The Swordsman Genius Returnee Even Swallows Immortality

27

The reason why the Five Great Families couldn’t fundamentally clean up Gehenna.

It was because of none other than the Mad Dog.

It was a tower with an unwritten rule that the Lord wouldn’t enter.

Among the climbers who entered such a tower, Gwanggyeon was the strongest.

‘Even in Astria, there are only a handful of people who can stand up to him!’

That was the man who had shown up.

Chaeng!

Another verification rang out.

It was the sound of Gwanggyeon’s fist colliding with Dante.

His fist seemed harder than steel, so it was intact even against Dante’s sword.

“That’s a good sword. It’s withstanding my fist.”

He even praised Dante’s sword.

And indeed, it was.

Dante’s hand was torn apart every time he clashed fists with him.

It was because although the sword withstood it, Dante couldn’t.

And that meant he wouldn’t be able to block the next attack.

“Dante!”

Kwabang!

Dante flew up into the sky along with Pelevan.

Pelevan hurriedly got up from his seat, caught Dante, and rolled around.

Pelevan regretted catching him, but he couldn’t help it.

If even one of the two fell here, it would be over.

The Mad Dog didn’t rush in because there were two of them.

“Ugh, I’m sorry.”

Dante staggered and got up.

Pelevan looked at him and spat blood on the floor.

“Let’s run.”

There was already a lot of fatigue from the previous battle.

Even if they were in perfect condition, they couldn’t guarantee victory.

It was impossible to fight.

“Havel is behind us. If so, he’ll be able to deal with Gwanggyeon.”

He couldn’t guarantee victory.

But it would be better than the two of them fighting.

As Pelevan said so, Dante took a stance.

Seeing that, Pelevan’s eyes widened.

“Dante?”

“This is the first task Sir Habell has given me directly.”

Dante respects Habell.

Through his time with him, he has realized a world he has never seen before and has grown.

No matter what Habell is like.

Dante, in his heart, considers him as his master.

This is the first task he has been given.

There was no thought of running away.

“I will fight.”

“Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind? What kind of order is that, to risk your life! Is Sir Habell even your lord?”

“Although Sir Habell is not my lord.”

His lord is Arthur, not Habell.

But he is someone that Dante respects as much as Arthur.

“I am a knight.”

A knight is someone who will do their utmost for the task they are given.

Sometimes, they will even risk their life for that task.

That is what Dante believes a knight is.

“If I am given an order, I will carry it out.”

A knight who is honest, old-fashioned, and upright.

That is who Dante is.

Dante stamped his feet on the ground.

The mad dog, for some reason, did not attack them, and instead watched them.

It looked like it was toying with its prey that it had already caught.

“How brave.”

The mad dog opened its mouth and laughed, looking at Dante.

“I intended to kill you if you ran away. Alright. I don’t mind torturing you to death.”

It was the moment he said that.

The mad dog slammed both its feet on the ground.

Then, the darkness of the dark zone rose from beneath its feet.

In an instant, the surroundings began to be consumed by darkness.

The darkness even swallowed Dante’s daybreak.

Clang!

The sound of the sword rang out once again in the darkness.

Hearing that, Pelevan stood firm.

He could not understand Dante’s actions right now.

The result was clear from the first confrontation.

The strong know their opponent’s strength from the first move.

A monster that they would not be able to defeat even if they died and came back to life.

That was the mad dog.

“Growl!”

In the darkness, the sound of a dog barking echoed.

It was an odd habit that the rabid beast had when gathering its strength.

And it is said that whenever that sound rings, a person will die without fail.

Pelevan staggered backward.

He had no intention of dying here.

He would accompany Astria for the great cause of conquering the Demon Palace.

‘I’m getting out of here. I’m going to live.’

So, he turned around.

At that moment he tried to step forward, but for some reason he couldn’t run.

His mind was filled with confusion.

He recalled the time he had ignored Dante.

‘Who’s the one ignoring who?’

And he realized just how shameful it was.

Dante wasn’t weak.

He was someone with the will to never turn his back on the strong.

The truly weak one was himself, the one who was trying to run away.

“Damn it!”

Pelevan turned around again.

He drew his sword and dashed into the darkness.

He wouldn’t run away alone.

Even if he had to run, he’d do it with at least one other person.

That was what he was thinking when he charged into the darkness.

“Crack, snap.”

In that brief moment.

He saw Dante in a terrible state.

He was covered in blood, and the arm that wasn’t holding his sword was mangled.

It seemed like he had gotten like that while trying to protect a vital area.

On the other hand, the rabid beast was unscathed.

Only, Dante’s blood was smeared on his bandages.

He seemed completely unchanged from before.

“Hmm?”

And the rabid beast looked back at Pelevan.

As his gaze met those crimson eyes, Pelevan felt a chill run down his spine.

‘Was I crazy?’

Why did he come back again?

Regret filled his mind in an instant.

Thud!

Suddenly, the rabid beast kicked off the ground and jumped back.

Pelevan looked at him in surprise.

Then he saw that his face was covered in cold sweat.

His red eyes, shaking with agitation, were looking straight into the darkness.

Peleban realized that he wasn’t looking at him.

“You, what are you. Are you human?”

The mad dog stuttered as he spoke.

“So I am human. Would I be a monster?”

Then an answer came to that question.

It was none other than Habell.

He showed up, carrying the three who had fainted.

Habell, who had roughly thrown the three to the floor, glanced at Peleban.

“Can you win the trial?”

Peleban immediately shook his head.

“I don’t want to die yet.”

“Oh? It’s a pity I lost my Astrian gun.”

He said that without any regret at all.

Peleban had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“Dante.”

“Yes.”

Dante, who had been gasping for breath covered in blood, barely opened his mouth.

“Are you going to continue?”

“Yes.”

Peleban looked back at Dante.

He was getting tired of that stubbornness.

“Okay, if that’s the case, go ahead.”

Seeing the two of them, the mad dog’s eyebrows shot up.

“Do you think I’m going to join your little dance?”

The feeling he had felt toward Habell a little while ago.

It was definitely an intuition of death.

The mad dog had a keen sense like a dog, as his nickname suggested.

‘I don’t plan on fighting something like that.’

He had no intention of dying, so he immediately turned around and kicked off the ground.

Seeing that, Habell had a disappointed expression on his face.

He had thought that he would be the one to fight Dante.

“Take Dante with you.”

Habell told Peleban, who was next to him, and disappeared.

Peleban’s eyes widened as he watched him disappear in an instant.

Because he hadn’t even seen him move.

At that moment, the mad dog reappeared in the darkness.

“Growl!”

The mad dog rolled on the ground with the sound of a dog growling.

Habell walked slowly behind him.

Havel lifted his leg and kicked the Mad Dog.

“Keuk?!”

With that alone, the Mad Dog was sent flying into the air, then rolled on the floor.

Havel stepped on his head.

“Fight Dante.”

“Keuk, eugh.”

“If you won’t fight him, you’ll fight me.”

The Mad Dog’s face, crushed beneath Havel’s foot, turned ghastly pale.

The tyrannical aura that the Mad Dog had been exuding until just now was gone.

He was now nothing more than a mere cur.

“Will you fight me?”

The Mad Dog shook his head violently, even while being crushed.

That was because he, too, had not seen Havel move at all.

Pelevan’s expression was vacant as he watched this.

The Mad Dog was a monster.

A monster that few in all of Austria could defeat.

Yet here he was, groveling at Havel’s feet.

It was a surreal sight.

“Ha, hahaha.”

Pelevan finally realized.

It wasn’t Dante he had underestimated.

It was Havel.

That’s who he had underestimated.

‘Austria’s greatest talent?’

Havel was not that small.

He was a man the world might not be able to contain.

That was who had been.

* * *

The Mad Dog.

The leader of Gehenna.

But now, he was nothing more than a mere cur, standing before Dante.

He was not afraid of Dante himself.

But beyond Dante.

Havel’s gaze, fixed upon him, was terrifying.

The place where Havel had hit him still ached.

“Damn it, damn it.”

After becoming a bellwether in the Tower.

He had thought he would never have to die again.

At this rate, there would be no point in having fled to the Tower to escape that monster.

‘I barely managed to survive inside here by avoiding the 검성.’

Mad Dog was on the tower for one reason only.

It was because of the Black Knight who had appeared to defile his territory.

Mad Dog’s gang of bandits happened to be camping in Glisyas at the time.

However, they were all slaughtered by the Black Knight who had appeared alone.

The fear that Mad Dog felt at that time was on a different level.

That was why he ran away to the tower.

For some reason, the Black Knight didn’t come to the tower.

‘I barely, barely made it here.’

He had settled down in the tower and had even established Gehenna.

At the top of that, he had received the tower’s recognition and became an Archfiend.

And yet, here he was, facing a life-threatening crisis.

Clang!

At that moment, Dante’s sword and Mad Dog’s fist clashed once more.

However, Mad Dog’s fist didn’t have much strength behind it.

Even if he defeated Dante, he didn’t know if Harvel would spare him.

That’s why he was forcibly prolonging the fight.

‘Dammit, isn’t there any way I can escape?’

Time and time again, he thought of ways to escape in his head.

However, each and every one of those escape routes was blocked.

No matter what he did, he didn’t have the confidence to escape from Harvel.

“Ten more.”

At that moment, Harvel opened his mouth.

It was because Mad Dog was seriously prolonging his fight with Dante.

Harvel hadn’t brought Mad Dog here to act like a clown.

“If Dante falls within ten, I will spare your life.”

That’s why he gave Mad Dog a condition so that he could fight with all his heart.

Mad Dog’s ears perked up.

For the first time, he had found a real escape route while he was thinking of ways to escape in his head.

Thud!

At that moment, Mad Dog pushed Dante away and jumped backward.

Then he looked back at Harvel with his fists clenched.

“……Are you serious?”

Just by looking at him, you could tell how relaxed he was.

“Yes.”

“I can even kill him.”

Mad Dog had been deliberately prolonging his fight with Dante until now.

Even so, Dante was already badly wounded.

It wouldn’t be difficult to kill him within five.

“The condition is to knock him down, so it doesn’t matter.”

At the moment he heard those words, Mad Dog transformed.

The image that had been cowed by Havel until just now disappeared in an instant.

“Havel, are you out of your mind!”

Pelevan exclaimed in surprise.

No matter how rabid he may have been, he was treated like a stray dog, but Dante was different.

For Dante, the rabid beast was a predator.

“Watch carefully.”

However, Havel didn’t care.

Instead, he calmly folded his arms.

“What kind of guy would finish the fight that you gave up on.”

The moment he uttered those words.

The rabid beast’s legs swelled roughly.

It was because he had forcibly pushed the awl into his legs.

The moment his muscles gathered strength like a spring.

BOOM!

The floor was distorted, and the rabid beast flew.

At the same time, his arms stretched out far in front of him.

His appearance was exactly like a quadruped walking on all fours.

However, perhaps because of his large size, his strange behavior created a tremendous sense of oppression.

Red and black lightning streaked across his palms.

The power pouring out from there was clearly murderous intent.

Dante, his eyes wide, drew his sword to block him.

His sword, with its reflexes raised to its maximum, was clearly aimed straight at the rabid beast.

However, it was Dante who flew through the air.

BAM!

Dante rolled on the floor as it was.

“Dante!”

Pelevan unwittingly cried out.

The thought that he was dead crossed his mind.

Havel watched how the rabid beast’s two arms moved during the process.

His fist moved a total of three times.

The first blow was to the lower left breastbone protecting the heart.

The second was to the spleen under the diaphragm.

The third was below the abdomen.

He moved precisely, targeting only the vital points of a person.

It was an attack that would kill an ordinary person with the first blow.

As proof of this, Dante was unable to move as he flew.

“I used it three times.”

The rabbit beast snorted.

It didn’t matter if it was once or three times.

Anyway, it was over with the attack just now.

The Berserker, who had unleashed his full power, turned around without further ado.

“As promised. Let me go.”

However, Havel tilted his head.

“Isn’t it too early to fulfill the promise?”

“What?”

The Berserker reacted with a look of disbelief.

He should have pushed when he had the chance.

The attack just now was a genuine technique.

Was it possible for him to stand with it?

However, after a moment, the Berserker’s eyes gradually widened.

Dante was there.

Dante, rushing in with his sword drawn and panting.

The Berserker’s eyes shook.

Just now, three of his punches had definitely hit Dante.

Each one was an attack that could have killed Dante.

And yet, he had gotten up?

“Cough, cough.”

However, Dante spat out blood from his mouth, as if to prove that he was not in top form.

It was clear that he had suffered internal injuries from the attack just now.

The Berserker clenched both fists tightly.

“Seven more to go.”

And Havel began to count the numbers again.