Chapter 3
Chapter 3: The Elder and the Swordsman
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Clang——Clang——Clang——
Each toll of the golden bell made my body more sluggish. The surrounding black smoke immediately lost its previous ferocity, almost dispersing into a thin mist.
With my slowed movements, my swinging arms no longer possessed their previous speed and power. Finally, a knight broke through, wearing a vicious expression as he leaped up and swung his sword down at me.
Clang——
The blade struck my abdomen, colliding with the armor and sending sparks flying, leaving a shallow white mark. The knight who swung the sword stumbled, his face showing pain.
Only then did I react, grabbing him and holding him before my eyes. Fighting through my physical discomfort, I watched his gradually contorting expression and muttered softly.
“【Abyssal Language】Why kill me……”
“%￥%#%……” The knight’s expression was horrific as he desperately swung his sword at my right hand that firmly held him.
Because there was no armor on my hand, he cut several shallow wounds, with black mist seeping from the injuries. I thought that must be my blood.
In a moment, another 3 or 5 knights approached. They raised their longswords high and jumped, shouting in rage, either slashing or thrusting. Their blades struck the armor with continuous clanging sounds, yet couldn’t harm me at all.
Two knights even lost their balance after jumping and slashing too forcefully, falling into the black smoke that entwined my lower body. They were instantly corroded, unable to even struggle before turning to ash.
After absorbing another two streams of bluish-white light, my body remained extremely heavy.
Those bluish-white lights, were they the knights’ souls?
If so, then I really am a terrible monster.
I exhaled deeply, the air thick with a heavy stench.
You all truly hate me.
I felt somewhat tired.
I looked at the knights surrounding me, waiting for an opportunity to attack. Their eyes occasionally glanced at my right hand, seemingly wanting to save their comrade.
So I spoke to them.
“【Abyssal Language】I don’t want to hurt you, and you shouldn’t hurt me either. Let’s stop fighting, alright?” A feminine voice spoke softly, conveying a trace of almost pleading weakness.
“……￥￥Abyss*&……die￥%#!” The knight’s angry words, it seemed a very small part, I was beginning to understand. Was it because I had devoured so many people?
“【Abyssal Language】Tell me, what am I?”
“…human……immortal……holy……blessing……!” The knight in my grasp showed a resolute look in his eyes, muttering half-comprehensible words as his blade glowed faintly red, thrusting straight at my face.
Crack…snap…snap…squelch…
The sound of breaking bones and crushed internal organs came from my hand. The knight’s eyes were blood-red, blood and organ fragments flowing from his mouth onto my hand.
My gaze swept over the grief-stricken and angry knights surrounding me. I didn’t know what expression I wore at that moment, but I thought it probably looked somewhat cowardly.
Even though I was the one doing the slaughtering.
“Whoosh——” A sharp whistling suddenly came from the right. I instantly became alert, but before I could turn my head, a tremendous force struck my right shoulder. My body immediately flew out of control several meters, crashing heavily to the ground.
A heart-piercing pain struck. I sat up and looked back to see a golden giant spear carved with complex reliefs had pierced through my armor, lodged in my shoulder.
I couldn’t spot who had ambushed me. Trying to move my right arm made me tremble with pain — the depth suggested it had hit bone.
I dared not pull out the giant spear. I swung my left hand to cut an approaching knight in two, then struggled to stand up.
Clang——
The floating golden bell rang out again, the heaviness and dizziness intensifying further. I gritted my teeth, wanting to recall the black smoke that was still frantically reaping knights nearby, only to realize in shock that I actually didn’t know how.
It seemed I could only release them but didn’t know how to make them obey.
I tried waving my arm at them, but it had no effect. I could only shake my head vigorously to clear some of the dizziness-induced drowsiness.
I needed to find a way to deal with the robed elder first — that golden bell was too painful for me. Without the bell, the knights couldn’t harm me at all and weren’t worth fearing.
After raising my hand again to kill two more knights who had raised their swords at me, I looked toward the elder’s position, visually estimating it to be about 100 meters away.
Not particularly far… was there a chance?
How would I know without trying!
“Roar——!!”
I let out a long cry, and black smoke serpents rushed out, howling as they swept across the green field, leaving a long strip of death in their wake as they streaked toward the elder’s position.
Meanwhile, I lifted my heavy steps and used all my strength to laboriously close the distance with the elder.
The 100-meter interval was but an instant for the black smoke, reaching its destination in less than a moment.
The robed elder clasped his hands together, his body once again emanating dazzling golden light. The black smoke immediately seemed to hit an invisible shield wall, blocked outside. No matter how many times it retreated and charged again from different directions, it was useless.
Seeing this situation, I gritted my teeth and quickened my pace, while again waving my left arm. Two black serpents howled one after another as they struck at the elder.
The force of three streams of black smoke formed clouds of darkness in the sky, finally surrounding the elder completely, with the golden light being pressed until barely visible.
The range the golden bell could affect seemed not as large as imagined. As the distance increased, my steps became increasingly lighter. The interval with the elder was about to be halved.
“Bang! Bang bang bang——”
The thick death-black smoke enshrouding the elder suddenly broke open, a golden light grazed through the air causing successive explosions, flying straight toward me!
Bad, can’t dodge!
In desperation, I raised my left arm high and swung down hard at the incoming radiance!
“Boom——”
Dust exploded everywhere instantly obscuring vision. A giant spear identical to the one lodged in my right shoulder was deeply smashed into the ground by me, stuck at an angle at my feet. The ground cracked inch by inch, my left hand trembling slightly.
Numbed, but still had feeling. My right hand was already immobile — it would be trouble if my left hand was seriously injured too.
But with the dust as cover, he probably couldn’t see me — chance!
I rapidly streaked forward, covering over 10 meters before “Bang!” leaping high. The black smoke entwining my body was so thick it was like liquid, transforming into a violent black meteor as it crashed toward the elder surrounded by black smoke.
“Boom——!!!” Breaking through the almost-disappeared golden light without any resistance, the savage force sent large chunks of soil flying in all directions.
Something’s wrong… seems like I missed, where is he?
Suddenly, the familiar heaviness and dizziness once again swept through my entire body. A golden bell parted the thick black mist and hung high, while the robed elder had already vanished without a trace.
I fell for it! That elder seems to be a magic-type character. Most mages in games have similar life-saving skills like teleportation!
Don’t tell me this damned old man can do it too? I should have thought of this!
I forcefully endured the intense discomfort as I slowly retreated, trying to quickly escape the bell’s range while observing the entire battlefield.
Most knights were still engaged with the previously released black smoke. Rather than saying engaged, it was more like desperately trying to save their lives. The protection the elder had bestowed on them didn’t seem to have any decisive effect.
Even the few knights who had escaped the black smoke’s pursuit couldn’t keep up with my movement speed, only able to eat dust behind me.
After roughly surveying a full circle, I still couldn’t spot the elder’s figure. Where was he hiding?
At the rear of the battlefield, the knight commander still stood in the initial direction, mounted on a horned beast and watching intently.
However, it seemed he had no intention of joining the battle for now.
Watching from the sidelines?
Or waiting until I was exhausted before coming to deliver the final blow?
But the other two beasts beside him no longer had figures on their backs.
The robed elder should still be nearby. The point was, where was that swordsman? Although I had only glimpsed him from afar once, I felt the aura on that swordsman was far more dangerous than the elder. When did he disappear?
My body was really too heavy. In this while it seemed I had only retreated less than 20 meters.
My head hurts so much… my right shoulder hurts so much, my whole body feels awful, can barely breathe, just want to lie down and sleep…
As I was thinking randomly, another deep bell toll rang out in the sky.
Boom——
An even more terrible force pressed down. The ground beneath my feet instantly cracked, the black flames on my body swayed frantically, actually showing signs of extinguishing.
Another golden bell had appeared above my head. So two could appear simultaneously?
Where! Where is that damned old man!
The massive pressure made me unable to even lift an arm. At this moment, using all my strength, I could barely manage to not fall down.
Suddenly, a silver light flashed in front, and a face with stubble and distinct features abruptly appeared before me.
It’s that swordsman! My heart skipped a beat, instinct making me sense this person was extremely dangerous. I immediately wanted to jump away to a distance, but my body simply couldn’t react.
The enormous pressure from two golden bells made even slight movement impossible.
The next moment, electricity flashed beneath the swordsman’s feet, bringing up several blue lights across the lawn, raising countless silver flowers that blocked the view.
I only felt a pain in my chest before my huge body instantly flew backward, drawing an arc of dozens of meters in the air, “Bang!” crashing to the ground and sliding several more meters before barely stopping.
Pain, my whole body felt like it was falling apart. With great effort, I raised my head to look at my chest, where a silver sword had completely penetrated.
“Wuu wuu……” I wanted to shout but was too painful to make a sound, my body shaking badly, lying on the ground unable to breathe for a long while.
With a “Boom” of thunder, the swordsman appeared again, his feet stepping on my body.
I struggled to open my eyes wide, looking at his young face. Eyes as blue as the sky, gray-white long hair tied behind his head, scattered stubble on his jaw giving him somewhat of an untamed air.
Remnant blue electricity coursed over his bright silver light armor, the white cape behind him fluttering wildly, his whole being radiating an extraordinary martial presence.
So dazzling…… I also want to become such a swordsman who slays evil.
Since I was given a chance at rebirth, why make me become a monster?
A monster that looks…… so ominous.
“【Human Language】Die, monster.” The swordsman stepped on my chest, pulled out his sword, electricity surrounding his body as he thrust down again with force.
Ah, that sentence, I finally understood.
“Wuu wuu……” Using my last strength, I raised my left hand to grip the blade, not letting it pierce through, my whole body once again erupting in black smoke, raising a wild wind that enveloped both me and the swordsman.
“【Human Language】Death throes.”
Thunder roared all over the swordsman’s body, raising a dazzling sharp light. My arm holding the blade instantly went numb, and the sword once again sank into my chest.
Black mist gushed from my chest, and I could clearly feel something rapidly flowing away.
Ah, I’m probably going to die.
Again.