Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Named Death Knight
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‘Named…!’
Monsters radiating overwhelming auras were a dime a dozen.
It was only natural for those with relatively higher levels to exude such presence.
But monsters capable of ‘conversation’ were exceedingly rare.
Individuals possessing human-level intellect and growing toward specific goals.
They were commonly classified as Named.
“Its rank is low.”
Loren analyzed.
The green-haired boy, who had awakened his bloodline skill years ago and survived countless wars, was already at an active-duty level.
Based on his high Insight stat, he gauged the Death Knight’s caliber.
Below level 80.
In other words, it was on the cusp of A-rank.
“…….”
Silla Kyung nodded silently in agreement.
But there were players in the world who exceeded their levels in prowess. Since Silla Kyung himself fell into that category, he couldn’t underestimate the Named’s potential.
‘Its actual combat power is probably A-rank or higher.’
The weapon it wielded was a longsword.
Though clad in full plate armor, suggesting heavy greatsword techniques, it was unwise to jump to conclusions.
Undead Named weren’t likely constrained by the weight or structure of their armor.
‘If it uses swift swordplay, we’re in trouble.’
The average level of Class A students was still under 30.
If the Death Knight employed speed-focused swordsmanship, the majority wouldn’t react in time and would be slaughtered.
“Is domination impossible?”
It was famous that Necromancers could even dominate wild undead classified as monsters.
Not content with raising corpses as undead, they subjugated already active ones, earning the moniker of one-man army.
But unfortunately.
“A Named’s ego is stronger than a human’s. Especially an individual like that one, existing for hundreds or thousands of years—I can’t dominate it at my current level.”
Even Necromancers weren’t omnipotent.
Moreover, Loren was still growing.
No one could expect too much from a National Treasure Candidate who wasn’t yet a full National Treasure.
“And your divinity?”
Loren countered.
While many focused on the flashy side of House Silla—wielding mana to command nature and summon winds and rains—House Baos was the exception.
The house that had produced Necromancers generation after generation paid close attention to and warily eyed House Silla’s divinity.
Saint, or Saintess.
That was the title borne by House Silla’s successive heads.
“My meager divinity likely won’t work either.”
But Silla Kyung, like Loren, was still young.
He judged it difficult to hold his own against a Named-grade undead.
In the end, the two boys reached the same conclusion.
‘Best to avoid combat.’
Loren moved immediately.
He leaped backward into the underbrush and vanished.
He had fled.
As an exchange student, he felt no obligation to uphold loyalty toward his classmates.
To him, Korea was a cursed land that held Dojin captive in the first place.
He didn’t care what happened to the children who would shape Korea’s future.
“Young Heir, we should hurry and fall back too.”
O Ja-ha urged Silla Kyung, sensing Loren’s presence fade in an instant.
The young retainers of House Silla had entered Lion’s Castle Academy for one purpose alone.
To protect Silla Kyung.
The safety of other students meant nothing to them.
They thought protecting Silla Kyung was enough.
And they could voice such thoughts without hesitation because they believed they knew Silla Kyung’s temperament.
During the Leech King raid.
Silla Kyung hadn’t bothered to help Class A students.
They assumed it would be the same this time.
“What happens to those kids if we run too?”
But Silla Kyung’s response was utterly unlike their expectations.
“Nobles have a duty to protect the people.”
Just then.
“Haaah!!”
Freshman Cha Da-hee was fulfilling the duty nobles ought to uphold. She was relentlessly thrusting her sword at a Named-grade Death Knight.
“Eujin! Take the kids and run!”
All to buy time for the children to escape.
“That girl’s lost her mind….”
O Ja-ha clicked his tongue.
In truth, he’d felt aversion toward Cha Da-hee since first laying eyes on her.
Her impulsive, emotion-driven behavior superficially resembled his own, but the emotions she pursued were the polar opposite.
While O Ja-ha prioritized his own safety, Cha Da-hee put others’ safety first.
He felt disgust toward her for acting hypocritically despite being so similar to him.
It was the same now.
Throwing her life away to save the students?
Who did she think she was?
“Y-Young Heir?”
O Ja-ha, who had been glaring at Cha Da-hee and grinding his teeth, snapped to attention.
Silla Kyung had drawn a massive zweihänder from his inventory and gripped it.
He seemed serious about not fleeing and fighting.
“It’s different from the Leech King incident. This is a sudden disaster, not the students’ fault.”
“Haa….”
O Ja-ha sighed and drew his twin swords,
“Nooo.”
While O Ja-du, Ja-ha’s twin sister, pulled out a shield nearly twice her size and positioned herself at the front.
The short-haired hippie girl silently activated her buff skill.
It was a rare wide-area buff.
It boosted the stats of not just Silla Kyung’s group but all of Class A, while awakening their minds.
“Fall back while we buy time. Disperse without fail—and that includes you, Cha Da-hee.”
His speech, actions, even his gaze.
Silla Kyung was elegant.
The single light step he took evoked the image of entering a garden or ballroom, not a battlefield.
But the result was devastating.
Kwarrr rumble!!
The gale erupting the moment Silla Kyung’s foot touched the ground propelled his body dozens of meters forward. The massive zweihänder infused with pure white divinity crashed down on the Death Knight’s head with a thunderous roar.
[What?]
The Death Knight’s violet glow widened dramatically as it raised its longsword to block the zweihänder.
[Meager, but it bears authority.]
Kakakak!
Silla Kyung’s zweihänder screamed. Unable to withstand the Death Knight’s monstrous strength, it was gradually pushed back.
That was when Cha Da-hee and O Ja-ha stepped in.
Their swordsmanship precisely targeted the Death Knight’s joints, stabbing and slashing.
A near-perfect weak-point assault.
Silla Kyung didn’t miss the Death Knight’s slightly disrupted balance.
[Holy Wind]
The blade wind erupting through the zweihänder whipped up a storm. Trapped in the glowing white tempest, the Death Knight staggered as it was shredded.
Even if Silla Kyung’s level was relatively low, divinity itself was lethally effective against undead.
“Didn’t I tell you to run too?”
“After the other students are gone.”
“You’re so stubborn despite being weak.”
After chiding the unyielding Cha Da-hee, O Ja-ha activated his skill.
[Linked Slaughter]
It was classified as top-tier among physical skills.
O Ja-ha was guaranteed to become an S-rank player solely for awakening Linked Slaughter.
But absurdly powerful skills always came with backlash.
This skill, involving continuous slashes and thrusts, placed immense strain on muscles and joints. It required mid-swing shifts from horizontal arcs or vertical drops to straight stabs, defying physical laws and often breaking bones.
Thus, O Ja-ha wielded twin swords.
He slashed with the sword in his left hand and thrust with the one in his right, minimizing the skill’s side effects.
[Foolish wretch.]
The Death Knight, slicing through the storm with its blazing sword, effortlessly shattered O Ja-ha’s skill and sneered.
[You’ve ruined the profound mystery within your swordsmanship.]
It had instantly seen through Linked Slaughter’s true power.
“Ugh, I’m gonna die….”
O Ja-ha paled as a kick slammed into his chest, forcing him to vomit blood.
If O Ja-du hadn’t swiftly activated her skill and blocked the follow-up, he surely would have lost his life.
“Are we okay?”
O Ja-du asked worriedly, intimidated by the ominous energy on the Death Knight’s sword that threatened to cleave her shield.
Cha Da-hee, tense as well, unconsciously thought of Jae-hyeok.
If he were here.
Wouldn’t he say they were fine?
The moment that thought crossed her mind.
“We’re fine.”
Silla Kyung gave the answer Jae-hyeok might have.
“I’ll make sure of it.”
Noble.
Unlike the Leech King incident, the silver-haired boy was displaying the dignity befitting a great ducal heir.
[You’re decent… Hm?]
The Death Knight, intrigued by Silla Kyung’s eyes beginning to glow gold, abruptly turned east.
It had caught a thick scent of blood.
[Sword-mad fiend! You were here too!]
The Death Knight departed without hesitation, thrilled.
The abandoned students stared in bewilderment.
Meanwhile, Silla Kyung worked to manage the situation.
“We’ll pursue the teacher’s trail, so the rest of you request backup from the Martial Force.”
Who the hell was that sword-mad fiend to ignore me and leave?
Silla Kyung suppressed his surging doubts.
Now wasn’t the time to nurse his pride.
***
“Huff, huff….”
Class A homeroom teacher Park Ju-bong was deeply confused.
Shortly after separating from the students, he’d been abruptly attacked by a Death Knight.
It was so strong and sudden that he couldn’t even exchange a few blows before suffering severe wounds.
‘Death Knights appearing in the snowfield—it’s unprecedented. And this one was Named-grade.’
If it had targeted the students…
Even in the chaos, Park Ju-bong hurried onward.
His gruesomely torn chest wound refused to heal with low-grade potions, but he worried only for the students’ safety.
He knew some students looked down on him, a talentless early retiree from active duty.
But he was a teacher nonetheless.
It was his role to teach and care for the children.
And the world kept turning safely today because people faithfully fulfilled such roles.
Jae-hyeok, raised watching his father’s back, knew that simple truth well.
“Hold on. Calm down and open your mouth.”
After chasing the endless monster horde that barely thinned despite repeated strikes for a while.
Spotting Park Ju-bong crawling and bleeding profusely by chance, Jae-hyeok rushed over. He pulled out a blood-red potion and poured the entire bottle into the wound and mouth.
It was the ultra-high-grade potion gifted by Jo Seong-hyeon.
“…J-Jae-hyeok? How are you here?”
Meeting an unexpected savior, recovering from his wounds, and regaining his senses, Park Ju-bong’s eyes widened.
His trembling gaze fixed on the empty potion bottle.
“Why waste something so precious on me?”
“Who else would I use it on?”
“…Huh?”
“Let’s get out of here first.”
Something ominous.
The monsters that had trailed him relentlessly, ignoring their kin’s slaughter, suddenly halted and milled about in confusion.
Their rigid muscles and bristling fur betrayed intense anxiety and fear.
Just as Jae-hyeok signaled Park Ju-bong and prepared to sprint.
-Found you.
A ferocious voice stabbed into Jae-hyeok’s mind.
Deodor.
Recalling the name from the Lion Statue, Jae-hyeok shuddered at the monstrous killing intent.
‘What?’
There should’ve been nearly four months until its appearance—why now?
The question resolved quickly.
-Four months…? Even after four months of recovery, you’d barely swing a sword. That bastard isn’t one to wait patiently anyway. It’s no surprise he’d hunt you down the moment he could move.
The Lion Statue had already given a big hint.
That brute Deodor lacked patience.
‘Things have gone awry.’
No time to hesitate.
Jae-hyeok deliberately ran in the opposite direction from Park Ju-bong.
His destination was where the monsters had been heading.
The nest where the Lord was born.
The Martial Force monitoring it should be there, so he planned to borrow their power for safety.
But moments later, not a single presence stirred around the cave. Echoes of wailing filled the canyon-enclosed space.
‘Why is no one here?’
Flustered by the unexpected, Jae-hyeok turned back.
The silhouette of a massive knight loomed faintly.
-Sword-mad fiend, where do you think you’re going?
The voice resounding in his mind grew even louder.
Jae-hyeok had no choice but to step into the cave.