julian had risked his life to save me.
After that day, even as I lay in a hospital bed recovering, I suffered from nightmares every night. Dune Khan of the Desert. I would have a fit just hearing that name.
In the end, I grew to fear combat. I made all sorts of excuses to retreat from any battlefield.
I was a man with that many flaws. I was a fool for whom the word 'weak' was an understatement.
Not anymore.
I have come to know a greater fear.
To prevent destruction, for the survival of myself and humanity, I no longer have the luxury of being distracted by a mere obstacle.
Screeeeeeech—.
My sword dug into Dune Khan's neck.
"—!"
His eyes bulged. Eyes without whites. The retinas of the asura that had been so terrifying glared at me. This time, I did not avoid his gaze. I looked him straight in the eye and even smiled.
I should rightfully be enjoying this. Opportunities to cut down one's own nightmare with one's own hands are rare.
Dune Khan reached out with his palm to crush my skull.
Creeeeeak!
Pressure that felt like it would burst my skull bore down on me, but—
Slice—
My sword had already passed through his neck.
A silver current swirled as mana erupted violently. The wind that had followed me from thousands of meters above settled onto the ground.
BOOOOOOM—!
A small typhoon rose where the knight had descended.
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