Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Traitor (3)
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Demian pierced Sanus's chest with the holy sword.
He slammed the holy sword straight into the ground.
“Keuk! Gah!”
Sanus vomited blood repeatedly.
Demian spoke in a cold voice.
“Don't make such a fuss. Heal the wound with holy power.”
Demian had thrust the blade in while avoiding her heart.
There was still much he needed to ask Sanus, so he couldn't kill her right away.
“Senior Brother!”
As Demian subdued Sanus, Dionysius rushed toward Gamal.
Dionysius poured a potion into Gamal's mouth.
He then invoked holy power to heal Gamal.
“Di…… Dionysius…….”
Fortunately, Gamal quickly regained his senses.
As soon as he came to, Gamal pushed himself up.
His injuries were still severe, making it look extremely arduous.
Even so, Gamal moved his legs to approach Demian.
Dionysius tried to dissuade him, saying he needed rest, but Gamal ignored him.
“Thanks to you, I survived. I will definitely repay this favor.”
Gamal's voice was filled with sincerity.
Demian shrugged his shoulders.
“Sanus.”
Gamal looked down at Sanus and spoke.
Sanus writhed in agony with the holy sword embedded in her chest.
With the sword pierced through her chest, she couldn't properly channel holy power.
She couldn't even pull out the deeply embedded blade.
All Sanus could do now was endure while healing the wound with holy power.
“Was betraying us the will of the entire Blinding Agony?”
“It was my sole decision. I prepared this on my own.”
This differed from what she had said at first.
With the plan having failed, it seemed she intended to take all the blame upon herself.
“Denying it is pointless. If we take you back to headquarters, the inquisitors will wrench the truth out of you no matter what.”
“I've already told the truth. How could I speak another truth?”
Sanus said with a strange smile.
“And have you forgotten? The Blinding Agony never opens their mouths.”
Blinding Agony.
It was the fanatic sect that even Demian Haksen had called madmen.
As Sanus said, there had never been a case where someone from Blinding Agony confessed or yielded under torture.
“Do whatever you want if you're going to take me.”
Gamal turned to Demian and asked.
“Sir Demian, is it alright to kill Sanus here?”
It was Demian who had subdued Sanus.
The right to decide Sanus's life or death lay with Demian.
“You're not planning to take her to the Church?”
At Demian's question, Gamal gave a wry smile.
“Sanus will plainly claim she was the mastermind even at the Church. Blinding Agony will deny any involvement.”
A sect on the level of Blinding Agony could easily disguise this incident as Sanus's solo act.
“And they'll protect Sanus by any means. Saying she must atone through labor or some such. Then, they'll quietly take her back into the sect when the opportunity arises.”
“A Grade 2 Holy Knight is rare, but…… would they go that far?”
“Blinding Agony would. To them, Sanus is merely a noble saint who enacted God's will.”
In that case, everything would return to square one.
It would be better to kill Sanus right here.
At least that way, they could weaken Blinding Agony's forces.
“Do as you like.”
With Demian's permission, Gamal raised his spear.
“Gamal, slay the heretics for my share as well.”
Sanus said with a smile.
Gamal silently brought the spear down.
Sanus met her death without even a dying scream.
The moment he struck with the spear, Gamal collapsed to the ground.
Dionysius supported him.
“Senior Brother Gamal!”
“I'm fine. I'll recover after a short rest.”
Demian disagreed with Gamal.
Holy power was not omnipotent.
If the injury was too severe, no amount of holy power could achieve full recovery.
Gamal had sustained a fatal wound from Sanus.
Even healed with holy power, he was in no condition to fight.
“Sir Demian, may I ask a favor?”
Gamal said toward Demian.
Demian looked at Gamal as if to say, go ahead.
“While I recover, please save the others.”
“That goes without saying.”
Demian had come here to prevent the extermination squad's annihilation.
By stopping Sanus, he had protected Gamal and Dionysius, but it was still not enough.
He could only say he had achieved his goal after saving more people.
“……You truly are a model knight. I understand now why Flamebearer keeps recommending you as a Holy Knight.”
Gamal said with a moved expression.
From Demian's perspective, it was chilling talk.
Demian had no intention of becoming a Holy Knight.
“You'd suit being a Holy Knight more than a regular knight.”
Whether he knew Demian's inner thoughts or not, Gamal gazed at Demian with blazing eyes.
Demian felt an ominous premonition.
‘I should avoid him from now on.’
Demian added Gamal to his list of people to watch out for.
At that moment, Demian's senses detected something.
Immense black magic power was emanating from deeper than where Demian stood.
There was only one being in this dungeon capable of unleashing such vast black magic power.
‘Corpse Puppeteer.’
In his previous life, Dorgo's confidant and a butcher who had slain countless humans.
But that didn't matter.
The reason Demian was pursuing the Corpse Puppeteer now was simple.
The Corpse Puppeteer had already made contact with Dorgo.
He might even know Dorgo's location.
That possibility set Demian's body ablaze.
The problem was that the source of the black magic was too far away.
In such a complex place, finding the Corpse Puppeteer would undoubtedly take a long time.
‘I could smash the ground and tunnel straight through…… but my mana reserves are too low for that.’
His limited mana always held Demian back.
It was while Demian was pondering a method.
He felt a massive mana pulsing from within his pocket.
Demian reached into his inner pocket.
The spirit heart blazed like a fireball.
“Such pure energy…… what in the world is that?”
Gamal looked at the spirit heart with a shocked face.
The spirit heart, which had been rigidly solid until now, had finally completely melted.
If absorbing the spirit heart increased his mana reserves, he could tunnel to the Corpse Puppeteer.
Demian swallowed the spirit heart.
A hot fireball slid down his throat.
As expected, the spirit's power was tremendous.
The mana was impeccably pure, without a trace of impurity.
Yet its quantity overflowed.
What surprised him most was the effect the spirit's power had on his body.
‘My body is growing resistant to fire qi.’
Not just his skin, but his muscles and internal organs were changing.
Now, ordinary flames could no longer harm Demian.
‘New sensations are emerging too.’
Something was added to Demian's sensory perception.
It was the ability to sense living beings' heat.
No, it wasn't seeing—it was detecting.
He could feel not only Dionysius and Gamal right beside him, but also the heat of survivors beyond the walls.
Demian expanded his senses.
The detectable heat signatures increased further.
‘Satisfactory.’
Along with pure mana, he had gained a body resistant to fire qi and the sense to detect heat.
‘……Hm?’
At that moment, something caught in Demian's senses.
Right next to where the immense black magic had been felt, two heat signatures were detected.
The heat emanating from the two was extraordinarily intense.
He almost mistook them for fireballs.
‘Agnes? Margata?’
Demian immediately pierced their identities.
In the midst of battle, the heat from the two fluctuated moment by moment.
Soon, the fireball presumed to be Agnes was helplessly struck.
Immediately after, Agnes's flames noticeably weakened.
“Dangerous.”
At the sudden words, Dionysius and Gamal blinked.
“Dangerous? What do you mean?”
There was no time to explain.
He had to head there right now.
Searching for a path would mean arriving too late.
He needed to carve a path.
Demian's eyes caught the large axe Sanus had used.
He picked up the axe and channeled mana into it.
Aura gathered on the axe blade.
Simply pouring aura wasn't enough.
Demian recalled the perfect realm for this situation.
‘Shattering Wave.’
A technique that could amplify shock several times over.
The master who had attained this, the ‘Wallbreaker,’ had shattered castle walls like glass after reaching Shattering Wave.
Demian swung the large axe down toward the ground.
The ground didn't just shatter—it turned to powder.
“Uwaaak!”
Dionysius and Gamal cried out in shock.
But Demian didn't stop and hammered in a second strike.
Boom.
With an explosion, the ground shattered again.
Demian wasn't satisfied and delivered a third strike.
Each swing of the axe visibly lowered the ground.
How many swings was that?
Boom.
A hole several meters deep pierced through at once, revealing a massive cavern.
“Really damn deep.”
Demian brushed the dirt off his clothes.
He was covered in soil from tunneling.
Lifting his head, familiar faces came into view.
Agnes and Margata, along with a sickly-looking young man.
Though younger than in Demian's memory, he recognized him immediately.
“So you were here, you damned bastard.”
Corpse Puppeteer Delant.
Demian smiled as he gazed at the prey he had finally confronted.
* * *
“Ooh……”
The Corpse Puppeteer facing Demian wore an ecstatic expression.
“To think the material I've been awaiting appears before me like this! How could I be so happy!”
Demian let out a scoff.
The old Corpse Puppeteer he had seen in his previous life was always lost in his own world.
This young Corpse Puppeteer was no different.
“Don't kill him. And don't damage the body.”
The Corpse Puppeteer raised his hand.
The flesh golems turned to look at Demian.
The flesh golems charged toward Demian.
Demian dropped the axe from his hand.
Instead, he opened his subsace and drew the Thousand-Mile Sword.
Demian recalled his battle with the Sword Fiend.
The Sword Fiend wasn't particularly strong among masters.
But when it came to facing numbers, he was the most terrifying master.
It had been the same back then.
When the Sword Fiend flicked his finger, the undead legion numbering tens of thousands fragmented and vanished.
Until now, he hadn't been able to recreate that technique due to insufficient mana.
But now was different.
By consuming the spirit heart, Demian's mana reserves had greatly increased.
Now, he could perfectly replicate that technique.
He infused mana into the Thousand-Mile Sword.
The Thousand-Mile Sword vibrated on its own, emitting a low sword cry.
Ultimate Technique - Ferocious Roar Mountain Shatter
He flicked the flat of the blade with his finger.
The horde charging at Demian tore apart into pieces in an instant.