The Devil’s Sacred Sword (2)
Hissss…
Steam filled the air, and a metallic taste rose in Dalen’s throat.
Spitting out the blood pooling in his mouth, Dalen chuckled softly.
“Heh.”
Steam escaped from his slightly parted lips.
His arm was twisted at an odd angle, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but Dalen didn’t feel bad at all.
After all, he was finally reaping the benefits of the stamina he had painstakingly built up over time.
Hissss—
As his battered insides and right arm began to regenerate, the aftereffects of the dragon’s blood started creeping in.
Yet, the fatigue he felt was manageable—just a few hours of rest would be enough to recover. Even considering the time it would take to escape the labyrinth, he could still use his domain at least once more.
Thinking back to the days he spent bedridden after fighting the Grand Priest with lower strength stats, this was a remarkable improvement.
Not only that, but his increased strength had noticeably amplified his power. If he had landed this blow on the Grand Priest, the man wouldn’t have had a chance to utter his last words before being obliterated.
“Ugh! No…!”
Of course, unlike the Grand Priest, who had only summoned a fragment of a demon, the creature before him was a demon in its entirety, no matter how insignificant.
A being of a completely different caliber, it wouldn’t die from a single strike.
Hissss…
Beyond the smoke billowing from his body, the demon writhed and groaned.
Its left side was mostly gone, with a third of its upper body torn away, spilling its innards. Its left leg was severed below the knee.
With a half-severed horn and a mangled face twisted in agony, the demon clawed backward with its remaining arms, shouting in disbelief.
“I can’t regenerate! Could it be… you’ve achieved a domain? How could a mere mercenary who just entered the labyrinth do such a thing?”
Blood pooled beneath the demon’s massive form, and its torn upper body spilled its guts. While the lost blood and organs seemed to regenerate quickly within its body, the half of its body severed by Dalen was a different story.
Just as the missing shoulder began to regrow—
Boom—
A faint rumble of thunder accompanied the shattering of the shoulder bone.
Even as the ribs, nearly half gone, attempted to regenerate—
Crack! Crackle!
Tiny flashes of light struck the regrowing bones and organs, reducing them to dust.
The very essence of the domain, forged by Dalen’s will, blocked the demon’s regenerative powers.
With a fierce grin, Dalen drew his sword and shield and strode into the cavern.
It was then that he heard Lucia murmur.
”…Barrett.”
What? That paladin?
Dalen glanced back. Lucia stood rooted to the spot, staring intently at one side of the cavern.
Following her gaze, he expanded his senses beyond the demon and himself.
His superhuman senses stretched to the cavern’s end, where he detected a faint presence.
In the darkness, a knight clad in armor stood like a statue, eyes closed.
The armor was scratched and battered, as if it had seen fierce battles, and a chain wrapped around its neck exuded a sinister aura.
The demon shouted.
“My loyal fallen knight! Stop them!”
At those words, the knight opened its eyes.
Simultaneously, the chain around its neck began to glow with a violet light.
From its once-dull eyes, a fierce light emerged, and its previously still body tensed, ready to spring into action.
Clang.
The armor clinked as it moved.
Swish—
The knight drew its sword, and in an instant, it vanished from Dalen’s senses.
”…!”
An instinctive alarm rang through Dalen’s body.
He swung his sword on reflex.
Clang!
The sound was unlike any clash of metal on metal.
As the blades collided, a massive spark erupted, and the charging fallen knight was sent flying back into the depths of the cavern.
Crash—Rumble.
Cracks spread across the wall where the knight crashed, and the ceiling’s stones began to crumble.
Dalen glanced down. The stone floor beneath his feet was gouged out, deep enough to bury his ankles.
This was the result of a single clash, showing that while Dalen had a clear advantage in strength, the fallen knight’s physical abilities were far from ordinary.
Rumble!
Indeed, the knight’s durability was exceptional, as it rose from the rubble.
”…”
Unlike the demon, it had no words.
It simply charged at Dalen, launching a relentless assault.
Swish—
A sword imbued with a dark aura thrust forward. Dalen deflected it with his shield and countered with his own strike.
Thud!
The knight deflected the thrust with the flat of its blade, spinning gracefully to slash at Dalen’s thigh.
Dalen responded simply. He kicked the knight’s shoulder as it began its slashing motion.
Crash!
The powerful kick shattered the shoulder’s armor plating. The fallen knight, its shoulder dislocated, hastily retreated.
Dalen didn’t let up. He followed through with a downward slash.
Clang!
But in that moment, the dislocated shoulder snapped back into place, and the fallen knight skillfully deflected Dalen’s sword.
And then—
Clang! Clang!
In the blink of an eye, a dozen exchanges took place.
Was it as Lucia had said, that this knight was once worthy of respect?
The fallen knight’s nimble footwork and swordsmanship were enough to bewilder even Dalen’s senses.
Yet, Dalen maintained the upper hand.
While the fallen knight’s swordsmanship was superior in technique, Dalen’s raw strength and speed were overwhelming.
Crack! Snap!
The destructive edge of Dalen’s sword repeatedly tore and shattered the knight’s armor.
But the battle showed no signs of concluding.
Whenever the knight’s corrupted holy sigil emitted its ominous glow, its wounds healed as if they had never existed.
With a self-healing ability rivaling the demon’s regeneration, Dalen clicked his tongue in frustration.
‘This is troublesome.’
A knight empowered by a corrupted holy sigil was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
With seasoned swordsmanship, superhuman physical abilities, and regeneration akin to a demon’s, it was a formidable foe.
Of course, the power of the holy sigil wasn’t infinite, so given time, Dalen could gradually overpower it.
The problem was that this battle was a race against time.
“Arise, forsaken souls! Become a part of me!”
Within the magic circle drawn in the center of the cavern, the demon began to restore its body using the corpses of fallen explorers.
Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, the torn and crushed bodies gathered, quickly forming massive limbs.
Though these makeshift limbs couldn’t compare to its original body, once the demon restored itself, Dalen would have to face both the demon and the fallen knight.
Even for him, victory wouldn’t be guaranteed.
‘Using my domain just to take down the fallen knight would be foolish.’
The domain was a powerful card, but it couldn’t be used recklessly.
His stamina still lagged behind his strength, and considering his current condition, he could only use the domain one more time.
Given the demon’s endless regenerative abilities, that one use had to be reserved for finishing off the demon.
Clang! Clang!
Even as his mind raced, the sharp exchanges targeting each other’s vital points continued without end.
Sparks flew in all directions, and the surrounding floor was scarred with countless sword marks.
Clang!
At the end of the wave of sword strikes, a powerful blow from each side collided.
The fallen knight staggered back several steps, while the barbarian retreated only one.
Suddenly, the surroundings brightened.
The fallen knight hesitated and stepped back.
A pure, bright light emanated from the holy sigil.
Lucia, bathed in that light, stepped to Dalen’s side. She spoke.
“I’m sorry, Dalen. The unexpected situation… I lost my focus for a moment.”
Without turning his head, Dalen chuckled softly.
“Have you regained your senses now?”
“Yes.”
Her voice was resolute.
Swish.
Her hand, imbued with light, drew her sword. The tip of the gleaming blade pointed at the fallen knight.
“As a squire of the Holy Knights who protect the continent’s balance, and as an Inquisitor who purges the evil within the order, Lucia Castachel hereby condemns the fallen paladin Barrett.”
Fwoosh.
Her sword ignited with holy power.
Not the usual flicker of divine energy, but a fierce, blazing white light.
The ‘White Flame of Judgment,’ a technique taught only to the Inquisitors of the order, used solely against heretics and demons, now burned on her blade.
“Ugh…”
Perhaps it was the blinding radiance.
The fallen knight’s previously expressionless face twisted as it looked at Lucia.
Dalen nodded and lightly patted her shoulder.
“I’ll trust you to watch my back.”
“Yes.”
Leaving the two knights behind, he slowly approached the center of the arena.
The demon had already regenerated most of its severed body parts, resembling a grotesque giant corpse.
With a sneer, it spoke. “Heh heh heh. Are you sure you want to trust your back to such a young paladin?”
The demon gestured with its chin toward Dalen’s rear. The clash of the knights had begun, their blows echoing through the ground with a series of thunderous booms.
Dalen could have extended his senses to gauge the battle’s progress, but he chose not to.
“I believe in the demon slayer.”
“The demon slayer? You mean that kid?” The demon questioned, its tone dripping with skepticism. Dalen silently set his shield down.
The demon wiped the confusion from its face, then laughed heartily, as if proud. “Hahaha! I understand your earnestness, but clinging to a hollow title is foolish. True strength isn’t bound by names. My fallen knight was once strong enough to defeat even me.”
Its black, pupil-less eyes gleamed as it continued. “Had his comrades not betrayed him, or had I not used the ancient chains of Halman, even I couldn’t have captured him. But now, the power of the corrupted relic has consumed him entirely. The paladin who once stood perfect before the gods is now my fully corrupted servant.”
Dalen gripped his sword with both hands, his right foot slightly back, his left foot dragging forward.
Watching him assume his stance, the demon smirked. “I know all about you, too. A mercenary who has wielded a shield and sword all his life, a warrior who defeated the minions of Enaxagus with imperial martial arts. I didn’t expect you to form a domain, but your essence isn’t in swordsmanship, is it?”
A high-pitched whine filled the air as the demon raised its hand. A sinister resonance emanated from its palm, forming a massive sword of darkness.
“I, Golakap, the demon of the torn flesh and sawblade sword, will teach you a lesson in death.”
“Hey.”
“Heh, any last words?” the demon taunted. Dalen replied with an irritated expression.
“Ever since the boss fight cutscene, I’ve been thinking—don’t you talk way too much?”
With that final remark, he inhaled.
Unlike his usual deep breaths, this one was short and sharp. A shimmering aura rose from his shoulders.
The energy coursed down his arms, reaching the sword. In that moment, a strange sensation climbed from his fingertips up his arms.
The sword he held with both hands, usually so light, now felt heavier than anything in the world.
With a swift motion, Dalen lifted the sword and brought it down in a diagonal slash.
The overwhelming weight traced a simple, inevitable line.
“Huh? What the—”
As the demon raised its sword, puzzled by the bizarre flow of magic around Dalen, the dark blade exploded with a deafening roar.
The shattered sword of darkness became a storm of magic, engulfing the demon’s upper body.
The body it had painstakingly regenerated from hundreds of corpses was torn apart in an instant.
With half its body in tatters, the demon staggered backward.
“Ugh… What is this?” it stammered, its once verbose speech cut short.
Dalen, his arms still wreathed in shimmering energy, rested the sword over his shoulder.
“Let’s go again, you chatty demon.”
With a resounding crash, the stone slabs beneath him shattered, and his figure vanished.