Chapter 232 – The Marksman 1 (2/2)
He helped Etheria Rodinus, who was being pursued at the time by the Empire for stealing the Holy Grail and eventually faced a miserable death.
Roland was like himself, a person who was eliminated by his enemies after pursuing only noble ideals.
‘Also, the woman next to him looks very much like Sophia.’
Sophia was a beautiful Saintess who became Solomon’s disciple.
Helena mirrored Sophia’s figure and looks.
Reinhardt glanced at Helena and saw the ring that she was wearing.
‘Etheria Rodinus.’
He wasn’t just feeling things or was mistaken.
Once he roughly grasped the situation, Reinhardt spoke to Woohyuk,
“I think I know why you guys are here. Now the question in my mind seems to be resolved to some extent.”
“If so, will you choose to let us through without objection?” Woohyuk asked.
“No, that’s impossible. The object you want is designed to be obtained only after defeating me,” Reinhardt replied
Thus, no matter what the circumstances were, their battle was inevitable.
Woohyuk nodded his head and summoned Verserios.
“I will make you sleep comfortably. I believe that you too are hoping for a complete death.”
“Of course. But I cannot close my eyes comfortably unless a true successor appears.”
The reason Reinhardt remained here without becoming Einherjar was that he wanted to convey his will to posterity.
It was the historical restoration of Solomon’s line.
Reinhardt went on to describe the underhanded assassination plans that the Church of Light had continued to carry out after his absence. Thus, he thought he was obligated, as a proud paladin, to correct the Church’s wrongs.
“That will, I will become the successor and make your vision a reality. I didn’t know of all this last time because you didn’t tell me,” replied Woohyuk after hearing Reinhardt’s will.
“First off, I will take a look at your skills to see if you qualify. This mission is not something anyone can carry out,” Reinhardt remarked.
Reinhard finally lifted his long sword to the height of his chest.
His action expressed his willingness to fight the opponent.
Woohyuk closely watched Reinhardt’s movement while holding Verserios with both hands.
‘Previously, I fought with him for three days and nights.’
As the best paladin to have ever lived, Reinhardt was easily able to attack and defend at will. He also possessed tremendous strength. He was also very strategic, showing openings to lure his opponent before countering, something that Woohyuk had almost succumbed to many times in his past life.
‘But this time, I don’t have time.’
Seeing that he was looking for a successor, it was unlikely that he would die easily.
However, if Woohyuk summoned the Demon King, he wouldn’t be recognized as Reinhardt’s successor.
Therefore, Woohyuk had no choice but to win a one-on-one battle with his own battle strength.
“Ha-Ap!”
Seeing that Woohyuk wasn’t planning on attacking first, Reinhardt rushed forward in a short spirit.
The balance was broken.
Woohyuk stopped Reinhard’s ambitious attack after observing the blue aura that was left by the trajectory of his long sword.
‘It’s still not easy.’
However, Woohyuk felt that he could deal with the situation much better than last time.
His confidence came from the experience of facing off with extraordinary opponents up to now.
Even though his stats were much lower than Reinhardt’s, Woohyuk was able to predict the movement of Reinhardt’s sword and shield fairly well.
‘In a battle like this, the smallest difference determines the winner or loser.’
He instinctively knew this from his long experience.
The opponent was a paladin who beat dozens of Demon Kings during the Great Demon War.
It was good to have confidence, but he had to remain vigilant.
Woohyuk leaned his upper body back to avoid the swinging shield. At the same time, Woohyuk slashed at the bottom corner of Reinhardt’s shield using Verserios.
Ka-Rang!
As the sparks flew, the shield was lifted upwards momentarily.
Using that timing, Woohyuk moved inward/ Immediately, the blue aura long sword was coming down on Woohyuk’s head.
Hwi-Ing!
The long sword cut the demonic energy barrier Woohyuk created. Reinhardt’s long sword, which carved diagonally away from Woohyuk because of the demonic barrier, then changed direction and immediately aimed at Woohyuk’s heart.
However, as if he had expected it all along, Woohyuk twisted his body and safely avoided Reinhardt’s attack.
‘If you’re feeling relieved here, you’re not worthy,’ Reinhardt thought.
The shield, which had lost its direction just a moment ago, was starting to descend on Woohyuk again.
Avoiding the long sword would allow the shield attack to connect and avoiding the shield would cause the long sword to pierce his heart.
If Woohyuk couldn’t overcome Reinhardt’s speed, he’d have to repeat this process over and over.
‘However, I finally found the paper-thin difference.’
Although the difference was paper-thin, any margin, if used properly was very meaningful in the fight between skilled fighters.
Woohyuk focused his nerves on his senses and drew the expected path of the long sword and shield in his mind.
After several iterations of following the pattern…
Pu-Ook!
Finally, Woohyuk’s long spear struck Reinhardt’s side utilizing a razor-thin gap.
“Keuk!”
Reinhard sat down, vomiting dark red blood.
Soon, blood flowed through the cracks of his silver plate armor.
It seemed very painful, but Reinhardt praised Woohyuk without changing his expression.
“It was a duel that I will never forget, even if I perish forever.”
“The same is true for me as well.”
“Have I ever been defeated so quickly before? I’m curious to hear since you said you fought me before,” Reinhardt asked.
“At that time, we fought non-stop for three days and nights. When the battle was over, we each had a lot of wounds,” Woohyuk respectfully replied.
However, Woohyuk continued to grow after that fateful, drawn-out fight, reaching his present mental and physical level, though his reset stats and class when he re-entered this world was an initial difficulty.
Reinhardt nodded at Woohyuk’s explanation.
“Excellent, young man. I hope you can achieve your goal. In that sense, I wish for you to take this,” Reinhardt said as he leaned on his long sword and held out the dagger on his waist.
After receiving and observing the dagger, Woohyuk made a surprised expression,