Chapter 189


    [Trantor – Kie]


    [Proofreader – Kawaii]


    Chapter 189: Death Knight (1)


    ***


    An invisible pressure crushed the entire field.


    The surface was shattered and the ground sank. The entire field was sunken as if it had been hit with a hammer.


    It was a horrible and eerie scene that was hard to believe it was the result of just one dark magic spell.


    “Hoo.”


    A whistle was heard.


    Winston stood on the crushed field. Winston said with an admiring expression.


    “That’s incredible. You’re no ordinary dark mage, are you?”


    Winston did not dodge or block the ‘ckness’.


    He simply stood still and endured it. He withstood the pressure that could crush the entire field with his bare body.


    Yet, he had not suffered any injuries. He stood there, just as he was before.


    ‘He’s no pushover, after all.’


    Damien wasn’t particrly surprised.


    He knew what kind of monsters the Master ss were.


    A mere ‘ckness’ would not be enough to kill a Master ss.


    It wasn’t for nothing that the Grand Dark Mages were constantly searching for ways to surpass the Master ss.


    “Sucré, my fragile kitten. Are you okay?”


    Winston turned his gaze. There, arge ball of fire had taken its ce.


    The fire moved and turned back into the form of a spirit. And then Sucré appeared.


    “Ugh, ugh… This, this bastard…”


    Sucré was kneeling on the ground, gasping for breath.


    “Trash like that… daring to… ugh…”


    Then Sucré spat out blood from her mouth. The blood was mixed with bits of internal organs.


    ‘She must have suffered internal injuries.’


    Sucré used the spirit to block the ‘ckness’.


    However, she was unable topletely block the pressure of the ‘ckness’ and suffered internal injuries.


    “Gl-Glemy…!”


    Sucré shouted with difficulty. Then, the fire spirit ced its hand on Sucré’s back.


    A faint me enveloped Sucré’s body. Sucré’s expression instantly eased.


    ‘That’s why spirits are annoying.’


    Damien clicked his tongue internally.


    Spirits could not only attack but also defend and heal.


    They were omnipotent assistants who could do anything. From the opponent’s perspective, there was no more annoying existence.


    “I thought youpleted the vision because you had a spirit… but you don’t seem to have that kind of skill.”


    A Grand Dark Mage who haspleted the vision gainsbat powerparable to a Master ss.


    However, unlike Winston, Sucré was unable topletely block the ‘ckness’.


    She even suffered internal injuries severe enough to crush her internal organs. This meant that she was not a Grand Dark Mage of a very high level.


    If she had notpleted the vision that meant the spirit she had was not subdued by her. This meant that the spirit of fire that Sucré possessed was given to her by someone else.


    “Who did you get that spirit from? Did you get it from the Ruler of the mes?”


    The Ruler of the mes.


    One of the Great Evils of Pandemonium.


    He was a Grand Dark Mage of the Doom sect who had subdued countless spirits of fire.


    In his previous life, he had even seeded in subduing the Fire Spirit King.


    “Ugh… I’m going crazy… How dare you… You bastard…”


    However, Sucré was not in a position to answer Damien’s question.


    “Our fragile little kitten. Shall I help you?”


    “Get away! Just try to stand up! I’ll kill you too!”


    Sucré refused Winston’s help again this time.


    She was so angry that she seemed to be blind.


    “Glemy!”


    Sucré shouted loudly. Then Glemy transformed into a blue me and enveloped Sucré.


    ‘I guess she has ns to unite with the spirit to maximize the power of dark magic.’


    If Sucré was indeed connected to the Ruler of the mes, there was only one school she could belong to.


    The Doom sect.


    Perhaps she specialized in fire-based ck magic even within the Doom sect.


    The Doom sect was the most destructive school of ck magic.


    What would happen if a dark mage from the Doom sect united with an intermediate spirit?


    It was hard to imagine how much the power of dark magic would be amplified.


    “Be prepared. I’m not going to let you die easily.”


    Sucré pointed at Damien with her index finger. She didn’t release any dark mana or draw a magic circle.


    However, at that moment, an explosion urred under Damien’s feet.


    A crimson me erupted with a roar. The ce where Damien was was instantly engulfed in mes.


    “Die! Die!”


    Sucré screamed and continued to wave her hands.


    With each wave of her hand, a new explosion urred. The explosions followed one another.


    The ground where Damien was standing waspletely blown away. A huge me engulfed the whole world. The mes soared and pierced the sky.


    “…”


    Despite being overwhelmed the Damien, Sucré’s expression did not brighten.


    She simply stared at the mes with a wary look.


    Sure enough, as the mes subsided, Damien appeared unscathed from within.


    The shadow that had risen from his feet had formed a curtain to protect Damien.


    “Tsk.”


    Sucré clicked her tongue. She thought there was no way he could die from these type of attacks, but she never thought he would block it so easily.


    “No matter what, you block my dark magic so easily.”


    Sucré’s voice trembled slightly. Her whole body trembled because her pride was deeply wounded.


    “Let’s see if you can withstand this too.”


    The mes that had been burning around Damien gathered in one ce.


    The ball of fire soon took the form of a giant. It was Glemy, the intermediate spirit that Sucré had taken out.


    “Glemy! Finish him off!”


    The fire spirit swung its fist at Damien. The ball of fire itself struck Damien hard.


    ***


    Then, the shadow that had been lying at Damien’s feet began to stir.


    Something burst out from within. It opened itsrge beak wide and devoured Glemy’s upper body.


    “Glemy!”


    Sucré shouted urgently.


    Glemy, whose upper body had been torn off, staggered and then turned back into mes. And then it returned to Sucré’s side.


    “Glemy! Are you okay?”


    Glemy returned to its original form. It was unharmed, even though it was torn open.


    Spirits were not physical beings, so they would not die to this extent.


    However, Sucré could feel it. The fact that Glemy’s power had been greatly weakened.


    Just now, when it was bitten by the wolf, Wolf had been robbed of a great deal of its power.


    Sucré looked up again at Damien.


    Beside Damien stood a gigantic wolf. It was as if a piece of darkness had been torn off and shaped.


    Every time the wolf exhaled, a terrible heat was felt.


    “You…”


    Sucré asked with a wary expression.


    “Where did you get such a monster…!”


    She could feel it just by looking.


    How much dark mana that wolf was emitting.


    “Munchi, good job.”


    Damien reached out and stroked Munchi’s fur. Munchie wagged his tail and rejoiced.


    “Lend me a little more strength. It’s time to finish this.”


    The wolf melted back into the shadows. Immediately after, darkness fell over the entire field.


    The darkness began to tremble. It was like watching a stormy sea.


    At the sight of this overwhelming spectacle, Sucré felt goosebumps all over his body.


    Instinct warned her. It was dangerous to stay here.


    “…Ugh!”


    Sucré immediately drew out all his dark mana.


    All the released darm mana turned into mes. mes soared behind Sucré’s back.


    The mes were tall and thick. It was like looking at a wall.


    “Glemy! Devour him!”


    At Sucré’smand, the fire spirit opened its mouth. All the mes Sucré had created were sucked into the spirit’s mouth.


    Then, the spirit’s body grewrger in an instant.


    It surpassed the size of a house and grew to the point where it surpassed the size of mansion.


    The gigantic Glemy brought its hands together in front of chest. mes began topress between its palms.


    Thepressed mes emitted a dazzling light. The dark world was instantly lit up like day. It was like looking at the sun.


    “Burn everything!”


    Sucré shouted loudly.


    The fire giant lifted the sun above its head. And it was about to throw the sun at Damien.


    But at this moment, Sucré did not realize.


    The fact that the shadow at his feet had not disappeared.


    The wolf jumped out of the shadow.


    It was several timesrger than before. It devoured Glemy, who had turned into a giant, in one gulp.


    Even the sun that Glemy had created was swallowed into the wolf’s throat.


    The world that had been as bright as day was once again dark.


    “Wh…?”


    Sucré looked up at the sky with a bewildered expression.


    Just a moment ago, the sun that Glemy had created was the most powerful dark magic that Sucré could wield.


    It was powerful enough to turn the entire area into a sea of fire if it was properly activated.


    And yet… it was devoured so easily?


    “N-no way…”


    The moment Sucré denied reality, the wolf lowered its head.


    And it swallowed Sucré and the ground she was standing on whole.


    ***


    “It can’t be.”


    Suddenly, the body of the ck wolf exploded. It disappeared without a trace.


    Before Sucré stood a man with his fist clenched. It was none other than Winston.


    “Whew, whew…”


    Sucré gasped and copsed to the ground.


    “Our little kitten, are you okay?”


    Sucré remained silent in response to Winston’s question.


    She simply trembled with a look of sheer terror.


    “I didn’t know you would push our cute kitten this far.”


    Winston turned to Damien. A ck wolf had appeared by Damien’s side.


    However, unlike when it attacked Sucré, its size was noticeably smaller. And it looked very weak.


    It had suffered significant damage from Winston’s punch.


    “Your name was Victor, right? You’vemitted a great sin by persecuting our little kitten.”


    Winston said, slowly drawing his sword.


    “So, you’ll have to pay the price now.”


    ***


    From the moment Winston appeared, the entire area was filled with killing intent.


    It was as if sand was floating in the air instead of oxygen. With each breath, sand infiltrated the trachea, scratching the airways and lungs.


    ‘This is incredible.’


    Even Damien, a High-ss, found it difficult to endure the Master-ss’s killing intent.


    Such was the stark difference between Master-ss and High-ss.


    ‘When will the Church arrive?’


    No matter how much he expanded his senses, he couldn’t detect anything. It meant they hadn’t even arrived nearby.


    ‘This is gettingplicated.’


    As a High-ss, Damien couldn’t confront a Master-ss.


    The result would be the same even if he used dark magic. No matter how skilled Damien was, he needed extensive preparation to face a Master-ss as a dark mage.


    “I guess there’s nothing I can do.”


    Damien opened his mouth. Winston responded to his words.


    “What do you mean, ‘there’s nothing you can do’?”


    Damien didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he suppressed all the mana flowing through his body.


    And then, he absorbed the dark mana floating in the air.


    As the normal mana suppressed, the dark mana began to fill the void.


    “What are you doing?”


    Winston immediately noticed Damien’s transformation.


    “Why is a dark mage imitating a dark knight?”


    Winston was right.


    Damien wasn’t trying to use dark mana now. He was manipting dark mana in the way of a dark knight.


    Mana and dark mana were fundamentally different powers.


    Therefore, the sensation felt when they flowed through the body was also different.


    Mana was like clean water. It was effortless unless it flowed roughly.


    But dark mana was theplete opposite.


    It was as if thousands of insects were crawling inside his body. It felt like they were crawling up his organs.


    It wasn’t just unpleasant. It was disgusting and nauseating.


    ‘That’s why I try not to use this method if possible.’


    There was no need to absorb dark mana when using dark magic. But it was different for dark knights. They had to absorb dark mana and manipte it.


    “I don’t know what the hell you’re doing.”


    Winston tilted his head and said.


    That was the natural reaction, considering that a Grand Dark Mage was suddenly using dark mana like a dark knight.


    But it was different for Damien.


    Damien had lived as a dark knight.


    He had a past where he had reached the pinnacle as a Death Knight.


    “Phew.”


    He took a deep breath to shake off the unpleasantness. But it didn’t make him feel any better.


    “Damn it.”


    Damien activated the dark mana he had absorbed.


    Immediately after, an overwhelming aura erupted from Damien.


    ***


    [Trantor – Kie]


    [Proofreader – Kawaii]