The King of the Battlefield

Chapter 223: Omen of the Ruin (5)

Tacan looked at the sword.

The sword was broken into two pieces. It was what he received after being defeated by Fraeda.

Even though Tacan could repair it right away, he did not do so.

It was to find the reason, as he thought again about his defeat.

‘Didn’t I get stronger?’

He thought he had become stronger. Indeed, he had defeated many strong men and proved his own power.

However, it seemed like that was only comparable to the standards of ‘humans’.

As much as Tacan had gotten stronger, Muyoung and Sungmin had improved even more.

As Muyoung was such a mysterious man, he felt that this could happen with him, but Sungmin was unexpected.

Even Tacan was thrilled by seeing how he had taken care of Roosevelt and even Fraeda.

The numerous deaths that resulted through Sungmin’s hands, and the monsters of the void.

Fraeda was helpless in front of Sungmin. His devils could do nothing but let themselves be attacked helplessly.

Tacan had no choice but to feel the difference in their ‘level’ in addition to Muyoung.

He felt like he was looking at a flower on top of a cliff.

However much he reached out, he couldn’t reach it.

And with Sungmin, it was an especially great shock to Tacan as he was originally weaker than him.

When did he get that far ahead of me?

What had happened in just two years?

And for the last two years, what was Tacan doing?

‘The tables have turned.’

Even a few years ago, Sungmin was weaker than Tacan.

Perhaps he had been consumed by conceit.

‘I’m strong, I’ve become stronger, and I will get stronger.’

Did he not put in too much thought because he thought it was so obvious?

Tacan left the territory.

The territory was celebrating their victory for the moment.

Either way, since they had stopped their enemy’s advance team, there was a bit of time before the rest of their enemies arrived.

He left the territory and entered deep into the woods.

‘The fight isn’t over yet.’

That was right. Nothing would change by reprimanding his actions.

If Sungmin had gotten stronger, Tacan just needed to get stronger as well.

The war was the best stage on which to get stronger. Although they had taken care of the demon kings, Enroth still remained. There should be at least a few hundreds of thousands of devils under his command.

Even having a celebration right now in the territory was to relieve the tension that people felt.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

However, Tacan swung his broken sword.

He was diligently swinging his sword so that he could reduce the gap while others were playing around.

‘Certainly, I have been a bit lazy.’

He had slightly neglected his training once he felt he had gotten stronger.

Through this fight and Sungmin’s appearance, he realized it more dearly.

Although he was one of the rulers of Asura’s Path, he was lacking strength as a ruler.

He needed to gain a bit more power to become a true ruler.

At least until he defeated Sungmin and Muyoung… he couldn’t be called a true ruler.

As a ruler only existed to win and reign!

Shuffle shuffle.

He felt someone’s presence.

Tacan stopped his swinging and carefully turned his body.

They were skillful people; he would have missed their presence if it wasn’t for the sound of wind and grass.

“Who are you?”

Was it the devils who had escaped?

Fraeda had tried to escape with his subordinates.

But if it was Fraeda and his devils who had appeared, it would be very welcoming.

Then, there two people appeared.

There were two of them, but they didn’t look so good.

An old man who had glaring eyes but a weary face, and a woman with messy hair and ragged clothing, were on a tree looking down at Tacan.

“Teacher, it’s a death knight. Can we eat it?”

“Stop it. How can you eat a monster that’s only bones.”

It seemed like the two were starving.

Well, although it was a forest, there weren’t a lot of living creatures.

Even most of the plants were poisonous.

If a human were to consume it carelessly, they would become sick.

“Why are humans in a place like this?”

Tacan raised his sword.

However, he was curious.

The ‘Sky Lord’ would never allow intruders into the Demon God’s Territory.

Unless they were humans who normally lived in this place, there was no way for them to pass the Sky Lord to enter this territory.

The woman and the old man looked at Tacan with astonishment.

“He seems like he is quite intelligent for a death knight.”

“We can capture him and ask him all sorts of questions.”

Then, the two took a weird stance and leaped towards Tacan.

“I don’t know who you guys are, but don’t think you will come out of this alive since you have attacked me.”

This was a good thing since he was feeling down at the moment.

It would have been better if it was Fraeda and the devils, but he couldn’t just let visitors who had no authorization trespass in this place.

Tacan swung his broken sword.

Slash!

The magical energy that soared out of the sword sliced through the air.

As if they had made a prior arrangement, the woman and the old man separated simultaneously.

It was to attack Tacan from multiple sides.

‘Quite good.’

They synchronized well.

Additionally, their skills were also quite good.

Among humans, he rarely saw people who could move the way they did.

However, Tacan had already fought with those who were considered to be the ‘top 10’.

Thud!

The woman and the old man weren’t able to cause any damage to Tacan.

They continued to attack and defend at the same time.

Although they were simple martial arts movements, their proficiency was like none other. And as they synchronized, they were able to exhibit more than their skills normally would allow them to.

‘But, it still is not enough.’

Tacan wasn’t weak. Although he felt that when comparing himself to Muyoung and Sungmin, truthfully, Tacan was strong enough.

Tacan wielded his sword.

As the woman jumped low to avoid his attack, he twisted his body in a mysterious way to once again attack where she would land.

A death knight. It was a move that was only possible because he was already a corpse.

“Tsk!”

Clank!

Daggers flew out from the woman’s body and stopped Tacan’s sword.

“Haa! I caught you, you bastard!”

Then, the old man grabbed Tacan from behind.

The old man grabbed hold of Tacan’s whole body so hard that he could crush it.

Swoosh!

But, Tacan vanished.

As the old man squinted, the woman quickly threw a small thin sword.

“Teacher! Behind you!”

Swoosh!

However, he wasn’t able to completely defend himself.

The sword pierced the old man’s back.

With teleportation magic, Tacan was able to move behind the old man.

“You are quite skilled for a monster!”

The old man yelled as he didn’t even tend his injury.

‘Although we aimed for his head.’

His reaction speed was out of the ordinary.

If he was just 0.01 seconds late, his head would have been cut off.

‘Interesting.’

Tacan now felt amused.

These humans, they were quite skilled.

Perhaps, they were stronger than most people who were known to be in the ‘top 10’.

* * *

They fought for hours.

The scene that reminded him once again of war concluded, and the surrounding forest had been destroyed.

Numerous trees were cut down, the ground was torn up as if an earthquake had occurred, and in the middle of all of this, two humans had collapsed.

“Humans are definitely not a group whose skills I can easily determine.”

He had won, but Tacan was still shocked.

His broken sword has become dust.

A few of his bones were also broken. He felt like he needed to rest for at least two days.

Fraeda had not fought under perfect conditions, but it was the same for the fight with these two humans.

Their bodies were weakened as they had been unable to consume decent food for a long time.

But, it still didn’t change the fact that these two attacked Tacan first.

Tacan raised his sword against the two who had fainted from their injuries.

“Still, I’ll let you die with dignity.”

It was a way show respect to the strong.

To kill them in one strike, without pain.

Tacan approached the woman. Then, as he was about to swing his sword, the woman murmured quietly.

“Dad… mister Muyoung…”

Tacan paused for a moment.

Muyoung?

He didn’t hear wrong.

The woman definitely said ‘Muyoung’.

Tacan only knew of one Muyoung.

Was she talking about the Muyoung he knew?

‘Does she know him?’

Tacan shook his head.

If she was associated with Muyoung, he couldn’t just kill them.

“His name saved your lives.”

Tacan carried a person over each shoulder.

* * *

It felt like she had a long dream.

Suzy was smiling in a place where her dad was fine, and Muyoung was there.

However, darkness soon descended, and the two disappeared.

Suzy cried and that was how the dream ended.

“Haaaa…!”

She quickly raised her upper body, covered in sweat.

‘Where am I?’

After she got up, Suzy couldn’t help but be surprised once more.

She was in a place she had never been before, with abig bed, a white ceiling, and antique paintings on the wall.

“Are you up?”

The woman wearing a maid outfit naturally approached Suzy.

“Aww, look at all this sweat.”

Then, with a wet cloth, she started to wipe Suzy’s forehead.

“Wh, who are you?”

Suzy couldn’t help but ask cluelessly.

The woman who appeared to be a maid smiled brightly.

“I heard you are the guest of our Lord.”

“Guest?”

Then the maid tilted her head.

“Emperor knight said so.”

“Emperor knight…?”

“Ahh, the knight that is made up of all bones. Did you not see him?”

“Death knight…”

“That’s what others call him.”

Suzy widened her eyes.

After finding the death knight, Suzy and the Fighting King had attacked him.

However, they were defeated.

The one who should have died was being received as a guest.

It didn’t make sense.

Especially the maid in front of her. She was definitely a human.

She couldn’t feel any aura of death.

How could a death knight be with a human?

“Could you please wait for a moment? It is impossible to see the lord right now.”

“Umm, what about the person who was with me? The bald person.”

“Ahh, he is in a different room. He didn’t wake up yet.”

Whew!

Suzy let out a sigh.

Either way, it seemed like she hadn’t died yet.

“Lie down for a while longer. I will bring you something to eat.”

“Ah, no. It’s okay. I don’t know about anything else but I really have a strong body. Rather… could I look around?”

“Will you really be okay? If something happened to the lord’s guest, it would be a problem…”

“Ahh! I’m really fine. Look.”

Suzy did a handstand.

Then, with a finger, she moved on top of the bed.

“I’m strong, right?”

“It seems that way.”

The maid laughed and nodded her head.

“I’ll lead you.”

This was a castle.

A really huge castle!

That wasn’t the only thing that was surprising.

‘Do-dokkaebi, elf, dwarf… fire tar! What is this place?’

All kinds of species were gathered at this place.

Species that would never live together.

And she couldn’t help but gasp when she saw that there were even fire tars.

“Ah, one moment. Please wait for a bit.”

The maid who was guiding her suddenly disappeared as if something had happened.

Suzy who was left alone pondered for a moment before she started to walk alone.

‘This is definitely a strange place. I need to look into it.’

It was hard to believe that their intentions were pure.

It was a world like the ones in a fairy tale, but she needed to stay sharp.

Suzy moved while remaining as low-key as possible.

It was when she had reached a room after going up some stairs.

“Arand, Dontak. I heard that there was a black monster roaming around outside of the territory. I had also heard that there were sights of Fraeda’s corpse and his other devils.”

“Is there something we must do?”

“Build a team and strengthen the patrol rotations. Although there are about 10 more days before Enroth arrives with his army, we don’t know what may happen in the meantime.”

“I understand, court magician.”

“And…”

Click!

Someone in the room tapped their staff.

“A mouse is hiding.”

Suzy stopped her breathed.

Creeak!

Then, the door opened, and black hands headed towards Suzy.

But, Suzy saw something when the door opened.

‘Lich?’