Chapter 93: Arthur’s evil
The man was just about to pull the sword out of the ground when a deep, thunderous voice echoed in his head, saying, "Unworthy."
The cold words vibrated through his soul, sending chills down his spine.
He froze completely in place, his fingers still wrapped tightly around the blue hilt, unable to pull the blade out even a single inch.
Suddenly, countless red lines appeared on him from head to toe, crossing over one another in a grid pattern.
A split second later, blood slowly oozed out from the clean lines drawn across his skin, and his entire body broke into pieces without a sound.
His flesh were perfectly carved into boxed pieces, falling heaving to the ground.
The severed blocks of meat and bone collapsed into a messy heap around the base of the sword, turning the player into a pile of cubed remains.
Everyone who witnessed the terrifying scene widened their eyes in horror, their faces turning pale.
The greedy players immediately leapt backward away from the sword and the pile of remains, abandoning all thoughts of touching the weapon.
For a few heavy seconds, there was only dead silence in the room as time seemed to stop completely.
They stared at the thick pool of blood slowly spreading out like a dark lake around the base of the embedded sword.
The terrifying sight of a high-ranking player being turned into diced meat in an instant silenced every single person present.
Leon chuckled wryly from where he lay on the floor, clutching his bleeding wounds as he watched the gruesome spectacle unfold.
He shook his head slightly, thinking to himself in bitter amusement, ’Yeah Arthur... some ’noble’ king you are indeed.’
He mocked the king’s claims of purity and justice, seeing firsthand how brutal the sword’s automatic defense mechanism truly was.
While others had simply seen the man’s body fall to the ground in pieces without knowing how it happened, Leon had seen far more than just that.
He had actually heard Arthur’s cold voice echoing clearly from Excalibur, despite the blade not being anywhere near his hands or under his control.
And he had also seen the brilliant golden lines form on the player’s body like a lethal net just a microsecond before he was cut into pieces.
He recognized the skill instantly, knowing it was the exact same attack that Arthur had used to slice him apart inside the strange dimension.
The invisible, fatal slashes of Holy Severance were completely invisible to ordinary eyes, but his soul still carried the memory of that exact execution.
He stared at the dull golden blade sitting peacefully in the center of the bloody pool, knowing that anyone who dared touch it without permission would meet the exact same tragic fate.
’But still... I didn’t know Holy Severance could be used like that...’ he thought.
He watched the blood pool spread across the floor, processing how a skill could trigger automatically to protect the weapon from an unworthy wielder.
Back in the strange dimension too, Arthur had used even more similar strange skills that he didn’t know existed within Excalibur.
The king had frozen his movements with a single command and summoned twenty golden clones in full divine armor.
This only made him realize with painful clarity how inexperienced he still was with the holy sword.
He had held the legendary blade for only a little while, so he had barely been able to draw out a fraction of its true power.
He had relied only on basic crescent slashes and raw stat boosts, completely blind to the deeper, god-like techniques hidden within the weapon.
A fierce, burning resolve suddenly erupted inside his chest, replacing his fatigue with unyielding determination.
’I won’t let my journey with Excalibur end here, like it or not Arthur, the sword is mine!’ he thought, gnashing his teeth in determination.
He refused to be discarded by an ancient ghost or stripped of his weapon in front of his enemies.
He stretched his hand out firmly towards the blade embedded in the pile of cubed flesh.
The dull golden weapon vibrated a little in response to his call, shaking the blood off its metallic surface.
With a sharp whistle through the heavy air, Excalibur broke free from the floor and flew directly into his open palm.
Leon smirked, a dark and triumphant glint returning to his tired eyes as his fingers locked around the familiar grip.
He thought to himself in satisfying victory, ’He tried to resist, but too bad, this Excalibur was originally brought to this world by my Legendary Draw!’
No matter what spirit, king, or divine force resided within the sword, its fundamental origin in this realm was bound directly to his SSS-rank talent.
His unique talent allowed him to pull whatever item he extracted towards him by simply stretching his hand out at it.
It was an absolute rule of his ability, a spiritual link forged the very moment the item was drawn into existence.
Arthur taking away the divine power within the blade didn’t change that fundamental connection at all.
Even if the blade was completely drained of its holy light and skills, he could still order it to come to his hands whenever he pleased.
The king could seal the sword’s techniques, but he could never sever the bond that summoned it into this world.
The moment his skin maintained contact with the metal, the hilt rapidly heated up again in protest.
The scalding temperature surged through the grip in an instant, trying to burn his palm just like it had moments prior.
Arthur’s leftover intent was attempting to force him to drop the sword a second time with intense heat.
But this time, Leon was completely prepared for the automatic burning defense.
Before the heat could reach a painful level or blast him away like it did before, he instantly willed the weapon into his system inventory.
In a quick flash of light, Excalibur vanished from his grip and safely entered his inventory, leaving Arthur’s lingering rejection with nothing to burn.