Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Dark Knight (2)
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Kang Hyun-soo was quite taken aback.
‘Was it Duke Kalmus’s skill that caused me to turn into a ronin beastkin?’
That part made sense.
But why had he turned into a ronin beastkin instead of a werewolf form?
And why on earth had he gotten younger?
‘Could it be?’
At that moment, several hypotheses surfaced in Kang Hyun-soo’s mind.
‘I’m human. So beast transformation might only go this far for me.’
Beastkin were half-beast and half-human to begin with, so when they used the beast transformation skill, they shifted into a complete beast form based on their human shape.
Kang Hyun-soo, on the other hand, was a pure human.
So it made sense that his beast transformation had stalled at the half-human, half-beast level.
‘The issue is getting younger?’
That seemed tied to the beastkin lifespan.
‘The average beastkin lifespan is double that of humans.’
At 23, Kang Hyun-soo was an adult by human standards.
‘But by beastkin standards, he’s barely a youth.’
Viewing it that way made it understandable too.
But even so.
‘Why did using the beast transformation skill turn me into a beastkin?’
Getting younger didn’t just mean superficially mimicking a beastkin’s appearance.
‘It means my physical lifespan adjusted to match a beastkin’s too.’
His mind grew complicated.
‘Were beastkin originally a race of humans born from a passively applied beast transformation skill? No, that can’t be right. From what I know, beastkin existed in the Atlantis dimension long before players appeared.’
No matter how much he racked his brain, Kang Hyun-soo couldn’t figure out why he had become a beastkin.
‘Well, it’s not that important anyway.’
In truth, the beastkin form was more convenient for moving around in than the werewolf shape.
That point was a plus rather than a minus.
‘At any rate, I can revert to my original form by releasing the skill.’
If he played it right, he could make use of two separate identities.
From Kang Hyun-soo’s perspective, that was a major advantage.
‘I’m curious what would happen if I used the beast transformation skill again in this state.’
But since it was a replica skill, he couldn’t duplicate the same skill, so it remained mere curiosity.
‘For now, let’s help with the battle.’
Kang Hyun-soo intended to deploy all his humanoid summons for this fight.
The number was a mere 17.
‘But they’re all based on named players and rankers.’
On top of that, he had appointed them as battalion and company commanders—and even bestowed Commander’s Blessing—so.
‘They’ve overcome the summon penalty to a certain extent.’
With this much force.
It would provide major assistance against Wyrm Karas.
‘Shall we get started?’
Kang Hyun-soo summoned the Blade King in front of Count Bukaku.
Ching!
“Who are you?”
“How did you make it all the way here?”
Count Bukaku’s guards blocked the Blade King’s path and shouted.
Ignoring the guards’ cries, the Blade King opened his mouth in a calm voice.
“Fortunately, it seems you didn’t take my warning lightly. Well done.”
The guards jumped in shock at the insolent tone coming from the Blade King’s mouth.
“You dare speak so boldly, you wretch!”
“This is where Count Bukaku resides!”
“Back off right now!”
The guards, practically frothing at the mouth, moved to attack the Blade King.
“Stand down.”
At that moment, Count Bukaku restrained his guards.
“My thanks. Without your warning, Baran would have suffered beyond imaginable losses. But what brings you here?”
“I’ve come to aid the Mulan Kingdom.”
“Oh! My gratitude!”
From the perspective of Count Bukaku, who had to fend off the dragonkin monster legion led by the wyrm.
Support from someone evaluated as equal to him—or greater—was more than welcome.
“We’ll handle the fighting ourselves. Just make sure everyone knows we’re not the enemy.”
“Then take this.”
Count Bukaku handed over the battalion commander’s seal for Baran’s territorial army.
In truth, since the enemies were fixed as dragonkin monsters, it wasn’t strictly necessary.
Even so, friend-foe identification and the battalion commander’s seal were important.
Why?
‘Can’t have them treating us like random mercenaries for no reason.’
A position like that was needed to fight autonomously without clashing with allied forces.
“But what do you mean by ‘we’?”
No sooner had Count Bukaku’s question ended than.
Shh!
Sixteen more players materialized out of thin air.
“Then let’s be off.”
With those words, the summons—led by the Blade King—leaped down from the ramparts.
“Count Bukaku, just who are they?”
Kwaaaang!
The moment Count Bukaku’s guards tried to ask about the identities of the Blade King and the other summons, a massive explosion rang out.
Count Bukaku and his guards turned their gazes toward the base of the ramparts.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
Explosions erupted in succession.
The Blade King and the summons, cloaked in aura across their bodies, unleashed attack skills indiscriminately, sweeping away the elite dragonkin swarming to shatter the gates.
‘As expected.’
Count Bukaku’s expression hardened upon witnessing the scene.
‘Not an ordinary organization.’
At minimum, three named players.
The rest had some variance in strength.
But they all appeared to be rankers or top-tier players at least.
‘On par with a major guild’s elites.’
In fact, there was no great need to worry at that level.
The problem was.
‘I doubt that’s all of them.’
They were merely the tip of the iceberg.
He felt certain their organization’s full strength was even more overwhelming.
But he felt no hostility.
‘They’re definitely an organization opposed to the Demon King’s army.’
Otherwise, there would have been no need to share their organization’s top-secret information just to help him and the Mulan Kingdom.
‘Why hide their identity, though?’
If they pledged loyalty to the Mulan Kingdom, he was prepared to provide active support.
‘They don’t want to be tied to a nation?’
It could be that—or perhaps they simply didn’t wish to waste their forces on infighting among allies.
‘Knights who practice chivalry from the shadows.’
A name for their organization came to mind in Count Bukaku’s head.
‘Dark Knights.’
Count Bukaku decided to use the designation “Dark Knights” in his report to the Mulan royal family.
He couldn’t keep referring to them indefinitely as some unidentified organization, so he needed to assign them a suitable name anyway.
Dark Knights.
It felt like a name that captured their organization’s essence at a glance.
* * *
‘Is that all they’ve got?’
He had sent his subordinate dragonkin monsters marching on the human city.
A fair number had died.
But he had realized one fact as a result.
‘There’s no one there who can stop me.’
There were a few somewhat strong humans.
But they weren’t nearly enough to halt him.
One point of concern.
‘Why haven’t those bastards shown up?’
The ones who attacked the moment he passed through the dimensional gate—then fled.
The ones who halved the number of his subordinate dragonkin monsters.
The ones who stole away his elite dragonkin—including the top-tier drakans and dragonians—from under him and turned them against him.
-Grraaarr!
A low growl leaked from Wyrm Karas’s mouth.
Under normal circumstances, he would have waged the war at a more leisurely pace.
But not now.
He had no margin for leisure.
‘Can’t afford any more losses among my kin. Not when I need them to prepare for those bastards’ appearance.’
The ones who attacked him, slaughtered his subordinates, and stole his kin.
If his dragonkin monster subordinates dwindled further.
They wouldn’t be able to serve as shields when those enemies appeared.
The mana spent on breaths to demolish the gates.
‘Has all recovered.’
Wyrm Karas’s current condition.
Was at its peak.
Wyrm Karas flapped his enormous wings and swiftly headed toward the human city.
* * *
“The wyrm is moving!”
“The wyrm is flying straight here!”
Up until now, the wyrm had sat back idly across the river, content to send only dragonkin monsters—his movement threw the great city of Baran into chaos.
“Urgh.”
Mulan’s Guardian Saint, Duke Kalmus—who had been single-handedly holding the place of the shattered gates—ground his teeth as he glared at the approaching wyrm.
The closer the distance, the more vividly he sensed the wyrm’s immeasurable mana.
To be honest, even he—the one called Mulan’s Guardian Saint—felt no confidence of victory against that wyrm.
But.
‘If I don’t stop it, no one will.’
Moreover, Duke Kalmus wasn’t alone here.
The Royal Guard Knights dispatched alongside him from the royal family.
Every named player and ranker gathered in the great city of Baran.
If they all pooled their strength?
They might be able to take down that wyrm.
No—for the survival of great city Baran itself, and more importantly, for the safety of the Mulan Kingdom and every nation in the Atlantis dimension.
He had to defeat that wyrm, no matter what.
“Royal Guard Knights, assemble!”
At Duke Kalmus’s shout, the Royal Guard Knights—who had been scattered across the area, locked in battle—gathered.
“Duke!”
Count Bukaku approached Duke Kalmus, having assembled every named player and ranker in great city Baran.
Count Bukaku had also instinctively realized that victory was impossible without capturing that wyrm.
“Is everyone assembled?”
“Yes, Duke!”
Count Bukaku responded vigorously to Duke Kalmus’s question.
“Understood. But who are they?”
Duke Kalmus asked while gazing at the Blade King and summons, who were fighting elite dragonkin without joining the assembly.
“They are…”
Count Bukaku gave Duke Kalmus a brief rundown of the situation.
“Oh ho, so those are the ones?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Truly no ordinary folk.”
Duke Kalmus narrowed his eyes.
They weren’t revealing their full abilities.
But the proverb held: seeing one thing reveals ten. Just from their crisp movements as they severed the elite dragonkin monsters’ lifelines, he could sense they were anything but ordinary.
“Request their aid. Right now, we need every hand we can get—even a fern frond’s.”
“Yes, Duke.”
Count Bukaku dispatched someone to request assistance from the Blade King and the summons.
‘Hmm.’
Duke Kalmus felt a strange sense of incongruity as he watched the approaching Blade King and summons.
‘No life force. They feel like dolls.’
It could be the tight wrappings around their bodies giving that impression.
Yet they evoked an instinctive aversion, an intensely artificial sensation.
But this wasn’t the time to be choosy about hot rice or cold.
“Are you the Dark Knights?”
“Dark Knights?”
“It’s the temporary moniker Count Bukaku assigned to your organization. It suits you well, in my view. If you dislike it, reveal your organization’s name—I’ll use that instead.”
“No need. Call us whatever you like.”
The royal guards assembled near Duke Kalmus twitched their eyebrows at the response delivered through the Blade King’s mouth.
To think someone would dare use such rude language toward Mulan’s Guardian Saint—the living legend himself?
“Manners…”
“Enough.”
As one royal guard started to call it out, Duke Kalmus raised a hand to cut him off.
Now wasn’t the time to pick at trivialities like speech patterns and sow division.
“Then I shall call you Dark Knights from here on. Dark Knights—all of you, devote your full strength to battling that wyrm.”
“The very reason we came here is to fell that wyrm.”
Duke Kalmus flashed a satisfied smile at the response.
“It’s about time we set off.”
The wyrm had already drawn right up to great city Baran’s doorstep.
“Here.”
Duke Kalmus proffered 17 feathers.
S-Rank flight items that granted the ability to use Flight.
“Then we’ll go ahead.”
Taaang!
Duke Kalmus kicked off the ground and shot into the sky.
The royal guards followed in his wake.
“Follow Duke Kalmus!”
At Count Bukaku’s shout.
Count Bukaku—along with every named player and ranker he had assembled—soared into the sky.
‘An unexpected gift.’
Kang Hyun-soo, who had conversed with Duke Kalmus via the Blade King, wore a faint smile as he.
-Go.
Issued the attack order to his summons.