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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 24
The damp, cold night air seeped into my collar.
Blood was soaking through the bandages tightly wrapped around my side.
A dark-hued worm relentlessly targeted the black mage, but even in the chaos, Nigermann kept a constant watch on me.
Just fending off his interference caused the wound on my side to worsen.
“This’ll be over soon.”
Biting my lower lip and lost in thought, I made up my mind, spun around, and dashed away.
At the same moment, a few dark spells flew in from Nigermann, who had been monitoring the area closely.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Five dark arrows pierced the sand with a sinister sound that tore through the air.
Luckily, none of them hit me.
I managed to dodge them thanks to my effort, but Nigermann’s focus was clearly off due to the worm.
“This is do or die!”
I hurried toward the tomb of the Red Moon Tribe.
Most of its spiritual energy had been drained during a previous summoning, but I had no other choice.
On my own, I couldn't shake him off.
“Zalatan!”
— What is it now?
Zalatan, who had been idly picking his nose, looked at me and asked disinterestedly.
“There’s another black mage outside. Please help me!”
— Hmph, can’t you do anything on your own?
“This is a kind of skill too, if you think about it. Besides, the worm you wanted to catch is out there too. Why not deal with them both?”
— Hmph…
Zalatan furrowed his brows, seemingly deep in thought, then stared at me intently.
— It’s not me I’m worried about. Can you hold out?
I flinched unconsciously at his concerned words.
He’d sensed my condition with just a single summoning.
“I’ll be fine.”
— Your body might not hold up. No, it’s your mind that won’t.
“I have no choice.”
— I see. So you’re a warrior too.
Acknowledging my words, he nodded.
[Descent – Zalatan]
Then, Zalatan’s spirit entered me.
A fierce crimson light flashed in my eyes.
Tap tap tap.
Zalatan darted not toward the entrance, but behind his tomb.
He lifted his sword, gathered a shallow aura, and slashed.
BOOM!!
A thunderous explosion shattered part of the wall, sending stone shards flying.
A small box was revealed.
Zalatan opened it with a satisfied grin and popped two of the three round orbs inside into his mouth.
Gulp—
As the orbs slid down his throat, they melted in the stomach and began to heat the body as if it had been thrown into molten lava.
A spark starting from the gut spread through the entire body like wildfire.
Even in the midst of this dizzying sensation, Zalatan quietly closed his eyes, focusing on channeling the energy within the orbs.
The raging fire gradually died down.
The wild flames scattered, drawn by the remaining aura in the body, and eventually settled.
[Strength increased by 0.3]
[Agility increased by 0.4]
[Stamina increased by 0.3]
[Vital Energy increased by 1.5]
[You begin to sense aura.]
This overflowing sensation.
Even if Zalatan was in control of my body, I could still feel it all.
I could feel the faintest traces of aura stirring within me.
“Now this is a bit more usable.”
— Why only eat two of the three?
“At your current state, two is the limit. Your body can’t handle more. I could probably endure it, but your mind would give out before the summoning ends.”
With that, Zalatan unraveled the blood-soaked bandage around my waist.
He tossed it aside, revealing a wound that was rapidly healing.
— Do they have healing properties too?
“When the body gets stronger, it heals faster, naturally.”
Thud.
Tensing his thigh muscles, he launched himself into the air.
Past the dark staircase, a cloud of sand dust became visible.
Within it, a crimson glow left a trail heading inward.
“This just got tricky,”
Zalatan muttered, biting his lip.
Although my energy had greatly increased, that improvement was only significant for someone at my level.
I was still nowhere near a knight’s level.
And my opponent had the strength of a high-ranking knight.
If the dark worm had been in better shape, I might’ve relied on it to take down the black mage.
But it was already half-dead.
‘My head’s already pounding…’
Zalatan must’ve realized his summoning time was nearly up—that’s why he boosted our energy.
At best, I’d get to use one aura-based skill before the summoning ends.
So this had to be the final blow.
If I got lucky like I did with Kaiden, great—but counting on luck was a good way to die.
“No other choice.”
Gripping the sword tightly, Zalatan charged through the blinding sandstorm and spotted the black mage.
“Well well… You didn’t run away but came back? Have you come to meet your death?”
Nigermann chuckled as if amused, but his mana was quickly forming a spell.
Crimson aura flared on Zalatan’s blade.
The pressure weighed down on my mind as violet mist surged from a magic circle in the air, engulfing Zalatan’s body.
“Hehehe, now you’re blind—”
Confident in his spell’s success, Nigermann smirked—until his eyes shot open in shock.
WHOOOOSH!!
A blast of wind scattered the purple mist.
CRACK!! KA-BOOM—!
A fierce slash of aura tore through, piercing deep inside.
A final, all-or-nothing strike.
The sharpened crimson slash shattered Nigermann’s hastily raised shield and cut into his shoulder.
“Gaaaah…!”
Groaning in pain, Nigermann rolled across the sandy ground.
But I was no better.
“Ugh!”
Unable to handle the recoil, I tumbled several times before coming to a stop.
[Descent ends.]
I could no longer maintain the summon.
“AAAAARGH!! It hurts! It freaking HURTS!!”
Nigermann clutched his dangling shoulder and screamed in agony.
I also wanted to scream from the crushing headache, but I held it in.
The fight wasn’t over yet.
Damn it.
I should’ve aimed for his heart, not his shoulder.
Who would've thought he’d throw up a shield and deflect it at the last second?
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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— Get up. With that kind of mental fortitude, you’ll accomplish nothing.
Zalatan, now floating in the air, yelled beside me.
‘As if I didn’t already know that.’
Crack…
Crunch—
I dug my fingers hard into the sand.
Clenching my trembling fingers, I barely managed to lift myself up.
Crack! Crunch!
Then, a swirl of violet magic wrapped around Nigermann’s twitching shoulders, and his twisted arm grotesquely reattached itself.
“Son of a...”
Is that because of that demon's mark or whatever it's called?
Seeing that grotesque sight, there’s no way it’s the result of human power.
— Hah, is it healing his body? What a troublesome bastard.
I forced the remaining energy within me to move.
Perhaps because of the lingering effects of the pill I took earlier, my body was recovering quite quickly.
“I will definitely kill you…”
Rumble rumble rumble…!!
A tremor resonated from beneath the ground.
While Nigermann and I exchanged blows, a dusky black sandworm, hidden beneath the sand, opened its gaping, fanged mouth and swallowed the black mage whole.
The black mage must have been too focused on healing to react in time.
“Is… it over?”
I exhaled in relief, still wary of the sandworm.
The creature suddenly began thrashing violently, sweeping across the ground.
Boom!!
It was as if Nigermann was struggling inside, tormenting the worm.
It crashed through the entrance to the Red Moon Tribe’s tomb.
And then, not long after, a beam of pitch-black energy pierced through the creature’s hide.
With a shriek, blood sprayed into the air, and the worm howled in agony.
From within, Nigermann—covered head to toe in slime, looking like a drenched rat—emerged with a scowl.
“You, him, all of you… really know how to piss someone off.”
Even after taking a gaping hole through its body, the worm wasn’t dead—its vitality was monstrous.
Whoooosh—!!
Its tail lashed out, striking Nigermann’s shield with massive force—unbelievable power for a dying creature.
As Nigermann gathered his magic, clearly annoyed and ready to finish it off—
I forced myself to suppress the throbbing pain in my head and recalled the way Zalatan had manipulated energy earlier.
Back when my energy was weak, I could barely sense aura at all, but now…
With my energy reaching 2.3, I could clearly feel the presence of aura.
Rough and domineering energy flow.
A fighting style unbound by strict forms, full of decisive, bold strikes.
‘Was it something like this?’
It was my first time manipulating aura with my own power, but it wasn’t as difficult as I feared.
Tap!
Sand scattered from the ground I had pushed off from.
Closing the distance between me and Nigermann.
His gaze was locked on the sandworm still thrashing on the ground.
‘Using the same sword aura as Zalatan would be overkill.’
Instead, I focused on amplifying impact through leaping strength and condensing my energy at a single point.
Whummm—
There was no need to release the energy.
Just condense it.
And strike.
“Think I’d fall for it again?”
Nigermann furrowed his brows and condensed magic in the air.
At the same time, my sword surged toward his mass of magic.
Whoooosh!!
My sword, as if sucked in, was drawn into the magic, then deflected and shot toward his rear.
I couldn’t understand what trick he had pulled.
All I knew was—he flinched at the attack, thinking it was like Zalatan’s, and dodged in fear.
CRACKCRACKCRACK!!
My sword tore into the head of the sandworm, already battered by Nigermann, slicing through part of its hide before stopping.
[Subquest – The Red Moon Chieftain’s Request has been completed.]
[Strength +0.8, Stamina +0.5, Vital Energy +0.3 gained.]
Before I could even register the floating message, the recoil knocked the sword from my grip, and I tumbled across the ground, eventually crashing into the worm’s tail.
Every muscle in my body screamed.
I might’ve even cracked a few ribs—it was hard to breathe.
At least, thanks to the quest reward, some of my stamina had recovered.
Step, step…
I couldn’t enjoy the success of the quest.
Those slow footsteps approaching through the silent desert felt like a death sentence.
‘Damn it, am I going to die again…?’
Maybe coming to this desert was too ambitious.
Trying to stop the black mages’ plan when I wasn’t even fully prepared—maybe it was too much.
Still, I did take out one of them before the end… not a bad result.
“Heh, arrogant bastard. Look at you now.”
Nigermann picked up a staff from the ground.
He brought the tip of it to my forehead.
“That last strike—what was it? Were you going easy on me?”
From his point of view, it made sense.
He flinched, but the attack turned out weak, so he was confused.
With my energy level, I couldn’t pierce his shield anyway.
Only someone like Zalatan or the ancestor Havenberg could do that.
“Yeah, you’re so damn weak it wasn’t worth the effort.”
The veins on his temple bulged in anger.
“You, I’ll personally drag you back to ‘Black Star’ and offer you as a sacrifice to the ‘Great One.’”
‘Black Star? Great One? Sacrifice?’
That sounded like some pretty important intel.
Too bad I had to hear it right before dying…
“First, let’s hear you scream a bit—”
SWOOSH!!
A sharp slash tore through the air.
A crimson, crescent-shaped sword aura flew at Nigermann’s side.
“Grrk…!”
He hastily deployed a shield, deflecting the attack, but the shield shattered, and the impact sent him flying.
Nigermann glared toward where the attack had come from.
There, emerging from the calm darkness, was a swordsman with silver hair cascading down to the waist.
With glowing silver eyes piercing through the air, they looked at me—gasping for breath.
“You—what are you?”
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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