**Chapter 444. One-Shot Kill**
—
That mana fluctuation had been bothering him.
The one who had annihilated all of his pets—it was that bastard.
That alone was unforgivable.
*And he dares to grab my beloved sword?*
He had already crossed a river from which there was no return.
That wretch was holding his sword as if it were nothing.
And for some reason, his beloved sword—capable of devouring everything—was not responding.
“Come back. Bastira.”
He called its name.
“…….”
There was no response.
The sword, Bastira, remained firmly in the man’s grasp, not moving an inch.
Even though it should have returned the instant its name was called.
“……Bastira.”
Alchaka’s face twisted.
He couldn’t understand it.
This had never happened before.
Such humiliation.
Krrrung!
Lightning erupted across Alchaka’s entire body.
A massive vortex of thunder began to form around him.
He would blow away both those damned dwarves and that bastard all at once.
Alchaka pushed his mana output to the maximum.
That wasn’t all.
Kwarung! Kwarururung!
The sky darkened.
Countless bolts of lightning were born there, converging toward Alchaka.
After evolving for immeasurable ages, he had reached the point where he could even command *phenomena*.
An upper-rank knight—and a great being who had once held the position of *Guardian Knight* in ancient times!
He could proudly call himself a **top-tier predator**, standing at the apex of the pyramid, with no equal in this world.
Kuuoooooo—
A single point of mana gathered, became a plane, and those planes joined to form a world.
Mana was no different.
The points of mana gathered throughout his body followed his will, became planes, and then fused into a single, colossal sun.
“R-run! Now—!”
The elder shouted urgently.
Merely being caught in Alchaka’s mana was tearing chunks off the Gigant’s armor.
It was terrifying power.
A full-force attack from the monster that had once driven countless dwarves into terror.
If that sun of lightning touched them, every painstakingly built barrier would evaporate.
The dwarves caught in between wouldn’t even need to be mentioned.
And naturally, the two honored guests from *Pangaenia* would cease to exist as well.
“Disappear. All of you.”
Whoooosh!
The massive sun of lightning gathered above Alchaka’s head and began to fall underground.
Movement was impossible.
All they could do was tremble, as if electrocuted.
*It’s too late…*
The elder despaired.
He had done everything he could for the survival of the dwarves—but it all ended today.
His mistake was failing to account for the worst possible outcome.
The elder’s eyes landed on one man.
……Wasn’t it strange?
Even in this situation, the man showed no agitation at all.
With calm eyes, he simply gazed at the approaching sun.
Without the slightest tremor, the man extended his right hand.
Had he given up?
The elder couldn’t understand the man’s action.
Even if he came from Pangaenia, an *upper-rank knight* possessed power rivaling the gods of the Divine Hall.
Even the great heroes of mighty empires that once boasted brilliant civilizations would struggle to face an upper-rank knight.
And yet—
Krrrrrrrung!
The sun of lightning collided directly with the man’s palm.
Then, as if tearing something apart, the man *grasped* the sun.
The elder couldn’t believe his eyes.
*I-it stopped?*
He had clearly caught it.
An attack powerful enough to erase even a god—caught bare-handed.
That was the end of it.
As the man slowly closed his fingers into a fist—
Sssk!
…Like a lie, the sun vanished.
No explosion followed.
It disappeared as if it had never existed.
“W-what…?!”
Alchaka was just as shaken.
An attack he had unleashed at full power to annihilate everything—
Erased with a single motion?
Something that should never happen in reality.
But the shock lasted only an instant.
*W-when did he—?!*
Sensing danger on instinct, Alchaka turned his head.
…He didn’t know when it happened, but the bastard was already right beside him.
The man pinched his middle finger with his thumb.
The exact posture one used to flick someone’s forehead.
The moment Alchaka turned his head, the man flicked his forehead.
And at the same time—
KWA-RANG!
That sound drilling into his eardrums was the last thing Alchaka heard in his life.
……Because Alchaka’s head exploded outright.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Everyone stared at the scene, utterly speechless.
Where Alchaka had died, a single rune containing lightning now remained.
He was dead.
From a single flick of the finger.
An upper-rank knight.
“This is…”
“Am I… hallucinating…?”
They couldn’t believe it.
No—they *refused* to believe it.
The knights who had tormented the dwarves for countless years.
The monsters who had even kidnapped their god and drained the dwarves’ very lifeblood.
Alchaka was the one who had massacred innumerable dwarves at the vanguard.
Killing him with a flick of the finger—how could that make sense?
“Y-you are… what exalted god might you be?”
The elder asked, forcing his trembling body to move.
With power like that, one could easily be called a *chief god*—
One of the greatest among gods.
The man answered simply.
“Phantom.”
*
*
The dwarves bowed their heads.
Perhaps they believed their savior from Pangaenia had arrived.
“Lord Phantom! Please save our god!”
“Please, save him!”
“We beg you with all our hearts!”
They smashed their foreheads into the ground until they bled.
All thousand or so dwarves.
Holding the **Rune of Lightning**, I quietly organized my thoughts.
*Auril should be enough for this.*
Alchaka himself wasn’t much.
I had watched to see how strong an upper-rank knight really was.
At Auril’s level—the Elf Queen—she would be more than capable of handling one.
Of course, the current Auril was among the absolute strongest in all of Pangaenia.
Blessed by the World Tree, she had grown far stronger.
*Someone like Raiga, a pure skill-type powerhouse, would find it even easier.*
Despite their overwhelming mana and flashy presence, they were surprisingly easy opponents for someone who had truly reached a higher realm.
They had evolved for eons by devouring runes—
But because they grew strong too easily, their fundamentals were lacking.
Of course, even now, Raiga was a demi-god-class existence—peerless in the human world, strong enough that even the War God Karas would have to be wary.
In any case…
That flick that killed the upper-rank knight was simple.
All I did was vibrate the mana within him and make it burst.
It would’ve been impossible before, but after devouring another Destruction—*Annihilation*—I had become adept at handling vast quantities of mana.
In short—
*I’m their natural enemy.*
In sheer mana volume and in pure technique, I could rightfully be called their bane.
After sorting my thoughts, I nodded..
“I’ll save him.”
“A-ah…!”
“Th-thank you! Thank you!”
The dwarves clearly regarded me as their savior.
But nothing in this world was free.
“There’s a condition.”
“What condition is it?”
The elder asked.
I handed him the Rune of Lightning.
“I’ll need to learn your technology.”
“You mean… how to handle runes?”
“No. Everything you have.”
Not just rune manipulation and evolving weapons, but—
“……You mean even the method for creating Gigants?”
“Yes.”
“H-however… only our *god* can create Gigants. Even if we know the techniques, we cannot dare to make them ourselves.”
Only a *god* could create a Gigant.
That was how difficult it was.
I didn’t mind.
“Just teaching me the techniques is enough. Making them will be my responsibility.”
Their technology ignited my curiosity.
This wasn’t mere blacksmithing—it was an advanced civilization.
If I could create evolving weapons and Gigants, I could strengthen myself even further.
And materials were abundant.
Those ‘knights’ were everywhere.
After seeing one firsthand, I knew—
The number of knights detectable by my senses was considerable.
Highly evolved runes were the very materials for Gigants.
“……Understood. But before that, we must relocate.”
The dwarves were the desperate ones.
No matter the conditions, they couldn’t refuse.
But after a battle of this scale, it was only a matter of time before other knights noticed.
This wasn’t a place to calmly teach technology.
“Is there somewhere to go?”
“Yes. Though scattered, we know where other comrades are. Among them, there is only one place with proper *facilities*…”
Comrades—other dwarves.
Meaning there *was* a suitable place to learn their technology.
Soon, the elder looked at the destroyed tunnel and spoke regretfully.
“……We’ll have to seal this tunnel.”
A land they had settled in for a long time—
Now they had to close it with their own hands.
*
*
KWA-AAAAAANG—!
A massive explosion erupted.
Many knights sensed it and gathered at the site.
“So that’s why I kept feeling powerful mana from here…”
“Did the dwarves blow themselves up along with Alchaka?”
“Alchaka… killed by mere dwarves?”
The knights frowned.
An upper-rank knight was strong enough to chew through Gigants.
And Alchaka had been the absolute ruler of this territory.
Having destroyed multiple Gigants, he was a monster even other upper-rank knights hesitated to challenge.
Yet now—Alchaka was dead.
His mana could no longer be felt.
That absolute authority had turned to ash with the explosion.
“……There’s a strange scent mixed in here. And it seems Alchaka was defeated by whoever left it.”
One upper-rank knight, sniffing the air, stiffened.
A peculiar scent.
Likely belonging to Alchaka’s killer.
“Alchaka… defeated?”
“By who?”
As the others stared, the knight who sensed it spoke.
“Not a dwarf. A completely different being. And yet… it’s a scent I’ve never encountered before.”
“A new *knight* was born?”
“A newborn knight killing Alchaka? That’s absurd. …Tch, the scent’s gone.”
He clicked his tongue.
The scent had completely dissipated.
But there had been *two* distinct scents.
“In any case, the dwarves must’ve blown up the tunnels to deceive us. They went that far because they had a reason to avoid our attention.”
What was it?
What kind of being had appeared?
Upper-rank knight Alchaka.
Though pushed aside by stronger beings, he had once been a royal guardian knight.
And he was defeated.
Killed in an instant.
All of them had felt the mana that swelled explosively—and then vanished in a moment.
After a brief pause, the knight nodded.
“We must report this directly to the King.”
