Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

Chapter 134

Chapter 134: The Ruins (2)

***

Damien looked down at Dawn in surprise.

It was the first time that Dawn had emitted such a dazzling light since he had started using it.

‘What’s happening to Dawn?’

The light gradually subsided. When the light finally disappeared, Dawn was completely different.

The appearance looked the same, but the amount of divine power felt from Dawn had greatly increased.

That wasn’t all. A miracle was inscribed inside Dawn.

‘It grew.’

The decisive difference between a low-grade and a middle-grade holy sword was the presence or absence of a miracle.

Now Dawn had grown into a mid-grade holy sword by creating its own miracle.

Jiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Dawn trembled. It seemed to be thrilled by its own transformation.

“Be careful! I told you to be careful!”

At that moment, the skeleton, which had reached the tip of his nose, swung his sword at Damien.

Jiiing!

Dawn trembled violently. Then, with a wave, the skeleton flew backwards.

‘Did the holy sword release divine power on its own will?’

Even in his previous life, he had never seen such a holy sword. It wasn’t even among the special holy swords.

“Be careful… careful…!”

The skeleton stood up. The part that had been hit by the wave was shattered and pieces of it were falling off.

“You have to be careful!”

The skeleton rushed towards Damien. Then, Dawn released divine power again.

Dawn released divine power again. The divine power became a sharp slash and cut the skeleton’s body in half.

“Be careful… .”

The severed skeleton collapsed. Soon, the torso shattered into pieces and disappeared into black smoke.

Jiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Dawn trembled. It seemed to be asking for praise.

“That was great.”

Damien said sincerely. Dawn trembled as if it was happy.

“But now it’s going to be hard to carry around because it’s too noticeable.”

Jiiing?

With such powerful divine power, it was obvious that anyone who knew anything would recognize it.

Moreover, if Dawn was next to him when Damien used dark magic, it was highly likely that it would get in the way.

Ji-Jiiing!

Dawn seemed to be saying to wait a moment. Suddenly, the light that Dawn was emitting was absorbed into the hilt.

The divine power that had been felt just a moment ago had disappeared completely.

‘Did you hide your divine power?’

Not only did it destroy the skeleton on its own, but it also hid its divine power.

It was so good that even Damien had to concentrate to detect it.

‘This is getting creepy.’

Damien looked at Dawn with a disgusted look in his eyes.

Dawn, oblivious to this, rang the hilt as if asking for praise.

“V, Victor-nim… W, what was that just now…?”

Thibaut, who had been lying on the floor, asked, pointing to Dawn.

“It’s a relic sword.”

He couldn’t reveal that Dawn was a holy sword. Otherwise, Damien’s identity might be revealed.

Since he wasn’t a knight, he couldn’t distinguish between a relic sword and a holy sword.

“T, that’s a relic sword…? I, I see it’s as great as they say.”

As expected, Thibaut believed Damien’s words without a shred of doubt.

“B, but what was that? Undead in the ruins… .”

Thibaut said, trembling.

“I, I think we should let Almond Country know right away.”

“That’s going to be difficult.”

“Yes?”

“There’s no evidence.”

Damien pointed to the spot where the skeleton had disappeared. The equipment the skeleton had been wearing had melted down and turned into a black liquid.

This was Gathdal’s doing, who had put a curse of corrosion on the skeleton to activate when it was destroyed.

‘Even if there was evidence, I wouldn’t have told Almond Country.’

Damien wouldn’t have told Almond Country even if there was evidence because Gathdal might run away.

“Oh my… This can’t be… I don’t know what’s going on…”

Thibaut sat down on a nearby chair and covered his head. Damien looked at the chair carefully and then said.

“Come out here for a moment.”

“Yes?”

Thibaut got up from the chair, albeit with a puzzled look on his face.

Damien examined the surface of the chair. There was an ancient inscription carved there.

<┣╋┛>

Damien, who saw the ancient letters, muttered with a surprised face.

“A box?”

If it was a real box, there was no way it would have been left here. The explorers would have taken everything they could carry.

“Could it be that the letters are wrong?”

Damien tried to pick up the box, but it wasn’t easy to lift.

He had to use his mana to lift the box.

‘It’s incredibly heavy.’

It seemed that everyone had mistaken it for a chair and left it alone because it was so heavy.

Damien put the box down again and said to Thibaut.

“Step back, it’s dangerous.”

Damien raised an aura with Dawn and cut off the top of the box.

Inside the box were a glove and a ring.

Damien first put on the glove. He could feel an unknown force spreading through his body.

‘This glove has the effect of increasing strength.’

Wearing the glove would activate his muscles and make him stronger.

It seemed that if an ordinary person wore it, they could be called a strongman.

However, the effect was minimal for someone like Damien, whose body was already close to superhuman.

Next, Damien put on the ring. When he infused it with mana, something appeared on the ring.

“It’s a map, isn’t it?”

Damien’s face brightened. The map he had been looking for was here.

“We hit the jackpot.”

The gloves were nothing special, but the ring was different. It was the greatest treasure he had obtained while exploring the 2nd floor.

“Let’s go back.”

***

“Huh? What’s that?”

As soon as the two came out, people’s attention began to focus on them.

“Isn’t that ancient armor?”

“It’s an item that was only found on the 1st floor… Where did you find it?”

People were shocked as they looked at the items Thibaut was carrying.

“Look at that. It even has the APG (Ancient Power Gauntlet)!”

“It’s a relic that says even a weakling will become as strong as a bull just by wearing it!”

“I heard mercenaries are going crazy trying to get that relic.”

Greedy gazes poured in from all over. Thibaut asked worriedly at the people’s reaction.

“Victor-nim, the way people are looking at us is not good.”

Just then, a man stepped in front of the two and shouted.

“Hey! Sell me those items! I’ll give you 1 gold for all of them!”

The moment the man shouted that another person shouted.

“1 gold? Where are you trying to rip people off… I’ll give you 5 gold! So sell it to me!”

“Don’t listen to that nonsense! I’ll give you 8 gold!”

People who wanted to bargain appeared in the blink of an eye.

In no time, a dozen people surrounded Damien and offered prices.

Damien, the person in question, had no intention of selling these items right away.

It was a foolish act to sell an item without knowing the exact price.

‘They’re really popular, huh.’

He didn’t think there would be so many people trying to buy just some low-grade defense equipment. It was a popularity that exceeded Damien’s expectations.

‘I’ve almost spent all the money I had. Maybe I should make some money on this opportunity.’

The rewards he had received from the duke and the king were almost all used up as he went through various things.

Damien wasn’t exactly the type of person to be obsessed with money, but he wasn’t a fool who would miss an opportunity to make money easily either.

“V, Victor-nim, what do you plan to do?”

“We’ll sell them later. We can’t just hand them over without knowing the price, right?”

“You are wise! I was thinking the same thing as Victor-nim!”

Just as Thibaut was spouting flattery,

“Get out of the way!”

“If you don’t want to get hurt, get out of here!”

Along with the rough voices, three mercenaries pushed people aside and made way.

“We heard about the APG!”

“Our employer wants that item!”

“If you don’t want to get hurt badly, you better sell it to our employer…”

The mercenaries who pushed aside the merchants froze as they saw Damien’s face.

On the other hand, Damien smiled brightly when he saw them.

“Aren’t you guys Nos. 1, 2, and 3?”

At Damien’s words, the three mercenaries froze in place and started sweating profusely.

Behind the three, a group of people appeared.

“What’s going on? Why did you all stop suddenly?”

A man wearing luxurious leather armor spoke nervously.

Then, Nos. 1, 2, and 3 quickly hid behind the nobleman and said.

“H, Heyden-nim! T, that guy is him! He’s the crazy guy we told you about!”

At the words of the three mercenaries, the man called Heyden frowned and looked at Damien.

“That man is the scoundrel who you said exploited you?”

Thibaut looked at the emblem on Heyden’s chest and whispered to Damien.

“Victor-nim… That man is Heyden Oldenburg, the head of the Oldenburg Viscount family. He’s a well-known strongman in this area. He’s a middle-class.”

“That’s impressive. I didn’t know you knew so much about this area.”

“I did a lot of research before coming here. It would be a big deal if we got involved with someone we didn’t know about.”

Thibaut scratched his head as if he was embarrassed.

“Hey, you scoundrel. The three you used like slaves on your way here are the famous mercenaries known as the Clark Brothers.”

Heyden said in a sharp voice.

Somehow, all three of them seemed to be quite famous mercenaries as they handled aura.

“So I paid a high price to the Mercenary Guild and called them here. I planned to explore the depths of the ruins as soon as they joined, but…”

Heyden clicked his tongue.

“Thanks to being exploited by you, they’re not in good shape. So my plans have been delayed for a while.”

“So?”

Damien asked with an innocent face. Heyden burst out laughing at his reaction.

“You still don’t understand even after I said all this? That’s why commoners are hopeless. Let me explain it in more detail. You’re the one who messed up my plans.”

Heyden pointed at Damien.

“Originally, I planned to punish you but as soon as I saw you…”

Heyden’s gaze turned to Thibaut. To be exact, he was looking at the things Thibaut was carrying.

“As soon as I arrived at the ruins, I achieved such results… It seems you have a pretty good eye. That changes things.”

Heyden rubbed his hands and said.

“I will show you mercy. I will forget about the losses I suffered and give you a special opportunity to work under me.”

“Oh?”

Damien smiled with interest at those words.

“Of course, if you refuse… I will take one of your arms as punishment for the additional crime of obstructing me, on top of the compensation you owe me.”

At those words, Damien smiled even more and exclaimed in admiration.

“Ohh?!!!”

***