Episode 68: The Traitor (3)
Damian drove the holy sword through Sanus’s chest, pinning him to the ground.
“Gah! Ugh!”
Sanus coughed up blood repeatedly. Damian spoke in a cold, detached voice.
“Stop whining. Use your divine power to heal yourself.”
He had deliberately avoided Sanus’s heart. There were still questions that needed answering, so killing him outright wasn’t an option.
“Master!”
As Damian subdued Sanus, Dionysio rushed to Gamal’s side.
Dionysio poured a potion into Gamal’s mouth and used divine power to heal him.
“Dio… Dionysio…”
Thankfully, Gamal quickly regained consciousness. As soon as he did, he struggled to his feet.
Despite his severe injuries, he forced himself to move toward Damian.
Dionysio tried to persuade him to rest, but Gamal wouldn’t listen.
“You saved my life. I owe you a debt I intend to repay.”
Gamal’s voice was filled with sincerity. Damian shrugged.
“Sanus.”
Gamal looked down at Sanus, who was writhing in pain with the holy sword still embedded in his chest.
With the sword lodged so deeply, Sanus couldn’t properly channel his divine power. All he could do was use it to keep himself alive.
“Was betraying us the will of the entire Blinding Pain sect?”
“It was my decision alone. I planned this by myself.”
Her story had changed.
Now that the plan had failed, it seemed she intended to take all the blame.
“Playing innocent won’t help you. Once we take you to the inquisitors, they’ll extract the truth, no matter what it takes.”
“I’ve already told you the truth. How can there be another?”
Sanus smiled enigmatically.
“And have you forgotten? We of the Blinding Pain never speak.”
Blinding Pain.
Even Damian Haxen, known for his ruthlessness, was wary of this fanatical sect.
As Sanus claimed, no one from Blinding Pain had ever confessed or broken under torture.
“Do as you wish if you plan to take me.”
Gamal turned to Damian.
“Sir Damian, would it be permissible to kill Sanus here?”
Damian had subdued Sanus, so his life was in Damian’s hands.
“You’re not taking him to the order?”
Gamal gave a bitter smile at Damian’s question.
“Even if we take Sanus to the order, he’ll claim he’s the mastermind. Blinding Pain will deny any involvement.”
A sect like Blinding Pain could easily frame this as Sanus’s lone act.
“They’ll try to protect him, claiming he should atone through labor, and eventually welcome him back.”
“Even though a second-class holy knight is rare… would they go that far?”
“If it’s Blinding Pain, they would. To them, Sanus is a saint fulfilling the will of their god.”
If that happened, everything would return to square one.
It was better to kill Sanus here and now, reducing Blinding Pain’s strength.
“Do as you wish.”
With Damian’s permission, Gamal raised his spear.
“Kill the heretics for me too,” Sanus said with a smile. Gamal silently drove the spear down.
Sanus met her end without a sound.
As soon as the spear struck, Gamal collapsed. Dionysio rushed to support him.
“Master Gamal!”
“I’m fine. Just need a little rest.”
Damian disagreed.
Divine power wasn’t a cure-all. Severe injuries couldn’t be fully healed, no matter how much divine power was used.
Gamal had suffered critical wounds from Sanus. Even with healing, he wasn’t in a condition to fight.
“Sir Damian, may I ask a favor?”
Gamal addressed Damian, who nodded for him to continue.
“While I recover, could you save the others?”
“Of course, that’s what I’m here for.”
Damian had come to prevent the annihilation of the expedition.
He had protected Gamal and Dionysio by stopping Sanus, but it wasn’t enough.
He needed to save more people to truly achieve his goal.
”…You are truly a model knight. I understand why the Immolators keep recommending you as a holy knight.”
Gamal spoke with admiration.
To Damian, it was a chilling thought. He had no desire to become a holy knight.
“You’d make a better holy knight than a regular one.”
Unaware of Damian’s true feelings, Gamal looked at him with fiery eyes. Damian felt a sense of foreboding.
‘I’ll have to avoid him from now on.’
Damian added Gamal to his list of people to be cautious around.
Just then, Damian sensed something. From deeper within the dungeon, a massive surge of dark magic was emanating.
There was only one being in this dungeon capable of such dark magic.
‘The Necromancer.’
In his past life, he had been Dorgo’s right-hand man and a notorious mass murderer.
But that didn’t matter now.
Damian’s reason for pursuing the Necromancer was simple.
The Necromancer had already made contact with Dorgo. He might know Dorgo’s whereabouts.
The thought set Damian’s blood on fire.
The problem was that the source of the dark magic was too far away.
Finding the Necromancer in such a complex place would take time.
‘I could break through the ground in a straight line… but my mana reserves are too low for that.’
His limited mana was a constant hindrance.
As Damian pondered his options, he felt a powerful energy pulsing from his pocket.
He reached into his inner pocket and found the Spirit’s Heart, glowing like a fiery ember.
“Such pure energy… what is that?” Gamal asked, astonished.
The Spirit’s Heart, which had been dormant, had finally fully awakened.
Absorbing the Spirit’s Heart would increase his mana reserves, allowing him to tunnel directly to the Necromancer.
Damian swallowed the Spirit’s Heart. A searing heat coursed down his throat.
As expected, the Spirit’s power was immense.
The mana was pure, without any impurities, and abundant.
Most astonishing was the effect of the Spirit’s power on his body.
‘My body is becoming resistant to fire.’
His skin, muscles, and internal organs were transforming. Ordinary flames could no longer harm him.
‘I’m gaining new senses.’
Damian’s perception expanded, allowing him to sense the heat of living beings.
It wasn’t quite seeing; it was more like detecting.
He could feel the warmth of Dionysio and Gamal beside him, as well as the survivors beyond the walls.
Damian extended his senses further, detecting even more sources of heat.
‘Satisfactory.’
He had gained pure mana, fire resistance, and the ability to sense heat.
’…Hmm?’
Then, something caught Damian’s attention.
Near the source of the dark magic, he sensed two intense heat signatures.
The heat radiating from these two was so strong, he almost mistook them for fireballs.
‘Agnes? Margata?’
Damian quickly deduced their identities.
In the midst of battle, their heat signatures fluctuated.
Soon, the one he assumed to be Agnes was taking a beating.
Agnes’s heat noticeably weakened.
“This is dangerous.”
Dionysio and Gamal blinked in confusion at Damian’s sudden words.
“Dangerous? What do you mean?”
There was no time to explain. He had to get there immediately.
Finding a path would take too long. He needed to make one.
Damian’s eyes fell on the large axe Sanus had used.
He picked it up and channeled his mana into it. Aura enveloped the axe blade.
Simply pouring aura into it wouldn’t suffice. Damian recalled a technique perfect for this situation.
‘Shatterwave.’
A power that could amplify impact several times over.
The master known as the ‘Wall Breaker’ had shattered fortress walls like glass after mastering Shatterwave.
Damian swung the large axe at the ground. The earth didn’t just crack; it turned to dust.
“Ahhh!”
Dionysio and Gamal cried out in shock.
But Damian didn’t stop, delivering a second strike.
Boom.
The ground shattered again with a thunderous noise.
Unsatisfied, Damian struck a third time.
With each swing, the ground visibly lowered. After several swings…
Boom.
A deep pit opened up, revealing a massive cavity.
“That’s ridiculously deep.”
Damian brushed the dirt from his clothes. He was covered in soil from breaking through the ground.
Looking up, he saw familiar faces.
Agnes, Margata, and a frail-looking young man.
Though younger than Damian remembered, he recognized him immediately.
“There you are, you damned bastard.”
The Dance of the Dead.
Finally facing his prey, Damian allowed himself a small smile.
“Oh… my…”
The necromancer, upon seeing Damian, wore an expression of sheer delight.
“To think the subject I’ve been eagerly anticipating would appear right before me! How could I be any happier?”
Damian let out a dry chuckle.
In his past life, the old necromancer had always been lost in his own world.
The young necromancer was no different.
“Don’t kill him, and don’t damage the body,” the necromancer commanded, raising his hand. The flesh golems turned their gaze toward Damian.
The golems charged at him.
Damian dropped his axe. Instead, he opened a dimensional pocket and drew out the Celestial Blade.
He recalled his battle with the Sword Master.
Among the masters, the Sword Master wasn’t particularly strong.
But when it came to facing multiple opponents, he was more terrifying than anyone.
It was the same back then.
With a snap of his fingers, the Sword Master had shattered an army of tens of thousands of undead into pieces.
Until now, Damian hadn’t had enough magical power to replicate that technique.
But things were different now. Consuming the heart of the spirit had significantly boosted his magical reserves.
Now, he could perfectly recreate that technique.
He infused the Celestial Blade with magic. The sword began to vibrate on its own, emitting a low hum.
Secret Technique - Roaring Mountain Shatter
He flicked the blade with his finger.
In an instant, the horde charging at Damian was torn to shreds.