Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

Chapter 226

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Chapter: 226 The Realm (3)

The moment Hemaera released the damage, Barche’s body vanished without a sound.

In the place where Barche had stood, there was only a long trail of blood and shattered pieces of his armor.

Damien looked at the scene with an indifferent expression.

There was nothing to be surprised about. After all, Hemaera had absorbed Barche’s attack and then released it back at him. The result was inevitable.

“Hmm?”

Black smoke began to seep from the shards of the armor.

‘Is this demonic essence?’

When demons painstakingly crafted armor, it sometimes contained their essence.

Damien reached out towards the essence. The demonic essence was completely absorbed into the symbol engraved on the back of his hand.

One of the symbols lit up. Damien looked at it.

‘This time, the Authority of Envy has been unlocked.’

The Authority of Gluttony can absorb the mana from techniques and spells.

The Authority of Wrath can amplify anything. And the Authority of Envy can change properties.

For example, by using the Authority of Envy, one could transform mana into dark mana or divine power.

Additionally, it was possible to imbue mana with attributes like fire or ice properties.

However, there was a downside. The Authority of Envy was not very efficient. The amount of mana consumed during transformation was significant.

‘I need to increase my mana.’

Despite its drawbacks, the authority was extremely versatile and could not be ignored.

Moreover, there were special techniques that Damien knew of that required the Authority of Envy.

Techniques like moving across the sky like lightning or using swordsmanship that could freeze the sea.

The Authority of Envy was essential to using such techniques.

– I’m…hungry… –

At that moment, Hemaera spoke up. It seemed to be hungry due to the energy it had expended.

Damien reached out towards the shards of the armor. The shards floated into the air and attached themselves to Damien’s palm.

“Eat.”

Damien brought the shards close to Hemaera. Hemaera’s surface became gelatinous and absorbed all the shards.

It was another function Hemaera had. It could absorb any metal to strengthen itself.

Rare metals were more effective than ordinary metals, and the remnants of demonic armor were even better.

– Delicious… –

Hemaera spoke contentedly after absorbing all the shards.

After Hemaera finished its meal, Damien looked back at Salik.

Salik stared at Damien with wide eyes.

“What…what did you just do? How did you kill Barche? And what did you just absorb…?”

“No need for you to know.”

Damien replied coldly and raised Dawn high. The blue aurablade stretched across Dawn.

Salik looked at Dawn with trembling eyes. But then, as if accepting her death, her expression became calmer.

“…I have a final request. Just listen to it.”

“No.”

Damien flatly refused. He had no intention of wasting time listening to the last words of such trash.

“Please…tell Sla… I have something to say to her…”

Salik pleaded desperately. It seemed she had a close bond with Sla, enough to beg her enemy.

“Don’t worry. I’ll send that bitch to join you soon.”

Damien said in a dispassionate voice. Salik’s face hardened.

“Send…her? Are you planning to kill Sla?”

Salik’s dying eyes began to burn with anger.

“Someone like you kill Sla? Impossible! Do you know how strong she is? And who is by her side? There are people far stronger than me around her! And you think you can kill them?”

A sneer appeared on her lips.

“Stop dreaming. You’ll never kill Sla…”

Damien snapped his fingers. The aurablades piercing Salik’s body disappeared.

She slumped to the ground after her body was freed. She looked up at Damien with a confused expression.

“Cough!”

The next moment, Damien kicked her in the abdomen.

It was an attack imbued with mana. Blood was coughed up by Salik as she lay on the ground.

Already critically injured by the aurablades, the kick to the abdomen doubled the pain.

“Sorry. I have a personality that can’t tolerate listening to nonsense from trash.”

Despite his apology, Damien lifted his foot and stepped on Salik’s head.

“You said I can’t kill Sla? I don’t understand why you think that.”

Damien removed his foot from Salik’s head and grabbed her by the hair and lifted her up.

“You bastard…”

Salik tried to curse, but when she met Damien’s eyes, she couldn’t continue.

From Damien’s eyes, a chilling and horrifying killing intent was emanating.

Even Salik, who once was an evil giant, had never felt such a killing intent.

“Go to the afterlife and watch closely. See how I kill Sla in the most wretched and pitiful way possible. Watch how she dies in utter disgrace.”

Salik swallowed hard.

She needed to deny those words for Sla’s sake. She needed to shout that it was nonsense.

But Salik couldn’t. She was too terrified of the man in front of her.

“Not just Sla. The Weapon Master, the Lord of Ten Flames, the other scum in Pandemonium, the insects, and even the bastard hiding behind them all, I’ll kill them all.”

Damien gathered the dark mana scattered around.

This space was filled with the dark mana released upon the deaths of Vanexia and Barche. Thus, Damien could quickly amass a vast amount of dark mana.

“You, you…”

Seeing dark mana gather in Damien’s hand, Salik was too shocked to speak.

Of all the abilities Damien had shown, this was the most shocking.

“H-how can a knight… a normal knight use dark mana…?”

Damien didn’t answer Salik’s question. Instead, he used the dark mana to shatter her soul.

“……!”

The moment her soul was destroyed, Salik experienced the most excruciating pain in the world.

Damien had no interest in Salik’s suffering. After shattering her soul, he absorbed her memories.

“Ah, there were two more left.”

Damien used the dark mana to capture the souls of Vanexia and Barche.

Both had died not long ago, so their souls still lingered in this space.

-Aaaaagh!

-Aaaagh!

Damien shattered their souls as well. Then he found and absorbed the memories within the remnants of their souls.

Damien closed his eyes for a moment and read through the three people’s memories.

How much time had passed?

“Damn it.”

A curse escaped Damien’s lips. Despite searching through the three’s memories, he could not find Dorugo’s location.

“I had high hopes for Vanexia since he was a giant evil.”

Even Vanexia had no idea where Dorugo was. It seemed he was not qualified to approach Dorugo, being a low-level giant evil.

“At least I found out where the other two are.”

Instead, Damien succeeded in finding Sla and the Weapon Master’s locations.

The two were in completely opposite places.

“I didn’t expect them to be there…!”

A look of joy appeared on Damien’s face. An uncontrollable smile crept across his lips.

Now that he knew their locations, all that remained was to find them and kill them.

Finally, he could avenge his sister and father. He could bury the bastards who had cruelly humiliated them.

Moreover, through this incident, Damien had gained the trust of the Extermination Squad. He could now borrow the power of the force who had the most knowledge about Pandemonium within the empire.

“Just wait a little longer. I will find you soon.”

A dry laugh echoed in the dark space.

* * *

“Ugh… Ugh!”

Rayne Bell groaned and then suddenly sat up.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked around. She saw Wilhelm and Roger lying next to her.

Fortunately, both were safe. Rayne sighed in relief as she looked at them.

“How are you feeling?”

But her peace was broken by the voice she heard next.

Damien was standing right in front of her.

As soon as she saw Damien’s face, she remembered what he had done just before she passed out.

He had definitely struck their necks and caused them to lose consciousness.

“You! Why did you attack… Argh!”

Rayne tried to get up but clutched her abdomen. The wound from her fight with Vanexia caused her severe pain.

“You shouldn’t get up so recklessly. Your wounds haven’t healed yet.”

“Never mind that, explain yourself.”

“There’s nothing to explain. You didn’t believe me, so I had no choice.”

“How could we believe you! Our opponents were not ordinary masters! You weren’t supposed to be able to handle them!”

At that moment, Rayne felt a sense of incongruity.

Just before losing consciousness, Sla’s lover and the Weapon Master’s top disciple were here.

So how were they still alive?

Rayne looked at Damien with a face full of questions. Damien silently pointed to one side.

There were three corpses.

One was Vanexia the Deadlock. His shattered body had been haphazardly gathered like trash.

And the other two…

“…Salik the Fallen and Barche the Crimson Blade?”

Two powerful figures, on par with the giant evils, lay dead.

Rayne pinched her cheek, wondering if she was dreaming. No matter how hard she pinched, she didn’t wake up.

“How… how are they dead…?”

“I killed them.”

“Don’t lie.”

“It’s not a lie. If not me, who else could have killed them?”

Rayne was at a loss for words. Damien was right. Of the four people here, he was the only one who hadn’t been knocked out.

If it wasn’t Damien, no one else could have killed them.

“Didn’t I tell you I could do it?”

Unlike the astonished Rayne, Damien spoke as if it was no big deal. As if killing those two was not a significant matter.

“How… how did you kill them?”

“How else? I killed them because I’m strong.”

“Strong? How did you become stronger than them?”

Rayne couldn’t help but babble as she struggled to accept the reality.

Damien responded to the confused Rayne without hesitation.

“Because I’m a genius.”

At that moment, Rayne’s mood turned cold.

She looked at Damien and thought,

He’s a rather annoying fellow.

But despite how annoying he was, she had to say it.

“Damien Haksen.”

“You still don’t believe me?”

“Thank you for saving us.”

At that moment, Damien’s body twitched. He looked at Rayne in silence for a while.

“…I was just repaying a debt.”

Damien’s eyes were filled with numerous emotions as he said that.

***