Gatefront, Annihilated

Lucian held Torrent's reins in his left hand and swept his straight sword in a graceful arc with his right.

The first soldier to charge at him was immediately beheaded, dropping to his knees.

"Fighting feels great!"

Torrent was incredibly fast, and Lucian could feel the wind pressure against his face.

The jolting of the ride did nothing to hinder Lucian's attacks.

Using Torrent's extraordinary mobility, Lucian gradually whittled down the infantry.

Every swing of his sword drew blood.

If they raised Greatshields, he struck down at their helmets from above.

If they leveled spears, he pulled away and severed the shafts.

If they tried to surround him, he leaped out of the encirclement before charging back in to kill.

Before long, Gatefront had become a hellscape of flying blood and scattered limbs.

In little more than ten minutes, only one enemy remained standing.

He was dressed conspicuously differently from the other soldiers. He wore a Heavy helmet with only a narrow cross-shaped slit to see through, topped by a plume of gray horsehair.

Though he wore the same two-toned surcoat as the others, his shoulder and arm armor were far heavier.

A massive metal insignia resembling a shield hung on his left breast, engraved with the image of a double-headed battle axe.

All the soldiers Lucian had slain earlier had merely been rank-and-file troops. Now, he faced a formally knighted warrior.

In the Lands Between, feudal rank was directly tied to strength.

Though knights were merely the lowest rung of the nobility, their strength was still beyond comparison with ordinary soldiers.

During the previous battle, whenever Lucian tried to attack him, the full-body Greatshield in his hand had always deflected the blow with the slightest movement.

And his spear had nearly struck Lucian several times.

Fortunately, Torrent was intelligent enough to accelerate and sprint on his own, throwing off that spear every time.

Lucian knew he could not break through his opponent's defenses while continuing to fight on horseback, so he pulled back a short distance, dismounted, and gestured for Torrent to move farther away.

"Come on, let me see what a knight can do."

Lucian drew the Ritual Twin Straight Swords he had seized from the Grafted Scion from his back. During the earlier fight, he had already sensed that the pair of swords thirsted for blood.

The moment he gripped their hilts, Lucian felt as though he had become the Grafted Scion. Countless techniques surfaced in his mind.

Weapons carried the life experiences of their wielders. As long as one's attributes met the requirements, one could inherit the techniques contained within them.

And the point of Dexterity Lucian had added happened to bring him to the required level.

The Godrick Knight on the other side was already charging at him with his spear.

But Lucian remained unhurried. He crossed his twin swords before him, focused his mind, and channeled an energy from somewhere within his body into the weapons.

As an ancient golden Erdtree sigil emerged, golden light began to shimmer across the blades.

Skill—Golden Sword Technique.

What coated the blades was no flashy visual effect, but holy radiance that dealt additional damage.

The enchantment was complete, and the enemy was nearly upon him.

The Godrick Knight held his Greatshield before him in his left hand, leaving only the spear in his right exposed, and thundered toward Lucian like a Mud Truck.

He took a huge step forward with his right foot, twisted his torso violently, and thrust out his spear.

Borrowing the momentum of his charge and putting the full strength of his body behind it, this thrust was unstoppable. If it struck a person, it would surely pierce straight through flesh and armor alike.

But Lucian had prepared for it. He crouched swiftly, and the powerful thrust ultimately fell just short.

Instead, because of the twist of his hips and shoulders, the shield in the knight's left hand shifted backward, exposing the right half of his body to Lucian.

Taking advantage of the opening left by the enemy's wide attack, Lucian darted forward and thrust both swords in quick succession, piercing the chainmail beneath the surcoat as blood streamed out.

But after only two thrusts, the spear that had just been extended abruptly changed into a downward chop.

Lucian had no choice but to roll left, only to be met immediately by a crushing frontal blow from the enormous shield.

Lucian had just risen from his roll and had not yet regained his footing when the blow slammed him straight to the ground.

Damn it.

Lucian did not dare linger after falling. He immediately rolled to the side, and a spear struck the spot where he had fallen a second later.

Using the momentum of his roll, Lucian braced himself against the ground with his right hand and slashed out with the sword in his left, striking the Godrick Knight's helmet.

But the Frog-Mouth Helm was extremely durable, and the slash only left a dent.

But as a feint, the strike had already achieved its purpose.

Having taken a blow to the head, the Godrick Knight was not feeling much better.

What was more, the strike carried additional holy damage. Energy rattled around inside the helmet, forcing him to halt his pursuit.

He withdrew his spear and raised his shield, waiting for the pain in his head to subside.

Lucian used the time bought by that strike to get back to his feet, his twin swords held in a defensive stance.

Lucian licked the blood trickling from his nose. Though he looked somewhat disheveled after that exchange, he still held the upper hand.

Other than being knocked once and suffering a minor nosebleed, he had sustained no real injuries.

His opponent, on the other hand, had been stabbed twice in the torso and then struck in the head. Though holy damage did not have a restraining effect on these golden denizens, elemental damage would always have some effect.

A knight is a knight, an elite among the army. He's very proficient at changing moves, and he has a good eye for openings.

But that's all there is to it.

Lucian shifted from defense to offense and sprinted forward. Seeing this, the Godrick Knight lowered his body, bent his left knee behind the shield, stepped his right foot back to stabilize himself, and planted the Greatshield firmly before him.

Lucian alternated rapid thrusts with both swords. The storm-like barrage forced the Godrick Knight into all-out defense, leaving him no chance to counterattack.

This high-tempo assault did not last long. For an instant, as though his stamina had given out, Lucian's movements suddenly slowed by half a beat.

The Godrick Knight did not let this opportunity pass. He swept his shield aside to knock away Lucian's attack, stomped his right foot forward, and drove the full force of his body into the spear in his right hand.

Betting his knightly honor on it, this thrust would surely pierce his enemy!

But Lucian showed no panic. Instead, a dangerous smile spread across his face.

Lucian casually threw away the straight sword in his left hand, allowing the dirt to stain its sacred blade.

He wrapped his left arm around the spear and pinned it beneath his armpit. Ignoring the spearhead as it cut through his glove and the chainmail beneath his arm, he seized the knight's hand along the shaft.

"Got you."

Lucian planted his right foot firmly atop the Godrick Knight's extended right foot, then yanked hard with his left hand, dragging him straight out from behind his shield.

The Godrick Knight spun halfway around and was pulled onto his back at Lucian's feet.

The blade in Lucian's right hand plunged down without mercy through the eye slit of the helmet.

The Godrick Knight's body went rigid, twitched twice, and fell still.

Lucian pulled the still gold-glowing Ritual Straight Sword from the knight's head, as elegantly as a young king drawing a chosen holy sword from stone—except the blood dripping from the blade made the sight far less beautiful.

He casually shook off the clinging brain matter and blood, then let out a breath. Everything had gone exactly as planned.

The Godrick Knight would never have ignored an opening in Lucian's defense.

That opening had been deliberately offered by Lucian. What he wanted was to trade an injury for a kill.

Because when shifting from defense to offense, a weapon like a spear required the foot on the same side to step forward and become the weight-bearing foot, while the body leaned out with the spear. Only then could the thrust reach far and strike hard.

But with his weight-bearing foot pinned by Lucian, the already forward-leaning Godrick Knight had no way to regain his balance and was easily dragged down.

With that, every enemy at Gatefront had been eliminated. Next came the enjoyable part: looting.

After getting a new weapon, how could he not test it out at the international shooting range? O.o