Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 151 - Zephyr

"Medrauta!"

Viviane's desperate cry tore through the air even as her knight's blade clattered uselessly to the ground. The exchange between Medrauta and the Walpurgisknight had lasted mere seconds, the two of them trading blows so quickly that not even Viviane's enhanced vision could keep up with their movements. At first, it had appeared as if Medrauta was gaining the upper hand thanks to her superior speed, but something had gone terribly wrong.

A sharp, high-pitched snap had rang loudly when their blades last met, and something silver spun through the air only to embed itself into the tower a second later. Despite her eyes being focused on Medrauta the whole time, Viviane knew it had been her knight's sword that had snapped, and the broken weapon Medrauta now held confirmed that fact. Even from the beginning, Medrauta had been placed at a disadvantage due to the sheer difference in size of their weapons.

While the silver-haired knight had fought many greatsword-wielding opponents with nothing more than her simple longsword and emerged victorious, the gargantuan behemoth of blackened iron that the Walpurgisknight swung was simply on an entirely different scale. Not only was it thrice the length of Medrauta's weapon, but the black blade was wide and heavy, making it more of a lance than a sword. With nothing left of her shorn blade aside from a stub of sharpened iron, there was no way Medrauta would be able to defeat the Walpurgisknight now.

"...Shit. We gotta run." Medrauta began retreating rapidly, but she knew the Walpurgisknight would simply charge at her if she created too much distance. Without her sword, the threat of decapitation no longer existed and her opponent was now free to press the attack without fearing defeat. "I don't think we can win this, Vivi."

Viviane nodded in agreement. There wasn't much to debate in this situation. Perhaps if she had a moonsteel bow or even a second bow, it would've been possible for Medrauta to distract the Walpurgisknight unarmed while she lined up the perfect shot to blow the armored knight's head off completely. For a moment, Viviane considered attempting to run back into the tower and retrieve some of the weapons left inside, but she quickly abandoned the idea. There was no way they'd manage to outrun the Walpurgisknight on the staircase.

There was just one problem with escaping.

Before the Walpurgisknight's appearance, Medrauta had been very willing to grab Viviane and simply jump off the tower if something dangerous appeared after the sphere of black mana was destroyed. In fact, that was exactly what she would've preferred to do regardless of what came out of the portal formed by the black crystal. Unfortunately, the Walpurgisknight's arrival completely invalidated that plan.

At most, Medrauta had expected something like a powerful witchspawn to emerge. Instead, a Sworn who was likely one of Amelia's most loyal followers and a commander of her witchspawn army had appeared, bearing a mana-charged crystal in the hilt of his sword that would completely reverse their efforts. No matter what, they needed to defeat the Walpurgisknight or at least force him to retreat.

But how...? Medrauta grit her teeth, unable to find a solution out of this mess. They had to win no matter what, but there was simply no way to win. In anger, she threw her broken sword at the Walpurgisknight who simply knocked it aside with the back of his fist with contemptuous ease. The black-clad knight marched confidently toward her, his colossal weapon resting easily on his shoulder, taking his time to slowly corner the pair that had dared stand against him.

"Medrauta! What are you doing!? Didn't you just say we had to run!?" Viviane shouted.

"Yeah, but..."

Viviane shook her head. She already knew what Medrauta was going to say. The same thing was on her mind after all. "We can just come back afterwards! Come on!"