Chapter 93. Listen Carefully
Despite how boldly she sprang forward, Shine’s charge was blocked without effort.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Stopping Shine with a single exchange, the two Death Knights closed in around her.
Right after that, the undead that had come out of the Casket of the Dead surrounded Shine.
Kkiririk! Kkieek!
Bodies so mangled you couldn’t tell whether they were monsters or humans. Their forms were all different. But they shared one thing in common: every last one of them was spewing uncanny Black Magic Power.
“Kill her! Don’t leave even a scrap of flesh behind!”
At Solion’s shout, the already savage undead boiled up even more violently.
Shine, now a short little body, had long since been buried beneath countless undead.
Kakang! Clang! Clang-clang!
Crunch!
Only the occasional impact sound let anyone know Shine was still alive.
In the midst of that—
“…….”
Solion watched with bloodshot eyes.
‘Shine von Lehmann… no matter how impressive you are, you’re still nothing more than a Death Knight.’
You can talk big about showing something, but there’s no escaping the limits of what an existence is.
Sure, in life she was a knight who reached Master Knight and walked the realm of transcendence—yet now she was just an undead, wasn’t she?
And yet.
With that being the case, what “this and that”?
- The promise that you’d let me take the black mage’s head.
How dare she talk about taking this body’s head?
Ridiculous.
‘I thought you’d left behind some grand move… but this? This isn’t any different from earlier.’
Before the ancient wraiths vanished, there had already been one battle.
And the situation now wasn’t different from then by even a hair.
What did Shine do back then?
She could do nothing but desperately hold them off, and when the ancient wraiths cast off their flesh, she seized the opening and barely escaped with her own body.
Even then—at the cost of one arm.
It was no different from a lizard cutting off its tail and fleeing in terror.
So Shine herself wasn’t the problem.
But….
‘So what exactly are you plotting?’
Solion turned his eyes to Aster, sitting in lotus position a short distance from the battlefield, unfolding a breathing method.
With the mask on, Solion couldn’t see his expression, but his behavior was absurdly relaxed.
It was hard to see it as the attitude of someone about to fight.
‘Even if it’s to provide mana to a Death Knight… what meaning does that even have?’
A Death Knight’s main energy source is Black Magic Power.
Shine von Lehmann is a bit special, so she can accept mana or aether without distinction—but the efficiency can’t compare to black magic power.
So rather than entrusting the work to Shine von Lehmann, it would be more efficient for him to step in himself.
‘Don’t tell me… you really intend to give Shine my head?’
“Hah!”
Solion let out a laugh of disbelief.
Now that he thought about it, it was the same from the first ambush.
‘You definitely could have cut off my breathing….’
But the masked man didn’t.
He only kicked away Solion, who had been trying to take Shine back.
“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this….”
A forbidden mage who had reached shedding (脫却).
There were higher beings above him—officers, elders—but he was still someone who put all black mages beneath his feet.
Right now he looked fairly pathetic, but for Solion it was still an insult to his pride.
But—
‘Rather… this is fortunate!’
Solion bared his teeth in a grin. Red blood clung thickly to those white teeth, and the sight was chilling.
Call it arrogant, call it bold—whatever. Thanks to the enemy’s leisurely attitude, a way to live was clearly visible.
The gap was far too narrow to squeeze into right away, but widening it wasn’t difficult.
“You worm-like undead…! You can’t even deal with that piece of trash?!”
Solion roared, clearly displeased that Shine was still holding out.
At the same time, the order he sent to the undead through spirit speech was the exact opposite.
‘Stall. Fight her moderately.’
The masked man watched the battlefield, calm and unruffled.
Those clear eyes were irritating as hell, but Solion didn’t provoke him rashly.
Instead….
‘Yeah. Keep watching like that.’
The longer Shine rampaged, the faster the masked man’s mana would run out.
‘Looks like he’s drawing a mana accumulation formation….’
Solion flicked a glance at Oberon, then withdrew his gaze.
Even if he was covering the loss with a mana accumulation formation, it couldn’t be perfect.
That was when Shine’s voice reached his ears.
[Good. Adaptation’s finished.]
“……?”
Paaang—!
“……!”
A booming rupture that slammed into his eardrums.
Solion’s eyes flew wide at the sudden change.
In the middle of the undead swarm that had been pouring in like dogs, a round patch of empty space appeared.
Hiiing—!
A burst of force pushed the undead back, and the spectral horses carrying the Death Knights reared and thrashed.
And at the center of that empty space—
[Exactly three minutes.]
Shine spread her fingers, then declared as she looked at Solion.
[In exactly three minutes, I’ll clear out this trash… and take your throat.]
She was holding up four fingers.
“Bullshit! You’re trying to bluff and—”
[Whether it’s a bluff or not, you’ll find out when you see it.]
Shine stood there and quietly closed her eyes.
Vision plunging into darkness. Around her, the undead that had been pushed back surged in again, while every sense sharpened to a keen edge.
‘This body… it’s been a long time.’
A hulking body nearing two meters.
This was not Shine’s original build.
King Slayer.
The knight who cut the Emperor’s throat. The traitor of the age and the genius of the century—Shine von Lehmann’s build was actually a short little one.
For some reason, after becoming a Death Knight, she came to possess a massive body nearing two meters, but what felt familiar to Shine was originally this.
Still, was it because of the sudden change in height? She needed time to adapt.
And now that the adaptation was over—
Sreung—.
Shine lifted the sword she’d been letting hang loose.
But why?
The blade was clearly rising slowly, and yet the undead charging in with eyes rolled back were even slower than that.
And that wasn’t all.
Even the spectral horses that sprang forward with their forelegs raised high were slower than the slow-rising sword.
As if… yes. As if time had stopped. No—as if time had stretched long.
[Hm.]
A faint breath leaked out. As one of the dead (亡者), no real breath came out, but it was Shine’s habit.
That was when the slow-flowing time returned to its proper place.
Hiiiiiing—!
Kieeeek…!
Noises bursting out all at once.
Shine let the sound filling her ears fall behind her and gently opened her eyes.
A flare of light bursting inside the helmet.
The first thing to enter Shine’s eyes was some nameless undead.
Was its base material an orc? Tusks curled upward. But perhaps it had been modified in some ways—its skeleton was grotesque.
Both arms hung down like stretched flour dough, and from them protruded five sharp claws.
Whiririk—.
As the claws came whipping in like a lash, Shine moved the sword held straight out in front of her.
No—did she move it?
It couldn’t be seen.
Only—
Slice!
A faint severing sound.
At that moment, the limp arm flew up into the air, cut clean from the shoulder.
Even though the arm was so long there was no way the blade could have reached that distance.
A sword strike that cleaves the air? No. And yet, how had she beheaded the undead?
The truly strange spectacle began then.
Tidik, tik—.
Severing sounds ringing out one after another. Quiet.
Shine simply stood there, sword held straight out…
Thud, thud-thud. Thud.
Undead tumbling to the ground in pieces, cut apart in the order they charged in.
It was silent.
There was no violent momentum. It wasn’t sharp. It was simply still (靜).
It was a scene no common sense could explain.
Like puzzle pieces that had originally been separated dropping away without strength.
Or like the strings of a marionette—danced by a puppeteer—being cut in a single instant.
Undead collapsing helplessly.
“Wh-what….”
Solion couldn’t close his mouth at the unreal sight.
That was when a metallic sound rang out.
Kang, kakang—!
Was it because they’d been Master Knights in life?
Only the two Death Knights reacted to the unknown phenomenon.
Their spearheads swung at speeds too fast to be seen, afterimages forming a round shield.
They were blocking.
Even so, the undead continued piling up on the ground.
And apart from the undead collapsing without resistance, it was only natural for a “what if” hope to bloom in Solion’s mind.
But—
[There’s no need to strain yourselves any longer for that trash. Unlucky knights.]
A gentle tone, as if he were consoling the two Death Knights.
But the result revealed at the end of those words could never be called gentle.
A pause.
The Death Knights stopped their swinging spears dead. Had they understood Shine’s words?
Had the reason once suppressed by the words of an unlucky knight—someone who had once been in the same position—awakened?
No. That wasn’t it.
Tidik.
A faint crack line spread across the black armor.
Srrrk, sreung—.
The armor slid along that line—slowly, as if a slanted wall of ice were slipping downward.
Thudududuk.
In an instant, the Death Knights shattered and scattered.
Armor split into hundreds of pieces rained down like winter hail—thud-thud-thud.
That was when Shine, who had been standing still, took a step.
Thud.
Just one step.
“D-don’t come…!”
It was like the world itself was approaching.
Why?
It wasn’t a body you could call huge even as a lie. And what about that presence? It felt so faint it was almost nothing.
“A-ah, ugh!”
Yet Solion collapsed with a flop under the bizarre pressure spilling from him.
His eyes were already clouded beyond measure by Destrow’s frenzy and his fear of the Elders’ Council—and now confusion layered over that.
Another step.
“Uuuh….”
Solion retreated without realizing it—no, he almost crawled, dragging his backside through the dirt, trying to get away.
Even though there was still a long distance left between them.
In his eyes, there was only the Death Knight in black armor.
No—wrong. Solion could now clearly understand who it was he was facing.
Shine von Lehmann.
The genius of the century.
The incomprehensible knight who rose to Master Knight at eighteen and walked the realm of transcendence (超越).
The traitor of the age who slaughtered every knight guarding the Emperor and cut his throat at twenty.
Not a typical Master Knight.
How many Master Knights had lost their lives to his hand that day?
Because it was such a shameful history, the detailed records were not released to the public, but the number of Master Knights he cut down that day reached three.
Three.
With only his own body, he slaughtered the Emperor’s knights and took the lives of three knights who had reached transcendence.
Even if he himself died atop the imperial throne, no matter what his end was, it was an achievement that could never be dismissed.
And so—one step, then another.
The Master Knight who left giant strides (巨步) upon the world walked slowly toward the one who had made him a Death Knight.
And at last—
“U-uuuh….”
When Shine arrived, Solion lost language. No—his thoughts stopped.
Trickle—.
The ground beneath him grew damp as he sat there.
[Was it… fun?]
A cold voice unlike his usual one. That glacial momentum felt like it could freeze even the hottest blaze.
[Stealing the flesh and soul of the dead (亡者) to play puppet… did it make you feel like you were something?]
It was rage.
Not a death that could be called rest, but garbage that dragged him out of slumber at will and toyed with him.
A worm that trampled a lofty pride he’d never called “honor,” yet held all the same.
And also—
Though he didn’t know their faces or names, comrades of the martial path (武)—whether seniors or juniors—whom this unforgivable sinner had mocked and played with.
This rage was a rightful feeling toward him, and at the same time, mercilessly cruel.
[Listen carefully.]
‘S-spare….’
Solion felt death beneath the shadow of the reaper (死神) that had arrived.
He wanted to live. When that single emotion filled Solion’s mind to the brim—
[You are nothing more than a worm.]
Thud.
His head fell away.
