Death King Karnak

Chapter 44. 11. The Curse of Dawn (4)

A beautiful woman with red hair darted frantically through the underground space.

The red aura sword danced vividly, filling her vision.

“Huh-!”

Maznun also began to fight in earnest.

He swung his sword at superhuman speed, unleashed a storm of magical power, and pressured his opponent with a ferocious roar.

“Graahh!”

Blood splattered.

It wasn’t human blood, but the blood of a demon.

Maznun’s eyes blazed with fury.

“This, this bastard?”

Even before being possessed, when Varos attacked, there were times when the defenses were breached and strikes got through. Though it hadn’t been much of a problem, there were actually several times he had been cut.

But now, if he was struck, he would undoubtedly be injured.

“Even so, it’s pointless!”

Unexpectedly, the opponent had grown stronger, but it was still only of the red rank.

On the other hand, although Maznun was not an aura user, he was at the purple rank, a demon comparable to a Purple Knight.

In simple comparison, they were two ranks apart.

“I’ll crush you like a bug!”

The excited demon began to rampage wildly.

Infernal magic manifested in fire and explosions, engulfing the entire basement.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Yet, the beautiful red-haired woman hadn’t been hit once. No, she hadn’t even been grazed.

“It’s been a while since I used aura, and it’s quite fun.”

She evaded too easily, closing in to strike, then retreating.

Her movements were no longer those of a Red Knight. A red-ranked aura user could not move so fluidly and effortlessly.

Before he knew it, Serati’s sword was glowing blue.

“…A blue aura sword?”

Maznun was horrified.

There was no doubt about it. It was the blue rank aura, the level of a Blue Knight.

‘Not only does she handle someone else’s body as if it were her own, but she even uses it far better than the original owner?’

Staring at the azure light enveloping the sword, Varos, who was inside Serati, murmured.

“Can it go this far? The kid lacks experience, but she has quite a bit of potential.”

A cold smirk was conveyed through her lips.

“Thanks to that, I can fight a bit more comfortably.”

The enraged Maznun’s forehead bulged with veins.

“How dare a lowly human!”

***

Serati was blankly observing herself.

‘Unbelievable…’

The demon relentlessly swung its claws. It was an assault so fast that it was almost invisible.

Yet, her body avoided all of the attacks with ease.

As she evaded, the blade slid smoothly along the demon’s arm. The strike exploded, and more blood splattered.

This series of movements flowed seamlessly without a single gap.

‘So my body could move like this…’

The demon, now covered in blood, roared as it continuously unleashed hellfire. It was an extensive attack with no place to escape.

“Graahh!”

He didn’t avoid it.

Instead, he swept away the flames by drawing a circle with his aura-infused sword.

The blue aura surged, enveloping the flames, deflecting them, and diverting them to an unintended direction.

‘So, my aura could flow like this…’

The fear of having his body taken over no longer remained. All that was left was a sense of awe.

Maznun was still faster and stronger. Even though he had reached the level of a Blue Knight, his physical abilities were still somewhat inferior to Maznun’s.

But he overwhelmed everything with his superior technique.

It was truly astonishing, and at the same time, incomprehensible.

‘How can he do that?’

Was it because Varos was an overwhelmingly superior swordmaster?

That alone couldn’t explain it.

Men and women have different skeletal structures. While it might seem like a trivial difference, this structural discrepancy means that the way they use their bodies also differs slightly.

When wielding such intricate and precise swordsmanship, that difference should be significant.

Yet Varos moved as if he had even accounted for those differences. And he did so with the ease of someone who had done it tens or hundreds of times before.

This wasn’t something that could be achieved merely by being a swordmaster.

What could this possibly be called?

‘… A master of possession?’

His movements resembled those of someone who had possessed countless others, regardless of gender or age.

Otherwise, there was no way he could move so naturally.

‘What are they, really?’

At this point, the question of who they were became irrelevant.

A more fundamental question enveloped Serati.

‘… Are they even human in the first place?’

***

The demon’s arm flew into the air.

“Argh!”

Maznun staggered back, having lost his left arm. After being pushed to the brink, he finally allowed a critical blow.

Varos didn’t bother to chase him down to finish him off.

“What’s this? Is this all you’ve got?”

Instead, he retracted his blue aura-infused sword and smiled coldly.

“Ah, I was enjoying using my aura for the first time in a while, and now it’s over already.”

His attitude was truly arrogant.

Maznun gritted his teeth in frustration, but he didn’t dare to attack again.

He was already covered in blood, while the other side still exuded composure.

“You… you monster…”

In truth, Varos wasn’t in as comfortable a position as he appeared to be.

‘Sigh, forcing my level up is bringing all sorts of side effects.’

Outwardly, he exuded arrogance, looking down on the demon as if he were an insect and laughing, but inwardly, he was busy stabilizing his aura and calming the energy within his body, all while breaking out in a cold sweat.

‘Of course, I won’t let it show, hehe.’

Varos was just as experienced in bluffing as Karnak, so his expression showed clear signs of genuine disappointment.

Maznun, who was completely fooled, trembled faintly.

Was he really going to be banished to hell without any resistance?

‘There’s still a chance.’

That guy had only grown this strong because he had possessed Serati’s body.

In other words, if he targeted the necromancer who had cast the spell, the possession would be broken!

Suddenly, Maznun fiercely charged at the red-haired beauty.

“Graaaah!”

Varos calmly countered the attack. He had already taken the time to regulate his breathing while bluffing.

“I told you, it won’t work.”

Just as the demon’s side was deeply slashed and blood gushed out like a fountain—

“Damn you!”

Maznun abruptly turned his head, opened his mouth, and spewed flames.

His target was Karnak, who was leisurely observing the battle from the other side of the basement.

Boom!

Karnak, unable to dodge in time, was hit directly by the inferno.

Maznun burst into laughter, as if delighted by his success.

“Hahaha! You let your guard down, human!”

But his laughter didn’t last long.

‘…What?’

Something was wrong. Varos was still in possession of Serati’s body, glaring at the demon.

‘Why is the possession still active, even though the necromancer was hit?’

A voice came from behind him.

“What are you doing?”

But that wasn’t all.

“Well, well…”

Karnak’s voice echoed throughout the basement.

“Both the one who summoned and the one who was summoned…”

Karnak appeared in various spots around the room.

“…are equally gullible.”

Five Karnaks were surrounding Maznun, all staring at him.

The demon’s expression twisted in horror.

“It… It was an illusion?”

***

The Karnaks continued to speak.

“There were too few openings earlier, so it wasn’t possible…”

“But now you’re all over the place, aren’t you?”

“Thanks to that, I saw a lot of gaps.”

“Which made it easy to cast an illusion spell.”

Maznun fell into a panic as he looked at the illusions of Karnak scattered everywhere.

Could it be that Karnak had predicted he would target him?

Karnak snorted.

“You really thought I wouldn’t know your intentions?”

Varos, who had been carefully observing Karnak’s confident expression, suddenly sent a telepathic message.

[Young master.]

[Yes?]

[You didn’t know, did you?]

[Nope.]

To be honest, he hadn’t anticipated that Maznun would suddenly launch such a surprise attack.

So why did he cast an illusion?

It was just a habit.

He had so many enemies and had committed so many wrongs that, whether necessary or not, he always set up a trick first.

[This is why the old sages were right, don’t you think? They say good habits can change your life.]

[…I don’t think that’s quite what they meant, though.]

In any case, it was all over now.

Maznun had just wasted the last of his remaining strength in vain.

“To think I would end up like this… at the hands of mere humans…”

His voice was filled with despair as his form began to blur. Having exhausted all his power, he was being banished back to hell.

“Just you wait. When I return, I’ll come for you first!”

As the summoning was undone, Maznun hurled curses at them.

“When I return, I’ll make sure you can neither live nor die! I’ll make you experience every imaginable torment! This is a promise from hell!”

“Oh, how terrifying.”

Karnak sneered as he raised his right hand.

“So, what you’re saying is, if I let you go, it’ll be trouble for me later?”

Darkness began to swirl around, enveloping Maznun’s fading body.

“I can’t ignore such a warning, can I?”

A look of shock flashed in the demon’s eyes.

“What…!”

His banishment to hell was suddenly halted. At the same time, his own demonic power began to turn against him, starting to destroy his form from within.

‘What is this? Is such a method even possible?’

“If this were before, I would’ve bound you with a subjugation spell and used you as a slave, but I don’t have that kind of necromantic power right now. Controlling demons is a pretty labor-intensive task.”

Boom!

The darkness pressed down on the demon. The infernal energy dispersed at a terrifying speed, causing him to disintegrate.

“So, I’ll just cleanly obliterate you.”

In a panic, Maznun waved his hands frantically.

“W-Wait!”

He was so desperate that his tone had changed completely.

“I’ll form a subjugation contract! I’ll become your slave!”

“No need.”

Unfortunately, Karnak seemed completely uninterested.

“That’s just going back to how things were before.”

A desperate scream filled the basement.

“Aaaargh!”

***

Maznun’s form completely vanished from the mortal realm. With that, Karnak released the possession as well.

Returning to his own body, Varos scratched his head.

“You used your body well, Miss Serati.”

But she couldn’t even express her anger at having her body taken over so recklessly.

“Argh! M-My body…!”

Varos had pushed Serati’s body to the brink, leaving it in a tattered state.

“Maybe I did overdo it a bit? Circulate your aura; it’ll hurt less.”

“I don’t know how to do that!”

“Oh dear, I guess I’ll have to teach you later.”

“Ugh…”

What good would it do to regret now, having become the thrall of a vile necromancer?

Gritting her teeth, Serati struggled to endure the pain.

In the basement, only Karnak’s group and Shutraff, who was standing there blankly, remained.

“Well then, I suppose we need to deal with this one too.”

Shutraff’s face was twisted in bitterness.

The immense necromantic power he once wielded was completely gone. Now, he had no strength left to protect himself.

“Sigh…”

He raised both hands with a heavy sigh.

“I surrender.”

“What a ridiculous human.”

Karnak spat out, sounding incredulous.

“What makes you think surrendering will automatically mean we’ll accept it?”

“You wouldn’t kill me.”

Shutraff’s lips curled into a sly smile.

“You want the information I have, don’t you?”

“Of course, I need that information. But why does that mean I shouldn’t kill you?”

“Hmm?”

“It’s easier to extract information after you’re dead.”

“…What?”

Shutraff’s face turned pale.

Now that he thought about it, there was something he hadn’t considered.

Karnak wasn’t an ordinary mage.

He was a wicked necromancer.

“If I kill you first and then summon your spirit for interrogation, I can get what I need without any hassle. So why should I keep you alive?”

In the face of necromancy, even death couldn’t be a means of escape.

As Shutraff quaked in fear, Karnak suddenly turned to look behind him.

“Still, let’s double-check.”

Not wanting to live as he had in the past, he made a point of asking Serati.

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t kill him? You know, from the perspective of a typical, morally upright person.”

Her answer was entirely reasonable.

“Kill him right now!”

“Well, there you have it.”

Karnak started walking forward. Darkness surged, forming a massive blade.

Facing his imminent death, Shutraff frantically shouted.

“W-Wait! Just a mo—”

Before he could finish his sentence, his head was cleanly severed and flew through the air.

“Why would I keep talking when I can just kill you?”

It was a death so abrupt and futile that it hardly seemed fitting for a high-ranking cleric who had ruled a city through fear as a necromancer.

Karnak flicked a finger at the corpse, blood still pouring from the neck.

“Now, let’s take care of my business.”

Black smoke began to rise, forming into an orb that was then absorbed by him. It was the “Doom of Darkness” that Shutraff had gathered.

“Oh! This is quite a haul.”

“How much did you get, Young Master?”

“Enough to make thirty Dark Lords.”

“Looks like we can go home now?”

“Indeed. Now that it’s all over, shall we head back?”

Serati, who had been listening blankly, cautiously raised her hand.

She couldn’t fully grasp the flow of the conversation, but this was something that needed to be addressed.

“Excuse me, aren’t we going to rescue Mr. Alius and Mr. Riltein?”

Karnak and Varos blinked in surprise.

“That’s right…”

“We originally came here to save those guys, didn’t we?”

“We completely forgot.”

“Yeah, trying to do something out of the ordinary feels awkward.”

Serati shuddered once more as she watched the two of them.

‘What kind of people are these?’