"Clank, clank..."
The noise of heavy armor moving was unavoidable. It startled a bat sleeping inside the cave, making it squeak twice.
Norton, lying motionless beneath the water, snapped his eyes open.
Infrasonic waves filled with wariness bounced back and forth through the cave, making Norton's heart tighten.
Norton's expression turned exceedingly grim. The oppressive feeling in his heart made him almost certain that he had been located.
But he hadn't expected them to locate him from so far away. That was even more badass than modern GPS. On his way back, he had deliberately taken a detour and passed through a pool to wash away his scent.
Norton remembered the church knights killing a werewolf more than a month ago, and his scalp went numb.
He steadied himself and decided to follow his original plan.
He would use the pool as a buffer to ambush and kill the church knights.
If he really couldn't beat them, he would swim straight out through the other exit!
"Glug..."
Norton lifted the coffin lid underwater, and the wooden lid floated toward the surface. Clad in heavy armor, he climbed out of the coffin.
The heavy armor he wore kept him on the bottom.
His ears caught the sounds in the cave as he removed his steel armor, listening quietly through the water to the activity inside.
His exceptionally sharp hearing allowed him to pinpoint the church knights' footsteps.
Yet something about the sounds in the cave seemed a little off.
"Boom, boom..."
A piercing crash rang out in the pitch-black cave. The two Holy Knights in golden armor were like human bulldozers. Rather than avoid the narrow opening between them, they charged straight through, snapping off all the stalactites overhead.
"Unclean... eliminate!"
Hoarse voices came from the two Holy Knights. They seemed to possess boundless strength.
"Hiss..." Breathing like steam escaping an engine came from their steel helmets, revealing just how terrifying the physiques of the things inside were.
Although Norton was hidden underwater, for some reason he felt he could smell the two church knights. Or rather, a presence that threatened him was rapidly approaching.
The feeling was somewhat like a sixth sense.
The two Holy Knights had already pushed deep into the cave, forcing their way through the stalactites.
"Crack!"
The little wooden chair that had supported Norton's flight plans for many days was crushed under a Holy Knight's foot. The cave was dark, but it seemed to do nothing to hinder the Holy Knights' vision. Both heads instantly turned toward the deep pool.
"Vam... pire... unclean! Eliminate!"
With those hoarse words, the two golden Holy Knights leaped into the deep pool.
Hidden underwater, Norton had long since noticed the sounds in the cave. He had even risen to lurk just beneath the surface of the deep pool, ready to strike the church knights with his sword from the water when they approached.
Church knights are human too. They might be a little simple-minded, but they'll definitely take off their armor before getting in the water!
Hidden beneath the surface, Norton felt his mind fill with tension. He was so nervous that he thought his dead, silent heart had started beating again.
He watched the still surface tensely, and in the next moment, he saw two little golden steel men leap in.
"Splash!"
They smashed a deep hollow into the surface.
Norton was startled underwater.
What kind of Gold Saints are these? How come I've never seen them in the church? Aren't they being way too reckless? They jumped straight in wearing heavy armor? Aren't they just going to drown?
A jumble of thoughts flashed through Norton's mind, but his hands never stopped moving. Sword in hand, he swam like a fish toward the two Holy Knights and thrust hard at the forehead of the one closest to him.
Smashing down with a greatsword underwater was nowhere near as effective as thrusting. At least he could put some force behind a thrust.
Norton thought that with his current strength, even if he couldn't kill the church knight inside with one thrust, he could at least daze him for a moment. He could use that opening to swim over to the knight and forcibly drag him down to drown.
The Holy Knights' desire to fight, however, was intense to the extreme.
The moment they jumped into the water, they had already raised their golden greatswords. Then they swung them fiercely down toward Norton.
The waves disturbed the surface, and buoyancy greatly slowed and weakened the descending swords.
Even so, the Holy Knights did not pause in the slightest.
"Clang..." Norton's greatsword struck the Holy Knight between the eyes, producing a clear ring even underwater.
And as Norton's sword struck the Holy Knight between the eyes, the golden greatsword that had already swung down was about to hit Norton.
Norton kicked his legs, twisting his body swiftly beneath the water like a fish to dodge the blow.
The tip of the golden greatsword struck the rock behind him.
Even underwater, the force of the blow carved a long, narrow gash down the rock. It gave Norton another fright.
What terrifying strength is that? These definitely aren't normal church knights!
I never thought that damned old pervert Mia was hiding something this good!
Norton's scalp went numb as he watched the two knights in heavy golden armor continue sinking after their swings.
If he ran into these two things on land, either one of them could beat him to death.
The sinking Holy Knights seemed completely unaware that they were underwater. They kept slashing at Norton with their golden greatswords, their feet constantly making walking motions, as if they wanted to run over and hack him to death just as they would on land.
Their idiotic behavior left Norton even more astonished.
Even while sinking underwater, they still have to use their greatswords to eliminate the unclean... If everyone in the church were this devout, the filthy Mia's cock would have been chopped off long ago!
Seeing the sword mark carved into the rock behind him, Norton didn't dare go any farther down. He paddled with both hands to stay afloat, his eyes fixed on the two Holy Knights who had reached the bottom. The more he watched, the more abnormal the two things seemed.
The two Holy Knights on the bottom strode furiously through the water. With a certain degree of intelligence, they even bent their knees and leaped upward.
Their immense strength crushed the mud beneath their feet, but that also made their Soldier Boy jumps completely useless.
Even if their immense strength did lift their bodies and send them charging upward, the faster they moved underwater, the greater the water pressure they felt. On top of that, they wore extremely heavy armor. Even when they leaped four or five meters, the water pressure and the weight of their armor dragged them back down to the bottom.
After jumping like that four or five times, the two not-so-intelligent Holy Knights finally changed their movements.
They stayed on the bottom and began striding forward, seemingly trying to run toward Norton, while constantly swinging their greatswords.
Anyone who could swim knew that if they let the water slowly lift them, they might be able to move even in heavy armor. Norton, for instance, could walk underwater in heavy armor by using the water's buoyancy.
But once their movements became too fast, exceeding the speed and frequency of the buoyant force, the buoyancy that had been pushing them up would become a downward force pressing on them. That would make their heavy armor even heavier, to the point that an ordinary person would struggle even to lift a foot.
Even underwater, the two Holy Knights could not suppress their urge to kill Norton and flailed about wildly. Although their bodily strength could withstand the pressure on them, the water's buoyancy pushed them backward instead of letting them move forward. Their movements even sent their bodies swaying, leaving them horizontal on the bottom one moment and vertical the next.
"..."
Weren't they just idiots?
Watching the pair's bizarre behavior, Norton felt all the oppression and apprehension in his heart vanish.
Bioweapons! So the church has this trick up its sleeve too? Mia, you really deserve to die!
Norton was immensely glad he hadn't been chosen to be trained into this kind of bioweapon. Judging by the two idiots' performance on the bottom, they had completely lost their own thoughts and common sense.
If he turned out like that, it really would be a fate worse than death.
Norton didn't dare relax, however. The two bioweapons had just switched from jumping to running, so they were clearly capable of adjusting themselves to some degree.
If they actually figured it out and used their greatswords to walk slowly through the water, Norton would have to flee immediately.