CHAPTER 120: FOURTH KNIGHT

She slipped. Had Godfrey agreed to her demand, the future would become unknown. Everything she had known until now would become useless.

Her emotions swallowed her rationality, but all this was brushed aside as she faced off against two Bishops.

They had four arms. Two of the lower ones were crossed, while the left upper one held a thick book, and a tongue of blue flames burned on the other.

Their headpiece, a tall blue metallic hat resembling a bishop’s mitre but with a more rigid, armoured appearance, matched the blue steel-like skin of the Bishops.

Two blue-tipped tassels dangled from both sides of the hat. These 8.5 lord-tier mage-type dungeon creatures launched huge fireballs the moment Godfrey and Isolde entered the hall.

Bastion manifested in Godfrey’s grip, blocking the fireballs. He lifted the Bastion above his head and lowered his body as Isolde somersaulted, landing on the huge round shield.

The shockwave that would have been released had it struck the floor burst out instead, sending intense vibrations and gale that blasted the Bishops.

One of them stretched forth a hand, conjuring a forcefield that blocked the wind while the other was hurtled backwards.

Isolde leaped, stabbing her spear through the chest of the one who conjured the forcefield, then kicked the bottom of her spear with so much power that it bolted through the Bishop’s chest like a ballistic bolt.

The spear pierced into the heart of the other Bishop, lodging it into the foggy wall.

"Did you see what they were going to do before they did it?" Godfrey asked, and Isolde nodded.

"How often?"

Isolde smirked. "I won’t tell."

They entered the next floor, and this time, there was only one entity in the hall. It was the queen, sitting on levitating black, properly carved stones which had smaller ones below that supported her feet. Two huge chunks of rocks sat beside her throne.

This queen wore a flowing gown with a frown, with butterflies moulded around it hovering above her head, and her eyes were covered by metal flower wreaths.

At the sight of them, the queen tapped the armrest of her throne, and the chunks of stone were telekinetically shaped into ten-inch-long earthen spikes coated with a metallic substance before their very eyes.

Forty of these spikes flew toward them at breakneck speed. This was an attack from a 9.0 mini-boss existence; it had the power to kill a 9.5 if careless.

Godfrey blocked the attack with Bastion, but for the first time, the shield was almost pierced through.

With white wings spread out, Isolde flew above Godfrey and crossed the distance between her and the queen with a single flap.

Godfrey activated Ricochet and Reflect. Wounds opened up on the queen’s body to her shock. As if that wasn’t enough, the spikes were coming back to her.

Her elegance vanished as she waved her hand, sending all of them clattering onto the floor, but Isolde ignored her telekinetic prowess, piercing several holes through the queen’s body in an instant!

She spun the spear, cutting through the queen’s throat. The queen staggered back and fell as her throne crumbled.

Isolde turned back only for her smile to turn into shock as she saw Godfrey had turned his shield into a translucent half-dome blocking the spikes.

Apparently, the queen wasn’t exactly helpless in that split second. The aid she called for was blocked by Godfrey. Had it not been for him, Isolde would have suffered at least two injuries from the spikes.

"Thank you," Isolde said sincerely. Knowing that Isolde liked him only made her compliment more effective. It jumbled his emotions, and he could only define this feeling as sweet.

There was no other word for it.

Both of them walked into the last floor and found the king. Lots of swords were stabbed into the floor around the throne. On it sat an armoured entity with a fur-padded cloak and a floating crown attached to his crown-like helmet.

He leaned on one arm while holding a longsword with the other. The pressure of a 9.5 lord tier fell on Godfrey.

The king rose to his feet, lifted its sword, and swung it before approaching them with slow, heavy steps. It was a nine-and-a-half-feet-tall existence, Godfrey didn’t even reach its chest.

Isolde brandished her spear. After eating the fruits of the Mana Tree, her summons had gone through evolution.

Grace became the Hornless Ice Dragon with a tier of 10.1 and a potential of 12.1, while Nyx gained the actual strength of its species, becoming an 11.5 Queen Tier with a potential of 14.5 Throne Tier!

As for her final summon, it still hadn’t entered the known part of her soul, limiting her to less than ten percent of its capabilities. She didn’t even know its exact looks. Her situation could be considered an illness, but for summoners.

With a personal strength of 11.0, she was capable of handling this boss with ease, but she still didn’t know its ability.

"Isolde..." Godfrey said, pointing at a writing on the throne.

"Dragons bane. What?!" Her eyes narrowed. If that was right, it meant this main boss was equipped to suppress and kill dragons!

To her surprise, her senses wavered, like she was poisoned. The closer the king got, the worse the feeling became. Even the floor began to wobble, and Isolde started to perspire.

Godfrey manifested a giant bow and drew it to its full capacity. His arms trembled as the force of the draw took everything from him.

The king was already close. It cocked its head when it saw the bow but didn’t move to kill.

Its pride was beyond the clouds. Possessing an ability that could weaken dragons much stronger than you would, of course, make anyone feel that way.

But it made a mistake underestimating Godfrey’s bow. The moment the arrow was shot, the king staggered back, staring in disbelief at the huge arrow protruding through him.

Activating Ballista’s Ascendant skill, Godfrey’s entire body emitted steam, his muscles trembling as he summoned arrow after arrow, unleashing them like a human minigun.

He wanted to get rid of this boss before it threw off that pride and decided to get serious.

Isolde couldn’t help much, as she was fighting against her poisoned internal system.

With all of his might, Godfrey kept shooting until he couldn’t. His fingers bled as his knees gave out.

It felt like his entire system was shutting down from such a high-powered skill.

’I didn’t name this skill. I’ll call it Ballistic Havoc,’ Godfrey said internally as he stared at the king, now a porcupine with the number of arrows sticking out of it.

Isolde was finally able to breathe. She began to realize she was on all fours, almost at the verge of collapsing.

She had never felt anything like that before. New dungeons, of course, brought strange abilities they had never heard of. It made entering dungeons a lot more dangerous now.

"Hey, are you alright?" Godfrey’s voice made her turn to the golden-haired boy lying flat on his back.

"I haven’t seen you like that before. It was scary," Godfrey said, concern still in his eyes as her pretty face reflected within them.

Isolde crawled over and laid on his chest. "I have never felt like that. It was like the air I breathe became toxic, and my organs wanted to explode."

"I would have loved to hold your hand, but mine’s useless at the moment. It’ll take a while for my healing to kick in," Godfrey said between breaths, and Isolde reached out, entwining her fingers with his bloodstained ones.

Godfrey smiled softly. "Your hands are really soft and small."

Isolde’s cheeks flushed, and she slammed her elbow into him. Godfrey cried out, forcing her to apologise countless times.

After resting for a while, Godfrey rose to his feet with fully healed fingers and took the dungeon core.

Tempest came out of a portal and absorbed it. The Chief Knight broke through the barrier, advancing from a high tier into an 8.2 lord tier!

Godfrey sat on the throne and shut his eyes. He appeared in Tempest’s chambers and saw that the next door was fully unsealed.

Exhaling heavily, he pushed it open.

Godfrey frowned as what he saw wasn’t another chamber but a hallway with towering statues of mounted knights.

He walked to the end of the hallway and saw another door. Written above it was:

"He who rides with the dead. The weeping knight."

Godfrey pushed the door open and found a chamber filled with grey fog. It was so thick that he couldn’t see anything.

"Archduke..." A deep voice rippled through the grey fog. "...I have longed for your arrival."

Something metallic slammed the floor, and the grey fog blasted away, revealing a golden-armoured knight on an equally armoured horse.

The knight and his huge horse were a total of thirteen feet, though individually, both were nine feet tall with incredible mass and golden armoured plates.

His armour was exquisite, with the Spartan-like helmet having two thin cuts downward from the eyeholes like tears that cut through steel.

Where a plume should have been was the design of a small tree, or more like a cluster of golden foliage.

A solemn aura swirled around this knight, whose size and height made Godfrey’s other knights look small.

’It feels like he’s always lamenting,’ Godfrey said, pushing against the tide of fear emanating from the mounted knight as he approached the tablet.

’I already have a name for him. Lament.’

Godfrey looked at the tablet.

Summon: Chief Cavalry Knight of the Golden Order

Type: Hybrid

Tier: 9.5

Potential: 12.5

Description: [Alchemically altered to bear the powers of the Dark Lich Lord, this Chief Knight in Black-Out State can raise a maximum number of three thousand heavy cavalry, Golden Order Cavaliers who perished in the battle against the Dark Lich Lord, as Night Cavaliers!]