Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: High-Class (2)
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Slashes rained down from all directions.
Nadine swung his sword frantically, barely deflecting the onslaught.
Each block sent a sharp ache through his forearm bones, his grip tearing apart.
"Oh, he's blocking pretty well."
"Yeah, way better than that first-class Holy Knight we fought last time!"
Nadine bit his lip as he overheard the couple's banter.
The famed strongest first-class Holy Knight? All he could do was barely hold them off.
The wound he'd taken at the start was too severe. The deep gash from chest to flank left him unable to move properly.
'No, no. Even if I were unscathed, I couldn't guarantee I'd beat these two.'
The couple could kill him in an instant if they wanted, but they were toying with him instead.
Even their playful strikes were terrifyingly sharp and precise.
It was proof of these monsters' overwhelming skill, despite their casual demeanor.
'And on top of that, the Dark Knight and Black Mage being one entity is a real headache.'
The Dark Knight alone was a tough opponent, but their combined linked attacks were overwhelming.
The reason he'd taken that fatal wound at the outset was the Black Mage's curse.
"Sir Nadine!"
A familiar voice rang out. The Holy Knights he'd sent to scout the forest were back.
They cried out in alarm at the sight of Nadine fighting while bleeding.
"We'll help you!"
"Save Sir Nadine!"
The Holy Knights drew their swords and charged. The couple smirked at the sight.
"Moths flying right into the flame?"
"Dear, leave these to me!"
The volume of black mana emanating from the couple surged dramatically. Nadine shouted desperately at the sight.
"No... don't come! Stay back! You can't approach!"
Nadine yelled urgently, but the Holy Knights ignored him. They burned with the duty to rescue him.
"Dear! Watch this! I'll turn them all into rotting corpses!"
The wife spread her arms wide. Small magic circles appeared on her open palms.
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, the Holy Knights rolled their eyes back and collapsed unconscious. They toppled to the ground in the very poses they'd been charging in.
Nadine's face twisted in despair. As expected, this woman was no ordinary Black Mage. To subdue so many Holy Knights in an instant...
"Huh? What's going on with them all?"
Then the wife shouted in confusion. Her husband gave her a puzzled look.
"Dear, what are you talking about? You put them to sleep."
"N-no! I was trying to cast Decay Curse! I wasn't aiming to knock them out!"
What the hell were they talking about?
Nadine was baffled as he listened to their exchange.
Then a wave of intense vertigo crashed over him. Layers of heavy drowsiness piled onto his eyelids.
"What... is this..."
He tried to resist, but it was futile. His vision blurred, and he collapsed face-first onto the ground.
"What's up with him now?"
The husband looked exasperated.
"...Dear."
The wife spoke with a rigidly stiff expression.
"It's a Sleep Curse."
"As expected of you. Cursing so many in that short time."
"It wasn't me!"
The wife cried out in shock.
"There's another Black Mage! That Black Mage used the Sleep Curse!"
The stronger the target, and the greater the number, the harder a curse was to cast.
There were over ten Holy Knights here. Most were second-class, and some were even first-class.
All of them knocked out in a single moment. It was impossible for anyone of ordinary skill.
"Arch... no... Grand Black Mage? Who could..."
Just then, something flew through the air and hit the ground, rolling pathetically.
The couple looked down at it. To their horror, it was a human head.
A man's face on the front and a woman's on the back. Identical to their own.
"Little sib!"
"Our little cutie!"
The couple clutched the head to their chests and wailed. Soon, they scanned their surroundings in fury.
"Who is it! Who the hell killed my little sibling!"
"How could anyone be so cruel to our precious cutie!"
Footsteps echoed from afar.
The steps were widely spaced, feeling incredibly slow. Yet eerily clear.
The couple slowly turned. A man was walking out from between the buildings.
Gray-tinged skin, blackened sclera, crimson glow in the pupils.
All hallmarks of a Dark Knight. But the Hanger couple couldn't possibly see him as an ally.
Not with the vivid malice pouring toward them.
The moment the man appeared, the air froze solid. Every breath felt like tiny needles stabbing into their lungs.
Death.
That's what they sensed from the man.
"...Did you do this to my little sibling?"
But the pride they'd built over a lifetime wouldn't let them succumb to fear.
"Speak. I'm asking if you killed our sibling—"
"Fortunate."
A smile suddenly curved the man's lips.
Joy and sorrow tangled wildly. Ecstasy and rage intertwined.
With that eerie grin, the man addressed the couple.
"I'm so glad there are two of you. Killing you both might actually improve my mood a little."
The couple fell silent.
An acrid sense of dread emanated from the man. Every hair on their bodies stood on end.
Suddenly, the man opened a subspace and sheathed the sword he'd been holding.
"Why... put away your weapon?"
The husband blurted out without thinking. It was utterly incomprehensible behavior.
"If I keep holding my sword and die as easily as those fools, I'd regret it too much."
The man said, glancing at his siblings' heads. Fresh rage boiled in the couple.
"Dear, did you hear what that bastard just said?"
"Loud and clear. He thinks we're pushovers, doesn't he?"
"You think killing our sibling means you can take us down easily too?"
"As if! Just watch—we'll avenge our little sib..."
The man's body vanished. The next instant, something appeared right before their eyes.
Before they could register it, it plunged into an eye. The vitreous humor burst, flooding the socket with fluid. Even the facial bones shattered.
The head snapped back, and the body toppled over. The husband clutched his face in agony.
"Krraaaagh!"
"Dear! Are you okay? Dear!"
The man landed on the ground and lightly dusted off his knees.
"You talk too much."
He muttered quietly toward the couple.
"Shut up and let's begin. I can't endure any more."
* * *
The couple rose with roars of fury.
They concentrated black mana on their faces to regenerate the wounds. The burst eyeball and caved-in socket returned to normal in short order.
"You damned bastard!"
Pain numbed their reason. The husband spat his rage at the man.
He drew the other sword from his waist. Gripping dual swords, he unleashed his black mana.
Before being remodeled by Him, the husband had been a dual-sword master.
He could move both hands freely. His differently moving twin blades would pressure foes before claiming their lives.
"I'll shred your guts until you die!"
The husband began pressuring the man with sweeping dual swords. The blades danced in unpredictable patterns.
At that moment, the man kicked off the ground. Like a compressed spring releasing, he shot forward.
His straight-thrust fist smashed the husband's jaw without chance to defend.
The jaw shattered, head whipping around. Intense vertigo flooded the husband's brain.
"Grraaa!"
The husband staggered back roaring, hastily regenerating his jaw with black mana.
"You bastard again!"
The agony turned to rage. He swung his dual swords, unleashing Aura slashes toward the man.
The man didn't retreat. He charged forward. The Aura slashes carved into his body.
"Why didn't you dodge..."
The question resolved itself quickly. The Aura slashes failed to cut the man. A protective barrier enveloped his body.
"...Aura Guard?"
At the high-class level, one could heighten defense by enveloping the body in Aura.
But no Aura Guard could withstand a direct Aura strike.
Aura concentrated on a blade versus Aura spread across the body—the densities were fundamentally different. It was common sense.
A nonstop chain of impossibilities.
"Such nonsense!"
He raised his arms to swing the dual swords. In that instant, the man punched his forearm.
The light jab connected. The next moment, everything below the forearm vanished.
Not ruptured muscle or snapped bone. The entire arm was ripped clean off.
Pain beyond the shattered jaw assailed him. The husband screamed and retreated.
"You mad bastard!"
He tried to swing the remaining sword. But the man drove an elbow into his chest first.
The chest caved inward at the impact point. Ribs pulverized, heart burst. The couple vomited blood from their mouths.
"Dear!"
The wife cried out desperately. Before his body shut down, the husband focused black mana to regenerate his heart.
"D-dear... st-stop him!"
His chest wound wasn't fully regenerated yet, and his forearm was still gone. He needed time to heal somehow.
"O-okay!"
The wife manifested black magic, sending countless black projectiles flying.
The bullets pelted the man's body. But they couldn't even leave a scratch.
"What kind of barbaric Aura Guard is that..."
The man closed the distance and kicked the abdomen. It didn't just tear—it exploded. A chunk ripped away.
Pain on another level battered his brain. His knees buckled, waist bent, head lowered.
"Uweeek!"
The husband dropped to his knees, vomiting blood laced with organ fragments.
Only then did he realize: the phrase "beaten to death" was no exaggeration.
But the couple weren't just taking it lying down.
While the husband bore all the pain, the wife circulated black mana to weave a ritual.
Unlike the black bullets, this ritual's structure was incredibly complex and intricate. A sign of high-level black magic in preparation.
"Dear!"
The wife spread her hands. The ritual completed, and the black magic manifested.
"Now!"
The wife unleashed her curse. 'Veil' to obscure vision and 'Confusion' to disrupt senses activated simultaneously.
The distance was close. The target was clear. Failure was impossible.
"Rraaaaa!"
The husband squeezed out every ounce of strength. He gripped his sword with his one intact arm.
He concentrated Aura on the blade. Black Aura blazed up like hellfire.
High-class.
Far from master-class, but known for imitating its power to some degree.
This high-class warrior focused all his capacity into a single technique.
Ultimate Technique - Motley Crowd
He swung. The Aura split apart. It divided into countless slashes that engulfed the man.
Dozens of slashes raked the man's body. But not a single one pierced the Aura Guard.
Blocking Aura was one thing. Even shrugging off the black magic could be grasped somehow.
But casually repelling a high-class ultimate technique? It was absurd. Unthinkable. Impossible.
"This can't be..."
As the husband mumbled in a daze, the man's body vanished. He reappeared above the couple's heads.
The man stomped down on their heads.
A heavy thud echoed as the heads smashed into the ground. The extreme shock left the couple unable to think.
The man seized their heads and yanked them from the dirt.
"Gahk! Heok!"
"Puhak! Hwak!"
The couple gasped raggedly. The next instant, the man slammed their heads down again.
The ground shattered once more. Nearby trees shook.
"Keurk!"
The man didn't stop at one. He slammed repeatedly. Each impact crushed the husband's face further.
"St-stop... stop...!"
In the end, the husband could only beg.
"I-I'm begging... stop... please, just stop...!"
The man slammed again. Their pain intensified.
How many times?
When the husband's features were unrecognizable, the man finally stopped.
"Huu..."
The man let out a long sigh. His face had calmed considerably.
"Finally starting to vent a little."
The man looked down at the couple. They were gathering black mana to regenerate their wounds.
But the shock had been too great—the regeneration was noticeably slower.
"Now then, just a few questions."
The man asked the battered couple.
"Spill everything you know about Dorgo."