Chapter 102
Chapter 102
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 102
>Chapter Title: Off to Play Freely!
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Ah, aaah….”
Obern groaned at Destrow’s impure evil energy. The sheer negativity inherent in its very existence.
[San-nim! Close your eyes and cover your ears!]
Smack!
A brutal slap whipped his face around, snapping Obern back to his senses.
He promptly shut his eyes and plugged his ears.
[Young one, it would be best to block out the sound with your magic power.]
A message spell from the Grand Duchess, uncharacteristically thoughtful. Obern channeled his magic power to seal off all sound.
Nothing but darkness. And silence.
‘How….’
An unbearable question surged in his mind.
‘…How could senior, deal with something like that….’
He’d definitely seen something, but he couldn’t recall it at all.
What was the word for it? They said that when the shock to the mind was too great, the brain erased the memory to protect itself. It felt just like that.
The surroundings were crystal clear, but Destrow’s position was shrouded in a hazy fog.
Nothing came to mind.
He himself was already on the verge of losing his mind just from witnessing it. So how had senior stood against such a being?
Did he know no fear? No, that couldn’t be. No human could face that thing without feeling terror.
And so, as Obern sank halfway into panic.
Rustle—
An unknown, refreshing magic power flowed into his body, soothing his mind and spirit.
[You mustn’t lose your sanity, young one. If you do, I’ll have no face left before Muspell Gong.]
Utterly self-centered consideration.
That was when the terrifying evil energy came surging in.
Ruuuumble—!
[I asked, didn’t Iiii! Where are you goingggg?!]
Destrow’s enraged wail, followed by a tidal wave of evil energy crashing down on the group!
[…Damn it!]
Clang!
As Shine drew his sword before that bottomless calamity, the Grand Duchess stepped forward.
“Adorable little undead. Good spirit, but you can’t block a wave with a sword.”
Craaaack—
Ice barriers erupted from all sides. They swiftly formed a dome, enveloping the group.
It had blocked the flood of evil energy.
Soon, the shockwave hit!
Boom—!
As the wave of evil energy battered the ice wall, the Grand Duchess gazed up at the ceiling with her signature languid eyes.
“Not good.”
A pessimistic assessment, despite having blocked the evil energy so admirably.
“Truly… a dangerous situation, isn’t it?”
She spoke of danger, yet her eyes remained languid, betraying not a hint of urgency.
But the Grand Duchess’s judgment was pure truth, without a shred of exaggeration.
‘The matchup is bad.’
Aster had endured Destrow thanks in part to the Fire Mark’s aid, but also to the purity of his magic power and its form.
Thunder God. Lightning of magic power. It was pure magic power, yet its manifestation was thunderbolts that incinerated all.
But the Grand Duchess’s magic was ice. Less so than water, but still the worst matchup for something evil energy could easily seep into.
And that wasn’t all?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
[Hand it over. Hand over Yeokcheon, I saiddd!]
Destrow hammered at the ice barrier like a raging beast. Each blow was hard even for the Grand Duchess to withstand.
Crackle, craaaack!
She was restoring the barrier on the fly, but how long could it hold?
‘So, what to do?’
The Grand Duchess’s sharp gaze swept the surroundings.
Escaping alone would be simple. The problem was there was more than one body worth taking here.
She could abandon some lowly undead, but it’d be best to grab the insolent priest and Obern.
But she couldn’t take both. Which meant she had to leave one behind….
[Blue-eyed one.]
“What is it, undead?”
[You can’t escape with both of them… can you?]
Shine read her intent from her eyes in an instant.
Cold rationality hidden beneath those languid pupils. The Grand Duchess was weighing her options.
Aster or Obern—which one to save. And which would benefit her more.
“Quick on the uptake, aren’t you, undead?”
[Tch. No choice, then.]
Crackle—!
Right after, Shine’s body—around a meter tall—began to change.
“Oh my.”
Not a two-meter giant, but back to his roughly 160cm frame.
As the Grand Duchess watched the transformation with curiosity, Shine glanced at one spot.
[You’re truly… a pain in the ass.]
Aster, tossed beside Obern.
Oblivious to the situation, eyes peacefully shut. According to San-nim, his insides were a mess, but his breathing was steadier and more relaxed than anyone’s.
Shine wanted nothing more than to kick him square in the solar plexus….
[I can’t hear my commandsss?! I am the emperor! The whole world is mine, yet! Aaaah—!]
But right now, the lunatic proclaiming himself emperor took priority.
- San-nim.
- …Death Knight-nim. Are you alright?
- It’s time.
- ….
Obern didn’t respond.
But only for a moment.
- …Understood.
Obern replied reluctantly. Shine nodded in satisfaction.
- How long?
- Overclock… I can do it right now.
Normally, it required some time to focus, but not always.
It could be activated instantly, though that came with backlash for Obern too, so he’d held back.
But in this situation, who cared about backlash?
- Then….
Shine closed his eyes, gauging Destrow’s presence.
‘….’
Even sensing it made him nauseous.
‘You vile bastard… you fought this alone?’
Even he, a Death Knight, was shaken like this. How had that vile guy endured?
Once he’d fully grasped the presence relentlessly pounding the barrier.
“I don’t know what you’re planning, but you’d best hurry. It won’t hold out much longer.”
[…How long?]
“From now… four seconds.”
Crazy woman. Spouting something this urgent so calmly. As expected of siblings with that vile guy? Minds that couldn’t be told apart.
But Shine didn’t rebuke her.
He just….
[Sufficient.]
Swoosh, click!
Sheathing the drawn sword and planting one foot forward.
- Now.
…Signaling Obern took one second.
Craaaack. Crack! Craaaackle—!
“Cough.”
Destrow’s ferocious assault shook the ice barrier defenselessly. Enduring it was taxing even for the Grand Duchess—blood trickled from her bitten lip.
…Up to here, two seconds.
And then….
Hack!
As Obern spewed a mouthful of blood.
[….]
Shine took a step forward.
Whoosh—!
The new horizon granted by Obern’s Overclock. Shine unleashed his restraints within it.
Snap.
Something in his mind snapped.
No stray thoughts. Just….
Transcendence.
Unlike before, a fully unlocked horizon. Focused solely on that dizzying realm.
…From two to three seconds.
But.
Crunch, craaaackle—
Was it too much after all?
A rupturing sound spread from Shine’s insides.
Not physical damage. More like… his soul. The vessel cracking. The fitting price for a mere undead forcing open a forbidden full horizon.
And so, he staggered.
As three seconds neared its end….
Craaaash—!
The ice barrier finally crumbled.
Crackle—through the fissures, evil energy crept in, and then.
A colorless hand thrust through. Soon, eyes appeared in the gap.
‘…Not good, is it?’
The Grand Duchess wiped the blood from her mouth at that ferocious presence.
Unlike her, who had taken no small internal injuries from forcing the block despite the bad matchup, Destrow’s momentum only grew fiercer.
And so.
Creep—
As the infiltrating evil energy closed in on the group, the Grand Duchess’s eyes fixed on Shine.
Standing like a statue, gripping his sword, as if blind to the situation.
Serene.
But then.
Chill.
Goosebumps rose on the Grand Duchess’s arm.
She didn’t know why. Just… yeah. An overwhelming presence that instinctively evoked primal fear just by looking at it.
Alarm flickered in the Grand Duchess’s languid eyes.
…Finally, four seconds.
No, a fraction short of four.
As Destrow’s evil energy pressed right to their noses.
Shine drew his sword.
Zuuuuuung—
In time that crawled endlessly slow, Shine’s sword was agonizingly sluggish.
Yet within it, his thoughts raced faster than anything.
- You’re free. Go find your rest, you rotter.
A self lost endlessly in the dark. That voice yanked his sunken mind to the surface in an instant.
‘Insolent punk.’
Their first meeting wasn’t long ago.
- So that’s how it is. Then go enjoy your freedom to the hilt. We’ll each be on our way.
- Stuffed ourselves plenty.
- …You’re really Shine von Leman, that mad bastard?
- This is a pretty decent artifact, huh. Even if it’s bound, it doesn’t mean becoming a slave. I can even grant refusal rights?
Fragments of memories flashed by. Mostly rude, unlucky bastard. And how impertinently he’d yapped.
- Leech.
Daring to call Shine von Leman a leech.
‘Truly, I’d chew you up and it wouldn’t be enough.’
One day, he’d smash that thick skull. Beat him till he bawled, ease up when he begged through tears, then beat him again.
But.
‘Count yourself lucky, you vile bastard.’
Shine’s sword advanced endlessly toward its target.
‘Not for you. Hell no.’
What was so great about that pipsqueak? Risking oblivion to help? No way without going mad.
This was, well… yeah.
‘Calls himself emperor.’
Destrow had said it himself. He was the emperor. Not that a nutjob’s ravings were trustworthy….
‘Right up my alley, though. I’m experienced.’
Slashed it once—couldn’t do it twice? No, he was the only one who could do it here.
The realm of transcendence. Only those who reached it could wield the will to damage Destrow’s existence, that near-immortal body.
Shine had realized that too.
‘Right now… I can cut it.’
That’s why.
And so….
Zuuuuuuuung—
In the endlessly slow time, the steady sword reached its destined end.
But the outcome was unknown.
‘This life I saved—use it to scribble shit on walls, you vile bastard.’
Crash—!
Shine’s consciousness ended there.
But just before it faded completely, Shine screamed with all his might.
Into his mind, shaking the world.
“Thanks to you, off to play jaaaaal~!”
Death Knight Shine von Leman.
His end was… quite the riot. No, downright hilarious.