Episode 138
Around the time when the Black Duke’s domain was under the rule of the Dark Lord, Sir Helmut Blackbear, the renowned Sword of Light, made his way there.
“Thank you for making the difficult journey despite your busy schedule within the duchy, Sir Helmut.”
“Lord Dale… No, Viscount Sachsen, what could be more important than your summons?”
Dale had personally called Sir Helmut to his territory. They were heading towards an uncharted area within the Dark Lord’s domain, a place devoid of human presence, where the darkness of the demon race writhed—a perilous region where encountering a monster would be no surprise.
“I have a secret favor to ask of you, Sir Helmut.”
Noticing the seriousness in Dale’s expression, Sir Helmut nodded.
“But before that, could you make me a promise?”
“I, Helmut, vow to fulfill any oath, even at the cost of my life!”
Sir Helmut laughed heartily as usual, and Dale responded with a light smile.
“From now on, whatever you see, you must not speak of it to anyone.”
After smiling, Dale spoke. Perhaps something so threatening had been discovered during the development project that it couldn’t be revealed lightly. With that thought, Sir Helmut nodded gravely.
“Let’s stop here for now.”
Dale glanced around and dismounted. They tied their northern warhorses to a nearby winter tree and crossed the white expanse.
“So, what is it you wish to ask of me, Sir Helmut?”
“Be my sparring partner.”
Dale’s request was unexpected, and Sir Helmut tilted his head in confusion.
“Sparring? Surely, you could do that within the viscounty…”
“Shub.”
But Sir Helmut didn’t have time to finish his sentence.
The ‘abomination from another realm’ had already appeared beside Dale. Black tendrils wrapped around him and burst forth. Dale stood there, drenched in black blood.
He was clad in the armor of the Shadow Lord.
”…!”
The sight was enough to make anyone understand. Even without the enhancement of aura, the armor Dale wore was undoubtedly that of a conceptual realm.
Even the great Sir Helmut Blackbear couldn’t hide his shock, his expression frozen as he gazed at the ‘Black Duke’ beyond the armor.
“While I’m in this state, could you help hone my sword?”
“Do you possess both a conceptual realm and armor?”
“Indeed.”
It was no secret that Dale, as a mage, possessed a conceptual realm. But to also wield the ultimate knight’s avatar was a revelation of immense significance, one that Helmut couldn’t fail to grasp.
“Strictly speaking, it’s not aura but the power of a grimoire.”
Even Dale hadn’t fully grasped the power of the ‘Book of the Black Goat.’ However, the form of power Shub had granted him was undeniable. Moreover, utilizing the avatar stemmed from Dale’s mastery of the sword.
“Truly astonishing and shocking… but now I understand.”
After hearing Dale’s explanation, Sir Helmut nodded. He was aware that grimoires were the swords of mages, and some possessed unimaginable ‘specialness.’
Just like Dale’s father, the Black Duke, who wielded the ‘Scales of the Heart.’
“Indeed, Lord Dale, you are undoubtedly the son of Duke Sachsen.”
“Does my father possess similar power?”
Being the Black Duke’s son didn’t mean knowing everything about him. In fact, Sir Helmut, known as Sachsen’s sword, likely knew more about the man’s prowess on the battlefield than Dale did.
“You couldn’t even begin to imagine.”
Sir Helmut laughed as he spoke. A death angel descending on the battlefield, placing thousands of soldiers on the ‘scales of life and death,’ deciding their fates with merciless precision. Who could dare to imagine such a sight?
Indeed, even the sight Dale was showing now was an act that defied the common sense and lifelong beliefs of ordinary knights and mages. Yet, the fact that he was the Black Duke’s son made it all the more believable.
“Let’s end the small talk here.”
With that, Dale finally drew one of the two swords hanging at his waist.
The Shadow Lord gripped the hilt of the black magic sword, the Blade of Hunger.
“Sir Helmut, do you not need to deploy your avatar?”
“An avatar, you say, my lord!”
Hearing this, Sir Helmut Blackbear burst into laughter. It was a wild, uncontrollable laughter.
And that laughter soon transformed into the roar of a black beast.
At that moment, in the adventurer’s guild of the labyrinth city, Labyrinthos.
A striking red-haired beauty was drawing everyone’s attention.
“I heard I could get an ‘adventurer’s license’ here.”
A woman whose crimson robe couldn’t hide her figure, wearing a matching crimson pointed hat.
“I’m looking for a charming adventurer who could kindly assist me.”
Her voice was overtly seductive, and adventurers, unable to contain their excitement, began to gather like flies. The red-haired beauty, Lady Scarlet, licked her lips as if savoring the moment.
“Oh, how very kind of you all.”
Her sharp fangs gleamed between her lips.
It felt like a tank was charging right at him.
Boom, crash!
The Shadow Lord gritted his teeth as he parried Sir Helmut’s massive sword, ‘Madness.’
“Is this all you’ve got, Lord Dale?”
Yet the black beast showed no signs of stopping. The massive sword swung relentlessly, as if it wouldn’t care if Dale’s body was cleaved in two.
Each time, Dale deflected the blade, manipulating the armor of darkness like liquid metal to counter the onslaught.
When he faced the holy sword, Dale’s victory was ultimately due to the power of Geass. Even Michael Lancaster, said to be closest to the Seven Swords, wasn’t one of them.
But now, facing the black beast, he realized.
It was strong. On a completely different level. Even the holy sword at full power couldn’t defeat this beast.
The title of the strongest knight in the north was no empty boast. Even if he was half-mad, Helmut was still controlling his power to some extent.
Even with the Shadow Lord’s avatar and his past memories, Dale couldn’t match this overwhelming force.
Simultaneously, dark blue magic surged beneath the Shadow Lord’s feet. The magic transformed into spells, striking at Sir Helmut.
But even with the shadow realm and the creation of ‘Shadow Lurkers,’ even with endless shadow bullets from the black barrel, even with ice walls and freezing grenades, nothing changed.
He couldn’t pierce the carapace enveloping the black beast.
‘Not yet, not yet.’
He needed to draw out more of the power Shub had given him. The true abilities of the Shadow Lord’s avatar, the armor of darkness.
The four circles entwining his heart accelerated, infusing the armor with magic. But the color wasn’t dark blue. It was red.
The four circles simultaneously generated a single hue, a crimson concept.
Following the black armor Dale wore, a magma-like crimson began to etch itself.
”…!”
Sir Helmut, reborn as the black beast, gasped again.
“You promised.”
Dale spoke, undeterred.
“Everything you see here, Sir Helmut, is a secret.”
The magma-like crimson magic now enveloped Dale’s black armor. The flames surrounding the Shadow Lord’s avatar, Dale began to project a concept onto those flames.
“And perhaps you’re the first to witness this, Sir Helmut.”
Igniter.
A mage’s circle is essentially an engine that generates magic by converting mana into energy. In the world of his past life, most engines required an ‘ignition system’ to operate.
The four-stroke cycle of intake, compression, power, and exhaust.
Red magic didn’t have to be used solely to burn enemies. At least in his past world, Dale knew how thermal energy could be utilized.
If a mage were considered a mechanical device, then instead of mana energy, using thermal energy (flames) to power the device.
──Based on that mechanism, Dale overlaid the magma-like crimson magic onto his circle.
It wasn’t an overclocking that recklessly consumed his body and the mage’s lifespan to accelerate the circle.
The mechanisms of another world, projected seamlessly through the lens of mechanical engineering, without a hint of risk.
A heat engine that converts thermal energy into mechanical energy, generating power. It was this very image of the otherworld that accelerated the RPM of the four circles.
Now, using thermal energy, Dale’s four circles were accelerating nearly tenfold.
Not by creating flames with magic, but by generating magic through flames—a bold, unconventional idea.
“Wow, who would’ve thought this would come in handy one day.”
Before becoming an SSS-class monster hunter, he had chosen a university with the vague notion of ‘getting a job,’ during those monotonous days. He was swayed by his brother and parents, who assured him that he wouldn’t regret going to an engineering school.
A past so distant that he could barely remember it. Memories from that time surfaced unbidden, but they weren’t something he needed to dwell on right now.
As long as he existed as the ‘Black Prince’ of Saxon, that world of the past was beyond his reach.
“M-Mana…!”
The sight left the pitch-black monster gasping in shock.
To Helmut, who didn’t understand the situation, it seemed as if Dale’s mana was inexplicably multiplying by the dozens.
A literal ‘mass of mana’ was enveloping the presence of the Shadow Lord.
Flames began to flicker along the body of the dark beast. Red mana sent the heart’s circle into overdrive, while blue mana served as a coolant… The dark armor blazed like magma, amplifying its power.
By accepting his existence as a mechanical device and projecting the highly complex knowledge of the otherworld.
Against the charging medium tank, Dale finally began to press down on the latest accelerator.
Around that time, the imperial family finally broke their silence.
In recognition of the Saxon Viscount’s achievements in pioneering the ‘Demon King’s Territory’ beyond the northern Saxon Duchy… and valuing the grand cause of the anti-demon alliance forged between Saxon and Lancaster, the imperial bloodline decided to make a personal visit.
The 7th Prince, Mordred, and the 5th Princess, Kiara.
The two heirs of the Pendragon lineage were about to embark on a grand procession like no other.