Ch.85Countdown (5)

“I like bread, but I don’t like souls.”

“Ho ho, consuming souls isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

I looked at Reisen.

He appeared relaxed with a smile, but beneath that smile existed anxiety and hesitation that could never be erased.

He constantly checked whether the soul he had devoured was intact while observing my movements.

‘Now I’m starting to understand.’

I dealt with each of the defenses Reisen had prepared to protect himself.

I cut down all the Death Knights he controlled and returned them to dust.

With help, I was also able to neutralize the zombie dragon and the Titan powered by Bloodstone that he had diligently prepared as weapons.

On top of that, I now held the method to sever the immortality that had been postponing Reisen’s death until now.

And so, I was able to see the bare face that existed beneath Reisen’s mask.

‘When I first sensed it, it seemed like an enormous evil, but there wasn’t much beneath that mask.’

What existed beneath his mask was a coward.

A coward who constantly fled from death while pretending not to fear it behind an aged appearance.

“Are you planning to end your puppet show and step forward yourself now?”

“Ho ho… young people are so impatient…”

Despite being such a coward, the reason he hesitated instead of fleeing in this situation was probably because there was much at stake in this plan.

‘The Evil God must also be placing expectations on this operation.’

If it failed, Reisen, who was essentially the person in charge of this operation, would have to take no small amount of responsibility.

Of course, whatever punishment the Evil God might inflict couldn’t be more terrible than losing one’s life.

Since Reisen wasn’t a component that could be easily replaced, there was a high possibility that he wouldn’t be completely discarded.

But even so, there was a factor within Reisen himself that prevented him from fleeing.

This was an operation he had prepared for a very long time, and it was also an operation that was truly close to success.

Just a few more minutes.

If he could stall for just a few more minutes to allow the prince to continue hammering, the succession ceremony would end, and he could obtain the sacred artifact.

That’s why even a coward like Reisen couldn’t easily give up in this situation.

That was precisely what I was targeting.

“Surely you’re not thinking of abandoning your colleague who’s busy hammering away? He’s been hammering for quite a while now.”

“Ho ho… colleague? That’s not a word I’d use for a caterpillar dreaming of climbing a tree it can never reach.”

I drew Reisen’s attention to the succession hall, reminding him that there wasn’t much time left.

I whispered that if he fled, everything would be in vain, but if he fought, he could achieve success.

As the completion of that thing drew closer, I too became increasingly anxious, but letting Reisen escape right now was also unacceptable.

So I continued to provoke Reisen to choose battle over escape.

“Then what do you plan to do with that semi-automatic puppet? You just attached new bone parts to it, didn’t you?”

“You seem to be under some misunderstanding. Such things are of no importance to me, as I can make them again given enough time.”

“For something not important, you seem to have put quite a bit of effort into it. Time and materials aren’t free, you know.”

No matter how much less valuable the zombie dragon was compared to Vargan, it couldn’t have been easy to create.

That’s why I included the zombie dragon in the rewards along with the success of the plan.

I continued with the devil’s whisper that if he played his cards right, he could recover the zombie dragon as well.

Since seducing people with sweet words was a succubus’s specialty, I gave a gentle smile and led Reisen toward me.

‘It’s about time…’

I sensed Reisen’s gaze changing.

It was a look that genuinely wanted to kill me.

But unlike before when he threatened to show me hell, this time it wasn’t directly visible on the surface.

Reisen moved like a snake, like an assassin waiting for an opportunity.

Crunch-

Suddenly, I felt something moving underground through the soles of my feet.

Whatever was moving quickly beneath the ground eventually arrived right below me, then broke through the surface to attack me.

Kwang-!

As I tilted my head and body backward while shifting my gaze, I was finally able to see what had emerged from the ground.

‘A black sphere…?’

It was something I didn’t recognize. It seemed to be Reisen’s own magic, just like the Death Knights from before.

Pang-

The black something that had broken through the ground and risen into the sky burst open, scattering across the ground like rain.

And the ground that came into contact with this rain began to turn black, undergoing some kind of transformation.

But I couldn’t focus on that for long.

Kwang- Bang- Bang- Kwang-!! Bang. Bang-! Bang-.

Similar spheres to the one that had just burst emerged from the ground, threatening me.

Pang-! Patter patter.

These newly emerged spheres also burst in mid-air just like before, raining black upon this land.

I was able to prevent them from touching my body using sword energy and air pressure, but I couldn’t stop the ground from being contaminated.

‘What kind of ability is this…?’

The ground turning black. As I surveyed the surroundings while maintaining a defensive posture, undead began to rise from the ground one by one.

“I told you to stop the puppet show.”

The undead that rose from the ground were all painted black, similar to the floor.

Each one had power between A-rank and S-rank adventurers, and there were about fifteen of them.

They were numerous, and each individual was not weak, so normally this would have been quite a challenging opponent.

But they weren’t enough to be my match while I wielded the God-Slaying Sword.

So I swung my sword widely, intending to quickly dispose of them.

There should have been a slicing sound as they were cut at once, but strangely, I didn’t feel the sensation of my sword cutting through its target.

It wasn’t that my attack was blocked midway.

It meant that there was only wind where my sword had passed.

“…?”

While I was momentarily confused by this incomprehensible phenomenon, the undead who had disappeared in an instant suddenly reappeared.

Swoosh-!

The undead that emerged from all directions swung their daggers, targeting my blind spots.

In response, I spread sword energy in all directions to block the attacks while trying to deal with the undead.

Kwagagak-!

But what my sword energy cut through was only the blackened ground.

The way they appeared instantly, attacked, and then instantly concealed themselves again felt like facing a dark elf unit in darkness.

No, it wasn’t just a feeling—it was practically the same situation.

“So you’ve turned this entire space into darkness… If my wings weren’t emitting light, I might have been in danger.”

I wondered exactly how this was accomplished, but that was a question with little meaning right now.

‘It’s just similar to darkness but actually something completely different, so there’s no way to know right now.’

If ordinary darkness felt sticky, this was extremely cold and chilly.

It was a chill that seeped into the soul, different from ordinary cold.

‘Sigh… For now, I need to adapt to these attacks rather than analyze the space.’

Slash-! Slash-!!

A dagger swung from my blind spot grazed my robe.

I reacted immediately at first, but there was a limit when fifteen assassins coordinated to target my blind spots.

‘The safe distance is about 20cm from my body. Beyond that is completely their world…’

Slash-

After dodging another dagger aimed at my neck, I reached for my waist.

What I grabbed from my waist was the nameless sword I had sheathed earlier when drawing the God-Slaying Sword.

“Sigh… Looks like I need to perform a proper sword dance.”

Shing-

Two different swords were held in both hands.

Generally, wielding a sword with one hand is not preferred as it doesn’t properly convey strength, but in the current situation where I needed to respond to multiple attacks, this suited me better.

‘I haven’t properly tried dual wielding before, but I can certainly adapt to this level of disparity.’

Kwak- Clang-!

Attacks coming from different directions were blocked by the swords in both hands, rendered ineffective.

If I immediately counter-attacked with my swords, the attackers would instantly disappear, and the next ones would appear to continue the attack.

With a single sword, I couldn’t block this combination and had to allow the edge of my robe to be cut, but not anymore.

“Let’s increase the speed a bit more.”

This time, I increased my own movement speed, forcibly accelerating the sequence.

Slash-slash-slash-.

As the speed of swords and daggers clashing increased, it created a sound like a mixer grinding something.

And in the midst of this exchange, I gradually began to catch up with the speed at which they were concealing themselves.

My sword grazed the collar of one who attacked and disappeared, and I moved first to where one was about to appear to attack.

Eventually.

“First one… shall we say.”

Slice-

I was able to cut off the head of one undead.

Crumble- Crumble-

And the headless undead turned to dust with a somewhat peaceful expression, then was carried away by the wind beyond the boundary.

“As expected… these undead don’t seem to have been created normally either.”

I looked at Reisen with a disgusted expression at the ability I was gradually figuring out.

And Reisen looked at me with an expression as if he were looking at a monster.