Chapter 52
The sword Dasoon mentioned referred to the “holy sword”.
In other words, it meant that an item that shouldn't exist in more than one copy now had two, so I was struck with doubt.
There's no time.
Since there wasn't enough time to ponder this, I threw the hammer forward and quickly advanced.
As expected, it didn't cause much damage to the Dullahan, but the Dullahan's posture was greatly disrupted as it roughly blocked the hammer.
Seeing this, I quickly raised my mace and tried to continue with consecutive attacks, but…
"..."
Even in its disrupted state, the Dullahan lightly deflected my mace with its sword and quickly regained its posture.
Realizing the huge gap between us after just one exchange, I quickly retreated and looked around.
Desolate trees and withered weeds.
Apparently, it was extremely barren due to the Dullahan absorbing all the life force around it.
But from the perspective of someone setting fires, I thought it wasn't bad and called Daisy.
"Myeong!"
As soon as I called her name, Daisy lit fires and spread flames in all directions.
I quickly melted the undead approaching us and took a deep breath.
How can I win?
It was clear that simply clashing wasn't enough, so I needed to use Daisy's power to deal with it.
But I couldn't think of a specific method.
So, as I was about to move forward, deciding to try each of the methods I had one by one, the Dullahan raised its own head and started to let out a strange cry.
"Kwaaaaargh!"
A cry closer to a beast than a human.
As the eerie cry that grated on every nerve echoed around, everything around froze, centered on the Dullahan.
I smiled slightly at the intense cold approaching and strongly struck the ground with my mace filled with Daisy's power.
Boom!
With a huge explosion, fire spread in all directions, quickly melting the ice.
Although I was still only a low-grade Expert and lacked physical abilities, Daisy's power, having reached mid-grade spirit level, far surpassed the Dullahan's power.
So, deciding to use this to pressure the opponent, I calmly moved forward and said, "Stop screaming and come at me."
It seemed to understand human language, as soon as I provoked it, the Dullahan immediately approached me roughly.
The Dullahan moved at an incredibly fast speed, stomping the ground harshly and making dry soil fly up.
It swung its huge greatsword, pressuring me.
Crack!
Even though it just swung its sword, an intense wind pressure that momentarily shook my body hit me, tearing up the surroundings.
Impressed by its tremendous power, I let out a light exclamation, then immediately moved my body to the side and swung my mace as fast as possible, using a point explosion aimed at its armor.
Boom!
A huge explosion sound was heard, but it didn't seem to cause much damage as the armor's shape remained the same.
Seeing this, I laughed hollowly and clicked my tongue.
Should I infuse more mana? Or should I choose another method?
As I was pondering what to do, the Dullahan started to laugh mockingly, as if my attack was ridiculous.
Seeing this, a question suddenly arose in my mind.
Isn't it too human-like for a dead being?
I wanted to delve into this more, but dealing with this guy was more urgent right now, so as I was about to move forward…
"H-hey! There are way more undead than expected! And these bastards won't even die!"
Dasoon screamed, urging me to hurry.
Well, she must be having a hard time struggling alone to protect Ruen and Liana.
The moment I heard those words, I felt the need to hurry more and took a deep breath.
Focus. What can I do?
The power of the mace, Daisy's flames, and boldness.
As these thoughts crossed my mind, I calmed my expression and looked at the Dullahan's head.
I wasn't sure if that was its weakness, but seeing how it kept pulling it back every time it swung its sword, it seemed to be an important part.
So, judging that targeting that would give me a significant advantage, I planted my feet firmly and swung my mace at the Dullahan.
It seemed to be the type that didn't avoid head-on confrontations, as it met my attack head-on without deflecting it.
Normally, in this kind of clash, the recoil should prevent both sides from attacking, but..
If I let go of the mace at the moment of impact…
I could ignore the recoil and gain a bit of extra time, so I boldly gave up the mace.
I grabbed the hammer lying on the ground and swung it hard at the Dullahan's head like hitting a baseball.
The purpose was to send it flying rather than to break it.
Seeing the Dullahan's head flying off strongly, I provoked the Dullahan with a voice full of mockery.
"Your head's empty!"
"Kieeeeek!"
It let out an angry cry, but because its head had flown far away, it only screamed without attacking.
It seemed that without its head, it lost sight or senses or something, so I decided to target this and moved my body quickly.
Judging by how the Dullahan keeps its body and head separate, there's a high chance it's a spirit-type undead.
And this meant that the armor was just a shell, and I needed to directly hit something inside it.
Making this judgment quickly, I grabbed the mace that had fallen nearby, then drove the mace into the Dullahan's neck area and called Daisy.
"Daisy, light the flames!"
"Myeong!"
With Daisy's voice, intense flames poured out from the mace, engulfing the Dullahan's body in fire.
Thinking it was difficult to even open my eyes due to the intense heat, I gritted my teeth, when the Dullahan screamed and tried to shake me off.
"Graaaagh!!"
Judging by how the sound resonated from the center of the body, it seemed the main body was inside.
I poured all my strength into trying to kill the Dullahan, but its life force was quite tenacious, and even after pouring flames for quite a long time, it showed no signs of dying.
At this rate, my mana and Daisy's stamina will run out first.
We had to go one step further.
I told Daisy to keep infusing power, then immediately clenched my fist and thrust it into the Dullahan's neck.
It was no different from putting my hand into flames, but because Daisy's flames had the characteristic of not burning allies, I didn't feel any particular pain.
So I was able to successfully put my hand in without any pain.
And after surrounding my hand with mana, if I rummage around in here, I should be able to grab the spirit.
Making this judgment, I quickly moved my hand and was able to grab something unidentifiable with a strange sensation.
Instinctively realizing this was the Dullahan's spirit, I gripped it tightly and started to tear it out.
"Kiyaaaagh! Gyaaaagh!"
An even louder scream than before was heard as the Dullahan fell to the ground and rolled its body.
Its strength was so great that I felt I might be thrown off at any moment, but I endured it, gritting my teeth, and roughly tore out the spirit.
A cruel sound like tearing flesh in half echoed loudly as the Dullahan's movements stopped completely.
Looking at the Dullahan's black armor that had stopped moving without a twitch, I took a deep breath, feeling the fatigue and physical pain that rushed in belatedly.
...
Perhaps because the tension had eased, my whole body lost strength and drowsiness came over me.
As I was lying on the ground taking a short rest, suddenly Daisy waved her hand and started to set “sun fire” on the spirit I was holding.
The Dullahan's spirit burning strongly.
Thinking she might be performing a confirmation kill, I was watching this when Daisy pointed at the burning spirit of the Dullahan and said, "Eat it!"
"What...?"
"Eat it!"
Could she possibly want to eat this?
I was about to give this to Daisy at those words, but Daisy shook her head and pointed at me.
"You want me to eat it?"
"Myeong!"
At those words, I silently looked down at the spirit.
Something unidentifiable and grayish, like smoke gathered together.
No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like something that shouldn't be eaten, so I was feeling reluctant when Daisy started to open my mouth with her hands and urge me to eat it quickly.
...
At Daisy's actions, I had no choice but to put the spirit in my mouth and swallow it.
An intense wave of mana was felt in the center of my chest and began to spread throughout my body.
Along with this, strange sensations I couldn't normally feel began to circulate through my entire body, stimulating me and causing intense pain.
It was a pain I had never felt before in my life, so I didn't know how to describe it as I was gritting my teeth, when Daisy patted my head as if to say it was okay and comforted me, saying, "Myamyeong."
I didn't know what she was saying, but it probably meant that I had to endure this to become stronger.
As I was feeling this and enduring, suddenly, a handful of black blood spurted out of my mouth and my mind began to clear.
"..."
Along with this came an eerily large sense of omnipotence.
The moment I felt a new sensation spreading all around me, I realized that I had reached the level of a low-grade Expert.
In fact, when Dale rose from lowest-grade to low-grade Expert in the original work, I didn't feel much impression, but now that I was experiencing it myself, I could realize how huge the gap was.
With a bit of exaggeration, it feels like going from an ant to a human.
Not only could I feel the so-called sixth sense more clearly, but my stamina and strength had also greatly increased, making me incomparably stronger than before.
In addition, the auras I created became harder and sharper than before.
As I was marveling at this, thinking it was such a huge gap that comparing it would feel like an insult, Liana told me the truth in a somewhat bitter voice.
"You don't usually get that much stronger just by going from lowest-grade Expert to low-grade Expert... Usually, physical abilities increase quite a bit and you gain a rudimentary sixth sense, but it stops there."
"Really?"
"Yes. So in other words, it's better to think that Damian is a special case."
I didn't know if it was because Damian's talent was exceptional or because I absorbed the Dullahan's spirit.
Anyway, thinking it was a gain no matter what, I was very happy and about to return to the village when Dasoon picked up the holy sword that the Dullahan had been holding from the ground and said to us, "So... what's this?"
At those words, Ruen and Liana looked at each other with surprised expressions and seemed to ponder for a moment.
Then they calmly nodded and told us a somewhat shocking fact.
"Doesn't the term 'hero appointment ceremony' sound strange to you?"
The moment I heard those words, I finally noticed the strange point.
Usually, a hero was a product created by a god, so rather than having an appointment ceremony, they typically appear suddenly to save the world.
But as it was in the original work, and as it is in the current situation…
The hero appointment ceremony was merely a result of political agreement between the imperial family and the church, not the goddess.
...So to put it in other words..
"All the heroes are fake. Every single one of them."
It meant that everything related to heroes was artificially created lies.