Chapter 76: Curtain Call

“Wow!”

“What a fast speed!”

Amidst the exclamations of the crowd, the battle quickly entered its climax.

After the first clash with the masked man’s cross-blade, Heath drew his sword and slashed vertically, but what greeted him was the masked man blocking once again.

Heath, who had long expected this, took the opportunity to pull his cross-blade forward, drawing out a half-moon-shaped cold light. However, a vertical cross-blade appeared at the right time and blocked Heath’s attack once again, as if it was a piece of cake.

Therefore, Heath picked up the crossguard sword and quickly slashed at the man, creating two crescent moons that overlapped each other. It was the killer move of the Silver Moon Crossguard Sword Technique, the Moon Cross Sword.

The seemingly solid silver crossguard sword light finally moved the masked man. He grabbed the crossguard sword with both hands and slashed forward forcefully.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing exploded once again.

When the cross-shaped sword collided, a layer of ripples spread out rapidly in the air. The wooden arena was pressed down so hard that cracking sounds could be heard.

Under the impact of the ripples, both of them were pushed back by each other’s strength.

But in the next second, the two figures collided again.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Dang! Dang! Dang!

The sound of metal colliding reverberated throughout the entire arena. The two figures flashed across the arena rapidly, their astonishing speed even leaving afterimages in the air.

What was faster than them was their sword shadows!

The two cross-shaped swords seemed to have turned into light in the hands of the two Knights, clashing in the air at a speed so fast that people could not see them clearly. People could only see the sword lights flashing by, and only the raindrops of sparks flying into the sky.

“Is… Is this the power of a Knight?”

“So… So powerful!”

The crowd was stunned by this dazzling battle. Whether it was the ordinary people, the upper class, or even the ruling class who were Knights themselves, they could not take their eyes off the arena. Their eyes were filled with shock and awe.

Allund had held so many Martial Arts Competitions, but this was the first time they had seen such a battle between peak Knights.

In the arena.

Heath was quickly brandishing his cross-shaped sword, and his mind was highly focused. From the day he held his sword until now, this masked man was definitely the strongest opponent he had ever met.

His opponent’s strength was at the peak of the Knight realm, just like him. Other than that, his swordsmanship was also superb. With the two of them combined, it was simply unassailable.

Where did this expert come from? Why did he come to participate in the tournament?

A powerhouse that had reached such a level did not need to rely on the platform of the tournament to gain reputation. The appearance of this man had greatly exceeded Heath’s expectations.

The battle continued.

After nearly a hundred rounds of sword exchanges, Heath’s cross-shaped sword just happened to slash across the other party’s face during an attack.

Although it did not hit the man, the sword aura that seeped out tore apart the mask on the man’s face. The man’s face was completely exposed in front of everyone’s eyes.

After seeing the man’s face, the crowd was once again in an uproar.

“Wow!”

“What… What a terrifying face…”

Hidden under the mask was an abnormally ugly or even terrifying face. Only a small part of the face was intact. The entire face seemed to have suffered some kind of great trauma and had completely rotted away.

Around the protruding eyeballs, one could even see the eye sockets that exposed white bones, making one’s hair stand on end.

“He is… Haslund! Haslund the Butcher! He is Haslund the Butcher of Ryker Duchy! He is the Guardian Knight of the Bloody Princess Trish!” Right at this moment, someone seemed to have recognized the identity of this man.

The crowd immediately started whispering.

“What? It’s him? Isn’t it rumored that he died under the magic of a Wizard?”

“He didn’t die. He was seriously injured and his face was destroyed.”

Hearing the discussion of the crowd, Heath was stunned. He was very surprised. He didn’t expect it to be such a coincidence. After all, the Princess of the Ryker dukedom was captured by him.

He picked up the mask on the ground and handed it to the man.

The man took the mask. “Thank you.”

Heath shook his head. “You’re welcome.”

As he spoke, he sized up the man. Because he had been sent to different battlefields, the two of them did not have the chance to meet.

But strictly speaking, Heath had seen this man once.

It was on the day of the final battle.

On that day, the entire Duchy of Ryker surrendered. He was the only one who wanted to fight to the death. In the end, he was sent flying by Wizard Slater’s spell. At that time, Heath was also present. As a Knight, he even looked at him twice because of his imposing manner.

Following that, Heath retreated to a standard distance and got into a starting position.

It was rare for him to meet an opponent with superb swordsmanship. Heath also wanted to take the opportunity to hone his swordsmanship. Although the system could help him quickly master it, it could not give him the essence.

However, the man shook his head. “I’m not fighting anymore.”

Heath was stunned.

Without waiting for him to say anything, the man turned around and left.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why did he suddenly stop fighting?”

After the exciting moment, he suddenly stopped fighting. The audience outside the arena was all confused.

Heath frowned and put away his cross sword.

As a Knight, he seemed to understand the man’s departure. It was probably because he could not improve or break through from himself. He probably came to this tournament for those reasons…

The whispers of the audience seemed to confirm Heath’s guess.

“The former top genius of the west coast, this… Eh…”

“What’s there to sigh about? This Butcher deserves it. Has he done enough evil to the bloody princess? He’s a bastard who won’t even let go of a newborn baby.”

“I heard that he still won’t give up. He even wants to save the woman in the tower…”

Due to political considerations, after the war ended, the Kingdom of Helan did not execute Princess Trish of the Ryker Duchy. Instead, they locked her into a high tower in the south of the Underdark Treesea that had been enchanted by Wizards.

It was said that Haslund had not given up on that woman and had been trying to find a way to save her.

Now, it seemed that the way he was trying to save her was probably…

Looking at the man’s back as he left, Heath raised his eyebrows and could not help but become curious. “Grand Knight?”

Could it really be achieved?

At this point, the curtain of the Martial Arts Competition was lifted. The referee quickly announced Heath’s victory. “The Knight of Reiden, Heath Noen, wins!”

The crowd cheered like waves.

“Black-haired Knight!”

“Black-haired Knight!”

Lord Lambert walked forward with his attendant. “Young man, you are the most outstanding Knight I have ever seen…”

After a round of praises, the Count finally delivered the item Heath had requested.

He took a beautifully crafted gemstone necklace from the tray carried by the attendant beside him and handed it to Heath. “This is the Goddess’ Blessing, the most beautiful necklace in the world. And now, it belongs to you, Heath, the most outstanding warrior!”

The crowd cheered again.

“Black-haired Knight!”

“Black-haired Knight!”

Receiving the necklace, Heath thanked him.

After so long, he finally got his hands on this thing.

“In addition, this is the victory wreath, which also belongs to the victor.” While Heath was thinking, the Count sent the garland on the tray over again.

Holy Spirit Flower!

When his gaze fell on the pure white flower on the wreath, Heath’s eyes lit up.

A plant like the Holy Spirit Flower was extremely rare. Moreover, there was almost no possibility of it being in the wild. Even if it was raised artificially, it would require careful care day and night. It was really not easy to meet a mature flower here.

He took over the wreath and muttered in his heart, ‘Extract.’

[Beep, extraction successful. Affinity with the divine elements +1.]

The unexpected notification stunned heath.

‘No way?’

Affinity with the elements? He had extracted affinity with the elements?! He could really extract affinity with the elements?!

He had extracted countless substances in such a long time, but this was the first time he had extracted affinity with the elements.

In fact, before this, he had deliberately