Ch.224[Chapter 224] Lord Dominic vs. Slaton Vex vs. The Slaughter King

The appearance of the Slaughter King was highly unusual.

The Slaughter King, who never emerged from underground no matter what happened, had exceptionally noticed the anomaly occurring in this spire… no, dungeon, and come up from below.

At his unusual appearance, the guards and maids hastily knelt to welcome the king’s arrival.

“So.”

The Slaughter King looked down arrogantly at everything and asked.

“Who is the anomaly?”

“Well, that’s…”

“Enough.”

As Nanny Catherine approached to explain the situation, the Slaughter King extended his palm to stop her from speaking.

“I am currently in a very irritated state.”

The Slaughter King drew his massive dragon-tooth greatsword and rested it on his shoulder.

With a scraping sound, the tip of the sword scratched the ceiling.

His greatsword was that enormous.

“It seems I’ll have difficulty making rational judgments, so I’ll just state my conclusion.”

Thud. Thud. The Slaughter King approached Sir Dominic and Slaton Vex.

Up close, the Slaughter King was even more intimidating than from a distance, standing nearly 5 meters tall.

He seemed less human and more like a troll or ogre.

Through the gaps in the black helmet covering his face, malevolent blue light streamed out in tendrils.

From a distance it wasn’t noticeable, but up close, hot breath escaped through the helmet’s breathing holes like dragon’s breath.

While Slaton Vex, who had been confronting Sir Dominic, was about ten times Sir Dominic’s size and thus bulkier, the Slaughter King’s intimidation factor was supreme.

Finally standing before Sir Dominic and Slaton Vex, the Slaughter King raised the greatsword from his shoulder and declared:

“Kill all intruders, and the dungeon’s problem will be solved.”

Before he finished speaking, Sir Dominic instinctively dropped to the ground.

The Slaughter King’s greatsword swung before his words were complete, passing over Sir Dominic’s head.

Fortunately or not, the greatsword only sliced off the tips of three of Sir Dominic’s feathers.

Slaton Vex, however, was not so lucky.

The swinging greatsword shattered Slaton Vex’s door-sized teeth, splitting him into Slaton and Vex.

The upper part of Slaton Vex floated in the air with two arms severed, while the lower part revealed a clean cross-section beneath.

The cut was so clean that when the parts overlapped again, the incision was completely invisible.

But cut he was, and soon Slaton Vex’s upper portion slid off and fell to the ground with a splat.

“…Impressive.”

The Slaughter King said, looking at Sir Dominic and Slaton Vex.

He was impressed with Sir Dominic for his animal-like instinct in avoiding the surprise attack, and with Slaton Vex for his astonishingly rapid regeneration.

“Damn it!”

Slaton Vex spat out words too blasphemous to repeat, though Sir Dominic heard them filtered due to his profanity filter being active.

Slaton Vex roughly lifted his upper portion with the arms attached to his lower part.

And as the upper and lower parts joined again with another splat, teeth grew from the gap and interlocked.

They seemed to function like interlocking gears to prevent slipping during regeneration, as the cross-section was too clean.

“Who are you to interfere with me?”

Slaton Vex barked at the Slaughter King.

Ten mouths and sixty-six eyes glared at the Slaughter King.

“And what are you, causing trouble in my dwelling?”

“I am Sla— No, wait. I almost fell for it.”

Slaton Vex nearly revealed his true name.

“His name is Slaton Vex.”

But Sir Dominic beside him revealed Slaton Vex’s true name.

“Slaton Vex?”

“Ugh!”

As Sir Dominic and the Slaughter King consecutively called his true name, Slaton Vex began writhing in pain.

The Slaughter King lost interest in Slaton Vex.

With such an obvious weakness, he wasn’t worth much attention.

Instead, the Slaughter King addressed the smallest of the three he’d encountered, Sir Dominic.

“You who avoided my greatsword. What is your name?”

“Sir Dominic of Feralant.”

“Feralant…? A region I’ve never heard of.”

“I’d expect so. Just as I don’t know you.”

The Slaughter King’s movement froze for a moment.

Then he burst into laughter and began praising Sir Dominic.

“Truly a man of courage. Perhaps avoiding my sword wasn’t mere luck. Yes. Indeed. If I don’t know you, you might not know me either.”

“Are you perhaps the Slaughter King?”

“Yet you know my title. Fascinating, truly fascinating.”

The Slaughter King took great interest in Sir Dominic.

“Is that thing rolling around over there your friend?”

“An unfortunate connection.”

“Even though you know its name?”

“Know your enemy and know yourself, they say. I know myself, so what’s strange about knowing my enemy?”

“Indeed. Like an assassin repeating his target’s name?”

“More like a curse.”

The Slaughter King liked this small knight.

However, regardless of his liking, the Slaughter King had a duty to eliminate intruders.

“You are truly to my liking. I would love to converse with you all night, but my role demands that I kill you.”

“May I ask one more thing?”

“What is it?”

“If I defeat you, can I obtain the sword with exchanged hilt and blade that can change the past?”

“It is right in my chamber.”

The Slaughter King raised his greatsword again.

“And to reach my chamber, you must defeat me. As always.”

The Slaughter King straightened his back and looked down at Sir Dominic arrogantly.

“Does that answer your question?”

“It does.”

Sir Dominic nodded.

“Good. Then I shall kill you now.”

The Slaughter King said as he plunged his greatsword into Slaton Vex, who had barely recovered from his pain.

“I know your kind well. You will challenge again and again until you get what you want.”

“Gah-ack!”

Slaton Vex writhed in pain again.

“Come reach this place and entertain me anytime, knight.”

“That won’t happen.”

Sir Dominic said calmly.

“This one meeting is enough.”

Sir Dominic’s words seemed somewhat arrogant.

But Sir Dominic was currently in his most rational yet instinctual state.

And both his clearest reason and most instinctual senses were screaming that Sir Dominic would win this fight.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

Slaton Vex rose abruptly, sealing his wounds.

Then he began devouring guards randomly to recover his strength.

“I’ll kill and absorb you all to raise my tier! Mortals will tremble in fear!”

“How noisy.”

Slaton Vex’s skin writhed.

The Slaughter King swung his greatsword to cut Slaton Vex again, but Slaton Vex, having regained his tier, blocked the attack easily.

With just five arms, no less.

Seeing this, the Slaughter King gripped his greatsword with both hands and said:

“I shall use my full power.”

Sir Dominic raised his shield as he observed the Slaughter King’s stance.

Ready to roll or drop down at any moment.

The crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling swayed.

The ceiling, already weakened from Sir Dominic and Slaton Vex’s earlier fight, shuddered from the wind pressure created by the Slaughter King’s greatsword.

Finally, part of the ceiling collapsed and the crystal chandelier fell.

With a crash, crystal fragments scattered in all directions.

Using that sound as a signal, Sir Dominic, Slaton Vex, and the Slaughter King clashed.

…

Slaton Vex was the first to be attacked.

His massive size offered many targets, making him the first target for both opponents.

“Cowards!”

Slaton Vex opened his mouth and released toxic gas.

This was one of Slaton Vex’s trump cards, saved for desperate situations.

The toxic gas, produced by the decomposition of corpses he had devoured, spread rapidly, causing metal objects to corrode instantly.

When the gas reached nearby guards, their skin bubbled with blisters before melting like porridge.

However, this finishing move was useless against Sir Dominic and the Slaughter King.

Sir Dominic naturally had high resistance stats against poison, and the Slaughter King’s armor was made of dragon hide, which had inherent resistance.

Naturally, one whose finishing move fails can only expect counterattacks.

Sir Dominic raised his shield at an angle and charged beneath Slaton Vex.

With all his might, he lifted his shield and successfully flipped Slaton Vex backward again.

Though Slaton Vex’s weight limited his airtime to barely a second, for a boss like the Slaughter King, one second was an eternity.

The Slaughter King pulled his greatsword back as far as possible and swung it forcefully.

Slaton Vex, suspended in mid-air, had no time to react and met the greatsword head-on, bouncing off walls and ceiling like a basketball hit by a baseball bat.

Slaton Vex suffered massive damage in an instant.

But Slaton Vex’s counterattack was formidable too.

After bouncing around and absorbing crushed corpses to replenish his health, Slaton Vex realized he couldn’t win against the two with direct methods.

So he implemented a strategy of detaching parts of his body to slow down his opponents’ movements.

Spheres made of fifteen arms each rolled toward Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic tried to deflect these spheres with his shield, but the fifteen arms strongly gripped the shield, weighing him down.

This tactic was quite effective against Sir Dominic but not against the Slaughter King, as hellfire suddenly erupted from the Slaughter King’s body, reducing the arm-spheres to ashes.

Having somehow shaken off the arm-spheres, Sir Dominic stepped back to assess the situation.

Slaton Vex did the same, as did the Slaughter King.

The three had exchanged opening moves in this exploratory battle and recognized that none were opponents to be taken lightly.

The three-way battle was intensifying.