Chapter 1130: 117. Dark Knight

“I said... get farther away.”

This time, Muen’s words carried an unprecedented severity.

Marcie’s incomparably clever little head, for once, turned with rare speed. She finally realized something, and without lingering for even an instant, she grabbed Landa and threw herself violently to the side to escape.

Buzz—

Almost the same instant she escaped from Muen’s side, Marcie heard a sharp ringing of steel.

At first, that sound came from very far away, like a faint, ethereal bell tolling in the distance. But in only the blink of an eye, it turned into a roaring, furious howl like thousands of troops and horses. Marcie immediately covered her ears on instinct, but even so, she felt her eardrums ache from the shock.

Not only her. Everyone around them was shaken by this sudden movement, and for a moment, the offensive actually paused.

And so, everyone saw a streak of cold light, from beside that divine throne, arriving from far to near in an instant!

Ding!!!

In the flash of lightning and flint, the pure-white twin blades crossed into a holy cross and collided thunderously with that cold gleam!

At that instant, it was as if a terrifying explosive spell had been released there. An unimaginable wind pressure burst outward from the point where the two met. Marcie and Landa, who were nearby, could not even withstand that wind pressure. They were blown until they tumbled and rolled away into the distance.

Covered in dust and dirt.

Marcie struggled with difficulty to pull herself up from the mud, dazed. First came anger, then relief... and then horror and lingering fear.

Because right where she had been standing a moment ago, the ground began shattering rapidly in a completely unreasonable way... No, it was not only the ground shattering. Everything within the core area where those two powerful forces collided was shattering!

It was as if, after a hurricane had plowed through, a terrifying earthquake struck as well. Forget living beings; not even broken stones were allowed to exist. They were shattered into dust by the erupting aftershock!

Seeing this, Marcie’s face turned deathly pale. She no longer had even the slightest thought of watching the battle. She quickly pulled Landa along and found a large stone nearby to hide behind.

But even here, she did not feel the slightest bit safe... The ground was still trembling. The air seemed to have become thin. Compared with the current movement, the earlier battle against over a hundred evil believers was practically a kindergarten group fight!

The two little girls could only cling tightly to each other and wait for the disaster to pass.

...

“...”

The storm temporarily subsided.

Muen raised his eyes. His azure pupils reflected the figure before him, and a trace of shock flashed through them that even he could not suppress.

So strong.

He had reacted faster than everyone else. Before this attack arrived, he had already made preparations. But for the sake of the two girls behind him, he had still chosen to take it head-on.

And so, at the instant of contact, a vast, tremendous force far beyond his imagination transmitted along the short blades into his arms. For the first time in a long while, he heard the wail of his own bones.

The muscles across his entire body were trembling and stinging. With a sweep of his peripheral vision, he saw that he had been forced back dozens of meters. His legs had carved deep trenches into the ground, and enormous pit-like cracks spread outward with him as the center.

An unexpected strike.

Unexpectedly powerful.

Since Muen had arrived in Annabawei, the premonition of death clearly buzzed in his mind for the first time.

“Who?” Muen asked instinctively.

As the cold gleam and smoke scattered, that figure also gradually became clear. After failing with one strike, he withdrew and retreated, standing straight not far away.

It was a man wearing worn-out armor. All of his physical features were hidden beneath the heavy armor. Other than judging his sex from his build, nothing else could be seen.

And compared to the unknown existence beneath the armor, that suit of armor itself was already eye-catching enough. It was gray-white, shaped like knight armor, decorated with mysterious deep-blue patterns. Although Muen could easily tell it was an antique at least several hundred years old, the residual magical aura on it was still enough to shock the heart.

A mysterious man at least at the peak of the fifth rank.

A set of old magic armor of top-tier quality.

Plus...

Muen looked downward... a knight’s longsword covered in the same mottled marks.

The existence formed by these three things was like a mountain blocking Muen’s path.

Every characteristic was filled with a strong sense of dissonance from Annabawei, and it was precisely this dissonance that made Muen extremely alert.

“Annabawei still has someone like you?”

Seeing that the other party did not answer, Muen exhaled a turbid breath. While asking questions, he also calmed the blood and energy surging from that blow just now.

“Don’t tell me you’re like me... an outsider too.”

“...No.”

What exceeded Muen’s expectations was that this seemingly wooden mysterious man actually spoke directly this time. Although his voice was hoarse, like an old rusted machine, and his words came intermittently.

“I... am not an outsider. I am only... a sinner.”

“If you’re guilty, then go to prison. Running here to block someone else’s path isn’t exactly a good habit.”

“This is... my way of atonement.”

“Atonement?”

Muen narrowed his eyes.

Through the visor, he could feel a clear gaze. The other party also seemed to be sizing him up.

That gaze carried curiosity and anger, but what confused Muen the most was... it also seemed to carry fear.

Fear? Why would he fear him?

In the exchange just now, he should have been the one who temporarily held the upper hand.

“How interesting. That Third Attendant from before also said the same thing. So what exactly are all of you atoning for?” Muen laughed coldly.

“Atone...”

The knightly figure suddenly froze as if he had jammed.

Beneath the visor, his weathered eyes flickered with a hazy light... Ancient images surfaced in his mind, blurred and unclear.

He did not know what exactly he was atoning for either.

There were many things he had forgotten.

He vaguely remembered that he had once shone with radiant brilliance, leading countless people out of the darkness.

He had once crossed countless obstacles as well, reaching unfamiliar lands no one had ever reached before.

If a “protagonist” was destined to be born in one place and one era, then in every story that described that period of history, he should have been that “protagonist.”

Unfortunately, such a person as him had ultimately fallen into darkness himself.

Not because he was forced.

But because he chose it.

He had chosen to embrace the darkness, abandoning all the glory he once possessed.

Because he had once walked alone into the mist, and then, at the end of the mist, he saw... saw...

“Die!”

He suddenly roared, as if swallowed by some terrifying past. That hoarse voice was like a wild beast, filled with ferocity and killing intent, without the slightest trace of clarity remaining. “Outsiders must die!”

Madness eroded his consciousness. In what little thought remained to him, only this single command from the Goddess was left.

Kill the outsider.

And so, he moved again.

A terrifying storm was raised once more. The sharp sword edge directly tore the earth apart.

The heavily rusted longsword faintly emitted some kind of glow, making even Muen not dare face it head-on.

“...”

Of course, Muen would not be stupid enough to clash with it head-on either.

Without anyone else dragging him down, this time Muen could dodge lightly. He only felt somewhat helpless in his heart. “Hey, can’t we talk properly? Isn’t it bad to start waving blades and guns at every turn? Although we are indeed fighting and killing, I basically still hope we can maintain a little elegance.”

“Die!”

The knightly figure pressed closer again, his moves becoming increasingly fierce. He was already faintly showing the intent to completely lock down Muen’s paths of retreat.

“As expected... another madman?”

Muen had expected this long ago.

Madmen... Since entering Annabawei, he had seen plenty.

But unfortunately, from ancient times to now, the crazier the brains of all madmen were, the more violently they fought.

If this guy were allowed to keep charging around like this, it would be terrible.

Therefore...

“Since you don’t understand elegance...”

Magic surged through Muen.

“Then I’ll help you understand it. Otherwise, people might think my title as Belrand’s number one good man is undeserved.”

Without another word, Muen’s figure flashed directly.

This person was very strong. The pressure he gave Muen was not at all inferior to that of the First Demon General Zagu whom he had once encountered.

One had to know that back then, Zagu had only been barely defeated after Muen and Ariel joined forces, nearly used all their methods, and were beaten half to death. Here, there was no Ariel to join hands with him again.

But he... was not the him from back then either.

“Time... Stagnation!”

Muen did not hold back. He directly used his trump card.

The other party’s identity was unknown, his techniques were strange, his strength was powerful... and there was something wrong with his brain. If Muen slowly fought him under these circumstances, then there would be something wrong with Muen’s brain too.

...As everyone knew, confronting a madman in a madman’s field was an extremely foolish act.

So...

Who the hell cared who you were? As long as you were not Crowned, instant kill first, respect later!

Dong—

Along with the whisper, a distant bell echoed through the void. Scorching pain instantly swept across his entire back. A massive amount of magic poured into the alchemy core, connecting to the supreme Authority that symbolized time.

Dong—

The knight was directly frozen in place.

Beneath the Crowned, there was no distinction between ranks. It was still one second.

Muen could originally have made it longer, but as everyone knew, stopping time was an activity that consumed a great deal of stamina. With things not yet over, he did not want to collapse this early.

One second was naturally brief, not even enough for an onlooker to suck in a breath of cold air.

But it was already enough for Muen to flash in front of the other party and grip his twin blades tightly—

Slash!

Since the other party was an evil believer, then at worst, he could be like those small fry from before and be left with a head to talk. So Muen had no reason to hold back either. He aimed directly at his vital point, striving to kill him in one strike!

Even if that armor of his was strange, it still could not block the twin blades given absolute sharpness by the old little girl!

Clang—

The blade-light was like the moon, the clear radiance like snow.

Beneath that arc of light beautiful enough to make one sigh, whether it was a person or anything else, it would without question be cut in two.

However... an accident still happened.

“Hm?”

Muen’s pupils suddenly shrank, because at the instant the blade edge approached the knight’s neck... that figure which had originally been frozen in time, like someone in an old film with the pause button pressed, suddenly moved.

That was right. Muen had not seen wrong, and it was not some illusion either. The other party... moved.

Muen’s blade speed could be measured in milliseconds. Killing an enemy who had been frozen in place for a full second could practically be called effortless... but his blades had only just swung out when he saw the other party actually break free from the restraints of time, stepping out of the frozen old film and into the real world.

Then he raised his sword again.

Sword and blades collided.

The pure-white twin blades failed to directly cut through the other party’s sword, because a strange ripple covered the rusted longsword, giving Muen the illusion of being trapped in a swamp.

Wind pressure swept out again.

The commotion this time was far less than before. But compared with the previous collision, Muen’s heart at this moment was already churning with stormy waves!

The Authority of time... didn’t work on this guy?

“You’ve got to be kidding me...”

The corner of Muen’s mouth twitched. “It’s the most representative power of a yellow-haired guy, time stop, and it has this little dignity?”

Thinking carefully, ever since he had learned this move, aside from being extremely convenient for clearing small fry, it basically had never played a decisive role against other troublesome characters.

Witch of Repentance? Sorry, Crowned are just that impressive. Immune to all methods.

Octopus Donna? Also sorry, racial talent. Extremely strong adaptability. The same move cannot be used a second time... though she probably could not adapt for too long either.

As for this guy in front of him...

Tick. Tock.

Faintly, Muen heard the sound of a clock moving.

He followed the sound with his gaze and discovered that on the knight’s armor, the deep-blue patterns seemed to have come alive, constantly writhing.

In the end, with head and tail connected, they actually outlined one strange clock pattern after another.

The hands of those clocks were constantly jumping, and each jump produced a tick-tock sound.

A familiar tick-tock sound.

“An ancient relic possessing the power of time?”

Muen’s expression abruptly darkened. “Who exactly are you?”