Chapter 17: Monster Hunting Part 3

It might have seemed obvious to many, but in one-on-one battles between a knight and a mage, the knight usually had the upper hand.

Especially in such confined spaces.

A knight of considerable skill could decapitate an opponent before they even had a chance to act.

“Ha.”

But contrary to expectation, Warnard’s sword failed to pierce Shane.

“Spirit magic… I see.”

Warnard sheathed his sword with a low growl.

What exactly were spirits?

Aren’t they extremely rare beings that not only the general public but even Warnad has only seen a handful of times?

I’ve hardly ever faced a spirit mage

And a dark spirit making a pact with a human?

The concept of complacency was erased from Warnard’s mind.

“A spirit and it has the ability to absorb energy? This is a first for me. But can it absorb this attack as well?”

Warnard was indeed an experienced knight.

From just that one clash, he not only discerned the power of the spirit Shane commanded but also thought of a countermeasure.

And just like he said, the inherent ability of the darkness attribute was “absorption”.

The dark spirit had absorbed the energy from Warnard’s sword and effectively blocked his attack.

After realizing this, Warnad decided to put all of his strength into one attack, instead of dragging this battle out for a long time.

A wise decision.

As if to match Shane’s thoughts, Warnad’s posture changed.

With his left arm pulled back and his right hand wielding the sword, Warnard adopted the thrusting technique of the épée in fencing.

“Ha!”

With a shout, a flash of light burst from his hand.

It was aiming straight for Shane’s heart.

In that critical moment,

What?

Warnard saw Shane cutting his own hand with a dagger.

At the same time,

Warnard’s vision darkened.

***

Shortly after, as the darkness receded and the basement was lit up again by the glowstone,

“…. What was that?”

Warnard, who first checked his physical condition, was puzzled when he realized that there was nothing wrong with his body.

What exactly had just happened?

Where is he?

Before Warnard could fully grasp the situation, he heard the sound of crying near him.

“War, Warnard…”

“……?!”

In that place, a young boy dressed in noble clothing stood with tears brimming in his eyes as he called out Warnard’s name.

Behind the boy stood Shane with a dagger held to the boy’s throat while he looked on at Warnard.

“Yo-Young master?!”

No, wait.

Warnard, a knight who had remained loyal for over twenty years, nearly lost his composure at the sudden appearance of his lord’s son but quickly regained his calm.

It was indeed a superhuman patience.

The other party was using some unknown power.

Considering that he has made a contract with a dark spirit, he may be carrying out a spirit-type attack.

What if this was merely an illusion of his young master?

He would make the bastard who dared to do such a thing realize there was a fate worse than death.

Warnard’s magic began to fill the basement. He started analyzing the magical power of every living being present.

“……!”

Regrettably, reality unfolded contrary to what Warnard had hoped.

“How could this be?”

From the young master who was caught in the magical sense of Warnard, the same magical presence emanated that he was so familiar with.

For the first time, a crack appeared on the composed face of Warnard.

“Warnaaard… I’m scaaared… I-It’s so cold here…”

“Youuuuuu!!”

As Warnard’s roar filled the basement, Shane finally spoke.

“How funny.”

“What?”

Warnard’s eyebrows twitched at Shane’s words.

“Just because their facial features differ, you treat other races as less than insects and smash them like objects, yet you too have a child you cherish.”

Warnard gritted his teeth. He ground them almost to breaking point.

How dare he compare that filthy trash to my young master?

Though the words rose to his throat, he couldn’t bring himself to utter them.

As long as the young master was in that villain’s grip, he was utterly powerless.

Clang—

Warnard’s sword rolled across the floor.

“What do you want…?”

It was a declaration of surrender, spoken through clenched teeth.

Shane’s response was utterly emotionless.

“Nothing.”

“Wha…?”

Before Warnard could fully react, Shane slit the boy’s throat with the dagger in his hand.

“Keuik—!”

The sound of the air hissing from the boy’s neck mixed with the blood, echoed eerily through the basement.

The boy, his face wet with blood and tears, looked at Warnard before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the cold floor.

“Ah, Aaaaah.”

Seeing this, Warnard staggered as if his legs had given out and walked toward what had been his young master.

“Aaaah, Aaaaaaaaah!”

The face of his young master, who had once laughed with innocent joy, wishing to be a knight like him, flashed through Warnard’s mind.

“Aaaaaaaaaah!”

Memories related to the young master began to scramble through his mind, making it impossible for him to regain his composure.

An excruciating headache struck Warnard.

Pain, despair, grief.

As these emotions filled him, they turned into an uncontrollable and massive blade that tore through him.

He wanted to immediately grab a sword and subject the young master’s enemy to a fate worse than death, but…

Warnard’s body refused to obey his will.

The world turned a bloody red and he gradually succumbed to darkness.

At the end of it all, there was only darkness.

***

“Wh-What’s going on…”

Since the moment Warnard entered the basement where she was locked in, Dilaila had been silent. She struggled to comprehend the situation.

When light came back into the basement which had been filled with darkness.

Dilaila felt dizzy.

Where their darkness had disappeared, Shane appeared with a near-fatal wound to his side.

Yet despite Dilaila’s worry, Shane stood upright as if he was unharmed.

Instead, it was Warnard who was facing him just now that didn’t seem to be fine.

“Wh-Why is he acting like that?!”

Just as Dilaila said, Warnard stood alone with his face contorting like a demon’s, then clear tension appeared on his face, and soon he began sobbing desperately like a madman.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh!”

“Hah, hah-hah-hah!”

“Aaaaah!”

Seeing this, Dilaila’s face turned deathly pale.

“Fu*k, why is it so scary…”

“He’s been consumed.”

Shane who had finished stopping the bleeding on his wound finally responded.

“Consumed…? By that spirit you were controlling?”

“No. He’s being consumed by the consequences of his own actions.”

“What are you talking about?”

Shane did not continue the explanation any further.

Although he appeared calm on the outside, Shane knew that his injuries were far from minor.

That was dangerous.

Warnard had certainly been a formidable enemy.

Even though Shane had been the commander of the first legion in his previous life, his current physical condition made it difficult to face such a skilled knight.

Moreover, Warnard’s attack was not just a simple thrust. It was like a flash of lightning.

His ability involved changing properties.

Just like a bouncy spring, Warnard’s sword bounced off the floor, walls, and ceiling in a split second before it targeted Shane’s heart.

Had Shane not focused magical power into his eyes, the damage would have gone far beyond a mere gash in his side.

And that wasn’t all.

[Krrr… I’m sorry, Master…]

Shane was not the only one who had taken damage.

The summoned spirit also seemed quite exhausted.

Its once immense presence that filled the basement was now nowhere to be found.

The dark spirit was the only conduit through which the darkness within Shane could be manifested into reality.

Even by drawing out only a minute fraction of that darkness, the dark spirit seemed to have exhausted all its strength.

“Logically, it would be reckless to continue fighting under these circumstances, but…”

Shane’s gaze shifted toward the basement’s entrance.

From there, an immense presence could be felt.

This presence was so overwhelming that it made Warnard, whom Shane had struggled against, seem insignificant by comparison.

The other party did not seem intent on concealing their presence; even Dilaila could sense the ominous power.

“What’s this? What’s coming now…?”

Dilaila’s face which had just breathed a sigh of relief turned pale with fear.

Shane was injured, and although Dilaila could move freely, escape seemed impossible against the approaching entity.

But did Dilaila know?

The approach of this entity actually caused a smirk to creep across Shane’s lips.

In his past life, Shane was not pleased with Dilaila’s occasional visits to his castle.

“Why do you keep coming here?”

“Well, there’s plenty of alcohol here, isn’t there?”

In the imperial castle of the fallen empire.

Ironically, just as Dilaila had said, this place was overflowing with the finest alcohol.

It was a place where many nobles stayed, and naturally, it featured a wine cellar where alcohol was continuously produced.

Dilaila would occasionally come here and, like a whale sucking in water, she voraciously drank her fill. She often even became obnoxiously drunk.

At that time, the corrupted Shane could not understand her.

The sight of her trying to get drunk, despite having a body that shouldn’t need intoxication, seemed like unnecessary self-harm.

“Puha! But, besides that, coming here feels like nothing else matters.”

“What do you mean?”

He had absolutely no desire to indulge in her drunken ramblings, but he didn’t want to see her rampage around this castle while drunk either.

After she would leave, Shane thought he might just destroy the entire wine cellar.

“About that damned lion statue.”

“Lion?”

Turning around, he saw the statues of the empire’s symbol, the white lions, scattered around in broken forms.

“Seeing those reminds me of when I was first kidnapped by humans. I saw one of those cat bastards then.”

“……”

“Right, at that time, that bastard looked like a monster that had climbed up from hell… gulp, gulp.”

“……”

“Ha! But isn’t it funny? Who would have thought that such monstrous beings could be torn apart so easily by these hands?”

As she said this, Dilaila wore a bitter smile.

What did that expression mean?

At the time, Shane didn’t particularly care.

“They’re idiots who don’t even know where their power comes from… And they don’t realize that even that power is not complete. I felt fear towards such worthless beings… Coming here brings all that back.”

“Why would you come all the way here to remind yourself of something you’d rather forget?”

Dilaila let out a deflated laugh at Shane’s question.

“It’s proof that I’ve outlived those wretched beings.”

“……”

With those words as her last, Dilaila lowered her head deeply, and Shane turned away.

And that was the last time the past-life Shane saw Dilaila.

“I guess I have to go down there myself.”

“Huh. You personally, Sir Daira?”

Salier’s eyes widened in surprise at Daira’s words.

“Yes. It seems more reassuring to check things out with my own eyes, haha.”

“Uh… I’m really at a loss here.”

Salier’s loyal knight Warnard had only just gone down to the basement, but Daira still felt the need to intervene.

This made Salier’s insides burn with urgency.

He did not want to upset this man and was hoping the matter would be resolved quickly.

Still, if Warnard could handle it on his own and Daira could see that for himself, it might somewhat restore the shaken trust. Thinking this through, Salier stood up to take the lead.

“Then I will personally escort you.”

“Let’s do that.”

Meanwhile, despite his outwardly pleasant smile, Daira was feeling significant discomfort.

Tsk, there are no talented people in the empire.

Daira thought to himself while watching Salier force a smile.

Before coming here, he had a favorable impression of Salier, but he was displeased that Salier still hadn’t grasped the current situation.

It’s too quiet.

Indeed.

It hadn’t been long since Warnard had gone down to the basement, yet, despite ample time having passed for a battle to have erupted, the basement exuded only calm.

Could it be so quiet when a stranger had entered the most secretive part of the mansion without the owner’s knowledge?

This old imperial knight sensed that this was definitely not a good sign.

He could still feel Warnard’s magical power which meant he still hadn’t died, but the fact that the situation wasn’t smoothly resolved was proof of trouble.

Well, on the flip side, this could be an opportunity to capture and interrogate the intruders.

It was better that such incidents occurred in his presence rather than out of his sight.

That way, there would be no chance of missing the intruders.

Tsk. Anyway, once this is over, I’ll need to speak to the commander about this matter.

He still intended to report this incident to his superiors.

Salier wasn’t about to be dismissed immediately, but preparations were being made to sever ties with him to some extent.

However, Daira’s concerns soon became irrelevant.

The moment the basement door opened, a sword flew toward them and although it was within Daira’s “perception range”, he couldn’t stop it.

“Ah…!”

Whoosh!

And Daira heard it.

In that split second,

Someone’s sharp blade flew out and pierced Salier’s forehead with a gruesome sound in the blink of an eye.

It was a moment when a key figure who had been part of the backbone of the Empire’s underground city, maintained by an Imperial Knight Order through decades of effort, was lost in vain.

“……!”

And before the sword even lodged in Salier’s forehead, Daira had seen it.

Warnad, whose pitch-black eyes were filled with hatred, looked at Salier, who was lying on the ground with blood and brains dripping from his eyes.

“My… lord…?”

Clap- Clap- Clap-

And then, in that corner of the basement.

A masked man whose body was shrouded in ominous darkness slowly clapped his hands and watched the scene.

“It’s a tragic play indeed. Truly, the old saying is correct. Tragedy up close, comedy from afar, wasn’t it?”

The man stopped his slow clapping and continued speaking.

“Even from not so far, this seems enough of a comedy. Right, Empire’s cat?”

Daira did not respond to those words.

Instead, he simply filled the basement with a burst of white flame-like aura that exploded from his entire body.