Ch.281281. Peter’s Bizarre Adventure (3)

Peter opened his eyes.

Though it was merely a fleeting moment, his eyes had been closed for what felt like his entire lifetime.

As Peter suddenly opened them, he gripped the sword in his hand—strange yet familiar to the touch—and faintly smiled before—

—WHOOSH!!!

Black chains extended from his body, moving according to his will. Manipulating them, he lunged toward the Death Knight with momentum and propulsion speed reminiscent of Spider-Man’s movement.

Pale slashes fired by the Death Knight flew toward Peter as he floated through the air, but…

These were meaningless before Peter’s demonic sword, Dukbing.

[Hahahahaha!! I’m much obliged!!]

The long-range slashes originating from supernatural phenomena rather than physical force were not only devoured by Dukbing.

They became Dukbing’s power, swirling along its blade like a tempest.

[———!!!]

And at that very moment.

As undead began to emerge from all directions, summoned by the Death Knight’s power.

‘There’s almost nothing Dukbing can’t cut!’

—SLASH!

As the slash from Peter’s sword severed the connection between the Death Knight and the undead, the two high-ranking warriors finally raised their weapons and began exchanging blows.

CLANG—!! CLANG! CLANG! ZING-ZING-ZING—CLANG! CLANG—!! CLANG—!!

The metallic sounds of clashing swords filled the air, while the resulting air pressure and escaping slashes completely devastated the surroundings.

Bone fragments and chains that had been used as shields scattered through the air, necromantic energy and aura chaotically intertwined until—

‘—An opening!’

The one who scored the first point was Peter, who had been performing extraordinary maneuvers using his chains.

SQUELCH—SLASH!

The demonic sword easily pierced through the armor and penetrated the Death Knight’s left arm. As Peter swung his sword in that state, the left arm was nearly severed halfway.

And as the Death Knight tried to regenerate the severed arm…

[…………?!!]

After pouring necromantic energy into the arm to no avail, the creature seemed bewildered by the non-regenerating left arm. Eventually, it abandoned the attempt to regenerate the arm and instead concentrated its aura on its right hand and sword to resume its offensive.

However… losing an arm was indeed a significant problem for a warrior.

Since the Death Knight was a dual-wielder, the power behind its sword strikes weakened, and its swordsmanship became more limited. Despite adopting a purely defensive stance, it gradually began to lose ground…

Crucially, the subtle imbalance in body weight caused by the loss of one arm.

That was the fundamental reason why the Death Knight couldn’t demonstrate its true capabilities.

Though impressive considering the loss of an arm… at least it wouldn’t work to its advantage in this fight.

[Hahaha!! Full of openings! Peter, there are plenty of targets! Cut him down!]

‘I know, already—hnngh!!’

So while Peter was annoyed at the noisy demonic sword in his head, he followed its instructions, opening his sword as if radiating power and swinging with all his might.

[——!!!]

Naturally, it was the Death Knight’s decaying body that was cut.

Of course, the tenacity of the undead was as legendary as it was substantial.

That’s why the Death Knight continued to move and unleash attacks on Peter despite its severe injuries.

Realizing its disadvantage in close combat, it created some distance and began launching attacks focused on special abilities.

BOOM—!! BOOM—!! BOOM—!!

WHOOSH!!

Dozens of massive bone spears wrapped in pale aura flew toward him, and skulls with blue flames burning in their eye sockets appeared in mid-air, opening their mouths to frantically shoot blue fireballs.

Attacks that could annihilate thousands of troops at once—simple in appearance but with enough destructive power to be effective even against high-ranking beings—rained down while—

BOOM—!! CRACK! WHOOSH—FWOOSH!!

Peter demonstrated the miraculous feat of deflecting all the skill attacks by freely manipulating his demonic sword.

He directly cut through some attacks with the sword’s cutting ability for defense…

But more importantly, his ability to use the chains that he could freely extend from his body, wielding the sword almost like a fishing rod, played a major role.

WHOOSH———!!!

And while throwing the sword to disrupt positions and defend against the Death Knight’s skills—

‘—Now!’

Peter, who had somehow penetrated to the Death Knight’s flank, mercilessly swung his demonic sword to attack.

One slash to the left thigh, one thrust to the right side, and completely severing the Death Knight’s dangling left arm.

After unleashing a series of merciless slashes while whirling his chains, Peter finally managed to find an opening in the Death Knight—

Moments later, the Death Knight’s head, helmet and all, flew through the air.

※ ※ ※

At the same time, in the divine realm.

‘The protagonist’s plot armor… is terrifying.’

Having watched Peter’s entire journey so far, I muttered those words with genuine sincerity.

Ah, to avoid any misunderstanding, let me clarify. I’m not at all impressed by Peter overcoming all the trials I prepared.

Rather… I’m astonished by Peter’s seemingly cursed fate of continuously experiencing and overcoming such hardships without me doing anything.

From the beginning, my interventions with Peter have been truly minimal.

I gave Peter the demonic sword made from my finger, had that martyr-wannabe fight Peter, and brainwa—guided Isabel to become his companion. That’s all.

Even the current situation was just something I fabricated to hand over the rune amulet.

I never anticipated that Death Knight would appear here of all places.

There haven’t been any recent wars between human factions, which are practically prerequisites for a Death Knight’s appearance, so… No. Never mind.

Anyway, back to the main point.

When revealing my dual identity—my appearance as the War God of the pantheon.

Believing Peter wouldn’t be controlled by power, I completely unleashed the power embedded in that demonic sword.

Thanks to this, the demonic sword Dukbing was able to awaken its true power, which is the ability to cut.

Simply put… Dukbing can cut almost anything in this world as long as it can be perceived.

It can slice through spiritual concepts like the connection between summoner and summon, the magical structure of objects, and even armor protected by a high-ranking warrior’s aura.

Although Peter’s perception ability is still lacking, with proper growth, he could cut through various concepts.

…He might accidentally slice through space and fly off to some strange dimension, but the personality replica possessing the sword should handle that well enough.

Meanwhile, the sword also has a magic absorption function… but the real reason I prepared this sword was because of Peter’s lack of talent.

When removing the limiter on the sword containing a personality that… slightly twisted and mimicked my own, I forcibly elevated Peter to the high rank—a realm he couldn’t reach on his own—by proceeding with the fusion with the physical body.

Peter isn’t completely devoid of talent as a warrior…

But even at best, he’s merely gifted. With effort, he might reach the middle rank, but the high rank is nearly impossible for him.

The high rank is a realm that even many geniuses fail to reach and die trying—it’s too high a wall for mere talent and effort.

Particularly, Peter’s talent is such that he would need to swing a sword for at least 10 years to reach the middle rank, let alone the high rank…

By then, I question whether there would be even 10 years left before the demons invade again.

Since there’s no guarantee that Peter, whom I’m raising as a secret weapon against demons, could reach the high rank in 10 years, I inevitably decided to use various tricks to accelerate his growth.

The true purpose of creating the demonic sword was to forcibly awaken Peter.

By forcibly fusing a soul that has already reached the high rank with Peter, I forcibly awakened his aura, and in the process of harmonizing the boundary between them, I gradually dyed Peter’s soul with my color.

Of course, since high-ranking personalities aren’t common, I had to sacrifice a vampire herald, but… ‘I’ would probably understand.

‘—AAAAARGH!! You trash! I’ll curse you!! I’ll curse you even in death!!!’

Yes… right?