Emperor! Can You See Stats!?

Chapter 112: Reality and Illusion

“Judging by the look on his face, they must have done well.”

Eurius finished his brief reminiscence and looked at the Grand Duke in front of him.

“This is really your last chance. If you surrender, I will spare your honor.”

“…”

The Grand Duke silently drew his sword again. 

His face was still twisted, but he did not think that he could not escape from here.

‘I did well to visit that clown for a contingency.’

He did not want to use them if possible, because they were too suspicious to show publicly, but the situation was his absolute disadvantage. 

He had to get out of here by mobilizing all his available forces.

The Grand Duke slightly raised his left hand, which was not holding a sword. 

Then there was a small movement in the ranks of Gladius.

“…”

The movement was caused by seven knights. 

But unlike the other knights of Gladius, they wore armor but had a sinister aura.

A creepy blue light leaked from the gaps of their hoods, which covered their heads.

Ding!

[You have discovered the Knights of the Abyss.]

[Your achievement increases.]

[New information is added to the help.]

“…!?”

Eurius’s face changed slightly when he heard the system message. 

Jegal Unhyeon also stiffened his expression a little.

“My lord. They are emitting an ominous magic.”

“I know.”

[Knights of the Abyss]

Strength: S Agility: A Dark Power: A+

[Traits]

Spectral Body – Their flesh is made of pure dark energy. You can only damage them with force.

Regeneration – They can heal their bodies with their power.

‘I’ll tie up the most skilled one first.’

As the Grand Duke gestured, the seven knights began to approach Jegal Unhyeon. 

A master recognizes a master. 

The Grand Duke had been observing him carefully from before to restrain him.

“If you want to destroy them, you have to hit them with pure force as much as possible. Otherwise, they will regenerate.”

“I’ve seen all kinds of weirdos since I came to this continent. I got it.”

Jegal Unhyeon quickly flew to the left side of the hall after hearing Eurius’s advice.

“…”

The Knights of the Abyss also slid towards him like ghosts. 

But Jegal Unhyeon would not just watch them.

“You’re too slow.”

Kwaaaa!

His spear whipped like a snake and attacked them in turn. 

The shadow of his spear, which stretched out at a terrifying speed, drew an arc and pierced all seven of them.

“…”

“Tsk! Do I have to pulverize them so they can’t regenerate?”

Jegal Unhyeon clicked his tongue. 

He had not only pierced their armor, but also tore apart the left wall of the hall with the aftermath of his powerful attack, but the Knights of the Abyss’s bodies only had holes for a moment and soon filled them with black energy.

On top of that, they rushed at him with a fierce blue light in their eyes. 

Even for a master like Jegal Unhyeon, it was hard to settle quickly when they attacked him with such reckless momentum relying on their regeneration.

“My lord! It seems to take some time.”

“Don’t worry about this side and be careful.”

Eurius did not look very flustered, but his inner feelings were slightly different.

‘Indeed… They must have prepared well to catch me.’

He also felt that his biggest force, Jegal Unhyeon, was temporarily blocked.

‘He must have some connection with the Order after all.’

“Nuada, it’s a little different from what we expected, but let’s stick to the plan. Support the knights. I want to minimize the sacrifice.”

“Is that so? I wanted to fight with that old man too. What a pity.”

Nuada moved aside with a sigh and flew towards where the royal knights were.

The Grand Duke’s eyes flashed when he saw him.

‘Does that bastard think he can stop me alone?’

He originally expected to face both of them. 

But judging by the situation, it seemed that the first prince wanted to confront him alone.

But the Grand Duke’s decision was quick in this urgent situation.

‘No matter how much he flies high, it’s impossible for him to stop me one-on-one. I have to capture or kill him quickly and escape.’

“Attack!”

As he said that, Gladius clenched their teeth and blocked the royal knights. 

Even if they were inferior in strength, they were still elite among elites. 

It was not impossible for them to hold on.

And they had faith in the Grand Duke that was almost like a religion.

‘The Grand Duke will quickly defeat anyone who opposes him and open our way out.’

In fact, the Grand Duke felt that there was no need for unnecessary talk anymore and pointed his sword at Eurius.

‘Eek!’

Eurius quickly slid to the side. 

He barely dodged it, but instead the throne behind him was completely shattered.

Crack!

With that sound, the vast hall turned into a bloody battlefield in an instant. 

The battle took place in three places.

At the south where the entrance of the hall was, Gladius vs. the royal knights!

At the west, Jegal Unhyeon was surrounded by the Knights of the Abyss.

And at the north where the throne was, the Grand Duke attacked Eurius with a terrifying killing intent.

‘It’s impossible to avoid any more.’

The Grand Duke ran at him like a storm, so Eurius also drew his sword and faced him.

Kwaaaaang!

A loud noise erupted from the center where their swords collided, and not only the throne, which was already battered, but also the splendid structures on the ceiling and walls were all broken.

When the sight that was hidden by the debris and dust was revealed, the result of the first clash was shown.

“Cough! I’ll charge you for the repair costs later.”

“Are you still making jokes in this situation?”

Eurius had blood on his mouth, as if he was injured, and the Grand Duke was relatively fine, except for some dust on him.

Eurius grumbled and raised his sword again.

‘As expected, I can’t beat him head-on? He’s still an old man who has a lot of strength.’

In a clash of strength and strength, Eurius was at a disadvantage. 

But the Grand Duke, who had a cold sneer on his face, was also quite surprised inside.

‘Using his power to swing his sword with full force, he blocked my attack to that extent? Maybe I should give up on capturing him.’

It was something that was impossible in his common sense, considering Eurius’s age and the Grand Duke’s martial prowess.

The Grand Duke’s family had a power called the Extreme Sword, but in fact, his true specialty was not the petty tricks of measuring here and there, but pure close combat.

The reason was the power he obtained after becoming a superhuman.

[Adamantine Body].

Just by hearing the name, one might not understand what was so special about a power that simply enhanced the body, but the Grand Duke’s true value lay here.

In fact, Eurius had never clashed swords directly with the Grand Duke before, but he realized painfully from the first collision why he was called the empire’s best knight.

‘I can’t believe his basic physical abilities are better than mine, who has various characteristics of a player.’

Enhancing the body meant that the body’s reinforcement by force was also more efficient. 

In addition, he could withstand the backlash that came when he excessively injected force into his body or weapon.

The strength of the body that Adamantine Body referred to was not just the flesh or skin, but also the muscles, blood vessels, and bones of the whole body, making them stronger than steel.

Moreover, thanks to the simple effect of enhancing the body, he wasted less force. 

Since it was not a way of raising his strength momentarily, he probably had enough stamina left even if he poured out a powerful offensive for three days and nights.

In short, he was just purely strong, without any weaknesses.

‘I guess I have to stick to the plan. It’s suicidal to confront him head-on.’

‘I have to cut off his breath as soon as possible.’

The two quickly racked their brains and flew towards each other again. But this time, the result was different.

“…!?”

The Grand Duke felt Eurius’s presence disappear momentarily, but after catching it with his senses, he swung his sword again.

Bang!

Eurius was pushed back by the force again and retreated. 

But he failed to deliver a decisive blow.

Swoosh

His body disappeared again as if it had gone out, and the Grand Duke couldn’t pinpoint his location accurately. 

Then Eurius’s intangible sword slid like a ghost and slashed at the Grand Duke’s waist.

“Where did you get that trick!”

Clang!

The Grand Duke let out a rare roar and repelled the attack again. 

But he couldn’t help feeling anxious inside. 

The first prince was holding on better than expected. 

But he didn’t know why.

‘His strength, speed, and swordsmanship are all inferior to mine, but that bastard doesn’t give up easily.’

‘As expected, I was right. The Grand Duke is strong in both offense and defense without any gaps, but he lacks a decisive blow.’

As expected, the Grand Duke was hard to find an equal in frontal combat due to his power’s characteristics, but he lacked unexpectedness that could create a decisive gap like Nuada’s destruction or Jegal Unhyeon’s space distortion.

In fact, Eurius’s goal was not to defeat him head-on. 

If that were possible, wouldn’t he have challenged him to a duel long ago?

Even if his skills were improving rapidly, there was still a big gap between him and Jegal Unhyeon, just like the Grand Duke was one of the top martial artists in the Western Continent.

‘But there are many people who will help me later in this place.’

Fortunately, after acquiring Sword Fusion, he had also improved a lot from being a mediocre martial artist. 

In addition, he also advanced his way of using his characteristics.

He wasn’t playing around while training the knights. 

He had entered a new realm, so naturally he had to train for a short time to get used to it.

Among them, there was one thing that he achieved the most.

***

His real enlightenment began with a question that Jegal Unhyeon asked him with a curious expression one day.

“But what about your power… Aren’t you abusing it too much?”

“What do you mean?”

“When you fight, you always hide your presence and fight. But if you do that, it might be easier for experts above a certain level to detect you.”

“Now that you mention it, I’ve been feeling something wrong with this power lately.”

Eurius felt a bit unfair. 

The biggest advantage of his power was hiding his presence, but even among superhumans in the upper ranks, they could block his attacks even if he hid his presence.

In other words, it wasn’t very useful when facing true experts.

Hmm.

[Massacre Tool for Commoners.]

He didn’t know what this damn sword was saying, but it was clear that it was mocking him.

But Jegal Unhyeon shook his head.

“There’s nothing wrong with your power. You just don’t know when to use it properly.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the concept of real and fake attacks.”

“Fake attacks?”

Jegal Unhyeon looked puzzled for a moment, then nodded as if he understood.

“Now that I think about it, all the knights I’ve seen in the Western Continent focus on learning swordsmanship that emphasizes strength. It’s understandable that you don’t know that.”

He began to explain.

“It’s not just strength and speed that make up swordsmanship. Especially if you have a power that can make unconventional attacks like you, it’s better to focus on change rather than strength!”

***

The Grand Duke looked around with an anxious expression. 

He was composed, but the situation around him was the problem.

‘It’s going to be tough at this rate.’

“…”

Seven of the Abyss Knights had already been destroyed. 

Jegal Unhyeon had completely pulverized them without giving them a chance to regenerate. 

The remaining four were also in an uncertain situation.

“Kraaak!”

The situation in the south was worse. 

It was natural, since there were two superhumans on the other side. 

Just now, one of them was turned into dust after taking Nuada’s fist head-on.

The Gladius, which had been over a hundred strong, had already fallen by half. 

He should have subdued Eurius before this happened, but he failed.

Clang!

The Grand Duke caught a subtle presence again and swung his sword, but as soon as the sword collided, Eurius was already gone from there. 

And before he knew it, he reappeared and launched a powerful strike from the front.

Boom!

This was the concept of real and fake attacks that Jegal Unhyeon had talked about.

‘It’s not just about being fast and strong, right?’

Eurius’s sword sometimes swung honestly, but sometimes it targeted the Grand Duke’s blind spots like a snake hunting its prey.

When combined with his characteristic of hiding his presence, it made it difficult for the Grand Duke to rush in recklessly and suffer a loss.

In fact, Eurius, who was inferior to the Grand Duke in both strength and speed, was already full of minor injuries all over his body from the first collision. 

But it wasn’t a wound that made combat impossible.

The Grand Duke bit his lip.

‘I have to make a decision. If I delay any longer, it will be irreversible.’

Eurius couldn’t subdue him right now, but if one superhuman came to rescue him, it would be hard to even escape. 

As he looked around, his reaction speed to Eurius’s attacks began to slow down.

Bang!

For the first time, the Grand Duke staggered back from Eurius’s attack. 

He attacked from the front and then suddenly appeared behind his back, making his reaction a step late.

Soon, his cold face began to show signs of impatience.

‘I have to end this quickly. It’s only a matter of time before help arrives.’