The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 273

“Ah, the pain! This sweet pain!” Sork reveled in the agony that coursed through his body.

“I’d forgotten for so long! The cold and heat of the flesh! The pain! Indeed, the sacred flames of Seramite [a powerful, holy fire] bring pain even to a lich! How delightful! Yes, this is the kind of strength I expect!”

“…He’s awfully relaxed? He’s big because he’s an orc, but he won’t last long at that rate, will he?” Azadin muttered, observing Sork’s bizarre reaction.

Sir Sork’s head had been severed, and the liquefied blade of Aurelia Dawn was clinging to his entire body, burning his flesh.

Aurelia Dawn continued to burn, and the heat was causing even his armor to melt and hiss.

Even though more than half of his body was being consumed by flames, Sir Sork calmly smiled and began to cast a spell.

“First, I’ll return this!” he declared.

At that moment, Aurelia Dawn was flung off Sir Sork’s body.

As the hot, liquefied metal was thrown off, Azadin immediately pulled out the hilt of Aurelia Dawn and used it to block the pouring liquid metal.

The blade reformed, and Aurelia Dawn returned to its original shape, but…

“Haha!” Sir Sork roared, rushing at Azadin and thrusting his sword. It was a grotesque sight to see him running with a smile, his body half-burned, losing his balance and staggering.

Azadin, who had not yet recovered his sword, dodged the attack, but Sir Sork’s kick struck Azadin’s body.

“Azadin!” Selim cried out in shock, but Azadin flew through the air and landed on a chandelier in the corridor.

He had neutralized the power of Sir Sork’s kick by using it to propel himself away.

“Haha! Impressive! I underestimated you. Now, I’ll face you properly,” Sork exclaimed in admiration, picking up his head and placing it back on his neck.

“You’ve been getting beaten one-sidedly so far? Your boasting is a bit much, isn’t it? If you were a normal human, you’d have died five times over by now,” Azadin mocked him, but he could feel Sir Sork’s aura changing.

In fact, just facing him now, Sir Sork was by far the most formidable opponent Azadin had ever encountered.

“Rest assured, Sir Azadin. I wanted to fully savor your skills. I admit that your swordsmanship and martial arts are superior to mine. However, I am originally a mage,” Sir Sork said, and began to cast a spell.

Magical runes floated around his body and then disappeared.

“Shall we get serious?” he asked, a sinister glint in his eyes.

Red, ominous stars appeared around Sir Sork’s body.

“-Crimson Starlight!” he chanted.

The red stars shot beams of crimson energy at Azadin.

Startled, Azadin swung the chandelier and somersaulted in the air to avoid the beams.

“Keeping your distance will be dangerous?!” Selim shouted.

“I don’t need your advice!” Azadin retorted.

Azadin used the Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon, and Twilight technique [a teleportation technique] to instantly close the distance and strike Sir Sork’s neck and arms with his sword.

However…

“-Riposte Shock!” Sir Sork countered.

The moment the sword struck Sir Sork’s body, a barrier of force formed around him, and an electric shock surged through Azadin.

“Kuh?!” Azadin gasped, momentarily paralyzed.

Sir Sork turned and swung his sword at him.

Unable to avoid it, Azadin used Aurelia Dawn to block the blow.

-Thwack!

Azadin’s body collided with the wall as if he had been launched from a catapult, and from beyond the wall of darkness, the claws of wights [undead creatures] emerged, scratching at Azadin’s back and neck.

Azadin blocked the attack with the cloth armor he was wearing, but some of the claws scratched his cheek and drew blood.

In the darkness, the wights’ eyes glowed as they happily licked the blood from their claws with their bright red tongues.

“Ah! I can’t stand it!” one of the wights hissed.

“How sweet!” another echoed.

“…Kuh!” Azadin grunted, slashing at the wights approaching him with Aurelia Dawn and standing up.

However, his condition was not good.

Just blocking Sir Sork’s attack directly was more than Azadin’s body could handle.

“I know you’re hungry, but don’t treat your guest like that. He’s the famous master of prophecy from the Knights of Salvation, you know,” Sir Sork said, smiling as he walked towards Azadin.

“Weren’t we supposed to fight without your subordinates?” Azadin asked, trying to catch his breath.

“That’s true, but Dahlia seems to like you. How about becoming my subordinate and marrying her?” Sir Sork chuckled.

“Damn it! Sir Azadin!” Selim cried out, trying to jump in to help Azadin, but the claws of the wights reached for Selim from the darkness.

Selim swung his axe and resisted them, but darkness enveloped Selim’s body, and his reactions noticeably slowed.

On the other hand, the wights disappeared into the darkness, moving like mist itself, and slashed at Selim with their sharp claws.

“You bastards!” Selim roared, headbutting the wights and smashing them with his axe, but the wights’ attacks also hit Selim, wounding him.

The problem was that these wights were regenerating in the darkness.

In this darkness, Sir Sork and his subordinates were almost invincible.

Fighting here was a mistake in the first place.

‘How foolish… I’ve been too complacent because I’ve been so successful! I knew the reputation of the Pimbul Horde [a notorious group of undead]!’ Azadin thought, berating himself.

Azadin looked at Sir Sork approaching him and began to cast a spell.

It was a spell of magic cancellation.

If he didn’t cancel the Riposte Shock spell flowing through Sir Sork’s body, there would be no way to fight him.

As Azadin began to cast his spell, Sir Sork also extended his finger and countered with a counter-spell.

Sir Sork’s magical skill was several levels higher than Azadin’s, so he easily broke Azadin’s cancellation spell.

In fact, even if he hadn’t blocked the cancellation spell, it would have been impossible for Azadin’s cancellation spell to cancel Sir Sork’s magic.

Nevertheless, Sir Sork countering Azadin’s magic with a counter-spell was probably just for amusement.

“You’re very talented. Your magic is more precise than that of most professional scholars. Yes, this is what a knight of destiny should be! Hmm?” Sir Sork said, his eyes widening slightly.

But then, a strange smoke drifted in.

It was a smoke with a fragrant scent, different from the darkness and swamp fog of the Viar Swamp, as if incense was burning.

“Kiek?!” The wights smelled the smoke, were shocked, and began to retreat.

Something mixed in the incense was clearly having a strong effect on them.

*********

And a clear voice echoed through Sir Sork’s mansion.

“I never imagined there would be a suicide hopeful who would invade the Viar Swamp against Sir Sork. Sir Azadin,” the voice said.

A figure jumped down between Azadin and Sork and landed.

A woman wearing a black nun’s habit landed in front of Azadin.

She was a beautiful woman with a neutral appearance, with neat features, though her eyes were closed.

“Ah, Nicelda. To enter my territory at this time. Today is a very lucky day,” Sir Sork said, his tone laced with amusement.

This nun was the last member of Chadra Oger, the half-vampire Nicelda.

She slowly opened her eyes, burning incense in a censer linked by a golden chain. Blood trickled down from her eyes.

“It’s troublesome that you think of me as a beast trapped in your cage. The darkness of Viar also gives me strength. Sir Sork. I too have cursed blood,” Nicelda said, her voice calm but firm.

As she held up the censer, the blood flowing from her eyes dripped onto the censer, soaking it.

-Sizzle!

The blood vapor quickly began to engulf the smoke.

Following the smoke from the censer, the blood vapor moved at a terrifying speed, connecting red threads everywhere.

Were those red threads not connected to the limbs of the wights and even to Sir Sork’s body?

“This is…” Azadin began, but Nicelda cut him off.

“Let’s go,” she said.

As Nicelda raised her right hand to the sky, her right hand exploded, turning into blood and spreading into the red threads.

The wights were startled and tried to avoid it.

However, Sir Sork cast a spell at the blood rushing towards him.

Blades of bone sprang from the ground, cutting the red threads and exploding instead of taking the blood attack.

“A poor attack for losing an arm, Nicelda,” Sir Sork said, his voice mocking.

“But it was enough,” Nicelda replied.

“Huh?” Sir Sork questioned, confused.

At that moment, the roof and windows of the mansion suddenly shattered, and griffins appeared.

“To deal with your evil spirits defending the sky,” Nicelda said.

Nicelda jumped towards Azadin. She had used a large amount of blood and was almost like a corpse, but she had tremendous strength and easily lifted Azadin as if he were a feather.

“Hey! I am!” Azadin protested.

“You escape on your own, Sir Selim! I can’t lift you because you’re too heavy!” Nicelda shouted.

“Oh, really! Kids!” Selim grumbled.

The griffins rushed in, attacking the wights, and some grabbed Selim with their claws and flew into the air.

Nicelda also climbed onto a griffin with Azadin in her arms and flew into the sky.

“How… audacious,” Sir Sork muttered, his face contorted in anger.

As Sir Sork cast a spell, the light of red stars flew and hit the griffins.

-Kieeeek!

The griffins screamed and fell, becoming withered corpses.

But even in this situation, these griffins calmly protected Azadin and Selim with their bodies.

Sedrin was controlling the griffins with magic.

“Kuh!? Oh, my kids!” Selim was saddened to see his griffins, like his own children, dying from Sir Sork’s magic.

‘Damn it,’ Azadin thought, closing his mouth as he watched the griffins die from Sir Sork’s magic.

After being saved by Araelle’s sacrifice, Azadin had been unmatched until now.

Was that why?

Even though he knew the infamy of the Pimbul Horde and the reputation of Sir Sork, he had been too complacent.

‘It was a mistake to be too careless and rush things,’ Azadin thought, his mind racing.

Scout the area and, if possible, suppress them on the spot with improvisation.

If it succeeds, it is an excellent on-site response, but if it fails, it remains a reckless defeat like this.

*********

By the time they escaped the Viar Swamp, the number of griffins had been reduced to two.

Even after escaping the range of Sir Sork’s magic, flying monsters such as shadow wings and undead wyverns appeared and threatened the griffins.

They barely escaped the Viar Swamp and landed in the Black Forest, the home of the wild druid Sedrin.

Sedrin was waiting for Azadin’s party in this Black Forest, which was directly connected to the Viar Swamp.

“Kuh. Sedrin! Who told you to use my children like that?!” Selim demanded, his voice filled with grief.

“I pulled a drowning man out of the water, and now he’s asking for his baggage. Do you think you would be alive here now if the griffins hadn’t risked their lives?” Sedrin retorted, her tone sharp.

“…Sedrin,” Azadin said, his voice weak.

Azadin got off the griffin and rolled onto the ground, unable to support his own body.

His body was a mess. Azadin was battered by Sir Sork’s attacks and the wights’ attacks.

“The reputation of the Pimbul Horde should have spread beyond the Chadra Plateau, but it was reckless to invade with just the two of you,” Sedrin said, her voice softening slightly.

She carefully cast a spell on Azadin.

It was a regeneration spell based on green magic.

“No one went when I asked to go together in the first place! Sedrin! Didn’t you refuse too! And now you’re treating us like fools for going alone!” Selim was furious at Sedrin for criticizing them for being reckless now.

“I’m not trying to treat you like fools. I am…” Sedrin sighed deeply and looked at Azadin.

“Hmm?” Azadin blinked at Sedrin’s gaze, as if she had something to say.