I Became a Dark Knight in the Game

53 – Inheriting the Merchant Guild (2)

[This vulgar sword has no sense… I recognized it from the obscene curve of the blade.]

[What kind of crazy talk is that?!]

Kriel silently lifted Orishin. And quietly headed for the scabbard.

The silent scabbard that Morgina had made as a set with the curved sword. Usually, Orishin refused to go in, saying it was suffocating, making it a half-useless weapon.

Orishin shouted in dismay.

[Wait! It’s true! Not all knights use swords! They use spears! Axes! But without a horse, they’re not knights!]

[You vulgar thing. How dare you, as a sword, speak of other weapons!]

[What’s wrong with this guy’s head?!]

Orishin felt the horned sword gradually entering the scabbard. It was a different atmosphere from usual sheathing. He had a hunch that if he was stuck in the darkness, he wouldn’t see the light for a long time – at least more than a day.

[No way, is the noble knight sulking? I’m not teasing, it’s just the truth─]

Kriel silently sheathed the horned sword. The sound of it clicking into place was satisfying.

Somewhere, it felt like a voice in his mind was shouting, “How disgraceful to not accept the truth!” but Kriel decided to dismiss it as a mere hallucination, a side effect of his skill.

He hadn’t used the Dark Knight’s exclusive skill in the past few days, but he figured he might as well start hearing the hallucinations now, considering he’d be using it soon.

He grabbed Tuon.

[Indeed, my rightful master. It is truly commendable to keep a pure straight sword like me close, instead of such a lewd curved sword.]

He ignored Tuon’s nonsense. In fact, Kriel had a valid reason for sheathing Orisin and drawing Tuon.

As he infused his energy, the blade turned a dark blue, like the night sky. Beyond the metallic chill, he felt an unnatural coldness.

The giant face of the ash monster, Tushkin Gabi, flushed red. Flames ripened in his eyes.

“Unbelievable!”

Morgina drew upon her divine power. If it were a cult worshipping natural deities like the god of water or the god of fire, they could have performed miracles to counter such elemental attacks. The god of water would have summoned water to extinguish the fire, and the god of fire would have bestowed a blessing to make them fireproof.

But Eve Kaha was the goddess of warriors and rest. Morgina accepted her as the goddess of fighters.

Thus, miracles that interfered with specific elements were extremely rare. She had two options in front of the breath attack: dodge or block.

This time, she chose to defend. She maximized her divine power to defend and counterattacked as soon as the attack ended.

“Hey! Pink hair!”

“What?”

Armed was bewildered by the overly familiar and even strange nickname. Hadn’t she been acting all prim and proper, spouting all sorts of nonsense just a few days ago?

“Magic! Don’t you have any magic to blow off that jaw?”

Ignoring Armed’s bewilderment, Morgina stubbornly stuck to her informal speech. Come to think of it, wasn’t this pink-haired mage the one who had witnessed Kriel and her fighting up close, having thrown away all saintly dignity? It was far too late to act all prim and proper.

Still, if she had been someone she didn’t want to get close to, she would have maintained her ‘dignity’ until the end. But after fighting Tushkin Gabi, she found his temper somewhat agreeable.

A stone-throwing expert mage? Eve Kaha would like that.

Instead of whining about running out of magic, he had the will to grab a stone and smash the head of the abyss. Eve Kaha would surely be pleased.

Armed let out a sound that could have been either a sigh or an exclamation and opened his mouth.

“The prepared stones were the last ones!”

“Hopeless! I like it! Get behind me! If you can, reinforce the cover with the debris!”

Morgina transformed the maces in her hands into the shape of a shield. But it wasn’t an ordinary shield. It was so large that it should be described as a door. The red shield had a symmetrical shape, designed to interlock seamlessly when combined.

“Kriel! You too, get behind…?”

Leaving a trail of dark blue sword light, Kriel charged. Beyond the destroyed wall, a straight-line charge.

“That knight is really a blockhead!”

Tushkin Gabi’s giant eyes followed Kriel’s figure as he leaped beyond the wall. Naturally, the aim of the flame beam also shifted to Kriel.

Between soaring and falling, Kriel, with the sun at his back, scattered his sword. The dark blue energy, crafted into a crescent shape, pierced Tushkin Gabi’s eyes.

Tushkin Gabi sneered at the foolishness. Though it took the form of a face, its essence was an amorphous heap of ashes. Even if it was cut by the energy, it could simply restore its form.

However, the energy flowing through Tuon resonated with the aura of the demonic sword, imbued with the deep chill of the underworld.

The dark blue sword energy pierced through the eyes and lodged deeply like a thorn, growing like vines and starting to cool the ashes. Tushkin, bewildered by the freezing body, invested in melting the interior instead of projecting heat externally.

That brief moment of about a second was enough time for Kriel to descend from the air.

In an instant, Kriel reversed his grip on Tuon in midair and drove it straight into the forehead of Tushkin Gabi. The power of the former Seven Great Demon Soldiers was unleashed. Tushkin felt the terrifying power of the demonic sword devouring his essence.

[W-What is this…!]

Resistance was futile. A mere blade resided in a deeper abyss than he did?!

Tushkin then reached the question, ‘What is that guy who wields such a blade?’ A being wielding the demonic sword of the abyss. An appearance devoid of any vitality or vigor.

The commander of the abyss.

[The one who tempted Mazar to succeed my position…!]

Kriel did not answer. There was no need to disguise himself as an abyssal being and bait him. Die in your confusion.

[Even so! Grikenkos will punish you! Do the grand dukes of the abyss not respect each other’s territories?!]

The grand duke of the abyss naturally referred to the demon. A deeply mistaken abyssal being began to spew rumors. Kriel opened his mouth.

“I had no involvement in Mazar’s decision. Know that the root of your demise is your greed.”

[Greed…? I haven’t done anything yet─]

Tushkin was genuinely aggrieved, but Kriel had no intention of listening to the abyssal being’s words to the end.

He poured all the remaining energy into Tuon. Like the night dyeing the sky, the dark blue sword energy was released throughout Tushkin’s body.

The blue jewel embedded in the center of Tuon’s crossguard sparkled. The blue chill that had spread like cracks across Tushkin’s face rapidly propagated through the entire heap of ashes.

The bloodlust that had been boiling in the center of Tushkin’s face quickly cooled. He tried to ignite the flames again and again, but each time they were smothered by the chill.

The red-hot ashes gradually cooled. Red, crimson, and finally back to gray.

Tushkin left his last dying gasp.

[Grikenkos…]

That was the end. As the jewel in Tuon sparkled once, the heap of ashes that had taken the form of Tushkin’s face crumbled to dust.

The garden, once full of greenery, was covered in ash. In the center of the gray wave stood Kriel, with Tuon planted in the ground.

[Behold, master! This is our power! If you join me, you can-]

Kriel quickly drew Orisin and sheathed Tuon in the empty scabbard. Though the length of the blade prevented it from fitting entirely, it was enough to silence the strange noises Tuon was making.

[Oh, release!]

“What are you talking about? It sounds as if I had imprisoned you.”

Orisin, about to say something, looked at Tuon vibrating in the scabbard where it had been lodged until just a moment ago.

Forced silence was not to Orisin’s taste.

[Yeah! Since it seems like the situation has been resolved, let’s go see Mazarn!]

*

Morgina rubbed the back of her neck. Well, that sword is indeed the best thing to sort out the situation.

But what do you do when you take it out?

Armed looked down at the bottom of the wall with suspicious eyes. He sees Kriel waving his hand.

“What is that sword?”

Such a powerful artifact was rare. The power to annihilate the soul of an Abyssal creature with a single swing. Isn’t it a precious thing that the main characters of the Demon King War would have wielded?

“Why don’t you go down for now? Both Mazarn and Kriel seem to be in the garden.”

Morgina hurriedly changed the subject. If he takes an interest in that sword and then takes an interest in Kriel’s identity, it will be very troublesome.

Armed, feeling uneasy, nodded for now. Shouldn’t we clear up this matter first?

*

Mazarn shook his head as he looked at the ashes that had been his father.

“Father….”

The wizard guards followed him as if escorting him. Kriel also slowly walked towards Mazarn.

“Mazarn. It won’t be much comfort, but think that he was no longer your father since he was tainted by the Abyss. I’m sorry it turned out this way.”

“No. You’re right. Since he accepted the Abyss so long ago, the person I knew had already disappeared long ago.”

Hoo. Mazarn sighed and opened his mouth.

“Is there anything more you want? You saved our family. I will give you anything.”

“What are you talking about? We just did what we had to do. The reward we agreed upon before is enough.”

“Just that much─”

Mazarn, who was about to ask if it was okay to receive just a coin for defeating the Abyssal minion, sensed something strange and looked around.

The strange, fanatical gazes of the guards were directed at him.

‘You agreed on the reward in advance! The young master already knew about his father’s corruption!’

‘So you used us to monitor Tushkin and bought time until you could call in people to deal with him!’

Voices came from their eyes.

“No!”

“Yes?”

“Whatever you are thinking, it’s all wrong!”