Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 119

Chapter 119: Rift (3)

TL: Potato-tan

Proofreader: Asianpotato

 

“Do you know what that is?”

 

Only its shape was familiar. Red flesh covered its surface. It also seemed to be pulsing like a heart.

 

And at this very moment, it was growing. The corpses that had piled up on the plain were liquefying, and the liquefied corpses were flowing across the ground and gathering at the unidentified egg.

 

“My Lord! We can’t just leave it like this!”

 

At that moment, Jess ran up and shouted to Lord Tatiana. Tatiana also knew, with her eyes and the tingling sensation on her skin, that the current situation was not normal.

 

“Everyone, spread the fire! Stop the liquid from gathering!”

 

Tatiana gave instructions immediately. Although she did not know exactly what was happening, it was clear that the flow of evil mana filling the plain and the melting of corpses were not desirable phenomena.

 

At her command, soldiers and mercenaries holding torches set fire to the liquid crawling on the ground.

 

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

 

The dark red, viscous liquid that was the liquefied corpses released a noxious smoke when it touched the fire. Those who were close by were hit by the smoke, screaming and rolling on the ground.

 

“Agh!”

 

“My eyes! My eyes!”

 

At that horrific sight, those who were approaching with fire also stepped back one after another.

 

Despite the efforts of the soldiers and mercenaries, the liquefaction quickly made its way to the unidentified lump of flesh. It was very fast.

 

Even if they swung their swords, it wouldn’t work; instead, if they splashed by it, it would stick to the person and melt them down.

 

And then, a new egg-like thing forms. It is smaller than the ones being formed as corpses were gathered now, but still a size that couldn’t be ignored.

 

“Damn it, everyone, fall back! Don’t touch the liquid or the eggs; burn the other corpses!”

 

Tatiana quickly realized the problem and gave another instruction. However, it took some time to deliver the new order in accordance with the previously transmitted instructions.

 

Only after gathering the remaining magic power and shouting loudly did she finally give the order. However, by that time, there had already been numerous casualties.

 

“Gather over here!”

 

Sarannen shouted, raising one hand. Then, a light pinkish current quickly circled around the soldiers and orcs. It was magic that prevented the gasified blood droplets from penetrating the corpses and restoring them to their original state.

 

Even so, the egg that had recently formed on the other side of the plain had already increased in size and number.

 

Soon, the largest egg cracked, and what was inside revealed itself.

 

It was a naked woman. The woman had blood-red hair and her body was dripping with sticky red blood.

 

The bat wings hidden behind her back spread out, and the woman opened her eyes. Crimson eyes like her hair.

 

Calia’s eyes, which had been hiding in the shadows and watching the situation, widened.

 

“That is. . . . .”

 

The monster expressionlessly wiggled its hand. The woman’s hand looked normal at first glance, but soon the skin all over the place swelled up and burst.

 

Empty wrist bones, stretched tendons, and bundles of nerves. But then, as if time was rewinding, the blood and flesh that had spilled onto the ground rose up, reforming bone and muscle, regenerating her hand.

 

“My body is too unstable. I need to replenish myself a little more.”

 

The red eyes turned to the other side. There was a swarm of insects in view. She spotted humans, orcs, and even a bat, believed to be her prototype.

 

If she drank them all, she would become a more perfect being.

 

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

 

Russell looked around. He was in the middle of a dense forest. He had just escaped from the black barrier and was running towards the place where the black magic was most concentrated.

 

At some point, a dark, smoky mist, like a low-lying fog, began to flow on the ground. It was a thick fog that wouldn’t dissipate even if he waved his hand, and instead stuck to his hand.

 

“Was this the plan from the beginning?”

 

Russell carefully examined the black magic that stained his hand like ink.

 

The ground was damp even though it hadn’t rained, and the straight trees exuded an eerie atmosphere.

 

He shook his hand and drew Nahilnir from his coat’s hem.

 

“If you’re coming, come quickly. I’m busy.”

 

Monsters with a terrifying appearance began to rush in from the gaps.

 

“Kyaaak!”

 

As a scream similar to a banshee rang out, his head suddenly went numb, and dizziness came over him. The evil magic inherent in the sound itself was trying to tear him apart and disrupt his senses.

 

He immediately protected his eardrums with magic and drove out the magi that had infiltrated his mind.

 

“You’ve gotten ugly.”

 

Despite resembling orcs, they had a hard exoskeleton-like material covering their skin, and the ends of their limbs had deformed into hooks, awls, large curved ax blades, and more. It was as if the blades they had been holding had melted into their hands.

 

The deformed monsters rushed in faster than a shot arrow, their grotesquely deformed limbs plunging towards their vital points. It was as if they were inheriting the techniques they had used in their previous lives.

 

Russell knew that these monsters were Kelpag’s last magic performance before he died. Some of Kelpag’s memories of the magic that he had taken out of his mind affirmed his answer.

 

The exoskeletons covering their skin were as hard as steel, and their physical abilities were more than three times stronger than before. The dark magic that burned brightly from the bodies of the mutated orcs proved it.

 

More than dozens of attacks poured down on Russell alone. Russell experienced a sense of impending attacks, including stabbings in his vital points, limb rips, piercings in his face and heart, and imminent death.

 

But that didn’t happen. Russell’s eyes turned purple.

 

According to his will, the magic that arose moved like a gentle horse, under his control at any time. The magic, powerful like a volcano erupting explosively and circulating smoothly like a majestic stream of water, assisted his muscles and nerves.

 

His subjective time accelerated. The movements of the monster orcs, deprived of their normal speed, slowed down. But the time difference didn’t last long.

 

“Kaaak!”

 

The aura of dark magic flowing densely through the trees grabbed Russell and pulled him. The sticky energy that penetrated his lungs with every breath he took held Russell’s magic circulation, loosened his muscle strength, and made his body heavy.

 

On the other hand, the monster orcs’ movements seemed to be even faster than before.

 

That didn’t mean that Russell’s training had been in vain.

 

Hup, Russell held his breath and stepped forward with his right foot.

 

As he extended the hilt of Nahilnir, which he held in both hands, the dark-colored greatsword pierced the abdomen of one of the monster orcs with its long blade, as long as its size.

 

The wide blade cut the orc’s waist in three-fifths.

 

Russell didn’t stop. As he put strength into his stepped foot, he felt his right leg digging deep into the ground. He then turned sharply to the left.

 

All the monster orcs, rushing towards him, found their bodies caught in his trajectory. He then pushed them back with a sound of ‘Puhbuhbuhbuk.’

 

However, unlike the individual whose waist was split in two by the thrust, the number of deaths was relatively low this time. All the ones who had rushed in managed to block with the blades attached to their limbs.

 

Moreover, it appeared that the metamorphosis persisted, distorting their appearance to the extent that the orc’s original form was no longer visible, as they charged in with a deafening “Krrrk” sound.

 

One of them got close to Russell. With his arms wide open, he was charging in with a full-body attack, as if he were trying to bind him rather than kill him.

 

It seemed like the plan was to have the other monsters attack his sides, legs, and back.

 

He gave a twisted smile. It was true that the current battlefield was not very advantageous for him.

 

The thick fog of dark magic, attempting to obstruct even his magic eyes, clouded his vision, preventing him from breathing freely. The breath he had taken earlier was all that remained in his body.

 

The pressure of the dark magic pulling his limbs was becoming stronger and stronger, as if he were sinking into the deep sea.

 

Russell had only restored his remaining magic amount to almost half, and his condition was not perfect. After all, Russell had been fighting without a break since dawn.

 

There is a tug-of-war between life and death, with death constantly pulling on the rope. Would any wizard or knight, even if brought here, be able to escape, or even maintain their bodies intact?

 

In a situation where death was flicking its tongue, Russell’s fighting spirit shone even brighter.

 

Russell charged towards the monster that was pushing its way in. His left fist, despite the dark magic that was trying to suppress him, shot out like a bullet and grabbed the monster’s face.

 

The monster screamed, “Kieeek!” as it pierced through the monster’s eye sockets and cheekbones. It struggled to get away, but Russell’s grip was like a steel vise and showed no sign of loosening.

 

Russell applied strength to his grip and crushed the facial bones. “Kwaduk.” As he swung the monster, whose tongue had gone limp in silence, to the left, his greatsword slashed horizontally and vertically.

 

“Syaaak!”

 

The monsters, whose arms and shoulders were cut off by the flash that appeared through the fog where the dark magic was clustered, retreated. At that moment, a monster was poised to pounce on him from the sky.

 

The monster had a long neck, like a giraffe, and a horn on its head. It rushed in with long, slender limbs, as long as its neck, and sharp, mantis-like scythes attached to them.

 

Russell let go of the corpse he was holding in his left hand and spread his palm towards the monster.

 

Puh-eong!

 

A faint purple light flashed from Russell’s magic-infused palm, drawing concentric circles in the air. The shock wave hit the giraffe-necked monster head-on, causing its entire upper body to shatter into pieces and scatter flesh.

 

It was a technique that he had acquired after first meeting Karugon in Calisden City, and it had been helpful in fighting against the basilisk and Logos’s undead. His will and magic created and emitted the technique, which wasn’t a magical one.

 

He deliberately used his magic to explode a shock wave, which caused all the dark magic fog to recede in a hemisphere temporarily. The monsters also retreated and growled in response.

 

Russell let out the breath he’d been holding and took another breath. The fog that had receded was rapidly closing in again.

 

“Damn it.”

 

By now, it appeared that Russell was the target of a gathering of all the dark magic and monsters dispersed across the mountain range.

 

The monsters consistently attacked Russell, who was still holding his breath. The monsters were fewer than before, but judging from the ones looming beyond the fog, their replenishment was inevitable. And regardless of how strong Russell was, it was too much for him to keep fighting while holding his breath.

 

Clouds blanketed the sky, intensifying its darkness. Even in the bright daytime, the forest was already a dark place, but now that the sun was hidden, it was as if night had come, and a gloomy darkness enveloped Russell.

 

A wall of fog so thick that even his magic eyes could not penetrate obstructed his vision. Even if his eyes glowed azure and drove out the dark magic, it kept coming endlessly.

 

Even if he tried to see through it with his foresight by looking at the flow of mana, the wall of dark magic, which was so dense that he felt as if he had fallen into another world, began to obscure his vision.

 

His senses gradually faded. The distinct scent of the forest and the damp soil floor dispersed and blurred. His sense of taste, hearing, and touch all became hazy as his sense of smell faded.

 

Russell completely shut off his nerves from all five senses. And he focused only on his magic sense.

 

Then, the distorted scenery around him, which had been confusing him, disappeared. And he felt something shimmering, like a purple haze, which was clearer than what he had seen with his eyes and other senses.

 

Russell fought, believing that this was what a blind swordsman felt when he opened his spiritual eye.

 

He continued to fight in the darkness, where he couldn’t tell if he was holding his breath or letting go of it, and where he couldn’t tell if he was killing them or if they were already dead.

 

‘What am I doing here?’

 

He suddenly had that thought.

 

Why was he continuing to fight in this manner?

 

Why did he leave his home, endure the wind and rain, sleep rough, and occasionally battle monsters for his life?

 

He could have just lived a comfortable life, living in his family’s house, living the high life.

 

His father was a good man. His stepmother, while she didn’t like him, had never cursed him to his face.

 

His younger brother and sister both liked him. His older sister—well, she would be fine on her own.

 

But the reason he had embarked on this journey, the reason he had begun this endless wandering, was because he felt he would regret it if he lived and died like that.

 

That was all. He could have just ignored that nagging feeling in the corner of his mind. But he was a reincarnated person who remembered his past life, and all his current way of thinking came from the young man in his past life who had never been able to ride a bullet train or a bus.

 

That’s why Russell started traveling. And he didn’t regret it. After all, he’d met a lot of people since he came out.

 

At that moment, a bolt of lightning struck from the sky.

 

The lightning, which had been falling straight down, branched out into dozens of roots, like a tree in the middle, and then struck the ground.

 

Russell simultaneously realized that all of his previously blocked senses had returned to normal.

 

“Russell!”

 

He looked up. He first saw the monster corpses scattered throughout the place. The mixture of animals, insects, and forms resulted in only the most menacing ones emerging.

 

Russell’s Nahilnir had piled up the dead monsters in a circle, creating a kind of trench. Lightning struck corpses beyond the trench.

 

When he looked up, he saw blackened branches scattered, revealing a circular hole. A girl floated in the air below the gray clouds.

 

“What are you doing there, you stupid idiot!”

 

It was Aellasis. Her earrings were sparkling, and her hair was floating and swaying as if submerged in water, as if she were exuding magic.

 

“I’ve been looking for you for ages!”

 

Aellasis fell to the ground and hugged Russell. He could feel her soft skin and sweet scent.

 

Russell stroked her hair.

 

As she landed, the dark magic retreated like a rat that had met a cat. It was a reaction, as if it had met its natural enemy.

 

“How did you find me?”

 

“I don’t know! I just felt a bad vibe, and it kept gathering in one place, so I thought maybe that was where Russell was, and I came.”

 

‘Good girl.’ Russell let out the breath he had been holding and inhaled the fresh air. Then, as he gazed at Aellasis, he became aware of the absence of the person who should have been by her side, and he exhaled deeply.

 

“Where’s Calia?”

 

“Big sister went towards where Kai is. There was some strange magic gathering there, too, but she told me to come and find Russell first.”

 

“That’s not good.”

 

There was no time to waste. The summons was nearing its conclusion. In a desperate act of despair, Kelpag summoned the devil, sacrificing both his own kind and his own life.

 

Geliotos approached Calia 800 years ago with the intention of turning her into a vampire. Geliotos, the devil responsible for creating a new species of monster from Calia, was able to obtain its genetic traits.

 

The devil that had been hiding for a long time, in shapeless form, in the underground and shadows, was now taking on a physical form. By pushing an entire race to the brink of extinction.

 

It wouldn’t have been difficult for the devil to lure the orcs, a race that had forgotten their god. It was also easy to incite conflict with humans.

 

In order to escape the influence of God and be able to walk the earth in its full form, the devil had to shed its formless body and gain a body that could walk on the ground and look up at the sky. Geliotos had prepared himself for this situation.

 

“Aella. How far is it?”

 

“Not far.”

 

“Can you scatter all the forest magi like you did before?”

 

“Yes.”

 

As Aellasis projected her magic forward, the bluish-black fog receded and disappeared.

 

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