'Jerea the Twilight'.
Before he could become a Holy Knight of Fle, the goddess of dreams and death, he had to undergo a long period of training.
There are two paths for those who have proven themselves as wandering knights and become knights of the realm.
They can either continue to serve in the Kingdom's army and fight honorably as a War Knight, or they can embark on an unpredictable journey to become a Quest Knight.
Of course, not everyone who becomes a Quest Knight will be able to become a Holy Knight.
Only those chosen at the end of the journey would receive a 'quest' from the gods, and even then, few would succeed.
This is why Holy Knights could remain in their positions for hundreds of years without finding a successor.
Usually, you would receive a quest within twenty years, and complete it within five.
If they didn't receive a quest, they would realize their inadequacies and return to being a Kingdom Knight.
But not Jerea Bertum. He had not received a quest from any god for nearly fifty years.
He had traveled to the waves, hunted monsters, and fought in the orc crusades of the War Knights, cutting off thousands of orcs.
He willingly slaughtered bandits for the sake of the barbarian-plundered people of Changeling, and prayed to the heavens from his thundering mountain top shrine.
His attendants shifted from reverence to mockery, from derision to pity.
"Man, you could have done better," they said, "you're not good enough, and the gods don't answer you."
This was when he was working as a mercenary for the Empire to pay for his training.
At the same time, he became a Realm Knight and commanded a thousand knights as a proud War Knight of the Lionheart.
At the age of fifteen, he wandered the world, spending ten years as a Knight Errant, another ten years fulfilling his duties as a Kingdom Knight, and fifty years on the path.
In all that time, he never received a quest from the gods.
Only the superhumans of human history were worthy of the quest.
He was a great knight, but he was not a superhuman who could single-handedly change the course of a battle.
He was reckless, uneducated, and ignorant.
A woman appeared in Jerea's dreams and said,
[Why do you wander endlessly on the road of hardship? The Pantheon knows your heart. Return and serve the kingdom.]
Jerea realized that the woman in his dream was a divine being, but he politely rejected her.
"Lady. Blame me for my shortcomings, but do not deny me my quest for honor."
Jerea left to train once more.
He walked through mud where no noble knight would go, and his hands were always stained with blood, even as bards sang of his dishonor.
He did not become a Holy Knight until he was a hundred years old and was the oldest one to reach that level.
* * * *
The canyon that marks the boundary between the Empire and the northern barbarians is called the Valley of Death and is a region to be feared.
Narrow entrances, paths that diverge as they descend into the interior, and native monsters abound. At its end, it is said to be the border of the Empire, but the dangers of traveling there are too great.
Nevertheless, there was one reason Jerea chose this place to retreat: the narrow entrance.
Attacked by orcs and barbarians, Jerea organized a dummy convoy of swift cavalry to buy time and block the gorge to prevent a full-scale pursuit.
Most of the army was trapped at this narrow entrance.
"Shield wall forward, axemen, stand by!"
The orc shredders move like machines at the bellowed command of Company Commander Beverly.
Armed with shields and swords, each one flaunts an orc skull ornament and sends savage glares.
-WHAAAAAAAA────!!!
The green beasts charge, flaunting their massive weight, but the shield wall withstands their clash.
"Axemen, strike!"
The axemen, hidden among the shieldmen, skillfully slashed the orcs' wrists and decapitated them using efficient mechanical movements.
Whistles sounded as the soldiers executed the orcs, two at a time.
-Beep! Beep!
Beverly's whistle opened a gap in the shield wall as the orcs' corpses fell and the front row retreated to a clear space between the shield walls.
The second row transformed into the first, and the whistle sounded again.
-Bam!
And the battle was repeated. Row 1 blocked, Row 2 stabbed. Again, row 1 switches to the back row, and row 2 takes over for row 1.
It may seem simple, but is it possible to move with precision on a crowded battlefield?
The Orc Crushers, who lacked strength and size, were skillfully slaughtering the orcs as if they were backyard dogs.
'They're strong… It's not about strength, it's about combat power as a group!
Han Soo-ho, who was on standby, couldn't help but admire the performance of the Baltaric Orc Crusher Legion.
Up until now, he had only been impressed by the soldiers of the Ten Thousand Gods Guild, who were only D-rank.
They fought quite well for D-ranks and could be the backbone of any small or medium-sized guild's raiding party.
Still, when he realized that they didn't meet Leon's expectations, he was a little surprised.
-Weren't they just conscripts from the medieval kingdom? How well could they fight...?.
But the soldiers of the Lionheart Kingdom are all career soldiers. They've been fed blessed crops since birth, and their combat experience is overwhelming compared to modern hunters.
They are masters of group warfare, with entire armies operating as a single machine.
Their bravery and collective combat power is second to none.
"Trolls! Trolls are coming!"
The soldiers twist their pikes in response to their leader's shout.
But trolls weigh nearly three times as much as orcs. Even the Baltaric Legion, with its defense, cannot avoid a collapse in formation.
"Knights!"
Leon's voice rings out. As Leon's voice rang out from behind the Baltaric Legion, knights and commoner cavalry from both sides raised their spears.
Among them, Han Soo-ho and Kim Jae-hyuk were excluded due to their 'lack of horsemanship'.
"Where the hell are they going to charge?"
Soo-ho and Jae-hyuk asked.
The Baltaric Legion had blocked the narrow entrance.
Such a formation would be absolutely advantageous for defense, but it would not allow for fluid troop movements. There was nowhere for the cavalry to run.
"Charge!"
Nevertheless, Leon boldly ordered the cavalry to charge, and without any hesitation, they began to run──
"Ah, aren't you going to hit the rear of our allies?!"
"It's dangerous!"
As the two cadets watched in horror, 20 cavalry on the left and 20 on the right, a total of forty cavalry were dizzily charging towards the rear of the Baltaric Legion.
In the dizzying moment before they struck the rear of their allies, the two cadets realized what they were lacking: horsemanship.
-Bam!
Sir Jerea, at the head of the line, spun on his reins and galloped up the steep wall of the canyon, right next to the Baltaric Legion.
It was a reckless move that would have crushed them if they had hit the wall at such a gallop. But the steeds of Lionheart are no ordinary steeds.
-Heh!
The black steed spurs the ground and pushes against the wall. It soon begins to "gallop" up the wall.
It's a miraculous moment, seemingly defying gravity. But it wasn't. The horse is simply running before it crashes down the wall it has climbed.
And this feat was accomplished by all the horses that followed.
"Yay…!"
"Run!"
The steeds raced down the canyon wall, willing to trust their decades-long comrades. The horses running on both wings of the Baltaric Legion passed them in an instant, and──
"Take them down!"
Jerea shouted, and his steed responded by slamming into the wall. The acceleration from the gallop and the momentum from slamming into the wall combined to send the horses crashing down on the trolls in midair.
It was a sight to behold. A dozen or so trolls were pierced from head to toe by the lances.
"Mee, madmen! Hit them!"
"Damn it!"
The orcs with axes clenched in fear bravely charged toward the leading Kingdom Knight, only to be met with fire from the Knight's lance.
"To ashes in the holy flame!"
Like a laser blast, the spiraling flames shot in a straight line.
Orcs touched by the spiraling flames were reduced to ashes without delay, and the flames spread in all directions.
"Arghhh…!"
"Boo, fire!"
While the orcs panicked at the flames, the knights finished off the trolls, leaving their corpses in the way, and climbed the wall again, returning to the backs of the infantry.
"Holy shit...."
The infantry's combat prowess is awe-inspiring enough, but the knights are something else entirely.
For some reason, the Lionheart Kingdom's military was at least one level higher than the Hunters of modern Earth.
No wonder Leon was so unimpressed with the knight cadets and trainees.
These were the elite War Knights, the ones who traveled in legions. How lowly they must have seemed to him.
"At this rate, we'll be stuck here forever."
Looking at the mountain of monster corpses in front of him, anyone would think so.
"Don't let your guard down. They haven't even started yet."
As Leon approached, Jae-hyuk realized why Leon wasn't taking the initiative: he was hiding his power.
The Lionheart King is a superpower in itself. Unless there was a real crisis, he would wait for the right time.
"Still, even if there is a 'quest', isn't it necessary for His Majesty to be here? Holy Knight Sir Jerea is also incredibly strong."
"...."
Leon didn't reply, but recalled the 'system message' that Jae-hyuk, the Awakener, had reported.
[Assist Sir Jerea of the Twilight to escort the Holy Grail to the border of Lionheart]
-Side mission: Defend Lord Jerea's main body to the end.
This gate suggests two purposes.
First, to escort the true convoy with the holy relics to the border.
The second is to support Jerea and Baltaric in blocking the canyon for the convoy and hold it to the end.
From a purely efficiency standpoint, it would make sense to abandon Jerea and go after the Relic convoy.
Leon would be able to take to the skies in his Stallion and chase them down but he chose to stay behind.
His reasons were simple.
First, he trusted that the Relic convoy would make it and second, he wanted to see the honorable Holy Knight through to the end.
"Han Soo-ho, Kim Jae-hyuk, have you checked what this king told you to check?"
"Yes, I checked the corpses of the orcs, but there was no magic stone anywhere!"
The situation is clear: there are no magic stones but no survivors either.
The knights and soldiers here are all reaping the rewards of an honorable life in Paradise.
'Gate quests are also unbiased.'
In the past, some Gate quests have hidden their intentions, most notably the quest to defeat Holy Knight Georgic and the Statue of Rakshar.
But this gate doesn't feel like a gimmick. It's purely a way to take advantage of this historical event.
Are Gates Neutral? Are the quests that appear at the gate neutral?
If so, why were the previous gates so malicious?
'The gates themselves are neutral but the quests…could the system be manipulated by demons?'
On the first try, he was able to deduce quite a bit and after a few more tries he'd have a decent conclusion.
"Han Soo-ho, Kim Jae-hyuk, you two will check the canyon at the back for any other cadets and──"
It was then that something flashed and came hurtling toward Leon.
-Boom!
Leon swung his sword to deflect it but the tremor of its weight was felt through his fingertips.
"...."
A spear was thrown at Leon from the sky and Leon's gaze shot up into the air.
"Clink…!"
A boar-like beast, twisted tusks spread its hideously massive wings and carried an orc on its back.
The Bonecrusher, a flying beast that only orcs of Great Chieftain rank could ride.
Atop the flying beast, a hybrid born of a terrible orc spell, was a messily tattooed orc holding a spear.
No doubt he was the one who shot the spear at Leon.
"A filthy green beast…using a ranged weapon?"
That made the Lionheart King very uncomfortable.