Ch.111Chapter 111. Blight, the White Knight of Plague

# Great Hunter Taeyang Lim.

Ironically, when he first entered this world, he was considered among the lower ranks of heroes, despite having hunted primarily boss-level enemies among the existing heroes.

Though he wields the unprecedented ability of regression, the future he can change is limited to events happening right before his eyes.

Moreover, the prerequisite condition of death is something too burdensome for the human mind to bear.

If one crosses the boundary of death time and again, even with the power of immortality, they would inevitably fall to this temptation:

‘If you face death with all fingers spread out, you can be freed from all pain and fear.’

This concern was raised first because they summoned heroes to this world to prevent humanity’s extinction and despair.

The consensus was that if the price of this power meant enduring despair, one wouldn’t last long.

-KWANG!

But look at him now.

The one who had been outside everyone’s attention is now overwhelming a massive threat to humanity.

-HWOONG, KWANG!!!

No matter how fast or powerful the attacks aimed at him were, none ever landed on his body.

Dodging incoming attacks and striking at openings—a precarious exchange of offense and defense.

Though it seemed like a simple battle at first glance, he had already experienced dozens of deaths to achieve this relentless assault.

Enduring the savage sensation of being sliced alive, heart stopping, and consciousness fading—all while fully conscious—would be more unbearable than any torture.

-KUWOONG!!!

Yet he continues to charge forward wielding his club, dying, and repeating the process without surrender.

There are no pain-filled screams or cries during this process.

Taciturnly rushing at the enemy, dying, dodging attacks, and counterattacking—he has truly transcended humanity in the truest sense.

“Kuh, AAAAH!!!”

Losing her composure under this one-sided assault, Annabelle Britannia gathered all her power into her sword, preparing to sweep the area around her.

An enemy who could only swing a club at the opponent right in front of her. She figured she could simply overwhelm him with firepower he couldn’t counter.

Detecting the magical power gathering in her sword under this judgment, Taeyang Lim silently gripped his club with both hands at full strength, preparing to counter her attack.

And then KWANG!

Despite the club swung for counterattack, the Red Knight’s attack tore through the entire area, blasting away even the barriers surrounding them.

Naturally, his body within the attack’s range was also pushed away by the torrent of power, vanishing without a trace.

-KKANG!

And with his death, time rewinds again.

Ten seconds rewound by his hands gripping the club.

Returning to the moment when the enemy was just gathering magical power, what Taeyang did was throw the club he held in both hands toward her.

That was the best conclusion drawn from 13 regressions.

-TEONG!

As her posture faltered from the unexpected strike creating a momentary opening, Taeyang closed the distance and delivered a low kick that made her body collapse to the ground.

The moment when the calamity called the incarnation of war knelt before a human.

-JIING!

And Taeyang did not miss this opportunity.

The light he generated from his body to secure this moment of victory was not mana but holy power.

This power that liberates from all disease and mental suffering affects even the lingering attachments that form the foundation of the Undead.

In other words, it’s the most fatal power against the Undead—forcing enlightenment whether the target wants it or not.

-KWANG!!!

When this holy power struck her head with full force, Annabelle’s already kneeling body finally collapsed face-first onto the ground.

An absurd event occurred—the incarnation of war, a product of humanity’s madness, knelt before a human for the first time since her resurrection from death.

-KUWOONG! KWANG!

But Taeyang doesn’t stop.

His opponent is stronger than any enemy he has ever faced.

Knowing this won’t end so easily, he must continue pressing his advantage while he has the opportunity.

-KWANG, KWANG!!

Under this merciless onslaught, Annabelle felt her mind gradually breaking down as it was exposed to the holy power trying to distort her.

The moment she felt herself being forcibly liberated from the lingering attachment that was the foundation of her power…

No, that time had not yet come.

She was abnormally unique among the Undead, not attached to her lingering regrets.

‘…Annabelle, do you remember that name?’

If she needed to resolve her lingering attachment, she first had to realize what it was.

The memory at its core, something she had experienced before this moment, began to slowly surface in her mind.

‘This is not a request as a monarch, but as the mother who gave birth to you.’

Gwen Hwibar.

The leader of the once-prosperous kingdom of Britannia and the most virtuous priest who led a religious order.

‘Annabelle. After this battle ends, could you please form a mother-daughter bond with me once more?’

The moment that promise surfaced in her mind, she felt the lingering attachment she had been avoiding take control of her.

The resolve to be merely a tool for the one who resurrected her began connecting with past memories, amplifying its power.

“Ah, aah… Mo, ther…”

-JJEOJJEOK, JJEOJOK.

With those groans, the ground split open, and Taeyang stepped back, quietly observing his opponent.

A torrent of magical power that refused comparison with what came before.

Though his posture was precarious as if crushed by that power, it was only momentary.

“Everything is… for my mother.”

“I will achieve humanity’s extinction—her calling—with my own hands.”

The moment her trembling subsided and her posture stabilized.

The voice of the calamity who regained her prime power along with fragments of memory began to quietly echo before the hero.

And…

****

“Commander! You must evacuate!”

While three heroes faced off against the Red Knight at the eastern wall, the inner depths of the garrison area were being overturned at an incredibly rapid pace.

The reason was the infiltration of another of the Four Knights, equal in rank to the Red Knight.

Contrary to expectations that it would be an even fight with the wall’s defenses, the interior of the garrison was being one-sidedly swept up in the enemy’s disruption.

“I cannot! If I retreat from this position, who will command this place?”

“I understand your feelings, but you must withdraw now! Physical force is completely ineffective against the enemy occupying this place! Staying will only increase casualties!”

He knew this intellectually.

Despite his subordinate’s plea, Marcus, as commander, couldn’t easily make the decision to leave this position.

If they failed to stop the enemies here, it would only be a matter of time before everyone here was annihilated.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

Looking at the results, it wasn’t anyone’s fault.

Marcus had made the best judgment possible for humanity, and his soldiers had followed him well.

If the Red Knight drew attention from the east, the enemies would invade from the north where the dragon bones were being transported.

So he concentrated forces on the northern wall to block the feint attack, planning to deploy heroes to take out the enemy leader when the opportunity arose—a strategy he believed would lead to victory.

‘To think they dug tunnels throughout the garrison area and were lying in ambush… Was it their plan all along to let us occupy this place?!’

Yes, they never intended to excavate the dragon remains themselves.

Sending Undead here earlier to dig tunnels was merely to prepare hiding places for an ambush like this.

If they hid deep in tunnels outside the excavation area, they figured humans would occupy the place and excavate the dragon bones for them.

‘All they had to do was wait for the work to be completed and deploy forces at the right time… A strategy only the Undead could imagine.’

During the month or so since he joined this land, they had been buried in the ground without any biological functions, just waiting for a signal.

Could any living human even imagine such a strategy?

“Cough, huk!”

Moreover, while the other Four Knight who infiltrated might not be as strong as the Red Knight, they specialized in “mass slaughter”—a nightmare-like existence.

Although only a small force was deployed due to the nature of the covert ambush, the damage was severe, as evident just from looking down at the outpost.

“Hey, are you alright…?”

“St-stay away. I’m already… UWEK!”

A nearby soldier kneels and coughs up blood.

The blood gushing out is boiling and bubbling as if from extreme fever.

After infection, the blood flowing through the body rapidly changes into acidic substances. As a result, the melting body becomes entangled and transforms into a “chimera,” losing its original form.

“Everyone stay away from the corpses!! You’ll get infected if you get too close!”

“Kuuh, urk!”

With painful groans, the body begins to distort with strange cracking and grinding sounds.

The flesh that undergoes this process eventually meets death, but beyond being resurrected as a corpse, it even forgets its original form.

The discolored white skin becomes like a hood covering the entire body, and the bones protruding through the torn facial skin transform into a mask covering the bird-like face.

“White Knight of Plague…”

Marcus immediately recognized that his transformed subordinate had become an entity embodying one of the Four Knights.

White Knight of Plague—Blight.

True to his name, he specializes in annihilating unprepared armies and crowds just by spreading a little of his power.

‘Why, of all people, you…!’

Marcus gritted his teeth upon confronting him and urgently called out to his subordinates.

“Priests!! It might not be too late! Call the priests!”

“One of the ambush tunnels happened to be in the prayer room! The priests were the first to suffer massive casualties, so recovery is difficult!”

A malicious operation targeting priests first to prevent any chance of responding before the disease worsened.

Even if the priests somehow recovered and returned to the battlefield, it would be unreasonable to expect them to resolve all the epidemics spreading across this land.

“Uh, uuu…”

In the end, all they could do was keep their distance from the dying infected soldiers.

As Marcus watched the miserable end of those who couldn’t respond to the ambush, feelings of helplessness and despair he had never felt before began to rise in his face.

Those who had transformed into grotesque appearances like Blight.

“Uhyo…?”

Making even more grotesque crying sounds.

The reality that he could only watch seemed devastating.

“U, uhyo. Uhyoooo…”

“Uhyoooo~!”

But regretting the failure to prepare for this situation wouldn’t bring back the infected soldiers.

The infected wandering the danger zone that the survivors had escaped from began to face each other and tilt their heads, a sight that caught Marcus’s eye.

“UHYOOOOO?”

“UHYOOOOO~~”

“UHYOOO~! UHYOOOOO~!!!!”

A continuous series of ecstatic and frenzied cries echoing throughout the garrison area.

Even a flock of crows gathering to feast on corpses on a battlefield wouldn’t be this horrific.

To turn soldiers who wanted to enter the battlefield with a sense of mission and honor into such ridiculous monsters devoid of any seriousness.

“Th-this damned White Knight… What kind of thinking leads to such pranks…!”

“Puhaha! Pranks? That’s too harsh a word!”

A voice suddenly rang out as Marcus trembled with indignation.

Startled, Marcus shrank back as an infected person wearing a white hood and mask approached him.

No, too lucid to be an ordinary infected person.

“Blight! When did this bastard get here…!!”

-JJEOK!

The head of the adjutant who noticed this presence and tried to rush forward was severed in the blink of an eye.

Blight, who had severed the neck with his manicured nails, began to close the distance with Marcus while giggling.

“Isn’t it too harsh to have no humor in this gloomy, desperate world? Let’s enjoy ourselves even as we go, my little brother~ Puhahahaha!!”

-PPADDEUGEUK.

Marcus drew the sword at his waist, grinding his teeth.

His eyes watching Blight burned with terrible hatred.

“…You are not my brother.”

“Oh, why so disappointing? Even if my appearance has changed too much from before…”

-JJEOK!!

Blight Cradle’s neck was severed by the swung sword.

“Stop defiling my brother’s death any further! You damned ghost!”

In the roar directed at him.

There was no longer any respect for the brother who had once been an excellent scholar.