Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: The Absorbed Knight
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Luth Schubert.
He was Agnes's father, an outstanding knight, and met a tragic end.
“Groooaaah….”
The sound leaking from his cracked lips hardly seemed human.
He still retained some consciousness, but unlike the others, he couldn’t maintain a proper sense of self.
It had been years since he’d been absorbed by Ramsey. The assimilation must have progressed considerably by now.
In a way, it was a mercy. If his awareness had lingered, it would have been far more horrific.
Damian, who commanded undead and specters, had no right to say such things—but he hadn’t known death could be so thoroughly defiled.
No, it was even worse. At least undead and specters used dead corpses and lingering thoughts.
But Luth was neither dead nor alive.
His very existence was being insulted. By his own child, no less.
“You didn’t show this to Agnes, I take it.”
“No need to go that far.”
How would Agnes have reacted if she’d seen it?
In her broken mental state, she might have lost all reason, and that wouldn’t have ended well.
Her life could have been in real danger.
“The sword that felled Uncle Cadral—that’s the one, right? I definitely need to take you with me.”
Ramsey’s eyes gleamed as he asked.
He might not look like a knight anymore, but he still wielded a sword as his primary weapon. He couldn’t help but be fascinated by unity with the blade.
Thinking about it, he’d probably trained without mana himself. He could vaguely grasp the power of Damian’s sword.
“I’d have been in trouble without Father’s ‘Sword Dance.’”
Luth’s presence had been unexpected. For now, Damian chewed on a jelly-like healing potion to keep his distance.
Dillon had made it while researching mana potion formulations. It was less efficient, but convenient in emergencies.
‘For now, lead with the Death Knight and look for an opening.’
Even if he could somewhat counter unity with the sword, directly harming him with black magic carried too much risk.
He had no choice but to stick with his current approach.
‘If only I could possess the Death Knight like last time….’
That method would let him ignore any hits from Ramsey.
The Death Knight’s durability was exceptional, and any damage could be repaired later.
But Ramsey wouldn’t just stand by and watch.
It had worked against Cadral because the opponent had taken heavy damage too.
‘Or maybe find a way to deal with the ‘Sword Dance’ first.’
He’d said he could release Dillon. Just now, black magic—gaze had confirmed Dillon’s state was different from the other victims. He was still a separate entity.
The five mages absorbed by Ramsey were different. Their mana and life force were bizarrely intertwined with his.
Luth, the first one Ramsey had absorbed, was likely even more integrated—if not more so.
Still, the core aura should exist independently.
Ramsey wasn’t exactly normal, but he must be coexisting with those powers in some other way.
All he had to do was sever it.
‘Seems impossible without unity with the sword myself….’
Opportunities would be scarce. He needed to assess Ramsey’s state and cut it in one strike.
“But you’re only showing this one trick now? Where’d that green flame and earth magic from earlier go?”
“This is more than enough for you.”
“Ahaha. Your bluffing’s pretty weak. Must be some reason for it. But if you keep this up, you’re definitely losing. Why not end it here?”
Ramsey grinned as he spoke. It didn’t feel like mockery—more like genuine sincerity. That made it all the more irritating.
‘This guy’s completely insane too.’
From before his regression to now, he’d encountered all sorts of people and shades of madness.
Rubyia had been the overwhelming standout, of course.
Until the civil war, she’d only shown Damian glimpses. Once the empire plunged into chaos, her unbridled madness erupted.
Could a woman like that really become empress? Even among the reformists, there must have been doubts.
Ramsey, the empire’s most infamous scoundrel, had a different flavor of madness from Rubyia’s.
Hers was a raging storm; his was a still pond with faint ripples.
That made him scarier in a way. You couldn’t gauge the depths beneath.
“Are your wounds feeling better? If you want to keep playing, I’m game.”
Ramsey charged at Damian, toothless sword in hand.
But his movements were now restrained, unlike before. He was properly wielding Luth’s power.
‘It’s just like facing Agnes.’
His wounds weren’t fully healed, but he could move.
A wave of undead blocked Ramsey’s path again, and Damian leaped back in the gap.
Clank. The Death Knight filled the vacancy. Its jet-black sword deflected the opponent’s strike and pressed inward.
The previous Ramsey would have attacked more aggressively, even at the cost of taking a hit.
This time, he twisted his body half a turn to evade, following with precise strikes from his jagged blade.
A clash of undead and chimera.
Monster against monster, yet their duel had form—like a dance between crossed swords.
“This is an undead, right? Impressive. Didn’t think it could keep up with me this long.”
But Ramsey had the edge in composure. His swordsmanship was more refined.
Even with unity, Damian’s sword was just a supplementary tool.
In his duel with Agnes, Damian had won through strength, but his pure sword skill fell short.
Their mindsets naturally differed.
Luth had honed his blade without relying on aura for even longer than Agnes.
Even if Ramsey’s version was degraded, the Death Knight’s sword was Damian’s own degraded form.
Ramsey naturally held the advantage.
“Ahaha. You should join in too, Lord Damian. Can’t leave it all to the puppet.”
While engaging the Death Knight with his sword, he kept firing spells at Damian to pin him down.
He sensed Damian’s withdrawal from the fight had some intent behind it.
‘Where? What do I need to cut?’
Black magic—gaze kept scanning Ramsey, but he still didn’t fully understand that body.
‘I knew it wasn’t a normal chimera.’
Chimeras were still biological, at least.
But Ramsey’s mana and life force were ambiguously neither alive nor dead.
‘If I interpret it my way, like with that ancient magic….’
Still, not enough data. The current Death Knight couldn’t dissect Ramsey completely.
That’s why he needed the Book of Hell.
Damian consumed one Dalet from it, massively enhancing black magic—gaze.
“Grrraaah!”
The flood of information into his eyes made bloody tears stream down.
The gaze’s zoning sense, coupled with relentless thunderbolt headaches, assaulted him without mercy.
But he was closing in on answers.
‘Found it!’
Deeper analysis revealed multiple alien elements in Ramsey’s body.
The faintest glow among them—Agnes-like energy emanated from it. Luth’s aura.
Destroy that, grant Luth peace, and the rest would be easy.
Intact or not, Agnes couldn’t lose to Ramsey’s thug-like swordplay. And Damian certainly wouldn’t.
Decision made—he acted.
Like against Cadral, Damian shared consciousness with the Death Knight.
“Urk!”
His vision shook violently. He couldn’t stand on his own feet anymore.
Vomit filled his gas mask, but Damian ignored it, raising the sword as the Death Knight.
“Oh ho? Something’s different.”
Ramsey sensed the change. The Death Knight’s sword mastery had spiked in seconds.
And half-collapsed Damian. The odd emotion from the Death Knight. There was definitely a link between them.
‘The undead’s movements are strangely defensive too. So….’
Targeting the main body, Damian, was ideal, but Ramsey opted to observe first.
The Death Knight’s altered movements were pushing him back bit by bit. Pinning Damian with magic was growing taxing.
‘…It’s coming!’
A single strike he’d barely deflected with Luth’s ‘Sword Dance.’
Damian lacked aura, or it would’ve been fatal for Ramsey.
He’d been forced to draw on a ‘Sword Dance’ he’d rather avoid.
This time was different.
The opponent was a long-dead undead. It would charge aggressively, damage be damned.
So.
“Gaaack!”
“Gyyyaaah!”
“I-I’m alive!!”
Ramsey’s body split in two. The side facing the black knight retained the three mages from the magic tower.
Absorbing non-combatants yielded him no real benefit anyway. He could discard them here.
While they stalled the undead, Ramsey himself would strike Damian. Chopping off limbs one by one should do it.
“Got you, you bastard.”
A gaze pierced from behind the gas mask. Damian had already regained his stance.
Meanwhile, the undead collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
‘Finish it in one go.’
Enduring his twisting innards’ agony, Damian swung.
Until moments ago, he’d been one with the sword in the Death Knight’s body.
Now, he forcibly severed it and returned to his own.
Linking two bodies into one sword.
The backlash was immense. It had to succeed definitively.
Swoooosh. A strange sensation traveled along the blade to his fingertips.
“Ah. That felt good, but a bit shallow.”
Ramsey’s sinister grin appeared.
Damian’s sword had touched Luth’s aura—but failed to sever it.
It had locked into a stalemate, just like against the Mountain Old Man.
“Guh!”
Unlike then, he now paid the price for forcing his return.
Damian’s body crumpled, and Ramsey’s blade didn’t miss.
Boom! He barely guarded vitals with stone scales.
Smashed into the wall, Damian caught his breath and rose.
No follow-up came. That was the worse news.
Ramsey’s sword was practically part of his body.
But there was no choice. Without stone scales, the fight would’ve ended.
“This power… this force…”
Ramsey’s body convulsed. Something seemed about to burst from within, but it didn’t.
Soon stabilizing, his form turned sword-black.
Not quite demonic like Cadral’s—less black magic exposure and time.
“Ahahaha. What the hell are you? This… this… If I were a woman, I might’ve fallen for you.”
Ramsey licked his lips as he approached, drool sizzling corrosively on the floor.
“Now you’re more important than Sis. I get why she wants you.”
The Death Knight and remaining undead blocked him, but it wasn’t enough. The demon-like human slowly advanced on Damian.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Then a pulsing sound. Not Damian’s. It came from the subspace pouch.
Reaching in, his hand grasped an object. No—it came to him.
‘This?’
The Mountain Old Man’s scythe.
The old monster’s death-unified weapon throbbed in Damian’s hand.