Chapter 72
The Crystal Sword.
Slash—!
Each time the transparent blade traced an arc through the air, Helian’s knights fell one after another.
“N-No!”
“This can’t be happening! I-I gained immortality...!”
Crack!
Starting from the chest struck by the blade, the knight’s entire body rapidly withered away.
“Guaaaargh...!”
Crumble.
While the other knights held them back, I slipped through the gaps and cut off their lives.
That made fifteen.
We still had no casualties on our side.
“What is that thing?! Where did something like that even come from?!”
Limbs that regrew instantly after being severed.
Even if their hearts were destroyed or their heads cut off, they came back to life.
To them, the idea that they themselves could vanish without resistance was impossible.
‘That’s probably what they’re thinking.’
“Grr...!”
As though my thoughts were correct, Helian’s knights continued retreating while hesitating to approach.
“You useless idiots!”
The one growing impatient at the sight was Helian herself.
“What are you doing?! Attack them already!”
“You’re telling them to attack, but they won’t, huh?”
Mocking Helian as she screamed at her knights, I mixed my voice with the Voice of the Dead.
“You traded away your humanity for immortality, but I guess you never thought you’d lose it all in a place like this?”
“Grrrk...!”
Helian’s knights clenched their teeth and raised their swords.
But the confidence they’d shown earlier was gone.
“The moment their own lives are on the line, they tuck their tails like frightened dogs.”
Raising the crystal sword toward them, I spoke coldly.
“That’s why you people can never defeat us.”
What these people believed in was their own achievements, their own potential, and the sword in their hand.
They were warriors on an entirely different level from fools who rampaged around blindly worshipping power that wasn’t even theirs.
“You vermin trembling in fear before a single sword, even after relying on a cheap trick like Holy Blood.”
Watching them stand on the same battlefield as me, I drove the provocation home with absolute certainty.
“You shouldn’t dare talk about surpassing the Leinrants when you don’t even know your place.”
The instant those words left my mouth, the knights gripping their swords flushed red with rage.
“You bastard...!”
“Just because you have a mouth...!”
The knights trembling in fury were about to charge again—
Boom—!
With a deafening roar, an overwhelming wave of mana swept across the battlefield.
“Yes. You’re right, Klein.”
The source of that immense, unrefined power.
Helian, who had been watching the battle from the staircase above, slowly began walking toward us step by step.
“U-Ugh...!”
“Your Grace, what is this?!”
I frowned at the groans rising from all around us.
“What’s happening?”
“The knights’ condition is strange.”
Heinkel heightened his guard while the knights observed the others carefully.
“Khk... khrrgh...!”
Each time Helian drew closer, their bodies began trembling violently.
Then one of them finally collapsed to the floor, unable to endure it any longer.
“I specially favored you enough to grant you precious Holy Blood, and yet you hesitate out of fear over a mere sword.”
Clicking her tongue in irritation, Helian stretched out her hand toward the fallen knight.
“GRAAAAAAAAH—!”
Unable to endure the agony boiling inside his body, the knight’s body bent in grotesque directions.
Crack! Craaack!
The sounds of bones shattering and skeletons twisting echoed through the hall.
And after some time, what finally stood before us was—
“Grrrrrrrr...!”
A monster holding a sword, its form completely crushed and mangled.
“W-What is that...?!”
“Your Grace! This isn’t what we wanted!”
Helian’s knights shouted in panic, almost pleading.
‘Holy Blood is a substance made by condensing human souls.’
Sensing the Holy Blood surging violently within their bodies, I tightened my grip on my sword.
‘The moment they injected themselves with something that came from Helian’s body, it was already too late.’
The instant I reached that conclusion after studying their expressions—
“KRAAAAH—!”
“KRWAAH?! KRAAAARGH—!”
The bodies of the surrounding knights began mutating one after another.
Into horrifyingly twisted forms that could no longer be considered human.
‘No... if anything, that’s probably their true form.’
One had dozens of faces protruding from his shoulders.
Another had molars sprouting across his entire body.
Blood and filth poured endlessly from holes riddling their flesh.
There wasn’t even a trace of humanity left in them.
This was the true nature of Holy Blood.
A monster...
Created through the runaway amplification of life force.
“Knights, regroup!”
“Form defensive lines. Switch weapons to short spears.”
Heinkel and I issued commands to our respective forces, and the gathered knights and skeletons immediately established a defensive formation.
Chwarrrrk—!
And toward that newly formed defensive wall, they charged.
Helian’s knights.
No—these things could no longer even be called people.
Kuwaaaang—!
Heavy masses of flesh slammed into the black shield wall.
The skeletons absorbing the impact were blasted into the air all at once, and through the resulting openings, the knights attacked again.
“Damn it?!”
“Their regeneration got even faster! At this rate...!”
“Your Grace!”
At the voices of the knights calling for him, Heinkel nodded.
“We break through and strike Helian. Klein!”
“I’m here.”
The moment I answered his call, my hands formed a seal and activated the Contract Gate.
“Raven—!”
Death Knight Raven.
One of Berkel’s former comrades, whom I summoned directly to the front lines.
KuoOOOOO...!
—Everywhere I appear always looks like hell itself.
‘Still better than it was 200 years ago, right?’
Raven emerged from the black smoke.
As I spoke to him, I raised my sword as well.
‘You already know who the target is, right? Break through the weakest point in their defense and—’
Before I could even finish speaking, Raven immediately drew his sword and interrupted me.
—No. There’s no need for that.
‘What?’
“Fuck... to think she’d come here first...!”
I cursed while covering my face with one hand.
The one swinging her sword at Raven was none other than Helian herself.
“I’ll kill you with my own hands, Klein!”
Kaaang—!
Helian’s sword slashed horizontally.
Raven predicted the trajectory and blocked it, but the damage was far worse than expected.
The very moment I was about to ask what he meant—
KUWAAAAAANG—!
Raven stepped in front of me and swung his sword, and the resulting explosion shook the entire castle.
“Fuck... to think she’d come for this side first...!”
I muttered while covering my face with one hand.
The one swinging her sword at Raven was none other than Helian herself.
“I’ll kill you with my own hands, Klein!”
Kaaang—!
Helian’s horizontal slash crashed against Raven’s blade.
Raven predicted the trajectory and blocked it, but the damage was far more severe than expected.
The very moment I was about to ask what he meant—
KUWAAAAAANG—!
Raven swung his sword again to shield me, and another explosive shockwave rocked the fortress.
‘A Death Knight body instead of his original one. As expected, the durability still isn’t enough...’
I had reinforced him, but my demonic energy was still immature.
Because of that, the body I created for Raven wasn’t even half as strong as the one he possessed while alive.
‘I never expected her to charge into close combat...!’
That was what I thought as I looked at the sword in Helian’s hand.
No... not a sword.
The material wasn’t metal.
It was bone.
The blade Helian wielded had grown directly out of her own body.
“MOVE ASIDE—!”
KUWAAAAAANG—!
Another collision.
In just two exchanges, Raven’s body had already been pushed nearly to its limits.
‘To grant this much mana to someone who originally had none...!’
It was horrifying.
Not admiration for Helian’s abilities or the effectiveness of Holy Blood.
“How many?”
I spat the words at Helian while she faced off against Raven.
“How many lives have you devoured to become this thing, Helian?!”
The instant I shouted that, Helian broke through Raven’s defense and charged toward me.
“What does it matter how many insignificant insects die—?!”
The moment Helian barked back, unable to understand my anger—
—Did that buy enough time?
Raven asked me calmly, one of his shoulders completely shattered.
“Yeah. More than enough.”
Looking at Helian’s sword as it reached right in front of me, I answered him.
Chwarrrk—!
I raised the crystal sword and swung it in the exact opposite direction from her attack.
A dull, fragile blade made of glass.
If an ordinary swordsman wielded it, the blade would twist and shatter from the swing alone.
Kiiiiiiing—!
But what was engraved into my body was the essence of Ian’s—and the Leinrant family’s—swordsmanship.
A monstrous talent capable of analyzing and perfectly reproducing any sword technique after seeing it only once.
‘I’ll complete that technique from the Spirit Mausoleum this time.’
Helian’s mana surged like a tidal wave.
I absorbed it into my body, then poured it directly into my sword.
Reproducing the memory and sensation from back then, refining it, rearranging it.
Chiiiiik—!
The moment I traced the predetermined sword path, the crystal sword in my hand heated up.
A crimson rune symbolizing the owner’s name.
The instant the engraving appeared, Helian’s mana rushing toward me was drawn into my body.
I compressed the absorbed mana, refined it, and forged it into an entirely unique form.
‘Reverse the sword trajectory exactly as it is... and then—!’
Enduring the feeling of my brain burning apart, I swung the mana-filled crystal sword upward.
KIIIIIIIING—!
The moment the blades collided, an explosion of mana erupted outward.
Helian’s eyes widened at the unexpected reaction.
“W-What is this?! You shouldn’t even have mana—!”
“Did you really think I’d crawl all the way here without any chance of winning?”
And it didn’t stop there.
The immense force I redirected wrapped around Helian’s sword, then her arm, then her entire body.
“I’m the kind of man who never fights battles he can’t win—!”
With that roar, I unleashed every ounce of mana within me.
KUWAAAAAAAAAAAH—!
The mana concentrated into a single point before spreading throughout Helian’s entire body.
And then—
At the most critical moment, it exploded.
Her body shattered apart.
One of the ultimate principles of Leinrant swordsmanship established by Heinkel.
Meteor Sword.
“AAAAAAAGH—?!”
Helian’s body, struck head-on by her own mana, was blasted into the air.
BANG—! KWAKWAKWAANG—!
Her body smashed through multiple fortress walls before finally crashing into the center of Paul Wyvern Castle’s massive training grounds.
Pshhhhhhh—!
“Huuugh...! A-Aaaagh...!”
Smoke rose from Helian’s sprawled body.
The crystal sword forged from Snowflower Crystal.
A strike capable of severing the soul itself was naturally even more devastating to her.
“H-Hahaha...!”
Her crimson dress had become tattered rags.
The youthful face she had restored was horribly distorted.
And yet even in that state, Helian was still laughing.
“As expected... something like that could never kill me...!”
Despite the agony ravaging her entire body, Helian’s flesh continued regenerating.
‘Even after all that, half is the limit...?!’
Crackle! Crackle!
The hand gripping my sword trembled violently.
I had improved the technique’s completion, but it still relied on using the enemy’s mana.
Even after minimizing the burden, the rejection backlash remained.
“Look, Klein! I’m still alive—!”
Helian shouted triumphantly with a grin.
‘She’s still regenerating even after taking that head-on... she must’ve devoured at least tens of thousands...!’
Watching her wounds heal at terrifying speed, I ground my teeth.
“With this, now you—!”
“With this, you’ll be able to fight without worrying about us anymore.”
I interrupted Helian and spoke calmly.
“...What?”
The moment Helian repeated my words in confusion, I called out in a weary voice.
“Father.”
“...!”
The instant Helian’s eyes widened—
“You’ve done well, Klein. Leave the rest to me now.”
With a deeply sunken voice, Heinkel appeared before Helian.
“You bastard...! This was your plan from the beginning—!”
“Helian.”
Heinkel’s voice called her name like a sentence of execution.
“Heinkel! No matter how strong you are, the current me—!”
KUWAAAAAANG—!
Instead of an answer, a thunderous explosion shook the fortress.
The moment Helian hurriedly tried to gather mana, her body was blown apart instantly.
“Ah... ahh...?!”
A sword strike that ravaged her body before she could even react.
Unlike Helian’s wild, uncontrolled power, this energy had been honed to a razor’s edge.
“It’s finally time... to bring this to an end.”
With eyes filled with countless conflicting emotions, Heinkel raised his sword.
That was the sword aura of the continent’s strongest knight.
Heinkel Leinrant.