Chapter 67: The Grave (3)

Claaaang!

The sword thrown by the Death Knight pierced into the wall of the hallway and shattered the wall into rubble. Although Eugene had managed to avoid the throw, he couldn’t afford to relax. The Death Knight was still attacking him.

‘Fuck, this stinks.’

Although it wasn’t hot down here, Eugene had been moving his body so vigorously that his whole body was now drenched in sweat.

It had been a long time since he had last felt this tired, and it wasn’t just his overworked muscles either. The mana in his Core was slowly starting to bottom out.

Eugene had overused his strength to keep up the reckless parrying and break through the Death Knight’s defenses. If it wasn’t for his Ring Flame Formula, his mana would have already been depleted, and he would have collapsed onto the floor.

‘Now, what do I do?’

Eugene had managed to see the Death Knight’s face. He had confirmed that its body was created from Hamel’s corpse. He had also confirmed that the soul inserted into that body was just the soul of some unknown bastard.

But that wasn’t enough. Eugene wanted to kill this Death Knight and was determined to do so now. Adjusting his breathing, Eugene continued to operate the Ring Flame Formula.

The source of power for a human being was their heart. But a Death Knight’s heart didn’t beat, nor did it have any flowing blood. To kill a Death Knight, one would need to tear it into so many pieces such that it wouldn’t be able to regenerate any longer.

Was the current Eugene able to do such a thing? Even if he couldn’t, Eugene would just have to manage it somehow, so why ask such an obvious question? Eugene encouraged himself like this as wind wrapped around his blade. As the amount of mana Eugene could infuse into the blade dwindled, the wind evoked by his spirit was strengthened to make up for it.

Baaang!

Eugene’s body flew into the air. Swallowing the blood that he was about to cough up, Eugene looked down at the floor. The Death Knight rose slowly from the center of a deep crater that looked like the site of a recent explosion. All it had done was throw away its sword, but it was now incomparably faster and stronger than it had been before.

This was its original level of skill. By holding a sword that it wasn’t even familiar with, and as it had tried to prioritize using common sword techniques without leaning on its true strength, all of the Death Knight’s moves had been blunt and simple.

But now….

‘Fuck.’

Each time Eugene endured an attack, it felt like his arms were being torn out of their sockets. Even though he was parrying the blows, with each burst of mana, he could feel his reserves of mana being drained away in large clumps. It was a godsend that Eugene was able to handle releasing such large bursts of mana.

It was fortunate that Eugene had trained his control over his mana by using the Moonlight Sword’s fragment as the target of his spells because if he hadn’t done that, his mana would already have reached the bottom of the tank through his parrying alone.

‘But my specs still fall short,’ Eugene noted pessimistically.

When the Death Knight was still holding a sword, it had been an easy opponent, but now that it had dropped the sword and was fighting with its bare hands, it was a tough opponent for him. On top of that, the Death Knight’s fighting style was so messy that it was difficult for him to read the attacks and gauge how much mana he needed to deal with them.

It was like he was fighting with a wild beast or a monster.

It might be fighting with its bare hands, but although the Death Knight was wearing gauntlets, it wasn’t fighting with its fists. Black demonic power was wrapped around its hands, and it was swinging its fingertips like they were claws.

‘Claws? No, it’s different. Its fingers are curved, which means it’s also using the power of its hands.’

Some weapons had blades on the back of their hands or even their fingertips. Those sorts of weapons focused on slicing and scratching. However, the Death Knight’s style was different. It was actively using its grip strength and its knuckles. It wasn’t just using its arms like a beast’s limbs.

Then there was also its posture. The Death Knight was tilting its upper body forward, and its arms were nearly low enough to touch the floor. It seemed that this posture was a more natural fit for it than when it had been standing upright on both feet, as it was correspondingly more agile.

‘Fuck. If they were going to put a soul in my body, then it should at least have been a human’s soul. Just what kind of monster did they stuff in there?’

A monster…. No, was it really? It had been able to hold a conversation, but then there was its messy and barbaric fighting style. Its primary weapons were its arms and fingertips. Though its stance looked sloppy, the center of gravity was clearly settled around its lower body. There was also the way it had gone into a berserk frenzy.

He had seen something like this somewhere before….

“...A lycanthrope?”

The moment he uttered these words—

Cracracrack!

The Death Knight’s fingertips scraped against Wynnyd. Eugene twisted so that his body turned with the blow's force rather than resisting it. By doing this, he managed to retreat backward after spinning around a few times.

“Graaah!” the Death Knight let out a bestial howl.

Grk, grgrgrk!

Its teeth were grinding and gnashing against each other. A glance downward showed that the Death Knight was wearing metal boots, but even there, black demonic power was sticking out like claws.

“Fuck, I was right,” Eugene cursed suddenly. “What kind of combination is this? Why would they stuff a lycanthrope's soul into a human's corpse? What on earth do we even call something like you?”

There was no answer to his questions, “Groooooar!”

It looked like his words weren’t getting through to it. Eugene spat out the blood pooling in his mouth and glared at the Death Knight.

“...They really are pulling all sorts of crap,” barking out these words, Eugene reached into his cloak once more.

Grrrr!

The Death Knight charged over with another growl. Since the situation had changed from what it had been earlier, the tools that Eugene was using should also change to keep him from being passive.

Eugene pulled out a small box and crushed it in his grip. This revealed the fragment of the Moonlight Sword, which he took and threw at the fingertips slashing at him.

‘A single fragment won’t be enough to dissipate everything.’

However, it could at least reduce the power of the blow to an acceptable level. Wynnyd’s slash drove into the Death Knight’s wavering demonic power.

Claclang!

The power of Eugene’s blow was also dissipated by the fragment. Things might have been different had he been using the real Moonlight Sword, but the fragment sure was inconvenient to use.

That said, it was enough to turn the tides. As Eugene swung his sword in a frenzy, he pushed back the Death Knight’s claws. This way, he was able to snatch up the shard and throw it at the Death Knight once more. He repeated this over and over until his head felt like it was about to explode.

Eugene had to read the dizzying trajectory of the Death Knight’s attacks, avoid what could be avoided, then grab the fragment, throw it, attack, and then grab the fragment once more. And the cycle repeated. Although Eugene was familiar with all sorts of fights, even in his previous life, he had never once been in a fight as troublesome as this one.

Eugene was getting short of breath. He had no choice but to accept that the difference in their specs was far too large. Even though they should both have been consuming each other’s strengths, the Death Knight’s demonic power appeared barely drained. Instead, every time it was attacked, the Death Knight was becoming even more ferocious.

Eugene was wearing the Cloak of Darkness. It was an artifact that could block spells up to the Fifth Circle without any difficulty, but it still wasn’t enough to completely protect Eugene’s body from the Death Knight's attacks. Shallow wounds kept piling up, and Eugene’s body was drenched in blood. He had already lost enough blood that his sight was starting to get blurry.

However, his concentration kept getting sharper even as the mana in his Core was slowly starting to reach rock bottom. Should he try to retreat now?

His specs just weren’t high enough to win this fight. If it were a few years later, Eugene felt like he would be able to win this. But should he retreat because of that? Someone like him? In the face of someone who was playing around with his corpse?

Eugene had managed to pierce through the Death Knight’s defenses several times. But its armor was just too tough. He had tried to thrust his blade into the joints, but he didn’t get the feeling that he was cutting anything important. It seemed that the corpse itself had also been strengthened. And Death Knights were the highest rank of undead, so it was impossible for Eugene to neutralize it with just that one fragment of the Moonlight Sword.

Ever so slowly, Eugene started getting pushed back. While he was still putting up a fight by actively using the fragment, Eugene’s body wasn’t mature enough to draw out Hamel’s full power. His physical abilities were sufficient for it, but his mana capacity still wasn’t enough.

“Gargh!” Eugene gasped as he swallowed back the blood that was about to escape his lips and threw his body back into the fight.

Slash!

The Death Knight’s fingertips scraped past, slicing open his side, but Eugene ignored this as well.

By doing this, he was able to thrust the fragment of the Moonlight Sword into the Death Knight’s chest. The Death Knight’s flickering demonic power lashed out at Eugene’s arms and body, but Eugene just pushed his head even closer and pressed strongly on the fragment.

Just as the Death Knight’s defenses were dimming, Eugene started casting spells. Explosions and projectiles burst against the Death Knight’s undefended breastplate.

A fragment of the Moonlight Sword was able to dissipate all magical power into neutral mana. Eugene was very familiar with this effect, so he knew it was fine as long as his spells didn’t touch it directly. With bloodshot eyes, he made sure to control the trajectories of each of his spells. A chain of explosions landed around the fragment.

“Gaaaaah!” with a rage-filled roar, the Death Knight’s body was thrown backward.

Eugene wasn’t able to catch the falling fragment in his hands. He didn’t have any strength left to spare for that. He coughed up blood as he kept his eyes fixed on the dark cloud of smoke.

Eugene had only managed to push it back for a few moments; the Death Knight wasn’t defeated yet. However, he had succeeded in shattering the breastplate it had been wearing.

“...Kuh… kukuh!” Eugene chuckled as he saw something absurd.

He wasn’t laughing at how tough the Death Knight was. He was laughing because the shattered breastplate had exposed its chest.

There was nothing there. Only a hollow hole could be seen in the Death Knight’s torso. The wound that had caused Hamel to die in his previous life had remained intact even hundreds of years later.

And in the center of that hole, he could see there was a red gem placed within. It seemed obvious that it was meant to serve as this thing’s ‘heart.’

“No… don’t look!” demanded the insane Death Knight that had mistaken itself for Hamel.

Eugene snickered and pointed at the hole in its chest.

He asked mockingly, “You’re saying that you’re Hamel with that thing in your chest?”

The Death Knight roared in anger, “Graaaah!”

It was important to know when you could afford to provoke someone and when you would be better off staying silent. Now was the time to do the latter. Although Eugene knew this very well, he just couldn’t stand it. Having seen it for himself, how could he not laugh at the absurdity?

But the price for his momentary amusement was harsh.

Baaang!

Eugene’s body was slammed against the wall. Although the Cloak of Darkness gave him some protection, since he was driven into the wall with enough force to crumble it, his body didn’t make it out unharmed. His bones were definitely injured, and it felt like his internal organs might be as well.

“You… stupid… bastard! How could you be Hamel? You’re just a Death Knight. Not even a human one at that… but a lycanthrope,” Eugene collapsed onto the floor and coughed out blood as he smiled. “From the way you move, it looks like you were some kind of feline beast…. Haha! Could you have been a tiger? Or maybe a lion? No, that’s not it. Seeing how your actions are so cute, you might just be a housecat.”

The Death Knight growled, “I’ll… kill… you…!”

“Just try it, you fucking bastard. What were you trying to say again when you can’t even deal with a nineteen-year-old kid? You said that you were Hamel? Are you making fun of Hamel?” Eugene mocked the Death Knight as he tried to get to his feet.

Crunch!

The Death Knight didn’t allow Eugene to stand up. It grabbed Eugene by the shoulders and pulled him up so they could talk face-to-face.

“I… I am Hamel,” the Death Knight insisted.

“Like fuck you are, asshole,” Eugene cursed as he spat some of the blood flowing from his mouth into the Death Knight’s face. “Also, don’t get so close to me. Since you give off the smell of a rotting corpse. If you’ve died once, then you should just rest in peace already. Where do you think you get off, wandering around in someone else’s corpse and messing with the living?”

“Grrr…!"

Crunch.

The hands holding Eugene's shoulders tightened their grip. Suppressing a groan, Eugene glared into the Death Knight's face.

Eugene had lost. Was he going to die now? Just like this? No, this wasn’t the end for him. He had even been reincarnated, so he had no intention of dying in such a fruitless manner.

If he had felt like he was going to lose, he would have run away immediately.

Eugene hadn’t run away because he had wanted to confirm its identity.

When Eugene had first raised his sword against the Death Knight, he had felt like he could win.

And now?

‘If I really have to use that, I’ll be a fucking mess for the next few years.’

Although it wasn’t all that impressive, in his previous life as Hamel, he had kept one special move hidden as his trump card. In fact, it was so simple that it couldn’t even really be called a special move. But still….

If Eugene used it, he was sure to win. He would win no matter what.

Even a special psychopath like this Death Knight that wouldn’t die unless it was torn to pieces would be shattered into dust without leaving any traces behind. But as strong as this move was, it came with the same amount of recoil.

Although it was impossible for him to kill a Death Knight with his current specs, if he used Ignition, Eugene would definitely be able to kill it.

Just as Eugene was considering whether or not to use it, he heard a voice call out to him.

“Young master!”

‘What now?’

It was Laman Schulhov! That fool, Eugene had knocked him out to give him the chance to run away, but why had he continued to follow Eugene all the way here?

Eugene couldn’t turn his head to look at Laman. The Death Knight was still holding Eugene by his shoulders.

“Get back! You monster!” Laman shouted as he rushed at the Death Knight.

But the Death Knight also didn’t turn to look at Laman. It just picked Eugene up with one hand and threw him at the ceiling on the opposite side of the room to Laman.

“Gagh!”

Bang, boooom!

Eugene’s thrown body crashed into the ceiling, slammed back down to the floor, and was sent rolling across the room. Since Eugene had been reincarnated, this was the first time that his body had been so severely damaged. As Eugene kept spitting blood, he raised his head.

Perhaps, could it be?

For a few moments, Eugene got his hopes up. Was it possible that Laman, who had come running here so confidently, had awakened some great power and was now able to defeat the Death Knight?

But this ended up being just a daydream. Laman’s sword-force was easily overpowered by the Death Knight, and his kukri was shattered to pieces.

“Gugh!”

Then Laman wasn’t even able to get away in time. The Death Knight grabbed Laman by the throat and turned to look at Eugene.

Surprisingly, it asked, “...Is this… your henchman?”

“Nope,” Eugene casually denied.

Laman shouted, “Young master…! P-please run away. While I’ve got a hold of him—!”

What kind of bullshit was that when Laman was the one who was being held captive? Eugene burst out laughing because his claim was so ridiculous.

This just made Laman admire Eugene even more. Even after suffering so many injuries and being cornered in a fight with this mysterious monster, Eugene was still able to laugh like that.

‘He truly is a great man,’ Laman wholeheartedly admired.

While Laman was caught up in his arbitrary fantasies about Eugene, the Death Knight glared at the still grinning Eugene and threw Laman at him.

“Gaaah!” Laman screamed.

Eugene was struck by the thrown Laman and was sent skidding across the ground with him.

“What…. Grrrr…. Is so funny?” the Death Knight growled.

“I’m just laughing since you look like a fool,” Eugene said as he pushed Laman off him and staggered to his feet.

Laman got up at the same time as Eugene and quickly moved to support him.

“Young master. I’ll rush over and make an opening, so you have to run away no matter what. You don’t… you don’t need to try and save me anymore,” Laman gave this heartfelt plea, but neither the Death Knight nor Eugene paid him any attention.

“You’re saying… that I’m funny?”

“Yeah. You’re hilarious.”

Behind Eugene stood a tightly closed door. It was the door that the Death Knight had been guarding at the start.

Even though it knew there was a door here, the Death Knight had still thrown Eugene over to this side instead of where they had first entered.

This meant that it didn’t matter even if they did open it. Or else that it wasn’t able to be opened.

‘Let’s confirm this first.’

Eugene shuffled his feet backward. Laman, who was supporting Eugene, was also dragged back. Seeing this sight, the corners of the Death Knight’s mouth twisted into a smile.

“That’s…. Grrr…! That’s not where you should try to escape to,” it informed them with a growl.

“Even though there’s a door here as well?” Eugene asked casually.

“Are you afraid of me?”

“No, as I said, I find you amusing.”

“Then why… are you trying to open that door?”

“I’m curious to see what’s inside there.”

“That door doesn’t open. Nobody, not even her, has been able to open that door.”

“Is that so?”

Eugene’s hand reached the door. Laman was looking between Eugene and the Death Knight with an anxious expression. Why had they gotten close to a door that couldn’t even be opened? Could it be that this was some part of a deliberate plan to distract the enemy?

‘As expected of a great man like him.’

Just as it looked like Eugene was trying to open the door, they should charge at the enemy. Of course, Laman couldn’t just say something like this out loud. Instead, Laman furiously winked one eye at Eugene to inform Eugene that he was in on the plan.

‘Why the hell is he winking like that?’ Eugene thought to himself.

“I’ve already told you it’s useless,” the Death Knight said. “That door doesn’t open.”

“After hearing those words, I want to open it up even more,” Eugene cheekily replied.

If this was a situation where he would need to use Ignition, then Eugene would have no choice but to use it. However, before that, he still had to check what was behind this door. Since this was Hamel’s tomb, and he was Hamel, then if Sienna or someone else had planned for his reincarnation, then….

This door that wouldn’t open no matter what must have been left for this grave’s owner.

‘Though perhaps Amelia Merwin opened it and then immediately spelled it shut,’ as Eugene considered this thought, he pushed against the door.

But it didn’t open, his attempt had failed. Immediately after this, Eugene’s necklace gave off a small light. Eugene felt some heat coming from his necklace as the door began to move.

Eugene smirked, “See, it does open.”

The Death Knight’s expression changed. It quickly kicked off the ground and charged at Eugene, but Eugene pushed the door open and dragged Laman in with him. No, rather than ‘opening’ the door, it was more like they were sucked through the door.

“Ugh,” Laman collapsed onto the ground with a groan.

Unable to understand what had just happened, he raised his head to look around, but Eugene chopped him on the back of the neck to keep him from getting up.

“Although you weren’t of any help, since you did try to save me,” as Eugene muttered this, he took a seat on the back of the now-unconscious Laman.

Eugene turned his head around to look behind him. The door was shut tight. The Death Knight must be going crazy trying to open the door, but the door didn’t even shake, let alone transmit the sound of someone pounding on the other side.

For now, Eugene could assume that this was a safe place. He nodded his head and turned his head to the front.

“...Those crazy bastards,” Eugene muttered as he looked at the center of the wide-open space in front of him. “Why did they leave it here?”

The light that illuminated this dark room wasn’t coming from a magically conjured flame.

It was the pale shade of moonlight.

In the center of the dark room, a crescent moon hovered over a pure white coffin.