Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The King of the Underworld
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Carlyle stared blankly at Gwen, who had become a corpse soldier.
Sorrow?
A sense of loss?
Carlyle couldn't quite define the chaotic mix of emotions and thoughts swirling within him.
But one thing was certain: Gwen was someone he could never meet again.
Gwen was dead.
Only her body remained, functioning as a corpse soldier...
*I want to... kill.*
The thought suddenly flashed through Carlyle's mind.
And soon, that thought completely consumed him.
*I want to kill them. I want to kill them all.*
The thought wasn't just directed at the necromancer who had turned Gwen into a corpse soldier.
The enemy.
It was a murderous intent aimed at everyone who sought to take the lives of his allies, and his own.
*I want to kill them all. Every last one.*
*Thump!*
His heart, once cold and still, violently pumped the blood of the Sigmund family coursing through his veins.
*Thump, thump, thump, thump... THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP...!!!*
The blood of Sigmund surged ferociously through every vessel in Carlyle's body.
*Ding!*
A notification window appeared before his eyes.
[Notice: The blood of the Sigmund family is boiling.]
[Notice: Your potential is awakening.]
[Notice: You are awakening the power of Sigmund.]
[Notice: Blood Seal Awakening!]
[Notice: You have awakened the power of the !]
[Notice: Entering Berserk state!]
Blood Seal Awakening.
The ancient, monstrous power that only a true Sigmund could possess.
The potential dormant in his bloodline awakened, bestowing immense power upon Carlyle.
[King of the Underworld]
King of all the dead.
Lord of Soothed Souls.
Ruler of the Netherworld, reigning above the lords of hell.
Carlyle didn't even glance at the status window.
At any other time, he would have scrutinized the window before him, but now, he wasn't in the right state of mind.
*Shhhk,* Carlyle raised Grimungandr.
*Swoooosh!*
The sword, which had been little more than a chipped and rusted piece of scrap metal, revealed its true form.
*Shing...!!!*
Its jet-black blade, as if forged from chaos itself, gleamed with a menacing edge.
[Notice: Grimungandr thirsts for the blood of barbarians...]
Carlyle completely ignored that notification as well.
The only thing that mattered now was whether or not he had the power to kill his enemies—the ones who had turned Gwen into a corpse soldier.
"I'll make you... just the same."
Rage laced the voice of the King of the Underworld.
"Grrrk!"
"Gwaaaaaak!"
A few corpse soldiers charged at Carlyle.
Carlyle didn't swing Grimungandr.
Instead, he simply glared at the corpse soldiers rushing toward him.
*Shwaaa, shwaaaaa!*
Pitch-black blades erupted from the ground, punishing the corpse soldiers that had dared to attack him.
[Blade Hell].
The one who opens the great prelude to death.
The vanguard of judgment.
It was the authority of [Grasim], the First Lord of Hell.
* * *
"I-Impossible!"
A gasp of astonishment escaped Crowley's lips as he witnessed [Blade Hell].
As a skilled necromancer, Crowley's knowledge of magic was considerable.
His scholar's insight, cultivated through a lifetime of studying various forms of black magic and necromancy and exploring the arcane arts of darkness, was sharp enough to recognize [Blade Hell] at a glance.
"B-Blade Hell...?"
The reason Crowley knew of [Blade Hell] was because he was a necromancer.
Necromancy was the study of raising and commanding the dead through dark power, or making pacts with beings from other dimensions to summon them into this world.
As such, it was only natural for a necromancer like Crowley to be well-versed in the powerful entities that resided in other dimensions.
"How could someone who isn't even a necromancer have a pact with Grasim...!"
Humans tend to judge everything based on their own knowledge and experience, and Crowley was no exception.
One sees the world through their own lens.
True to his profession, Crowley mistakenly believed Carlyle could cast [Blade Hell] because of a pact with Grasim, the First Lord of Hell.
Even though Carlyle knew next to nothing about magic, as was typical for a direct descendant of the Sigmund family...
*Why?*
But Crowley had no time to ponder the question.
*Shwaa, shwaaa!*
"Kraaaack!"
"Kyaaak!"
"V-Valhal... Gack!"
The black blades rising from the ground were indiscriminately slaughtering not only the corpse soldiers but also the barbarian warriors nearby.
"Barbarian chieftain! Are you just going to stand there and watch?"
"Didn't you say we had to capture him alive, old mage?"
"We can argue about that later! Let's subdue him first and think afterward!"
"Fine."
Jarkan nodded in response.
"However, I don't care if he lives or dies. I only seek vengeance for my brother. Valhallaaaaa—!"
With that, Jarkan and his warriors charged toward Carlyle.
*A Sigmund with a pact with Grasim! Isn't he the finest material!*
Amid his surprise, Crowley's greed for Carlyle burned even brighter.
Grasim was an entity on a completely different level from the demons of the Demon Realm.
Even the demon kings of the Demon Realm were of a lower class compared to the lords of Hell. A Sigmund who could wield Grasim's authority could potentially become the most powerful undead in history.
"Go, my thralls."
Crowley commanded all of his thralls.
Even the death knights guarding his side were no exception.
"Gwaaaaaaaak!"
"By the oath of undeath...!"
Crowley didn't stop at just sending his thralls.
"As the breath of decay descends upon the battlefield, let flesh rot and souls become shadows of resentment..."
Various incantations of black magic flowed from the lips of Crowley as he held his wand.
* * *
Carlyle watched the enemies charging toward him.
*Kill them all. All of them.*
His grip on Grimungandr tightened, filled with killing intent.
*Fwoosh!*
A black blade extended from his sword, bisecting all the charging enemies.
*Fshaaaaaa!*
Crimson blood erupted like a fountain, and severed bodies tumbled to the ground.
With just a single swing of his sword, three barbarian warriors had been split in two.
And this was despite the physical blade never touching them...
"Valhallaaaaaaa—!"
Jarkan roared his battle cry and swung his massive greatsword at Carlyle.
"Loyalty beyond death, by the oath of undeath."
The death knights also charged Carlyle alongside Jarkan.
*Crack, craaack!*
Pale, bony hands shot out from the ground, trying to grab Carlyle's ankles.
At the same time, Crowley's curses tried to cling to Carlyle like specters.
But Crowley's magic, his curses, had no effect on Carlyle.
[Notice: Magic Nullified!!!]
As the notification appeared, the bony hands trying to grab his ankles shattered into pieces, and the clinging curses were neutralized and dissipated.
The reason?
Carlyle didn't know.
He thought a notification had popped up, but in a situation like this, there was no way he would have noticed it.
Only kill, kill, and kill again...
*Shwaaaaaa!*
Grimungandr cleaved a barbarian warrior who had charged with Jarkan vertically in two, from top to bottom.
"Y-You monster...!"
An exclamation of stunned amazement finally escaped Jarkan's lips.
Carlyle's martial prowess after achieving Blood Seal Awakening was enough to astound even a 4-star barbarian warrior like Grokan.
"Kyaaaaaak!"
"Ugh!"
Not only were Crowley's magic and curses completely ineffective, but every time Carlyle swung his sword, corpse soldiers and barbarian warriors collapsed helplessly.
With the exception of Jarkan and the death knights, no one could stand against Carlyle.
And Carlyle's prowess became the driving force that reignited the fading fighting spirit of the Decaron army.
"Everyone, take up your arms! We fight to the end! Not even death can make us surrender!"
"Waaaaaaaaaah!"
At Helen's cry, the soldiers of Bowden Fortress, who had momentarily lost their will to fight, let out a unified roar and charged the enemy.
The battle, which had briefly paused, resumed.
*Clang, claaang!*
*KABOOM!*
"Aaargh!"
"Gah!"
The battle was fierce.
Life and death constantly intertwined.
Lives clashed against lives, stealing each other's vitality in an endless, vicious cycle.
Perhaps war, too, was a struggle of intelligent beings unable to escape the laws of the ecosystem.
At this intersection of life and death, Carlyle relentlessly swung Grimungandr, reaping the lives of his enemies.
Having awakened the [King of the Underworld] dormant in his Sigmund bloodline and entered a berserk state, Carlyle's power was enough to easily handle not only Jarkan, the chieftain of the Butcher Tribe, but also the death knights.
However...
*Thwack!*
The sword of a death knight plunged into Carlyle's side.
"Gah!"
Blood gushed from Carlyle's mouth.
[Notice: Insufficient Mana!]
*Gulp, gulp!*
He hastily pulled out a mana recovery potion and drank it, but the mana consumption of his berserk state far outstripped the potion's recovery rate.
[Notice: Berserk state deactivating in 10 seconds!]
[Notice: 9, 8, 7...]
Unfortunately, you can't be full from the first bite.
It seemed impossible for Carlyle, having just experienced his first Blood Seal Awakening, to take on 4-star barbarian warriors, death knights, and even the necromancer Crowley all at once.
[Notice: 3, 2, 1...]
[Notice: Berserk state has been deactivated.]
Carlyle felt as if he had plummeted from a great height.
The monstrous strength that had filled his body vanished in the blink of an eye, and in its place, extreme fatigue and pain flooded in.
*Shiver, shiver, shiver!*
His entire body trembled from head to toe, as if he'd been thrown naked onto the shore of a frozen lake.
*Thwump!*
Jarkan's brutal kick slammed into Carlyle's chest.
"Gah!"
Carlyle coughed up blood and was sent flying.
"Die!"
Just as a barbarian warrior brought his axe down on the fallen Carlyle.
*Flaaaash!*
*Swoooooooosh!*
A brilliant white light flashed, and then swords of light, imbued with a biting chill, rained down like a torrential storm.
"Kraaaaaaaak!"
"Aaaaaargh!"
Carlyle's enemies shrieked in agony, spraying blood.
*Thud!*
And then, a knight with platinum-blonde hair fluttering in the wind dropped from high up in the sky.
"Y-You are."
Helen recognized her and gasped in shock.
Selena van Sigmund.
The eldest daughter of the Sigmund family and Carlyle's older sister.
Furthermore, she was considered the strongest of the current Sigmunds, second only to Grand Duke Guntram.