Chapter 17. Monster Hunt (3)
It might have sounded obvious to most people, but in a one-on-one battle between a knight and a Mage, the knight generally held the advantage.
That was especially true in an enclosed space like this.
A knight who had reached a certain level could sever a Mage’s head before the Mage even had a chance to act.
“Hah.”
Yet contrary to conventional wisdom, Wernard’s sword failed to pierce Shane.
“A spirit…… I see.”
Wernard let out a low murmur as he drew his sword back.
Spirits were exceedingly rare beings.
Not only ordinary people, but even Wernard himself had seen them only a handful of times.
‘I have hardly ever fought a Spirit Summoner.’
And a Dark Spirit had formed a contract with a human?
The word carelessness vanished from Wernard’s mind.
“A spirit. And one capable of absorbing energy? That is a first. But can it absorb this strike as well?”
Wernard was indeed an experienced knight.
From that single exchange, he had not only identified the nature of Shane’s spirit, but had already devised a countermeasure.
As Wernard had surmised, the inherent property of darkness was ‘Absorption.’
The reason his previous strike had been stopped was that the Dark Spirit had absorbed the energy pouring from his blade.
Having realized that, Wernard decided against prolonging the fight.
Instead, he would pour everything into a single overwhelming attack and end it quickly.
‘A sound judgment.’
As though responding to Shane’s assessment, Wernard changed his stance.
He pulled his left arm behind him and held his sword solely in his right hand, assuming a thrusting stance reminiscent of the épée(Epee) in fencing.
“Haaah!”
With Wernard’s shout, a flash of light shot from his hand.
Just as the sword was about to reach Shane’s heart—
‘……What?’
Wernard saw that Shane had somehow produced a dagger and sliced open his own hand.
At the same moment—
Wernard’s vision went dark.
—
Before long, the darkness receded, and the Luminous Stones once again illuminated the basement.
“……What was that?”
Wernard first examined his own body.
When he realized that nothing was wrong with him, confusion crossed his face.
What in the world had just happened?
‘Where is he?’
Before Wernard could fully grasp the situation, the sound of quiet sobbing reached his ears.
“W-Wernard…….”
“……?!”
A young boy dressed like a noble stood there with tears brimming in his eyes, calling Wernard’s name.
Behind the boy stood Shane, holding a dagger against his throat as he stared at Wernard.
“Y-Young Master?!”
No.
Wait.
Wernard had remained loyal to his lord for more than twenty years.
For a moment, the sudden appearance of his lord’s son nearly shattered his reason, but he swiftly regained his composure.
It was a nearly superhuman display of restraint.
His opponent wielded an unknown power.
And considering that he had contracted with a Dark Spirit, he might also possess some form of mental attack.
Then what if the Young Master before him was merely an illusion?
If that was the case, Wernard would teach the bastard who dared commit such an act what suffering worse than death truly meant.
Wernard’s mana began filling the basement as he analyzed the mana of every living being within it.
“……!”
Unfortunately, reality turned out to be the exact opposite of what Wernard had hoped.
“H-How?”
The Young Master caught within Wernard’s senses possessed exactly the same mana he had always known.
For the first time, cracks appeared in Wernard’s composure.
“Wernard…… I’m scared…… I-It’s so cold here…….”
“You bastard!!”
Wernard’s roar filled the basement.
Only then did Shane speak.
“How interesting.”
“What?”
Wernard’s eyebrows twitched.
“You treat Demi-Humans as less than insects merely because the shape of their features differs from yours, breaking them like objects without a second thought. Yet even someone like you has a child you cherish.”
GRIND-
Wernard ground his teeth so hard they seemed ready to break.
How dare he compare the Young Master to those filthy pieces of trash?
The words rose all the way to Wernard’s throat.
But he could not bring himself to say them.
As long as the Young Master remained in Shane’s hands, Wernard was thoroughly at a disadvantage.
CLANG-
Wernard’s sword fell and rolled across the floor.
“What…… do you want?”
It was a declaration of surrender forced through clenched teeth.
Shane’s answer was utterly emotionless.
“Nothing.”
“What……?”
Before Wernard could even finish reacting, Shane drew the dagger across the boy’s throat.
“Ghk–!”
Blood sprayed as a hideous, leaking gasp escaped from the wound and echoed through the basement.
The boy continued staring at Wernard through a face soaked with blood and tears.
Then his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the cold floor.
“Ah…… Ah.”
Wernard staggered as his legs seemed to lose their strength, moving toward what had once been his Young Master.
“Ah…… Aaaah!”
The image of the Young Master smiling innocently as he spoke of wanting to become a knight like Wernard someday flashed through his mind.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!!”
That memory was only the beginning.
Countless memories of the Young Master tore through Wernard’s mind, leaving him unable to think.
A splitting headache crashed over him.
Pain.
Despair.
Grief.
Every emotion began filling Wernard until they became an enormous, uncontrollable blade that tore him apart from within.
He wanted to pick up his sword immediately and inflict suffering worse than death upon the murderer of his Young Master.
But Wernard’s body would no longer obey his will.
The world gradually turned red as darkness began consuming him.
And beyond it—
There was only darkness.
—
“Wh-What the hell……?”
Delilah had remained silent from the moment Wernard entered, unable to understand what was happening.
When light finally returned to the basement after the darkness disappeared—
Delilah felt dizzy.
Shane stood where the darkness had receded, his side nearly torn open.
Yet as if to prove her concern unnecessary, Shane remained standing without difficulty.
If anything, Wernard, who stood opposite him, looked far stranger.
“Wh-What is wrong with him?!”
Just as Delilah said, Wernard had been standing alone when his face suddenly twisted like that of a demon.
Then unmistakable tension spread across his features.
Afterward, he began sobbing miserably like a madman.
“Huuuuaaagh!”
“Haa…… Haaaaah!”
“Aaaaaagh!”
Delilah’s face went deathly pale.
“Fuck, why is he acting like that? It’s terrifying…….”
“He is being devoured.”
Shane, who had already staunched the bleeding, answered.
“Devoured……? By that spirit you were controlling?”
“No. He is being devoured by the consequences he created himself.”
“What the hell does that even mean?”
Shane offered no further explanation.
He appeared composed, but he knew perfectly well that his injuries were anything but minor.
‘That was dangerous.’
Wernard had unquestionably been a dangerous opponent.
No matter how Shane had once been the First Legion Commander of the Organization, his current body still struggled against a knight of that caliber.
Moreover, Wernard’s lightning-fast thrust had not been a simple thrust at all.
His ability was Attribute Transformation.
In the infinitesimal span of a single instant, Wernard’s sword had ricocheted off the floor, walls, and ceiling like a spring before converging upon Shane’s heart.
Had Shane not layered mana over both eyes and focused his vision to the limit, he would have suffered far worse than having his side torn open.
And that was not all.
[Grrr…… I apologize, Master…….]
Shane was not the only one who had taken damage.
The summoned Dark Spirit also appeared considerably exhausted.
The tremendous presence that had once filled the entire basement had all but vanished.
The Dark Spirit was the sole conduit capable of physically manifesting the darkness within Shane into reality.
Merely drawing an infinitesimal portion of that darkness outside seemed to have exhausted nearly all of the spirit’s strength.
“By any reasonable standard, continuing to fight beyond this point would be reckless, but…….”
Shane turned his gaze toward the basement entrance.
An enormous presence was approaching from beyond it.
It was so overwhelming that Wernard, whom Shane had struggled so fiercely against, could not even be compared to it.
The approaching figure apparently had no intention of concealing his presence.
Even Delilah could sense the ominous pressure.
“What is that? Something is coming here……?”
Delilah’s face, which had only moments ago relaxed with relief, turned white.
Shane was injured.
And even if she regained full control of her body, Delilah doubted escape would be possible against whatever was approaching.
But did Delilah realize?
The closer that presence came—
The higher the corner of Shane’s mouth rose.
—
In his previous life, Shane had never welcomed Delilah’s occasional visits to his castle.
“Why do you keep coming here?”
“Because you have more alcohol than you know what to do with?”
The Imperial Palace of the fallen Empire.
Ironically, just as Delilah said, the place was overflowing with the finest alcohol.
It had once housed countless nobles, and its wine cellars had been places where alcohol was constantly produced and stored.
From time to time, Delilah would visit and drink like a whale, inevitably causing drunken disturbances.
The corrupted Shane of that time could not understand her.
Watching her deliberately damage a body that could not even become intoxicated under normal circumstances simply to force herself into drunkenness seemed like pointless self-harm.
“Pwah! That’s part of it. But when I come here, it somehow feels like nothing really matters.”
“What do you mean?”
Shane had not the slightest desire to listen to her drunken rambling.
But neither did he want to see her get drunk and rampage through the ancient castle.
Having already decided to destroy every last bottle in the wine cellar once she left, Shane waited for her to continue.
“That damned lion statue.”
“Lion?”
When Shane turned, he saw the statue of the White Lion, the symbol of the Empire.
It had been shattered in several places, giving it a grotesque appearance.
“Whenever I look at that thing, I remember the first time humans kidnapped me. I saw one of those cat bastards back then.”
“…….”
“Back then, that bastard looked like some monster that had crawled straight up from hell…… Gulp, gulp.”
“…….”
“Pwah! But isn’t it funny? Who would’ve thought monsters like that were actually half-baked wretches who could be torn apart so easily by these hands?”
Delilah gave a bitter smile as she spoke.
What did that expression mean?
Shane had not cared enough at the time to wonder.
“Those stupid bastards don’t even know where the source of their own power comes from…… They don’t even realize that the power they use is incomplete. And I was afraid of half-baked trash like that…… Whenever I come here, it reminds me of those days.”
“If it is something you would rather not remember, why come all the way here merely to remind yourself of it?”
At Shane’s question, Delilah let out a deflated chuckle.
“Because it proves I survived longer than those miserable bastards.”
“…….”
Those were Delilah’s final words before her head drooped.
Shane turned away.
And that was the last time he saw Delilah in his previous life.
—
“I believe I should go down personally.”
“Huh? Lord Dyra, personally?”
At the voice of Dyra, the guest from the Imperial Family, Salier’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Would it not put my mind at ease to confirm matters with my own eyes before leaving? Hoho.”
“Urgh…… I truly have no excuse.”
It had not been long since Salier’s loyal knight, Wernard, went down to the basement.
Even so, Dyra intended to move personally.
That only made Salier’s anxiety burn hotter.
He wanted this incident resolved as quickly as possible, since he had no desire to offend the man before him.
Still, if Wernard handled the matter personally and Dyra witnessed it, perhaps Salier could recover at least a little of the trust he had lost.
With that thought, Salier rose first.
“Then I will guide you myself.”
“Please do.”
Dyra, meanwhile, felt considerable displeasure despite the pleasant smile he wore.
‘Tsk. The Empire truly lacks capable people.’
Looking at Salier’s forced smile, Dyra thought exactly that.
Until today, his impression of Salier had been relatively favorable.
But the fact that the man still had not realized what was happening displeased him.
‘It is far too quiet.’
Indeed.
It had not been long since Wernard descended into the basement.
Still, enough time had passed that if a battle were going to erupt, it should already have begun.
And yet the presence he sensed below remained unnaturally calm.
Someone unknown even to the mansion’s master had infiltrated its most secret basement, yet everything remained this quiet?
The aging Imperial Knight instinctively knew that could not possibly be a good sign.
Wernard’s mana was still present, so he had not died.
But that only proved the situation was not unfolding smoothly.
‘Well, viewed another way, this might give me the opportunity to capture and interrogate the intruder.’
At least it was better for this to happen while Dyra himself was present.
That way, the intruder would not escape.
‘Tsk. In any case, once this is over, I should report that man to the Commander.’
He intended to report the matter to his superiors.
They probably would not discard Salier immediately, but they would at least begin preparing to cut him loose if necessary.
However, that concern soon became meaningless.
The moment the basement door opened—
A sword flew toward them.
It was inside Dyra’s ‘Perception Range.’
And yet he still could not stop it.
“Wha……!”
SHNK-!
And in that infinitesimal instant, Dyra heard the wet sound of a blade piercing through Salier’s brow.
A figure who had controlled one axis of the underground city—
A powerful man whom the Imperial Knights had spent more than a decade cultivating—
Died in an instant.
“……!”
Dyra had drawn his sword before the blade even struck Salier’s forehead.
And he saw—
Wernard, his eyes stained pitch black and filled with hatred, staring in disbelief at Salier as the man collapsed to the floor, blood and brain matter pouring from his head.
“My…… lord……?”
CLAP- CLAP- CLAP-
And from deeper within the basement—
A masked man wrapped in ominous darkness slowly applauded as he watched the scene.
“What a tragic play. It seems the old sayings are true after all. Seen up close, it is a tragedy; from afar, a comedy. Was that how it went?”
The man stopped his leisurely applause and continued.
“And even from this short distance, it is already quite the comedy, is it not? Wouldn’t you agree, cat of the Empire?”
Dyra did not answer.
Instead, an Aura like raging white flames exploded from his entire body and flooded the basement.
