I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World - Chapter 14

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

◈ I Became the Dark Knight in the Game World ◈

Chapter 14: In the Abyss, Swords Wield People (2)

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The Horn Dagger, fashioned from a Bicorn horn, was longer than an ordinary dagger but shorter than the longsword held by the corpse Demonkin.

Weapon length was usually a decisive factor in close combat. Naturally, Kriel was at a disadvantage with the shorter weapon.

Usually.

Just as the corpse Demonkin had disarmed Kriel of his greatsword with its longsword, this world of mysteries and supernatural powers was full of phenomena that defied the ordinary and common sense.

Kriel himself was far from ordinary.

A Dark Knight beyond the Abyss. A grotesque anomaly whose very existence was almost beyond language.

He had more than enough ways to deal with an ordinary crisis.

Kriel released the Blood Energy he had been holding back. The Horn Dagger gave off a strange resonant hum as it condensed the Blood Energy.

Unlike the greatsword, which had been covered in Blood Energy like a tangled web, the Blood Energy gathering around the Horn Dagger was refined and smooth. It was as though a new red blade had been overlaid atop the original one.

[Keeeeeeek! Damn it, Kriel, what the hell is this energy?!]

"Suck it up, you punk."

At Orisin's undignified scream, the corpse Demonkin and Kriel charged at each other.

* * *

The corpse Demonkin was different from Kriel. It did not need to worry about the side effects of using supernatural powers. The head that should have worried about its own life had long since dried out.

A magic circle formed over the Demonkin's left hand. The entire Abyssal Domain trembled as though in resonance. Crack! With an ominous sound, fractures spread through space.

Hairline cracks spread out from the corpse Demonkin. Blue light, like winter's bitter cold, stirred within them.

A bone-chilling gust blew. The next moment, it began to grow into a glacier.

Walls of ice rose along Kriel's entire path. Cold rose from the floor to slow the knight's steps, while ice spikes jutting from both walls reached for his wrists.

A red blade danced between the blue bars. Its movements were swift and light, as though making up for the greatsword's weight. Kriel leaped lightly, using ice spikes as footholds as he charged ahead. The ice branches stretching from the walls could not keep up with him.

Even as it prepared for the clash, the corpse Demonkin formed another hand seal with its left hand. A huge ice spike formed in the cracks spreading across the ceiling, then fell toward Kriel's blind spot.

But even that was blocked. Kriel's right hand, holding the Horn Dagger, traced a gentle curve. Guided by the blade, the falling ice spike's path twisted in midair.

Its new path led to the corpse Demonkin.

A block of ice as large as a person's torso rushed at it. The Demon Weapon wielding the Demonkin, without even properly settling into position, swung upward and split the ice filling its vision apart.

But Kriel was behind it.

Crimson Blood Energy collided with blue cold.

With a deafening boom, the light shattered into thousands of scattered rays. The Horn Dagger was shorter than the Demon Weapon, but that was no longer a disadvantage. They fought at far closer range than the corpse Demonkin had intended. Kriel continued his assault without giving the Demon Weapon enough space to move properly.

Rather than persist in the now-disadvantageous close combat, the corpse Demonkin actively relied on magic. Whenever Kriel aimed for the right hand holding the Demon Weapon, sheets of ice formed in the air and blocked his attacks with perfect timing, buying it time.

After crashing into ice several times, Orisin shrieked.

[Keeeeeeek! It's hot and cold! I'm not dried fish!]

Orisin seemed to be doing nothing but screaming, but the Spirit was fulfilling its own role. The cold drawn out by the Demon Weapon did more than create ice.

It was a magical cold that consumed the entire space. Orisin countered the grip of the freezing cold and helped Kriel accelerate.

Kriel counted the Blood Energy he had left. He had built up quite a lot while slaughtering Monsters near Laurang to lure out Orisin, but after fighting Orisin and confronting the Demonkin, he had not had a chance to replenish it.

‘Could this last until the end of the fight?’

There was enough Blood Energy left for three or four more exchanges. But after that?

Kriel suddenly regretted not stockpiling more Blood Energy, but soon shook his head.

‘A diligent Dark Knight only falls to corruption faster.’

Unlike Kriel, whose Blood Energy was limited, the corpse Demonkin, or more precisely, the Demon Weapon controlling its corpse, seemed to have no limit to its dark mana. The ice storm that came crashing down alongside its sword strikes was gradually slowing Kriel's assault.

Crunch.

One of the ice crystals falling like raindrops dented his pauldron. Fortunately, only the plate was damaged. The attack had not reached the flesh beneath it.

[You block me every time I try to cut off that wrist. You've probably been cursed at for being too good at fighting, huh?]

Orisin's grumbling perfectly reflected Kriel's thoughts. He needed to separate the Demonkin's corpse from the Demon Weapon before he could subdue it, but whenever he tried to cut off its hand, it diverted even the mana used for offensive magic into defending itself.

That instinctive defense was also why Kriel could still maintain the offensive despite the superficial attacks from the blizzard. Whenever the initiative seemed about to pass to the Demon Weapon, he could accept some damage and target the sword hand to reset the battle's momentum.

But that, too, was reaching its limit. Once he exhausted all his Blood Energy, Kriel would be forced to choose between going on the defensive and drawing upon Resentment.

‘Neither option is appealing.’

Kriel thought about how to break through this predicament.

‘It would be nice if I suddenly awakened some new skill that uses neither Blood Energy nor Resentment, but I'm a Dark Knight. Even if I awaken one, it'll be an Abyss skill.’

Having fulfilled his daily quota of contempt for Dark Knights, Kriel considered other possibilities.

‘Morgina comes and saves me. It's possible, but there's no telling how long it will take to destroy the Core of the Abyss. Since I was confident I could buy time, she may choose a slower but more stable method of purifying the Core rather than physically destroying it.’

Is there no way around this?

Just as Kriel seriously considered using Resentment, he saw his greatsword swallowed by the Abyssal Domain. The sword was trapped in the Abyssal Domain and could not move.

Seeing the sword held fast, Kriel smiled.

Slowly, Kriel's assault began to weaken. The precision of his fierce swings faded, and the balance between attack and defense reversed once more. The red glow surrounding the Horn Dagger also dimmed until the Abyssal Domain was filled only with eerie blue light.

The Horn Dagger was now swung to ward off magic rather than confront the sword directly.

The Demon Weapon did not miss the opening.

The blue-tinged blade shot toward Kriel's heart. It was a vital point, ideal for ending an enemy's life at once and absorbing their vitality.

Kriel knew where the Demon Weapon would aim. He quickly pulled back and swung the Horn Dagger.

But the blades did not clash.

The Demon Weapon evaded Kriel's Horn Dagger and continued its thrust.

Its tip touched the plate armor covering Kriel's chest. At that moment, bitter cold spread from the blade and seeped into the metal. Unable to withstand the sudden temperature change, the armor shattered.

The blade was about to pierce straight through his chest.

Kriel twisted his body at an odd angle.

Gagagagagak!

A scraping sound rang out as the blade ground between his ribs. The Demon Weapon failed to reach his heart and lodged between the bones.

Blood dripped down the gray blade. It froze before it could even flow.

The Demon Weapon tried to swing at once and sever Kriel's body along with his bones.

But Kriel had transferred every bit of Blood Energy wrapped around the Horn Dagger into strengthening his body for this moment. He used Fighting Energy and Blood Energy at the same time. For that brief instant, Kriel's body became tougher than steel.

Orisin's blessing struck the Demonkin at closer range than ever before. A Spirit, an embodiment of nature, could counter the laws of the Abyss. The corpse Demonkin's arm shook free of the Demon Weapon's control.

The Demon Weapon swiftly moved the other parts of the body. It intended to hurl the controlled body away from Kriel and regain its stance.

Then Kriel's left hand clamped down on the Demonkin's right arm.

The Horn Dagger swung.

Hastily activated magic raised several layers of ice walls between the Horn Dagger and the arm.

It blocked the first strike, but this time there was no way to pull the arm free. Kriel instantly shifted the Horn Dagger into a reverse grip and stabbed through the ice walls as if hacking them apart.

The final strike came through the shattered ice fragments.

The Horn Dagger drove through the joint between the shoulder and arm. Kriel's tightly clenched hand twisted the hilt.

The blade embedded in the Demonkin's joint spun in a semicircle. Less than a second passed before the eerie blade had cut through roughly three-quarters of the shoulder.

But the angle was poor for turning the hilt all the way around. At this rate, it would soon regenerate.

For his final move, Kriel showed the quick thinking of a seasoned warrior.

With a sound like bursting air, a lightning-fast kick struck the corpse Demonkin's abdomen. Its arm tried to follow the body, but Kriel's left hand would not allow it.

The arm remained where it was while the rest of the body soared far away and crashed down.

No blood spilled. The Demonkin's blood had already frozen.

Several streaks of red frost fell from the torn wound, reached the area around Kriel's eyes, and melted. Only then did Kriel pull the Demonkin's right arm free.

The arm still held the Demon Weapon, but its grip slowly loosened. At last, its fingers relaxed, and the gray sword slipped free.

A sharp metallic sound scraped across Kriel's ears.

Kriel looked at the Demon Weapon lying there pathetically, threw the right arm far away, then sank to the ground.

[Whoa, that was close. Are you okay?]

As soon as Orisin confirmed the fight was over, it began chattering. Perhaps it was trying to keep Kriel conscious and stop him from collapsing.

Kriel clutched his chest and muttered, "It hurts like hell."

[Wow, if you can still swear, you're fine! I thought you'd lost your mind when you suddenly decided, "I'll catch the blade with my ribs, hyah!"]

Kriel let out a hollow laugh.

Pain flared from his wound at that moment. "Kugh!" A sound halfway between a scream and a cough escaped him.

[What knightly order teaches a crazy technique like that?]

"I read it in a novel."

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