Ch.125Kill each other from now on.

Regardless of my concerns, the battle between the monsters grew more intense.

Baltyr’s warriors became more ferocious with each wound.

Their attacks were slowly beginning to reach the knight.

The Deathknight’s old armor was breaking piece by piece.

He had to be cut five or six times to land a single blow, but Baltyr’s warriors were monsters too.

They wouldn’t die from just a few cuts.

“Grrrr…”

In an instant, the Deathknight raised his sword before his eyes.

Lifting the blade until just below his eyes, covering half his head with the blade—a knight’s etiquette.

Black smoke leaked from his mouth.

Then—the dark mana-infused longsword momentarily blurred.

What followed were dozens of slashes.

Like water splashing outward, sword strikes extended simultaneously in all directions, tearing through Baltyr’s warriors.

Blood gushed forth.

Fragments of dismembered monsters scattered in all directions.

Two died instantly, three had their arms severed. The remaining two had their abdomens torn open, armor and all.

“KUAAAAA!”

The still-breathing warriors of Baltyr let out pain-filled roars.

Blood foam bubbled from their severed wounds.

They picked up the arms of their fallen comrades and attached them to their own stumps.

Like clay sticking together, the severed arms reconnected.

Regeneration ability?

They couldn’t regenerate on their own, but could recover using the flesh of their kind.

Some hybrids had abilities like that.

I didn’t know these ones were that type.

In the game, I usually just blasted their weak point—the head—with ranged firepower.

The Deathknight’s eye-light grew more intense.

Come to think of it, regeneration applied to him too.

Undead types would recover unless attacked with their weakness attribute.

“Krrrr…”

The warriors of Baltyr who had restored their arms hunched their backs.

The area around their wing bones suddenly protruded, and two more arms burst forth.

“…ltýr…”

The Deathknight muttered quietly.

I couldn’t quite hear what he said.

—-

What should I do? I lowered Durandal slightly as I pondered.

I still hadn’t made a decision.

My desire to intervene had already half-disappeared.

The technique the Deathknight had just demonstrated was that threatening.

If I had been in the middle of that, I would have lost at least one limb.

And then I’d end up as food for those monsters.

As I hesitated, the battle situation gradually changed.

The warriors of Baltyr had grown even more ferocious. Each of their strikes was now a reckless attack with no thought for defense.

Just a graze was enough to shatter the Deathknight’s armor.

Missed attacks deeply gouged the ground.

Ignoring whether they cut their comrades or were cut by them, they rampaged like rabid dogs.

The Deathknight, now on the defensive, was gradually being pushed back.

In this situation, should I intervene soon…?

It would be troublesome if the warriors of Baltyr won at this rate.

I raised my sword as if about to jump in, but hesitated momentarily.

No, wait. Let me think about this.

Is he really being pushed back?

That can’t be right.

A sudden intuition held my legs in place.

Being pushed back by such reckless momentum? That might happen to an ordinary knight.

But this one, the Deathknight, is a monster. An undead type that’s practically immortal unless attacked with holy power.

A creature with recovery abilities on a completely different level from hybrids that are merely tough…there’s no reason for him to be cornered like this.

Fighting while taking hits is actually an undead’s specialty.

It’s a trap.

I don’t know his purpose or method, but it was clear that his retreat was intentional.

The Deathknight, gradually backing away, had retreated to a narrow passage.

On a rock bridge connecting the open space to the fortress.

Is he trying to narrow the battlefield? To reduce the number of enemies attacking simultaneously?

But the passage seemed too wide for that.

It looked about 6 meters wide, which was plenty for surrounding the Deathknight.

In that case, wouldn’t the Deathknight be at a disadvantage with nowhere to dodge?

An incomprehensible decision.

As I expected, the warriors of Baltyr advanced onto the bridge simultaneously.

The Deathknight stood still in the center of the bridge.

At this rate, he’d be surrounded immediately, so what was he thinking?

The warriors of Baltyr had approached to within three steps. One charge and they would clash.

They raised their weapons with fierce grins.

At that moment, the knight’s eye-light intensified as if burning.

“Ha…gal…az!”

Through the helmet, a rough and chilling voice like scraping glass escaped.

The rune engraved on the knight’s sword glowed ominously.

[ ᚻ ]

Enormous mana enveloped the blade.

The Deathknight, gripping his longsword in reverse, thrust it forcefully into the ground.

Like sinking into water, the sword tip easily penetrated the ground.

And the magic activated.

—-

Thanks to my Mana Resistance, I could clearly sense the flow of mana, but what happened next was beyond my expectations.

The mana channeled through the blade spread throughout the entire rock formation.

And then it ruptured.

– KWAGWAGWAGAGGANG!

A sound like the world collapsing.

Like a giant’s roar, the destructive noise struck my ears, making them ring.

It was like a direct missile hit.

Though no flames erupted, the destructive power was similar.

The bridge collapsed.

The massive rock formation burst into pieces, scattering in all directions as boulders.

With all living beings standing on it as companions, it began to fall to the depths below.

This is insane…!

Faced with such unimaginable power, I could only stare blankly at the collapsing rock formation.

“KWAAAARGH!”

“KUOOO!”

The falling warriors of Baltyr screamed.

They tried to leap back up by kicking off the boulders, but their weight made it impossible.

Instead, the rocks they kicked only fell faster.

Unlike the Deathknight.

The Deathknight leaped through the air.

Like a mountain goat jumping across cliffs, he bounded from boulder to boulder toward the warriors of Baltyr.

His longsword swung.

The falling monsters, unable to even regain their posture, had no way to properly resist.

Three of Baltyr’s warriors were slaughtered in mid-air.

Gravity claimed the lives of the remaining two.

With a thunderous sound, water spray shot high into the air.

The surface of the lake, stained with dark mana, writhed at the sudden calamity.

A height of hundreds of meters. Impact not vertical but horizontal.

Even on a water surface, no living being could withstand such a shock.

I even wondered if they could swim at all.

Sure enough, the monsters that fell into the lake didn’t resurface.

The Deathknight had fallen too, but…he would survive.

A high-level undead like that wouldn’t die from mere physical impact.

Since he didn’t need to breathe, he would leisurely come back up once his shattered body recovered.

It was a brutally crude tactic, but certainly an effective strategy.

Well, that’s good. Even for him, it would take some time to climb back up here.

I looked at the shattered rock bridge.

The gap was about twenty-five meters. I could easily jump that distance.

My calf was injured, but fortunately not severely.

I backed up a bit, then ran with all my might.

The headwind made my hair flutter wildly.

The ground tore with each step.

Blood burst from my leg, soaking the bandage under the pressure.

Enduring the stinging pain, I leaped with all my strength from the edge of the broken bridge.

A pleasant sensation like liberation.

My soaring body landed on the opposite side.

Before me was a wide-open castle gate welcoming me.

Good. I got lucky.

I should quickly escape before the Deathknight climbs up.

Fight? Any desire to battle such a monster had long since vanished.

Fight something that can shatter the ground with one sword strike? In this terrain where I could fall to my death at any moment?

Unless I grew wings, it would be nothing but madness.

I quickly entered through the gate.

—-

Inside the walls was a ruin.

The ground was torn up everywhere with holes big enough to fit dozens of people and scattered rock fragments. The marble structures had all been reduced to pieces.

It looked like a war zone. Not medieval, but modern warfare.

Well, considering monsters like the one I just saw had rampaged here, this state was understandable.

Only two structures remained intact.

The surrounding walls and the white temple visible beyond them.

A row of circular stone pillars. A triangular roof placed on top.

The roof’s surface was engraved with the same strange runes as before.

It was the temple depicted in the corridor reliefs.

Where humans retreated after being defeated by monsters.

Amidst everything else being destroyed, its pristine condition seemed not sacred but rather out of place.

That must be the deepest part of this dungeon.

I headed toward the temple.

Inside was surprisingly…empty.

The temple’s interior was quite unexpected.

As if only the exterior remained intact, the inside was as ruined as the outside landscape.

Several pillars were broken as if struck with great force, and the walls and floor were covered with cracks and black stains.

There were also marks resembling claw marks.

If those were really made by claws, whatever made them must have been close to ten meters in size.

Here too, broken and rusted metal fragments were scattered everywhere.

Fragments of weapons and armor. Crushed bone fragments mixed among the debris.

I don’t know who they were, but it seems the ancients were ultimately annihilated here.

Or they became monsters.

I headed toward the center of the temple. The further in I went, the more destruction I found.

As if the fighting had started from within.

Shattered statues lay scattered.

Their heads were completely destroyed so I couldn’t identify them…but they were probably statues of this temple’s deity.

Were they destroyed by monsters?

Leaving behind the pitifully scattered divine statues, I soon reached the innermost part of the temple.

It was a stepped structure, perhaps where offerings were made to the deity.

The wide lower area was strewn with weathered corpses, while the upper steps held only what appeared to be an altar table and a shattered divine statue.

And behind the altar, the wall.

In the center of the white marble wall, two types of inscriptions were engraved.

Words carved by sword, breaking through the wall to ensure they would never be erased.

The rough marks revealed deep hatred.

背信. 背神. 排神.

Alföðr hlýtur að vera bölvað.

…It was unintelligible writing.