Chapter 33
[The promotion match will begin.]
Kkirikirik-
The door to Floor 81 opened.
[Defender: Armored Centaur (81F)]
A monster with the lower half of a huge horse grafted to a human upper body.
It was clad in armor and held aloft a halberd as tall as I was.
Prrrrr!
It stomped its hind legs roughly, looking ready to charge at any moment.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been the moment I ordered the Blood Knight to charge.
But this time was different.
It was time to test Death Mark in actual combat.
“Blood Knight, don't attack. Stand in front of me and focus only on defense.”
<...Acknowledged...>
At my command, the Blood Knight stepped in front of me.
It held its greatsword horizontally, its blade cloaked in blood mist.
Clip-clop! Clip-clop!
The centaur charged.
The halberd stabbed toward us at frightening speed.
Kaaaang-!
The Blood Knight's greatsword and the centaur's halberd collided, sending sparks flying.
Clang!
Whoosh-!
As ordered, the Blood Knight did not counterattack. It deflected and redirected the monster's attack.
Behind its back, I focused mana into both eyes.
The two Circles in my dantian rotated, drawing up mana.
My vision warped, and red and black lines like heat haze rose over the centaur's body.
I imagined driving my mana into the point where they overlapped.
Flash-!
A dark red stroke was drawn across the centaur's chest like a scar.
[ - ]
It had worked.
“Good. Next.”
I focused my gaze again.
But the line did not appear right away.
‘Is it on cooldown?’
Unique skills like [Death Sentence - Slash (斬)] and [Death Sentence - See (視)] displayed their cooldowns on the system hologram.
But Death Mark, like [Black Shift], was a skill that did not appear in the status window, so no exact number seemed to appear.
In the end, I had to feel it out and count the seconds myself.
One, two, three...
While the Blood Knight fended off the centaur's furious assault, I counted silently.
They said the cooldown decreased based on the Intelligence stat. With my current Intelligence of 79, how long would it be?
Eleven, twelve...
Thirteen.
Flash-!
Mana resonated once more, and a second stroke was engraved on the centaur's body.
[ - - ]
‘Thirteen seconds.’
That was exactly how long it took.
Kieeeek-!
The centaur's behavior did not change just because it had gained a second stack.
It did not seem to have noticed.
Then I waited another thirteen seconds.
Flaaash-!
The moment the third stroke engraved by my Evil Eye was drawn...
The dark red lines overlapped and completed a single character.
[⬛]
That was when.
The centaur's heart gave a single mighty beat.
Thump-!
Its enormous body toppled over.
Flop-
The halberd clattered noisily across the floor.
[Successfully defeated the Armored Centaur of Floor 81]
[Promotion reward: 8,000G acquired!]
I couldn't help admiring the scene before me.
“…Isn't this practically an instant-death skill?”
That was what I found myself thinking.
It had taken only twenty-six seconds.
By fixing my gaze and driving in mana, I had made the monster die.
Death Mark wasn't even an instant-death skill.
It was derivative black magic branched off from [Death Sentence - Engrave (刻)], a Stage 2 instant-death skill.
The monster from the eighties had died without putting up any resistance to that derivative spell alone.
Then just how powerful had the Stage 4 instant-death skill [Death Sentence - See (視)] I used before been?
“Did I really use something like that right from the start...?”
I also found myself looking forward to seeing the power of [Death Sentence - Slash (斬)], the Stage 3 instant-death skill.
But it seemed I still wouldn't encounter anything worth trying it on.
Floor 82. Floor 83. Floor 84.
I tore through them without a hitch.
I had the Blood Knight act as a shield while I built stacks from behind every thirteen seconds.
Its range was also incredibly wide, so I had no trouble.
That covered about half the chamber.
In other words, if the monster was positioned in the center, I could apply one Death Mark stack as soon as the promotion match began.
[⬛]
Every monster died as soon as the character was completed, never making it past three stacks.
And then I reached Floor 85.
Kkirikirik-
The atmosphere of the chamber revealed when the door opened was markedly different from before.
[Defender: Sword Fang (85F)]
A gigantic wolf covered in black fur.
Its most notable feature was the greatsword held between its jaws.
“If it's a beast, wouldn't it be better off fighting with its claws or teeth...?”
As I thought that, I activated Death Mark.
Flash-!
[ - ]
“One stack for now.”
Grrrrrrrr...
It scratched at its throat and gathered strength in its legs.
“Blood Knight, defend.”
At my command, the Blood Knight lowered its greatsword and assumed a defensive stance.
Sword Fang leaped immediately afterward.
Sssshaaaak-!
An incredible speed.
It seemed to drop from the air and charge straight at me.
Ssswish-!
But then it twisted its body in midair.
A house-sized semicircle was drawn.
It seemed to swing the greatsword held in its mouth like that.
Swoooom-!
Sword Fang's blade came crashing down with brute force.
Kaaaang-!
The Blood Knight barely blocked the attack, but the impact overwhelmed it and drove it back several steps.
Clang! Kagang! Crack!
The furious assault continued.
A series of unpredictable blows created by the beast's flexible joints and muscles.
From right to left.
From left to right.
This time, from top to bottom.
It was remarkably fluid and fast.
Cracks began appearing in the Blood Knight's armor as it focused solely on defense.
‘If I make it keep defending like this, the Blood Knight will be smashed to pieces.’
I hurriedly drew up the mana in my dantian.
“Blood Command.”
I repaired the Blood Knight's armor.
Immediately afterward, I used the ribbon's Black Shift to put some distance between us.
At the same time, I changed my command.
“Blood Knight, fight to your heart's content!”
<...Acknowledged...>
Blood mist exploded from the Blood Knight's neck.
The greatsword that had been on the defensive knocked away Sword Fang's slash.
Kaaaang-! Kwaaang-!
The beast's swordsmanship and the Blood Knight's greatsword clashed without pause.
Sparks flew in every direction, and the marble floor shattered.
In a gap between their exchanges, I focused my gaze.
Two stacks!
Flash-!
[ - - ]
That was thanks to the Blood Knight drawing Sword Fang's attention.
And thirteen seconds later.
At last, three stacks.
Flaaash-!
The third stroke that had felled every monster so far was drawn.
[ - - - ]
“Oh.”
For the first time, the character was not completed.
They had said it varied enormously according to the target's vitality.
It seemed this one was powerful.
Kroaaaaar-!
The beast roared and increased the tempo of its attacks even further.
I waited through another thirteen-second cooldown.
While the Blood Knight offered up one arm to block Sword Fang's greatsword, I drove in a fourth Death Mark.
Flaaaash-!
At that moment, the incomplete character took shape.
[⬛]
I couldn't be certain, but it looked like it said 死, meaning death.
‘It must be the Reaper language written on the Great Stone Tablet...’
Thump-!
The beast's enormous bones twisted, and it dropped the greatsword from its mouth before collapsing onto the floor.
[Successfully defeated Sword Fang of Floor 85]
[Promotion reward: 8,400G acquired!]
[Level Up! 85Lv -> 86Lv]
My earring sparkled.
I looked down at the corpse of the fallen giant wolf.
“That was one for the history books...”
Its speed and unusual attack method were unlike anything I had encountered before.
A sudden sense of possession welled up in me.
‘I want to turn it into an undead.’
The basic explanatory post on the Blood Spirit Tea Ceremony had said that the number of undead one could maintain was proportional to the number of Circles one possessed.
I currently had two Circles.
Even after maintaining the Blood Knight, I had one slot left.
“Let's go with this one.”
Stronger monsters would appear the higher I climbed, which was precisely why now was the time to reinforce my forces.
I approached the corpse.
If I was going to do it, I had to act quickly.
At most, the corpses only remained for a few dozen seconds before disappearing.
It was a time attack.
“Blood Drain.”
“Blood Command.”
Dark red blood poured from the giant wolf's corpse like a waterfall and gathered in the air.
It was a much larger mass of blood than when I had created the Blood Knight.
“Oh...”
I infused it with mana, then used Blood Command to push the blood back into every corner of the corpse.
My mana-infused blood circulated between the beast's thick veins and bundles of muscle.
Then I drew it back out again.
Fwaaaash-
The blood suspended in the air took on the transparent reddish-brown color of spirit blood (靈血).
That meant its soul had escaped.
Now came the most unsettling third stage.
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened my mouth.
Gluuuuuurk-!
An enormous amount of spirit blood poured down my esophagus and windpipe.
“Mmmph!!!”
A much stronger sensation of a foreign object came over me than last time.
That was because of the sheer volume.
Even after filling my body to the brim, I couldn't contain it all, so I had to circulate more than half of it outside my body.
I even had to do it at twice the flow rate of last time, because I needed to finish as quickly as possible.
Pain like my lungs were burning and a sensation like my stomach was twisting itself into knots.
Nausea surged up, but I stubbornly swallowed it down.
I rotated the two Circles in my dantian like mad, circulating the spirit blood through every vein in my body.
I imprinted the structure of my body and the rhythm of my mana onto the blood.
“Uweeeeeeegh-!!”
When I reached my limit, I vomited the spirit blood over Sword Fang's corpse.
Ssssssizzle-!
The spirit blood poured over the wolf's corpse and quickly began to coagulate.
Crackcrackcrack! Crack!
Where the black fur fell away, coagulated blood and mana clumped together to form a dark red exoskeleton.
The greatsword it had used sprouted from its mouth, completely fused with its jawbone.
The final step was naming it.
“…Sword Wolf.”
As soon as the name left my lips, a massive red wolf slowly rose to its feet.
Its eyes, glowing through a cloud of red mist, turned toward me.
It was a little frightening, but I vigorously ruffled its head.
Then a thought echoed through my mind.
<...Master...>
[The second soldier has come under your control.]
[You can check the list of bound soldiers in your status window.]
“Good. Got myself a chompster.”
Now I had two breakwaters: the Blood Knight and Sword Wolf.
Our team color was red.
The next floor.
“Sword Wolf, charge. Blood Knight, guard the flank.”
Sword Wolf shot forward like a cannonball.
It was unbelievably fast.
“Disorient them.”
Sword Wolf darted in every direction, destroying the enemy's formation.
The Blood Knight stayed by my side and protected me.
“Having one more makes things much more stable.”
All I had to do was use Death Mark from behind.
[ - ]
[ - - ]
[ - - - ]
[⬛]
Thump-!!
After that, I cleared all the way to Floor 87 in an instant.
[Successfully defeated the Dark Elf Sword Demon of Floor 87]
[Promotion reward: 8,600G acquired!]
[Level Up! 87Lv -> 88Lv]
[3 Stat Points acquired!]
I checked the stat points I had accumulated.
“It's done...”
Before I knew it, I had reached the first hill.
The hill was called Sense.
[Strength stat is now 74.]
[Agility stat is now 74.]
Strength.
Agility.
Sense.
These three stats had all reached 74.
I had completed the first leveling-off.
Then.
Flaaaash-!
“.....!”
A tremendous rush of pleasure shot through my entire body, bringing me to an abrupt stop.
The flow of blood through my veins, the movement of my muscle bundles, and the workings of my central organs.
It felt as if the frequencies of those three things had meshed together and resonated.
“Harmonious.”
Whoooosh-!
It felt as though the air resistance around me had vanished.
A sense of springiness took over my entire body.
Clenching my fist tightly, I wondered,
‘How much stronger have I become compared to the Blood Knight?’
I turned my head and looked at the Blood Knight.
“Would you go stand over there for a moment?”