Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: The Sword of Hunger
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In the pale, dark winter night, a lone jet-black fortress stood tall.
The solitary master of that castle was there.
A great hall in the gloomy Flamboyant Gothic style.
Like a medieval Gothic cathedral, the castle was filled with a grim, boundless majesty.
And there, a throne of ebon-gold, towering high enough to look down upon the entire area, came into view.
The ‘Black Prince’ was there.
Not on the land filled with biting cold and darkness, but as the master reigning over that very castle.
The Fortress of Solitude.
A new conceptual world, overlaid with the identity of the ‘Ruler of the Demon King’s Domain.’
The rampaging dark artifact and the black mage it had taken as its host were also there.
And to eliminate this intruder, Dale’s world began to move.
The solitary fortress built upon a blank expanse—in other words, this was ‘Dale’s Empire’.
“Arise, my knights.”
At the monarch’s command, the undying knights who never rested nor stopped rose to their feet.
The Order of Dead Knights.
Simultaneously, the jet-black sword in the black mage’s hand swung, scattering black petals once more.
But the scattering black petals did not manage to overlay anything onto Dale’s world.
The biting cold and darkness that stretched endlessly outside the castle began to rage within the great hall.
The surrounding temperature plummeted, and a layer of white frost coated the interior.
This was the world of the ‘Black Prince’—his empire, his fortress.
The world that the fourteen-year-old Dale had built was of a nature that a mere rampaging dark artifact could not hope to breach.
The ‘Shadow Cloak,’ mimicking Dale’s black surcoat, began to flap wildly.
A dark artifact had gone berserk, and a puppet was being controlled by it as a host.
Therefore, there was only one decision Dale could make.
*Swish!*
From all sides, Death Knights projecting the hero’s prowess through the Automated Formula surged forward.
The black mage’s sword arm was severed at the shoulder.
The jet-black demonic sword, having lost its host, plunged vertically into the marble floor of the great hall.
“Ah, ahhh…!”
The black mage, having lost his arm, screamed as he finally regained consciousness.
And before he could even survey his surroundings in his agony, Dale spoke.
“This is not where you belong.”
Dale spoke, and the black mage’s existence was ejected ‘outside the conceptual world.’
Forcible expulsion.
Treating the severed arm and restoring the body would be the responsibility of those outside.
He turned his head.
The jet-black sword stood planted in the floor, its host now gone.
Dale strode toward that very demonic sword.
Without a shred of hesitation, Dale grasped the hilt of the embedded sword.
“Kiiieeeek!”
The Shadow Cloak flapped madly, letting out a shriek.
For a moment, a headache intense enough to make him lose consciousness struck his mind.
Just like when he first donned the Shadow Cloak… no, with an even greater darkness, the malice imbued in the sword began to run rampant, trying to devour Dale as its host.
‘This is no ordinary artifact.’
Despite this, not a flicker of agitation showed on Dale’s face.
“You want to make me submit?”
Dale spoke.
As if addressing someone he could converse with.
The artifact’s hilt began to tremble violently again.
“I’ll give you a chance. Go on, try to break me.”
Dale said amidst the trembling of the hilt.
He slammed the hilt he was holding onto the black-and-white marble mosaic tiles.
Simultaneously, he flapped his Shadow Cloak, creating a lake of darkness that seemed to submerge the area.
And then.
From within that lake of darkness, an arm rose.
A ‘human form’ made of shadow emerged and gripped the hilt of the demonic sword Dale had plunged into the floor.
A shadow creature, a Shadow Walker.
—Ki, kihihihi.
The shadow creature grasped the demonic sword’s hilt, and an aura incomparably stronger than before swirled around it.
A ‘Shadow Knight’ stood before Dale.
Not as a creature subservient to Dale, but reborn as ‘another host’ moving according to the demonic sword’s malice.
For that demonic sword, this was the ultimate host, far superior to the body of a mere mage.
He had provided the malice-filled artifact with the perfect conditions to exert 100% of its power.
It was an act of profound recklessness.
But Dale paid it no mind.
‘There’s no better way to grasp an artifact’s power.’
On the contrary, what filled Dale’s heart was the thrill of being able to face a strong opponent.
A sword forged from the darkness of demons.
The term ‘demon’ did not refer to a specific race but was a general term for monsters with a certain level of intelligence, such as orcs.
Among them, what distinguished ordinary demons from ‘high demons’ was their ability to use magic.
Just as the people of this world built their systems of magic upon foundations like fire, water, and light…
High demons also wielded magic with their own systems.
Using ‘shadow’ as their conceptual foundation.
The reason people feared and looked down on the mages of the Black Magic Tower was partly because they had accepted and inherited the concepts of high demons.
Shadow, darkness, the absence of light.
Strictly speaking, it was no exaggeration to say that the ‘concepts of demons’ had made the Black Magic Tower and House Sachsen what they were today.
It was in this context that the artifacts of the Demon King’s Domain were all based on the ‘power of shadow.’
If one were to assume that demons could establish a magic tower in the Empire, the tower they would build would likely be a ‘Shadow Magic Tower.’
Just as the mages of the magic towers were called Pyromancers, Wizards, Necromancers, Clerics, or Druids depending on their color.
Dale clearly remembered the infamy of the high demons called ‘ShadowCasters.’
And one of the artifacts imbued with the power of those ‘ShadowCasters’ was Dale’s prized ‘Shadow Cloak.’
Furthermore, the jet-black demonic sword before him would be no exception.
‘The one who will bring down the empire of fire and light and bring forth the empire of shadow.’
‘The Apostle of Black, the Shadow Lord.’
He inadvertently recalled the words the saintess of the ‘Shadow Church’ had told him.
‘…Why is everything around me so black and dark?’
That was as far as his idle thoughts went.
The ‘Shadow Knight,’ controlled by the jet-black demonic sword, surged forward, and Dale drew his own sword to meet it.
*Clang!*
Projecting the Peacemaker’s concept along the blade, the hero’s sword clashed with the jet-black demonic sword.
The *Forced Peace*, which nullified all attacks, twisted the laws of the area, exerting its influence.
But just as the monsters in the deep labyrinth had done, the power dwelling within the jet-black demonic sword did not submit so easily.
*Crash!*
A sound like shattering glass rang out, and the demonic sword in the Shadow Knight’s hand slid past and lunged forward.
‘What do you expect from an imitation?’
The distance closed, and Dale cursed as he quickly widened the gap.
Simultaneously, his Shadow Cloak flapped, and a volley of dark bullets poured from the black gun barrels.
But the attack never reached the Shadow Knight.
The shower of dark bullets was being sucked into the demonic sword.
Like a black hole pulling in all surrounding light, the sword’s gravity was devouring Dale’s ‘Shadow Bullets.’
Immediately after, the Shadow Knight swung the jet-black demonic sword through the air.
The dozens of ‘Shadow Bullets’ swallowed by the black hole were fired back at Dale.
*Bang!*
A few bullets riddled Dale’s body, but narrowly avoiding fatal wounds, his flesh and bone collapsed.
Wraith Form.
Dale’s body, having lost its substance and crumbled, became a fluid of darkness and swiftly created distance.
The azure-black mana swirling at his feet once again became magic, striking down toward the Shadow Knight’s ‘demonic sword.’
But that magic was no exception either.
‘It’s absorbing all of my magic.’
Truly like a black hole.
That was no mere shadow.
A gluttonous, ravenous demonic sword that devoured all concepts.
‘Hunger…’
The Shadow Knight kicked off the ground to close the distance.
The jet-black demonic sword ‘Hunger’ in its hand swung.
*Clang!*
But another black sword blocked its advance.
No, it wasn't just one black sword.
Dozens of black swords, and the death knights wielding them.
After a moment of silence, they moved to protect their lord.
Death Knights, each imbued with the hero’s prowess, surrounded and charged the ‘Shadow Knight’ all at once.
‘It seems it can’t absorb an Aura Blade.’
Although the Death Knights in Dale’s world were not real, but merely ‘materializations of his psyche.’
When a high mage deployed a conceptual world and utilized it as a ‘weapon’ to thoroughly eliminate an enemy.
Depending on their skill, the mage could wield power like a god in that world.
It was no exaggeration to call a battle between high mages a ‘clash of worlds.’
In the frozen tundra of biting cold and darkness, the solitary fortress built upon a blank expanse was the very ‘symbol of that power.’
Dale’s Empire.
A single knight cannot win against a nation.
Even if the sword in his hand was one that ‘devoured magic,’ nothing would change.
It could devour magic, but it could not devour an entire world.
In Dale’s world, an endless supply of undying knights was committed to protecting their lord.
The army of Death Knights, the countless black swords of Sachsen, were charging toward the jet-black demonic sword.
This was Dale’s Empire, and facing it was merely ‘a single knight.’
A jet-black Aura Blade struck down at the Shadow Knight, and its shadowy body was torn to shreds by Sachsen’s black swords.
Without shedding blood, without even its flesh and bone being shattered.
The jet-black demonic sword in its hand once again plunged into the marble mosaic tiles of the great hall.
Dale walked over and gripped the hilt of the demonic sword, ‘Hunger.’
Not even a twitch could be felt.
Like a frightened, cowering child, only a trivial malice, like the prick of a needle, could be sensed.
Undeniable submission.
‘A sword that absorbs magic.’
He didn’t know to what extent it could devour, but it was clearly worth acquiring.
He dispelled his conceptual world, and the scenery of the Labyrinth City returned.
“Viscount Sachsen has… the artifact…”
Seeing Dale holding ‘Hunger,’ gasps could be heard from all around.
However.
“The artifact’s rampage has been stopped.”
He spun the hilt, gripping it in a reverse hold, and plunged the sword into the floor.
“As expected of Viscount Sachsen…!”
“To handle an artifact that even a 5th-Circle black mage couldn’t control!”
The son of Lord Black, the heir of House Sachsen, who would dare doubt his name?
Dale turned his head.
Countless people had gathered due to the sudden commotion, and among them, he saw someone he could not simply pass by.
“Sir Drake the Monster Slayer.”
With his hand on the hilt of the demonic sword ‘Hunger,’ Dale called his name.
“…You called for me, Viscount Sachsen.”
‘Drake the Monster Slayer’ bowed his head respectfully, and Dale continued with a smile.
“This sword… how much will you sell it for?”