Evan broke out in a cold sweat as he looked at the monster in front of him.
He wasn’t sure what kind of monster it was.
But…
– Skull Knight…?! Be careful not to get cut by that sword, Evan!
Esther seemed to know what kind of monster this was and began to explain.
As Evan listened to Esther’s words, his expression grew serious.
According to Esther, it was evidently a very dangerous monster just from its appearance.
At first glance, the rusty sword and the skull that seemed like it would collapse with a light tap might not look particularly threatening, but the armor covering its body and the aura emanating from it was undoubtedly magic.
Just the dark energy surrounding the sword made it clear that one should not trust appearances.
‘If I get hit by that, it’s one strike…!’
Back when wars were fought without using magic power, there were cases where swords were smeared with various filths to k*ll opponents in any way possible.
At that time, even a slight scratch from a filthy sword would often result in someone suffering for days before dying…
But for a normal person, brushing against a sword soaked with such dangerous magic would render them unable to move.
Of course, if he were to become stronger here, he wouldn’t have to worry about being cut by that sword, and even if he did, magic wouldn’t be able to invade his body so easily.
However, Evan was just an awakened hero.
If he were to be exposed to that level of magic, it would be a fight he would lose just by brushing against that sword.
– The weak point of the Skull Knight is its skull. You can k*ll it by beheading it with an attack infused with divine power!
‘There’s only one chance…’
Evan nodded at Esther’s advice that matching swords with the Skull Knight would be difficult.
‘Then…!’
Evan rushed forward.
The Skull Knight perceiving the human with divine power rushing toward it as an enemy, swung its sword horizontally to meet his charge just as its red eyes glowed.
Evan ducked to the side and tried to slash at the Skull Knight’s elbow with the sacred sword, but the Skull Knight anticipated this and parried the strike.
Evan’s eyes widened in shock at the physically impossible trajectory of the sword.
– Watch out, Evan!
With Esther’s scream, Evan narrowly avoided the strike and jumped back wide to create distance.
“What was that just now…?! The sword’s path changed in a physically impossible way…!”
It was absurd.
How could it execute such swordsmanship?
Evan continued to circle around the Skull Knight, sweating profusely.
Eventually, he noticed something odd.
‘Its elbow… is twisted…?!’
Could it be that it was forced to twist its body using magic?
Even though it was an undead, it had originally been a human body, so if it didn’t move in its original structure and forcibly twisted its arm, it would naturally lose strength.
Because it would no longer be able to exert force.
However, just a moment ago, it had displayed enormous speed even while not moving in its original structure.
‘I have to be careful…’
Evan sighed and readied his stance.
He couldn’t win with swordsmanship.
Although it wasn’t executing sword techniques at an extraordinarily high level, its erratic method of attack had the potential to prolong the fight.
Evan needed to rescue Aria as quickly as possible, so he didn’t want to let the battle drag on.
If that were the case…
Evan gathered his power into the sacred sword while simultaneously channeling divine power into his other hand.
With the exchange that could partially block the magic, the Skull Knight was completely exposed; any contact with divine energy would be a significant shock for the Skull Knight.
He aimed for that.
“I’m sorry, Esther.”
– What? Wait, Evan, you…!
With divine power surrounding his body and encasing his hand, Evan prepared his stance and once again charged forward.
This time, he would focus on incapacitating it with a different approach.
He didn’t want to stall, but if he rushed forward recklessly to break through, it could very well backfire.
In such a situation, it was better to take a bit of time to incapacitate it and then behead it for a certain k*ll.
Anyway, in terms of sheer strength, he was stronger than the Skull Knight, so if they were to clash head-on—
Noticing Evan’s approach, the Skull Knight swung its sword at him once more, but this time Evan had no intention of dodging.
Clang!
Evan boldly engaged, the sacred sword clashing against the magic-laden blade.
However,
“Of course… this is tough…!”
It was impossible to withstand the strike from the Skull Knight, who wielded its sword with both hands.
No matter how much he surrounded his body with divine power and maximized his physical abilities, he couldn’t overcome the difference in class.
But…
– Ugh! Evan?! Your strength…!
“Just hang in there a little longer!”
Esther was the sentient sacred sword.
Once he infused divine power into it with one hand, Evan relaxed his strength, allowing Esther to block the strike, then he rapidly infused magical power into the sacred sword and extended his other hand, cloaked in divine power, toward the Skull Knight’s arm.
The Skull Knight, realizing too late Evan’s attack, tried to relax its strength and retreat, but it was already too late.
Crack!
The bones in the Skull Knight’s arms, infused with powerful purifying divine power, shattered, causing it to drop the great sword it was holding.
Then,
“Hurgh!”
Evan swung the sacred sword diagonally, precisely severing the neck that connected to the spine.
Breathing heavily as he watched the Skull Knight’s skull fly skyward, Evan gasped for breath.
“Gah… Hah… Hah…”
He felt a burning pain in his left hand that had touched the Skull Knight’s body.
The skin on his left hand that had been invaded by magic was rotting away and melting.
It was only a slight injury to the skin, but it caused immense pain.
It was a considerable area surrounded by magic, and even just a brief contact was enough to result in this, plus he had adorned himself with divine power, which mitigated some of the damage.
– Are you okay…? That must hurt a lot…
“I’m fine… Aria has endured worse pain than this.”
Although he had always sacrificed himself for others.
He couldn’t afford to complain about this level of pain.
Evan gripped the sacred sword tightly and walked deeper into the forest.
‘Somewhere around here… Surely, somewhere around here, there must have been an explosion of divine power…’
Where on earth could Aria be?
While accumulating divine power in his painful left hand to continue healing, he walked inward when suddenly—
– … I can feel divine power.
Evan’s eyes widened at Esther’s words.
If there was divine power to be sensed here, then it could only be where Aria was.
“Where, where is it?!”
When Evan shouted, Esther quickly indicated the direction, a hint of surprise in her voice.
How long had Evan been walking in that direction?
Upon reaching the location where the sensation of divine power was last felt, Evan looked around, feeling slightly relieved from his pain.
However…
“What is this…?”
The closer he got, the more he realized…
“What happened here…?”
The forest was losing its shape.
It was hard to believe that this was the same forest behind the Academy, completely destroyed; the trees were dried up and black flames were leaping up.
The black flames clinging here and there spat malevicently, searching fiercely for anything to consume.
It was strange.
There should have been divine power sensed here.
It should have been the site of a divine explosion, so why did it look like this?
– Evan… over there…
Esther’s trembling voice reached his ears.
At that, Evan turned with shaking eyes to look in the direction Esther was pointing.
There…
“A-Aria…”
Aria, whose body was half-melted and decayed, lay collapsed.
Healing was occurring for sure.
The divine power erupting fiercely from her heart was healing her body and purifying the surroundings, but the corrupted heart held in her right hand was equally contaminating the area.
Thump! Thump!
The rotting heart, held by her melted right hand, throbbed grotesquely.
Even the corrupt magic flowing out from her fallen right hand spread out into the surroundings.
Although the continuous surge of divine power from Aria’s body was suffocating her heart, the magic still yearned to devour her.
The trace of tears, flowing from one eye that had not yet decayed, could be seen.
With each thump, the ground became tainted.
With another thump, Aria’s body…
“Ugh… Ugh…”
Evan couldn’t hold it in and sank to the ground, throwing up violently.
The nauseating scent assaulted his nostrils.
