Chapter 43: Whitemane Technique
Roderic’s eyes narrowed slightly.
One after another, knights started stepping out of the door.
All of them wore full armor and had longswords tied to their sides.
Within moments, twelve knights had emerged from the building.
The knight commander from yesterday stood near the front, his expression already darkening the moment he saw Roderic.
However, before he could say anything, four knights immediately raised their hands.
’’You never said anything about fighting the young master,’’ one of them said, walking backwards. ’’I will never betray the Whitemane family!’’
’’Young master, I also surrender,’’ another said, raising his hands.
The other two said similar things before slowly walking to Roderic’s side.
Each of them pulled off their helmets, pleading as they let themselves get taken into custody.
After glancing at all their faces, Roderic nodded.
They’d been the ones with genuine surprise on their faces when he revealed what had been happening inside the tavern.
’’They’re innocent,’’ he said seriously. ’’But take them back just to be safe.’’
Two of the estate’s knights nodded and began guiding the four knights away.
Glancing back at the corrupt knights, Roderic counted exactly eight remaining.
’Well then,’ he thought, smiling. ’That makes things easy then.’
Meanwhile, the knight commander’s expression had grown increasingly ugly.
’’What exactly is the meaning of this?’’ he asked coldly.
Roderic took a step forward right away.
’’You know exactly what this is about,’’ he replied without hesitation. ’’You don’t have to bother hiding either, as this’ll be your grave regardless.’’
Silence fell over the road for a moment.
Then, surprisingly, the man scoffed loudly.
’’So Gareth talked,’’ he said, placing a hand over his face. ’’What a fucking moron.’’
Roderic’s brows rose slightly.
’Not even going to deny it?’ he thought, surprised.
Just then, the commander glanced between his remaining seven knights with a bitter expression on his face.
Finally, he turned back towards Roderic with anger in his eyes.
’’What did you expect us to do?’’ he asked angrily. ’’Spend our entire lives stationed in some worthless village for scraps?’’
The man raised both arms beside him.
’’We’re trained knights. Yet what do we get for it? A roof over our heads, food and a few coins?’’
He shook his head slowly.
’’Gareth offered us more money in a month than we normally earn in years,’’ he continued. ’’And if it was at the price of a few losers, that should be acceptable!’’
Before Roderic even got the chance to say anything, Sir Roland stepped forward.
His expression had twisted into one of utter disgust as he pulled his huge greatsword off his back.
’’Ungrateful,’’ he muttered, shaking his head. ’’Truly ungrateful.’’
The commander frowned slightly.
But Sir Roland’s words only grew colder and colder.
’’House Whitemane feeds you. Clothes you. Arms you. Gives you status ordinary men could only dream of,’’ he continued slowly. ’’And yet, you bite the hand that feeds you for a few worthless coins.’’
A deep blue aura surged around Sir Roland’s sword as two large aura seal patterns lit up on his hands.
Finally, he asked one more question.
’’Have you no honor?’’
The knight commander immediately scoffed.
He pulled out his own longsword right away.
’’Speak for yourself,’’ he shouted back as aura began surrounding his blade. ’’And take that to the grave!’’
SHING!
At the same time, all seven knights around him drew their blades and filled them with aura.
Roderic smiled faintly.
With a soft sigh, he pulled his hooked blades out of the ground.
’’Everyone,’’ he said, raising them into the air. ’’Take them on!’’
WHOOSH!
The street instantly erupted into chaos.
Five estate knights rushed forward alongside Roderic, including Sir Roland, while the remaining knights maintained the encirclement.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Steel sounds rang out everywhere as the battle started.
The knight commander, having felt Sir Roland’s strength, judged him to be the biggest danger and immediately charged towards him.
But Sir Roland merely stared at him.
’’DON’T LOOK DOWN ON ME!’’ the commander shouted as aura burst forth around his body.
Only now did Sir Roland’s expression grow more disgusted.
’’A knight without loyalty...’’ he said calmly. ’’Using a technique of the one he’s betrayed...’’
He slowly raised his huge greatsword into the sky.
Huge amounts of aura surged roughly around the sword in an instant.
Sir Roland took a step forward, meeting the knight commander as he finished his sentence.
’’Is no knight at all.’’
He swung his greatsword down with all his might.
The knight commander met the attack head-on, raising his longsword in front of him as a defense.
WHOOSH!
The moment the two auras met, the knight commander’s vanished instantly.
CRACK!
His longsword snapped directly through the middle.
Sir Roland’s sword continued without slowing down.
CRUNCH!
The knight commander’s armor caved in before outright bursting apart.
And just like that, it was over.
His entire torso was obliterated without even giving him the chance to think.
As the remains of the knight commander’s body collapsed on the ground, Sir Roland flicked the blood off his sword.
’’Disgraceful.’’
Meanwhile, Roderic had already entered a fight of his own.
CLANG!
A longsword surrounded by aura smashed against one of his hooked blades, causing him to slide back a step.
It wasn’t just a simple attack.
In fact, it was one Roderic had seen plenty of times while growing up.
’The Whitemane technique,’ he thought. ’The attack that’s been modeled after the kick of a warhorse.’
Much like a horse’s kick, the more it charged and the further out of range the opponent was, the stronger the attack became.
Once properly executed, even a relatively ordinary knight could unleash far more power than they normally possessed.
Unfortunately, such an attack also came with an obvious weakness.
’Stay as close as possible,’ he thought. ’Don’t allow that charge to build up at all.’
The knight quickly pulled his longsword back before taking several steps away.
Roderic immediately followed.
’Not happening.’
The knight frowned and tried creating distance again, but Roderic remained right on top of him.
SHING!
His longsword suddenly shot toward Roderic’s chest.
Without any distance to build momentum, however, the attack was far weaker than before.
CLANG!
Roderic caught the longsword with one of his hooked blades.
The knight’s expression immediately changed.
’’You—’’
Roderic twisted his wrist and dragged the longsword to the side before snapping his second hooked blade around it.
CLANG!
As both weapons locked in place, a bright aura lit up around them.
’Weapon Breaker!’
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Fractures spread across the longsword before the entire blade shattered into thousands of pieces.
The knight’s eyes immediately widened in horror.
But Roderic was already moving.
’’Wait,’’ the knight said desperately. ’’I surren—’’
SHHK!
One hooked blade sliced through his helmet like butter before slitting the man’s throat.
The knight staggered back, desperately clawing at his neck as blood poured between his fingers.
His legs slowly gave out beneath him.
THUD!
Roderic watched him collapse before flicking the blood from his blade.
’Missed by a few inches,’ he thought. ’Could’ve taken his head if I’d stepped forward.’