The Knight Festival proceeded as scheduled. Villagers from various villages changed into festive clothing and waited for the soldiers carrying the flag to appear.
A golden flagpole with blue and red stripes and a golden lion emblem — this was the flag to be used for today's Knight Festival.
"Walsh, you're quite lucky."
Bani walked over to Walsh, who was holding the flag. Dressed in formal attire, Walsh looked a little more handsome than usual. Bani patted him on the shoulder with a smile.
"I didn't expect such an important flag to be given to me either." Walsh's face showed a trace of nervousness. Ever since he was chosen as the flag bearer for the Knight Festival, he had been so tense he couldn't sleep last night. He had even shaved the beard he had been growing for months.
"Walsh, I'm sorry…"
Bani's eyes turned cold as he thrust his short sword into Walsh's abdomen.
"Bani… you…"
Walsh lowered his head to look at the short sword embedded in his stomach, then raised his eyes to Bani in shock and disbelief.
"Why…?"
Walsh's voice trembled. They had survived brutal battlefields together as comrades.
"To change my fate… I'm sorry, Walsh. It's just bad luck that you were chosen as the flag bearer."
Bani kicked Walsh to the ground, snatched the flag from his hands, and sprinted toward the ambush location Phantom had designated. As long as he reached there, his task would be complete. Whatever happened after that had nothing to do with him.
Wealth, status, women!
All of it was within reach!
At the Knight Festival grounds, everyone waited in eager anticipation for the flag bearer carrying the golden lion flag. After a long wait with no sign of him, Lancelot, sensing something was wrong, sent people to look for Walsh. What they found was his already cold corpse.
Looking at Walsh's body, Cyan, Nishi, Asuka, and Asama Ai quietly gathered together.
"Phantom's plan has already begun. Shouldn't we carry out ours too?" Asuka looked at Cyan.
"Are you ready?"
Cyan turned to Asama Ai. The most critical part of their plan was detonating the bombs.
"Mm. I'm ready." Asama Ai nodded, a hint of excitement in her eyes.
[Summon Kayako (Mutated Active) — Skill Level: None]
[Consumes 50 Mental Power to summon a clone of Kayako to assist in battle.]
[This skill was originally the Evil Spirit Call from the Youkai Kusaregedo. After Asama Ai formed a contract with Kayako, it mutated into Kayako Summon, and the skill level disappeared.]
"Who did this?!"
Percival stared at Walsh's corpse, clenching his fists in rage as he let out a furious roar.
"It was the traitor… the same traitor who killed Roy."
Lancelot looked at Walsh's body with a heavy expression.
"This is our failure. We couldn't find the traitor."
Arthur looked at Walsh's corpse with a trace of guilt in his eyes.
At that moment, a swordsman appeared on the castle wall and shouted:
"Arthur! Lancelot! Percival! Do you want to take back the golden lion flag? The flag is in the hands of the traitor who betrayed you! If you want it back, come and get it!"
"Hahahahaha!!!"
After his arrogant laughter, the swordsman's figure vanished from the wall.
Filled with regret over their own failure, Arthur, Lancelot, and Percival heard the swordsman's words and immediately mounted their horses, leading the knights in pursuit.
The survivors naturally wouldn't miss the chance to fight a boss and followed right behind.
Bani ran while gasping for breath, the flag in hand. He was less than 500 meters from the ambush location when he heard the sound of galloping hooves behind him. Seeing Arthur and the other two chasing him on horseback, his soul nearly left his body in terror.
Why are they so fast?!
Could it be… I've been betrayed?!
At that thought, Bani's body, which had been burning from running, suddenly felt as if it had been plunged into ice water.
"Phantom! You sold me out!!!"
Now that things had come to this, Bani knew he had been betrayed. Desperate to survive, he used every ounce of strength he had left and ran toward the ambush location with everything he had.
"Bang!"
Lancelot, who had caught up, pulled on the reins. His white warhorse reared up and kicked Bani squarely in the back with its front hooves.
Bani let out a miserable scream and was sent flying to the ground.
"Bani, you traitor! You killed Roy and now Walsh too!" Lancelot grabbed Bani by the collar in fury and punched him in the face.
"Just kill him! Let it be an offering to Roy and Walsh's souls!"
Percival glared at Bani with murderous intent, wanting nothing more than to split him in half.
"Wait. He can't die yet. Before we punish him, we still need to get information about the enemy from him."
Arthur stopped Percival. Though anger burned in his eyes as he looked at Bani, he had no choice but to suppress it for now.
"Go to hell!"
Knowing he had no chance of surviving, Bani pulled out his short sword and thrust it toward Lancelot's neck.
"Crack!"
Lancelot's expression was ice-cold as he snapped Bani's arm. The short sword fell to the ground.
Bani screamed in agony. Having his arm broken while still alive was no pleasant experience, but for this traitor, it was well deserved.
"Ohhh~! What a beautiful scream~!"
Phantom narrowed his eyes as he listened to Bani's screams, as if he were listening to the most beautiful music. It felt like even his soul was being cleansed.
"Can you ever fix that twisted sense of humor of yours…"
Muramasa, dressed in full Onimusha armor, glanced at Phantom and adjusted the Hannya mask on his face with one hand.
"He's always been like this…"
Balbars spoke in a deep, rumbling voice. He was clad in strange, heavy armor that no ordinary human could wear. He looked more like a mechanical steel puppet created through clockwork than a human being.
"Let's finish off Arthur and those outsiders once and for all! Lord Garibaldi's grand ambitions will be unstoppable!"
Phantom seemed to see Lord Garibaldi ruling over the world as he fell into his own beautiful fantasy.
Under an inconspicuous stone, a pale white hand gently lifted it. Another hand used a lighter to ignite the fuse.
"What's that smell?!"
A long-axe soldier smelled the scent of burning gunpowder. He kicked the stone aside and saw a small black hole emitting smoke. He reached out and poked it with his finger.
Suddenly, the ground trembled. The earth cracked open as destructive force erupted from below.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM——!!!"
Fire and smoke from the explosion engulfed the enemy's ambush location. Screams rang out continuously as severed limbs flew into the sky.
"Kayako-chan~! You worked hard~!"
Asama Ai listened to the explosion with excitement as she watched the smoke rising in the distance.
"It's Kayako, not Kayako-chan…"
Kayako gave Asama Ai a cold glance before vanishing.
"That ghost friend of yours is kind of scary…"
Nishi said with a cold sweat on her face. She had heard Asama Ai mention before that she had a skill to summon a ghost friend to help, but she never expected the friend to be this terrifying.
Just Kayako's skin color was already frightening enough. Especially those cold eyes — being looked at by her felt like being frozen solid.
"Kayako is a good person… I mean, a good ghost. If I hadn't formed a contract with her in the previous survival game, I would've been killed…"
Asama Ai touched the notebook in her arms, a relieved smile appearing on her face.
"I…"
Nishi felt a chill run up her spine as she looked at Asama Ai's smile. She instinctively took a step back.
"I'm going to help. You'll be fine on your own, right?"
"I'll be fine."
…
"What the hell was that…?"
Arthur and the other two looked at the distant explosion and realized what had happened at the enemy's ambush location. They immediately spurred their horses forward.
These guys really went all out. Where did they even get so much gunpowder?
Orlov clicked his tongue as he listened to the explosion. Even from here, he could tell how powerful the explosives were. He glanced at Cyan and the others.
Even an idiot could figure out that they must have done something in advance. Otherwise, there was no way that place would suddenly explode. It couldn't have been the enemy turning on each other, right?
"It's time for us to move."
Cyan watched Arthur and the others leading the knights toward the enemy ambush site, then ran after them.
"Wait for me!"
Asuka followed, raising her lance. Invisible wind gathered at the tip of her weapon and wrapped around her body, instantly increasing her speed.
[Magic Bone Lance]
[Type: Weapon]
[Attributes: Attack Power 54~68, Strength +2, Agility +2.]
[Special ①: A lance forged from demonic beast bones and metal. Has the effect of enhancing stamina and reducing stamina consumption.]
[Special ②: When charging with the lance raised, temporarily increases movement speed by 20%. When holding a shield, reduces damage taken by 30%.]
[Equipment Requirement: Strength 15, Agility 15, Constitution 15.] [Remark: This is a weapon every knight dreams of.]
This Magic Bone Lance originally belonged to the survivor who had brought Asuka out of EVA. Now, it had become her weapon.
When the smoke cleared, blood was flowing down Phantom's face. The army hidden around the area had suffered heavy casualties. Those who were lucky only received minor injuries. Those who were unlucky had lost arms or legs. Some had even lost both arms and both legs. Blood poured from their wounds as they lay on the ground screaming.
"Phantom… this was your plan?"
Muramasa looked at Phantom with a dark expression. The armor on his body had developed numerous cracks from the explosion's shockwave, as if it could shatter at any moment. However, under some strange power, the cracks gradually began to close.
If any survivors had been watching, they would have seen that Muramasa's HP bar hadn't decreased at all.
"I need an explanation, Phantom…"
Balbars stood up. Even he had taken considerable damage from such a close-range explosion.
As he watched the approaching enemies, Balbars prepared for battle. But before that, he needed to know what the hell Phantom had done.
"My plan was leaked by that bastard Bani!"
Phantom gritted his teeth so hard it sounded like they might crack. His eyes burned with rage.
"The enemy is coming. With your strength and mine combined, we can still kill them!"
Phantom looked at the surrounding knights and soldiers and shouted, "Anyone who can still fight, get up and fight if you want to live! We have me, Balbars, and Muramasa here! There's nothing to fear! Even if we fell into the enemy's trap, victory is still within our reach!"
Phantom knew that in order to clear himself of suspicion, he had to do something.