episode_0168

CLX.

Before Gray became a candidate, when he heard the oracle that he had to stop the Demon King’s invasion as a candidate, his eyes lit up as if he was living in the era of the Chronicles of Heroes.

Moreover, as I heard many exaggerated stories about the candidates, I believed that great beings would defeat the Demon King. I was even excited and thrilled to experience that historical scene myself.

But after becoming a candidate and experiencing and dealing with other candidates, Gray felt, ‘Is this really it? This is too much.’

And now,

“That’s too much.”

Gray looked down at Catherine’s head, who was in his arms, burying her face in his chest, and blurted out the same words without realizing it, just as he had felt back then.

“Catherine.”

“Huh? Huh? ”

Catherine’s voice, which seemed to have been forced to answer after crying, sounded even more heartbreaking because it was stuck in her chest.

“Don’t worry. Let’s take care of those cans and go see my sisters.”

“Yeah… .”

Even with the fraudulent martial art of 『Byeokhae (霹海)』, it is a situation where victory cannot be guaranteed.

At that moment, a rain of black flames, so ominous and eerie, falls as if to say, ‘You’ve waited this long, is that enough?’

He released his divine power outward, creating a shield and waiting for an opportunity.

When I held on like that for about 2 seconds,

When he casts his spell and looks at me with his eyes shining with triumph,

When the aura that was boiling over from the three undead subsided!

Gray aimed his spear tip at the guy, pointing at the ground.

“Must be.”

He ran in front of Duramen’s window and displayed the unique power of 『Piljung’s Spear Cord』, making his presence felt by making a noise.

Then, the Duramun, engulfed in strong energy, disappears from Gray’s hand regardless of his will.

Gray didn’t wait to see what happened to the window.

Instead, he rushed towards the unguarded Dullahan on one side.

『Byeokhae (霹海)』 does not simply contain techniques for handling spears.

This supreme martial art included a method of moving the feet (步法), 『Shinrye (閃雷)』, among many ascending techniques. The mysterious Shinrye technique moved Gray to the right of Dullahan in an instant.

Gray’s fist, swung concisely while moving, ended up hitting Dullahan’s head in his right hand.

If it had been a simple fist, Gray’s fist would have been shattered, but his entire body was already covered in yellow lightning.

It is the influence of Baktu and Danroe, which are included in 『Byeokhae (霹海)』.

Patchit! Pfft!

Before we could even see Dullahan’s head explode,

-Kuaaaah! Ingaaah!

A scream is heard from Richie.

at the same time,

Kuung―.

You can also hear the sound of Dullahan falling backwards after dying in vain.

Originally, the hardest and strongest thing in Dullahan’s body was the head he was holding in his hand, but since he broke it with one blow, even if he had held on, it would have been the end anyway.

Richie has a unique body organ called the Life Vessel.

This is not about storing it in an external dimension like in a novel or a creative work, but rather storing the vitality in a solid and durable place.

And this can be stored outside the body, not inside it.

Finding it is a very difficult and tedious task.

but,

-Huh, why why why!!

I don’t need to do that.

The spear called Duramen is an extremely excellent spear. It is worthy of being called a divine spear.

However, the spear cord that is the decoration hanging in front of the Duramen’s spear staff is something that was created by God.

And the scariest of the options attached to it aren’t the ones that guarantee a guaranteed hit on the opponent or the ones with superior durability.

────────────────

『The Spear of Piljung』

(syncopation)

[Unique Use Rights: Piljung]

-Once a day against a being of demigod or superhuman status.

-6 times a day against beings of a demigod or lower level than a superhuman.

―The number of times is reset based on 24 hours.

―The hit enemy’s life force is “sucked” by the effect of the spell, and the abnormal “bleeding” status continues for at least 5 minutes.

[Inherent Sustaining Power: Qualification]

-Strongly reject the touch of unqualified beings.

[Unique Sustaining Power: Indestructible]

-Unable to destroy anything less than a divine attack.

────────────────

The options are “Vampirism” and “Bleeding.”

A power that absorbs the life force of an enemy that is hit with a single strike, and causes the life force to continuously drain away.

The reason Gray used his unique power, Piljung (必中), on Lich of all people, was not simply because he unleashed his magic and attacked first.

Oh, of course, there’s a little bit of annoyance about being the first to attack. It’s not that there isn’t any.

However, it has a vitality that other undead do not have.

Because this was only for Richie.

Perhaps the reason why the undead Lich is suffering so much is because the powerful Changyeong is searching for Lich’s life vessel and is sucking out his life force.

also,

―Krrr… … .

For some reason, that ominous thing still hasn’t moved.

So, the idea that it would be easier to deal with the wizard, who could be the most annoying troublemaker, is also one of the reasons for attacking the lich.

When Dullahan collapsed in an instant and Lich was dying.

-human being….

“You don’t have to call me human, I know I’m human, you little shits.”

Gray took a moment to catch his breath while doing so.

Although the words were long and easy to understand, it would not have been an ordinary thing for a high-level undead like Dullahan to move in such a way that it could not react in an instant.

Not only me,

“Is Catherine okay?”

“Ugh, uh.”

To Catherine too.

Grayya said that it was not difficult for her to move quickly because her body was trained, but Catherine was not like that.

I would have felt considerable pain if it weren’t for the defensive artifact that May had created for me.

You might be wondering why not use the power applied to the defensive artifact.

Why don’t you use that power to move to May’s side when the artifact is hit with a shock that is too much to handle, and hand over this child named Catherine, who could be considered a burden, to May and her group, who are stronger beings?

But May said that it was impossible to use sorcery to get to me in this labyrinth. If that were possible, I wouldn’t be suffering like this.

Because May gathered her group and they all went together.

Anyway, such ‘restrictions’ are being applied to the labyrinth. So, when Catherine’s artifact is activated, there is no way to know what will happen or where it will go.

So Gray initially thought about taking the artifact out, but then he wouldn’t be able to move Catherine around as he wanted.

Because a normal child couldn’t withstand the movements of a quasi-superhuman, there was no choice but to leave Catherine’s artifact as it was.

And thanks to that decision, Catherine’s body is now completely fine. Catherine’s body.

◈ ◈ ◈

“Daedalus.”

“What? I told you not to bother me?”

At the woman’s call, the man named Daedalus radiated irritation and madness from his whole body. However, the woman, as if she was used to such madness, spoke up.

“In that state, you probably can’t take down Gray with just one Death Knight and one Doom Knight, right?”

“What? You idiot?”

His face was filled with laughter as much as Daedalus’s sharp insults. His voice as he asked the woman back also had a distinctly pitiful tone.

“Isn’t it?”

“Does that look like a Doom Knight to you?”

The woman was on the verge of going crazy with frustration.

Even so, the opponent is a high-level demon. And it is a high-level demon with a very high rank.

Moreover, the order that came down this time was different from before, to assist him well, so the woman could not bring herself to talk back.

“Yes. The Doom Knight. The agent of misfortune. This is what the Doom Knight is called, and it is difficult to make… … .”

“Idiot!”

The one who interrupted the woman who was about to continue her explanation was Daedalus, a man with crazy looks and messy hair.

“How can you tell that’s just a regular Doom Knight just by looking at it? Your eyes! They’re not dragons’, but actually orcs or goblins?”

That’s an insulting remark.

Normally, it would be normal to be angry. However, Daedalus’ words contained something so incomprehensible that it made one put aside that anger.

Although she is not from the demon world, her knowledge as a dragon is extraordinary.

Doom Knight.

Knight of Doom. Agent of Misfortune.

It is either undead or not undead.

A half-human, half-corpse who is somewhat immune to divine spells despite being undead. It is safe to say that he is somewhere between a living being and a corpse.

You can use all of the swordsmanship you learned while alive, and even incorporate some of the enlightenment you gained through experiencing death.

His resilience is strangely strong, and his physical abilities alone are so great that he can take on the Master.

In all areas, including strength, agility, stamina, and dynamic vision.

The Force becomes more destructive as it transforms into Mana of Death.

For example, there is a research journal that states that when a dragon created a Doom Knight out of boredom and dropped it on the capital of the human kingdom, it split the magic of Circle 7 with not a strong energy but a sword energy.

A Doom Knight that is as powerful as this ‘weapon’ is so difficult to make that even dragons can only count the number of successful cases of making one on one hand.

There are only a handful of them that appear naturally, and whenever they do, they shake the continent, and even the Doom Knight that was created during an ancient time when war was rampant destroyed a small kingdom.

That is why he was given the nickname of Knight of Destruction.

But Doom Knight is just Doom Knight.

It doesn’t evolve into something new like Elder Death Knight or something like that.

Because the unique existence of being half-human and half-shit is unstable in itself, evolution is impossible. That’s just how they were born.

“A normal Doom Knight? Then there are Doom Knights who aren’t normal?”

“Of course! Different births lead to different traits! Different materials lead to different results! Different subjects lead to different qualities! Don’t you know this?”

“… … .”

The woman thought.

Honestly, I have no idea.

“If you don’t know the difference, you’ll hear dragons called fat lizards!”

“Can you stop degrading our race and explain? And anyway, I was exiled from my race, so you don’t make me mad at all if you say that.”

Of course I’m angry.

It was impossible for her not to be angry, but she knew that Daedalus would rather like it if she got angry, so she continued to lie calmly.

“That’s not just a Doom Knight!”

“No, you say?”

“The Incarnation of the Doom!”

I don’t remember hearing it.

The woman’s face becomes even more grotesquely distorted because she is a being that has never been seen in the history of dragons.

“The body of a knight who has reached the rank of Grand Master, the spirits of hundreds of monsters who felt extreme fear as their souls were terrorized at the moment of death, and my masterpiece! An entity that can only be completed by adding the blood of the demons who have died in the Labyrinthos!”

The woman could understand as she watched Daedalus explain with rapture, looking into the empty space like an actor in a play playing a madman.

I’m talking about the undead with the terrifying name of the Incarnation of Destruction.

This crazy upper-level demon developed and modified the Doom Knight independently, just to that extent.

“Moreover, the ingredients that went into that embodiment of destruction are… … .”

“Huh?”

“That’s him.”

“That guy?”

“You went to see Gray on the orders of the Emperor of Humans and were humiliated, right? You were begged for your life by a red-haired human woman? And you even cursed your own Emperor?”

“Ah. It was that guy? I thought he said he hadn’t been hitting on me for a few days. I guess he was just bored.”

“Look at that intense hatred towards Gray!”

The screen Daedalus was pointing to showed the Doom Knight, or rather the incarnation of destruction, pointing his greatsword at Gray after the Death Knight was shattered into pieces.

As Daedalus said.

From the body of the embodiment of destruction, black death mana rose like a mist.