Death King Karnak

Chapter 43. 11. The Curse of Dawn (3)

The enormous demon gazed down at the group.

“Now that I have descended upon this land…”

Rolling its dark eyes, the demon uttered an arrogant voice.

“It’s useless to struggle, you insignificant humans.”

Varos and Serati’s faces turned pale. The overwhelming pressure was crushing their shoulders.

“Ugh…”

“A high-ranking demon like that…”

Karnak, too, was breaking out in a cold sweat.

‘Why? Why hasn’t the summoning gate closed?’

He was once known as the King of the Dead. Although his power had weakened and he was now struggling, the knowledge and wisdom in his mind had not disappeared.

The reason quickly became clear.

‘Damn, that was the problem.’

The black magic that summons demons originally had a complex ritual, just like necromantic barrier techniques.

However, the spell that Shutraff had cast was a bit different.

‘That bastard, having only learned it superficially, didn’t properly execute the ritual!’

He had only performed a few key rituals, compensating for the missing parts with necromantic energy.

The strength of necromancy lies in the fact that even if the ritual isn’t fully executed, pouring enough necromantic energy into it will still produce some result.

Because of this, the situation had become ambiguous.

The ritual was not so simple that it would cause confusion in the spell formula. Yet, it wasn’t so complex that the summoning ritual would be entirely canceled either.

It was precariously balanced on the edge between simplicity and complexity.

As a result, the ritual had stopped halfway through its cancellation!

‘Wait, why didn’t I notice this earlier?’

Karnak had confirmed that Shutraff was using demon summoning magic. That’s why he felt assured and set this plan in motion.

‘Ah, damn!’

Only then did Karnak realize the mistake he had made.

‘I never saw it with my own eyes!’

He had only observed through farsight while fleeing under the illusion. He hadn’t directly witnessed the demon summoning ritual.

Hadn’t Karnak mocked Shutraff himself?

—How could you accurately grasp the situation while controlling it remotely from afar?

After mocking him, Karnak had made the same mistake.

He had simply assumed that since the demon was summoned, it must have been the demon summoning magic he knew.

‘Ugh, making such a basic mistake…’

It seemed that the peaceful atmosphere after his regression had dulled his senses.

Maznun roared as he unleashed his magical power.

“I shall fulfill the contract!”

A violent gust of wind blew, pushing Karnak and his group back.

Varos and Serati moved, enduring the oppressive force.

They dashed to the demon’s sides, launching a dazzling assault!

“Hah!”

“Take this!”

It was no use. Every slash bounced back.

It was as if they were striking a metal plate with a stick; the demon’s skin remained unscathed.

“Pathetic, you insects.”

Maznun leisurely sneered as he swung the sword in his hand widely.

It was a simple, almost rudimentary strike. Naturally, both easily evaded the attack.

But avoiding the immense energy that followed the slash was impossible.

BOOM!

A wave of darkness ripped through the basement floor and engulfed the two.

The man and woman caught in the surge were thrown like fallen leaves.

“Ugh!”

“M-My lord!”

Rolling on the ground, Varos barely managed to get to his feet and called out to Karnak.

“What do we do now?”

Clutching two fireballs in his hands, Karnak snapped back irritably.

“What do you mean, ‘What do we do?’ We fight!”

The two fireballs flew toward Maznun.

The demon snorted.

“Hmph, there’s no need to even block something like this!”

BANG!

With just a glare, the incoming fireballs exploded in midair.

The difference in power was so vast that they couldn’t even get close.

Varos muttered in despair.

“No, how are we supposed to take that thing down…?”

***

She steadied her breath. Focusing and concentrating even more, she gathered all her aura into the tip of her sword.

Wielding her flaming sword, Serati charged at the demon.

“Take this!”

Red aura danced continuously. Her figure darted through the space, flickering unpredictably.

Stone walls and floors were torn apart, disintegrating into powder that scattered into the air.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Her movements and destructive power were beyond the limits of a human being.

“Die, demon!”

Maznun took all her attacks in stride, as if it were nothing.

“You’re slow and weak.”

Although Serati’s movements were fast, the demon was faster.

Although Serati’s aura-infused sword was strong, the demon was stronger.

The advantage of a red-rank aura user lies in unleashing fast and powerful attacks that surpass human limits.

But when faced with someone even faster and stronger, that advantage turned into a severe disadvantage. There was nothing she could do.

“D-Damn it!”

Yet Serati was holding on, barely.

It wasn’t because she was exceptionally skilled.

“The contract was to capture this woman, wasn’t it?”

So the demon merely kicked or pushed her away, engaging with her half-heartedly.

Varos, on the other hand, was not shown the same mercy.

“There’s no need to spare this man.”

Fireballs, blades of magic, crushing roars, and dozens of beams of magical energy rained down on him.

“U-Ugh! Aaah!”

Faced with the overwhelming barrage, Varos had no choice but to flee madly.

He ran, rolled, and sometimes crawled, doing everything he could to stay alive.

“Aaaargh!”

The remarkable thing was that, despite everything, he managed not to get hit even once.

Before an attack was launched, he would already be in a defensive stance, dodging attacks that hadn’t yet been visible and escaping the impact zone of incoming blasts before they landed.

This left Maznun quite perplexed.

‘Does this guy have some kind of precognitive ability?’

Even so, Varos still posed no real threat.

Occasionally, Varos would launch a chilling counterattack. Miraculously, he would exploit a gap in Maznun’s defense, landing a sharp blow.

“Take this!”

But it didn’t even leave a scratch.

The demon’s defenses were so high that unless it was an aura-infused sword, nothing could penetrate it.

Grinding his teeth, Varos muttered to himself.

“Ah, I never thought I’d see the day when I’d struggle against something like Maznun…”

Up front, Serati and Varos were frantically battling, while behind them, Karnak was fiercely casting spells, all of them fighting desperately against the demon.

But everyone knew this situation wouldn’t last long.

Maznun wasn’t in a hurry.

“Humans are like rats—they always try to run away.”

He simply endured their assaults with overwhelming strength, slowly pushing Karnak’s group back.

“And I can’t just let you do that, can I?”

Serati’s breathing grew increasingly labored.

Varos’s movements became slower and slower.

Karnak’s mana was steadily depleting.

If only the demon would go on a rampage, Karnak might be able to exploit that opening and cast an illusion spell, but Maznun never showed any such openings.

And Karnak didn’t have enough mana left to forcefully create a gap with a powerful spell.

‘I wish those two could do something…’

Karnak glanced at Varos and Serati with a sense of frustration.

Both were fighting valiantly, but the situation was dire.

Serati’s sword strikes were too straightforward; no matter how she swung, she couldn’t land a hit on the demon.

‘Damn it, he’s too fast!’

Varos’s sword, on the other hand, was too weak; even when he did manage to land a blow, it didn’t have any impact.

‘Ugh, that’s one tough demon!’

Karnak clicked his tongue in frustration.

“If only I could combine the two of them, then this would be so much eas—oh?”

Suddenly, Karnak remembered—he was a necromancer.

This wasn’t such an outlandish idea!

In a hurry, Karnak called out to Varos.

“Varos!”

“Yes?”

“Plan P!”

“Ah!”

Understanding immediately, Varos dashed toward Karnak.

“Right! We do have that option!”

He quickly bent over.

Karnak placed his hand on the top of Varos’s head.

“My servant…”

Darkness blossomed, swirling around Varos’s head. Serati was taken aback.

‘Didn’t he say that Sir Varos wasn’t his servant?’

But Karnak wasn’t referring to Varos.

“Open your mind and accept it! This is the command of your master!”

The focus in Varos’s eyes disappeared.

His movements became simple, like a puppet, as he stood beside Karnak and mechanically assumed a stance with his sword.

At the same time, Serati’s movements also changed.

“Hup!”

With a shout, she pushed off the ground and soared into the air. Her red aura-infused sword moved sharply, weaving through the demon’s attacks.

It was a completely different swordsmanship from before.

Though she was slower than the demon, she now expertly seized space and exploited openings with precision!

“…What?!”

Maznun recoiled in shock. A crimson line of blood surged from his chest.

‘This movement…’

Serati adjusted her stance again and smiled faintly.

Through the lips of the beautiful woman, a coarse voice slipped out.

“It’s been a while since I’ve moved someone else’s body.”

***

**Plan P.**

The meaning behind it was simple. The “P” stood for possession.

Karnak had overlaid Varos’s soul onto Serati’s body.

Trapped within her own body, Serati was thrown into a panic.

‘H-How could this be…?’

Normally, possession doesn’t happen so easily.

The human soul is enveloped by a thick spiritual defense, requiring highly advanced necromancy to break through.

But Serati’s situation was different.

She had become Karnak’s servant, already exposing her soul completely to him.

If Karnak wished, he could take over her body at any time.

Although Varos wasn’t a servant, he could have resisted, but there was no reason for him to do so.

‘So this is what it means to become a necromancer’s servant…?’

Fear crept over her. She wondered if she had made an irreversible choice.

Varos, now in control of Serati’s body, spoke awkwardly.

“I’m sorry, Miss Serati. But our lives depend on this…”

His clumsy tone helped her calm her fear, if only slightly.

There wasn’t much of a choice anyway. When she first dabbled in the filthy methods of necromancy, she should have prepared herself for this much.

‘Yeah, with our lives on the line, there’s no other option…’

But even so, she still couldn’t fully understand.

Serati acknowledged that Varos was more skilled in swordsmanship and had more experience than her. But so what?

‘What difference does it make if Mr. Varos takes over my body?’

Maznun had the same question.

“What are you trying to accomplish, you fools?”

The demon quickly grasped the situation but couldn’t figure out the reason behind it.

“What can a non-aura user do by possessing an aura user’s body?”

The fact that Serati displayed superhuman abilities was entirely thanks to her aura.

In terms of pure physical strength, Varos was vastly superior. He was much larger, and there was the inherent difference between a man and a woman.

In other words, without the use of aura, possessing Serati’s body wouldn’t accomplish anything…

“How do you intend to use another’s aura when you haven’t even mastered your own?”

The scene that followed left the demon speechless.

“Who said I couldn’t use it?”

*Vwoooom!*

A brilliant red aura erupted from the sword. It was unmistakably the aura of a red-rank user.

Even Maznun, with all his demonic wisdom, had never witnessed anything like this before.

“H-How…?”

Not mastering one’s own aura meant having no experience in handling it.

And yet, he was managing someone else’s aura as if it were his own? That too, so naturally?

Pointing the aura-infused sword at the demon, Varos, now in Serati’s body, shrugged.

“You see, using someone else’s aura has always been my specialty!”

Even during his time as a Death Knight, the dark aura he wielded wasn’t his own power but something bestowed by Karnak. Before that, he frequently possessed other bodies or absorbed their aura to use as his own.

‘To be honest, I don’t even know how to use my own aura.’

Varos had never actually awakened his own aura.

But regardless, this gave them a sure way to strike back.

Karnak shouted gleefully.

“Alright, Varos… no, wait.”

He realized that it was now Serati plus Varos.

One should always use the correct title.

“Go! Sera-Varos!”

“Stop combining names in such a weird way!”

Grumbling, Sera-Varos(?) sprang into action.

With a sharp battle cry, the aura-infused sword flashed brightly.

“Take this!”