The aura gathered along the knights’ blades gleamed sharply.
The swordsmanship of the Nightcrawler Knights made Alex’s eyes ache.
‘Damn. That’s astonishingly precise and practical.’
The Nightcrawler Knights showed not a hint of carelessness against him.
They treated Alex as a being stronger than themselves and executed their coordinated assaults accordingly, without hesitation.
Ordinary knights, full of pride, rarely bent that pride under any circumstance.
But the Nightcrawlers were different.
They were armed with pure rationality.
Even when facing a single enemy, they let down no guard, performing only their assigned roles with absolute precision.
Attack, retreat, defend, strike the opening—no move wasted, no overlap or interference with comrades.
‘Their strikes are disgustingly seamless.’
Block one blade, and three more came slashing in.
Try to parry or evade, and attacks from elsewhere followed immediately.
The tightness of their formation left no breathing room; even inhaling felt suffocating under such relentless pressure.
‘And when I try to take out one of them, the attacker immediately pulls back—like they can sense it coming.’
As if each had already abandoned greed.
The entire order functioned like a single, elaborate machine.
Each knight a cog spinning in perfect synchrony.
‘Now I understand why the underworld fears these bastards.’
While the Stella Siren Knights drew overwhelming strength from the sea, and the Coldsteel Knights from their adaptation to the frozen North—
the Nightcrawlers’ greatest weapon was coordination.
A battle method driven by reason alone, emotions suppressed for victory’s sake.
For opponents, facing knights who fought like that was not merely frustrating—it was chilling.
It was only natural that criminals of the underworld dreaded them.
They did not purge evil out of justice or duty,
but as if harvesting ripe grain during autumn.
Still, Alex was far from panicked.
‘I’ve fought enough monsters without a shred of will of their own.’
The Elf Kingdom, Renar-Tirone.
There, the Wood Zombies summoned by Bentmin had been like that—
soldiers made from the stored genetic material of ancient elven heroes, beings that knew no fear of death.
Compared to those, the Nightcrawler Knights were impressive, even threatening—but not terrifying.
‘No matter how disciplined, they’re still human. They can’t be completely free of fear.’
They were only suppressing it.
If he could draw it out, that fracture would spread like wildfire.
Having decided, Alex moved instantly.
First came the sword thrusting toward his face.
He lightly brushed it aside.
Even if it was just a probing strike, it still carried aura.
Yet Alex deflected it as if swatting a fly, proof of just how far beyond their level he stood.
The knight, who should have withdrawn his blade from the rebound, frowned as he felt something strange—
‘My sword’s... being pulled in?’
Instead of bouncing away, the weapon veered off course and shot toward one of his comrades.
Something that should have been impossible in the Nightcrawler’s perfect coordination.
Both the attacking knight and his near-victim faltered in shock.
That was when Lloyd intervened.
He blocked the errant blade midway and shouted,
“Don’t panic! I’ll cover the gap!”
At his command, their broken formation quickly re-solidified.
Alex clicked his tongue inwardly.
As expected, there were ones who existed precisely to respond when cracks formed—
the lubricants that kept the gears from grinding apart.
Still, Alex wasn’t disappointed.
“Honestly, I’d have been let down if you fell apart from just that little trick.”
As he joked, five aura-clad swords slashed toward him from every direction—
each aimed at a vital point.
Alex spun lightly on the spot.
At the same time, the sword in his hand, infused with gray aura, swept outward in a perfect circle.
The five attacks were drawn into that circle as if sucked by a whirlpool.
The tremendous pull gathered them together, then released them as one combined blast—
straight toward the very lubricant himself, Lloyd.
“Damn.”
Behind his glasses, Lloyd’s eyes narrowed as he raised his aura-charged sword to block.
KWAANG!
The impact flung him backward.
Five attacks combined into one, amplified by Alex’s manipulation—
it was an overwhelming force, one even Lloyd, deputy to Terrina, could barely withstand.
Naturally, a gap opened in his defense.
Alex aimed to exploit it immediately.
“Of course.”
A greatsword appeared before him, close enough to feel its edge.
Alex, unfazed, twisted his strike mid-motion, redirecting his blade to meet the incoming one.
The shift was so natural it seemed he’d been aiming for that sword all along.
KAAAANG!
Aura-clad blades clashed, sparks scattering.
The collision was so fierce that even the Nightcrawler Knights were forced back more than ten steps.
Only two figures remained unmoved—
Alex himself, and Terrina Lionhowl standing opposite him.
“When the power source of a machine is gone, it’s a shame,” Alex said.
The lubricant, the gears, all crucial—but nothing mattered without the core that made the machine move.
“That swordsmanship...”
Terrina, gripping the Giant Killer, frowned as she watched Alex’s technique.
The flow of power in his strikes—
she recognized it.
It was Tempest, the very technique used by Lutus Wardot.
“How did you do that?”
“Why? Surprised °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I can use it? Maybe that old man taught me himself.”
“That’s not something you can learn just by being taught.”
“Mm. True. He’s not the type to go around sharing his techniques either.”
Alex grinned, flashing his teeth.
“So I just stole it.”
Before Terrina could even demand what he meant, she felt it—
a sudden magnetic pull on her sword.
It lasted only an instant, but enough to break her posture.
Alex’s blade darted toward her heart through the gap—
—but Terrina swiftly recovered, regaining control of the flow and swinging Giant Killer in a powerful arc that forced Alex back.
“You think I haven’t fought that sword technique enough times? I know how to counter it.”
“Impressive. To break that kind of pull with brute force.”
Alex thrust his sword into the ground.
It was a light tap, but the result was anything but.
KWA-DE-DE-DE-DEK!
The ground twisted violently, forming a vortex.
The Nightcrawler Knights all staggered as the terrain warped beneath them.
He was reshaping the ground itself to open a gap.
“Not so fast!”
Terrina raised her Giant Killer and swung with all her might.
The colossal blade split the earth as if cleaving the world itself,
cutting straight through Alex’s vortex and ending its power mid-flow.
The ground shattered; debris exploded outward.
Terrina’s eyes searched for Alex—
‘Gone?’
He was nowhere in sight.
“Looking for me?”
The voice came from behind.
From amid the airborne debris, Alex emerged.
Terrina spun and swung, but hit nothing—
only fragments shattered by her blade.
Her gaze darted around—then up.
Floating rubble hung in the air,
and on one of those pieces stood Alex, defying gravity, looking down at her—
like a bat clinging to the ceiling.
Terrina tried to ready another strike, but the unstable, collapsing ground threw off her balance.
‘He planned this.’
To swing a greatsword like Giant Killer required a firm stance,
solid ground to support the immense power behind it.
And now, with the terrain collapsing beneath her, she couldn’t muster full strength.
That was exactly what Alex had intended.
With the other knights unable to intervene amid the destruction, this was his chance.
He sprang from the debris like a bird taking flight,
his sword flashing toward Terrina’s neck—
—but a dagger flew from afar, slamming into his blade.
KAANG!
Through the shower of sparks, Alex’s eyes followed the deflected dagger.
He recognized the design immediately.
His gaze met that of a woman beyond it—Enya.
Their eyes crossed midair.
It lasted only a heartbeat, but that instant was all the time Terrina needed.
She regained her stance and swung her sword once more.
A devastating slash—
the air pressure alone shattered nearby debris into dust.
With aura infused, it was like a natural disaster.
But Alex was already far away, having retreated.
Once his ambush failed, a counterattack was inevitable.
“Hm. Not great.”
He brushed the dust from his coat, sighing.
A hard-earned chance wasted too easily.
“You let your attention wander.”
“Well, can’t be helped.”
Alex smiled and readjusted his grip.
This time, he intended to face her head-on.
Terrina frowned.
Even if he had stolen Tempest, to challenge her and Giant Killer directly?
Her confusion deepened when she saw his weapon.
“You think you’re the only one with a Gladius Arts?”
The sword in Alex’s hand changed shape—
now identical to Giant Killer.
And his stance mirrored hers perfectly,
as though she were looking into a mirror.
“To write masterfully, one must start with the best tools.”
Gladius Arts—
[ Copy Cat ].
* * *
Phantos gripped his harpoon.
Veins bulged like worms along his forearm, pulsing as he tightened his hold.
Even that small motion made the surrounding air tremble, rumbling like thunder.
The water, now up to his thighs, churned in sync with him.
Johan, commander of the Stella Siren, felt a chill crawl up his spine.
When had he last felt such danger?
At seven years old, when he dove into the sea and came face-to-face with a massive great white shark?
Or when he flirted with Terrina’s friend, Elisa Willow, and got blasted by a Sixth-Tier grand spell?
Maybe the recent duel with Commander Lutus Wardot?
All were moments that nearly cost him his life—
and now, another had joined that list.
SHWAAAK!
The sea split apart.
Even if this was only a pseudo-field formed through aura, its nature was unmistakably oceanic—
a mortal threat to any beastkin.
Yet Phantos didn’t flinch.
The impact of his harpoon strike parted the waters as if by a miracle.
Through that rift came the massive harpoon’s chain, whirling like a serpent.
Leonhardt intercepted it midair, slashing to deflect it.
“Kh...!”
Even with his aura-charged sword, the blow’s force pushed him back.
Phantos, leaping high, caught the rebounding harpoon and swung the anchor on the opposite chain like a windmill before hurling it toward Johan.
It fell like a meteor.
“Is that thing really a beastkin?”
Johan muttered in disbelief as he dove aside to avoid the crashing anchor.
* * *
As the battle at the First Inspection City intensified—
the remaining Crusader forces bypassed the city and advanced toward Galahad Fortress.
While the Imperial Knights held the line, they planned to finish the Demon King as quickly as possible.
But upon arrival, they froze.
Before them stood a colossal tree, towering high into the sky.
“Why is that here...?”
The tree reached toward the heavens—
and looked strikingly similar to the mythical World Tree itself.