I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 9

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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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#9. Death Knight (1)

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Featherback quietly gazed beyond the abyss where the ruins lay submerged.

In the pale light scattered by mushroom spores, dim silhouettes moved about.

Clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter…

A swarm of centipedes with disgusting appearances revealed themselves.

Compared to the centipedes he had seen before his regression, they looked small and cute, but unfortunately, no one remained to share Featherback’s sentiment.

Swish―

Featherback drew his sword.

The sharp sword tip pointed toward the centipede swarm.

Long and giant centipedes tangled together like a mass of black iron chains.

Screech― Screeeech― Screeeeeeech―

Unpleasant discordant sounds approached, scraping against the ground.

Each centipede was large enough to easily coil around and crush a grown man.

And behind them, a single centipede so massive it could be mistaken for a dragon lay coiled.

That must be the great mother of these centipedes.

“Move aside.”

Featherback swung his sword and severed the head of one centipede.

The rightful heir of this dungeon had returned.

It was time for the illegal residents to comply with the homeowner’s eviction order.

Slash―! Crack! Snap!

Soon after, three or four centipedes collapsed in succession.

Featherback wielded his sword without hesitation.

He had to get past those disgusting creatures to obtain his ancestor’s legacy.

Hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss…

The pale mana characteristic of a 2-star user strengthened the muscles throughout his body.

Featherback recalled the two essential principles for survival he had learned while rolling through countless battlefields.

Rule 1. Never get surrounded.

Rule 2. Don’t forget Rule 1.

It was rather concise for the secret to longevity, but… the know-how of famous restaurants is always simple.

Featherback gripped his blade in reverse grip and swung it.

The sharp blade shattered the centipedes’ shells and severed the flesh deep within.

Body fluid mixed with deadly poison splattered on his face and sizzled.

“….”

But Featherback didn’t mind it at all.

The Centipede’s weakness is the gap between the armor connecting the head and the back of the neck.

The part where the head lifts when molting is imminent.

Just poking that spot a little with the sword tip makes them curl up their bodies like squid legs on a grill while foaming at the mouth.

Featherback continued to stab his sword into the backs of the Centipedes’ necks while throwing his body around to avoid their jaws and legs.

…Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk!

The more Featherback rampaged, the more excited the Centipedes became.

The Centipedes that came close swung their sharp jaws while spitting out poison.

Featherback struck away all the flying poison droplets with the flat side of his sword.

Splat splat splat splat bang!

The moss-covered Ruins become soaked with blood and poison.

Featherback didn’t even blink when his flesh that touched the Centipedes’ bodily fluids swelled and burst.

‘As long as it doesn’t get in my eyes.’

Anywhere else just hurts but doesn’t interfere with combat.

It was Deadly Poison that would make an ordinary person writhe in agony and lie sick for days from just one drop touching their skin, but Featherback didn’t shrink back even while bathing in it.

Featherback’s Blade mechanically stabbed the backs of the Centipedes’ necks to kill them.

Thruuust!

The blood-soaked Sword punched a hole in the back of one giant Centipede’s neck.

Featherback raised his head with an emotionless expression.

The Centipedes’ Corpses had already piled up like a small Mountain.

Beyond where the poisonous blood was flowing down like a waterfall.

[Ohhhhhhhhh…]

One particularly massive Centipede wriggles its body as it crawls down.

The Centipede Matriarch.

A size that someone who didn’t know better might mistake for a Dragon.

It hurled its body toward Featherback.

Shiiiiik!

The Centipede Matriarch’s sharp jaws came rushing in.

Featherback ducked low to avoid the Centipede Matriarch’s jaws while adjusting his grip on the Sword to the proper direction and scraped the Centipede Matriarch’s jaw.

Scraaaaaaape!

Purple blood bursts out like a waterfall.

The Centipede Matriarch writhes in pain.

Featherback grabbed the Centipede Matriarch’s whiskers and immediately climbed toward the back of its neck.

Then he put his full weight behind the Sword and struck down with all his might.

Crack—!

The sword tip imbued with Pale Aura pierced halfway into the back of the Centipede Matriarch’s neck.

[Kieeeeeeek!?]

The Centipede Matriarch, sensing danger, went into a frenzy.

But even so, Featherback didn’t fall off and gripped the sword tightly.

And then.

Crash—!

He struck down with his forehead against the end of the sword handle.

The blade, firmly fixed by both hands, pierced a little deeper into the back of the Centipede Matriarch’s neck.

Featherback continued to headbutt the end of the sword handle.

…Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang! …Bang!

The flesh on his forehead tore open, blood burst out, and white skull was exposed.

But even so, Featherback continued headbutting with both eyes wide open.

Crack—!

The sword, driven deeper by Featherback’s forehead, finally pierced through from the back of the Centipede Matriarch’s neck to her throat.

[Ki—i…]

Human madness had won.

The Centipede Matriarch, who had endured tenaciously, finally dropped her head powerlessly to the floor.

But Featherback didn’t stop there and drove the sword even deeper.

So much so that his upper body burrowed into the sword wound in the Centipede Matriarch’s body and emerged through the hole on the other side.

“…Phew.”

Featherback entered through the back of the Centipede Matriarch’s neck and walked out through her throat.

By then, the Centipede Matriarch had completely stopped breathing.

Drip— Drip— Drip—

In Featherback’s hand was the Cintamani he had extracted from the Centipede Matriarch’s neck.

This legendary Inner Core, said to exist between a centipede’s jaw and throat, grants an enormous amount of mana just by consuming it.

Normally, it would take a long time to detoxify before consumption due to its deadly poison, but.

Gulp—

Featherback swallowed it whole.

‘Anyway, Mörsolt’s body with Awakening blood flowing through it doesn’t rupture easily. The more I move my body, the faster the absorption will be. My stomach might hurt for a few days, but…’

Soon, he could see the surrounding lesser centipedes scattering in all directions.

Featherback instinctively knew that the fierce battle with the centipedes had ended.

However.

‘Now it’s finally about to begin.’

The procession of centipedes was at most an initiation level.

The real guardians protecting this dungeon could only be met after breaking through the centipedes’ encirclement.

…Sure enough.

‘They’re coming.’

Featherback detected a noise that had begun to echo from the moment all the centipedes’ life signs disappeared.

Clank— Clank— Clank—

…The sound of rusted armor pieces grinding against each other.

…The sound of old military boots stepping through muddy swamp.

…The sound of blades soaked in blood and human fat howling ominously.

Beings that seemed like the abstract concept of nightmare molded into human form were approaching.

Featherback muttered.

“Death Knight.”

Also known as ‘Knights of Death’, or sometimes called ‘Necromantic Knights’.

Undead created by processing the corpses of knights whose bodies and minds had reached sublime realms while alive.

Their danger level couldn’t even be compared to ordinary zombie soldiers or skeleton soldiers.

Clank— Clank— Clank—

Knights clad in black iron armor and wearing pitch-black helmets approached this way.

Decayed swordsmen who could no longer feel any fear or sense of duty.

They were approaching slowly but surely from the darkness.

‘…Are there no more breathing sounds? Then this must be all of them.’

The noises from rusted armor and water-logged military boots proved their gloomy presence.

Flash—

One Death Knight spewed crimson blood-colored light through the eye holes in its helmet.

Ordinary people would go mad just from seeing the will-o’-the-wisps emanating from these beings’ eye sockets.

Featherback raised his sword at an angle.

“…You too were once members of Mörsolt.”

What were the ancestors thinking when they made these beings the guardians of the dungeon?

Perhaps they followed the last wishes left by some noble souls who, facing death, donated their corpses to the learning ground instead of the crematorium, so that even in death they could serve as foundation for their descendants’ growth?

Of course, the details were unknowable.

“For now, I’ll just think of you as obstacles.”

Featherback abandoned his sentimentality.

The opponent was a Death Knight.

Inside that rusted black armor, only hatred for the living would be packed tight.

Hisssssss…

Dozens of Death Knights spew forth black mana.

Black mirages distorted his vision.

The only things floating around in the abyss were the blood-red will-o’-the-wisps emanating from the Death Knights’ eyes.

‘I wonder what level these things are at.’

Featherback stroked his chin.

Before his regression, another team had handled these opponents.

Featherback had been busy dealing with the Centipede Matriarch at that time.

‘I should test what rank they hold in the demonic hierarchy.’

Featherback engaged the Death Knights in a light skirmish.

Whoosh—

The Death Knights charged toward Featherback.

Dozens of corpses pronounced judgment upon Featherback on behalf of death.

Death sentence.

The Mörsolts who guarded the tomb even in death seemed to regard Featherback as a grave robber.

Slash—!

Featherback cut down one of the vines with his sword.

When clear water gushed from the vine and crossed the floor, the Death Knights’ footsteps suddenly came to a halt.

Featherback smiled faintly.

“As expected. The dead hesitate to cross rivers.”

Undead cannot cross flowing water.

It seems to be an instinct that only develops after death.

Crack—!

Featherback thrust his sword into the neck of the Death Knight at the very front.

[…!]

The ghostly fire that had been emanating from within the Death Knight’s helmet disappeared.

This meant the blessing of the underworld that had been bestowed upon them had vanished.

Thud— Clang!

The rusted black armor collapsed helplessly.

Only then did the other Death Knights scatter to the left and right.

Whiiiiish—

A pitch-black aura blade formed at the sword tip came flying through midair.

Featherback rolled across the floor to avoid it.

‘Their movements are sluggish. Their spiritual power seems to be lacking.’

In cases like this, it’s one of two things.

Either the Knight’s body that became the material for the Death Knight wasn’t particularly strong when alive, or even if it was a strong Knight’s body, too much time had passed since death and severe decay had progressed.

In any case, the body needs to keep up to produce good movements.

‘Either way, it’s not my problem.’

If the enemy is weak, that’s all the better.

Featherback recalled the countless Death Knights he had fought before his Regression.

Among them was even a top-tier Death Knight so powerful it had held a Legion Commander position in the Demon Army for decades.

That bastard too ultimately had to cross the River of the Underworld by Featherback’s sword.

“Let alone a low-grade Death Knight like this.”

It might take some time, but he didn’t feel like he would lose.

If Soleil or Cardona had come, they might have been brutally slaughtered.

“Let’s finish this quickly and go our separate ways.”

But that didn’t apply to Featherback.

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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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