Claiming the Abyss Knight
Kaisent dropped down from the watchtower and unfurled a bone barrier, placing it squarely in the Abyss Knight’s path.
A single charge shattered the barrier as if it were nothing, yet what waited for the Abyss Knight beyond it were massive roots surging up from the earth.
"Hyaaaah!"
Seizing the brief window the roots bought him, Kaisent forged an energy blade and drove it straight toward the powerful core he sensed in the knight’s chest.
Kwajijik!
The roots failed to hinder the Abyss Knight even for a heartbeat. With completely unimpeded motion it swung its arm, ripping the roots free, then smashed the shaft of its halberd into Kaisent, who had already closed the distance.
"Augh!"
He hastily reshaped the blade into a shield, yet the impact still slammed through him. Kaisent hit the ground, bounced once, and scrambled back into a ready stance.
The moment he looked up again, he met the horse’s blazing eyes. Startled, Kaisent vanished from sight just as the halberd came crashing down, unleashing a massive shockwave.
That—that was too close!!
A single strike had carved a long trench into the earth. The real problem was that the blow had not been some ultimate technique or special skill—it was simply raw, overwhelming power.
Now I understand why they say one cavalryman is worth ten foot soldiers.
This was Kaisent’s first close-quarters fight against a mounted enemy, and every angle of it left him at a disadvantage. The horse’s weight turned every downward swing into a crushing blow. The halberd itself could thrust, cleave, or hook; ordinary attacks never even reached the rider.
Then I’ll take the horse first—cancel the height advantage and kill its mobility.
He snatched an arrow in each hand from the quiver and hurled them with the refined principles of the Soul-Chasing Flight technique. The Abyss Knight casually swatted aside the shaft aimed at its core, only realizing a beat too late that the second arrow was streaking toward its mount’s head.
Crack!
The arrow struck the horse’s skull and snapped like a dry twig. Even charged with mana, it had failed to leave so much as a scratch.
Too strong.
Speed, power—every metric belonged to the enemy.
"Fireball!"
He launched an offensive spell, hoping to force an opening. The Abyss Knight did not even bother to defend; it simply tanked the hit and flaunted its durability.
Even its defense…
An Abyss Knight’s gear scaled with the strength of its creator. This one was powerful enough that a direct magical strike left no mark at all.
If I fight it head-on, I lose.
He was outmatched in every respect, yet Kaisent’s eyes held no despair. They were fixed on the thread floating above the Abyss Knight’s head.
When I killed the vampire, I seized the fading mana path and ordered the undead to save myself. If I can take control of that thread, I still have a chance!
It was the only path to victory left to him. Executing it, however, was another matter. The mounted knight was already difficult for a full-grown man to reach; Kaisent, smaller than an average adult, had no option but to jump—and leaping at an opponent this strong was suicide.
I’ll create an opening!
When raw ability falls short, technique and cunning make up the difference—that is how intelligent beings fight. Kaisent brushed the throwing knives on his utility belt, then charged.
"Prrrrh!"
The horse shared its master’s will. Burning with hatred for the living, it lunged straight at him. Kaisent slipped toward the shield side, but the Abyss Knight swung with force that would have pulverized his entire body on contact.
Now!
He had baited the shield swing. The instant the knight began to recover, Kaisent slammed his palm against the shield.
Pagagagak!!
Using the principles of the Back-Mountain Palm, he drove qi straight through the metal and into the arm beyond. The sudden shock twisted the limb; Kaisent sprang upward toward the knight’s head.
Tatatatak!
"!!"
Against an ordinary foe the fight would have ended there. This Abyss Knight, however, was a cavalryman. Even in death its instincts screamed danger; the horse sidestepped, rapidly opening distance. From that new range the knight twisted its torso and brought the halberd around. Kaisent gritted his teeth and formed a shield just in time to brace for the blow—
"Kihiihing!"
—when AT suddenly slammed into the horse’s flank. The unexpected impact sent the mount staggering toward Kaisent. Enraged by the interference, the Abyss Knight lashed out wildly at AT with the halberd.
Kaaang!
The axe blade struck AT’s temple. The shockwave tore away the buffering flesh, exposing the metal frame beneath. Blue optical sensors flared; AT seized the halberd and yanked hard.
My chance!
Kaisent seized the opening and clamped both hands onto the Abyss Knight’s head.
The sensation is different, but this is holy power!
Commanding the undead was not the exclusive domain of black mages. Priests who served evil gods also raised undead and reared monsters. Instead of mana, Kaisent whispered a short prayer and poured holy power into the path through his hands. He began converting that holy power into his own, claiming ownership—
—Who the hell are you?! How dare you interfere with my holy power?!—
The original master felt the intrusion and fought back, flooding the path with even denser holy power to reassert control.
So this is how you seize dominion over an undead…
Until now Kaisent had only ever raised corpses himself. He had never taken an already-created undead from its master. The two arts looked similar yet were fundamentally different. Once before he had grabbed a severed mana path and claimed a masterless tool; this time the path still linked to its owner, and the contest of wills taught him the true method of domination.
—You bastard! Get your hands off my masterpiece right now…!—
Shut up!!
Gripping the path, Kaisent’s mind briefly linked with the follower’s spirit. All the fury of watching people lured into a death trap, all the rage of nearly losing something precious, erupted at once.
—Aaaaaaagh!—
The follower’s spirit reeled under the raw force of that anger. Its soul convulsed in agony; with a tortured scream the connection snapped.
Now!
Kaisent transferred ownership of the now-masterless path to himself. AT, still locked in a contest of strength with the Abyss Knight, felt the resistance vanish and looked up at Kaisent.
Honestly, AT considered its own actions insane. Its last standing order had been to aid the mercenary company in danger. If Kaisent died fighting this unexpected powerhouse, no one would remain to issue commands. There was also the standing order never to attack humans—yet if Kaisent fell and AT simply ignored the undead, the horde would regain the initiative and every living soul here would be slaughtered. Clint among them.
Yet the moment Kaisent truly looked cornered, AT had attacked the Abyss Knight without any order at all.
Why? All I had to do was stand still. Is there an error in my system?
"Thank you, AT."
"……."
Perched on the Abyss Knight’s shoulder, Kaisent looked down and smiled. AT, still baffled by its own behavior, felt its power core temperature spike again—higher than before.
Something’s wrong. But every self-diagnostic comes back clean…
Kaisent took the silence for indifference and offered a wry smile of his own. Then his expression hardened into the resolve of a man who had made his choice. He turned toward the direction where the Abyss Knight’s former master had been.
Attack that place!
The Abyss Knight, now serving its new master Kaisent, charged straight toward the cluster of followers.
"Hey! Snap out of it! Snap out of it!"
"Wh-what?!"
"The Abyss Knight is coming this way!"
"D-don’t tell me…!"
The followers reeled as the one who had been controlling the Abyss Knight collapsed foaming at the mouth. When the knight itself began smashing through undead and racing toward them, they frantically summoned every undead they had kept for personal protection.
Kwajik! Pugeuk! Peoseok!
The Abyss Knight casually destroyed the gathered undead with its halberd and closed in on the followers.
"U-uaah… aaaah…"
"Obey me! I said obey me!!"
Some fell into despair; others tried desperately to wrest back control. But the path now linked to Kaisent was overwhelmingly stronger than the original master’s. Their resistance proved futile.
Aaaaaagh!!
In the end the followers were cut down by the very Abyss Knight they had evolved, reduced to screaming scraps of meat. Not every controller died, yet enough of them vanished that more than half the previously coordinated undead suddenly lost their organized movements.
Kaisent climbed back onto the watchtower, resumed casting, and issued fresh orders to AT and the Abyss Knight. The undead numbers plummeted.
"W-we’re alive."
"The undead aren’t swarming anymore!"
"We’re alive! We’re fucking alive!"
Even an ordinary Dead Moon would have been a brutal fight; the conspiracy of the evil god’s followers had nearly turned it into a massacre. The survivors stared up at Kaisent—still standing after casting dozens, hundreds of spells—with eyes full of awe. This miracle had been wrought by Kaisent alone.
We won…!
He was savoring the thrill of victory and the reverence in those gazes when—
"Kaisent!"
—Lillian and Fredrick came running. The sight of them made him realize exactly what he had done, and his chest grew heavy.
"I… um… I’m sorry…"
He had outright rejected Lillian and Fredrick’s original decision to retreat. The result had been the best possible outcome, yet disobeying a superior’s order rarely earned praise no matter how brilliant the success. Kaisent, who regarded Lillian as his benefactor, felt he deserved far worse than a scolding for undermining her judgment and authority; he apologized with that conviction.
"Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Instead of reprimanding him for damaging her dignity as captain, Lillian’s first concern was whether Kaisent had been injured. Even from a distance the Abyss Knight’s mana had been so overwhelming that she and Fredrick together could never have overcome it.
"I-I’m fine. AT helped me through the dangerous moments."
"Haa… thank goodness."
Lillian felt pure relief that Kaisent was unharmed. Fredrick looked ready to voice some complaint, then closed his mouth.
Lillian clearly knows about that AT thing. Why didn’t she tell me?
It rankled him that Kaisent and Lillian shared a secret he was not privy to. Yet with every mercenary and merchant staring at Kaisent in open awe, openly interrogating him now would only make the Wolf Mercenary Company look as if they treated their savior poorly.
"Well done."
Fredrick decided to save the questions for later and offered a light word of praise in front of everyone.
"Kraaaaaah!"
"!!"
"!?"
At that moment Chelbe—whom they had thought dead, whose upper body had been cleanly split in two—jerked upright. A dark-crimson aura identical to the threads on the Nozgna cultists’ heads rose from his body.
"Yoooouuuu!"
"Yoooouuuu!"
Two severed heads howled in different voices. Chelbe thrust out a hand and launched a dark-crimson sphere that anyone could tell must never be touched.
Fast!
The sphere streaked toward Kaisent faster than a bullet. Lillian reflexively raised her greatsword to intercept it with her own body.
"Look out!"
Fredrick could not allow Lillian to take the hit. He stepped in and tried to cut the sphere down—only for it to pass straight through his blade and sink into his flesh.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Fredrick screamed in unimaginable agony and collapsed. Instantly Kaisent hurled a Fireball at Chelbe.
"Ggeeeehk! Lord Nozgnaaa! Please, mercyyyy!"
Even with his body split in half, Chelbe still lived and begged Nozgna for one last chance. Ordinarily the evil god would have ignored him, yet for some reason it granted one more opportunity—power enough to curse Kaisent. That, too, failed.
Having disappointed Nozgna twice, Chelbe would spend eternity in the god’s domain, his body repeatedly cut apart and burned until the day his soul finally ceased to exist.
"Fredrick!"
"Ugh… uuugh…!"
Chelbe was reduced to complete ash, and the Dead Moon was finally over. Yet the curse now lodged inside Fredrick brought an entirely new crisis crashing down upon the Wolf Mercenary Company.