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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter 125: High Class (3)
***
Damien’s question made the Hanger couple’s eyes widen.
“You… how do you know His name…?”
“Only we, the covenantors know about his existence…”
Damien stomped on their heads without hesitation. There was a sound like a sledgehammer coming down.
As soon as their heads were slammed back into the ground, Damien kicked them with his toes. Their sunken heads popped out again.
“I’m the only one who asks questions. Don’t ask again. Tell me everything you know about Dorugo.”
“I, I don’t know…”
Damien raised his foot again. The couple’s faces turned pale.
“It’s no use asking! We’ll never talk!
“That’s right! We’ll never betray him!”
The couple gritted their teeth and shouted. Damien clicked his tongue at their attitude.
“I see this is how it’s going to be.”
It wasn’t for nothing that Dorugo had kept the Hanger couple by his side to run his errands.
The Hanger couple’s faith and awe in Dorugo had reached the realm of fanaticism.
No matter what torture they were subjected to, they would never open their mouths.
“You two are really pathetic. You’re loyal to Dorugo without even realizing that you’ve been brainwashed.”
The Hanger couple had not volunteered for Dorugo’s experiments.
Dorugo had simply kidnapped four people and used them as experimental subjects.
Even the feelings the Hanger couple had for Dorugo had all been forcibly implanted.
“You can’t shake us with your three-inch tongue!”
“Just kill us and stop this nonsense!”
However, the Hanger couple desperately tried to protect Dorugo, even though they didn’t realize the truth.
Of course, that didn’t mean Damien pitied the Hanger couple.
Even before they became experimental subjects, the couple had reached a high level of attainment as a dark knight and a dark mage.
It was clear as day how many people they must have sacrificed to reach that level.
“Fine, have it your way. I was planning to ask your souls anyway.”
“O-our souls…?”
“D-don’t talk nonsense! There’s no way you can use such advanced dark magic…”
Damien grabbed the couple by the neck and lifted them up.
He had no intention of killing the Hanger couple gently. He wanted to show them excruciating pain until the moment they died.
Recently, Damien has been continuously researching Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle technique.
As a result, he had created a torture method that used blood vessel manipulation to inflict pain and a killing technique that made the body explode.
Damien went further and studied the merging of Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle and Supreme Absorption Technique.
Supreme Absorption Technique had an excellent ability to absorb mana. It could absorb not only natural mana but also the mana of living beings.
However, it was a very difficult task to absorb the mana of animals, let alone plants. The Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle was the solution to this problem.
The Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle was used to forcibly control and expand the opponent’s blood vessels. Then, the Supreme Absorption Technique was used to forcibly extract the mana.
It was a crude method, so the efficiency was not good yet. The pain the opponent felt was also beyond imagination. There was still much room for improvement.
However, neither of those things mattered now.
“I didn’t create it to use on trash like you, but… since it’s come to this, let’s make you taste it.”
Damien injected mana into the Hanger couple’s bodies. The injected mana began to take control of the Hanger couple’s blood vessels.
“Keu, keueueok!”
“Aaaargh!”
Originally, the Hanger couple’s pain was borne by the husband alone. However, the pain caused by the Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle was different. Both sides had to feel the excruciating pain.
“W-what are you trying to do!”
“H-honey! It hurts so much! Honey!”
The husband tried to move his body to resist, but Damien was already in complete control of the couple’s bodies.
All their muscles were paralyzed, and their blood vessels were occupied and expanded. Damien used the Supreme Absorption Technique in this state.
The Supreme Absorption Technique created a powerful suction force. The dark mana that was stored in the bodies of the couple was forcibly drawn out.
“S-Stop!”
“G-Get away!”
Terrifying screams erupted from the mouths of the two. They trembled violently, their eyes rolling back.
At some point, no more dark magic came out. When the pain ceased, the Hangar couple gasped for breath.
“…Huh?”
“…What?”
Yet Damien didn’t stop. On the contrary, he starts using it even more vigorously.
Instead of dark mana, life force was sucked in. A greater wave of agony crashed over them.
“St-Stop it! Please… just kill us! I beg you, kill us!”
The couple screamed in protest. But Damien had no intention of granting their plea.
The bodies of the Hangar couple shriveled rapidly like balloons losing air. They began to wither under the sun as if left out to dry.
No more screams were heard. The Hangar couple met their demise in such a miserable state.
Damien kicked the corpses of the Hangar couple.
He released all the absorbed dark mana and vitality outward. Damien had no intention of absorbing this disgusting power.
Gradually, souls flowed out from the bodies of the Hangar couple. Damien seized those souls.
– Aaaah!
– Aaah!
The souls screamed, but Damien paid no attention, gripping them tighter. The two souls spat out their last breaths and slowly dissipated.
Damien absorbed the remnants of their souls, extracting fragments of memories.
“Merge these with the memories from the other side.”
When he obliterated the souls of the Hangar couple from the other side, he had also absorbed their memories.
Damien sifted through both sets of memories.
– Darling! He contacted us!
– Huh? When? I didn’t hear anything.
– He sent a letter through the familiar while you were sleeping.
– Why would he do that? We have the mirror, don’t we?
The mirror.
It referred to the magical tool for communication distributed by Dorugo to his minions.
Although there was one in the dungeon of the Corpseplay, there hadn’t been any contact from Dorugo’s side.
At the time, Damien had judged that Dorugo was too preoccupied with his research to communicate.
– He instructed to dispose the mirror. If there’s any communication needed in the future, he’ll send a familiar.
– What? Then we won’t be able to hear his holy voice! Why would he make such a cruel decision…!
Even Damien found Dorugo’s decision puzzling.
“Was he thorough to this extent?”
Throughout history, Dorugo had never revealed himself. He was that cautious.
But he had consistently communicated with his followers. It was all for preparing for the War of Destruction.
“He doesn’t trust the Hangar couple enough to maintain the communication through the device?”
Upon reflection, the Hangar couple were more than just mere errand runners; they couldn’t be considered covenantors.
Perhaps that’s why the order to destroy the communication device was issued.
– Ah, and… this… um… so…
– What other orders did he give?
– He instructed to transfer the Reliquary to Gathdal.
– What? Why him! That was our mission!
The Reliquary referred to the box containing fragments of Erebos.
During the Death Knight era, the Hangar couple had incessantly mentioned it, so Damien remembered.
According to the Hangar couple, it was created long ago by the Church to seal Erebos’s fragments.
– Then what about our mission? We were supposed to collect the souls of paladins to unlock the Reliquary!
– That… continue the mission, but send the collected souls to Gathdal…
– Why such an order…! Does he not trust us?
To unlock the Reliquary, souls infused with sanctity were needed.
To obtain such souls, they had to attack the Church.
That was precisely what the Church was after. They had set up such a seal to quickly detect anyone finding the Reliquary.
Damien finished absorbing the Hanger couple’s souls. He felt stronger and more powerful than ever before.
He knew that he was ready to face Dorugo.
The problem was that the Reliquary itself was so old that almost no one in the Church knew about it.
‘But still, Gathdal.’
Gathdal the Chosen.
He was one of Dorugo’s henchmen during the War of Destruction.
He was a necromancer, but he was known for carrying around a small number of elite troops rather than raising a large number of undead.
Gathdal’s elite corps was so powerful that it had wiped out several of the Empire’s knight orders.
‘He was a genius, even among Dorugo’s covenantors.’
Gathdal was a monster among monsters, having reached the 10th tier at a young age and becoming a Grand Dark Mage.
A Grand Dark Mage was equivalent to a Master Class in terms of knights.
In terms of talent alone, he was comparable to Michael Ryanbloom or the Sword Empress.
‘It’s dangerous for that guy to have the Reliquary.’
A fragment of Erebos could be considered a huge mass of power in itself.
It was not good for it to fall into Gathdal’s hands.
‘At this time, Gathdal is probably in the Almond Country.’
Fortunately, Damien knew where Gathdal was.
‘He must be planning to strengthen his elite army there.’
He roughly guessed not only the location but also the purpose and plan.
Gathdal enjoyed raiding families with talented soldiers or knights and strengthening his army with their souls.
Gathdal was currently the most dangerous person among his covenantors, considering his talent and future growth potential.
He needed to be killed as soon as possible.
‘I need to recover the fragment of Erebos anyway… I’m going to the Almond Country.’
And so Damien decided on his next destination.
‘Now that I have what I want, it’s time to free their souls.’
Damien rummaged through the Hanger couple’s bodies. A small pouch came out.
It wasn’t enchanted with subspace magic, but it was large enough to contain various items.
Damien rummaged through the pouch. The first thing that came out was a glass bottle.
The inside of the bottle was filled with a faint smoke.
“Disgusting bastards.”
Damien frowned and cursed. The contents of the bottle were not smoke. They were the souls of the paladins and priests they had killed.
Damien took out all the glass bottles in the pouch and broke them. The souls were released and disappeared.
Suddenly, Damien’s movements stopped. The last thing he held in his hand was not a glass bottle.
It was an old and crudely made bracelet.
“This is…”
Damien looked at his left wrist. It looked exactly like the bracelet he used to store dark mana.
“Is it the same artifact?”
He brought the two bracelets close together to compare them. The two bracelets vibrated and merged into one.
“What?”
Even though the two bracelets were combined, the thickness and size of the bracelet remained the same.
Damien circulated his mana to check the condition of the bracelet to make sure there was no problem.
“The capacity… has increased?”
Even recently, he had often felt that the capacity of the bracelet was insufficient.
Not only that, but one more ability had been added. When he manipulated the bracelet, it suddenly disappeared. It had become transparent.
“This is interesting.”
It was strange that there was another bracelet like it. And when they were combined, new functions were added.
“Where did they get such a precious thing?”
It seemed that the Hanger couple had it with them to hide their dark mana when they were in hiding.
Damien drew in the surrounding dark mana and stored it in the bracelet. Thanks to the doubled capacity, he still had plenty of room left even after putting in all the dark mana.
“Now I’ve done everything I need to do.”
Damien looked around. He saw the fallen paladins and the bodies of the Hanger couple.
He turned and left without hesitation.
He had a new goal now.
He would go to the Almond Country and kill Gathdal.
He would recover the fragment of Erebos and free the souls that were trapped in it.
And he would get one step closer to his revenge against Dorugo.
“….What do I do with this?”
It was fine when he was committing the act.
The problem was the aftermath.
Of course, he couldn’t reveal that he did it.
If he did, he would be attacked for using dark magic.
“Hmm.”
How could he get away with this?
Damien pondered for a long time and came to a conclusion.
“I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything.”
If he could just hide his identity, wouldn’t that be enough?
Damien decided to make some adjustments so that the Church could not deduce his identity.
“The important thing is to make the Church miss their target.”
Damien picked up a nearby branch.
And he wrote a name under the bodies of the Hanger couple.
– Evil must be subdued by evil.
– I came to punish them for their crimes.
– Remember, you who do not know the way.
After thinking about it, he felt it was not enough.
Damien added a few more words.
– In the name of Victor the Woodcutter.
Now satisfied, Damien nodded with a satisfied expression.
***
Early morning.
Nadine opened his eyes with a start at the sunlight streaming down from the sky.
“You damn motherfuckers!”
Nadine drew his sword as soon as he got up.
He frowned at the sharp pain he felt in his body.
But he couldn’t afford to dwell on the wounds.
The battle was still going on. Then Nadine realized it.
That the world was bright.
At the same time, he remembered that he had passed out due to some kind of dizziness.
“What the hell happened?”
It had been midnight when he passed out, at least.
But the fact that the world was bright meant that a lot of time had passed since then.
“The Dark Knight? Dark mage?”
Nadine looked around.
He saw the Church’s paladins lying on the ground.
“They’re all alive!”
Nadine started to run towards the paladins, but a strange object stopped him in his tracks.
A withered corpse was lying on the ground.
It was definitely not there last night.
Nadine approached it as if he was possessed by something.
Only then did he see it.
That the corpse had two faces.
It was the person who had nearly killed him yesterday.
Those who had been so strong were now dead in such a miserable state.
“Who the hell… No, how…
Nadine found a message written next to the body.
– Evil must be subdued by evil.
– I came to punish them for their crimes.
– Remember, you who do not know the way.
– In the name of Victor the Woodcutter.
While Nadine was reading the message, the paladins came to their senses one by one.
“Ugh… my head.”
“Where is the enemy? Sir Nadine?”
The paladins looked around and found Nadine.
They looked at Nadine, who was reading the message.
“Sir Nadine! Are you unharmed!”
The knights ran towards Nadine.
But Nadine did not answer their calls.
“Sir Nadine? What’s wrong?”
Only then did the paladins notice the body and the message on the ground.
The paladins, like Nadine, read the message with bated breath.
“…What do you all think about this?”
Nadine asked the paladins.
“What knocked us out was a sleep curse. That means the heretic here is dead, and the one who saved us can be called a dark mage.”
It was a matter of course, but the paladins and the dark mages were like water and oil.
They would kill each other if they could, and there was no way they would save each other’s lives.
“Maybe he was just here to get revenge? So he might not have been interested in us.”
“Maybe it was an executioner sent by Pandemonium. We weren’t the target in the first place.”
Pandemonium was the largest and most powerful group of dark mages operating in the Empire.
Pandemonium often sent punishers to punish dark mages who broke their rules.
It was possible that the monsters Nadine had fought had broken Pandemonium’s rules and had been dealt with by the punisher.
But even so, it didn’t make sense.
“Even so, why did they leave us alive?”
The paladins were knocked unconscious and defenseless under the sleep curse.
They could have been killed with just a flick of a finger, but they were left alone?
There was no way a dark mage would show such mercy to a paladin.
“That’s…”
“Hmm…”
The paladins could not answer easily.
They all held their heads and pondered.
“But what is that?”
One of the paladins said, pointing to the message.
“Victor the Woodcutter… Was there such a dark mage?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of him…”
“Maybe he’s a dark mage who went into seclusion a long time ago.”
The paladins pondered the name Victor for a long time.
***
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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