Ch.195War (3)

The Death Knight, or Knight of Death, is a notorious mid-tier undead.

If a Lich represents the quintessential intelligent mid-tier magic undead, then the Death Knight is the most representative intelligent mid-tier warrior undead.

Not only possessing intelligence but also numerous benefits of undeath, this undead with power incomparable to a mere Skeleton Knight was now Baron Lur—the very undead addressing me.

A tattered cloak. Full-body armor with horn-like protrusions growing from various places. Mounted atop a mid-tier undead horse summoned through special abilities—a hideous monstrous appearance.

With pale light glowing from between the eye slits of his helmet, the former Baron Lur—who could be described as imposing if being kind, or morbidly obese like Dong Zhuo if being harsh—spewed words from his revolting maw.

[Familiar…. So very familiar….]

“…Do you fight with your tongue?”

Having no intention of falling for his words, I responded casually while dropping my lance with its exploded tip and drawing my Unicorn Longsword, which had been blessed by a mid-tier priest.

-….Shhk.

The Unicorn Longsword, already compatible with holy and purifying powers, had been blessed further, naturally exuding sacred energy that overwhelmed the aura of my opponent.

As I finished preparing to swing it while directing the surrounding blade shields toward the enemy—

[Ah, I see now. That voice. That, that damned one’s—I get it. Yes, now I understand.]

The corpse-madman’s voice, which seemed about to burst with rage, suddenly became eerily calm as if experiencing a moment of clarity.

Seeing his clearly deranged appearance, I involuntarily flinched, and he suddenly summoned a black sword with shadowy energy and shouted loudly.

[Wigooooo—!!! I have returrrned—!!!]

That bizarre, maddening sight—not seeing me but projecting my father’s image onto me. Understanding why the manual specified that even intelligent undead cannot be reasoned with, I exhaled shallowly and declared:

“—Attack!!”

And with that, the battle ignited.

Skeleton knights mounted on skeleton horses clashed with the mid-tier warriors who appeared alongside artillery shells, brandishing their weapons.

The mounted versus foot soldier dynamic certainly gave the skeletons an advantage, but in exchange, they were generally inferior in specs and their output was, in a word, mediocre.

In short, the mid-tier warriors delivered by artillery to the battlefield each blocked relatively easier opponents, while preventing the approaching skeleton soldiers from interfering with the battle.

In this atmosphere, I casually fired blade shields toward the Death Knight who was charging at me, spewing hatred that wasn’t actually directed at me.

The blade shields, now capable of highly organic movements thanks to the battle algorithms of other warriors I’d encountered in the tournament.

To use an analogy, it was like being attacked from all directions by twelve warriors, each with their own skills and techniques, but even so, limitations inevitably exist.

-Clang!! Clang! Claaang!!!

He deflected with his sword, blocked with his armor, and skillfully maneuvered his undead horse to dodge.

The patterns assigned to each blade were both a tremendous advantage and an unexpected disadvantage—sacrificing the destructive power of direct trajectories for versatility and skill, making it difficult to deliver effective firepower.

However, regardless of how difficult it was to land effective hits, the blade shields were sufficiently annoying even to mid-tier enemies, forcing him to focus entirely on defense in the face of a simultaneous attack from all twelve units….

In truth, this opening was precisely what I had been aiming for through the blade shields.

Unlike his mount—an ordinary undead horse forcibly elevated to mid-tier status and thus quite low in overall quality—Gus was a powerful mid-tier magical beast, a pegasus directly transformed by a god’s power.

Thanks to this, Gus could demonstrate overwhelmingly powerful charges with incredible speed both in the air and on the ground. Understanding my intentions perfectly, he quickly closed the distance, creating the optimal spacing for me to move….

-—Skrk!

In that moment, my blessed Unicorn Longsword pierced the Death Knight’s weak point—the arm joint I had identified with “Weakness Detection”—through a gap in the undead’s armor, and I twisted the blade to sever the arm in one swift motion.

The slash drew a clean crescent moon of pure white as it cut through his rotting body.

-Tsssssss….

[—■■■■■■!!]

With a sound like something being well-roasted over fire, smoke rose from the cut surface, and as if experiencing the pain of flesh melting away, he let out a terrible scream.

Holy power and undead commanding energy were perfect opposites. Especially before the overwhelming material of this blessed unicorn horn, nothing could maintain its original state.

Though the pain receptors had long been numbed in the process of becoming undead, making him indifferent to his rotting body, even he couldn’t help but scream at the spiritual agony inflicted by holy energy.

And on the battlefield, such a moment of screaming in pain creates the perfect fatal opening.

-—Slash!

One of the blade shields, programmed with a rapier-like thrusting attack pattern, pierced through a gap in his armor with a slicing thrust.

Not ending with just one strike, I carved through his entire body as if mincing it, leaving wounds that would have been fatal to any normal being, even an undead.

No matter how undead are already dead bodies that rarely die from physical damage, they are still material beings.

When the muscles needed for physical movement are severed, it’s only natural that the body cannot move recklessly unless it’s a skeleton.

However, for Death Knights, most of these cases don’t apply.

‘What is that….’

Though it’s a cliché expression, the wounds carved into his body were rapidly healing one by one, as if time were being rewound.

This restoration could only be attributed to some special ability.

Most likely a manually activated recovery ability with limited uses, or something with a not insignificant cost, but….

‘….If I kill him in one blow, it won’t matter, right?’

This was truly an extreme measure. I decided to use the simple yet highly efficient method of overwhelming firepower—the chronic weakness of self-healing abilities—and swung my sword again.

-—Thud!

However, this time he wasn’t going to just take it.

Blue flames rose from his body, dripping like liquid. These flames, best described as pale, cleanly deflected attacks with physical force.

A defensive power that easily repelled not only the blade shields but even extended slashes.

Rather than true physical defense, it seemed closer to some kind of magical defensive measure.

‘….Hmm.’

Even after several more attacks, the result was the same. So while easily deflecting the Death Knight’s black weapon, I quickly found a way to counter those blue flames.

“Gus. —Blow it away.”

-Flap!!!

Following my command, Gus flapped his wings, releasing holy power that created a wind that swept away the Death Knight’s blue flames.

And this time, I was determined not to miss the opening created.

-Thunk!!!

Just like before, the blade shields pierced through gaps in his armor, but this time the point wasn’t to cut but to embed them firmly into his body.

With twelve blades suddenly lodged in various parts of his body, firmly fixing him in place, who could possibly move in such a situation?

-Crack, crack….!!

Of course, the opponent was none other than an undead. For a Death Knight, forcibly distorting and damaging its body before restoring it again was no great burden.

However— at this point, how effective that would be was secondary.

The time needed was just a few seconds at most. The target point was clear, and there was no hesitation in the movement of my sword.

There was only one enemy to aim for. Our enemy, a clear and distinct enemy.

Drawing forth the dormant ferocity from deep within and wrapping it around my surface, I entered a trance state while naturally letting out growls—

-—Slash!

And when I regained consciousness, I had used Gus as a foothold to leap, closed the distance using magic thrust boosters, and decapitated the Death Knight.