Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

Chapter 167

Chapter 167: The Plague Investigation (4)

***

Garrot, being a dark mage, did not understand what happened at first.

The afterimage of Damien enveloped Bagder, and a flurry of sword strikes began. The blue aura covered Bagder’s entire body.

The bewildered Bagder flailed its arms wildly. However, the aura did not stop.

“…Surely not?”

Only then did Garrot realize it. The fact that Damien was moving at an incredible speed and swinging his sword at Bagder.

“Bagder! Calm down! He won’t be able to cut your shell anyway!”

As Garrot said, Bagder’s shell was intact. It meant that Damien’s aura could not cut through the shell.

“Breathe out the poison! Shake off him and then counterattack!”

At Garrot’s cry, Bagder opened its mouth. Purple smoke erupted from its throat.

The grass and trees that the purple smoke touched instantly rotted away.

It would be nice if Damien was poisoned and died, but it was a vain hope.

Damien had long since retreated to a place where the smoke could not reach him.

However, they had succeeded in their original goal of shaking off Damien.

“…I can’t believe Bagder is being pushed back so easily.”

Bagder was a chimera that Garrot had put a lot of effort into in order to fight against the Master Class.

In order to capture the movements of the Master Class, he had transplanted the nerves and sensory organs of numerous monsters into Bagder.

Thanks to this, Bagder’s senses were sharper than any other monster. Even High Class monsters were no match for Bagder.

However, all that effort had been for nothing against Damien.

“He’s not a regular High Class.”

That doesn’t mean there was no way to deal with him. Bagder had yet to show its true power.

“Bagder, activate the core.”

The center of Bagder’s torso turned red. At the same time, steam began to rise from its entire body.

Activating the core enhanced all of Bagder’s abilities. However, it had the side effect of rapidly increasing body temperature, which Badger could not sustain for long.

The steam was generated by the cooling mechanism that had been transplanted in advance to counteract the side effects.

“Tear him to pieces.”

The ground caved in and Bagder’s body disappeared. In an instant, it appeared above Damien’s head and brought its hands together, smashing them down.

Damien dodged the attack by jumping into the air.

Bagder’s fist hit the ground. The ground shattered and dust obscured the vision.

Immediately afterward, the dust cloud was ripped apart and Bagder charged in. It swung its arms like whips at Damien.

The sound of air bursting could be heard as it swung its arms. The ground shattered and trees fell in all directions.

Attacks of incredible speed and power followed one after another. Damien dodged Bagder’s attacks and continued to retreat.

The situation had completely reversed. Damien was now being pushed back by Bagder.

“Second Ring.”

Just then, Damien muttered softly. The vibrations coming from him grew louder.

Damien’s mana began to spread like wildfire.

The intensity of the aura was such that even Bagder paused for a moment.

Suddenly, Damien’s body disappeared. The next moment, hundreds of sword strikes covered Bagder’s body.

The intervals between the sword strikes were much shorter than before. Bagder’s body was so obscured by the sword strikes that it was hard to see him properly.

“…He’s gotten even faster than that?”

Garrot exclaimed in horror.

Even with its core activated, Bagder was unable to react to Damien’s speed. It could only be helplessly cut down by the sword strikes.

“Bagder! You’re fine because you have your shell! If you just hold out, he will definitely get tired first…”

Before he could finish speaking, Bagder’s shell cracked like a glass. The flesh underneath was cut away, and purple blood gushed out.

– Kieeek!

For the first time, Bagder screamed. It was a cry that did not match its imposing appearance at all.

“Calm down! You won’t die from a wound like that! Calm down and try to read his movements!”

Despite Garrot’s advice, Bagder flailed its arms wildly, not knowing what to do. It seemed that it was not used to pain.

“This stupid bastard! You’re my creation, so don’t embarrass me like this!”

Garrot spat out his anger. Even as he did so, Bagder’s body continued to be wounded. Blood trickled down from between the gaps in its shell.

“Damn it… I’m going to have to step in after all!”

Garrot cast a dark magic spell. He cast a curse of berserk on Bagder.

– Kieeek!

Bagder’s eyes filled with madness. Its mind went completely mad, but thanks to that, it was able to be freed from the pain.

“Bagder! Ignore those wounds! Damien’s sword strikes are shallow anyway!”

It was true that Damien’s aura had cut through the shell, but the wounds were not deep. It was nothing to worry about.

“If you can’t chase Damien, then cause a ruckus! Caught him up in it and kill him!”

Bagder clenched its fists and started to rampage.

It slammed its fist into the ground. It smashed the forest’s land to pieces. Broken trees and rocks flew everywhere.

The sword strikes that had been covering Bagder’s body stopped abruptly. Damien appeared a short distance away from Bagder.

“Yeah, you better back off if you don’t want to get hurt.”

Garrot looked at Damien and sneered. He was about to order Bagder to counterattack.

Damien raised his sword high into the sky. He was in a pose as if to split something.

“Third Ring.”

The vibrations coming from Damien became even louder. Now it was enough to make anyone’s ears hurt.

The aura from the sword in Damien’s hand erupted explosively.

The aura shot up into the sky like oil on fire. Soon after, the aura began to compress around the blade.

Originally, aura is likened to a will-o’-the-wisp. This is because it has no definite form.

[PR/N- Will-o’-the-wisps are atmospheric ghost lights seen over swamps or marshes at night. While science explains them as gas combustion from decaying organic matter, the real reason for occurring still remains a mystery.]

However, the aura that Damien had now gathered on the blade had a clear shape. It looked like a straight sword blade.

“What the hell is that…”

Garrot muttered with a puzzled look on his face.

“Aura Blade…? No, that’s not enough… It’s not an Aura Blade. But…”

Garrot’s face turned to one of horror.

“It’s almost complete…!”

Damien swung his sword down. The aura that had been compressed on the blade stretched out like a sharp sword strike.

The ground and the clouds were split at the same time. Bagder’s body, which was between them, was no exception.

At first, Bagder was unharmed. However, a moment later, a line was drawn from its head to its legs in a straight line. Purple blood gushed out furiously from the wound, dyeing the whole world.

Bagder slowly sank to its knees. Its upper body slowly slid down and fell to the ground.

***

“Hoo…….”

Damien slowly exhaled.

Combined Infinity Cycle

It was truly a powerful mana cultivation technique. The more rings were activated, the more the output of mana increased exponentially.

As his mana was amplified, his speed and aura increased dramatically.

It was powerful, but it also consumed a lot of stamina. There was nothing he could do about that.

“This can’t be!”

At that moment, Garrot shouted loudly. Garrot knelt down in front of Bagder and cried out.

“I created you with everything I have! Your opponent was mere High class not even a Master, and you were defeated by him!”

Garrot grabbed his head with both hands and pulled his hair.

– Master, I will catch him.

Dominico said to Damien. Damien raised his hand to stop him.

“It’s dangerous to go near him now.”

-……Why?

Garrot glared at Damien. His eyes were bloodshot.

“You dare to…… trample on my Bagder…… my dream like this? Stay there and don’t move…… I’ll kill you right now……!”

Garrot put his hand on Bagder’s body.

The flesh of his hand melted and stuck to Bagder. Garrot’s body was absorbed into Bagder.

– No way?

Dominico cried out with a shocked face. But there was still more to be surprised about.

Garrot’s face appeared on Bagder’s forehead. Soon after, tentacles sprouted from the upper and lower body that had been cut in half.

The tentacles intertwined and the body that had been split in half was reattached. Bagder straightened its bent knees.

– You made me use even this dark magic!

Garrot, who appeared on Bagder’s forehead, shouted loudly.

Garrot had used his own body as a material to revive Bagder.

Of course, once fused, they could never be separated again.

That’s why that dark magic was called the forbidden magic of the Monstrum sect.

– Damien! You will pay a heavy price!

Garrot stimulated the souls that were bound to him. The souls screamed and produced dark mana.

A massive amount of dark mana was poured into Bagder’s body, and its size increased even further.

“This is troublesome. I can’t fight anymore.”

As a result of using the Combined Infinity Cycle, Damien’s stamina was now at rock bottom.

“Then why don’t you give it a try?”

Damien asked, looking at Fenrir. Fenrir raised his head and looked at Damien.

– Grrrrrrr!

Fenrir growled, baring his fangs.

Even after being so badly beaten by Garrot and Bagder, Fenrir’s spirit was not broken.

“Do you really want to complete your revenge with your own hands? That is splendid.”

Damien bit his thumb. He dropped the blood into Fenrir’s mouth.

“I will show you a new world.”

A contract was formed between Damien and Fenrir through the blood.

Damien and Fenrir’s minds were connected. At that moment, Fenrir’s eyes widened.

His head was filled with the knowledge that Damien was transmitting. In it, Fenrir found the path he needed to take.

Fenrir slowly closed his eyes. Soon after, Fenrir’s shadow began to gather in one place.

“That’s it.”

Damien said with a satisfied face.

“Your essence is not in that rotting body.”

That was just a temporary body that Fenrir had constructed. Fenrir’s real body was somewhere else.

The shadow rose up. Soon after, it took the form of a wolf.

It was a jet-black wolf, as if it had been carved out of darkness. The wolf raised its head and howled.

The howling continued for a long time.

Darkness spread from under the wolf’s feet.

The thick darkness covered the entire ground. The darkness shook like a stormy sea.

– ……What is this?

Garrot asked with a puzzled face.

– No matter how great that guy is…… This ability is…… This is……!

In his previous life, Fenrir was called the Beast of Destruction.

It was because of Fenrir’s unique ferocity and tenacity. And this special ability.

‘Dark Assimilation’

With this ability alone, Fenrir had driven the imperial army into fear.

“Finish your revenge.”

Damien said to Fenrir.

The darkness under the feet of Garrot, who had fused with Bagder, churned.

The darkness took shape. A giant wolf emerged from below and swallowed Garrot whole.

Garrot hurriedly reached out with both hands and grabbed Fenrir’s jaw. But it was useless. Garrot’s arms didn’t hold up at all and broke.

– T, this can’t be……!

Pillar-like fangs crushed Garrot. A last scream erupted from his mouth.

***