Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

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Chapter 300: Diversion Tactic (1)

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As dawn broke, the Imperial Supreme Sword donned his armor and went to the city walls.

"Hmm."

The Imperial Supreme Sword rested his chin on his hands and gazed down at the scene below the walls.

Undead monsters reeking of decay clawed at the walls, letting out horrible howls.

"…Eos, switch roles with Damien Haksen. We still have time."

Srynder said with frustration. The Imperial Supreme Sword asked him a question in response.

"Doesn\'t it look like it\'s going to rain?"

Srynder’s face became red with anger and he houted back.

"What are you talking about? The sky is totally clear—what rain could you possibly mean?"

"It looks like a torrential downpour is coming today, so we should hurry with the operation."

The Imperial Supreme Sword pulled out a plum-sized fruit from his pocket. Fruit was shimmering with a silver glow.

This silver fruit was a rare treasure because this fruit was from the branches of the World Tree.

Although incredibly precious, it had been given to him by Milene specifically for this day.

"Commander, the undeads might attack the castle while I’m gone. Please hold them off."

"You don\'t pay attention to anything I say, do you?"

Srynder let out a deep sigh but quickly composed himself.

"There\'s no choice since things have already unfolded this way. Leave this to me and do as you please."

The Imperial Supreme Sword gave a slight nod before taking a bite of the World Tree\'s fruit.

It wasn’t sweet but had a refreshing taste. He chewed it thoroughly and swallowed it.

Soon after, he expanded his senses. Then he looked eastward and murmured quietly.

"Leo, So you\'re there."

The Imperial Supreme Sword leaped from the city wall, landing in the midst of the undead horde.

-Kieeeek!

-Kraaak!

The moment the Imperial Supreme Sword appeared, the undeads immediately charged at him.

Even though they had rotting bodies, they couldn\'t be underestimated—they were all resurrected corpses the monsters who once dominated the continent.

Despite the undeads rushing towards him, the Imperial Supreme Sword did not draw his sword. He simply closed his eyes.

Even with his eyes closed, the landscape around him vividly appeared in his mind.

The royal castle of Alfheim was behind him.

The clear, blue sky.

And the undeads charging toward him.

The Imperial Supreme Sword added a touch of imagination to this scene.

He pictured the undeads rushing at him being sliced into pieces.

As his mental image became crystal clear, lines appeared across the bodies of the undeads.

The pieces of the undeads crumbled away, creating a wide clearing around the Imperial Supreme Sword.

Heart Sword.

This was the name of the realm the Imperial Supreme Sword had attained.

Since mastering the Heart Sword, the Imperial Supreme Sword had gained the ability to manifest his mental images into reality.

"Well then, shall I go see my brother?"

With a strong push off the ground, the Imperial Supreme Sword moved along the newly cleared path.

The remaining undeads tried to block his way, but it was futile. They all turned into mere chunks of meat.

After a long walk, the Imperial Supreme Sword came to a stop. He spoke with a welcoming expression.

"Leo, did you have a good dream last night?"

The Lord of Eternal Flame was standing midst of several tents and frowned fiercely at the Imperial Supreme Sword.

"…So, you\'ve finally decided to kill me."

"No, No, How could an elder brother kill his younger sibling?"

Imperial Supreme Sword said as he raised his fist.

"I just plan to give you a good beating. Then I\'ll make sure you serve your sentence in the Empire\'s prison."

"Enough of your nonsense!"

The Lord of Eternal Flame said loudly, his eyes bulging with rage.

"I can\'t understand you, brother! How can you side with those damned elves? Do you remember what they did to our mother? How they insulted us both?"

The Lord of Eternal Flame couldn\'t calm himself. Instead, his rage only grew louder.

"They called us filthy bastards born from a beast! They treated us like disgusting freaks! So why? Why are you protecting those elves?"

"…."

"Say something!"

"Our mother loved Alfheim."

The Imperial Supreme Sword\'s tightly closed lips finally opened.

"That\'s why I\'m trying to protect Alfheim. Because that’s what Mother would have wanted."

"…I see there\'s no reasoning with you."

From beneath the Lord of Eternal Flame\'s feet, dark red flames erupted.

The flames soon took the form of a giant. The massive figure impaled with stakes all over its body, looked at the Imperial Supreme Sword with half-dead eyes.

"Even though you are my brother, I will not forgive you if you stand in my way."

"It\'s a pity. I was planning to forgive you."

"Ridiculous. This isn\'t the time for you to be so smug."

The Lord of Eternal Flame pointed upward. Something dropped from the clouds drifting above.

A beautiful woman with long, jet-black hair descended from the sky.

She was Hela, the leader of Pandemonium.

"Eos, it’s been a while."

"Hela, you look just as you always have."

"Oh my, do you think I’m pleased by such compliments?"

Despite her words, Hela couldn\'t hide her delight.

"Seeing you face to face like this brings back memories of that night."

"You were stunning that night too."

"Oh my, oh my, if you keep saying things like that, you’ll make me blush. You were quite dashing as well."

Hela spoke with a flushed face, and the Imperial Supreme Sword also averted his gaze slightly, as if he was embarrassed.

[PR/N- Lord of Eternal Flames internal thoughts - Am I the only sane person here?]

Only the Lord of Eternal Flame watched the two with a displeased expression.

"If someone saw this, they might think you are a couple not an enemy."

"My, it seems the little one is quite upset."

Hela said with a displeased expression.

"We should have been more considerate of my brother. Apologies."

Added the Imperial Supreme Sword.

The two of them nodded in understanding, while the Lord of Eternal Flame scowled deeply.

"…Hela, you haven’t changed your mind at this point, have you?"

"As if I would. The more I reminisce, the stronger my desire grows to have Eos\'s head."

Hela gazed at the Imperial Supreme Sword with eyes full of longing.

"Eos, do you think you can take on both of us?"

She asked with a smile. The Imperial Supreme Sword drew his sword and responded.

"Of course. That\'s been my plan from the start."

A green light glimmered on the Imperial Supreme Sword\'s forehead, and a gust of wind suddenly enveloped his body.

"Before coming here, I ate the fruit of the World Tree."

Consuming the fruit of the World Tree granted immense mana and enhanced physical abilities.

But that wasn\'t why the Imperial Supreme Sword had consumed the fruit.

"Let me ask you instead—do you really think the two of you can take on someone empowered by the World Tree?"

* * *

As soon as the Imperial Supreme Sword moved, Damien advanced with the elves.

Thanks to the undead army being drawn to the Imperial Supreme Sword, they were able to reach Pandemonium\'s hideout with relatively little trouble.

"This is where Pandemonium\'s main camp is hidden."

Mata said, pointing toward the forest. To the naked eye, it appeared to be just a dense, green forest.

"Wait here."

Hata then pulled out a large leaf from his pocket. The leaf had an unusual silver hue.

Though no one explained, Damien recognized it immediately.

A leaf of the World Tree.

It had the power to dispel magic spells by restoring the natural flow of mana.

Hata rubbed the leaf between her hands, causing it to crumble into silver dust and scattered it into the air.

As the silver dust dispersed, the illusion magic concealing the forest began to dissolve.

The lush forest scenery vanished completely. Instead of it, there was a barren plain.

All the trees had been uprooted and left strewn.

An enormous crater covered the empty plain, its size comparable to a lake.

The hole was so deep, it seemed as if the ground itself had been carved out entirely.

"…How dare they do this to our island."

Mata trembled with rage. The other elves stared at the crater with eyes filled with resentment.

At that moment,

-Kieeeek!

-Kraaak!

The undeads sensed that something was amiss and began charging toward the group.

At a glance, it was clear these were no ordinary undead. They were flesh golems and many grotesque creations were stitched together from various monsters.

Damien drew his sword to deal with them, but the elves stopped him.

"Damien, we don’t know what might be lurking down there. Save your strength for it."

"We\'ll handle these creatures. Summon the spirits, everyone!" Mata and Hata commanded the rest of the group.

The elves immediately called forth their spirits. Various spirits, each unique in size and form appeared, ranging from fiery bears to nimble rabbits. Despite their differences, they all shared one thing in common—they were all highest-ranking spirits.

-Kieeek!

-Kreeeek!

The flesh golems charged at the elves, but the spirit mages quickly ordered their spirits into action.

The undeads were burnt by blazing flames, water droplets transformed into bullets that pierced their bodies, and razor-sharp winds shredded them to shreds.

In the blink of an eye, the flesh golems were utterly destroyed.

No matter how many times I see it, it is still impressive.’

Damien was once again amazed by the power of the spirits.

Spirits were inherently powerful beings, often compared to natural disasters in their destructive potential.

When combined with the guidance of a spirit mage, they were nearly unstoppable.

"It’s over. Let’s move on."

Mata said brushing off ash from her shoulder.

-Where do you think you’re going?

A chilling voice echoed from somewhere.

In that instant, a black projectile shot toward Hata.

It moved so fast that Hata didn’t even have time to react. The projectile was aimed directly at her head.

Damien caught it with his hand just before it struck. There was a dull sound as something exploded in his palm.

“Th-thank you! What… what was that?”

Hata said with a trembling voice because she realized just how close she had come to death.

“Damien! Are you alright?”

Mata asked with a concerning voice.

Damien casually dusted off his hand, showing that he was unharmed.

The black projectile he had blocked was a chunk of aurablade. If Damien hadn’t intervened, Hata would have been killed instantly.

-You blocked that? Your reflexes are impressive.

A man emerged from behind one of the tents near the crater.

There was something strange about his appearance.

Where his arm should have been, there was instead a cylindrical weapon of some kind.

And that wasn’t all. One of his eyes was abnormally large, like a glass orb implanted into his face.

-Come on out, everyone. I thought this would be boring with just elves, but it seems we have an interesting guest.

As the man raised his voice, others began to emerge from various spots. They too had grotesque appearances.

Some had four arms, others had six eyes, and some even had the limbs of beasts.

Each of them had a horrifying appearance.

"Human? Why is there a human here?"

"You fool, that\'s him! Damien Haksen! Haven’t you heard? Damien Haksen has come to the Alfheim!"

"The human that ‘he’ wanted so badly? Damien Haksen?"

[TL/N- Others still don\'t know that Dorugo is female, so they continue to refer to her as ‘He/Him’.]

"Keheh, that one\'s mine! I’m going to present his corpse to ‘him’!"

A figure screamed, cried and then raged, looking like a madman.

Despite their absurd behavior, the elves weren’t laughing. Instead, their faces grew tense.

“...Damien, those creatures are called ‘Covenanters.’ They may look strange but don’t underestimate them. They’re monsters among monsters.”

Mata warned him.

“They’re said to be modified Master Class warriors. Many renowned spirit mages have died at their hands.”

Hata also added with worrisome face.

Seeing no way out, The two sisters summoned their Spirit Kings without any hesitation.

A serpent made of water and a sparrow wreathed in lightning appeared before them.

"A Spirit King? It’s been a while since we’ve seen one."

"Yeah, not since we killed that spirit mage who wielded the Fire Spirit King, right?"

Even in the presence of the Spirit Kings, the Covenanters showed no fear. They seemed to regard them as minor obstacles.

"The Spirit King is a bit troublesome."

"Don’t overthink it. In the end, all we need to do is kill the spirit mage."

"Just like we did with that Fire Spirit King user. We just need to distract them and let the fastest one of us get close enough to slit their throat."

When a spirit mage dies, their spirits lose their power and become weak. Thus, the fundamental strategy when fighting a spirit mage is to target the mage themselves.

Not long ago, Hata hadn’t even been able to react to a Covenanter’s attack boosting their confidence to the utmost level.

"A mere monster dares to look down on us?"

"I’ll turn you all to ash before you can even approach us!"

Mata and Hata shouted with burning resolve.

Just then, Damien stepped forward, pushing past the sisters. They looked at him in surprise.

“Damien, we told you to conserve your strength—”

“I’ve found it.”

Damien’s eyes locked onto the Covenanters.

"The traces left on your bodies… it’s definitely Dorugo’s work."

There was no mistaking it. Damien had experienced it firsthand when he was transformed into a Death Knight. And after that, he had seen Dorugo modify countless others. He had grown sick of that sight.

"So, this is it. This is where Dorugo, that fucking bastard! That piece of trash is here!"

His emotions surged—joy and exhilaration vied for dominance within him.

A monster held out one arm toward Damien.

The cylindrical weapon where his hand should have been began to gather mana and fired a black bullet.

The bullet grazed Damien’s cheek, then slammed into the ground and caused a massive explosion.

Scarlet flames shot up to the sky, and the elves looked with terror in their eyes.

"How dare you insult Lord Dorugo."

The man said with displeased expression.

"Lord Dorugo is a being far beyond your comprehension. Even in his absence, you should show respect. Otherwise…"

Suddenly, Damien’s body vanished.

"...What?"

The man’s face filled with confusion, and the other Covenanters frantically searched their surroundings.

At that moment, a shadow loomed over the man\'s face.

Descending from the sky, Damien stomped down on the man’s face with all his might.

The impact immediately crushed the man\'s head into the ground, shattering the land around him.

The man’s body trembled violently with his head buried in the ground, then went still like a puppet with its strings cut.

“What was that about showing respect… to Dorugo?”

Damien asked as he turned to the other grotesque figures.

His voice was calm, but his eyes were full of killing intent.

"I\'m asking you right now. What did you just tell me to do?"

There was no response.

Only a heavy silence hung in the air.

***