Chapter 176: Shoulder to Shoulder (2)
Slash! The aura-charged long sword radiated light, penetrating Hell’s Knight’s skull with the force of a lightning bolt. At that moment…
“…!”
Hell’s Knight was leaping in the air, and its sword moved. Boom!
The sword swept through the space above it, right where Javier’s blade came down. But its sword didn’t overlap with the latter’s trajectory. Was it because it missed? No.
It’s aimed at Javier.
Lloyd’s eyes flew open. Clinging to its leg, Lloyd could see the whole thing just by lifting his head. And that was how he was able to see through Hell’s Knight’s intentions.
That monster is trying to die with Javier.
It appeared that it didn’t intend to prevent its skull from getting pierced. Instead, it was trying to make use of that opportunity and grind his body whole. Lloyd immediately racked his brain posthaste and deliberated on the direction this fight must take onward.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Hell’s Knight and Javier. What if they left fatal injuries to one another? Javier would be the only victim here. Hell’s Knight would be relatively fine. Then left all alone, Lloyd would become its next prey.
I have to stop it!
Javier’s long sword and Hell’s Knight’s sword. They were already charging toward their targets. The former toward the Hell’s Knight’s skull. The latter toward Javier’s body. At the very moment they almost stabbed and slayed, Lloyd lifted both hands and grabbed his enemy’s ribs revealed under its breastplate as though he was grabbing a metal bar. The Asrahan Core Technique, manaheart, and elbow and back muscles. He tugged as powerfully as he could, as though he was doing a pull-up.
Ack!!!
Crack! The Knight’s torso was tugged just enough, and its movement shifted a fraction of an inch to the side for a split second. But that tiny difference changed the sword’s trajectory.
Fwoosh! The grand sword sliced through the air but missed its target, and Javier twisted his body and held out his long sword up to the end.
Slash!
“…!”
Javier’s long sword finally pierced its skull, and Hell’s Knight jerked terribly at the blow. But as though it wasn’t ready to give up yet, as though it was going to struggle for the last time, it wielded its sword as it twisted and turned its whole body, bent on destroying everything within its range. Javier didn’t move back as well. Instead, he danced to its tune, and, in a magnificent burst of movement, he wielded his long sword to stab and slash Hell’s Knight at every given chance. Each time he did so, the latter’s body shook visibly. Lloyd joined in on the effort as he tightly hugged its pelvis and leg. After limiting its movement with his arms and legs like a cicada, Lloyd made innovative use of a weapon he could freely use. It was his mouth.
“Give me peace! Give me peace! Give me peace, peace, peace! Give me! Peace! Peaceee!”
Lloyd sang at the top of his lungs, reviving the memories he was in the military and recalling the times when he used to follow his mother to the temple. Every Christian and Buddhist lyric he could remember was brought to use. His throat jerked heavily as he fired the ammunition of exorcist songs. But technically speaking, what came out of his tongue was more like a flood of discordant melody.
“May I be free from anger! Homage to him, the Gracious, the Exalted! Emptiness is nothing other than form! May I take care of myself and be happy! All dharmas are marked with emptiness!”
Lloyd sang, struggling with all of his might. Tunes were out, and his voice turned hoarse often. But it wasn’t intentional, of course. He was pretty serious about hitting the right tune. But Heaven had not granted him even a shred of singing talent, though it had given him the gift of studying. So yes, Lloyd was a horrible singer. The worst kind of all.
Dammit. I’m not… doing this because I want to, okay?!
Putting every ounce of his might and soul into singing, Lloyd recalled a past event. It must have been when he was a private. Singing gave him a massively hard time. Whenever everyone went out for a morning run, his senior ranks reamed him out for being a terrible singer. His singing was anything but acceptable, even when cadence hardly placed importance on getting the tones right. That wasn’t the only occasion. For a period of time, Lloyd regularly attended church for the first time in his life to eat the moon pie they handed out. But he wasn’t welcomed there. On the day he attended the church service and sang the hymn, Lloyd attracted a lot of glares due to his unforgivable singing. It was the case even though he had sung with quite an effort. The chaplain was flabbergasted by him.
He shot me a look as if I was a devil who descended on earth! His gaze is still clear in my head!
But that wasn’t all. There was another heartbreaking incident. It must have been right after coming back to school after his leave of absence. That marked the one and only time he had dated a girl in school. But one day, they headed to a karaoke room together, and as a result, they broke up the next day.
Okay, this is making me sad. Let’s stop thinking about this.
Lloyd decided to admit it. I am a horrible singer, he told himself. But that wasn’t something to be ashamed of. Sometimes, that lack of skill can be used as a weapon!
Like now! Time to chant Thousand Eyes and Hands Sutra!
Lloyd’s mind traveled back to his childhood days when he went up to a temple, her mother’s hand in his. And the chant the monk had read aloud called to his mind. A flash of determination appeared in his eyes. From then on…
“Time for some mantra clean verbal karma!Suri Suri Mahasuri Susuri Savaha!”
Lloyd’s voice, filled with distrust, started to echo through the land with more determination. That caused Hell’s Knight to be massively disturbed.
“Stop…!”
Stop it, you animal!
Hell’s Knight wanted to beg for real. It was already hard enough with this silver-haired knight alone, but this weirdo stuck to its leg was singing songs that even the devils would grow sick of. Moreover, his voice was terribly loud and high-pitched that his skull pierced with the sword would crack open. No, it actually was happening right now in real-time. It didn’t have enough time to recover from the stabbing blow of Javier. And the consecutive blows that followed broke, smashed, and damaged Hell’s Knight. And at last…
“Master Lloyd, now!”
Javier yelled, and an aura-charged mana blast burst out at the same time. Lloyd stopped singing at that moment, letting go of its pelvis and leg. Then he jerked to the side as the mana blast swept past him and slammed into Hell’s Knight’s upper torso.
“…!”
Kaboom! Hell’s Knight’s armor melted. Its sword moved forward for protection, its bones that gripped the sword and whole torso, everything got rampaged by the mana blast from the aura. Everything melted, crumbled, turned into powder, and vanished in thin air.
Clack! Its lower torso, which was barely left intact, shook. Its one knee went down, staggered to the side. Its joints snapped.
Crash… Now turned into powder, the upper torso vanished in thin air, and its lower torso was destroyed. A strange silence gripped the public hall. Lloyd, who had flung himself to the side, caught his breath and stood up.
W-we got it.
Lloyd internalized what he and Javier just did. The two of them had defeated Hell’s Knight. Just then…
“It is too early to be relieved,” Javier said. “It’s going to come back to life again.”
Javier spoke with a stern expression on his face. He even had his sword pointed at the pile of bones.
“Come back to life? Like a resurrection?” asked Lloyd in a daze.
“I don’t know. But…” Javier quickly replied to Lloyd. “It was like this before. Before you came, I killed it. But it came back to life completely intact and free of harm.”
“Hold on,” said Lloyd, “That means-”
“Its mana is still here.”
“…”
It was actually true. Lloyd could feel a large volume of mana in the pile of bones of its lower torso through using the Asrahan Core Technique. Nothing was gone. But that wasn’t all.
A large volume of mana is being held together in the air.
The bones that got crushed into powder after taking Javier’s mana blast were drifting in the air. Lloyd could sense powerful mana coming from there as well.
What the heck?
His hair rose. The fact that the mana lingered in the air meant that Hell’s Knight was still alive.
This is not good. That’s right. The novel mentioned a similar thing as well.
Just then, Lloyd was reminded of a story in the novel. It was about what Cannavaro said right before the Namaran’s Wall incident took place.
Cannavaro was confident that everything would be over once he summoned Hell’s Knight. Yeah. He said that it’s extremely powerful and endlessly revives since the creature is from Hell. I think it said that Hell’s Knight can come back to life even after its bones become reduced to powder.
That was how persistent Hell’s Knight was. And at the same time, the novel briefly mentioned the method to defeat it.
The only viable method is to deplete its mana. That was why Cannavaro brimmed with confidence. Honestly, it’s understandable. To exhaust mana, one has to severely beat an object until it’s left without any strength or absorb mana using a special magic spell or instrument.
Who in the world could render Hell’s Knight to such a state? And what instrument or magic could absorb such a massive load of mana out of Hell’s Knight? It was possible only in theory, and the world had no person, instrument, or magic that could do so. Therefore, the fictional Cannavaro ascertained that Hell’s Knight was close to being invincible. In other words…
That goes the same right now.
Judging by what Javier said, it looked like Hell’s Knight was indeed capable of endlessly coming back to life.
“I will take care of it,” said Lloyd with finality in his voice.
“What?”
Javier turned to Lloyd, his eyes bulging in surprise, and it made Lloyd grin at the sight. It reflected very well how caring and worried Javier could be during critical moments, even though he acted grouchy about almost everything on most days.
“I will take care of it. You know it, too, right? What I am capable of,” Lloyd said.
“Do you mean the indiscriminate mana absorption?”
“Uh-huh.”
Supercharge. That was what they needed right now. Lloyd and Javier had to exhaust all the mana out of Hell’s Knight. Otherwise, they would have to take care of him every time he came back to life, and so, there was nothing as effective as the Supercharge skill to stop it altogether.
“So, step back, and make sure no one comes near.”
“Master Lloyd.”
“I know, I’m worried as well. Scared, too.”
Lloyd was scared. But he chuckled instead as he faced Javier, who was wearing a worrisome expression on his face.
“I am sure you will know as well. I don’t particularly enjoy overeating,” quipped Lloyd.
“Will you be all right?”
“I have to be. To be frank with you, I don’t like it either. But I don’t see any other alternative. My stomach will hurt, I fear, but I’ll do whatever I can now.”
Lloyd playfully shrugged his shoulders, and he was actually worried. In all seriousness, he was about to absorb Hell’s Knight’s mana. Lloyd wondered if he would be all right after indiscriminately absorbing its mana. When he thought so, a sense of resignation rushed through him as it looked absolutely outrageous. He was averse to the idea and scared.
But we’re going to die if I don’t do this. Javier can’t deal with Hell’s Knight forever, even if it’s him. The same goes for me. And for this city.
The chance to subdue Hell’s Knight was here, and he had to take it. It could never appear again. Everyone would be done for if he blew this chance, including him.
So, it’s do or die now. I die if I don’t do this, and I die if I fail. But if I succeed, I live.
There was no other alternative. He had to give it a try. Biting his lips, Lloyd stepped forward to the crushed lower torso of Hell’s Knight. He collected his breath and got ready.
“Step back.”
Javier stood back. And without any hesitation, Lloyd grabbed the metal shovel.
Boom! The full-blown triple mana blast penetrated the ceiling of the public hall, pushing his stamina and bringing a terrible pang of dizziness. Lloyd opened the skill window as he fought faint nausea. And he selected the optional skill.
[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option ⑤: Supercharge has been activated.]
[You are randomly absorbing a large amount of mana from your surroundings.]
From that moment, the three-stranded mana circles roared as they began to suck every mana around the place. It took in everything in its way, the marble flooring, the rolling specks of dust, Hell’s Knight’s leg, the bone powders in the air, and the mana. Everything was engulfed and absorbed. Nothing wasn’t discriminated against. Both those that are easy to absorb and that are not, the pure and the impure were all absorbed. The suction power usurped, exploited, and stole everything around it. If Hell’s Knight was summoned with all parts intact and didn’t remain in such a vulnerable state, it would’ve been able to cope with it and resist the Supercharge. But not now. It was summoned with defects. It had been defeated and remained vulnerable.
“…!”
As the suctioning power rampaged the whole area, Hell’s Knight, Sir Giolexius, the Corps Commander of Hell, screamed as it perished. That was the end of it. And later…
[The Asrahan Core Technique Skill Option ⑤: Your Supercharge time is up.]
The rampaging mana absorption was over. The roaring mana circle calmed down. Lloyd slowly opened his eyes, and his eyes noticed a host of messages floating in the air.
[You have eliminated Hell’s Knight, Sir Giolexius the Corps Commander under the King of Hell.]
[The King of Hell is impressed by your tremendous accomplishment. The King of Hell has lost his corps commander but now has his eyes on your skill, tact, and potential.]
[Moreover, a portion of the mana you have absorbed in abundance from Hell’s Knight is yours.]
[This rare experience greatly influenced your skills and optional skills.]
[The 4th optional skill of the manaheart, “Zombie Domination,” has been separated to become an independent skill.]
[Zombie Domination skill has been upgraded.]
[Zombie Domination skill has been reinforced.]
[The various restrictions and conditions attached to Zombie Domination have largely been relaxed and eliminated.]