Episode 262: Reclamation (4)
“How dare you… treat me like this… You, of all people… never…”
Alexander couldn’t hear a word Damian was saying. His face was buried in the dirt, consumed by hatred for Damian.
Damian gathered dark magic at his fingertips, summoning a black serpent that coiled around Alexander’s body. Alexander’s eyes widened in terror.
“Gah! Gaaah! Gaaah!”
He thrashed about like a fish impaled on a spear.
The Corpse Serpent.
A dark curse from the necromancy school that rotted away the flesh of living beings. It was this very magic that had decayed Alexander’s limbs.
Though not the most combat-effective spell, Damian chose it for a single reason.
“How does it feel, having your body rot away? I wonder if it suits your taste.”
They say the greatest pain a human can endure is being burned alive. But there is something worse—the agony of one’s body decaying at an accelerated pace. The pain of a body rotting all at once is incomparable to mere burns.
Damian had learned this from his father.
“Stop! Stop it! Please, stop!”
“Then you should listen carefully. I have a few questions for you. Understand?”
Alexander nodded, a remarkable feat considering his face was still pressed into the ground.
“Are you under a binding spell too?”
Damian lifted his foot from Alexander’s head as he spoke.
“How… how do you know that?”
“I’ve already met the others.”
“What? You mean… you’ve dealt with the other disciples too? You wretched…!”
Damian commanded the Corpse Serpent to tighten its grip on Alexander.
“Aaaargh!”
“I didn’t give you permission to ask questions. Speak only when I ask.”
“You… bastard…”
Alexander trembled, cursing under his breath. Damian ignored him.
If Alexander was under a binding spell, tearing his soul apart to extract memories would yield little information. It was better to coax the answers out of him.
“Next question. How complete is the ‘Sword of the End’?”
“You… how do you know that name? Even among the disciples, few know of it…”
“Answer.”
“I… I don’t know.”
Damian raised a finger, and Alexander panicked.
“I really don’t know! As soon as we captured the city, the master sent us out to hunt down the dwarves! I haven’t been back to the city since!”
“So, is the Weapon Master alone in the city?”
“No, no! There’s a dwarf… a dwarf named Akilo!”
“Akilo? You mean the Ghostsmith?”
Ghostsmith Akilo. A renowned blacksmith known for crafting the weapons used by the great evils of Pandemonium. Damian had encountered him a few times in his past life. Despite being a blacksmith, Akilo exuded a chilling aura of bloodlust.
“So the dwarf who betrayed the city of Bissalhammer was Akilo?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Akilo in the city… I never imagined the dwarf who forged the Sword of the End would be him.”
Damian pressed Alexander further.
“You said you couldn’t return to the city. Was it because the master didn’t summon you, or because the gates were closed?”
“They’re closed. The master won’t open the gates for any of us, no matter who goes.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Damian realized he had to abandon his plan to use a lust curse on Alexander to infiltrate the city.
“Why such tight security? Could it be they’re afraid the disciples might covet the Sword of the End?”
In his past life, many knights had coveted the Sword of the End. Not just dark knights, but even knights of the empire. It was that beautiful and terrifying in its power.
“I think I’ve asked everything I wanted to.”
Damian converted his magic into dark energy using the power of envy. Seeing this, Alexander’s face twisted in fear.
“Please, spare me.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I’m begging you! You’re a dark mage too, aren’t you? Why are you opposing us?”
Alexander spat as he shouted, and Damian grimaced in disgust.
“Enough. Farewell.”
The dark energy in Damian’s hand intensified.
Just then, someone called out to him.
“Victor, wait a moment.”
Damian turned to see Kilo and the dwarves approaching, carrying the bodies of their kin.
“Why should I wait?”
“I thought they deserved to witness this creature’s end.”
The dwarves laid the bodies before Alexander. Their faces were expressionless, disturbingly so. But their eyes burned with hatred.
“Now, carry out the sentence.”
Damian silently cast the dark magic, layering the Corpse Serpent.
“Wait! Wait!”
Alexander cried out desperately, but Damian did not halt the spell.
“Spare me! Please, spare me! Aaaah! Aaaah!”
Alexander’s body decayed rapidly. His skull became visible, ribs protruding.
“Ugh… ugh…”
His lungs and heart rotted away, leaving nothing but a husk.
The dwarves watched the entire process without blinking, as if committing every detail to memory.
Damian reached into the air, seizing Alexander’s soul.
-Why, why!
Alexander’s soul screamed, accusing Damian of breaking his promise.
“I don’t keep promises with beasts like you.”
In front of the dwarves, Damian obliterated Alexander’s soul.
-Aaaah! Noooo!
With a final, horrific scream, Alexander’s soul vanished.
Afterward, the dwarves began repairing the forge. Though they had reclaimed it, there was no telling when the Weapon Master might send more minions.
“They should be realizing it by now.”
It had taken Damian only a few hours to rescue the dwarves and reclaim the warehouse and forge. It was such a swift operation that the Weapon Master’s side would hardly have noticed.
“Who would have thought they’d lock themselves inside the city gates?”
Damian clicked his tongue. It was a shame he couldn’t use the lust curse, but it didn’t change much. The dwarves could simply forge a weapon to breach the city.
“Victor.”
As Damian pondered atop the city wall, Kilo approached him. Since the moment they reclaimed the forge, Kilo’s face had been as dark as a man facing death.
“What is it? Is there another facility we need to reclaim?”
“No, there isn’t. We have enough materials, and the forge is ours again. All that’s left is to craft the weapon.”
“I’ve been curious. What kind of weapon are you planning to make?”
“Is that what you wanted to know?”
Suddenly, Kilo’s face lit up.
“The weapon we’re making is called the ‘Ancient Sun.’ It’s about the size of a jar, and when thrown, it causes a massive explosion. The blast is so powerful that…”
I didn’t ask for that much detail. Kilo rambled on enthusiastically.
“He’s definitely a blacksmith.”
Damian thought of Malta from the Holy Order. Malta also took great pride in his creations.
“From what I’ve heard, the explosion is immense. Are you sure it’s safe to use?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I’m saying the city might suffer significant damage. It could be hard to rebuild, and there might be casualties.”
Kilo’s expression darkened again at Damian’s words.
“That’s… fine.”
“Fine?”
“We can rebuild the city bigger… and our kin won’t be harmed.”
Damian felt a twinge of suspicion but didn’t press further. The dwarves were stubborn but not foolish.
“More importantly, I have a proposal for you.”
“A proposal?”
“About the undead you command. I noticed they’re using subpar weapons.”
The skeletons wielded weapons that looked ready to fall apart. They weren’t real weapons, just temporary constructs Damian had fashioned with dark magic.
“Are you mocking me?”
“What do you take me for? Of course, they’re poorly balanced, dull, and downright pathetic, but I have no intention of mocking you!”
Damian’s brow furrowed slightly, irritation creeping in.
“So, what’s your proposal?”
“We’ll make them for you.”
Damian tilted his head at the unexpected offer.
“Make what?”
“We’ll forge weapons for your undead minions.”
Damian felt more confusion than joy at the offer.
“Don’t think it’s strange. This is… our way of repaying you for helping us with our revenge.”
“You’re talking nonsense. I didn’t act for your sake. I killed them for my own reasons.”
“Even so, the fact remains that thanks to you, we achieved our revenge.”
Kilo looked up at the sky and added, “Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to avenge ourselves. We would’ve been captured and killed by them instead.”
Kilo turned his gaze back to Damian. “So, we want to repay you, even if just a little. It’s not just my wish; it’s the wish of all of us.”
With a determined look, Kilo continued, “Please, let us provide your soldiers with our weapons.”
The weapons crafted by the dwarves were more valuable than gemstones of the same weight. Kilo and his men were from the city of Dwarves, known for preserving the ancient secrets of their craft. Such weapons were undeniably tempting.
Yet Damian hesitated to accept the offer. “For the undead, those weapons might just be a hindrance.”
The undead’s greatest strength was their ability to shift between reality and illusion. Their tactic of hiding in shadows and launching surprise attacks was something even Damian found formidable.
“Don’t worry about that. Among the alloys developed by our ancestors, there are some specifically designed for the undead.”
“An alloy like that exists…?”
Kilo’s pride swelled at Damian’s surprise. “Then it shouldn’t be a problem. But we need to build siege weapons to breach the city’s walls. Do you have time to make weapons as well?”
“Consider our numbers. We can handle that much work,” Kilo boasted confidently. Damian pondered for a moment before speaking.
If Kilo’s claims were true, this was a rare opportunity to significantly strengthen the undead forces. It was too good to pass up.
“Alright, I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“You won’t regret it,” Kilo said with a grin.
After that, Kilo and the dwarves focused on crafting siege weapons to reclaim the city and arming the undead. Meanwhile, Damian heightened security in case of an unexpected attack from a weapon master.
But no attack came, allowing the dwarves to work without interruption. On the day the siege weapons and undead armaments were completed, the dwarves vanished without a trace, taking the war machines with them.
In their place was a note and the weapons for the undead.
Sorry about this.
We’ll finish this ourselves.