CHAPTER 214: CHAPTER 213: A TRUE KNIGHT’S PROOF

The Sengolio Knight grinned as he adjusted his stance, greatsword resting loosely in his hands. His voice was deep and mocking.

"Heh... a spear user against me? You’ve chosen the wrong opponent, boy."

Lumberling’s grip on his spear tightened, his eyes steady. The man’s aura roared like a storm, pressing down with suffocating weight. Yet instead of shrinking, Lumberling felt something else, his blood boiled.

The Knight lunged first, his greatsword swinging in a blur of steel. Lumberling met him head-on, spear clashing against blade. The impact cracked the earth beneath their feet, shockwaves rippling outward.

Kaelvar’s smirk widened. "Not bad... but let’s see how long you last."

He twisted his blade and spun, his body flowing into a technique that turned his greatsword into a storm of flashing steel.

’Steel Tempest!’

The world became a whirlwind, slashes chaining into one another, every spin faster than the last. To most spearmen, it would’ve been a nightmare, no gaps, no rhythm to exploit, just relentless pressure designed to crush them.

Lumberling’s eyes narrowed as his body flowed into motion, mana surging through his veins. With a steady breath, he unleashed the skill he had only just grasped. ’Spearheart Thrust.’

His spear darted forward. To an outside eye it looked like a simple stab, but in truth his wrists, elbows, and shoulders flowed in a hundred subtle adjustments. Each thrust sought Kaelvar’s true balance point, chasing his center of mass through the storm.

The Knight’s grin faltered as the spearpoint slid past his guard, grazing his pauldron. Another thrust followed, this one sneaking under his swing to nick his side.

"What?!" Kaelvar snarled, breaking his flow for an instant.

Lumberling was beginning to grasp the truth of his skill. Spearheart Thrust wasn’t just a strike, it granted him foresight, letting him read the flow of his opponent’s center of mass and predict where their balance would fall after each movement. Even evasions couldn’t fully escape its pursuit; the thrust would naturally adjust, always seeking the opening.

For a spearman, it was the equivalent of a swordsman’s perfect cut.

Kaelvar roared and redoubled his skill, his blade shrieking through the air. But no matter how wild his tempo grew, the spear was always there, snapping at his throat, his ribs, his wrist. It wasn’t raw speed that overwhelmed him, it was inevitability.

Kaelvar spat blood, glaring. "What are you?!"

Lumberling exhaled slowly, his body humming with newfound strength. He didn’t answer. Instead, he shifted his stance, sparks beginning to crawl across his arms.

For the first time, he called upon a skill that had once been beyond his reach, the very one he had taken from Jason.

’Thundering Lunge.’

Lightning flared along his spear, his body a conduit of crackling power. With a single step, he vanished forward, faster than the eye could follow.

Kaelvar barely twisted aside, the spear grazing past his neck as the thunderstrike scorched the air. He staggered, panting, his eyes wide.

"Impossible... I carry the will of my Empire! No nameless boy should be able to...!"

But Lumberling wasn’t done. His eyes blazed, his stance lowering again. This time, he didn’t just call on lightning.

He wove inevitability into it.

’Thundering Lunge... Spearheart Thrust!’

The world erupted. Sparks burst across Lumberling’s frame as mana burst from his body, thunder crawling along his arms. His spear became more than steel, it was a streak of living lightning, a strike that corrected, twisted, hunted.

Kaelvar’s eyes widened. He swung desperately, his greatsword shrieking through the air. For a heartbeat, steel and lightning clashed. He thought he had it. He felt the weight of the deflection...

...but then the spearpoint shifted.

His pupils shrank, terror dawning as the weapon curved like fate itself, sliding past his guard, chasing the beat of his heart.

"No... this can’t...!"

The strike pierced through. Lightning swallowed the Knight’s scream as the power coursed through his body.

The storm of the Steel Tempest broke apart, his greatsword falling from numb fingers.

Lumberling stood over him, chest rising and falling, the crackle of thunder fading from his spear.

Inside, his thoughts were clear.

’So this is what it means to be a True Knight. Strength, speed, mana... but more than that, skills that change the battlefield itself. If this is only the beginning, then... how far can I still climb?’

Kaelvar collapsed to the ground, the fight finished.

And Lumberling exhaled, raising his spear once more, already turning back toward the war still raging around him.

The thunder in the air had only just faded when footsteps staggered toward him.

Gordon appeared first, limping and bruised, blood streaking his armor but his eyes still burning with fight. Beside him came Garrick, swaying on his feet, one arm clutching his side as if his body might split apart at any moment.

And behind them came Thalia, who was supposed to have stayed behind the walls. Gone were the plain traveling clothes Lumberling remembered, she now wore fitted light armor, her lean frame carrying a deadly edge, twin daggers glinting in her hands.

They skidded to a halt when they saw him.

Lumberling stood in the ruined earth, his spear buried deep in the chest of the fallen Sengolio Knight.

The three of them froze, their breaths caught. They had come racing here after Skitz followed Gordon, expecting to throw themselves into a hopeless fight. Leaving their Lord alone against a Knight Two Stage had seemed madness.

And yet...

He won.

He actually won.

Thalia’s eyes widened, a rare crack in her calm. Her grip on her daggers tightened unconsciously, knuckles whitening as if the steel in her hands was the only anchor she had left. For once, the sharp mask she wore faltered, replaced by raw disbelief.

"Impossible..." Gordon’s voice slipped out, barely more than a breath. "A Knight Two... defeated?"

At that moment, the body beneath Lumberling’s spear dissolved into mist. The familiar surge hit him, essence, pure and overwhelming, pouring into his veins, his very soul.

(You have devoured the Knight’s essence. 3,500 essence absorbed. Absorbing a portion of the Knight’s memories and experience.)

(You have learned the active skill: Beginner Steel Tempest Lvl 0 (1/1000))

Lumberling staggered back a step, his chest heaving. His body felt... alive in a way he had never known. The weight of exhaustion was there, yes, but beneath it thrummed a strength that seemed bottomless, his very bones ringing with power.

’I did it... I really did it.’

His eyes flickered toward the battlefield still raging beyond them, then down at his own hands gripping the bloodstained spear.

’A Knight Two Stage. Not just held my ground... I defeated him.’

For a moment, he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. Not a wide grin, but a quiet, burning satisfaction.

He exhaled slowly, the last of the Knight’s essence settling into him.