Ch.71Doom Knight

Wraaw—!!!

The shockwave from the collision between the purple-energy spear and the pure white sword shook the Land of Death.

The one wielding the pure white sword and shield radiated a holy aura, purifying the Land of Death, while the opponent with the purple spear emitted a purple death energy that corrupted the purified land once again.

Attack and defense, advance and retreat. Their skills were evenly matched. They were so perfectly equal that neither could gain the upper hand.

Around them, the choir and holy knights formed a battle formation, purifying and destroying the approaching skeletons, but if this dragged on too long, the humans with their limited stamina would be at a disadvantage.

That’s why the wielder of the pure white sword, Beitram, the head knight among those called God’s Knights, discarded his shield. Channeling the holy power he would have used for defense into his sword instead, his blade now radiated light of a completely different dimension.

Hwaaaak—

In response, the wielder of the purple spear, the Doom Knight who had harnessed the power of the catastrophe-level undead Death Knight, also infused incomparable death energy into his weapon.

Wooong—

The purple spear pulsated in response. Gripping the spear that seemed eager to tear apart the opponent before him, the Doom Knight lowered his stance, ready to charge at any moment…

Shiiik—

Despite the considerable distance, he thrust his spear forward. As Beitram turned his head and brought his sword to his face…

Chiiiiik…

The smoke and acrid smell from the purified death energy tormented him, and the Doom Knight charged at Beitram. Leaving only a purple afterimage, the Doom Knight approached Beitram and thrust his spear.

Shiik—!!

Beitram easily blocked the lightning-fast spear with the flat of his sword, then swung his blade upward, sending the spear high and exposing the Doom Knight’s front completely.

Then came a lightning-fast downward strike. With that fluid combination, the Doom Knight’s armor split open, revealing the blue skin underneath.

“So you’re the Doom Knight. Your appearance has changed from what Knight Bell reported. He clearly said you had a skeletal body…”

“I’m still evolving.”

Shiiiiik—!!

Despite being cut by the holy-power-infused sword that was lethal to undead, the Doom Knight swung his spear as if nothing had happened. This time, the Doom Knight’s spear came down like lightning.

Beitram stepped on the shield he had discarded, kicking it into the air and infusing it with holy power to block the attack, but… the Doom Knight moved with the intention of completely overwhelming him this time.

Releasing the hand that swung the spear, the Doom Knight ducked low and dove under Beitram, completely catching him off guard.

The spear was still being fiercely swung at the shield, and because of the shield, Beitram had lost sight of the Doom Knight for just a moment—less than a second.

But that fraction of a second would determine the outcome of their duel.

Kuung——!!

“Kugh! You bastard—!!”

Beitram was now in a mounted position under the Doom Knight, his shoulders pinned by the knight’s knees, unable to use his arms. Even when he tried to buck his hips to get up, the Doom Knight completely blocked his attempt.

Beitram emitted holy power from his entire body to attack the Doom Knight, but…

Chiiiiiiik——!!!

The Doom Knight countered by releasing strong death energy and swung his fist toward the now defenseless Beitram.

Pueok——!!

The fist wrapped in purple death energy struck Beitram’s helmet, and all Beitram could do was surround his face with holy power for maximum defense.

But when an armored hand strikes a helmet, the head inside rings. As the Doom Knight continued to strike the helmet, it began to dent while delivering powerful impacts to Beitram’s head.

As Beitram’s consciousness began to fade and he unconsciously reached out toward the radiant figure of Lord Uldur…

Hwaaaaa——!!!

Chiiiiiiik——!!!

“Kugh—”

A bright light burned away the Doom Knight’s purple death energy and penetrated through the cracks in his armor, dealing damage. The Doom Knight tried to ignore the light and continue attacking Beitram, but…

Kwaaang—!!

A fist made of light struck her torso with tremendous force. Having lost the advantageous position she had gained in the duel with Beitram, she reached out to retrieve her spear.

“You’ve done well, Sir Beitram. Now I shall join the battle.”

“Saintess! How could you be here…!!”

The one who had rescued Beitram was none other than Saintess Lumina. Why would such an important figure, who shouldn’t be here at all…

“Our Order of Light is at the front lines, and all the kingdom’s forces are on the battlefield. How could I, with the strongest holy power, stay behind? I’ll support you, so let’s capture that one.”

With those words, the Saintess revealed her rosary. Seeing the sacred artifact of Lord Uldur, Beitram gripped his sword firmly.

“Yes!”

With that, Beitram charged forward. The Saintess’s holy power enhanced his strength to twice what it had been before, and approaching in an instant, Beitram swung his holy-power-infused sword.

Seoguk—

“Kugh!”

The Saintess was God’s representative who radiated holy power just by existing. No matter how much the Land of Death was contaminated with death energy, the Death Knight’s remains had already been completely absorbed by the Doom Knight.

The death energy was barely maintained by the energy that had been emitted in this land for 150 years, but the Saintess, a living mass of holy power, was gradually erasing that energy.

“Sacred Domain!”

The culmination was the Saintess’s declaration of a sacred domain. As the death energy covering the Land of Death gradually disappeared and the land’s vitality began to return, the Doom Knight’s power, which had been enhanced by the death energy, also began to weaken.

The Saintess’s holy power widened the gap between the two who had been evenly matched, and now the Doom Knight was barely able to defend. On top of that, the Saintess attacked the Doom Knight with fists of light made of holy power.

“Kuugh!”

Gradually, the Doom Knight’s armor was split by sword strikes, and the fists of light injected holy power through those cracks, gradually purifying the Doom Knight.

“Just two more days… If I had just two more days, I could have become a complete Doom Knight…!!!”

The Doom Knight spoke with frustration, but the two ignored such words and continued their attack.

Seoguk—!

The sword of light made of holy power eventually cut the Doom Knight’s spear in two… and the Saintess delivered the final blow.

“Saint Cross!”

The Saintess’s fist of light rose to the sky, transformed into a cross, and emitted holy power in the shape of a cross toward the Doom Knight.

Kwaaang——!!!

A cross made of holy power was engraved on the Land of Death, and as cracks spread throughout the Doom Knight’s armor…

“Kuugh… Forced Transfer!”

Shuk—!

The Doom Knight disappeared from where the Saint Cross had been shining its light. The Saintess mobilized God’s Knights for a complete search, and went around the front lines purifying the land and clearing the skeletons created by the Doom Knight.

* * * * *

The territory closest to the Forest of Demonic Beasts, the Alleng Territory, which until a month ago belonged to the Empire but now belonged to no one.

No, since the Empire as a nation had disappeared, it was now simply a place that served a woman with the name Alleng as its master. In an inn in this territory, which had no notable specialties except for its proximity to the Forest of Demonic Beasts, two Silver-rank adventurers were seated.

“Hah… Damn it. How much longer do we have to stay like this? It’s been a month already. They say a huge minotaur caught the insects that were coming out of the Forest of Demonic Beasts and went back into the forest… but what is this, sitting here for a month?”

Silver-rank adventurer Tom was appealing to Ape, who was sitting across from him eating grape pie. Ape glared at him with an expression that said, “This bastard is whining again.”

“Hah, seriously. The Order is paying us 1 silver coin a day just to sit in this territory doing nothing—it’s a sweet job. What exactly are you complaining about?”

“We are adventurers! We didn’t become adventurers just to swing our swords for a month, but to eliminate monster threats and protect citizens…”

“Wow, listen to this guy talk. Hey, you idiot. If that’s what you wanted, you should have joined a vigilante group, the defense force, or a knightly order. Why the hell are you an adventurer? Adventurers are problem-solvers who handle requests for money. Even the highest rank, Orichalcon, might be hailed as heroes, but essentially, we’re just problem-solvers who handle jobs for money.”

“That’s written in the adventurer regulations!”

Ape shook his head in disbelief. This guy chose the request himself, knowing the content was to report if the minotaur appeared again, so why was he complaining?

“So, what exactly do you want to do? Go into that Forest of Demonic Beasts and conquer it? Or do you want to catch the minotaur if it crawls out?”

“Isn’t that what an adventurer should do?”

Tom said proudly, puffing out his chest. Seeing this, Ape realized why he had been quiet for three weeks but had been complaining constantly for the past week.

This guy was obsessed with fame. An idiot who couldn’t even gauge his own abilities—the worst kind of idiot.

Even Adamantium-class adventurers had died, and the Order had directly given it the epithet “Rage” because it was extremely dangerous. The Order wasn’t stupid—why would they pay us 1 silver every day to employ us?

Obviously because that monster was dangerous, but this idiot had been training every day while receiving 1 silver, so he thought he had become great.

As Ape was about to put down his grape pie and give him a piece of his mind…

Kyaaaak——

It’s the minotaur——!!!

At that sound, the two abandoned what they were eating and rushed outside the inn, climbing the wall, and they could see it.

A giant minotaur was advancing toward this place. Originally, the Alleng Territory’s wall was only 5 meters high, but after seeing the minotaur simply step over it when passing through, they had raised it to 7 meters.

But… that monster was a head taller than the 7-meter wall. With huge horns and making loud footsteps, it carried an axe about the size of the wall, and its right arm was wrapped in iron chains.

And as it got closer, they could see its innocent face. There was an imbalance between its innocent expression and its massive body, and the scars on its body amplified that imbalance even more.

The long cut on its arm showed that it had once suffered a wound so severe that the bone was exposed, and there was a spot on its fur-covered legs where no fur grew.

It must have been quite a serious injury, as fur hadn’t grown back even after the wound had healed. There were also traces of smaller healed wounds on its chest and stomach, giving it the appearance of a battle-hardened warrior.

The two were just blankly staring at the minotaur—given the epithet “Rage” by the Order—with its overwhelming presence, understanding why the Order had ordered them to monitor it.

By the time the two came to their senses, it was already right in front of the wall.

“Uaaaak——!!!”

“Huaaaaaaak——!!!”

Unlike his confident talk about subjugation earlier, Tom was now simply terrified and descended the wall, with Ape following behind, but… there was a sound of the barrier on the wall shattering as Rage moved its leg.

Pachang—!

Muu—?

Rage tilted its head, seemingly confused that the wall hadn’t been destroyed. Then it swung its hand to attack the wall…

Kwaaaang——!!!!

The wall was destroyed, and its fragments covered the buildings of the Alleng Territory. Tom and Ape, who had been descending the wall, couldn’t escape the attack and were sent flying with the wall, getting crushed.

Kyaaaak——!!!

Please save us… Please save us…

Screams filled the territory, and people were bowing in Rage’s direction, begging to be spared. Rage ignored the humans and simply moved forward.

Like a passerby who was just trying to pass through but had to break down an obstacle in the way. The people who had been blankly watching could only stare at Rage’s back as it destroyed another section of the wall and left the Alleng Territory.