Chapter 69 - Mid-Grade Expert (6)

The taste of the essence contained in the ghost soldiers, if I had to describe it... was like a stale smoke flavor.

This description might sound quite strange, but it literally tasted like putting smoke in your mouth.

There couldn't be a more accurate expression than this.

Well, anyway, what's important is…

Because the essence was the core that formed the basis of these beings, by absorbing it, it was possible to permanently annihilate them.

I touched my mouth while looking at the dirt floor strewn with only the equipment worn by ghost soldiers, knights, mages, and archers.

My mouth area was somewhat sore from opening my mouth repeatedly to eat the essences, when

The golden knights guarding the castle, probably thinking they couldn't let this continue, started running towards me in formation.

Now it feels like the real test is beginning.

Deciding to fight in earnest, I quickly moved my feet while recalling one by one the things I had grown during this time.

First, the basic physical abilities.

My strength, agility, and reflexes had increased dramatically, to the extent that I could say they had increased several times compared to before.

Some of it is from fighting for months, but…

More than that, thanks to absorbing the essences of those guys, I was able to reach a higher level than I had expected.

I swung my shadow mace once at the golden knights rushing at me from the front, knocking them all down.

Originally, dealing with even one would have been overwhelming, but now I was in a state where I could easily handle four or five.

...And above all, what increased the most was my shadow usage and weapon skills.

If before it felt like I was simply swinging a weapon, now I had risen to a level where I could understand the flow and toy with the enemy.

For example, in the past, if several golden knights attacked me like this,

I was barely able to block or run away.

Now I could naturally deflect attacks and counter-attack.

I lightly deflected the swords of the golden knights coming at me with my mace, letting them slide off, then in the brief moment when the golden knights were stepping back due to the rebound, I swung my mace and delivered a strong blow to their faces.

Thwack!

With a loud sound, the golden knight died instantly, and I smiled.

As I absorbed the brightly glowing essence of the golden knight, I looked around.

They seem angry.

They seem enraged that I openly absorbed their comrade's essence.

Seeing the golden knights charging at me somewhat irrationally, I used a newly acquired skill.

Shadow Binding.

In addition to binding all nearby enemies using shadows, I used it to pull them to the ground. 

Boom!

An ability that could slam the enemies' bodies into the ground.

I smiled seeing the bodies of the surrounding golden knights instantly slammed into the ground.

Then shall we farm?

Moving towards the golden knights with their faces planted on the ground due to the shadows, I used the mace made of shadow to smash their heads one by one, then absorbed their essences.

The golden guys definitely give more power than the ordinary ones.

I couldn't explain exactly what this power was, but one thing I knew was that if I ate just a bit more, I could reach mid-grade Expert, so I went around absorbing all the essences that tasted unpleasant but strangely delicious.

***

After absorbing all the surrounding golden knights like that, I calmly looked at the castle in front and moved my feet.

...I wonder what those golden knights were trying to protect.

I had tried to enter the castle several times before, but despite using all sorts of tricks, I couldn't get in. Now, as I opened the door to check inside…

Creak.

With a loud sound, the door opened more easily than expected.

It seemed to be structured to open only after defeating all the enemies, so I laughed hollowly and looked around inside.

Now, what could be here?

I looked inside with great expectation, but compared to what I had expected, a somewhat ordinary, in other words, unremarkable scene unfolded.

It's an ordinary castle.

Everything was old and dusty from lack of maintenance, but it was surrounded by the typical luxurious interior that one might imagine in a castle.

Feeling a bit disappointed seeing this, I stepped on the long red carpet spread out and moved forward.

After walking for a while, what I saw was a huge throne, a somewhat shabby corpse collapsed in the center, and a crown placed on top of it.

...A king?

The atmosphere suggested so, but while the soldiers and golden knights were moving alive, I wondered why this one remained in corpse form as I approached.

The king's corpse turned to dust and flew away into the air.

"...?"

I was surprised because I didn't expect it to disappear like this without even touching it.

As I was bewildered, the crown that was on top of the king's corpse fell down and rolled in front of me.

Not sure, but it seemed to mean I should take this.

As I picked it up, an intense energy surged and started distorting the surroundings.

It seemed to be emitting power to try to devour me, so I looked at the crown and laughed loudly.

No wonder it was given up so easily, this was the purpose.

Feeling great interest towards the crown emitting an aura more intense than all the golden knights combined, I also emitted great power and started strongly pressuring the crown.

Crack.

Our powers clashed and interlocked.

I laughed hollowly seeing that the power possessed by a mere crown was similar to mine, then thinking this wouldn't do, I created a new shadow hammer and said to the crown, "From ancient times, this has been the best means of communication."

Deciding to use the physical persuasion that had made the greatest contribution when convincing Dasoon on the crown as well, I put mana into the shadow hammer and struck the crown with it.

Boom!

With a huge explosion, the crown was slightly crushed.

At this attack, the crown's momentum was greatly broken, probably thinking it didn't expect this crazy guy to strike a crown with a weapon.

Seeing this, I thought this was my chance and pressed down on the crown's power, swallowing it whole as if absorbing its essence.

An intense fluctuation was felt.

As I felt a massive power entering me, to the extent that saying the total amount of power had doubled would not be an exaggeration, I raised the corners of my mouth, when the crown's power entered my body and started violently fluctuating, struggling to escape from me.

This is why you shouldn't carelessly pick up and eat things on the street.

My stomach instantly became bloated.

Feeling my chest and stomach area become uncomfortable, I laughed hollowly, then

Thinking this wouldn't do, I used all the power in my body to start trampling the power that was inside the crown.

I need to show it who the master is.

If it had been absorbed, it should live as an absorbed entity.

Thinking it was making unnecessary struggles, I not only trampled its power but also tore it to shreds, starting to absorb it completely.

However, as the amount was more than I imagined, I thought it would take a bit more time, so I sat on the throne and calmly closed my eyes.

The intense power that was inside the crown fluctuated and struggled.

As I was greedily devouring this power one by one and swallowing it all, suddenly, a new sensation bloomed inside my body and an intense thrill hit me.

...

The moment this sensation hit, everything around except the throne distorted and mixed up.

I expressed considerable satisfaction at the omnipotence spreading throughout my body, then slowly got up from my seat, brushed up my hair, and looked around.

A castle so distorted that it would be correct to say everything was broken.

Judging that there was nothing more to do here, I was about to leave when suddenly a thought crossed my mind.

Come to think of it, didn't the original Damian reach top-grade Expert here?

But it was somewhat strange that I had only reached mid-grade Expert.

Sensing that there was likely something else hidden in this castle, I tried to look for it, but…

For now, it would be better to go outside after a long time and report the situation.

As I was curious about how everyone was doing, I decided to return to reality for now and then come back again, so I decided to go outside.

***

As I came out like that, what I saw was Daisy crying and whimpering.

Daisy was crying in Siren's arms, snot and tears flowing, when…

"Myak?!"

As soon as she saw me, she jumped up in surprise, then came towards me with urgent steps and hugged me.

"Myaaang!"

Her face was so swollen from crying.

Seeing that, I felt sorry and wiped her tears, when Siren in front waved her hand at me and said, "Welcome back."

Siren seemed very happy that I had returned, her body slightly bouncing as she greeted me warmly.

I was about to greet Siren back when Siren looked at me and said in a calm voice,

"Liana came by earlier and asked us to save the Saintess."

"...Save her?"

At this somewhat surprising news, I stared blankly at Siren.

Siren nodded and delivered some shocking news.

"The Saintess has been kidnapped."

Hearing this, I urgently said, "By whom? Why? I mean, how?"

"I don't know the details either. We need to go and check."

At the word “go”, I couldn't hide my surprise and was about to open my mouth urgently, but Siren firmly grasped my hand and activated a teleportation spell.

She became able to use teleportation magic?

I was thinking I couldn't even gauge how much she had grown in that short time when the surroundings rippled, and we were instantly teleported to a port city filled with the scent of the sea.

"...Damn."

I was so surprised that a curse involuntarily escaped my mouth.

I looked around calmly with a blank expression and said, "So what exactly happened? Can you explain?"

"I don't know the details either. But this place was supposedly invaded by the demon race and facing a crisis, so the Saintess came here. They say she was kidnapped by the demon race."

For a place that was supposedly invaded, the city lacked the gloomy, depressed atmosphere typical of war.

Hearing the lively voices and seagull cries from all around, I made a somewhat blank expression.