An unusual phenomenon was occurring on the mountain. Fog and steam mixed together to create a thick white blanket that nearly reduced visibility to zero. The knights could feel the ground burning with heat, and the lake had begun to bubble like a pot of boiling water.

“Hoo… Haa… Haa…” The knights gasped for air as the hot steam sucked every single drop of water from their bodies and dehydrated them.

The Imperial Knights were growing exhausted past their limits. A few moments before, a wave of molten lava had come crashing down on the lakeshore, forcing the knights to beat a hasty retreat into the lake. The lava soon surrounded the shoreline and blocked every possible exit

A wave of molten lava came crashing down onto the lake a few moments ago, and the knights hurriedly retreated into the lake. The lava surrounded the lake’s shoreline and blocked every possible exit for them. Just like that, the Imperial Knights were completely trapped.

Seyra gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath, “Damn it… Why is there lava in an ordinary mountain range?”

The wave of lava was not a natural disaster, and it was no mere coincidence that the amount of lava was just sufficient to trap the Imperial Knights in the lake.

Just then, soldiers engulfed in flames slowly began to rise out of the pool of lava. The subordinates of the Red Tyrant had appeared!

One of the knights swung his sword and cut down a Lava Soldier, but it then exploded and spewed lava all over the place.

“Euk! M-My hand!” the knight cried out.

“Moron! Those are made out of lava! Don’t even think about slashing them!” another knight shouted.

The Imperial Knights were trapped in hell on earth.

Seyra glared at the woman who was the culprit behind this disaster, standing on the other side of the lake. The knight captain asked, “Are you planning to kill us all?”

“I’m pretty sure we clarified that we had no intentions of doing that,” Shaneth said. She pointed toward Helkin and said, “I’ll recall the lava as soon as Sir Knight Captain hands over his sword.”

Henrick and Rick were standing beside Shaneth, as that was the only area in the vicinity not covered by lava. In any event, the tides had turned in their favor, and they had become the ones who had a stranglehold on the lives of the Imperial Knights.

Henrick yawned and stretched before threatening the old knight, “Look here, Sir Helkin. Let’s do this the easy way. Will you choose a single sword in exchange for the entire knight order?”

Seyra suddenly interjected even before Helkin could say something. She shouted, “Sir Helkin! You should never hand your sword over to them! There’s no guarantee that they are going to honor their promise and recall this lava. Besides, it sounds extremely suspicious to me that they’re so intent on getting their hands on the Reorkan Empire’s treasure!”

Henrick grimaced and retorted, “Hey, I already told you that we have no desire to keep the sword. You can throw it into the lava for all I care.”

Kang Yoon-Soo’s godly powers would be restored if the God Breaker left Helkin.

Meanwhile, Sharp grabbed his hair and started to struggle.

[Sharp’s unsheathed form has come to an end.]

[Sharp will now return to his normal form.]

Sharp, who had returned to his usual depressed and gloomy self, muttered something to himself. “I… What did I do…? Huu… Huu… I-I killed them…! I did something so horrible…! I even fought with Light…!”

“Sharp was so cute while unsheathed. We could have killed a lot of people if we worked together,” Rick said.

Sharp’s face turned pale as he went into denial, exclaiming, “No! N-No…! I didn’t k-kill them…! That wasn’t me…!”

“Such a shame… Let’s bathe in the blood of our enemies together next time, Sharp,” Rick said cheekily.

Henrick clicked his tongue and said, “The Spirit of Swords has another natural enemy now.”

The Imperial Knights had been left in confusion and chaos. The knights were divided between those who wanted to hand over the sword, and those who wanted to preserve their honor and not yield to the enemy.

The Imperial Knights were normally disciplined and maintained a strict hierarchy, but their discipline and order did not stand a chance against the blistering heat and the boiling lake water. Additionally, they found it difficult to make a proper judgment, as they could not feel any hostility from the enemy.

“We have to give up the sword! We cannot have the entire knight order perish just because of a single sword!”

“However, there is no guarantee that they are telling the truth! The lava could devour us the moment we give up the sword. Who knows? The sword could be the only thing that is protecting us right now!”

“Are you deaf? They just told us that we could throw the sword into the lava for all they care!”

The knights were in a total uproar, and even the knight captains, Seyra and Lenox, were so thoroughly confused that they could no longer control their subordinates.

It was then…

“All of you shut up!” Helkin roared. The old knight’s shout rang out across the lake and made the knights all fall silent. Helkin was the only one who could silence hundreds of knights in such a desperate situation.

“I will not give up my sword,” Helkin said. The knights started to look restless when they heard his response..

Helkin gripped the hilt of the god-killing sword and said, “That is not because of the royal command or because this sword is a precious treasure.” The old knight continued in a voice filled with strength, “Asking a knight to give up his sword is akin to asking them to give up their lives.”

The knights’ expressions crumpled as if they had been hit in the backs of their heads, and the ones who had lost their swords to Sharp hung their heads low. They were ashamed by the fact that they had forgotten their oath and honor as knights the moment their lives were threatened.

Helkin took up a normal sword and said, “It will be possible to carve a path through the lava with my skills. I will go first and carve a path. Make sure to stay behind me and not fall behind.”

Lenox was shocked and hurriedly protested, “Sir Helkin! Your whole body will burn and you’ll die if you do that!”

“Do you think I do not know that? Lenox, you will be the next captain of the First Order of the Imperial Knights,” Helkin replied.

“Why…” Lenox muttered, biting his lip.

Helkin steeled his resolve and prepared to risk his life, then walked toward the lava. The knights started to tear up at the sight of the strongest knight on the continent sacrificing himself just to save them.

It was then that somebody shouted, “W-Wait a minute, Sir Helkin! You will need two swords if you plan to carve a path through the lava. Please, use my sword!”

It was the newbie knight from the third order. He clumsily walked toward Helkin as he extended his sword.

“I only need one sword, Eric,” Helkin replied.

Right as the old knight clicked his tongue at the newbie knight’s disturbance and was about to turn around, something happened that made Helkin display shock for the first time in front of the knights.

The newbie Eric stole the God Breaker from Helkin’s waist. It was an unimaginable act of insubordination that was practically tantamount to treason.

Helkin and the rest of the Imperial Knights could not hide the shock on their faces. Helkin shouted, “Why, this little wretched…!”

However, Eric threw the God Breaker into the lava even before the old knight was able to finish speaking.

Plop! Fssshhh…!

Kwuuooohhh!

The God Breaker let out a scream as if it were a living creature before drowning in the lava.

[The natural enemy of a god has disappeared!]

[The god’s powers have been restored!]

Lenox could not believe his eyes as he muttered in disbelief, “E-Eric… W-What the hell did you do just now…?”

Helkin and the rest of the knights were left speechless by the newbie’s bold actions. They had known that he was a knucklehead and a troublemaker, but they had never imagined that he was capable of causing such a big blunder.

In the midst of the silence, the newbie knight, Eric, seemed to be somewhat relieved by what he had just done.

“Hoo…” He let out a sigh of relief before wiping the sweat off of his forehead. The moment he wiped his face, however, his face suddenly changed, and his voice along with it. ‘Eric’ remarked, “Doing something reckless and crazy isn’t really my forte.”

Shaneth and Henrick’s eyes opened wide with shock. Eric’s face and voice had changed to one they were very familiar with.

It was the leader of the White Lion Clan, Han Se-Hyun!

“Are you happy now? Please don’t forget to explain what happened to your expressionless guy,” Han Se-Hyun said while waving his hand. He added, “Oh, and ask him when he plans to make me the emperor!”

“Yes! I’ll take the message to him!” Shaneth replied with a beaming smile.

With that, Kang Yoon-Soo’s companions disappeared into the fog, and the lava receded soon afterward.

“You bastard!” Seyra spat out a curse before smacking Han Se-Hyun in the back of the neck. The sheer gap in both their levels and physical ability made Han Se-Hyun collapse helplessly in one strike.

Lenox laughed in disbelief and exclaimed, “He changed his appearance and infiltrated the Imperial Knights? This guy… His acting skills were amazing. My knights and I never suspected that he wasn’t Eric even for a minute.”

“Is that something you should be proud of, Lenox? We lost our target because of this bastard, and you’re at fault as much as he is!” Seyra lashed out. She immediately turned around and said, “Sir Helkin! I’ll be able to catch up to them if I go after them now. I’ll capture them and interrogate them to learn the whereabouts of the doppelganger!”

However, Helkin shook his head and replied, “No, there is no need for that.”

“Sir Helkin…?” Seyra muttered in confusion.

The old knight stretched while walking toward the shore. He said, “I’m pretty sure I said this a while ago. The sword is a knight’s life. I lost my sword, so I’m as good as dead now.”

“What do you mean by that?” Seyra asked.

“I’m tired. We stayed up for two nights,” Helkin said. He sat on a rock that was still warm, then bowed his head and fell asleep on the spot.

Seyra looked flabbergasted. She exclaimed, “I can’t understand what you mean by that, Sir Helkin! Why are you suddenly giving up on our mission? Lenox! Why are you smiling right now?!”

Lenox continued smiling as he replied, “Can’t you understand what Sir Helkin meant? We finally have an excuse to fail the mission. We tried our best, but he got stabbed in the back.”

The path they had walked as knights until that day was no different than that of loyal dogs that moved according to their master’s command. Lenox had always had an aversion toward the royal palace, whose intentions he could not make heads or tails of. However, he had realized something just then. He had to start making decisions based on his own convictions, rather than being led by fear and uncertainty the way he had for so long. That was the path he had to walk from now on.

Lenox smiled and said, “Our commander disappeared, and we lost our target right in front of our eyes. I guess we can consider this expedition a failure then.”

“Don’t make me laugh!” Seyra snapped back. Despite that, it seemed that the rest of the knights were already siding with Lenox.

“Let’s rest for a while before setting out to look for the missing fourth and fifth orders. I can’t help but worry about them. Seyra, why don’t you get some rest as well?” Lenox suggested.

The knights walked over to the shore, and Seyra soon followed suit. She observed her surroundings with a grimace, and then she noticed that something that should have been there had gone missing. The carriage they had parked a safe distance away from the lava had disappeared.

Seyra muttered in annoyance, “Where the hell did that slowpoke carriage run off to?”