Gravekeeper Knight (7): Soaring to the Heavens
The Gravekeeper Knight soared into the sky. He ascended so high that the lady knight below him shrank to a mere speck.
How can I defeat this formidable knight?
Not even the vast knowledge from the countless Dragon Fang Soldiers he harbored could provide an answer. If such an answer existed, he would have crushed her long ago.
He sensed a dramatic shift in the power emanating from Aren below.
I feel it. The same dragon-slaying aura as that girl.
She had finally drawn it out. The Dragon Extermination Style of the Dragon Slayer, Cardia.
That meant she was ready to unleash her full power without holding back.
She's undoubtedly stronger than before. And that sword she's wielding—it's a truly irritating force.
The situation grew ever more unfavorable for him. Yet, for some reason...
The fear hasn't vanished. So why is my heart pounding like this?
Facing a scenario where he couldn't protect his master's tomb or exact proper vengeance.
For the first time since coming into existence in this world, the Gravekeeper Knight felt joy.
Judging solely by his own instincts, devising ways to surpass this lady knight.
The black dragon that charged into battle alongside my master... I think I understand why it attacked like that.
A memory from that past battlefield. He recalled the dragon that had morphed its horns, turning itself into a single blade and ramming forward.
Even if I unleash magic at maximum output, that knight will handle it with ease.
Dragon breath capable of obliterating walls and carving craters, or spells with firepower beyond anything shown so far—they would fare no differently.
The Dragon Extermination Style had dedicated counters for dragon breath. He had witnessed Cardia slice through pinpoint breaths of every attribute like butter.
His master's breath had met a similar end, becoming its final attack.
A disciple of her caliber would surely have mastered that technique as well. And atop that, a high-level magic sword that interfered with spells.
If magic won't work, then only physical force remains.
If magic failed, then overwhelm with raw power. If it was an opponent a dragon couldn't defeat, then shed the form of a dragon.
He knew it was absurd. But if there was any possibility, this was the only path.
Beyond even that black dragon that became a massive sword. He had to transform into a single weapon piercing the enemy.
The Gravekeeper Knight dissolved the double-edged spear he wielded. More precisely, he reshaped it into a new weapon with a similar structure.
A lance for mounted combat. A gigantic lance. To pour every ounce of power into a single point, he forged the most fitting weapon.
Time is woefully short, and I'm not even sure if this is the right approach.
Ascending this high severed his connection to the core. He had to make a decision.
If only he had more time to think. If only he knew more diverse knowledge to overcome the situation. If only he had known of Aren Parates' existence sooner.
Such futile regrets were unbefitting a Dragon Fang Soldier.
Still.
I will challenge her. This lady knight.
Only one thing mattered to him now. Whether he could win or not—who knew. Whether he could achieve vengeance—who knew.
But this time, he wouldn't flee.
On that battlefield where his master and kin fell, he alone had retreated. That one step he could never take.
Here and now, after hundreds of years, he could finally take it.
Are you watching, my master?
Bone monsters surged forward like waves.
"Grgh! Hold the formation and endure!"
Damil bellowed as he smashed a Dragon Fang Soldier's head with his shield, then cleaved two skeletons with the sword in his other hand.
The subjugation force had finally broken through the Dragon Fang Soldiers and skeletons to enter the 4th floor.
But they couldn't advance further, scrambling just to maintain their defensive circle.
"Argh, damn it! Isn't this too many?!"
A mercenary who crushed a Dragon Fang Soldier's skull with his double-headed axe gasped for breath and spat curses.
"Tell me about it! It's like trying to plug a tidal wave with our bare hands!"
A male adventurer shattered skeletons while venting his complaints.
Neither could even remember how many foes they'd felled.
"Hah, if I'd known it'd be like this, I should've charged triple! Killing and killing, and they just keep coming!"
No one replied to the mercenary, but plenty inwardly agreed. They'd already pulverized at least three thousand bones—it was justified.
"Didn't Lady Aren say there was nothing but the boss to worry about?!"
"That was from the scouting report. They must've deliberately made it seem sparse. They were waiting for a full force like ours."
They had to be respawning endlessly from somewhere. No matter how many they cut down, the numbers didn't dwindle. If anything, they grew.
The deeper they pushed, the more came at them at once.
They'd successfully reached the 4th floor, but now even holding ground was their limit.
"Sir Knight! This okay?!"
"Hah, focus on defense instead of talking!"
Even the low-rank knight leading the squad had no room to spare. That unnerved the subjugation force.
"Don't get uneasy!"
Damil read the mood.
"Holding here without advancing still has meaning!"
A seasoned senior knight of long service in the order. He knew how to rally allies even in dire straits.
"Lady Aren will fell the boss and join us soon. Victory is ours!"
At least, that was the reassurance as he comforted himself that they were preventing this horde of bones from spilling out to Aren.
Damil thrust his sword, piercing yet another Dragon Fang Soldier—he'd lost count.
The Gravekeeper Knight's resolute determination coursed through Aren like lightning.
Far off, a speck in the sky. She spotted the foe who had reshaped his weapon into a lance.
"...Maybe I should've just said nothing."
It was advice born from his un-Dragon Fang Soldier-like nature.
He'd fought so fiercely against her. Then, after losing an arm, he wallowed in self-recrimination and suggested she just kill him. Irritated, she'd offered mere counsel.
And now, like a shonen protagonist gaining enlightenment, he'd perked up and soared skyward.
[See? Telling him something nice just energized him.]
Hardly new—have I not done this a time or two before?
[Getting lenient when you think someone's decent? Not a great habit, you know.]
Eseldra's jab. Well, no regrets.
Beheading someone begging for death in remorse felt heavier than cutting down one burning with life to the end.
They were enemies, sure, but compared to the countless scum she'd slain, this one was rather likable.
He's aiming to settle it with the next strike.
The Gravekeeper Knight concentrated all power into his weapon. He made no secret of his intent for a single decisive blow, pouring everything into it.
Is that his full power? In raw strength alone, he's no different from a dragon.
The two dragons Aren had slain in the past. Not quite on the level of Necrosis the Corpse Dragon or Fabnir the Evil Dragon.
But close enough—this Dragon Fang Soldier was practically a dragon in its own right.
No, without a dragon's inherent arrogance and with the smarts to scheme, it might even be superior.
At this level, it could've been a boss in the original game without issue.
A foe worthy of mention even in setting docs like the corpse or evil dragons. Overkill for a dungeon boss popping up out of nowhere in the mountains.
In a game, it'd draw a storm of complaints. Or maybe treated as a hidden boss in a low-level zone.
About time.
No farewell blaze, but his intent to descend was clear.
The Gravekeeper Knight plummeted.
His chosen assault on Aren. Channeling all remaining mana into simple body and weapon enhancement, accelerating to maximum speed for a piercing strike.
If he'd picked any other attack, I'd have shot him down with Falling Dragon before he reached me.
Even as he urged her to unleash Dragon Extermination Style.
Now facing it head-on, he'd countered with an attack that beat the style. Clever, and correct.
Two dragons had died for failing that choice.
He's already overtaxed since using Dragon Blood Gong. Pushing further won't hurt.
Hoarding strength against a foe like this would just be rude.
Here it comes.
Approaching from afar. Like a shooting star.
Kwaaaaaaaaang――!
The sonic boom tearing the air was thunderous. Acceleration surpassing sound speed, heedless of what became of his body after the strike.
Thus, the boom hadn't even reached Aren's ears before.
The Gravekeeper Knight's lance tip closed in, poised to impale her head.
Aren's eyes snapped open.
She had already raised her sword.
In any martial art, perfecting the strongest single strike leads to similar conclusions.
Her master Cardia had. The Sword Saint had. The Bow Saint too.
Mind, energy, body. How deeply and powerfully could one infuse these three into a single strike?
Pack them all in and explode—that elevates a mere strike beyond reason into transcendent power.
Simple in theory, yet a realm even Master-level adepts might never touch in a lifetime.
The Gravekeeper Knight's strike brushed that realm, however slightly. Unknowing, perhaps.
In this fleeting instant, he incompletely breached beyond even Master.
――Ultimate Technique.
Thus, Aren had to draw hers as well.
The strike she had honed through life, reaching its zenith.
――Wholehearted Slash.
The sword descended.
Blade met lance tip.
Even as ultimate forces collided, no sound rang out.
Their movements were faster than that.
An exceedingly brief clash, over in a heartbeat.
[Ah.]
The lance sheared apart, cleaving the Gravekeeper Knight's body in two.
[A strike worthy of defeat.]
It hurtled past Aren, slamming into the ground.
A meteoric crash boomed, and from the weapon outward, his bone form crumbled like melting wax.
[My master...]
Even in defeat, the Gravekeeper Knight's voice seemed at peace.
[I am satisfied. Forgive me...]
Murmuring his final, regret-tinged farewell like a soliloquy, his body fully disintegrated.
Leaving only a single gem in its place.
Excerpted from the Grandkurka Game Item Codex
A gem containing the power of a single Dragon Fang Soldier who endured for centuries amid guilt.
Bearing the grudges of thousands, he guarded the tombstone until submitting to the Demon King from the demon realm, losing his emotions.
His name, form, guilt—all stripped away, he was expended as a nameless legion spear.
Until his body crumbled to dust, he lingered in no one's memory.