3 – Death Knight

Bloodstained Dagger.

A seal?

“I shouldn’t pull it out, right?”

‘(Wait. Let me check. Get a bit closer. I’ll see what kind of seal it is.)’

I looked at the Bloodstained Dagger,

Win, who shared my vision, groaned.

‘(Hmm…)’

A reaction of not knowing what it was.

I stared at it for a long time.

There was no harvest.

Can’t I just go back and call people?

‘(It seems too dangerous to dismiss casually. The fact that there were two Death Knights and even a Bishop is incredible.)’

“…”

It didn’t feel that incredible.

‘(It might seem that way to you. Even I felt it was quite something. But that’s just because you’re so strong that it seemed relatively weak!)’

‘I know.’

Strength is most evident when fighting an opponent of similar skill.

[Death Knight Twenty-One] fought hard in his own way, but because Amel fought while holding back, his strength wasn’t well displayed.

Since he tried not to destroy the surrounding terrain, he couldn’t show his strength through destruction either.

It was very different from the time with Chocolat.

‘(We can’t just pull it out recklessly.)’

Win asked.

‘(Does nothing show up in the information window?)’

“Huh? Just a moment.”

I looked at the Bloodstained Dagger.

[Dragon Bone Sword Imbued with Blood]

“Dragon Bone Sword Imbued with Blood. Sounds grand.”

‘(Wh,wh,what. A dragon?)’

“Should I pull it out?”

‘(No, no. Wait a moment! Right! What about the arm? Is there no information window on the arm either?)’

The mummy-like withered right arm.

[Right Arm Offered as Sacrifice]

It was an information window that was worse than not having one.

The color was blue too.

The color for items.

‘(Offered as sacrifice?)’

‘It doesn’t seem to be the sealed one.’

If we understand it according to the information window, it seems like just an ordinary right arm offered as a sacrifice.

‘(So the Death Knight was just guarding a right arm?)’

That doesn’t answer anything.

‘If you’re so worried, should I text Yuha and ask if we should pull it out or not?’

‘(…I agree with asking for reference! That Awakened Ability is so convenient!)’

<Me>

[Yuha]

<Cassandra>

[Yes!]

<Me>

[Do you know what the situation is right now?]

<Cassandra>

[I don’t know. But you contacted me to help with some decision, right?]

[If you explain the situation, I’ll give you my intuition.]

I explained the situation.

I defeated the [Death Knight].

There was an altar.

A Bloodstained Dagger,

And a withered right arm stabbed by it.

<Me>

[To me, the right arm just seems like it came from outside.]

[What do you think?]

<Cassandra>

[…]

<Me>

[What’s wrong?]

<Cassandra>

[You can pull it out for now.]

[According to my intuition, it is just a right arm.]

I pulled it out.

The Bloodstained Dagger.

The blood in Polmel’s glass bottle sloshes.

As I pulled out the dagger, the right arm that was stabbed on it crumbled into powder.

<Cassandra>

[And hide the dagger]

[If someone comes, say there was nothing.]

[Those people can’t handle it anyway.]

“…”

I put the Bloodstained Dagger in my inventory.

And right after that.

Someone came.

“Miss Americano.”

“Oh? You came?”

Beogeureo.

And familiar faces of knights.

“Why is the seal open?”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t tell me you opened the seal?!”

“No. It was already open when I came? Was it not supposed to be open?”

“The seal…”

Beogeureo’s voice became hoarse.

He quickly looked around.

“Search! Search every nook and cranny! No matter how trivial, report anything you find!!!”

“””Yes!!!”””

He ordered the knights to search inside the seal.

Beogeureo asks urgently.

“What did you see first when you came in?! Even if it’s trivial, even if it’s just a guess or a feeling. What did you see?!”

“Nothing at all. The door was already open even before I fought the Death Knight. Didn’t the undead take it?”

“If it’s the Death Knight, the one called Chocolat was fighting, right? Then maybe the Death Knight has what was sealed inside!”

“No.”

I denied it.

I elaborated on the situation a bit more.

“The one Chocolat was fighting was a different one. There was another one guarding the door.”

“Are you saying there was one more Death Knight?”

“Here’s the evidence.”

I took out [Twenty-One]’s [Dark Sword] from my inventory and showed it.

And one more thing.

Between my index finger and thumb.

A black stone.

Ominous smoke rises from it.

“Death Knight’s Soulstone.”

“Huh, huuh…”

A reaction as if his soul had left his body.

Beogeureo, who was momentarily distracted by the [Death Knight’s Soulstone], came to his senses.

“…I see. Then, was it not carrying anything?”

“Not really…”

I pretended to recall.

I hummed.

“As far as I remember, it wasn’t carrying anything.”

“…If it was sealed in the Demon King Stone, it couldn’t have returned to the Underworld. It must have fallen nearby!”

Beogeureo urged the knights to search immediately.

“Then I’ll go help Chocolat.”

“Death Knight..! Yes!! I wish you good luck!”

‘(Following this flow, that dagger seems to be the sealed monster? But according to the information window, it was an item?)’

‘Well, monster gimmicks pretending to be items are common, and monsters sealed inside items are also a cliché, so we can’t let our guard down.’

‘(What’s that supposed to mean.)’

‘Since there’s blood, it’s definitely a vampire.’

‘(What’s a vampire?)’

‘You saw my memories but you don’t know?’

‘(I’m not Cappuccino, you know? I only saw what she showed, so I know very little about Earth. What’s a vampire? I’m really curious about that.)’

I was about to explain what a vampire is, but all I could say was that it’s a humanoid monster that sucks blood.

‘(What’s that supposed to mean.)’

‘It varies depending on the work and the world setting. Still, it often appears as a top-tier monster.’

‘(Top-tier…)’

Win seemed to realize something.

‘(Oh! Come to think of it, you!)’

‘What about me.’

‘(You won with your sword again without using magic at the end! I wanted to contribute too!)’

‘You did contribute earlier.’

‘(But in the end, you won with your sword. Was my magic that useless?)’

‘It’s not that it was useless…’

Lack of experience?

I had a strong impression that she was confused, unable to choose magic suitable for combat against people.

Win is Win, but,

‘I’m not that great with magic combat either…’

After all, since I’m using magic through Win, I felt like my judgment was always a beat behind. Should I say it’s not intuitive?

‘(Hmm… Still, can you evaluate my magic for now?)’

‘Evaluate?’

‘(I’m not familiar with magic combat either. Just tell me which magic was good and which wasn’t. I’ll keep it in mind for next time.)’

“…”

If I were to evaluate briefly,

The power of anti-personnel magic was insufficient to take down a high-level human-sized opponent.

There are attack spells stronger than Fireball, but they weren’t suitable for use in narrow places like the [Altar of Blood], so I couldn’t use them this time.

‘(If it was outside, I would have cast magic more intensely!)’

‘That’s true. Don’t you have any magic that concentrates attack power like an arrow? It would be good if it went out in a single shot and didn’t spread like an arrow.’

‘(If that’s the case, I guess Fireball is out.)’

‘Don’t you have any?’

‘(I do. There’s a basic attack magic called Magic Missile that you learn as a foundation when using things like Fireball or Wind Cutter. But it’s just magical power with physical force added, so the power is too weak.)’

‘Magic Missile.’

Is it an attack magic before adding an attribute?

What I felt from this battle is that magic is slow.

Even a 3rd circle magic like Fireball takes dozens of sword swings to cast once. Even if it wasn’t Amel, a magician could be killed several times over.

Attacks in human-scale combat require two main elements:

Either wide,

Or fast,

To add modifiers,

Wide enough to be unavoidable,

Or fast enough to be unavoidable,

Attacks that don’t meet these criteria are the same. It’s fine if your judgment is faster than your opponent’s or if you can see further ahead.

Since human-scale opponents generally have lower HP than large-scale ones, once the power becomes sufficient, it takes precedence over the above two elements.

It has to be that way.

First, you have to hit.

If you can’t hit, any high-power technique is useless.

‘(I see.)’

Win took it seriously.

‘(I’ll keep that in mind.)’

While leaving the dungeon.

Someone landed with a thud.

I felt a sensation on the thumb of my bronze arm.

It was Chocolat.

But,

“…Huh? What happened to your armor?”

“…”

Chocolat was now wearing only a shirt and shorts.

It was the outfit she had been wearing underneath her armor.

Chocolat stared straight ahead with a blank face, and [Death Knight] landed.

A beat later, black armor pieces fell with a clang.

[Death Knight]

Ominous black letters.

She had been stripped by that guy.

“(….)”

[Death Knight] looked at Amel and an awkward silence fell.

He ran away.

I chased.

[Leap] while holding [Black Sword].

The distance was closing.

As the distance between [Death Knight] and me was gradually shrinking,

[Death Knight] turns around.

The distance closes in an instant.

I’m not sure what his intention is, but

I’ll know if I cut him first.

I swung [Black Sword].

Aiming the tip of [Black Sword],

[Thrust]

At that moment.

[Death Knight] reached out his hand.

Then he slightly clenched his fist,

And swung it to the side as if throwing something away.

Swoosh.

Huh?

[Black Sword] slipped past his fingers.

‘No, rather than slipping…’

The distance where [Thrust] should have reached.

[Dark Sword] pierced through my chest.

I grabbed [Dark Sword].

I grip it tightly.

My heart has been pierced.

It hurts like hell.

The price of carelessness.

Yeah, it’s good that it hurts.

I should have anticipated that the opponent would counterattack with special means.

It’s my own carelessness for not doing so.

So?

‘It hurts.’

My heart has been pierced twice.

It hurt like hell.

Every time my heart tried to beat, the blade tried to cut into my flesh, so it hurt, and even when I tried to stop my heart because I didn’t want it to hurt, it still hurt.

I can’t breathe.

My senses are going numb.

An alarm went off in my head.

This was a bit dangerous.

The strength in my grip on [Dark Sword] is trying to loosen.

[Dark Sword] tried to slip out through that gap.

I put more strength into my hand.

As if to crush it.

Even employing my electrical ability.

I also wrapped electricity around [Death Knight]’s black armor to hold him tightly.

I pulled [Black Sword] towards me with my electrical ability,

I raised [Black Sword].

I imbued it with magical power.

Anti-magic power is infused.

I raised it high,

Magical power swelled on the surface of [Black Sword] and gradually solidified into the form of a giant sword.

I bring it down.

[Execution Sword]

It splits the black armor in two.

There’s no satisfaction in the feel of the cut.

A new presence appears.

I only turned my eyeballs.

Next to the black armor.

A naked pale woman appeared.

She was a beauty that could only be seen in dramas,

Just as [Black Sword] had slipped out of my hand, the contents escaped from the black armor.

Magic?

No, different.

But that wasn’t important right now.

My senses were numb, but in fact, they were becoming more sensitive.

A phenomenon as if time had slowed down.

The subtle reactions in the moments when the contents of [Death Knight] became visible.

He’s trying to escape.

Where do you think you’re running to?

Before he could even kick back, Amel’s foot caused cracks in the ground.

[Meteor Sword]

A flash of a single stroke.

It split [Death Knight] in half.

“…Oops.”

I wasn’t supposed to kill him.

But,

Where [Death Knight]’s corpse should have been, only the helmet was left.

Just the helmet split in two.

A presence.

For a moment, a woman with pale skin passed by my side.

That guy, he avoided it again with that strange ability.

[Death Knight] is running away.

Where do you think you’re going!

“Cough..!”

I coughed up blood.

Wiping it with the back of my hand,

I ran.

[Leap]

Amel was faster.

The exit is visible.

An exit shining with vertical lines of light.

Even though it’s still broad daylight, [Death Knight] ran towards that light.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t thought to question it. I didn’t bother to ask because I figured I could just cut everything down anyway.

Why can undead move around freely even in broad daylight?

What’s blocking the exit is a wall.

A black wall.

With round eyes wide open, I read the information window of the black wall.

I read it and understood the reason.

[Rampart of the Dead]

[Gate of the Dead]

It’s a gate.

He’s escaping through the gate.

But I can catch up.

[Death Knight] was about to enter the range of [Meteor Sword].

Just as he was about to enter the range and I was stomping the ground hard,

“(Corpse Explosion.)”

Lich.

[Bishop].

The [Dark Knights] at the entrance.

They all exploded at once.

[Death Knight] hides into the rising explosion smoke.

I jumped into the smoke, but far from finding him…

[Gate of the Dead]

“Huff… Huff…”

Only the gate placed inside the wall stood firmly in front of her.

“(Kuhehe.)”

[Eternal Order Bishop]

Dark red letters.

The [Bishop] with a white band around his neck mocked the disappointed Amel.

“(You’ve been cursed. You’ve been cursed! Killing you, who’s already on the brink of death, would be as easy as twisting a child’s wrist.)”

Ah… It’s that [Bishop] from earlier.

Did he revive already?

The [Bishop] raised his staff.

A black light swirls around the staff.

“(Die. Die and squeal like a pig! Pay back the humiliation you gave me in death!!)”

“…”

I want to say something, but,

Drip.

Blood flowed from my chest.

I threw [Black Sword].

The [Bishop] deflected it saying it was nothing, but [Black Sword], charged with electrical ability, stopped in mid-air after being deflected and stabbed down into the [Bishop].

“(Kheuk!!)”

It’s not much.

“Heck… Heck…”

My complexion was pale.

I shouldn’t just pull out [Dark Sword].

Blood will gush out.

The bad complexion is because it hurts.

I could slowly pull it out while using [Heal], but right now my anger towards that guy was greater.

I almost had him, and he ruined it?

‘I wasn’t supposed to kill him.’

Tsk. I clicked my tongue.

A sparrow instead of a pheasant, they say?

I take out the [Demon King Stone] and seal him.