Episode 174: A Multitude of Colors (3)
Kardak stared in disbelief at the blade protruding from his abdomen.
“When… when did you manage to place an assassin…?”
He was convinced that Damian Haxen had hired an assassin, and not just any assassin, but one of exceptional skill. After all, there weren’t many who could deceive a grand dark mage like him and drive a blade into his gut.
But when he turned around, he realized his mistake.
There was no one holding the sword. Only the hilt of a greatsword was visible.
“What… what is this…?”
Had someone thrown the sword from afar? He had heard of master-class warriors with such abilities.
As Kardak racked his brain to make sense of the situation, the greatsword in his abdomen suddenly grew heavier, its blade angling downward.
“Argh! Aaaagh!”
The searing pain of flesh tearing forced him to his knees. It was then that Kardak understood.
The sword hadn’t been thrown.
It was moving on its own.
“Damian Haxen! What kind of trickery is this?!”
He had heard rumors of master-class warriors who could control weapons with their minds. But that was a skill reserved for those who had reached the pinnacle of mastery, not something a high-class like Damian could mimic.
“Quite useful, isn’t it?” Damian remarked with a satisfied smile.
Not long ago, Damian had clashed with the necromancer Gastal in the Almond Duchy. There, he had acquired a rare artifact sword—a masterpiece crafted by an ancient artisan to protect a prince. This sword, capable of flying and attacking enemies on its own, was a relic Damian had named “Biyun.”
Since then, Damian had tested Biyun’s capabilities whenever he had the chance. Its speed, cutting power, and various functions were all put to the test. Biyun not only flew but also had stealth features like invisibility and silent flight.
While traveling with Kardak, Damian had secretly summoned Biyun to follow them. However, even with its stealth capabilities, ambushing Kardak with Biyun alone was impossible. A grand dark mage like Kardak was highly sensitive to magical flows.
So Damian had feigned ignorance, even consuming poisoned soup and pretending to be affected, all to lower Kardak’s guard and drive Biyun into his abdomen.
“Hiding something like this… So, your claim of being a mere attendant was a lie all along!”
“Well, yes,” Damian admitted, seeing no point in denying it now.
“Then how did you know his name? Are you a spy for the Empire?”
“This isn’t the time for such questions,” Damian replied, gripping the hilt of his sword. Kardak gritted his teeth.
“Without me, you’ll never find the Mercenary King’s location.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll handle it. You just sit tight and wait,” Damian said nonchalantly.
For Damian, unlike other knights, such threats held no weight. He could simply kill Kardak and question his spirit afterward.
“Do you really think a mere high-class can kill me?” Kardak’s face twisted with anger. Being dismissed by a high-class was an affront to a grand dark mage like him.
Damian pointed downward, and Biyun moved, slicing deeper into Kardak’s insides. Kardak’s expression contorted, but he didn’t scream.
“Bold words for someone in your position. And have you forgotten? I killed Garot, a grand dark mage like you.”
“Don’t compare me to that fool,” Kardak sneered, showing no sign of fear despite his predicament.
“The power of a grand dark mage depends on the mastery of their arcane magic. Compared to me, Garot was nothing.”
Kardak wiped the blood from his lips.
“Let me show you just how vast that difference is.”
A viscous liquid began to seep from the bandages wrapped around Kardak’s body. Seeing it, Damian quickly withdrew Biyun from Kardak’s body. As soon as the sword was removed, the liquid dripped to the ground, instantly dissolving the gravel and soil.
“Good instincts. If you’d left it, that relic sword would have been gone.”
The corrosive poison known as “Flowing Rust” was one of Kardak’s favorites. It could dissolve anything solid, be it metal or stone. During the War of Destruction, Kardak had used it to bring down the Empire’s fortress, once thought impregnable.
The bandages extended on their own, sealing Kardak’s wound. Once healed, Kardak rose slowly.
“Prepare yourself. I’ll give you the most excruciating death.”
His eyes glowed with a dark intensity.
The Poison School.
Among dark mages, they were known as particularly dangerous. Even master-class warriors, who could leap and soar, often fell to a single drop of their poison.
But the Poison School had one critical flaw: if they couldn’t poison their target, their efforts were in vain. No matter how deadly the poison, it was useless if it couldn’t be administered.
For Kardak, however, this wasn’t a problem. As a grand dark mage, he could cast the highest-level dark magic with a mere flick of his finger. Against someone like Damian Haxen, a high-class, poison was no issue at all.
“Let’s begin,” Kardak clapped his hands, releasing a new poison from his body. The liquid transformed into snakes, dozens of them slithering toward Damian Haxen with alarming speed, gathering at his feet in the blink of an eye.
Kardak extended his hand toward Damian, and the snakes exploded, filling the air with a yellow mist—a poison vaporized in an instant to create a toxic fog.
“This poison burns the nerves and brain. Just a whiff, and you’ll experience hell,” Kardak boasted.
“Such a costly poison, but nothing is more agonizing…”
At that moment, Damian Haxen emerged from the toxic fog, unscathed.
”…What?”
Kardak was taken aback. The fog was designed to penetrate even through the skin. It made no sense for someone to emerge unharmed.
“You’re truly incomprehensible! I can’t let you live any longer!”
Kardak spread his arms, releasing a torrent of poison from his forearms. The liquid seeped into the ground, and moments later, a net of poison shot up in front of Damian Haxen.
Seeing the net, Damian changed direction, but it was too late. Poisonous nets sprang up from all sides, blocking his escape.
Damian immediately swung his sword, unleashing a wave of aura. The aura slashed at the net but dissipated without cutting through.
Kardak sneered, “It’s a corrosive poison that disrupts magic. A high-class like you will never cut through it.”
The net began to close in, its barbed edges threatening to ensnare Damian Haxen.
“First Ring,” Damian murmured, and a resonant sound emanated from his body.
Kardak was puzzled. Was that a sound a human body could make?
In an instant, Damian Haxen vanished, and the net of poison was torn apart.
”…What?”
Kardak was caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events.
Then, he heard footsteps. Kardak quickly turned to his left. Damian Haxen stood there.
“Ugh!”
Kardak tried to unleash another net of poison to block Damian’s path.
At that moment, something fell from the sky.
The sword that had pierced his abdomen now impaled Kardak’s wrist, severing it and disrupting his dark magic.
“Aaagh!”
Kardak screamed in agony from the sudden pain.
But despite the pain, he quickly prepared another dark spell with his remaining hand. If he didn’t stop Damian Haxen now…
“Second Ring.”
In the blink of an eye, Damian Haxen appeared right in front of him.
The speed was beyond comprehension, leaving Kardak utterly flustered.
“To think a mere high-class would force me to use this!”
Dark magic erupted from Kardak’s entire body, and thin needles shot toward Damian Haxen. They were as fine as animal hair, but each was a deadly poison needle, capable of dissolving a body with a single prick.
The nearly invisible needles rained down on Damian Haxen.
“As expected, you resort to this,” Damian’s voice reached Kardak’s ears.
As expected? What did he mean by that? It was as if he had anticipated it…
Kardak’s mind swirled with countless questions.
In that moment, Kardak witnessed something unbelievable.
The poisoned darts that had struck Demian Haxen’s body were effortlessly deflected.
A protective aura.
Anyone of high class could envelop their body with magical energy for protection.
Kardak knew this. However, the secret weapon he had prepared was something he had specially designed.
The darts were thin but engineered to pierce even through an aura. No ordinary protective magic could stop them.
“This is impossible…!”
As Kardak cried out in disbelief, Demian Haxen swung his sword.
A blue aura sliced through Kardak’s neck.