Ch.73Doom Knight (3)

# Light’s Order

The Order of Light. A religious order that serves Uldur, the God of Light, who is the deity humans refer to when they speak of their god.

Within this order, the Intelligence Department was bustling with activity today. From searching for missing Death Knights to tracking the whereabouts of Envy and Wrath.

While they had other missions, these were their current primary investigation targets. They would dispatch Executioners to find and punish villains, or if that proved too much for them, they would send Judges, and if even that failed, they would deploy the most powerful individuals in the order—the Divine Knights.

Of course, Divine Knights required authorization from the Pope or Saintess, but such requests were usually approved, and Divine Knights were often sent to locations requested by the Intelligence Department.

“Sir! We’ve confirmed Wrath’s location! The creature has passed straight through Alleng Territory and is now heading west from Beron Commercial City!”

“West… We hired adventurers starting from Alleng Territory and surrounding areas, so why are we only hearing about this now?”

“Well… They’re all reported dead.”

“Hmm… Unbelievable… I’ll report to the Saintess while you continue tracking its whereabouts.”

“Yes, sir!”

—

*Boom— Boom— Boom—*

The massive Minotaur, Khan, was charging across the plains with Mary on his head.

“Moooo? (Did you see it correctly?)”

“Yes! Just keep going in this direction! I definitely saw a flash of light when the Roulette exploded in this direction!”

I nodded and continued running forward.

Small animals frantically fled at the sound of my footsteps, and human carriages overturned as their horses were startled by my presence, causing minor disturbances.

I ran all day in the direction Mary pointed, but found no trace of participants fighting. The next day and the day after that yielded no results either.

After three days of running without finding any clues, I was about to give up and cause trouble in a human city to find participants when suddenly—

Before our eyes appeared evidence of an intense battle.

“Khan, I think this is where the Roulette exploded, and there’s a terrible aura… I think this participant might be an Undead…”

As Mary said, there was a smell of rotting corpses, and purple energy swirled across the ground. It looked like the aftermath of the deadly skill used by that skeleton who had human skin only on its face.

“Moooo— Muuuuu (I’ll proceed with caution from now on. Mary, tell me where you sense the strongest aura.)”

“Yes! Trust me! It’s difficult to purify the aura, but I can protect us from its influence!”

I advanced in the direction she pointed, entering the land where purple energy swirled.

Wrinkling my nose at the intense smell, we continued forward for quite some time. We discovered a village, but… there was no one there.

The guards who should have been present were nowhere to be found, and not even dogs could be seen.

It had become a ghost town, as if everyone had vanished…

“Khan! Look at that!”

Looking where Mary pointed as she flew through the air, I saw two suits of armor at the entrance. They were positioned as if they had been placed there instead of guards.

Someone had kicked them over, leaving them in a pitiful state, which made me approach with curiosity.

“Humans…! Humans who had their life force drained and died!”

As Mary said, inside the armor were human skins. Shriveled skin and bones were all that remained of whoever had worn the armor, and when we entered the village, we found numerous similar corpses.

Not just humans, but dogs, cats, and livestock had all had their life force drained, which angered both Mary and me.

“To do this even to animals! Khan, this person is extremely vicious! We need to be careful!”

“Muuuuu (Yes. You be careful too, Mary. We don’t know when or where such a villain might appear.)”

Mary and I tracked the aura as quickly as possible. If we left such a person unchecked, animals would continue to suffer.

Moving as fast as we could, we passed through four villages while crossing a mountain. All living beings in those four villages had their life force completely drained.

Not just humans, but poor animals too!

Having rushed as quickly as possible, we arrived at a place where the aura was growing stronger. Since we could encounter the villain tomorrow, we decided to rest here.

—

“P-please… Spare my child at least… Urgh…”

A woman begged for her child’s life, but the pale woman ignored her plea and drained the child’s life force as well.

This was the fifth village she had devastated. Having regained some strength, the woman activated her skill, Armor of the Dead.

The armor enveloped her entire body, which had been dressed in loose hunter’s clothing.

A purple aura emanated gently from the armor, transforming the pale woman who had looked like an ordinary housewife into a Doom Knight of destruction.

“Phew—, now I feel more stable.”

Her calm tone made it hard to believe she had just massacred an entire village.

The being who had clearly been human until six years ago had now completely become an Undead, preying on people.

“Well… Let’s see…”

She used her skill, Life Detect, to find new prey.

A skill that detects the energy of the living, feeling stronger the more life force they possess.

It could accurately detect within a 50-meter radius and grew hazier with distance, but could still determine general locations even from afar—the best skill she had obtained since arriving here.

“Hmm? I’ve already swept through this area… With this much energy… A monster? A participant? Quite appetizing…”

The being detected by the Doom Knight’s Life Detect. Though she had already swept through this area, something was clearly registering…

It must be a dangerous entity like that lumberjack participant who had been hiding in the first village she cleared. Wanting to quickly confirm what kind of being it was, she rushed toward the direction of the energy.

—

*Eeeeeeng—*

An annoying sound like a mosquito buzzing near my ear echoed in my head. I swatted at my ear, but there was nothing there.

The irritating sound continued to echo.

It was so annoying, like the giant mosquitoes we saw in the Forest of Demonic Beasts, that I opened my eyes from my sweet sleep.

“Khan—! Why are you waking up so late! Enemy! It’s an enemy! Someone who passed through my alarm magic is approaching us right now!”

Fully alert now, I got up and prepared for battle.

As I began stretching lightly, my muscles awakened, and I gripped my axe, which had become blunt like a hammer after the fierce battle in the Forest of Demonic Beasts.

“Moo? (Which direction?)”

“From the right of where you’re looking, near that big rock! They’re approaching slowly, probably planning an ambush!”

“Moo? Mooooo, Muuuuu (Is that so? Then, we should respond in kind. Mary, go up into the sky.)”

I sent Mary up into the sky, made myself smaller, and lay back down to wait for the enemy.

—

The Doom Knight had been walking for four hours, continuously activating Life Detect.

For something to be detected from such a distance, it must be a powerful monster or an Adamantium-class being or higher…

But it was unlikely such a creature would be wandering in these empty mountains, so it was probably a monster searching for territory.

The life energy of the approaching being was now so massive that she could feel it even without using Life Detect.

Stopping at this energy, the Doom Knight activated all her skills and advanced slowly with her spear, in a state close to full readiness.

The life energy she sensed through Life Detect was comparable to or even greater than that of the Holy Knight Baytram she had encountered before, making her tense as she arrived at her destination.

What she saw was a Minotaur.

A Minotaur, famous for its strength and stubbornness, was sleeping before her eyes.

A massive axe of unknown origin lay on the ground, and the Minotaur was curled up, sleeping deeply.

Seeing this, the Doom Knight contemplated. If she killed it and absorbed its life force, she could regain all her original power and become even stronger.

Though not as much as what she had absorbed in the Land of Death, it was enough energy to match the Saintess and Baytram in battle.

Feeling her throat swallow involuntarily at the thought of such energy, the Doom Knight set up some insurance before approaching the Minotaur.

Moving stealthily like an assassin, she finally reached the Minotaur’s head.

Upon arrival, she raised her spear high, surrounded it with miasma, and stabbed at the Minotaur when—

*Mooooooo——!!!*

The Minotaur instantly awoke, blocking the Doom Knight’s attack with its horns before reaching out to grab her.

*Crack—!!*

As the Minotaur applied pressure, the Doom Knight shattered instantly like a collapsing doll.

Confused by this sight, the Minotaur was targeted again from behind by a purple spear blade.