Death King Karnak

Chapter 43: Chapter 42: Curse of the Dawn (3)

The towering demon looked down at the group.

"Now that I have descended upon this land..."

He rolled his dark eyes and spoke in an arrogant tone.

"Struggle all you want; it's useless, you insignificant humans."

Baros and Serati's faces turned pale. The overwhelming pressure bore down on their shoulders.

"Ugh..."

"A high-ranking demon like that..."

Even Karnak was sweating.

'Why? Why hasn't the summoning gate closed yet?'

Though he once held the title of Death King, even though he had lost his power and was now struggling, the knowledge and wisdom in his mind hadn't vanished.

He quickly figured out the reason.

'Damn, that's the problem.'

The black magic used to summon demons was originally as complex as necromantic barrier spells.

But the spell that Shutraff cast was slightly different.

'That bastard only skimmed the surface, so he didn't properly execute the ritual!'

He merely carried out a few key rituals and compensated for the missing parts with necromantic power.

The strength of necromancy lies in the fact that even if the ritual isn't executed properly, as long as you pour in enough necromantic power, some sort of result will occur.

Because of this, the situation became ambiguous.

It wasn't a simple spell, so it caused some confusion in the ritual, but it wasn't complex enough to completely cancel the summoning.

It was precariously balanced on the boundary between simplicity and complexity.

As a result, the ritual stopped halfway through, neither fully canceled nor completed!

'Wait a minute? How did I not realize that?'

He clearly saw Shutraff performing the demon summoning spell. That's why he felt confident in setting up this plan.

'Oh, no!'

Only then did Karnak realize the mistake he had made.

'I never saw it with my own eyes!'

He had only observed through the distant-view spell while fleeing under the illusion. He hadn't directly witnessed the demon summoning scene.

Hadn't Karnak just mocked Shutraff?

-You can't possibly grasp the situation properly when controlling things remotely from afar.

After mocking others, he made the exact same mistake himself.

He simply assumed that Shutraff had performed the demon summoning spell he was familiar with, just because he saw that a demon had been summoned.

'Ugh, how could I make such a basic mistake...'

It seemed he had become too complacent after the peaceful atmosphere following his reversal.

Maz-nun roared as he unleashed his power.

"I shall fulfill the contract!"

A violent gust of wind swept over Karnak's party.

Baros and Serati moved, pushing through the crushing pressure.

They dashed to the demon's sides, launching a dazzling assault!

"Hah!"

"Take this!"

It was useless. All their slashes were deflected.

It was as if they were striking a steel plate with a stick—there wasn't even a scratch on the demon's skin.

"Pathetic, insects."

Maz-nun leisurely muttered as he swung the sword in his hand.

It was an exceedingly simple strike. Naturally, both easily dodged the attack.

But it was impossible to avoid the massive aura that followed the slash.

BOOM!

A wave of darkness tore through the basement floor, engulfing the two.

The man and woman caught in it were flung like leaves in the wind.

"Ugh!"

"Y-young Master!"

Rolling across the ground, Baros barely managed to rise and called out to Karnak.

"What do we do now?"

Karnak responded irritably, clutching fireballs in both hands.

"What do you mean, what do we do? We fight!"

The two fireballs flew towards Maz-nun.

The demon snorted.

"Hmph, this isn't even worth blocking!"

BOOM!

With just a glare, the incoming fireballs exploded in mid-air.

The difference in power was so vast that they couldn't even get close.

Baros muttered in despair.

"How on earth are we supposed to defeat that...?"

He steadied his breathing, concentrating with all his might, focusing all his battle aura onto the tip of his sword.

Swinging her flaming sword, Serati charged at the demon.

"Take this!"

Red battle aura danced relentlessly. Her form darted wildly through space.

Stone walls and the ground were shattered and pulverized into dust, scattering everywhere.

BOOM!

Her movements and destructive power had surpassed human limits.

"Die, you demon!"

Maz-nun dismissed all her attacks with ease.

"You're slow and weak."

Serati's movements were certainly fast, but the demon was faster.

Her aura-infused sword was indeed strong, but the demon was stronger.

The advantage of a red-level aura user lies in the ability to unleash fast and powerful attacks that transcend human limitations.

But when faced with an opponent who is even faster and stronger, they become overwhelmingly disadvantaged. There's nothing they can do.

"D-damn it!"

Despite this, Serati was managing to hold on.

Not because she was particularly skilled.

"The contract was to capture this woman, wasn't it?"

So Maz-nun only half-heartedly kicked or shoved her away, engaging with minimal effort.

Baros, on the other hand, received no such leniency.

"There's no need to go easy on this man."

Countless fireballs, blades of magic, roars of crushing pressure, and dozens of magic projectiles rained down on him.

"Ah! Ugh! Whoa!"

Under the overwhelming barrage, Baros had no choice but to run for his life like a madman.

He ran, rolled, and even crawled at times, desperately struggling to survive.

"Aaaah!"

What was remarkable was that, in the midst of all this, he managed to avoid getting hit even once.

He would adopt a defensive stance before an attack even started, dodge invisible strikes in advance, and leap away from the blast zones before they hit.

Even Maz-nun found the situation somewhat baffling.

'Does this guy have some kind of foresight ability?'

Despite this, Baros still posed no real threat.

Occasionally, a chilling counterattack would strike. Remarkably, it would exploit a weakness in Maz-nun's defense, landing a sharp blow.

"Take this!"

But it didn't even leave a scratch on his skin.

The demon's defense was so strong that only a sword imbued with battle aura could have any effect.

Grinding his teeth, Baros grumbled.

"Ugh, I never thought there'd come a day when I'd struggle against something like Maz-nun..."

With Serati and Baros fighting fiercely at the front and Karnak relentlessly casting spells from the rear, they were locked in an intense battle with the demon.

Of course, everyone knew this situation couldn't last long.

Maz-nun wasn't in a hurry.

"Humans are like rats, always running away at the slightest threat."

He simply endured all their attacks with overwhelming strength, slowly pushing Karnak's group back.

"I can't let that happen, can I?"

Serati's breathing grew increasingly labored.

Baros's movements became sluggish.

Karnak's mana was steadily depleting.

If the demon would at least lash out wildly, they might find an opening to cast an illusion spell, but he showed no such vulnerability.

And using a large spell to force an opening was out of the question—he didn't have the mana for it.

'I wish they could do something...'

Karnak glanced at Baros and Serati, feeling frustrated.

Both were fighting valiantly, but the situation was dire.

Serati's sword trajectory was too simple; no matter how many times she swung, she couldn't land a hit on the demon...

'Damn it, he's too fast!'

Baros's sword lacked the power to deal any damage, even when it did make contact with the demon.

'Ugh, he's ridiculously tough!'

As Karnak clicked his tongue in frustration, a thought crossed his mind.

"If only I could combine the two of them... wait, what?"

It suddenly struck him—he was a necromancer.

This wasn't such an impossible idea!

Karnak quickly called out to Baros.

"Baros!"

"Yes?"

"Plan P!"

"Oh!"

Understanding dawned on Baros as he ran toward Karnak.

"Right! We have that option!"

He immediately bent down, bowing his head.

Karnak placed his hand on the top of Baros's head.

"My subject..."

Darkness rose, enveloping Baros's head. Serati was startled.

'Didn't he say Baros wasn't his subject?'

But Karnak wasn't referring to Baros just then.

"Open your mind and accept it! This is your master's command!"

The focus vanished from Baros's eyes.

His movements became mechanical, like a puppet, as he stood beside Karnak, adopting a stance with his sword.

Simultaneously, Serati's movements changed.

"Hah!"

With a sharp cry, she kicked off the ground, soaring into the air. Her sword, glowing with red aura, moved with precision, slipping through the demon's defenses.

Her swordsmanship was entirely different from before.

Despite being slower than the demon, she now anticipated his movements, skillfully finding openings in his defenses!

"...What?!"

A shocked Maz-nun stepped back. Blood was already gushing from his chest.

'This movement...'

Serati adjusted her stance and smiled softly.

A coarse voice emerged from the lips of the delicate beauty.

"Well, it's been a while since I've moved someone else's body, huh?"

***

Plan P.

Its meaning is simple. It's just the short form of the word "possession."

Karnak had overlaid Baros's soul onto Serati's body.

Trapped within her own body, Serati was thrown into a panic.

'This... this can't be...'

Normally, possession doesn't happen so easily.

A human soul is enveloped by a thick spiritual defense, requiring highly advanced necromancy to breach it.

But Serati's situation was different.

She had become Karnak's subject, her soul already laid bare to him.

Karnak could take over her body whenever he wished.

Of course, Baros, not being a subject, could have resisted, but he had no reason to.

'So this is what it means to become a necromancer's subject?'

A wave of fear washed over her, making her wonder if she had made an irreversible choice.

Baros, now in control of Serati's body, spoke awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, Miss Serati. It's a matter of life and death..."

His clumsy tone helped her suppress the fear rising within her.

After all, there was no other choice. When she dabbled in the dirty art of necromancy, she should have been prepared for this.

'Right, it's a matter of life and death, so there's no other way...'

Yet she still couldn't understand.

Serati acknowledged that Baros was better at swordsmanship and had more experience than she did. But so what?

'What changes just because Mr. Baros takes over my body?'

Maz-nun had the same question.

"What are you trying to do, you fools?"

Being a demon, he quickly understood the situation, but the reasoning eluded him.

"What's the point of possessing an aura user if you aren't one yourself?"

Serati's superhuman abilities came entirely from her aura.

Baros might have superior physical strength due to his larger frame and the natural differences between men and women.

But without mastering aura, taking over Serati's body would be pointless...

"How does someone who hasn't even mastered their own battle aura intend to use someone else's?"

The next scene left the demon speechless.

"Who said I can't use it?"

Vwoooom!

A brilliant red battle aura surged from the sword. It was unmistakably the battle aura of a red-level aura user.

Even Maz-nun, with all his demonic wisdom, had never seen anything like it.

"H-how?"

Not mastering battle aura means having no experience with it.

But using someone else's aura so effortlessly? And doing it so naturally?

As he pointed the aura-infused sword, Baros—now in Serati's body—shrugged.

"You see, using other people's battle aura is my specialty!"

The dark aura he wielded during his time as a death knight wasn't his own; it was something Karnak had granted him. Even before that, he had often possessed others' bodies or absorbed their aura to use it.

'To be honest, I don't even know how to use my own aura.'

Baros himself had never actually awakened his own battle aura.

But now, they had a clear way to counterattack.

Karnak called out cheerfully.

"Alright, Baros... or rather..."

It occurred to him that this was now Serati plus Baros.

One should always address others correctly.

"Go, Sera-Baros!"

"Don't go mixing up people's names like that!"

Grumbling, Sera-Baros(?) launched into action.

With a sharp battle cry, the aura-infused sword exploded with energy.

"Take this!"

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