I Became a Mythical Knight King

Chapter 75: Beyond the Walls (2)

There was a man and a woman, two people, born and raised in entirely different places.

But on the day they happened to meet, they both knew that they were each other’s destiny.

Yoo Seong closed his eyes.

He saw two people.

A man and a woman.

No, just the woman.

Yoo Seong was seeing the world from the man’s perspective.

The sky was gray but tinged red.

Flames rising from the ground reached the sky, and screams and wails filled the air.

It was a battlefield.

People were dying.

In the distance, the roar of a beast echoed.

The man spoke.

He called out the woman’s name.

The woman stood firm before the man.

She stood in the face of the dragon’s searing flames to protect the man.

In her final moment, she turned to look back.

She looked at the man’s face.

The woman smiled.

So beautifully.

So tenderly.

Light erupted.

The dragon’s flames consumed everything.

Yoo Seong opened his eyes.

He staggered back, his breath coming in heavy gasps.

“Successor?”

Rene, worried, supported the staggering Yoo Seong and asked him cautiously.

Yoo Seong, drenched in sweat, looked at Rene.

Her small, pale face.

Golden eyes.

Yoo Seong tried to recall the smile of the woman he had last seen, her face but he couldn’t.

It was as if the moment he awoke from the vision, her face faded from his mind, like a dream quickly forgotten but the emotions lingered.

The man’s anguished cries.

The overwhelming grief.

The woman’s tender smile.

“Successor?”

“I’m fine. Yes, I’m fine.”

To reassure her, Yoo Seong forced a small smile and straightened up from leaning on Rene. He turned his gaze forward.

A crimson bow, the relic of a Knight of the Round Table, hung suspended in the air.

“Tristan’s Bow.”

Once again, it was Kate who spoke.

Just as she had with Gareth’s Golden Shield and Agravain’s Cloak, she identified the owner of the relic.

Tristan.

The greatest archer of the Round Table.

In Kate’s words, the finest archer in the world.

Kate’s eyes were filled with tears again.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“You’re still a crybaby, then and now.”

Hector spoke as he gently tousled Kate’s hair.

Though Kate shot him a glare for messing up her hair, it didn’t last long.

As more memories returned through the course of the expedition, it seemed emotions and bonds were also being restored, deepening the connection between Kate and Hector.

A mischievous uncle and a niece who, despite her exasperation, still cared for him.

It was a fleeting image that came to mind, but seeing the two standing side by side, it didn’t seem entirely wrong.

Yoo Seong reached out and grasped Tristan’s Bow.

Perhaps because he had already seen a longer and more vivid vision than before, nothing further surfaced.

So, without lingering attachment, he took the bow and turned around.

“Vanadain.”

The only archer among Yoo Seong’s knights.

As Vanadain, who had been silently staring at Tristan’s Bow, turned to Yoo Seong, the latter held out the bow to him.

“Use it.”

“…I won’t refuse.”

With a reply very much in his usual manner, Vanadain accepted Tristan’s Bow.

“A fine bow. Truly fine.”

Lightly pulling the string, Vanadain even gave a faint smile, unusual for him.

It seemed the bow had impressed him greatly.

‘It is the bow of a Knight of the Round Table, after all.’

And not just any knight’s, but that of the greatest archer.

Surely, among all bows of Camelot, this was the finest.

“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”

“Good.”

Receiving Vanadain’s gratitude, Yoo Seong felt oddly unsettled, but Rene’s cheerful expression beside him made him smile again.

‘Anyway, is everything more or less sorted out now?’

Instead of a building, a battle unit had appeared, but they had still received two rewards.

The Ballista Unit and Tristan’s Bow.

Normally, this would have marked the end, but Yoo Seong realized it wasn’t over yet.

Not long after handing Tristan’s Bow to Vanadain, the fog and barriers cleared, revealing a reward of a different kind.

The walls surrounding Yoo Seong Castle.

During the first expedition, the walls had simply extended as usual.

In the second expedition, the walls were absent, likely because it extended into an internal space.

And now, in this third expedition, the walls held something entirely different.

“A gate? Is that a gate?”

Rene blinked in astonishment as she asked, and Yoo Seong nodded.

There was a gate in the wall.

Not just a large gate, but a massive one equipped with a drawbridge and multiple layers of fortifications, the kind found only in fortresses.

“Let’s go check it out.”

When Yoo Seong said this and took the lead, Roland and Hector stepped forward ahead of him to act as guards, with Kate and Diana flanking his sides and Vanadain covering the rear.

“Sister.”

“Yes?”

Usually walking slightly behind Rene, Jillian seemed eager this time, her steps quickened by her interest in the gate.

The castle walls of Yoo Seong Castle had always been inaccessible.

Though there had been no particular issue with approaching them, there was no way to climb up to the top of the walls.

Even the Pegasus knights avoided getting too close to the walls, so the castle soldiers couldn’t climb them or look out from the top.

Of course, there had been nothing to see but the purple barrier outside, but one could never be sure.

The space between the purple barrier and the walls—no one knew what might be there.

But if that gate opened…

And if they could go beyond the walls of Yoo Seong Castle…

The group cautiously approached the gate.

The massive barbican and side towers loomed ahead.

Seen up close, the gate itself seemed to be at least 10 meters wide and over 20 meters tall.

Given the dozens of meters height of Yoo Seong Castle’s walls, it wasn’t surprising for the gate to be this large, but a thought occurred to Yoo Seong.

Was something massive enough to warrant such a large gate passing through it?

But it was a fleeting speculation.

Brushing the thought aside, Yoo Seong confirmed Jillian’s shining eyes and then glanced at the other knights.

Roland, who had been inspecting the side towers, spoke.

“It seems we can enter.”

They could climb to the top of the walls through the side towers and barbican.

“What about the gate? Can it be opened?”

A gate of this size would surely require internal mechanisms to lift the iron portcullis and open the doors.

Hector’s voice responded from inside the barbican.

“It seems possible.”

After a brief pause for thought, Yoo Seong glanced at the eager Jillian and then addressed the group.

“For now, let’s climb the walls through the barbican.”

They couldn’t open the gates without knowing what lay beyond.

At Yoo Seong’s tacit permission, Jillian hurriedly entered the tower, and Rene followed closely behind after giving Yoo Seong a glance as if to assure him she was looking after Jillian.

The interior of the tower wasn’t particularly unique except for its massive scale. It seemed nearly identical in structure to the tower attached to Lushen’s gate.

However, Jillian appeared to view it differently, constantly exclaiming in wonder and explaining things to Rene. It seemed there were unique characteristics of Camelot’s style that Jillian found remarkable.

Yoo Seong, meanwhile, approached the narrow loopholes in the flanking tower alongside the knights. Through the small slits made for firing arrows, the violet barrier beyond was visible, as expected.

Between the wall and the barrier, there wasn’t anything noteworthy either—a deep, wide moat, and that was it. But being closer to the barrier revealed something else.

The faintly visible expanse beyond the barrier, a vast plain stretching as far as the eye could see.

And that plain was littered with countless corpses of monsters.

Not in thousands, nor tens of thousands.

At least hundreds of thousands, if not more.

Amidst the scattered remains of monsters lay the wreckage of enormous beasts.

“The Last Fortress.”

Yoo Seong muttered unconsciously, swallowing hard as he stared at the colossal dragon remains lying directly in front of the gate.

After descending from the gate, the party remained silent for a while.

The sight beyond the violet barrier was simply overwhelming.

An army of unimaginable scale, easily numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

The height and thickness of the fortress wall that had seemed excessive now made sense.

If the fortress was built to face an enemy force of such magnitude, then its current scale was justified.

‘This isn’t Camelot.’

Yoo Seong realized it intuitively.

This fortress wasn’t Camelot.

‘The final expedition site of King Arthur.’

Roughly 500 years ago King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table left Camelot, claiming to embark on an expedition. Yet, no one knew where they went or what became of them.

If this fortress was their final expedition site.

If they had faced such an overwhelming enemy army here and met their end.

It all added up.

But one thing didn’t make sense.

‘Rene’s Bird of Light.’

Yoo Seong and Rene had believed that their connection to the Bird of Light persisted because Yoo Seong Fortress was a magical space rather than a physical one.

However, if this fortress was King Arthur’s expedition site, a place that physically existed in the world, how could the connection to the Bird of Light remain?

Yoo Seong furrowed his brow.

In this world, the tale of King Arthur was myth, legend, and history all at once.

The legend spoke of King Arthur defeating the forces of darkness alongside the Knights of the Round Table, ushering in the age of humanity.

Was King Arthur’s last expedition merely an extension of that battle?

Or had a new enemy appeared, requiring another fight even after humanity’s era had been secured?

Whichever the case, the Era of Ominous Stars had arrived, and the invasion of monsters had begun.

Perhaps Yoo Seong, too, like King Arthur, would one day have to face an army of overwhelming size.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected.

The scale of the enemies was growing daily.

Moreover, there was the existence of the barrier mentioned by Kay.

Yoo Seong closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He cleared his mind of the complex thoughts and focused on the present.

For now, he would focus on the battles ahead, growing his strength and that of his legion.

“Successor?”

Rene’s voice called out, prompting Yoo Seong to open his eyes.

Seeing her worried expression, Yoo Seong gave her a small smile to reassure her and spoke with deliberate brightness in his voice.

“Well, at least we achieved something. And quite a lot, at that.”

“Indeed.”

After gazing at Yoo Seong’s face for a moment, Rene nodded brightly, seemingly understanding his intention and mirroring his cheerful demeanor.

“Rene, what about the outside?”

“It seems they’ve set up camp at some distance. I can’t see it clearly, but they haven’t started advancing yet. That much is certain.”

Nodding, Yoo Seong turned to the knights.

“Kay, Vanadain, Diana, Hector, Roland. Once again, everyone, you’ve worked hard.”

“Ha, it’s the Successor who worked the hardest,” Hector chuckled.

After all, the actual combat had been handled by Yoo Seong alone.

Yoo Seong grinned in agreement and nodded.

“Well, that’s true. No denying it.”

“Ha ha.”

Not only Hector but the other knights smiled as well.

“Vanadain.”

At the call, Vanadain, who had been silently staring at the bow, raised his head.

Gesturing toward Tristan’s bow with his eyes, Yoo Seong said, “Use the bow well.”

“I will.”

Vanadain replied succinctly, his slight nod consistent with his usual demeanor. And the way Kay glanced at him with disapproval was equally typical.

“Alright, let’s head back.”

The expedition was completed.

As Rene and Jillian naturally took their places at Yoo Seong’s sides, the knights lined up and saluted first.

“For the glory of Camelot.”

“For the glory of Camelot.”

Yoo Seong, Rene, and Jillian responded in kind.

And with a golden flash of light, they began their return.

Five hundred years since the Last Fortress was built.

The boy who had merely sat and watched all this time finally stood.

That boy was a king.

In a world beyond the ashen barrier, filled only with grey, he was one of the Seven Kings.

But he had no people.

No race to lead.

For in the battle 500 years ago to protect the flame of their race, all had perished.

A king without subjects.

A solitary king in title alone.

The boy who had simply watched for nearly 500 years now rose for one reason.

“It’s clearing away.”

The barrier.

The magic of Merlin and Morgana that had enshrouded the Last Fortress.

At first, he thought it was a mistake.

The second time, he was uncertain.

But now, for the third time, he was sure.

The barrier that Arthur had erected to protect humanity’s era was crumbling, and the magic surrounding the Last Fortress was dissipating.

“Arthur.”

Arthur Pendragon.

The boy sat back down.

He turned his gaze to the opposite side.

The darkest place even beneath the ashen sky, a pit of unending shadow.

He didn’t look long to avoid provoking the presence within.

The thing Arthur had entrusted to him on that day 500 years ago.

That cruel favor he had apologized for while leaving.

The White Dragon King, one of the Seven Kings outside the barrier, looked back at the Last Fortress.

Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Omphalos, Ninian, Kay, Gawain, Lancelot, and the many other Knights of the Round Table.

Recalling the faces of them all, the White Dragon King curled his small frame.

The 500 years of reprieve created by Arthur and everyone’s desperate final stand.

That time was coming to an end.

Now, there wasn’t much time left.

“Arthur.”

The White Dragon King curled up tighter.

Amidst long-faded memories, he envisioned Arthur’s face clearly and closed his eyes.

In the ever-darkening grey world, he smiled wistfully, momentarily recalling better days long past.