Pink Snow Battle (3)

Drake's mad charge was too sudden for the Elderwood Acolytes to react.

Knights and soldiers tried to stop him. However, how could they do anything against him. Not to mention the enormous gap in terms of swordsmanship, Drake's body had long since transcended what was achievable by a normal human.

In this era of declining magic, Knight Households were growing increasingly stronger by the day, eating up what remaining authority magus families possessed. Only magically talented individuals could become an acolyte, but pretty much any human with enough resources and dedication could become a knight.

Still, it was pretty common for only one or two knights to appear out of a thousand soldiers training all day long. The reason was simple. To become a knight, the sheer amount of training far surpassed what could be endured by the average soldier. The amount of pain, time and hopelessness in solitary training was not human. The frustration felt upon failing to master one's swordsmanship...All of it was simply impossible for most.

The thing is...

Going through the very same pain over decades as a knight was not nearly enough to become a Grand Knight. To become one, you required talent and an incredible amount of resources. This is why out of a thousand knights, only those coming from eminent Knight Household had a chance to break through.

Drake was an irregular. The Moonfall Breathing Technique was of high quality, but it was only useful for knights to slightly increase their physique. It was not nearly enough for one to become a Grand Knight, even if they practiced it for decades. Sheer training and optimal nutrition, though useful, could not explain Drake's growth.

This was how valuable the Blood Absorption Ritual was. By using the blood of his fallen enemies and the incredibly powerful Giant Python, Drake managed to do something that no Knight Household in the Porfield Kingdom had achieved before: Breaking through the Grand Knight Realm before the age of 20.

It's not like no acolyte had tried to use the Blood Absorption Ritual to strengthen knight subordinates before. It was pretty rare like all Blood Rituals, and forbidden, but it could be purchased for a few hundred magic crystals as long as you met the 'right' people.

However, the time required to learn the ritual could take a few years. After all, memorizing the rune pattern was one thing, but actually engraving it without deviation was much more difficult. With the help of his Biochip, Drake bypassed this difficulty with great ease. Of course, the most difficult part was killing hundreds of humans. Most acolytes followed a code of justice and virtue.

As hypocritical as it was from well-fed noble magus apprentices who imposed extremely high taxes on commoners who were dying from famines, they still wouldn't dirty their hands. Not to mention that they were forbidden, blood rituals were not used a lot.

Drake didn't care. In his eyes, righteousness was a luxury for the strong. He had made up his mind in the past month. Although it was morally wrong, he didn't want to experience despair in face of a strong opponent threatening his life, and that of his closed ones.

As much as he hated his uncle Benjamin for isolating him from the main family branch, he still loved his family. Although they would talk behind his back and avoid him in the halls of the ivory tower, he knew that they would still help him if he asked for it. In fact, he hoped that spies from the family had reported Count Elderwood's movements. If words of it came into any elder's ears, then the 'Hunting Acolytes' from the main family branch, mainly intermediate acolytes who went through hundreds of battles, would destroy the Elderwood's army.

'But I don't need them...', Drake thought, 'They underestimated us. They took me by surprise and wiped out most of the army, but even then, my knight-rank subordinates managed to apply the [Rose Formation] I taught them and hanged on until my arrival'

Did he regret breaking through at this unfateful moment?

There was no way Drake would regret it.

After all, it had given him an opportunity.

The opportunity to destroy a man who had betrayed his trust.

The Wooden Merchant Union was famous throughout the Porfield Kingdom.

[Knight Killing Technique [Triple Cut] Activated]

Drake had reached the range necessary to strike the man who betrayed him. His charge had caught the attention of everyone on the battlefield. The scene of him cutting armoured knights as if they were made of butter had a psychological impact on each and every Elderwood's soldier, to the point that some were beginning to surrender, throwing their weapons on the ground and running away.

As Drake activated his knight killing technique [Triple Cut], his sword started to move at such high speed that the blade became three. Each strike was so fast that it seemed instanteneous. Right hand, left arm, throat.

Each cut was swift and painless.

Fang Zheng died on the spot, unable to follow the blade, unable to grasp what was happening to him.

Fang Zheng couldn't believe his eyes. He thought himself to be safe as he had completed his end of the bargain with the Count, who promised him safety.

But...

Ever since Drake had appeared...

He felt a terrifying urge to run. At first, he fought this instinct.

But now...

Why was the world spinning?

Oh, right...

It wasn't the world that was spinning, but his beheaded head rolling on the floor.

'So that's how it ends?', Fang Zheng thought, 'In the end, I bet my life and lifetime fortune on the wrong party. Grand Knight at the age of 16...This is terrifying. The Moonfall Household has created a monster unknowingly'