Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Dragonkin, drakan

Zeona looked up at the owner of the greatsword and the voice.

He was a tall, muscular man. He looked like a mercenary, but he wore high-quality leather armor that wasn’t typical for mercenaries.

He didn’t have a helmet, so his face was fully visible. His hair was long and as dark as the night sky, tied back in a ponytail.

Suddenly, he looked down at her. He had a face that was more handsome than she had expected. He could have passed for the son of a powerful noble family.

His gleaming, purple eyes seemed to fuel that impression. Fleeting magic flames flickered in his eyes, clearly indicating that he could also manipulate magic.

For some reason, she couldn’t take her eyes away from those purple, flickering flames. . .

The man looked at her and said,

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. . .”

Zeona answered blankly. His voice was like a clear sound spreading through the high sky, and it rose like a tower, shaking the earth.

She began to feel a strong urge to answer whatever he asked. She didn’t feel any resistance to it. Rather, she felt a sense of great joy. She was eager for him to ask her any questions and give her any instructions.

Seeing her dazed, blue eyes and her lost mind, the man let out an exclamation of “Ah!” and gathered his magic. The gleam in his purple eyes faded, and her dazed mind gradually returned. Her vision cleared, and the surrounding noises that had faded away came closer.

As soon as she regained her senses, she was surprised and embarrassed by the voice she had just uttered.

Despite training with the knights and exchanging strong curses, she responded with a sheltered “Yes!”

The man let out a “Ugh” sound for some reason and suddenly approached her, kneeling on one knee. Zeona couldn’t do anything as his face approached, and she closed her eyes without realizing it.

Beyond the darkness and the sound of her own heart pounding, she felt a soft touch on her forehead. At the same time, a clear energy seemed to flow across her forehead, cooling her body.

She opened her eyes, feeling a sense of relief as if her nose and lungs had cleared, and the remnants of an unknown consciousness that had just emerged in her mind vanished. He placed his hand on her forehead.

“Your internal organs appeared to be in pain. You were spitting up blood.”

“Ah, no! Yes! I’m fine! I was spitting up blood because of magic reflux! Yes!”

The man nodded at Zeona’s answer. He had just checked the flow of magic in her body, and it was a mess. If he didn’t fix it right away, she would have to spend a long time recuperating.

He could do it himself, but he didn’t feel the need to. She was also a magic user, so she would have her own family’s unique techniques for calming herself down.

“Lexi?”

Zeona looked puzzled when the man called out a different name. Then, she suddenly screamed when she saw a dark elf standing right next to her.

“Damn it, you scared me!”

“. . . . . . .”

“. . . . . . .”

Zeona blushed and hung her head.

Grrr!

At that moment, the minotaur, who had been standing back, shouted. The atmosphere trembled. The man stood up.

“It looks like he’s upset because he was left out of the conversation. Lexi, watch over this knight.”

“Why me?”

“Otherwise, I won’t tell you the way to the forge.”

“Okay.”

“And Zeona, was it?”

“Yes? Ah, yes! My name is Zeona!”

“Alright. This dark elf is here to escort you, so calm down your insides. If you don’t stabilize it soon, you might have problems later.”

And with that, the man stood up. Zeona called out to him urgently.

“W, Wait!”

“What is it?”

“W, What’s your name?”

Russell chuckled and walked away.

“I’ll tell you when we get there.”

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Russell walked over to the minotaur, who was standing back a little ways away, and confronted him.

“Hmm.”

The minotaur was empty-handed. It appeared that he had missed the great sword he had thrown with all his might earlier. The axe was easy to find. Russell picked up the axe that had fallen at his feet.

“Grrrrrr.”

The minotaur let out a low growl at the sight.

Russell examined the axe in his hand. It was a huge battle axe. The shaft was over a meter long, and the double-bladed axe at the end was as wide as a human torso.

It was also heavy, weighing over 40 kg. Of course, it was a meaningless burden for either the minotaur or Russell.

Blood was splattered on the blade of the axe, and the handle was blackened with grime from long use.

Russell, who had been staring at it blankly, suddenly threw it. The minotaur instinctively turned the axe around and looked at him with a blank expression. Of course, he couldn’t be sure. Russell couldn’t tell what an ox was thinking.

However, his open mouth and wide eyes conveyed a blank expression.

“Don’t complain to your friends when you go to the afterlife. I gave you a weapon.”

Huff, huff, huff, huff.

The minotaur began to snort violently. He was so happy. He should have returned it sooner.

Woooaaah━!

The giant monster from the underground labyrinth charged forward, screaming.

Bloodshot eyes, flaring nostrils.

As it ran, a reddish aura rose above the beast’s skin. It seemed to be even larger than before. ‘Damn, these days, everyone I meet uses magic, whether they’re dogs or cows.’

The minotaur didn’t seem to have the flame-like attributes of the troll named Nazurek that he had met before. However, even without that, a monster awakened to magic was more than a monster.

Just as the troll had possessed extremely strong regeneration and flames, the minotaur swung its axe with increased size and strength. In the same manner, Russell swung his greatsword at the axe.

Clang!

An incredible sound that one wouldn’t believe came from clashing metal. Lexi, the dark elf who was standing behind them, frowned and covered her ears. Zeona, who had just managed to calm her magic, did the same. Zeona, who had covered her ears, opened her mouth.

“Oh my god.”

By now, they had dealt with almost all of the surrounding monsters. The knights had also killed the trolls, and the mercenaries, infantry, and wizards’ spells were killing the remaining goblins, orcs, and ogres.

It was a bit surprising that none of them had escaped, but the ecology of monsters was often incomprehensible anyway.

The remaining people were now witnessing the battle that had just begun. The minotaur, spewing out a stream of red magic, faced the tall warrior.

The minotaur swung its axe down with enough force to destroy the earth, but the warrior blocked the attacks without flinching an inch.

Everyone watched the scene in awe.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

The minotaur was getting desperate. When he regained his magic, the fog that had clouded his mind cleared, and his sanity returned. It was the sanity of a monster, but the monster was able to recognize that it was strange to be here.

He should have been hunting his prey in the forest, but when he came to his senses, he found himself with the monsters he had been fighting for territory with, invading a human city.

He had to return to the forest immediately. However, that was impossible. This was due to the presence of a human right in front of him.

This terrifying human deflected his axe, dodged it, and didn’t budge an inch.

“Khhhrrrr!”

The minotaur roared, denying his feelings.

The only time he, who had reigned as the top predator, felt such fear was when he encountered a dragonkin, a being outside the norm. At that moment, a strange scene flashed through the minotaur’s mind.

An unidentified intruder wearing a robe and hood. He was of a height and size similar to his own. The scales covered the exposed skin. The moment two yellow lights flashed in the darkness under the hood, the minotaur lost his mind. And then he was here.

The labyrinth monster decided to kill this human before he could dwell on the scene. The minotaur poured out magic. He was also going to burn his life force. It burned fiercely, like oil-soaked firewood.

It seemed like he could win. If he just pushed a little bit more, it seemed possible. As proof, the human who had not moved an inch was gradually taking a step back.

Swish!

The weight of the axe he was swinging suddenly became lighter as the possibility of victory carried him away.

The axe had lost its shaft and its blade had fallen off. The minotaur could tell that the human’s sword was also burning with magic flames.

And as the sword moved a few more times, the monster’s arms and legs fell off.

Thud.

The severing of his shins caused the minotaur to fall to his knees, not his thighs. The cut above the shoulder joint exposed the white bones and muscles. Because he was so fast, the pain came late.

However, the monster didn’t groan in pain and simply looked up blankly. How? He was sure he had the upper hand. So why did it turn out like this?

The monster couldn’t believe that the human had moved at a speed that he couldn’t even catch with his own eyes.

So he just looked up at the person with blank eyes. Due to the amputation of his legs, his eye level had reversed. In the monster’s field of vision, he could see the human slowly raising his sword.

He seemed to have all the time in the world, as if he was confirming the prey he had already caught.

His vision spun around once, and the sky and the earth returned to their opposite positions. The rotation was short, and soon the monster’s fading vision was filled with green grass.

Through his still-functioning sense of smell, he could smell the fresh scent of grass, and through his ears, he could hear the humans’ cheers. They gradually faded away. Soon, he could see nothing, smell nothing, and hear nothing. It was darkness.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Almost all of the monsters were dead. They had charged forward without regard for their lives, even in the strange situation where they were clearly losing, and that was why they had all died.

The soldiers didn’t stop thrusting their spears, even though they found the monsters’ behavior strange.

They were the ones who would ambush travelers in the plains or forests in the coming autumn to get food. The fewer there were, the more people would come to the city, so it was all good.

The battle was quickly over. While Russell and the minotaur were having a brief battle, the knights were using their mobility to cut down the monsters outside.

It was a decision they had made as soon as they confirmed that the lord’s daughter, whom they were supposed to protect, was safe, and that was why the monsters had died under the knights’ merciless spears and swords.

The knights, who had finished their task, rushed over to Zeona. Lexi, who had been silently approaching to protect her and cutting down the monsters that were approaching, stepped back without a word.

The knights checked on Zeona, who was unharmed, and then laughed out loud, “Hahaha!”. Zeona scratched her head and laughed along with them.

At that moment, one of the knights, wearing a cloak, approached. The crimson cloak fluttered gracefully as he walked. Russell thought as he sheathed his sword. ‘It’s cool. When I go to the Lord, I’ll ask him for one of those.’

The knight said,

“You have great skill. In the city, I’ve never heard of a mercenary with such skills. How long have you been here?”

His face was not visible because of his helmet, but judging from his deep voice, he seemed to be a middle-aged man.

“I arrived yesterday.”

“Hmm. Thank you for protecting Lady Zeona. When he hears of this, the Lord will reward you greatly.”

“I only did it because the Lord asked me to protect her.”

“Is that true? Well, even if it doesn’t seem like it, he’s a father who loves his daughter dearly. Nevertheless, your accomplishment remains significant. My god, to kill a minotaur with such ease is truly remarkable. Even I wouldn’t be confident without cooperating with other knights.”

As the knight was teasing him, Russell’s face hardened instead of smiling.

The knight wondered if he had said something wrong, and at that moment, Russell suddenly turned around.

There was a being standing there that had not been there a moment ago. He had suddenly entered Russell’s sensory range.

He stood over 3 meters tall, his face completely hidden in a gray hood and robe. In his hand, he held a metallic staff of unknown material.

The soldiers and mercenaries also stopped laughing and chatting and quickly backed away as the giant suddenly appeared.

A large, round, empty space soon formed around the giant. The giant tapped the bone staff on the ground, then turned his head halfway around.

His gaze, which had been scanning the human army, soon stopped at one point.

Russell was at the end of his gaze. He was the only one who didn’t step back like the other soldiers and knights, so he was the only one protruding from the inner circle.

The creature with the hood pulled back exclaimed,

“So you’re the one who killed Nazurek.”

Russell narrowed his eyes. Not many people knew the name of the troll he had killed before arriving in Calisden. Evelyn, Elenora, and the mercenaries were the merchants of the caravan that had been there. He remembered what the troll had said.

“Then you must be Karugon.”

“Did Nazurek tell you? The fool. He had some talent, so I awakened his magic, but his mouth was so loose.”

While talking, Russell checked his magic and body. He didn’t feel anything wrong. There was nothing wrong with his senses.

That left two possibilities: either the giant had the ability to deceive even Russell, or he had cast a spell, whether it was invisibility magic or stealth magic. However, the giant had literally appeared out of nowhere. Neither invisibility nor a spell had lifted.

Russell thought of one last possibility. Teleportation.

Only a few human wizards and witches, and even elves, could use this dangerous, high-level teleportation magic.

However, as an elf, the giant in front of him was hard to see. The giant confirmed this by lowering the hood he was wearing over his head.

“Hey, that’s a dragonkin!”

“D, Draconian? Draconian?”

“Idiot, Draconians look like people!”

“A dragon’s head on a giant’s body! It’s a drakan!”

The mercenaries were definitely more free-spirited, unlike the soldiers, who were gaping with their mouths open.

The tough mercenaries, who had traveled countless times from town to town, city to city, and from the wilderness to dangerous places, had guessed the giant’s identity at a glance.

The reptile displayed a dragon’s head with multiple horns that appeared to have shrunk in size, accompanied by yellow irises torn vertically along its top and bottom.

Dark blue scales covered the muscular body, exposing it between the robe and the lizard’s tail behind it.

The descendants of a great being were a species known as drakan.

At that moment, the knight wearing the cloak stepped forward.

“Exalted Dragonkin, why have you come to the city of humans? If you have come to inform us of the invasion of monsters, we are grateful, but the battle is over. If there is anything we can do to help you, we will do our best to be within reach.”

The dark, blue-scaled drakan chuckled at the knight’s words. A thick, low voice flowed across the ground. The laughter, which contained an unknown magic, made the weak tremble, and some swallowed their saliva.

“Yes, there is something you lowly humans can do to help.”

The drakan’s staff rose in response to the insults.

“Give me your abject terror, despair, and lives.”

As the staff struck the ground, a flash of light and a shock wave swept over them.

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