Ch-54
—
It couldnât be anything else. Otherwise, a blow like this would have been impossible.
âDeserter Maxim. You die here.â
It was then.
The bastard pulled something out from inside his coat.
Something golden, shaped like a cup.
When he pressed its mouth to the groundâ
Ssshhhhhh!
A stream of liquid poured out in a thin line, soaking the floor.
The water flowing across the floor soon blocked the cupâs opening.
Yet still, it continued pouring out endlessly.
Realizing what the water flowing from the golden cup was, Maxim recoiled in horror.
âA Holy GrailâŠ?â
âŠA Holy Grail?
And not just any Holy Grailâone capable of producing such high-purity holy water in that quantity?
What was a Holy Grail?
It referred to a cup imbued with the sacred power of the god worshiped by the Order.
A literal relic of the divine.
Naturally, no one but the Pope was allowed to even touch a Holy Grail.
And as far as Maxim knew, there existed no Holy Grail that endlessly generated holy water.
The flowing holy water spread outward like a barrier, sealing the surroundings in.
Rushhhhhh!
And as if that were not enough, the bastard lifted the holy water and poured it over his own head.
A madmanâtruly a madman.
Maxim had never seen anyone treat holy water like that.
Even the highest-ranked paladins of the Order wouldnât dare use holy water like that.
Immediately afterward, the lunatic smiled.
âWell then. Want to try scurrying away like an insect again?â
Seeing that smile, Maxim couldnât help but feel shaken.
âŠWhat the hell *is* this guy?
Trash belongs in the trash can.
ăLv. 10.5ă
Not 10â10.5.
That was none other than Maximâs level.
Had he transcended normally, his level would have displayed with a ââ â. But because the way Maxim had leveled up was *not* normal, the notation was different.
*A demon worshipper.*
The thick stench of corruption reeking from him.
There was no doubt he had grown stronger by obtaining a Demon Heart through demon worship.
In this world, âevilâ was not just one single thing.
Demons, demonkind, death gods, the Abyss⊠all existed with different roles and domains.
Among them, demons were beings that gave out rare âevil-karmaâ quests.
No wonder Priest Andrew was aghast, asking, âAre you truly heroes who dedicated yourselves to the continent and mankind?â
âThereâs no winning him through normal means.â
The difference in level, in statsâ
But that didnât matter.
Because the holy water would seal that Demon Heartâs power.
With every escape route blocked, a duel to the death began here.
âHow laughable. No matter how you struggle, you cannot bridge the gap in level.â
But Maxim, too, had a reason he did not run.
Even if he could not use the Demon Heartâs power, his opponentâs level was only 6.
A few tricks might let the guy confront him momentarily, but the result would not change.
Maxim assumed his stance.
And I, too, took my stance.
Two Extreme Iron Swords.
The strongest blades that raised sword mastery and allowed one to witness the âUltimate Realmâ!
ăSword Mastery corrected to Lv. 7.ă
ăSword Mastery corrected to Lv. 8.ă
ăDue to âUltimate Realmâ, Sword Mastery corrected to Lv. 10.ă
These two swords raised my mastery by four levels, bringing it to 10.
ăReproducing âHeavenâ from Sword King Wilhelmâs swordsmanship, âHeaven-Earth Genesisâ.ă
And so, I could reproduce Wilhelmâs swordsmanship.
With Randolphâs body, carrying Wilhelmâs memories.
But that was fine. I had obtained the Knight Kingâs memories and experiences entirely through the star.
âMmâŠ?!â
Maxim flinched.
The atmosphere shifted.
His domain had been overwhelmed.
The slowly approaching bladeâhe felt he would not be able to receive it.
Slaaash!
From above to below.
A simple downward swing.
Claaang!
He raised his dagger to block.
But he wouldnât be able to block the sword coming at his flank.
Instinctively twisting his body, he took one step back.
Then another.
It was strange. He *could* block itâyet he felt he *could not*.
âHis auraâŠ!â
The opponentâs aura had changed.
Maxim had been swallowed whole by it.
The aura of a seasoned, consummate swordsman.
A swordsman who had lived his entire life with the sword in hand.
But the opponent was a *player*, wasnât he?
âHow does a player emit the aura of a veteran swordsman like thisâŠ?!â
Sizzzzzzle!
His back burned.
The holy water, blocking the way behind him, had formed walls of sacred energy.
He should be overpowering the opponentâyet he was the one being overwhelmed.
Maxim bit his lip.
âDonât be scared. Heâs only level 6.â
Yes. There was no reason to fear in the first place.
There was no need to be devoured by his aura.
To shrink away before a mere level 6 would not be worthy of Maxim.
He gripped his dagger properly.
Steel met steel.
The sword approached slowly, well within view.
He *should* have been able to block itâbut he couldnât.
If he blocked one blade, the other vanished from his awareness.
A blind spot?
âItâs not even a strike aimed at a blind spot.â
Sometimes there were sword techniques that targeted blind spots.
But this opponent wasnât hiding anythingâhe was coming straight at him.
Though dual-wielding, the swords felt heavyâlike he held greatswords in each hand.
His aura alone concealed one of the blades entirely.
âWhat *is* this swordsmanship?â
Something unseenâsomething never experienced.
But it made no sense.
How could a four-level difference be overturned?
No matter how refined the swordsmanship, if stats were low, it should be useless. He could simply crush him with superior speed and strength.
âIs that all youâve got?â
He spoke.
As if disappointed.
âYou spoke of salvation with only this much?â
âŠDamn it.
Maxim regretted it.
He shouldâve run much earlier.
Regret flooded him, but it was already too late.
That gazeâ
Just meeting those deep, bottomless eyes froze his mind white.
âWith only this level?â
Chaaang!
Maxim threw his dagger.
He had to run.
Though they had crossed blades only ten timesâperhaps more, who knewâit didnât matter.
Now he understood.
The difference in skill.
The truth that he could not win.
The truth that levels were not everything!
Sizzzzzzzle!
âGaaahhh!â
But he couldnât pass.
The wall of holy water.
His whole body felt like it was burning, but it was a dead end.
Maxim turned his body.
âDamn. Damn. DAMN!!â
He wanted to live.
He wanted to live.
Desperatelyâmadlyâhe wanted to live.
The lunatic drenched in holy waterâ
He was no mere successor.
Maxim had been ignorant of his true martial might, but now he understood.
A man who had single-handedly subdued everything.
Called the God of Battle.
A being whose very name made even Abyssal rulers tremble.
The nemesis of ten-thousand demons.
âŠThe Knight King, Wilhelm.
Every rumor about him had contained not one trace of exaggeration.
Everyone had assumed his skills would have rusted after becoming a player.
They were wrong.
The man standing before him was none other than Wilhelm himself.
Maxim regretted everythingâbut it was too late.
âWith only this level, you called yourself a hero?â
âP-Phantom⊠p-please⊠donâtââ
Shluk.
That was Maximâs final dying gasp.
*
*
Disappointing.
Truly disappointing.
That they called this level of trash an âEight Hero,â someone who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me?
A man with neither honor nor skill, blinded by greed.
âHis level was high, but his skill pathetic.â
The moment our swords crossed, I knew.
âHe has only ever fought those weaker than him.â
The weakâenemies who required no technique to defeat.
He had fought and beaten only such opponents.
And whenever he sensed he couldnât win, he fled without looking back.
Thus, he had high stats but no substance. Even with high stats, he couldnât utilize them properly.
Ordinarily, reaching level 10 by fighting only the weak would be impossible.
âA demon worshipper. He leveled up through demon quests.â
Hudson was better by comparison.
Even in the worst circumstances, he did not borrow power from demons.
And I learned something new.
âGamers cannot become demon worshippers, but players canâŠâ
Demon worshippersâ
Traitors who betrayed the Goddess.
Those who obstructed the Goddess and sought to sink the continent into the Abyss.
In the game, there had been quests to hunt demon worshippers.
But during normal gameplay, one could never *become* a demon worshipper.
But now that players existed, even that was possible.
âThose I thought were named NPCs were actually real peopleâand those I thought were people turned out to be demon worshippers.â
Becoming a demon worshipper meant abandoning oneâs humanity.
Because the power they granted was never free.
âSo the ones who interfered with me were demon worshippers?â
There had been those who relentlessly sabotaged my gameplay.
At the time, I couldnât understand.
Why would NPCs keep betraying me?
A daily routine of betrayal after betrayal after betrayal.
Looking back now, it was natural for demon worshippers to hinder meâ*the Goddessâs knight*.
Slaaash!
I slit open Maximâs abdomen.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The black heart still beating.
I poured holy water over it.
âKyaaaaaaaaaaa!!
A shriek rang out, and the heart shriveled, revealing its true form.
A tiny demon.
It writhed under the holy water for a moment, then petrified like stone and died.
ăAchievement âDemon Hunterâ achieved.ă
ăPlayer âMaximâ has been slain.ă
ăYou have plundered âFragment of the Broken Golden Scale (72h)â.ă
Killing Maxim allowed me to plunder the broken Golden Scale fragment he carried.
But this was only the beginning.
ăThe âCurse of Coordinatesâ engraved on Maximâs heart has been extinguished.ă
The reason I used holy water to kill the demonâ
Because Maximâs death would have automatically transmitted the coordinates.
But the holy water washed away all curses.
It stopped immediately thereafter, so the coordinates were not transmitted.
A smile naturally formed.
âSomeone planted a coordinate curse on Maxim to be transmitted upon his death. Likely one of the Eight Heroes.â
Only they could have done it.
Someone among them had cursed him so that the moment Maxim died, they would rush here.
âMaxim was bait, then.â
Was this also a ploy aimed at me?
Did they think I would go after the weakest first?
One thing was clear: someone had given Maxim a Demon Heart and disguised him as an âEight Hero.â
Someone cunning enough to embed a curse within the Demon Heart.
The holy water washed it away, but stillâ
âInteresting.â
They were not as stupid as I thought.
Whoever it was, things were getting amusing.
But one thing was certainâI would show no mercy now.
They were not NPCs, and this world was not a game.
They would soon learn of Maximâs death.
They could easily confirm it through the Hall of Fame or the Golden Scale Shop.
As for me, I had only one task.
âTo become overwhelmingly strong.â
Strong enough that they wouldnât even *think* of playing such tricks.
Strong enough to crush everything beneath me.
That was whenâ
<Using âKing of the Deadâ, you have successfully dominated the dead âMaximâ.>
<âMaximâ is a Raid Boss (Lv. 10) undead.>
<By dominating âMaximâ, Agility permanently increases by 1.>
The King of the Dead activated and began to dominate Maxim.
