Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 167 (Part 2):

Helmut had richer Vis, and Lutus Cicero had more experience to compensate for this.

However, the battle did not last long.

Although their skills were equal, Lutus Cicero wavered. That wavering influenced the outcome of the fight.

It was just once. Lutus Cicero gathered his strength to push Helmut in one go. But he overexerted.

Crack! A strike missed and cut through the air, exposing his upper body.

Helmut seized the fleeting opening and thrust in.

Slash! A chilling sound echoed. Helmut’s sword sliced across Lutus Cicero’s abdomen horizontally, causing a severe wound reaching his organs.

But he was not unharmed.

‘Even at the end, such a counterattack.’

Helmut, who had leaped back, looked down at his left arm.

A long line ran from his elbow to his wrist. Blood poured out from the gap in the line.

It was a considerable wound. Not fatal, only because of its location.

On the other hand, Lutus Cicero’s wound was fatal. He knelt on one knee on the ground. Blood flowed like a flood.

Having received a sword charged with Vis, it was fortunate his body didn’t split in two.

“Kuh, how could this be.”

Lutus Cicero looked down at his body with disbelief. The shock made him forget the pain.

He was utterly defeated. Even though he was tense due to agitation, the small gap created by that agitation was exploited by the opponent’s skill. There was no excuse.

“Terrifying talent… indeed.”

A sense of inferiority came too late. Was this the caliber of a person the Sword Saint had chosen as his successor?

To reach such a state at the mere age of sixteen.

‘No, this is a talent that surpasses the Sword Saint.’

Lutus Cicero shuddered. His judgment was not wrong. But as a member of the Palma Knights, he was simply too much to contain.

“I have won.”

Helmut calmly staunched the bleeding. Lutus Cicero, being human, couldn’t fight anymore with such a wound.

He was dying. Without a very skilled mage coming, there was no saving him here.

“Yes, you have won.”

“As the victor, I ask.”

Helmut, more directly than Luke Yeager, threw the question.

“Why did you betray Darien?”

At the brink of death, it was the only chance to speak of it. And Helmut had the right to hear it. After all, he had defeated Lutus Cicero.

It wasn’t asked for a significant reason. Just a trivial curiosity.

Lutus Cicero burst into laughter. Coughing up blood, it was a painful laugh. His forehead was deeply furrowed.

“Khkhkh! I betrayed that old man because he disregarded me!”

Lutus Cicero cursed at the brink of death, venting all his resentment.

“That old man was a piece of work even in death! He said he couldn’t pass on his swordsmanship to me because my talent was utterly lacking and my qualities were inferior! The humiliation I felt then! I wanted to show him clearly. How does it feel to be defeated by the one you so despised!”

It wasn’t a misunderstanding. To be interpreted purely in that exact meaning.

Darien wouldn’t have put it gently either.

But Helmut did not sympathize.

“Darien trusted you.”

That too was the truth.

At that moment, Lutus Cicero scoffed.

“Don’t make me laugh! He didn’t trust me. He thought I was so insignificant that whatever I did couldn’t hurt him!”

“Well, maybe.”

Darien Deferth was arrogant.

From Helmut’s standpoint, there was no resentment. Because of his betrayal, Helmut had indirectly met him and escaped from the Forest of Roots.

“Thank you. I’ll end your pain as payment.”

Lutus Cicero glared at the approaching Helmut.

He had no regrets about what he had done in the past. He had never mourned Darien Deferth’s death or felt guilty about it.

Rather, he felt triumphant when he took over the position of Palma Knight commander, originally Darien’s.

But it was also true that he hadn’t had a moment’s peace in the past 20 years.

‘So, it ends like this. Paid back by his disciple.’

Lutus Cicero silently accepted his death.

Crack! Helmut’s sword pierced his heart. Thanks to the priest’s purification magic shrinking the seed of darkness, the influence of the killing was minimal.

He withdrew his sword from Lutus Cicero’s body with emotionless eyes.

Even a respected commander of the knights, as strong as he was, was just a human being moved by emotions. The motive for betrayal was truly trivial.

‘Humans are complicated creatures.’

Helmut still couldn’t fully understand it.

“You, really…”

Finally, Luke Yeager, who had been standing aside, spoke up. His eyes held a look of seeing something unfamiliar.

“You’re the disciple of my great-grandfather?”

“Yes.”

Helmut nodded.

“Thanks for saving me, but why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

The gratitude wasn’t substantial. He felt relieved, but it was humiliating for Luke Yeager, a swordsman, to have narrowly escaped death thanks to this boy.

Moreover, after observing the fight and recovering from the shock, he felt a strange emotion.

This boy named Hyde’s skill was astounding. Using the same swordsmanship but on a different level. The strikes contained both strength and speed.

The Sword Saint’s swordsmanship, which seemed fully integrated into his body, was dazzling.

Not only that, but the boy’s movements were free of unnecessary actions. So calm and smooth they didn’t seem human.

Facing such a strong opponent as the commander of the Palma Knights, the boy remained terrifyingly composed. He possessed both skill and mental strength.

‘What kind of person is this?’

Luke Yeager, who had been considered a prodigy, felt the gap. The similarity in their swordsmanship made it all the more palpable. It was bitter.

‘I still have a long way to go.’

Helmut spoke up.

“That’s because I couldn’t trust your mouth?”

Luke Yeager, struck by the remark, closed his mouth.

“Besides, you’re disappointing. Didn’t I tell you to be wary of him?”

“…The situation was too urgent.”

Luke Yeager spoke as if making an excuse, his voice notably weaker.

Helmut glanced at his shoulder. The bleeding seemed to have subsided somewhat. He wouldn’t die from that wound.

“You should be more cautious in the future.”

Helmut mocked, and Luke Yeager, having nothing to say, nodded.

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