The Legendary Spearman Returns

Isaac whipped her tail down and Kireua parried it with an upward swing of his sword.

The resultant collision was as explosive as it was shocking. Kireua suffered internal injuries due to the strong shockwave. He had been at a disadvantage from the very beginning because Isaac had added the momentum of dropping down from the branch to her attack.

‘All else aside, she’s a lot stronger than I expected.’

Kireua remained poised but was tense. The source of her strength must be the magic artifact she was wearing. The body parts of a red dragon were priceless; Kireua couldn’t believe someone had actually thought of turning them into a suit of transforming armor!

Isaac uncovered her face and locked eyes with Kireua.

“Once we win the war, I’ll have to bring every craftsperson in Hubalt to Avalon,” Kireua mused.

“Avalon defeating Hubalt, huh?” The end of Isaac’s mouth curled upward.

“For a woman of confidence and skill, you fight rather dirty. Resorting to poison? Really?”

“I’m not a knight and I don’t want to meet the same end as my father. You know, a predator never holds anything back even when it’s only hunting a single rabbit. That’s all I’m doing right now.”

Isaac exuded murderous energy. If she was genuine, Kireua couldn’t have met a worse opponent because he wouldn’t be able to wait for her guard to slip.

‘This isn’t good.’

Kireua glanced at Cain. The veteran knight was sitting on the ground with his eyes closed. He looked pale, indicating that he was at his limit; his condition would be irreversible unless he quelled the poison inside him right now.

Kireua didn’t like—no, loathed poison because the Emperor of Avalon had made sure Kireua would be always vigilant of it, as if it was his father’s mortal enemy. In fact, Kireua had experienced, as any royalty did, more than his fair share of assassination attempts. Poison was a constant part of his life.

“...I have to ask you something,” Kireua said, frowning.

“Ask me what?”

“You and I made a promise. Do you not want to meet my father?”

After a moment, Isaac shrugged. “The reason why Bel is away from Hubalt is obvious. He’s obsessed with Joshua Sanders, so even if I met your father, I have to let Bel have him.”

“You don’t care to meet my father because your fiance is going to deal with him anyway?”

“...Even if he defeats Joshua Sanders, Bel won’t kill him right away, so I can ask my questions afterward.”

“Ha.” Kireua was at a loss for words after seeing Isaac’s arrogant confidence.

The Emperor of Avalon was famed for his might throughout the entire continent and yet Isaac had the audacity to speak of capturing him alive, never mind merely killing him.

“Fine. What about the Martial Emperor’s legacy? We’re talking about your father’s legacy here. Are you sure you don’t need it?”

Kireua had promised Isaac two things: one was to guide her to the Emperor of Avalon, and the other one was to deliver her the legacy of Zactor, the Martial Emperor.

Isaac didn’t answer Kireua, but her smirk grew. That told Kireua everything he needed to know.

“...I see,” he murmured. “You weren’t interested in the legacy in the first place. ”

“It’s an honor to receive the legacy of a general who died victorious, but the legacy of a failure is just trash.”

“That’s cruel. He’s your father.”

“It doesn’t matter who I’m talking about.” Isaac stepped forward, a clear statement that she felt no need to continue the conversation.

“Let me ask one last question: if none of what I promised you matters, why did you wait until now to attack us? There was no reason to.”

“My reason is the same as yours,” Isaac replied.

Kireua's eyes widened.

“What a shame,” she muttered. “I could have infiltrated Avalon’s palace so much easier.”

“...You wanted to assassinate His Majesty? Do you really think that would work?”

“Like I said, Joshua Sanders is Bel’s. My job is to kill the people around him.”

The closest people around the Emperor of Avalon were the three Queen Consorts. In other words, Isaac was going after Kireua’s mothers.

Kireua burst with murderous energy.

“You’ve crossed the line.”

“Easy now. Anger dulls your mind and your sword. Our fight will be too boring.”

“...I’ll shut that mouth of yours.”

“Hahaha, the Combat Emperor was a bigger problem than the Queen consorts, but I took care of him... Is there anyone in Avalon who can stop me right now?” Isaac quietly laughed.

The red dragon scales spread over Isaac’s face again. “You’d better not hold anything back. If you can’t defeat me here, you won’t be able to stop me from crushing your loved ones’ heads under my fists.”

Isaac the first move. She hopped around from tree to tree, leaving red streaks in the air like arcs of lightning.

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

Infuriatingly, she knocked down the nearby knights as she moved around. Whenever Isaac threw a punch, the knights ended up scattered on the ground, their sturdy armor covered in dents.

One of the senior knight quickly approached Kireua. “Yo-Your Highness!” He hastily saluted using his sword. “Something’s wrong.”

Even if they were caught off guard, all of them were knights and were more than proficient with their mana; they weren’t the kind of people who would be defeated after taking one punch.

“I think the gauntlets she’s using are also covered in dragon blood poison.”

Kireua’s eyes narrowed dangerously. The knight’s speculation was very plausible, considering that her whole armor was made from dragon scales.

“Tell the knights to stand down.”

“Stand down? B-But...”

“I’m giving you an order as your prince. The casualties will only increase if you don't.”

The knight flinched and had to pause to consider their situation. Isaac wasn’t the only problem— Hubalt’s forces must have reorganized themselves by now, so if Kireua and the others wasted more time, the reserved forces might catch up with them after all the trouble they had gone through to throw the reserved forces off their tracks.

“Yes... Your Highness...!” The knight quickly left and relayed Kireua’s order to the nobles.

The nobles nodded and instructed their knights to gather in one spot. After they got into a defensive formation that covered every direction, the incessant strikes of the red lightning bolt finally came to an end.

-Wise decision, I’ll give you that.

Kireua closed his eyes without acknowledging Isaac’s telepathic message. Although he hated to admit it, Isaac was right: anger was only going to dull his mind, making his attacks less sharp.

-You won’t be able to see me coming if you close your eyes. As you can see from the Combat Emperor, the dragon curse will tear you apart if I so much as scratch you.

The lightning bolt began to move again, even more quickly and fiercely this time. Her sheer speed caused some of the trees she kicked off of to collapse. It was clear that she was putting everything she had into this attack.

-Behind you.

Isaac was already flying toward Kireua before she even finished sending her message. Despite wkindly informing her enemy where she was coming from, Kireua, whose eyes were still closed, had stopped listening to anything long ago.

‘She’s coming from the front.’

Kireua slowly opened his eyes.

The collision between Kireua’s sword and Isaac’s fist created an intense shockwave.

Using the impact, Isaac spun around and brought her elbow up, aiming the wicked spike attached to it at Kireua’s temple.

‘It’s over.’

Isaac’s eyes gleamed as she threw her elbow homed in.

Her entire body was a weapon. She could build a mountain from the enemies who had died trying to pit their swords against her arts. She firmly believed that the young prince in front of her was going to meet a similar end.

Instead, Isaac was startled to see white arcs of electricity envelope Kireua. When they disappeared, he was wearing a full suit of white armor that Isaac had never seen before, with a matching set of gauntlets of his own.

‘Magic armor?’

Kireua quickly moved his free hand in front of his temple, his gauntlets clad in mana.

Isaac’s attack collided harmlessly against his gauntlet with a dull thud. For the first time, Isaac's expression slipped.

“...What is that?”

“Unlike you, I treasure what I receive from my parents.”

“What? So that’s...”

“It’s the Deon Ring given to me by my father. You’ve heard of it, right?”

A Deon Ring was—or used to be—a magic ring of the highest class, which changed into armor after infusing it with mana.

“Hah. Deon Rings are so outdated.” Isaac chuckled.

Compared to her Draconic Armor, a cutting-edge treasure, a Deon Ring was practically an antique.

“Fine. Let’s see how sturdy the Martial God’s famous Deon Ring is. I wonder how long it’ll withstand my attacks.” Isaac smirked as she infused her mana into her armor again.

It would actually be fun to destroy the Deon Ring that Kireua had such high faith in.

“You do know that the greatest artifact craftswoman is my mother, don’t you?”

‘I can’t deny that.’

Iceline zin Rebrecca had created magic artifacts as a teenager that were still considered national treasures. She was the genius of geniuses whom all countries wished to recruit—and that was why Isaac’s first assassination target was also none other than the First Avalon Queen Consort.

“Don't tell me that you actually thought she would make her son carry around an outdated, low-quality artifact.” Kireua smirked back.

Isaac's eyes widened as she watched Kireua’s Deon Ring entering its second transformation.

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