Chapter 69: The Return of the Catastrophic Death Knight

Chapter 69: The Hunt (1)

The flesh golems fell apart in chunks, the floor turning red with blood and flesh.

Corpseplay looked at Damian with a shocked expression.

"...Excellent."

He soon began to clap.

"To destroy my dolls in one go! I've never seen such incredible skill!"

Despite seeing his dolls destroyed in an instant, Corpseplay showed no sign of panic.

"Such incredible talent! You will be the greatest material of my life!"

Material.

The corners of Damian's mouth twisted. It was a truly irritating word, especially for Damian, who had been modified into a Death Knight by Dorgo.

"Sir Damian... how can you... be here..."

At that moment, Agnes lifted her head with great effort and said,

"Run... away... that man... is too dangerous..."

Corpseplay listened to Agnes's voice with a very interested look on his face.

"You two seem to be very close, don't you?"

Corpseplay wiggled his fingers.

Kite pressed Agnes's head down even harder. Agnes let out a groan.

"Did you say Sir Damian? I want to capture you in as good a condition as possible. So, let me make a proposal. If you want this woman to live, surrender quietly."

"Sir Damian... no... quickly... run..."

Corpseplay wiggled his fingers again. Kite's pressure increased, and Agnes's groans grew louder.

"Let me tell you in advance. I have another hostage. Would you like to take a look?"

Corpseplay pointed to the side. Margarita was being held by flesh golems.

"What a truly despicable man."

Damian said with a bored expression.

"Still, it's a relief. You're the kind of trash I expected."

Damian lifted his head and shouted upwards.

"You two, save Margarita. I'll take care of Agnes."

From the hole Damian had made, Jamal and Dionysius descended and moved nimbly.

Jamal threw an ice spear. The chunk of cold froze all the flesh golems.

Dionysius followed with a spear throw. The spear shattered the frozen flesh golems.

The remaining flesh golems tried to attack Dionysius and Jamal.

At that moment, Margarita, now free, ignited blue flames.

Her flame-encased fist burst the flesh golems. As soon as she swung her fist, Margarita spat blood and fell.

"Margarita!"

Jamal supported Margarita. Her wounds had worsened, and she kept spitting blood.

"Don't touch my material!"

Corpseplay, enraged, tried to give orders to the other flesh golems.

At that moment, Damian swung his holy sword, releasing an aura.

The sword energy flew towards Corpseplay. Corpseplay urgently shouted,

"Kite!"

Kite, who was holding Agnes, blocked Corpseplay's path.

The aura cut through Kite's body, but it vanished without leaving a scratch.

"Kite! Secure the material!"

Kite pointed at Agnes, but it was too late. As if anticipating Corpseplay's actions, Damian had already arrived next to Agnes.

"Sir Damian..."

Agnes looked up at Damian with a surprised face.

Damian's movements were so fast and stealthy that even she, whose realm had been elevated by the holy mark, had missed them.

"Dionysius, take care of Lady Agnes."

Damian said to Dionysius. Dionysius quickly ran over and supported Agnes.

"I'll hold off Corpseplay. The rest of you, get out of here quickly."

"Sir Damian... what are you saying? Corpseplay is a dangerous opponent. I will fight with you."

"Sister, you're right. I will help too."

Agnes and Dionysius did not readily follow Damian's words.

Damian looked at the two of them.

His eyes were filled with overwhelming killing intent. The two of them involuntarily shut their mouths.

"Go."

The short command carried an irresistible force. The two of them left without a word.

"Refusing help... I can't understand. Surely you don't think you can win alone?"

When only Damian was left, Corpseplay asked, puzzled.

"The things you broke were just practice dolls. My 'masterpieces' are different."

Corpseplay wiggled his fingers. The flesh golems, standing like mannequins, began to move.

Each one emitted an enormous amount of dark magic.

"Still calling chunks of meat 'masterpieces.'"

Damian said with a look of disdain.

During the time as a Death Knight.

Damian had carried out numerous missions with Corpseplay under Dorgo's orders.

Because of this, he had a clear view of how repulsive Corpseplay was.

Corpseplay, claiming he wanted to study the effects of human emotions on doll-making, had subjected war prisoners to all kinds of horrific acts.

Once, to obtain a corpse filled with maternal love, he had killed children in front of their mothers. He had repeated this act not once, but thousands of times.

"I can't tell you how happy I am to kill you with my own hands."

Laughter he couldn't suppress burst out intermittently.

"I'm also very happy to have you as material."

Corpseplay smiled and raised his hand.

The 'masterpieces' Corpseplay had put his heart into rushed at Damian.

Mid-class level dolls focused solely on killing Damian.

The first masterpiece to reach Damian attacked.

It looked like a human, but had four thick arms like beams on its back.

The four arms contracted like rubber, trying to grab Damian. It was as if four large snakes were surrounding him.

Damian narrowly avoided the hands trying to grab him. Then, in an instant, he drew his holy sword and swung it upwards.

The sword energy, extending in a straight line, cut off all four hands simultaneously. With the hands gone, his view cleared.

Before the masterpiece could react, Damian lunged forward and stabbed it with his holy sword.

The holy power of the sword destroyed the core. The doll immediately stopped functioning.

The other masterpieces then attacked Damian. He dodged all their attacks like flowing water.

While dodging, Damian accurately stabbed the masterpieces' bodies with his sword.

The deeply embedded blades destroyed the cores. The masterpieces' functions immediately ceased.

"Stop! Fall back!"

Corpseplay shouted urgently. The masterpieces that had rushed forward retreated.

But it was too late. More than half of the masterpieces were already destroyed by Damian's sword and lay on the ground.

"...How... how did you... my dolls, my dolls..."

Corpseplay's eyes shook violently. He screamed like a child.

"This is impossible! My masterpieces can't fall so easily! Tell me! What did you do?"

Corpseplay's talent was so great that even Dorgo acknowledged it.

The dolls he created with that talent were also highly functional.

At the peak of his talent, he had continuously produced high-class dolls.

However, the high-class dolls Corpseplay created had never won a single battle against actual high-class opponents.

The output of their bodies, the amount of dark magic embedded, and various strange functions.

On the surface, they were clearly high-class. But they lacked one thing.

Skill.

Corpseplay was an expert in doll-making, not in skill.

A high-class knight could easily figure out the movements of the dolls.

They were just fancy fakes.

That's what Corpseplay's dolls were.

To Damian, Corpseplay's dolls were no different from stiff wooden puppets.

He could dodge such low-level attacks even with his eyes closed.

"Unforgivable..."

Corpseplay muttered in a low voice, watching his cherished masterpieces being cut down.

"I don't need someone like you anymore. I won't use you as material. Just die."

Corpseplay raised his hand. Two dolls descended from the dark ceiling.

Surprisingly, the two dolls were floating using dark magic on their own.

"I haven't finished adjusting them yet, but there's no choice."

The two dolls spread their arms. A magic circle made of dark magic appeared around them.

Seeing the magic circle, Damian recognized the level of the dark mages.

Shockingly, these two dolls were manifesting high-level dark magic.

"Kite. You should step forward too."

The doll that had been guarding Corpseplay stepped forward.

Scales-like metal plates began to cover Kite's skin.

Before long, Kite's entire body was encased in metal plates. Soon, three blades sprouted from his forearms and calves.

Kite emitted dark magic. The aura he emitted was much stronger than all the masterpieces combined.

"Isn't it impressive? Kite is my greatest 'masterpiece.' I originally prepared him to face high-class opponents."

Corpseplay's face regained its composure. He seemed to be confident of victory.

Corpseplay had good reason to be confident.

One masterpiece doll.

Two dolls made into high-level dark mages.

Five more masterpieces he boasted of.

It was a terrifying force. The extermination team's total annihilation in the previous life was not for nothing.

Perhaps even without the blinding pain of betrayal, they might have been annihilated.

"Struggling with toys."

Of course, from Damian's perspective, it was merely laughable.

With his sword skills, he could sweep away Kite or anything else.

But Damian had no time to spare.

He wanted to subdue Corpseplay as quickly as possible and ask about Dorgo.

He wanted to find out where that skull was, the one who had ruined his life, and tear it to pieces.

The desire for revenge made Damian burn with passion.

"There's no choice."

Damian took off the bracelet he was wearing on his wrist.

The dark magic contained in the bracelet was released.