I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 10
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#10. Death Knight (Death Night) (2)
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The knights of death close the distance.
Featherback gradually widened the gap while tracking the enemies’ movements with his eyes.
“They’re getting too close, aren’t they?”
Perhaps because they’re corpses, they all lack a sense of personal space despite this being their first meeting.
Featherback took a step back.
Thud—
As his back touched the wall, he felt the cold, damp sensation characteristic of old moss.
Along with the unpleasant sponginess, vines that had descended along the cold stone pillar seemed to grasp at Featherback’s body.
…Slash!
Featherback swung his sword to cut away the vines.
Trickle trickle trickle—
Clear sap poured out from inside the severed vines, forming a water stream.
“No matter how happy you are to see a descendant after so long, this kind of welcome is a bit embarrassing.”
When Featherback retreated behind the water stream, the corpses that had been approaching him hesitated.
Undead inherently dislike crossing over flowing water.
The place one goes after death, the river that flows at the Boundary Between Life and Death.
It’s because they are beings who fled while leaving behind the crossing of that river.
…However.
Clank!
The carefully selected corpses, the Death Knights, soon began crossing over the water stream.
The fighting spirit deeply embedded within them overcame their instinctive fear.
‘Indeed, is this the spirit of Mörsolt? Even after death, their edge remains sharp.’
Featherback gripped his sword at an angle.
Originally, Death Knights of that level would require a 5-Star or higher Swordsman, or a 5th class Mage, or at the very least a Deacon-level Priest to be defeated.
However.
‘It will just take a long time. I’m sufficient on my own.’
Featherback faced the Death Knights’ encirclement head-on.
Slice—
Featherback’s blade cuts through flesh.
Specifically, Featherback’s own flesh.
Drip…
Blood drops flowed down the white blade.
At the fishy scent of blood spreading through the air, the Death Knights momentarily flinched.
‘As expected.’
Featherback raised his blood-stained sword forward.
The blood of Mörsolt is originally the blood of the Demon King Slayer.
It is like a natural enemy to all flesh and blood based on demonic power.
In other words, Featherback’s blood is like Poison Blood to the Death Knights.
Featherback tore through the encirclement with his poison-coated blade leading the way.
Claaang!
One Death Knight exchanged a single sword strike with Featherback.
Ooooooooooh!
The wraiths trapped within the armor howled.
Each time the Negative Dimension Mana rippled, the torch’s light was being dyed black from the edges.
Soon, the natural order of this world twisted even more grotesquely.
The Dead pounced upon the living.
Pitch-black slash attacks wielded by countless Death Knights aimed for Featherback.
Featherback blocked them all with the shield and sword in his hands.
Thunk— Thwack! Crack!
The brilliantly white sword tip slipped remarkably through the gaps between the rusted armor, severing the flow of dark energies surging within.
Clang!
One empty helmet shot up into midair.
Above the Death Knight’s shoulders, crimson Will-o’-the-Wisps blazed.
What burned in the center like a candle’s wick was none other than a skeleton.
Featherback pushed The Dead back several steps.
The Death Knights buried their backs into the rear darkness, avoiding the pale light dwelling on Featherback’s sword tip.
How ironic that The Dead would fear the living.
Featherback immediately charged forward.
The Death Knight whose helmet had been removed swung its great sword, trying to cleave Featherback’s body.
However.
Featherback rolled across the floor to dodge the slash attack.
Then he slashed with his sword from the Death Knight’s groin up to its chest.
Riiip!
It struck true.
The rusted armor split apart as black aura burst forth.
The dark red blood that had been on Featherback’s sword was transforming into blue flames and burning away.
‘Good thing I ate the Centipede Matriarch’s inner core.’
What was currently supporting Featherback’s swordplay was the massive amount of mana he had stolen from the Centipede Matriarch.
It burned like firewood, spewing forth pillars of mana fire, and Featherback was releasing all that mana directly through his sword tip.
Of course, this brought about pain beyond imagination.
‘It’s bearable enough.’
Featherback’s endurance, having been one of humanity’s last survivors in the long Demon Realm War, had long since ceased to be human.
…Crack!
Featherback stomped on and crushed the Death Knight’s skeleton with his foot.
“Next.”
The Death Knights immediately counterattacked.
The swordsmanship they used was quite familiar to Featherback.
Mörsolt Sword Style First Form: Bloodletting.
Stabbing the opponent’s vital points to drain their strength.
A simple and clear swordsmanship whose goal was to kill the opponent by quickly stabbing their softest and weakest spots with minimal force.
But the results it produced were by no means light.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The Death Knights’ sword tips pierced into Featherback’s body.
Various forms of blades penetrated Featherback’s body—two-handed great swords, one-handed swords, deformed swords, flamberges, and even curved blades.
However.
“I can do that too.”
It was swordsmanship that Featherback could also handle skillfully.
He quickly dodged or blocked with his shield, then pressed the Death Knights with the same swordsmanship.
He had practiced countless times while hunting orcs on the snow mountain.
Mörsolt’s swordsmanship, modified to suit this small body.
‘Now this body seems more familiar.’
The body of a 15-year-old boy was the best.
Fast, light, and flying around energetically.
It was on a completely different level from his old, worn-out body that had been broken here and there through countless wars.
Slash―!
Featherback’s sword split through one Death Knight’s head as it passed.
As they began falling one or two at a time, the Death Knights’ swordsmanship became chaotic.
Those were not swords meant to kill an opponent, but swords meant to flee from an opponent.
Therefore, Featherback closed the distance even more.
The predator and prey had switched places.
The Dead who had been targeting the living began to be pushed back by the living’s momentum instead.
Crack!
Featherback pierced a hole through one Death Knight’s chest with his sword tip concentrated with mana.
Ooooooh!
A Death Knight from the rear brought down its great sword.
Flash!
Featherback immediately twisted his body and severed both of the Death Knight’s wrists simultaneously.
The great sword embedded itself straight into the wall.
Two bone-only wrists remained attached to the sword handle, dangling there.
“Heavy and large weapons are troublesome. My body hasn’t fully grown yet.”
Featherback pushed up the Death Knight’s body with his shield.
The Death Knight that had lost both wrists struggled.
Toward that Death Knight, Featherback delivered a Sword Thrust deep into its lower abdomen.
Crack—
The dim sphere inside the black armor touched the blade and split apart.
That was the core that formed the undead, the nucleus.
‘Undead can’t revive if you smash their cores.’
Featherback stabbed through all the round spheres inside the Death Knights’ armor with his sword.
Root Extraction.
Completely uprooting and severing them.
That was how to deal with the undead.
Grrrrrr…
The Death Knights, sensing defeat, retreated.
And Featherback filled the empty space left by the vanished specters.
Step— Step— Step—
The footsteps of a pursuer treading through the empty cavern.
A dim and pale light flowed down from Featherback’s sword tip.
Like an anglerfish swimming through the deep sea, Featherback lured the Death Knights while emitting light in that manner.
Slash—
He swung his sword once more.
Victory was not far off.
* * *
All of The Dead had returned to dust.
Rolling around on the floor of the ruins were rusted helmets and armor, along with fragments of broken swords.
“Finished.”
Featherback had passed all of Mörsolt’s trials.
His heart, glowing red-hot like a furnace, pounded fiercely.
His breath came out hot like bellows operation.
Thud—
Featherback sat down on the head of a half-destroyed stone statue.
Just resting for a moment stopped the flow of blood and sweat.
“Next is…”
After a brief rest, Featherback got up.
The first thing he did was search through the corpses of the centipedes he had killed earlier.
Crack—
When he split open the Centipede Matriarch’s skull, he could see the poison sac connected to the jaw area.
Featherback cut it out with his sword and tied it to his waist.
He also cleanly shaved off the poison claws protruding from the Centipede Matriarch’s lower jaw with his sword and put them in the poison sac.
‘This will be useful later when eliminating political enemies.’
The Demon King wasn’t the only one he had to fight.
The traitors who tried to divide humanity were also targets that needed to be eliminated.
‘Those pieces of trash who, despite being human, sided with the Demon King for personal greed. If not for them, the war would have been somewhat easier.’
Featherback clicked his tongue as he recalled the numerous authority figures and sycophants who had held back the Hero Party in his past life.
In this life, he planned to eliminate them early so they would never have a chance to speak up.
Eventually, Featherback searched through the fragments of the Death Knights.
‘Hmm. They’re still here.’
Shattered cores.
Mana cores filled with negative dimension mana.
Featherback absorbed all the black mana flowing out of them.
An ordinary person would have gone mad the moment they accepted black mana into their body, but… humans with Mörsolt blood flowing through them are different.
Mörsolt is originally a bloodline of demon slaying.
The blood and flesh of beings listed in the demonic lineage are nutrients that nourish Mörsolt.
Featherback began cultivation based on the inner core taken from the Centipede Matriarch and the black mana absorbed from the Death Knights.
Kuuuuuuuu…
The black current that wrapped around Featherback’s entire body gradually changed into a grayish-white vortex.
Eventually, it was slowly purified and transformed into high-purity white aura.
Tssssssssss―
Featherback’s white hair and skin turned even whiter.
In contrast, only his pupils glowed with an eerie blood-red light.
“A leap to 3-Star is… still beyond my reach.”
He had tried to be greedy, but the results were somewhat disappointing.
From the beginning to the end of 2-Star, his mana had become much more profound, but he still couldn’t overcome the 3-Star Wall.
“Well, there will be opportunities later. I have plenty of time.”
Featherback clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
Of course, being at the end of 2-Star and on the verge of early 3-Star at the age of fifteen was something that would turn the entire world upside down… but that fact didn’t particularly inspire him.
Receiving praise and recognition from others wouldn’t prevent the destruction, after all.
“I need to open the Secret Vault quickly.”
Featherback began to move.
Having overcome all the trials in the Dungeon, it was now time to claim his rewards.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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