Chapter 331 – Honorless Behaviour.

“I surrender.”

“Huh?”

Roland had managed to overpower his enemy with the help of his Mana Overflow skill. With this skill, he was able to constantly restore his damaged armor while also being able to barrage Emmerson with multiple spells. Normal spells didn’t seem to work so he got a bit more creative with the shoulder-mounted cannons that he controlled with the help of his mana hand spell.

It didn’t take long for him to finally overwhelm the Knight Commander from all sides. There were just too many attacks coming from various angles. Even his defensive skills weren’t able to keep up and that orange armor was quickly peeled off. Then along with his new eye skill that allowed him to react to the attacking skills there was no way for his opponent to be victorious.

Finally, the last blow was approaching the knight’s head. He expected the haughty Emmerson that seemed to have a lot of pride to never surrender. This hammer to the face would probably knock him out but his life would not be lost. Yet before he could go through with it, the man shouted out that he didn’t want to continue, something that Roland did not expect to happen.

“You, yield?”

“I… yield…”

Roland’s momentum was broken as he halted his last attack before it connected with the man’s head. His strength was immense and produced a gust of wind that made Emmerson’s helmet rattle in all directions. While he had no stipulation about harming this person or even killing him, there were a lot of people watching. To make things worse he was also in the process of gathering evidence for the validity of this battle. If he killed this noble knight after he surrendered, this would be a blemish on his honor as well as Arthur’s.

In this world Knights were very prideful and worked on their own set of rules. Sanctioned duels like this had certain regulations that needed to be kept and any knight that went to the academy would have it drilled into them. Even though Roland didn’t go to one, he spent five years at an estate built up by a proper knight.

“You do realize what this means?”

His hammer which was releasing blue arcs of lightning was halted. Even this item was quickly peeling away and needed to be constantly restored by his skill. The effect that this combination was producing made him look like some kind of magnetized glowstick. As the battle was over, he could finally turn off the effect to end it.

“…”

“Fine then, the man that encroached on my property has already been dealt with. You as his superior hold some of the responsibility for his action. As the law states, you will be held captive.”

“…”

Emmerson didn’t reply but there were strict rules in the code that Knights followed. Usually, even when they dueled they would not kill themselves. There had to be some deep-rooted personal grudge between the two soldiers for something like that to occur. Instead, the losing party would be placed under house arrest or thrown into a dungeon. Then they would be ransomed off to the noble that they served under. Considering that this was a Knight Commander, Roland and Arthur would be receiving a hefty sum.

There was also a possibility of no gold arriving and the noble abandoning their knight. Then the knight that won the duel or the noble they worked under could decide on their fate. Sometimes they would just be disgraced, stripped of their title, and released back into the world. Other times, they would be sold as slaves and perhaps even killed.

‘Considering that he was this fast to surrender, he thinks that Theodore will pay up quickly. If he doesn’t then that armor he is wearing should be enough…’

After a duel was done, the knight that lost in a way belonged to the victor. Even if Theodore Valerian paid the ransom in full, Roland didn’t have to give everything back. It was normal for the knights to take something as a trophy for their victory. The oval shield was nice and the sword was as well and could allow him to focus on something else to build. The enchanted armor was not something he was that interested in as his new one had to be custom-made. This didn’t mean that he couldn’t auction it off or give it to someone that could use it later.

“Your silence is enough, My Lord, I await your order.”

Roland knew well about how a proper knight should behave but this didn’t mean that it didn’t feel awkward to role-play as one. For the time being he needed to play the part as there were too many eyes on him. His hammer was moved to the side and he looked in Arthur’s direction who was still shocked. Even Mary that was standing next to him had her mouth open wide while looking at the mostly destroyed courtyard.

“T-take him away, this duel is over I pronounce Sir. Wayland’s vict…? Knight Commander Emmerson, what do you think you are doing!”

After Arthur processed the situation and realized that his side had actually won, his smile was hard to hide. Soon he was ready to pronounce the victor but suddenly he noticed something. Emmerson, who was previously kneeling down on the ground did something that no one expected, he threw a hidden dagger at Roland’s face. He then quickly grasped his large sword that had previously been smacked out of his hand and began shouting.

“You’re too naive!”

The large sword that was covered in spirit energy collided with Roland’s own shield. The blue glow that covered his body had just subsided and it seemed that Emmerson was aiming for this moment. This runic shield that had been enhanced by a protective spell was actually sliced in half by his sword. It seemed that the man was conserving some power and previously also didn’t use this sword’s enchantments to their full extent. It was some type of powerful cutting spell that just ripped through his defenses that had become exposed.

“You are a disgrace to the Valerian Knights!”

“Shut up! I refuse to be defeated by a wretch that works for a bastard! Valerian Knights, to me!”

Roland found himself on the defensive and Emmerson was not letting up. If he decided to go this far then his intent was obvious. The knight’s honor would be put in question if this event got outside so it was probably that he would silence everyone here, permanently. This was not even a duel anymore as he had shouted at the soldiers that were watching and now even they were going to get involved.

It was clear that the Knight Commander attributed his loss to his Mana Overflow skill that had gone into a cooldown period. Roland had to at least give it to this person as he had identified the type of skill he was using. Whenever a timed skill was ended or canceled by the user it would go into a cooldown period that would usually take at least an hour. It was the same for him and Emmerson saw this as the chance for his victory.

Without Mana Overflow Roland could not sustain all of the spell effects that he previously did. His reserves were deep but now he even had more people to contend with. The Valerian Knights answered the call of their Commander. It seemed they were aiming to kill the only real obstacle in this whole fight and silence anyone stupid enough to announce their leader’s loss in the sacred duel.

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“Cease this instant if you all don’t want to die!”

Roland’s voice echoed through the entire area and caused everyone that was not tier 3 and above to stop. Even Emmerson was surprised by the strange red aura that was being projected. He couldn’t stop though, Roland’s shield was already broken and his whole left side was open for an attack. Only his hand was left to protect it but it was not an obstacle he couldn’t go through. The enchantment on his blade was activated and along with his blade skills that were enhanced with spirit energy, he would take out his enemy.

“Huh? How could this be?”

Emmerson was truly surprised by the hand that actually grasped his blade while it was flying forward at supersonic speeds. The sound barrier being broken produced a loud banging sound but even then his sword didn’t draw any blood. Instead, it was being suppressed by some type of chaotic magical glow that looked similar to a regular mana shield.

“Your plan wasn’t bad but you made one mistake, that wasn’t my only trump card…”

Perhaps if he had gone with the High Lord class then this battle would have become a lot more troublesome but as it stood now, he just couldn’t see himself losing. The Overlord class came with one very specific skill that was more than he ever expected of getting. Overlord’s Might had been activated and his body quickly went through a massive transformation.