Chapter 147 : To Where the Heart Is
To Where the Heart Is
A bundle of tendons.
A red magic array engraved at its center.
I instinctively understood that this was the heart of the dark knight.
"There it is!"
It seemed Barkal thought the same. He raised his axe and charged toward the magic array.
But the dark knight did not stand still. Even with his helmet gone, the guy swung his halberd.
The sight of armor moving without a head was nothing short of eerie.
― A-A suit of armor moving without a head!"
But Chunsik.
As a Dullahan, I don't think you're really in a position to say that.
Kang!
"Kuugh!"
Barkal's axe and the halberd collided. The impact forced Barkal backward.
"To think he still has this much strength even after losing his head!"
Even with his helmet gone, his raw power was unchanged. As expected, unless that magic array was destroyed, the guy wouldn't stop.
"I'll try to calm him down!"
Watching Barkal having a hard time, Serena said.
She's not about to use a joint technique again, is she? Didn't she have a skill called 'Aura of Famine' too?
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, Serena darted to the side of the dark knight. She grabbed his arm, trying to immobilize him.
Creeaak.
With a squeal of rusty joints, the dark knight twisted his body.
* 〈Aura of Famine is activated.〉
While that was happening, the dark knight's body flickered. Aura of Famine. That was the skill that had filled us with searing pain before.
"It's coming!!"
But I was so tense that all I could do was vaguely warn them that something was coming.
Fortunately, the two understood perfectly.
Maybe because of the excruciating pain they had experienced last time, they instantly put distance between themselves like Pavlov's dogs.
"Gwaaah!"
"Grrrr......!"
Even so, the range of the 'Aura' must have been wide, as a boiling sound came from both of their bodies as they tried to get away.
The dark knight slowly lifted his halberd and moved.
* 【Skeleton Summon is used.】
I charged at the guy, covered in a 'skeleton exoskeleton'.
Part of it was to protect Barkal and Serena from the Aura.
'When he uses that famine-whatever technique, the dark knight's body slows down.'
It had just been a simple hypothesis.
But looking at him now, it turned into conviction.
He was slowly walking with his halberd; previously, he would have kicked off the stone wall and rushed in at incredible speed. Now, all he could do was walk.
Thanks to that, I was convinced that I could now deal with the 'magic array' engraved inside that armor.
Ssssiik!
Apparently within the range of 'Aura of Famine,' the 'skeleton exoskeleton' started to burn up.
It was hot. Even through the exoskeleton, I could feel the heat.
'Wait.'
One strange thing.
The first time I came in contact with this 'Aura' in Iushil, the pain had been unbearable.
But this time it was much more tolerable.
An idea came to my mind.
Maybe the more targets there are affected by 'Aura of Famine,' the less severe the damage per person.
All questions must be addressed when they arise.
"Chunsik."
― Yes, master."
"I'm going to send you flying for a bit."
― Huh?"
I hurled Chunsik, who I was holding in my hand, with all my might.
― Master!?"
Spinning through the air, the wolf head.
As Chunsik approached the range of the 'Aura of Famine,' I could clearly feel the heat enveloping me decrease.
'That's it.'
The more targets, the lighter the damage per person.
Most likely, the total amount of damage is fixed.
How that total is distributed depends on the dark knight's discretion.
― K-Kuaaahhh!"
That's probably why Chunsik's head was twisting in agony like that now.
To the dark knight, unaware of the details, chunsik would appear as a 'Dullahan'.
He couldn't have guessed that in this place Chunsik couldn't summon his true form, so he'd likely regard him as the top priority enemy to protect the 'magic array' from.
"Now!"
At my shout, Barkal and Serena responded.
"Khahaha! It's hot, but I can bear this much!"
"Th-that head is burning, you know!"
― Aaaagh! M-Master!"
Leaving Chunsik writhing in burning agony behind, Barkal and Serena leapt at the dark knight from the other side.
With the dark knight slowed by his own 'Aura of Famine.'
Not only was the speed at which he raised his halberd slower, his reaction time in taking a defensive stance was less than half of usual.
― Kyaaagh!"
Even so, the dark knight didn't withdraw his 'Aura' from Chunsik.
He must have considered a 'Dullahan' that much of a threat.
Thud!
Barkal's 'World's Precipice' smashed into the dark knight's side.
Wham!
Almost at the same time, Serena's fist slammed into his back.
Clatter.
The dark knight's body reeled. That was an opening I wouldn't miss.
I closed the distance into his chest.
There was only one target.
The twisting mass of tendons. The red magic array inscribed at its center.
"This is the end of our ill fate."
Puk.
I drove the 'Blood-Colored Awl' through the tendons, piercing the center of the magic array.
Screeech.
Cracks began to form in the dark knight's body. The sound was as if it were screaming.
The pain I felt from the 'Aura of Famine' began to dissipate.
A world held in silence.
All that could be heard was the cracking noise from the dark knight's armor—
― Aaaaargh......!"
—and Chunsik's cries.
Chunsik. At this rate, anyone would think you were dying.
You're already dead, you know. The living people come first.
Thunk.
The dark knight, who had seemed unbreakable, finally sank to his knees.
The magic array's light completely faded.
"Khaha! Now that armor is mine!"
Barkal was about to rush to the collapsing armor in celebration.
At that moment, the dark knight who had fallen to his knees began to move again.
"He's still alive?!"
Barkal raised his axe. But I raised my hand to stop the guy.
The dark knight's movements weren't aggressive.
He brought his hand slowly to his chest. His fingers slipped through the cracks in the dented armor, and from inside, small shard-like objects began to come out.
* 〈The Shard of Vespers has gained a new fragment.〉
A new fragment?
Why the dark knight had it was a mystery.
And why he was calmly giving it to me was also a question.
As I watched the guy, thinking about these things—
* 〈Complete the crown.〉
The dark knight began to speak.
A crown?
What is that?
The 'Shard of Vespers,' with its new fragment, now showed the shape of a 'crown' more clearly than before.
But why do I need to complete it?
* 〈Complete the crown.〉
I tried to question the dark knight, but he only repeated the same words.
* 〈Complete the crown.......〉
"Uraaah!"
Kang!
And again.
Just as he was about to say 'Complete the crown,' the dark knight's body took a direct hit from Barkal's axe.
"Things have finally settled down!"
The dark knight's ruined armor, its body now collapsed, moved no longer.
The overwhelming pressure I'd felt until now—
The writhing tendons inside—
All were gone.
And then—
"Oh... no!"
The dark knight's torso, now little more than an empty shell, began to turn to dust and disappear.
"It's finally... over."
Relieved that the dark knight's ill fate had finally ended, Serena let out a sigh of relief.
I, too, let out a long breath.
I couldn't understand the sudden "complete the crown" business, but at least we had survived, and that was enough reason for us all to feel relieved.
"M-My strength! My armor...!"
Except for Barkal.
* * *
"Kahahahah!"
Any gloom from losing his armor quickly passed. Barkal slung his axe onto his shoulder and burst out laughing.
"We have finally defeated that monster!"
His eyes sparkled with jubilance.
"The humiliation of the last time has been washed away! Thrag, are you watching!?"
Perhaps it was because he'd succeeded in his revenge. Barkal looked truly delighted.
"Th-thank you for your hard work."
Serena wiped her sweat as she spoke. The clothes she'd been wearing when I first met her here were already in bad shape, and now, with more sweat and wounds, she looked even more battered.
"Whew."
I exhaled as well.
The fight with the dark knight had been oppressive in a way that differed from the previous bosses. I could truly feel how drained my body was.
The same went for Barkal and Serena.
The problem was—
Thump, thump, thump.
The sound of a beating heart from within the dungeon continued.
'So it's not over after all.'
The dark knight was not the dungeon master. In the first place, he was just a kind of mid-boss-like presence in the 'Abyssification' dungeon.
Of course, I didn't know what kind of guy the real dungeon master here might be, but surely he couldn't be stronger than the 'dark knight.'
"Why hasn't the dungeon disappeared?!"
Barkal seemed to realize something. The guy looked around, surveying the surroundings.
"Did we not defeat the dungeon master?! Where is the portal?!"
He kept scanning the stone walls as he spoke.
"The door to escape! There must be one somewhere! Surely, Thrag! You weren't planning to abandon us, were you?!"
"Barkal."
"What is it, brother?"
"The dark knight is not the dungeon master."
At my words, Barkal stopped moving.
"... What?"
"Ah, I think the sound of the heart coming from inside there belongs to the dungeon master. The dark knight was just in the middle."
"So that's how it is?!"
Barkal spread his arms wide toward the stone ceiling.
"Thrag! Two fights in one day is too much!"
He probably wanted to shout to the heavens where Thrag was, but there was no sky here.