Leveling with the Gods

Chapter 134

“Ar…thur?”

A totally different feeling went down Lancelot’s spine than when he first saw Mamos’s disguised face. That time didn’t feel as threatening, even though he certainly looked like Arthur. It had just felt bad, but this was different.

That Undead made of bundles of Orc bone was the most fearsome thing in this room for Lancelot.

It was the same for the other knights as well.

“Are you…”

“Are you really His Majesty?”

Even without evidence, a few of the knights could vaguely recognize that this was Arthur.

The undead Arthur approached Mamos, reached out his hand, and took Excalibur from him.

In that moment…

Flash—!

The blade started to glow blue, and it emitted a cold aura which filled the room.

“That’s right.” The empty sockets for eyes started to glow blue. “I am Arthur.”

Arthur’s gaze went towards Gawain.

“Gawain, I had gifted a sword to your son.”

Then to Jidrak.

“Jidrak, I saved you from dying on the battlefield…”

Then to Caulkston.

“And Caulkston. I apologize for missing your wedding.”

King Arthur. The first king of Britain and the great knight who founded The Round Table.

“I am an Undead. The dead man, Death Knight Arthur.”

He had returned to Britain as an Undead.

Shwooo—

After looking around at the knights he hadn’t seen for a while, he turned to Lancelot.

“But Lancelot.”

As Lancelot met his eyes, his body flinched.

“How did you know that I was dead?”

“That’s…”

Lancelot faltered at this sudden situation. Until just a moment ago, he considered his knowledge of Arthur’s death to be a great weapon. However, now it was the opposite.

“Are you saying that I somehow knew of your death?”

It was a difficult situation to outright deny his existence because far too many things had been proven to be real for him to be a fake. Arthur’s memories, tone of voice, 「Excalibur,」 and even the cold, icy mana that represented him. Everything was the same about Arthur as The Round Table remembered.

“I just recognized that that man was a fake. I hope there isn’t a misunderstanding. And…” Lancelot looked around his surroundings.

150 people, no, the 148 knights. Among them there were now knights who served not Arthur but Lancelot.

‘There’s no other way.’

Acknowledging Arthur here wouldn’t do any good for him.

Since it wasn’t like Arthur had returned alive, and since the number of knights that followed him were significant, Lancelot spoke through gritted teeth, “I still have doubts about you as well.”

“Lancelot!”

Lancelot looked to the one who dared to shout out his name.

Gawain. Long ago, he was called the “Right Hand of the King of Knights” and was the knight who possessed the 1st seat at the Round Table. Even as a High-Ranker, he had enough loyalty where if Arthur commanded him, he would willingly walk into death.

“No matter if he is dead right now, how could you speak like that to someone you served as your lord? Apologize right now!”

“Then, Gawain, just as you said, how dare you talk in that tone to me, the current king of Britain?”

“What? Just because you acted as king for a few years, you think that seat is yours?”

“Those few years add up to a thousand. And just what do you trust about that man…”

Clack—

Arthur twisted the hilt of 「Excalibur」 in his hands and separated it from the blade.

“To be king, you need the seal.”

Inside the dismantled sword was a golden ring.

Arthur pulled it out and asked, “Lancelot, do you have this seal?”

“Naturally, I…”

As he tried to reach inside his chest to pull out the seal, Lancelot’s expression froze. His breath got stuck in his throat, and he began to understand that he had stepped into a fine trap.

The royal seal. There were only two of them in the world.

“You say that you got it from me, that it was the proof that you were chosen as king,” Arthur asked him as if it were obvious. “But my seal is here. So whose seal is yours?”

“My seal…”

The seal that King Arthur’s son, Mordred Pendragon, had carried around.

Clench—

He gripped the seal he held close to his chest tighter.

What should he do now?

It would look like he was confirming he knew of Arthur’s death and yet denying his current existence.

Arthur had actually come back as a dead person, and this Arthur still had his seal.

As long as there were two seals, the seal that Lancelot had on him could only be evidence that he was the one who killed Arthur’s son.

“Damn it…”

Crack—

In the end, there was only one choice he could make.

Crash—!

The window shattered, and Lancelot fled outside.

“Uh…?”

“What just…”

The knights who were followers of Lancelot faltered in confusion as they couldn’t understand the situation.

The current king of Britain had run away. This was no different than admitting his sins.

“So it really happened.”

“I told you it would play out this way.”

Unlike the knights full of panic and uncertainty, the tone of YuWon and Merlin, who had already thought through everything that would happen today, was quite calm.

Arthur looked outside the broken window.

“We can’t let him get away.” As he emitted his icy mana, Arthur went forth and chased after him. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Translator - Jreaming

Proofreader - BringTheRayn

* * *

“Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!” Lancelot shouted in range as he quickly moved his legs. “Uwaaaaaah!”

He ran over castle walls and jumped through the air. Only the thought of escaping from this place filled his mind.

“Uh?”

“Y-Your Majesty?”

The knights who saw Lancelot at the castle gates were shocked. The Round Table Conference should be going on right now, but why had Lancelot suddenly appeared here?

Lancelot ignored the knights who saluted him and ran outside the castle walls. And as he was quickly moving to get away from Camelot…

Boom—

His head hit something, and he was bounced back.

“Kgh… What?”

It was only for an instant that he was confused about the shock to his head.

[The selected area has been designated as a ‘prison.’]

[You cannot move outside the area from inside it.]

“What bullshit is this!”

Bang—!

Lancelot swung his sword at the wall that blocked his way.

The ground shook at the shock, and the scattering sword aura flicked past his own cheek.

However, the wall showed no movement.

“This stupid…”

This obstacle was driving Lancelot mad as he was trying to get away from this area as fast as possible.

It wasn’t a wall he could easily break. Even though he was a High-Ranker, this wall was something created by an existence stronger than him.

Lancelot noticed the red line on the ground that represented where the wall was.

Camelot had already been surrounded by a huge magic circle. Even in the entire Tower, there were only a handful of people that could create a wall like this.

And Britain had one of those people in it right now.

“Merlin…”

It was certain that he was the one who created this wall. However, it was impossible even for Merlin to create a magic circle of this scale that could cover the entire area of Camelot in an instant. It must have been made over the course of a few days at least.

If that was the case, it definitely wouldn’t be easy for Lancelot to pierce through this.

‘Whose idea was it?’

There was no way Merlin, who gardened for the last thousand years, would suddenly pull this off. Even if he was the “Great Magician” in the field of magic, he wasn’t a strategist of this level.

There was only one person who came to mind.

“Kim YuWon, was it that guy?”

“That’s right.”

Flick—

Lancelot turned his head.

A familiar voice.

If it was anyone else, he wouldn’t have been as nervous, but the man who appeared in front of him wasn't just anyone.

“That guy did say it. That revealing the terrible things you did in front of everyone would shake your position.”

He was right. If it was anywhere other than the Round Table Conference, he could’ve bought time to create another way out. However, at the Round Table Conference, the knights who could be called the essence of the Round Table came to know Lancelot’s betrayal. On top of that, as he confirmed Arthur’s death, he had practically confessed that he had something to do with it.

“Was it you, Elder? The one who hid that Doppelganger.”

“Although it doesn’t matter if you noticed, it would’ve been a problem if anyone else did.”

He did consider it a bit strange. No matter if he was the bloodline of Belial, none of the approximately 150 knights there had noticed that he was a transformed Doppelganger.

However, if it was Merlin’s work, it wasn’t so impossible. It wasn’t even work for Merlin to hide the flow of mana that was used in a Doppelganger’s transformation.

“I’ll ask you one thing.”

Rumble—

Lancelot’s shoulders slumped downwards, and a dent was created in the ground. He frowned at the pressure being applied to his body.

Then he remembered.

The “Great Magician.”

That was Merlin’s title that he had forgotten for the past 1,000 years.

“Why did you do it?”

“Why do you think?”

Lancelot lifted his sword.

Even if his opponent was Merlin, he was also a High-Ranker. This fight was doable.

“I wanted to be king.”

This was Lancelot’s long-held desire.

To be king. To receive the respect and worship of everyone and be the one who ruled over them. That was everything that Lancelot wanted.

“…Really?”

Shwooo—

Under the monstrous pressure that flattened the ground, the edge of Lancelot’s blade started to move. And…

“I’m going to get bored at how stale that reason was.”

Merlin’s finger moved as well.

Cra-ka-kak—

“…!”

Lancelot’s sword stopped.

Even before he instinctively tried to swing his sword again, he felt as if a tight string had bound his sword and wasn’t letting it go.

“Was it about 50 years ago that you became a High-Ranker?”

Flick, flap—

Many invisible strings tightly bound Lancelot’s body.

Lancelot started to sweat as his four limbs were bound tightly.

“A punk who still needs to grow dares to challenge this elder already?”

“Kugh…”

A vein popped on Lancelot’s face. His face steadily turned purple, and the whites of his eyes started to disappear.

Shwoooo—

An abnormal mana started to flow.

Merlin reached out a palm towards Lancelot.

“That guy said this.”

Clench—

As he closed his hand, pressure was applied to Lancelot’s form.

“Grrrr…”

“That a monster lives inside your body.”

It was possible that maybe the reason Lancelot had betrayed Arthur was all because of this.

Crack, crunch—

The pressure continued to increase.

As more and more Arcane Power was supplied, the pressure on Lancelot’s body also increased as he flailed.

“Kuaaaaaah!”

At the moment where he felt that his entire body would explode…

Ting, t-t-t-ting—

The strings surrounding Lancelot’s body began to snap one by one, and his sword began to move.

Shwaaa—!

The sword slashed downwards.

Rumble—

The ground that Merlin was standing on was cleaved in two, and a deep cliff-like formation formed below.

Merlin didn’t fall into it as he stood in the same spot and just floated there.

“Maybe…”

Lancelot, who had cut all the strings on him, had a purple aura all around his body, and his eyes were dyed black. And from him…

“You really are a monster.”

Not Arcane Power nor Demonic Energy but a completely different energy was flowing from him.