Chapter 197 - From Moving to Battle (1/2)

After getting a weapon, Loren was led on a long walk by the Demon King before finally arriving at an amphitheater located, in what looked like, the courtyard of the castle. Loren was tempted to ask why such a thing was built here, but he forced himself to recognize that it was such a large building that they could build whatever they wanted. A Demon King must have a lot of soldiers, so it was a good idea to have a place where they could train.

“We have a different training ground for soldiers.”

“What is this place for, then?”

Loren had no idea what the point of having an arena if it was not used for training. He asked Judie if this place was truly built simply because their castle was too big, and they had too many unused spaces, but she just looked away without answering, her cheeks slightly twitched.

Loren was taken aback at her reaction – it seemed like he had hit the bullseye. But his astonishment soon dissipated when he saw the figure standing in the center of the arena.

So that was the person the Demon King called a Black Knight.

Indeed, his entire body was covered with black plate armor, and he did not have a shield. His greatsword, which almost came up to their chest, was stabbed into the ground as if it was a staff. He stood with both hands on its hilt. The aura of the Black Knight perfectly fitted the word ‘imposing’. Loren scowled at his with his greatsword on his shoulder.

“Well, it’s a bit strange, isn’t it?”

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s right, Mother. Even I think that something is strange too.”

As they stepped into the arena, Loren and Lapis stared at the black armored figure that refused to move from the center of the arena. They were still quite far away, but they couldn’t have been mistaken because there was no other figure around.

It was the size of the Black Knight that Loren and Lapis were concerned about.

“The knight is bigger than me, no matter how you look at it.”

“If you think so, then I guess so.”

Loren himself was one of the tallest amongst humans. With such a height, a blow from his greatsword contained marvelous power. But the Black Knight standing in front of them was two heads taller, and of course to go with that height, he was also wider in built. In short, he was big enough that Loren had to look up at him. The length of his greatsword was almost Loren’s height.

“Isn’t he too big?”

The helmet the Black Knight was wearing was the type that completely covered the face, so you couldn’t tell what he looked like even if you wanted to. Loren could barely see the purple of their eyes, but that didn’t give him any information about whether the Knight was male or female, or how old he/she was.

“Was there such a huge person in your entourage, Mother?”

Standing next to Loren, Lapis looked up at the Knight and cocked her head in wonder. If even Loren had to look up at the Knight, the difference in height was even greater for Lapis, who was shorter than him.

“I thought I could remember most of your subordinates, Mother.”

“‘It’s a hidden gem. The talent is guaranteed.”

Judie laughed and patted the Black Knight’s armor, but he didn’t even twitch. The knight continued leaning on his greatsword and stared at Loren from inside his helmet.

“Is it even alright for me to fight that person?”

“Yes. If you can’t continue fighting or if you surrender, you lose. Simple and straightforward, right?”

“Very well.”

Loren signaled for Lapis to step back, then got his greatsword ready. The weight in his hand was unfamiliar. Unable to feel the usual reliable weight in his hands, Loren watched the Black Knight leaning on his greatsword. It was obviously not the case for him.

“You can attack if your opponent is down, but you can’t finish him off. If someone dies, no matter how much we try, we can’t bring him back to life.”