Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Death Knight Appears
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“Puhahaha!! Impressed, are you? This perfect form advancing toward the ultimate truth!”
Cadrel shouted with both arms spread wide.
The resounding voice was no longer human.
From before his regression until now,
Damian had encountered many demons through the Book of Hell.
He couldn’t pinpoint the exact type, but Cadrel’s appearance was strikingly similar.
Decisively, Damian himself recognized it as something akin to a demon.
‘No way that’s possible….’
In this era, Damian was the only one who could contract with demons.
-You’re the only one. The sole being who can read the letters of Hell and draw the demons’ attention.
The Queen of Hell, Ishtar, had declared as much.
‘Though she herself seems clueless about what that power truly is.’
From talk of truth and the ultimate, it appeared he viewed this form and power as merely a type of magic.
Of course, there was no time to probe the source of that power.
Whether he knew of black magic or not, the current Cadrel wielded strength incomparable to what he had in the mental world.
[Count Dennis?]
The barrier encircling the two contracted, now shielding only Damian.
[Flee.]
Blood streamed from Dennis’s mouth and eyes. At the same time, mana surged through his body like a storm.
He had resolved to die. If Cadrel neutralized the seal as he had in the mental world, Dennis would only be a burden.
In that case, ensuring Damian’s survival was the right choice.
That was his duty as a guardian, as a disciple of Tower Lord Arielra.
“Puhuhuhu!! How hilarious, a traitor’s spawn shielding an illegitimate child. Have you cursed wretches developed some pity for each other?”
Mad laughter burst from Cadrel’s mouth. Then, with a snap of his fingers.
Whoooosh. A powerful storm swirled around Cadrel. The blood flowing from Dennis’s face halted.
With that flick, he had incinerated the poison and tainted mana. The range exceeded by far what Damian had burned with Hellfire.
No safe zone was needed anymore. Yet Damian and Dennis’s expressions grew grave.
The current situation indirectly revealed Cadrel’s power.
“Worried about me tampering with the seal earlier? No need. This time, clash with full power. Killing you two will announce my evolution across the Empire.”
“Arrogant fool.”
It was also Damian’s ace in the hole.
Even in the mental world battle, Cadrel had spared no means to secure victory.
But now, intoxicated by power, he couldn’t make rational judgments. He already assumed victory.
[Buy me just one minute.]
[I can’t promise, but I’ll do my utmost. I’ll trust in your preparation.]
As Dennis stepped forward, blue energy surged from his entire body once more.
He had drawn out every ounce of power engraved in the seal.
Grooooar. The giant of blue light raised its upper body.
At Dennis’s gesture, a massive fist shot toward Cadrel.
“The Guardian Giant. The magic symbolizing terror itself in the Magic Tower.”
Yet Cadrel, who named it, showed not a shred of fear. Even as the enormous fist bore down, he displayed no special reaction.
He merely extended his palm forward.
Craaaaaack!!!
Ripples etched into the empty air.
The giant’s fist collided with the monster’s palm. Cracks spiderwebbed the floor, debris rained from the ceiling.
“Urk!!”
Blood flowed from Dennis’s mouth again. The shock to the mana giant transmitted straight to his organs.
“Arrogant, you said? Not wrong.”
Cadrel remained leisurely. Handling the giant with one hand, his body fully relaxed.
“That’s the qualification of the strong.”
Crack! Cadrel’s hand seized and tore at the giant’s fist.
The impact made the Guardian Giant stagger greatly. A corresponding shock struck Dennis.
Crack!! Cadrel leaped toward Dennis. A massive crater remained where he had stood.
His speed and power rivaled a master knight—no, surpassed it.
Dennis deployed dozens of mana barriers, but they shattered like glass under Cadrel’s casual swing.
“Gah!!”
A massive impact hit Dennis’s abdomen.
He flew back, crashing into the wall, which cracked like a spiderweb behind him.
Dennis collapsed, eyes rolling back.
Fortunately, he still breathed. Cadrel had avoided vital points.
All this unfolded in less than a minute. But Damian had all the time he needed.
Boom! The stone scale construct at maximum output surged toward Cadrel.
Naturally, it incorporated the structure inspired by Ezekiel.
“Hmph.”
But Cadrel merely scoffed. Boom! He kicked off, leaping high enough to touch the ceiling.
Damian altered the construct’s path, but by the time it reached the ceiling, Cadrel had vanished.
It wasn’t the speed of ordinary flight magic. It was the overwhelming power of his flesh.
“You bastard!!”
Suddenly, Cadrel appeared before Damian, fist clenched. Boom! The air burst a beat later.
Too close to erect a barrier. Instead, Damian formed a stone scale pillar beneath his feet to evade upward.
Boom!! Crackle! Cadrel swung at the pillar undeterred.
It didn’t crumble, but powerful vibrations traveled from the base.
“Ezekiel’s magic adapted intriguingly, but this is its limit.”
True enough. At Damian’s current level, he couldn’t defeat Cadrel in demonic form.
Thus, he had no choice but to borrow even greater power.
Swoooo. The Book of Hell—He—was fully absorbed into Damian. This time, focused solely on intensity.
A single strike.
Every bit of power receivable from Hell’s lord, Haagenti, poured in.
“The same trick again? Lacking creativity.”
Cadrel didn’t dodge this attack. He should have sensed the difference from the prior stone scale, yet showed no reaction.
Exactly as Damian wanted. Arrogance born of being the strong, as he claimed.
“This much is…. Guh, gaaaaah!!”
The stone scale construct pierced Cadrel’s abdomen.
Even with a demon’s body, it couldn’t overcome the Book of Hell.
“Gaaaaah!! My body!! My body!!”
He screamed wildly before slumping. A massive hole remained where the construct vanished.
‘A bit disappointing.’
Much remained unknown.
How he wielded demonic power, its origin, any collaborators. But no time for leisure.
Sewer contamination approached, Dennis’s state worsened. As he pondered signaling the pursuit team.
“Kehehehe….”
Laughter echoed from the darkness.
“So that’s it…. The inspiration you gave me was your power.”
Cadrel, clearly dead, stood firm on both legs.
The hole in his body slowly mended.
Not only that—his frame grew larger, flames flickered in his eyes.
Bat-like wings sprouted from his back. Scarce humanity remained.
Huuuuh. Paaaak!!! Ripples emanated from Cadrel’s mouth.
“Urk!!”
Damian dodged the direct hit, but shockwave blood rose from his organs.
Rumble boom!! The floor collapsed further, sending them plummeting.
‘Damn!’
Amid debris, he barely grabbed Dennis. Then, forming stone scales on the wall, he descended slowly.
Fortunately, Cadrel didn’t press the attack, following Damian down leisurely.
“It wasn’t Arielra’s mental world. Your magic, your power inspired me.”
Damian bit his lower lip at Cadrel’s declaration.
In the mental world, black magic affected the space indirectly.
Now, direct contact with black magic.
‘Using the Book of Hell dug my own grave.’
No more black magic. Like severed limbs.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”
Cadrel’s fingers elongated.
Damian narrowly dodged the serpent-like attack, summoning the spirit construct—Xenon.
Direct contact with the construct risked danger, but Xenon’s magic was unrelated to black magic.
‘First, buy time.’
Certain: Cadrel had no intent to kill him.
Damian up front, construct casting from behind. That was the immediate plan.
Just as he prepared.
‘Wait, this feeling….’
Snap! Cadrel’s finger lashed his left shoulder.
“Grrgh!”
Clothes tore, bruise formed. But Damian focused elsewhere.
‘Something more.’
Only he, Cadrel, and dying Dennis moved in the hideout.
Yet Damian sensed beyond. Through the construct—Xenon—he saw underground stores.
Ambiguous as alive, yet not dead.
‘Undead.’
Necromancer’s residual thoughts instinctively reacted to their existence.
‘Then this place….’
Where Cadrel collapsed the ground. Thought mere sewer part, but interior style differed starkly.
No poison or tainted mana. Artificially treated space.
-Ah, there’s one more. Rumors of a infamous necromancer’s hideout in the sewers.
Dillon’s words resurfaced.
Deep in sewers, inaccessible normally.
This was it.
‘This is it…?’
Thus, a mighty presence deeper still.
But couldn’t command these dormant undead now. Artificial souls slumbered.
-Unused undead enter artificial soul hibernation. Preserves freshness long-term.
The spirit construct—Xenon knew how to awaken them. But time required.
“Feeling like surrendering? Good. Let’s end nicely, no wasted energy.”
Cadrel sneered. Assuming Damian yielded after stillness.
“Bullshit.”
A steel pipe amid rubble. Decent sword substitute size.
Damian lunged, swinging pipe down. Pure physical might, no aura or magic.
Yet the pressure felt extraordinary. His knight-level strength no empty claim.
Craaaunch! Thud! Pipe crushed in Cadrel’s fist, Damian kicked back by abdomen blow.
Ptui. Damian spat blood clot, grabbed new pipe.
‘He held back some.’
Cadrel chuckled, shaking head. Severe organ damage, yet Damian unyielding.
‘Surely his special power.’
Sudden genius emergence, exceptional physique. Many Damian mysteries resolved.
Now, capture and study leisurely.
Snap!! Mid-exchange, Cadrel flapped wings.
Targeting spirit construct—Xenon. Damian had to block.
Control issues aside, absorption by Cadrel possible.
‘Not much longer.’
Indirectly felt via construct. Awakened undead stirring.
Crunch! Damian leaped high via stone scale pillar. Endure injury, buy more time.
“Gack!”
“Got you.”
But Cadrel targeted Damian from start. Sudden shift gripped his throat.
Crunch. Back on ground, Cadrel squeezed. Damian’s face distorted, metallic groan from mouth.
“Wonder what power I’ll gain sucking your blood?”
As Cadrel’s fangs neared nape.
“…What’s so funny?”
Cadrel’s brow furrowed. Damian burst laughing suddenly.
Lost his mind? But eyes still vital.
“Your body’s monstrous now, senses dulled too? Feel nothing?”
Damian smirked, Cadrel’s face uglier.
“Hm?”
Expression turned puzzled. Rumble rumble. Vibration from below.
Earthquake? But rhythmic, like something moving beneath.
“““Grooooar!!”””
“““Kiyaaaaah!!!”””
Not something—things. Overwhelming numbers.
Ghouls, skeletons, corpse golems, etc. Countless undead burst through ground.
“What the….”
Rotten eyes fixed on Cadrel. Clear hostility.
Black familiar afloat commanded them.
‘No way, here?’
Cadrel heard rumors of legendary necromancer’s sewer hideout.
Even so, couldn’t fathom undead under Damian’s control.
Necromancy virtually extinct.
Few tomes in Magic Tower, but none could interpret properly.
Not even Tower Lord Arielra or eccentric Ezekiel. Via familiar?
Damian defied norms often, but this unacceptable.
“Relaxed, huh?”
Damian’s taunt snapped reverie. Sudden shift exposed opening.
“You bastard!!”
Strike first. Choke Damian unconscious before undead attack.
“Ah, damn…. Squeezed hard, huh.”
Damian peeled hand from throat. Struggling each knuckle joint.
“….”
Cadrel stared blankly. Eyes dropped.
Hand gripping Damian until now—severed. Viscous blood dripped from stump.
‘When did it move?’
Not Damian. Cadrel had retreated. Hand sliced mid-retreat.
“Should’ve beheaded you.”
Damian dusted off, rose.
“Slippery as an eel.”
Cadrel’s gaze shifted behind Damian.
Something gleaming black.
Unlike other undead, exuding immense pressure. As if devouring all around.
Clank. Clank. Metal meshing echoed ruined hideout.
Its black sword still dripped Cadrel’s blood.
Death Knight.
The strongest undead raised its jet-black blade.